Why Your Advertising May Not Be Working

I ran across a great article on why your advertising may not be working: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2009/sb20090911_201004.htm It's especially relevant for small business.

Believe in What You're Selling; Sell What You Believe In

There's a small family-owned deli in our neighborhood that specializes in very high-quality foods.  Janet and I like to go in there just to smell the variety of aromas that waft through the air.  They import exotic cheeses and meats from obscure producers in the farthest corners of the world.  It's fun just to read the labels, even if we're not willing to splurge on an expensive treat.  This deli also offers reasonably priced soups and sandwiches for lunch.  We went there for lunch last week and they had two special sandwiches; a crab roll and a pulled-pork sandwich.  I'm a sucker for barbeque and I thought, if this place is selling it, it must be good.  I asked the owner about it and he said, "Well, we're not a "real" barbeque joint, but it's the best we could do.  It's okay."  He actually talked me out of ordering it.  Janet, however, ordered it and shared a bite with me.  It was delicious and I wish I'd ordered it.  When I challened the owner on his description, he said he was just trying to be honest about it.  I certainly appreciate honesty, but I wonder why he even offered it for sale if he didn't believe in it and, if he was going to offer it for sale anyway, why not come up with a positive (and honest) description.  For example, instead of saying what it's not, he could have said what it is:  "Our pulled-pork sandwich is a fresh, tender roll piled high with slightly spicy, slightly smokey shredded pork.  I really like it and we sell a lot of them."  See the difference?  It's the same sandwich, it's definitely not being oversold, but I'd certainly buy one off of the second description.  The first description, however, made me not only avoid the barbeque, but it even made me question the quality of the rest of their food.  If you feel the need to make excuses for what you're selling, don't offer it for sale.  If you're going to offer it for sale, describe it accurately and in a positive light.  Your customers come to you because they already believe in you and your business.  Always reinforce their decision to do business with you.

Make Your Email Newsletter Easy to Open and Read

In my life, I try to focus on the positive. You know...concentrate on what I want instead of what I don't want. It seems like, lately in this blog, I've been focusing on negative things...things you shouldn't do instead of things you should do. Frankly, that's because lately I've seen email marketers doing a lot of simple things wrong. Here's another one: When you send out email newsletters, focus on the contents instead of the container. I just received a newsletter that came as a PDF attachment to an email. I read most of my email on my phone. PDF readers on phones are clunky at best and, for all practical purposes, unusable. That meant I had to get to my computer to open it up (yawn) and read it. In today's world, most people are not concerned with pretty graphics and layout; they're interested in what you have to say. In other words, they're a lot more interested in the contents of your message than in the container that delivers it. If you feel that you must produce a fancy, graphics-intensive newsletter, knock yourself out, but please include a plain ol' text version (not an attachment) for those of us (an increasingly large number) who want to read it on the run...or risk losing us as subscribers.

Another Dumb Thing Email Marketers Do

It's not actually what they do, it's what they don't do. I just unsubscribed from a newsletter. I would have preferred to just change my email address, but they didn't give me that option. So, I unsubscribed. I clicked the unsubscribe link in the email and immediately received a confirmation that I was unsubscribed. There was no request to confirm my unsubscribe, no option to resubscribe just in case I had unsubscribed in error, and worst of all there was no opportunity for me to explain why I chose to unsubscribe. Every unsubscribe page should give your soon-to-be-former subscriber an oppportunity to tell you why they unsubscribed. Geez! In today's world, we need all of the customer intelligence we can get. Often, all you have to do is ask and they'll tell you what they think. Your customers' opinions are really the only ones that matter.

Here's what I think is going on: I think those of us who use email to communicate with our customers and prospects are so scared of being called spammers that we sometimes go to ridiculous extremes to avoid that label. Look, there's a big gulf between permission-based email marketing and spamming. If you're following CAN-SPAM, you're not spamming. Sure, you'll occasionally get a complaint from someone on a high-horse who doesn't remember subscribing to your list, but the reality is that permission-based email communication is much more socially responsible than flooding postal mailboxes with paper, it's more financially responsible to your shareholders, and when done ethically and properly, it's much more customer-friendly than postal mail. The key here is "permission-based" email communications. As long as that's what you're doing, make it easy for your customers not only to unsubscribe, but also to communicate with you as to their preferences, their email addresses, and their reasons for unsubscribing.

Are You Losing Subscribers Unnecessarily?

This morning, I've been trying to clean up my email subscriptions. Sure, I've been doing some unsubscribes, but mainly I've been trying to separate my business subscriptions from my personal subscriptions. I've been moving personal subscriptions from my business email address and vice versa. I'm amazed at how many places don't make it easy to just change my email address. All legitimate emailers make it easy to unsubscribe...usually a single-click unsubscribe link is at the bottom of the email. The smart email marketers also include a single-click link to update your personal information. The dumb ones just give you an unsubscribe option, so guess what? I unsubscribed when really all I wanted to do was change my email address. Be smart: Make it really easy for your customers and potential customers to manage their relationship with you. Allow them to easily modify their preferences. Express your appreciation for everything they do. Customers are smart and they deserve credit for being smart. If you don't make it simple for them to get what they want, they'll find someone else who will.

Computer Troubleshooting for the Non-Geek

Wow, I can't believe I've been absent from this blog for so long. I'll try not to let that happen again.

My friend Pam is going through what I call "compu-trauma". She is a successful small business operator who contracted with a local firm to provide I.T. services. To make a long story short, they dropped the ball and left her with a system that was non-functional. Over the last few weeks, I've been helping her put the pieces back together again. Her dilmena casts a sharp focus on the challenges faced by small business people and independent workers in dealing with technology in the workplace. My role in her life (and perhaps yours, too) is not the be the "go-to I.T. guy", but to empower her to use technology to the max without having to be a geek. In order for anyone to do that, s/he must be willing to embrace the technology, do quite a bit of homework, and make backups.

The rest of this post is copied from an email I sent to her.

This link will take you to an excellent article for people who use computers. It's about troubleshooting. Through an understanding of troubleshooting, we gain a better understanding of our computers.

View article...

As you read it, accept the fact that some of the information might be more technical than you’d prefer. Just skip over that stuff and use the information in it that makes sense. Just like your car, there are aspects of a computer’s care and maintenance that you want to leave to a technician, but there are also aspects of its care and maintenance that you can do yourself. The specifics vary by individual. For example, some people are limited to checking the air in their tires while some people can overhaul engines. Most people fall somewhere in between those two extremes. Same with computers. Regardless, the more knowledge you have of how the car operates, the better performance you’ll get out of it and the same applies to computers.

Finding a Guru when You Need One

One of the biggest challenges of being a small business person is finding support for the things you want to do. In a large corporation, there's usually some department staffed with subject matter experts on commonly needed areas of expertise. When you're a small business operator, however, you sometimes feel all alone in the world. (Sob!) Sure, there are forums, blogs, and Google, but often you don't have time to spend researching a particular topic to find just the right answer. I've often been more than willing to pay someone for help, just so I won't have to spend a lot of time on some problem. There are several websites that are designed to help you find a guru. The one that I've used from time-to-time is www.guru.com (appropriately). The cool thing about guru.com and similiar sites is that they're reputation-based. In other words, like E-Bay, you can look at the reputation of the expert and read other clients' reviews of his/her work before you make a commitment. They even offer an escrow service where funds aren't released until you're satisfied. Experts are available in many different categories ranging from finance and accounting to legal to I.T.