Is Social Media Hurting Your Marketing Efforts?

Posted on April 27, 2011May 5, 2015 by MD

Just like a shiny new toy, social media marketing is the hot new thing. But as I wrote about in Is Social Media Right for Your Business?, it isn’t for everyone and can actually do more harm than good.

Last month I received this email:

The email is nice and clean and with a direct call to action; get involved with their social media profiles. Imagine my surprise when I clicked through and found this:

Their Facebook page at least has some current content, but not much and huge timeline gaps where nothing is posted.

What’s the big deal, right? If you don’t have anything to post, it’s better to not post anything, right?

I disagree. Social media is not a part time thing. If you’re not truly interacting and providing new and relevant content you’re either forgotten or seen as noise and ignored.

Looking at that twitter page, what incentive do I have to follow you? And if I did out of loyalty to the brand, I will quickly forget to look for anything from you because you’re not committed to it and actively interacting. Now, if you finally do get your act together and start getting involved, I’m probably not going to notice because I’ve already forgotten about you.

Talk about a lost opportunity huh?

Are They Open to a Sale?

Posted on November 29, 2010May 5, 2015 by MD

Selling a product is a hard job. It’s certainly not a job I would want. Sometimes though, I think sales people make it even harder for themselves. It’s drilled into their head that they can’t let anything stand in their way of making a sale and their customers feel it.

Recently, we had a door to door salesman that really started off on the wrong foot and missed all three of the areas below. We have no soliciting signs and really don’t take kindly to those who choose to ignore them therein riling up our dogs. The other day we had just arrived home when before we could even get out of the car we had a salesman who rushed over to try and talk about roofing.

Needless to say, he wasn’t very warmly welcomed. First off, our roof is in good shape so we’re not interested. Second, we don’t buy from door to door salesman, regardless of what they’re trying to sell. Third, his approach completely put us on the defensive and slammed shut and bolted a door that was already closed to him.

I’ll admit, for some people, an aggressive sales person may win out in the end, but at what cost?

It seems like it’s the rare sales person that tries to determine whether a customer is even open to a sale. I would put several factors under being open to a sale including interest, financial and approach.

Interest

Has the customer expressed any interest whatsoever in your product? Are you assuming they’re interested? Why waste time trying to sell someone a product they have zero interest in or use for? Are you trying to sell them the wrong product based on you assumptions?

For example, say you sell backyard playground equipment. You spot a woman walking near by, you approach her and before she has a chance to say no, she’s not interested, you launch into your spiel. By the time you finish she’s flustered by your approach and frustrated by you wasting her time, especially as she doesn’t have kids.

Believe it or not, I see this sales approach happen a lot. Yes, you could argue that every person you come in contact with is a potential customer either now or in the future, but if you start off on the wrong foot with them, they will remember the less than positive experience they had with you more than your product.

Financial

Can they afford your product? Are they willing to spend what your product costs? Are they even the decision maker? Are they still narrowing down their options?

Now, I’m not saying you should pass judgment on whether or not a potential customer can afford your product based on looking at them. You’d be surprised how often you can be wrong using that as a factor. But simply asking questions to determine whether your product might be a good fit for them will give you valuable insight, especially as many customers may be able to afford to spend the amount you want, but they’re not open to doing so.

Approach

Personally, I think this is one of the most important factors. Personally, I don’t like overly push salesman. If the product is good, it will sell itself. Patronizing me won’t get you a sale. Ignoring no soliciting signs probably isn’t going to start you off on the right foot. Interupting a conversation to try and sell your product probably won’t get you far although many mall cell phone salesman seem to think otherwise.

As I said, sales is a hard job, but why make it harder for yourself by not qualifying your customers with a few questions and tailoring your approach to fit the customer and the situation?

Getting Familiar with Mitsubishi

Posted on September 19, 2010May 5, 2015 by MD

The first step in my search was to start visiting car manufacturer websites. I decided to focus my attention first on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (EVO) as it’s one of the few cars on my list that is currently available.

My initial impression of the Mitsubishi website (once I found the correct URL) is favorable, although I will admit I had to resort to a search engine to find it. It’s mitsubishicars.com if you’re interested.

It’s simple, well laid-out and intuitive.

It’s easy to find the information you want from many different avenues and in a variety of formats. There’s plenty of photos and videos for those who want more visual stimuli, there’s plenty of specs for those who want the facts. They also make it easy to compare the various models within each make.

Now the important part. How functional is the build your own model aspect of the website.

I’ve narrowed it down to the EVO model and click that I want to build my own. It next asks me what trim level I want. I have four options: the GSR, SE, MR, MR Touring. The photo, price and description changes as I click on each option. This is very good as your customer may not quite remember which trim package they were liking the best and this provides a reminder without taking up a lot of valuable real estate.

After selecting the model, you are asked to select the color. It’s a small thing, but the color changes on the photo as I click each option.

As a consumer, this is something I really want. Yes, some people know exactly what color car they want because it’s their favorite color, others pick a color they think looks best on the car, and others will pick when they’re at the dealership. Regardless of how they pick a car color, it’s important for the consumer to see their option. If you have the default as yellow and I want a black car but am forced to see the yellow car every time I make a choice, I may abandon the process before I finish. Yes, believe it or not, many consumers are that finicky. Not only that, but if I’m building “My Car” than it should reflect the options I’ve selected.

I am next taken to the Packages and Accessories page. This is an area that could be slightly more user friendly. You click next to any options you want and it selects them. The name and price are listed as well as a spot you can click to pull up a description and/or picture. However, most car companies offer many of these options either separately or as a package, yet no package deals are listed. Not all of the options have photos, and some are only photos without a description. The price keeps a running total as options are added and subtracted.

Finally, you’re given a run down of everything you’ve selected and given the option of printing it, or requesting a quote. Upon inputting your zip code, you are able to select a dealership. As a consumer, I very much like the option of being able to select which dealership my information is sent to rather than it automatically being sent to my “closest” one because maybe I’ve had experience with a particular dealership in the past and may or may not want to do business with them again. Or perhaps, I would want a dealership close to work instead of home or for some other reason. Either way, consumers like choices.

As part of the information request process, Mitsubishi requests (although they don’t require) your current vehicle make and model. No big deal right? I select my year and then my make. But when I get to the model selection, I run into a hitch. Apparently the Mitsubishi marketing department only thinks those Ford drivers interested in the EVO drive cars. There isn’t a single option for any of the Ford SUVs or trucks. The only options that aren’t currently visible are the Thunderbird and Crown Victoria (which interestingly enough isn’t in alphabetical order like the rest of the options).

Some may say so what? But this is actually rather important. All marketing departments should be aware of and abide by the GIGO principal. (Garbage In, Garbage Out). If you’re taking the time to request the information, you want it to be correct and useful. By not offering all options, you’re forcing your customer to either select a different vehicle, or not provide you the information at all. If the information you’re requesting is so unimportant that you don’t care if your customer doesn’t answer it, or provides you with incorrect information, than why are you asking it? You’re wasting your consumer’s time and yours, not to mention you’re getting inaccurate information which is basically useless.

Now comes the fun part. It has been my experience that many dealerships try to automate as much of the next step via email and drive you nuts with phone calls. I will be curious to see how Quality Mitsubishi (my chosen dealership) handles me.

What “Dry Erase Board Girl” Can Teach You About Marketing

Posted on August 11, 2010May 5, 2015 by MD

If you have no idea who Dry Erase Board Girl is, click here first. You can find her follow up to it here.

1. It doesn’t have to be fancy

33 photos that appear to be taken in someone’s living room were engaging and got the point across. Not only did it get the point across, it made it easy to share (and boy did people share it) because you could view it from just about anywhere whether you were using a computer or a smart phone.

2. It needs to resonate

While some people are upset over this not being real, most are still okay with it. Many people suspected it was a hoax before it was announced but still shared it. Why? Because it resonated with them. Who hasn’t worked at a job where they wish they could quit like this despite the repercussions?

3. Yes, sex sells, but it can still be subtle

Would this have gone viral if it were a cute guy instead of a cute girl? Probably not. But it also didn’t take a mostly (or completely) naked girl either. Yes, there is a photo of her in a tank and short shorts highlighting her HPOAness, however, the remainder are a head shot and a dry erase board. One thing I’ve heard over and over is how great the actresses’ expressions are. Proving just how powerful a smile can be.

4. Keep it real

While the situation itself may not have been real, the concept was, as well as the actress. Going back to the sex sells point, they could’ve hired someone who looked like a Playboy Centerfold or a model, but they went with someone who was more girl next door. Why? Any of those descriptions would have fit in with the HPOA quitting frustration. Because it would have taken this into the realm of over the top and wouldn’t have resonated as strongly with the audience. Most people know someone or might even be someone like Elyse Porterfield. It added to the realness of it.

5. It needs to fit your goals

The big marketing cliché lately is taking something viral. But… why? Why do you want or need something to go viral? Unfortunately, too few marketers can answer that, or answer beyond a mass marketing mentality.

Does Viral=Sales? Sometimes. Does Viral=Money? Maybe. Does Viral=Branding? Sometimes.

See a trend here? Nobody can accurately predict what will or won’t work 100% of the time.

For TheChive.com, which describes itself as “Probably the Best Site in the World”, the goal more than likely was to drive traffic and probably subscriptions. You know what? I bet they succeeded.

What Opportunities are You Overlooking?

Posted on April 13, 2010May 5, 2015 by MD

Twitter is often cited as a great new marketing tool that truly brings one-to-one marketing to the forefront.

But truly, what good is this tool if you don’t really use it?

A few months ago I was looking into getting a new cellular phone, and as there were so many fantastic new options, I really wasn’t sure what I wanted to get. Knowing what a fantastic resource Twitter can be, I asked my network what phones they had and what they liked or disliked about them. As I already have two iPods, my only requirement was no iPhones.

As expected, I got lots of terrific feedback from a wide variety of people. But guess who I didn’t hear a word from? A single person in the mobile industry.

This would have been a great opportunity for Palm and Sprint to jump into the conversation if not to put their two cents in, than to thank their customers who were speaking so highly of their products. Or for T-Mobile to jump in to keep me as a customer, or Verizon to try and steal me away as I was no longer under contract.

Plenty of opportunities presented themselves all the way from the store level to the mobile brand to the cellular carrier, but not a single person took advantage of them. Needless to say after three days of conversations on Twitter, I made my choice which I’m happy with.

Recently I was surprised to actually have a company do on Twitter exactly what too few companies take the time to do.

The Toronto Rock saw my tweet regarding a specific product of theirs I thought I was out of luck on and responded with a direct link to it on their website.

(Well, at least the closest thing to it as the specific item I was lamenting was a game worn jersey auctioned off for charity.)

The result? They made a sale.

It doesn’t matter how niche or mainstream your product is, plenty of opportunities exist if you’re genuinely willing to take the time to not only search them out, but respond to them individually in a way that shows you actually are paying attention and not just searching specific keywords regardless of context.

Think You Can Automate Your Marketing?

Posted on March 3, 2010May 5, 2015 by MD

With the growth of social media, many companies want to get involved, but don’t really want to divert resources to these untested areas. Often, companies set them up and forget about it, or they try to keep it active by passively automating it. After all, why should you pay for someone to manage your social media when you can automate it?

I need to point out that I don’t believe this Twitter page is associated with the Levi’s brand as they list their twitter account as Levisguy on their home page, however, it is associating itself with the Levi’s brand and regardless of its legitimacy, provides an effective example.

Learning from your customers

Posted on October 8, 2009May 5, 2015 by MD

Do you know how your customers use your product? It seems like a simple answer to a dumb question, but sometimes, those are the ones that you have an iceberg of an answer for. Companies are often surprised to learn how differently customers use their products from how or what they intended. Sometimes of course, this results in new legal warnings, but other times, the company is actually able to learn something.

Samsung’s new DualView line of digital cameras is a great example of what can happen when you pay attention to your customers. When camera’s were still film reliant, consumers did whatever they could to make sure every picture was a winner because otherwise they were wasting money developing bad pictures. Digital cameras of course have changed that. Consumers are a lot less likely to worry about pictures not coming out because it no longer matters if it takes one time or ten times to get the shot. The arm length self-portrait shot has become commonplace, but as many people complain, it’s often difficult to get the shot you want unless you’re willing to take several shots. This is where Samsung has paid attention and gotten innovative. To be honest, I can’t believe it took this long for one of the camera companies to do this, nor do I think it will be alone on the market for long. What Samsung has done is put a small screen on the front of the camera so you can see what you’re actually taking a picture of if you’re taking a self portrait. They have some additional features that you can use the front screen for, but this is a big one.

Are you listening to your customers?

Analyzing Yahoo’s Know Your Mojo

Posted on August 14, 2009May 5, 2015 by MD

To promote their new homepage, Yahoo has released a fun little flash site that analyzes your public tweets and tells you what kind of tweeter you are. Whether or not it’s accurate it is up to debate, but it is some simple fun. You can check it out here.

While this has the potential to go viral, the bigger question remains….is it effective?

First up is the home page:

I think Yahoo did a good job with the landing page. It’s not overly cluttered with graphics or text and is very easy to figure out what to do. Plus it’s simple. You enter your user name and click the “Gimme Mojo”. They don’t require you to register, nor that you have a Yahoo account to use it. This is good because more people will play with it and tell their friends because there is a very low involvement factor.

I also like how they’ve incorporated the Yahoo purple, and have the Yahoo name twice, one in conjunction with advertising the new Yahoo home page. As a user, I appreciate how unobtrusive their logos are, however, the page is definitely designed so that your attention is immediately drawn to the center making it very easy to overlook Yahoo’s involvement completely.

Next we’ll look at the results page:

Again, we have the Yahoo purple and the same size & placement for the logos as on the home page. On the left, you get a cute description of your tweeting style. As you can see, I’m a Name Dropper. On the right side, Yahoo offers suggestions for websites you can add to their new home page that might suit your mojo style. Is this effective? I think it could be very hit or miss. If their suggestions really are a good fit for you, then there’s a good chance you’ll check out their new homepage. If not, you may be less likely. However, here, I know I am already slightly biased. I might be in the minority, but I don’t use MSN, Yahoo or Google as an all encompassing home page. I would be very interested ot hear what others think on this.

The Share Mojo button is nicely prominent, however, in my opinion, should have been larger than the try another username button. When you click on it, this is what you get:

Yahoo makes it very easy for people to share this on either Twitter or Facebook with the message short and to the point with a personalized bit.ly link. I especially like the bit.ly link. Not only are they tracking the traffic directly from it, they’re making it possible for others to go to the bit.ly site and see how much it’s been clicked on. (As of this post, it was currently at 15,117 Total Clicks, mostly from the U.S.) You can also see who’s tweeting about it using the link. Want to check out the stats? Click here or put http://bit.ly/knowmojo+ into your browser.

Finally, After you’ve received your result, Yahoo makes it easy to see what the other mojo types are, and what they mean. The only thing I don’t like about this page is it’s inaccessible directly. Most people won’t want to go back through it to figure out what their friend’s mojo results mean.

Overall, I think this is a fun promotion by Yahoo, but don’t expect it to last more than a few days. It definitely has the potential to go viral, but whether or not it will help their new home page is yet to be seen.

What do you think? Is Yahoo’s Know Your Mojo promotion effective for their new homepage?