All of us here at Callis are challenged each year to come up with three words to focus on that will hopefully bring clarity and inspiration to both our work and our personal lives.
The three that I have chosen to focus on for the year are: Spontaneous, Creative and Positive.
To be or not to be spontaneous, that is the real question, indeed. It’s not that I have to have everything planned out and perfect, nor am I a “Type A” personality. I do however tend to gravitate towards those characteristics more than I like to let on. My focus for the year is to not only be spontaneous myself, but to also encourage others around me to do the same. Our office is highly efficient and operates on a fairly intensive work schedule day in and day out. My focus and intention behind being more spontaneous is to create a more enjoyable environment for all. Knowing that each person in this office is unique in their own way and defines spontaneity differently, it is my goal to reach out to each one of them both individually and collectively to do things impulsively that will allow them to go home at the end of the day and say to their families, “Wow, I didn’t expect or have that scheduled to do today, but it sure was AWESOME!”
Creative is a word that I carried over from my list of words from last year. It is my opinion that this is something that one can always work towards. In our industry, we are continually challenged to be creative, whether it is visual, thoughtful or verbal. By focusing on creative as one of my three words, my goal is to spend more time concentrating not only on office creative projects, but to be more aware of my surroundings. You never know how something going on in the world will translate into a possible opportunity for our clients and our agency. This year, I don’t want to just come up with one creative idea, I want to come up with several really creative ideas!
My third word is to challenge myself to be more positive. It’s easy to get caught up in the everyday shuffle of life, be it personal or work. With a quick step back, a deep breath in, and a quiet minute alone, it’s amazing how much energy can be saved. Let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger so I should start saving up what extra energy I have! My goal is to be positive and supportive of my colleagues. My position requires me to work closely with every person in the office on a daily basis. Everyone handles situations differently. I want to help everyone stay positive and upbeat, even when we’re under the stress of deadlines.
Repeat after me, Spontaneous, Creative and Positive. Remember what’s important.
If you are involved in the shooting sports industry, especially as a member of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), and you follow the industry through any of the various traditional or digital media outlets, then you know what everybody’s been talking about for the past several months; that’s right, the SHOT Show. SHOT is the largest trade show of its kind in the world, showcasing products and services offered by manufacturers and distributors representing the firearms, ammunition, hunting and outdoor sports industries. So when did this SHOT Show conversation start? Right after the 2011 SHOT Show ended.
A year ago, the NSSF started including 2012 SHOT Show information on their website - www.nssf.com and later began tweeting via the NSSF Twitter account and posting to their Facebook page. Articles in the various NSSF publications started appearing that guided readers to the NSSF site to find more SHOT Show information. All through the year, the NSSF included SHOT Show information in their digital newsletter going out to NSSF members. This digital format allowed hyperlinks for the reader to access specific articles on the NSSF site. Exhibitors and attendees began talking about the 2012 SHOT Show with Tweets and Facebook posts beginning soon after the 2011 show ended.
As the SHOT Show date approached, the NSSF ramped up its use of social media to keep its members and attendees informed about the show, making frequent posts to the SHOT Show Blog and providing Twitter updates. A SHOT Show Mobile App was also introduced, allowing those attending the show the opportunity to plan their show in advance, and have quick reference to their schedule, the show booth directory and appointments, all on their smart phone. Through digital media, attendees were able to receive pre-show reports on products to be introduced at the show. From these on-line wire services, attendees were also able to link to specific manufacturer’s sites to view these new products before the show.
When the SHOT Show began, over 800 registered bloggers took to the exhibit floor, reviewing all that was new and writing their reviews. Most of these blog posts were published that day. For attendees, the Tweets continued every day of the show, and these attendees could follow the comments on “Twitterfall” screens placed throughout the venue. With their SHOT Show App in hand, attendees could tour over 1,600 exhibit booths and see first-hand all the new introductions they had been hearing about in blogs and on web sites for months.
The 2012 SHOT Show is now over, but the talking continues. As industry print publications begin to compile their SHOT Show issues to come out in the months ahead, digital wire services, blogs, websites, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are buzzing with talk about what some say was the most successful SHOT Show in history. Whether you measure success by attendance, orders written or media articles filed, talk about the 2013 SHOT Show will keep the conversation moving. Congratulations to the NSSF on a successful show and effective use of both print and digital media - job well done. More SHOT Show information can be found at nssf.org. Dates for the 2013 SHOT Show are January 15-18 in Las Vegas. See you there.
At the start of each year, I challenge our associates here at Callis to come up with three words that they can use to bring clarity to their work in the coming months. We even include those words in their annual performance goals. I do the same and I use those words as a daily reminder of what I should be focusing on. It’s easy in today’s world to be attracted by shiny objects, distracted by everything going on around you and lose focus. Hopefully, these words can help you remember what’s important.
My 3 words this year are Awesome, Believe and Create, ala the A, B, C’s.
I was re-introduced to the word Awesome at BOLO, a digital marketing conference I went to last fall. I think I stopped using the word back in the 90’s. Awesome was a key point that one of the speakers made when discussing content creation. In a company’s web presence, content is king. It’s what gives a company personality and ammunition for distribution to their audiences through a variety of marketing channels. It also drives search engine performance. The key point made was, don’t put any content out there unless it’s awesome. Everybody already has too much information to consume. So, if you really want to be read and respected for your content, make it Awesome. I couldn’t agree more, but I’m taking Awesome to the next level. My focus is to make Awesome a part of everything I do and everything our agency does for our clients and ourselves. How can we make our marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive programs more Awesome? How can we generate more Awesome results? How can we get our clients to say, “that’s Awesome”! We’re going to make it happen.
My second word is Believe. I have always believed that anything is possible and that idea was reinforced to me through the St. Louis Cardinals World Series victory. (Now that was Awesome). It’s come up again recently with Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos. No, Denver didn’t make it through the playoffs but it’s amazing they got as far as they did. Regardless of what you think about Tim Tebow, he is a winner. He Believes that he can win every game, every time, and that’s contagious. You have to admire that. So, I’m never going to stop Believing that good things are going to happen. I’m going to continue to Believe in myself, my associates, and in the work we do for your clients. I’m going to Believe that we can make a positive difference, and we will.
My third word is Create. Sure, I work in a creative industry and I do want to Create strategic, clever and effective ideas for our clients this year. Moreover, I want to Create other things. I want to continue to Create real value in what we do for our clients. I want to Create even greater success for our agency. I want to Create opportunities for our associates to grow and excel and share in the success. I want to Create win-win relationships. I want to Create a couple of new brands this year that will build real equity in the coming years. One of the most exciting things about business today is that you can Create great things from nothing more than an idea. I want to Create “great things”.
So, that’s my focus for this year. What’s yours?
My personal email inbox probably looks much like yours: a few emails from friends, a larger group of emails I’ve subscribed to, and spam - lots of it. Doreen, Azzie, and Elnore - ladies I don’t know - want to tell me about Lasik eye surgery, sell me Apple iPads for $30.00 (right!), and supply pills designed to improve my marriage.
Nearly everyone ignores spam or moves them to the trash… but not everyone. Successful spammers generate a lot of cash. How do they succeed at something that is universally despised?
I don’t like spam, but I’ve learned to pay attention to it. Some spammer knowledge can easily be applied to legitimate marketing campaigns. Here are a few things that they know:
Bigger is Better. Spammers might send a million emails to get one customer. Fortunately, your customer list should be more interested in your product than the spam they receive, but the concept is still valid. The time spent developing an offer concept, email copy, and landing page won’t vary much whether the email goes out to 100 or 100,000. Economies of scale are at work. And with 1% being a good conversion rate in many legit markets, a large database of qualified email addresses is a must.
If you aren’t yet collecting email addresses for every customer and prospect, start doing that today. There are also sources of legitimate lists for people who have opted in to offers for a particular type of product – often in conjunction with a magazine subscription.
Spam Filters Must Be Avoided. Email can’t be opened if it doesn’t reach the inbox, so spammers must go to great lengths to evade the spam filters. Legitimate marketers must avoid having their emails misidentified as spam as well. A misworded offer (”free shipping” or “money back guarantee”) can land your email in spam purgatory – even if it’s sent to your best customer. Close attention needs to be paid to spam filter rules as your message is designed.
You Have to Stand Out. Once your email reaches the inbox, how can you increase the chance that it will be noticed and opened?
First, your business name should appear in the From field. If it reads sales@yourcompany.com or Abigail, it looks like spam.
Next, the email Subject should be concise and compelling. Long subject lines don’t get read. Senders of viruses are as adept as spammers at providing a compelling subject. I recently received a virus email (falsely claiming to be from the Better Business Bureau) with the attention-grabbing subject, “Your Customer’s Complaint”. The familiar organization name, combined with a subject line that spoke to something important to me (customer service) earned them a click, though I didn’t fall for the bait of downloading the attached document (surely a virus).
You Must Get the Click. To be truthful, I don’t find much that’s useful to talk about in the body of spam emails. This is their weak spot (once they get past the spam filter). Legitimate marketers need to use the email to move their reader from the point of being curious about the offer to clicking through to the website. It requires a strong, clear call to action. The reader needs to visit your website today. It’s unlikely that they’ll return to your email later. If there’s a necessary coupon code, repeat it on the landing page, and tell them when and where they’ll need to enter it. Once they arrive at your website landing page, repeat the offer, provide more details, and guide them through what to do next. Make it so easy they don’t have to think.
Stick to it. Spammers send again and again. Sometimes they repeat their offer, sometimes they change it up. It’s called “persistence”! As a legit marketer, you’ll want to send email campaign follow-up(s) - perhaps a week later at a different time of the day. Repeating the offer and following up with new future offers will get people into the habit of seeing your emails. They’ll know what they look like and (if they have an interest) be more likely to click through as a result. The frequency of your emails may vary based on industry. I welcome one daily email (for a discounted watch of the day), but if I received emails in the same frequency from a local restaurant, I would unsubscribe within the week.
It’s easy to simply write off spam as undesirable and ignore it. But there are lessons to be learned. Understanding spam can have hidden benefits, and refocus us on what is good about our own email campaigns – as well as what needs work. How do you intend to put email marketing to work for you in 2012?
Your time is valuable so we know we have to give you value in our blog if you’re going to invest your time to read it. Callistetics is targeted to marketing and business people on both the client and the agency side. Our goal is to give you relevant, useful and timely content that might help you do your job even better. Each member of our agency contributes so you get a variety of perspectives from executives, account management, creatives and technology. Topics which we write about are also varied so they appeal to a broad group of readers working in different levels of positions in different industries. But it’s all focused on marketing. To reflect the diversity of our content, we’re using this post to publish our Tag Cloud of topics. Check it out. It shows where we’ve focused on messages in the past. Going forward, you’ll continue to see valuable content that we hope will have a positive effect on your business. That’s the key. Are our blogs speaking to you? What other topics would you like to see us discuss? Let me know.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I’m a working mom with a one-year old and we live an hour from the nearest mall, so I don’t have a lot of opportunities for shopping trips. I also have 17 family members on my gift list so I do A LOT of online shopping. However, I rarely buy if I’m not getting free shipping. So if you have a shopping cart on your website and are offering “deals,” make sure you make the experience easy and follow through on what you’re promoting.
Here are a couple of recent encounters I’ve had. I’ve purposely not used actual website or brands because it’s not necessary to make my point. My biggest upset/experience started with a new product I read about last spring in Parents Magazine. It was a case that fits your iPhone so that your toddler could play with it but not press the home button. There are all kinds of learning apps available for the iPhone and my daughter loves to mess with my phone so when I saw it mentioned in the new product section of the magazine, I immediately went to the website that was listed. Guess what? It was nowhere to be found on the site and no mention of it coming soon….NOTHING! Later on, I checked the site another time or two and gave up after another mom said she heard it wasn’t coming out for a while. That’s poor PR for the product brand and the website.
A few weeks ago, I received a catalog in the mail and guess what; there was the case, and only $15! I went back to the website and noticed a 20% off everything offer for whatever you put in your “sleigh”. Right below that it says free shipping on orders of $75 or more! I have several kids to buy for and prices are looking the same or better than what I can get in the retail stores so I decided to get some shopping done, save 20% and get free shipping! Or so I thought.
I fill my sleigh and go to check out. I’m around the $76 range but it’s not showing the free shipping so I go back to the home page and re-read to make sure I understand the offers. I think I do, so I call customer service. The first person I speak with takes down my order and asks some questions then passes me to the next person. I then gave the next lady my story (and my email). She was nice but quickly said the website must say 20% off OR free shipping. I read the home page to her (which doesn’t say that) and she says there is nothing she can do but pass my comments along. I tell her it’s my first time to their site and it wasn’t a good experience (forgetting that I had been to the site months ago for the product I saw in the magazine). After figuring out that I would still get a better deal on these items if I buy online, I decide to move forward with my order. When I do, I get a handy little note that says I can add another $15 of merchandise and it won’t change my shipping so I decide to add another gift that I can check off my list. After I add this last $15 item, my shipping charges change to $0. Apparently, the offer was for free shipping with $75 after discounts were applied. Obviously the customer service person didn’t know this nor did I find it anywhere on the website.
My point of this story is to make sure your website and shopping cart are user friendly and that you follow through with what you’re promoting. Just think of all the promotional dollars that are spent to bring me to this website, only to have me frustrated and disappointed - then further aggravated by an uninformed customer service representative. And, don’t promote a product in a magazine until you have it available for sale. All in all, I was very disappointed with this shopping experience and even though I did make a purchase, it has changed my perception of this brand…and that is worth a lot.
Is there a hotter product category than Smart Phones and tablets? There’s certainly no hotter product from a marketer’s perspective. Mobile devices have outsold PCs for more than a year. Walker Sands’ new Q3 Web Traffic Report says that mobile accounts for more than 10% of all web traffic – way up from last year. Mobile Apps are flowing into app stores at a faster pace each day. Marketers are scrambling to adjust their strategies to meet the needs of these new mobile, connected consumers. Beyond discussions of QR Codes and SMS short codes, one question I’m hearing frequently is “Do we need to build a mobile app?”
It’s an important and timely question. Typically, the real question being asked is, “Do we need to cater to mobile users?” Given mobile’s growth rate I say, almost without exception, “Yes!”
So how should you cater to mobile users? The simple answer is, “either through a mobile website or a mobile application.” But before we go there, let’s define the mobile options:
• Mobile-friendly website: Your current website, cleaned up for mobile. Mobile-friendly implies only a minimally functional site on a mobile browser: no broken elements. For example, a finger (not a mouse) makes selections on a smart phone. So, Websites that require mouse-overs to trigger submenus are not mobile-friendly.
• Mobile-optimized website: A website designed specifically for a mobile device. These are normally alternates to primary sites, with content and presentation adjustments to improve the mobile user experience. Chunky, easy-to-click buttons replace small, hyperlinked text. Mobile users need quick access to specific content, so the key is to provide easy navigation to the content, and then present it in an easy-to-consume manner. This ease of use distinguishes mobile- optimized websites from lesser mobile-friendly websites.
• Mobile app: Mobile apps bypass the web, providing an actual program that resides on the phone or tablet. In many cases, that program reaches out over the Internet to pull information from a server, meaning content can stay fresh. Mobile apps are written for a specific mobile OS (think Android or Apple’s iOS, for example).
• Mobile web app: These are emerging as alternatives to “traditional” mobile apps. The W3C defines web apps as “a Web page … or collection of Web pages … which use server-side or client-side processing … to provide an application-like experience within a Web browser.” Tools like HTML5 provide the sophistication and functionality to allow web apps to function like a traditional mobile app, but remain platform independent (i.e., you can use the same mobile web app on an iPhone or an Android-based phone).
The remainder of this post will focus on comparing the two options that get the most attention today: mobile-optimized websites and mobile apps. How do you know which one makes the most sense for you? Start with this frame of mind: only create a mobile app if there is a specific need. There are plenty of times where an actual mobile app fits the bill, but (as you’ll see) it shouldn’t necessarily be the first thing you consider.
Reach - A mobile-optimized application will work on any smart-phone. It will also many times work on older “feature phones” with their built-in browser or the Opera mini-browser. A mobile app, on the other hand, is designed to the operating system of a specific phone. As of October, 2011, the market is split among five operating systems (Google’s Android, Apple’s iOS, RIM’s Blackberry OS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone, and Nokia’s Symbian), with no single OS controlling more than 50% of the market. That means that if you’re going to develop a mobile app, you’ll have to develop, support, and maintain apps for more than one OS, or immediately turn away at least half of your potential users.
Use – Mobile sites are great for delivering basic information. Mobile sites fit nicely for restaurants, theatres and events, and other retail- and consumer product-oriented businesses. On the other hand, companies that provide services (such as financial or travel services) – especially services that would require or benefit from individualized information being loaded to the local device (for future reference, for example) or applications that might need to take advantage of the mobile devices local features (camera, GPS, gyroscope, etc) will typically need the local computing power that a mobile app allows.
Re-purposing of Content – If you’ve built a website using a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, the real “meat” of your site – the valuable content you provide – can easily be re-purposed in the web-optimized version of the site, without having to enter any new information. Updating or editing both the main site and mobile site content can then be done all at once. By contrast, a mobile app will typically need access to its own content, which creates additional work necessary to update the app for each of the mobile OS versions.
Frequency – A mobile app is always just a touch or two away from the user, making it very convenient for users who will want to access the app frequently. Mobile-optimized sites don’t enjoy the same “at the tip of your fingertips” access by default, though shortcuts can be placed on a mobile home screen (with varying degrees of effort, based on the version of the mobile operating system).
Visibility – Is it important that mobile Internet users find your content when they do a Google search? If so, it needs to be incorporated into a mobile-optimized website. Content exclusive to mobile apps is not indexed by the search engines.
Cost – It’s always dangerous to talk in general terms about costs. That said, developing a mobile site is relatively inexpensive – typically 50-80% of the cost of a similar “full site” developed from scratch, and perhaps less, especially if CMS-managed content from an original site can be repurposed for mobile. On the other hand, developing mobile apps – particularly custom mobile apps – can be quite expensive. Multiplying that expense is a need to build to multiple OS’s unless you can justify reaching just one segment of the overall mobile market.
Conclusion: While there is no one single answer to the original question of whether a mobile site or a mobile app is the right choice for your specific needs, the considerations above will help guide you toward the answer that is right for you. As you consider the options, keep in mind that a solution to your specific needs may require a hybrid. You may require a mobile app to meet the needs of a specific project along with the ease of use that a mobile-optimized website would provide to a more general audience. Either way, the key is to start thinking mobile. It’s where the action is, and its importance will only continue to grow over time.
At the start of the year, I challenged each one of our associates to come up with three words that they would focus on in 2011; three words that would give them direction and a reference point for things that they should be accomplishing professionally. I did the same thing. My three words are Appreciate, Inspire and Market - AIM.
Over the past few months, I’ve kept these words on my desk and I look at them every day. As I sat and thought about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, I realized that this was a good time to reflect back upon AIM.
I have a lot to be thankful for and I am truly Appreciative of my family, my friends and those who do good things for others. In business, I appreciate our clients who trust us and partner with us to help them build their businesses and their brands. Thank You for our relationship. I appreciate our associates who are dedicated to helping our agency be successful, whether that be the Account Supervisor who strategizes for our clients, the Creative Associates who come up with great ideas and visually effective ways to execute them or the Account Manager who keeps all the details under control and projects moving. To all of you, here’s a special thank you for all you do. I know I don’t tell you this enough.
In my role as President of our agency, I believe it’s part of my job to inspire my associates to be not just good, but great. In our business, good is not good enough. I hopefully inspire our staff by challenging them, encouraging them and empowering them. And, I am truly inspired when one of them goes above and beyond to do something great. That might be working lots of extra hours without hesitation to meet a deadline. Or, it might be jumping in to help someone else out, even though it’s not their job. Or, it might be producing some extraordinary work on a specific project. I am inspired by lots of different things. To recognize inspiration in our organization, we created the Inspiration Award this year to recognize associates for it. In addition to a hundred dollar bill and a thank you note from me, they get to display the traveling Inspiration road sign in their office until the next person comes along and earns it. I hope that inspiration is becoming part of our every day culture.
Another part of my responsibility is to help Market our company. New business is the lifeblood of a dynamic organization, whether it comes from existing customers or from new ones. This past year, we have taken our business development efforts to a new level by making more direct contacts with potential customers, by participating in more industry events, by employing social media more frequently to help prospects get to know us and like us and by utilizing direct mail to generate leads and reinforce everything else we’re doing. We’re also trying to be more proactive with current customers by taking them ideas that they can incorporate into their marketing programs to help them be even more successful.
So what about you? What are you focusing on this year and how is it working? More importantly, what or who are you thankful for? Are you telling them often enough?
Happy Thanksgiving.
What drives success for your niche business? While you think about that, reflect on this quote by Arnold H. Glasgow. He said, “Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” I could not agree more.
Before you set yourself on fire, remember that success is a relative concept. The prerequisite to being successful is defining what success means to you, not what others think. Your list can be short, or it can be very long. The point is for you to have a definite and realistic understanding of what success means to you.
So, with your success list in hand, take a look at the two drivers of success for your niche business. First is a great product. Focus on the needs of a narrowly defined customer base and offer a high-quality product that appeals to them. Second is effective and consistent marketing. Do not rely on your great product to close the sale for you. Niche products need the support of marketing efforts.
Consider the following when marketing your niche products:
- Make everything available online - Do not limit yourselves to physical locations. Give customers a chance to find your products no matter where they are.
- Treat each customer as an individual - Do this as an alternative to placing people in generic demographic categories. Remember, people are always interested in being special.
- Help customers find what they are looking for online - Boost your search engine optimization with Google AdWords. There are many special keyword research tools out there, but Google AdWords Keyword tool tops them all.
- Take advantage of social media - We live in the Recommendation Age so spread your content around online. People make purchasing decisions based on recommendations from others with similar interests. A good place to find these recommendations is via conversations and reviews found in various social media sites.
Make your success happen rather than waiting for success to find you and your niche business. To help get you there, employ a combination of a great product and the use of proven marketing tools, such as the Internet and search engines
While leading a Career Day session at a local community college for high school seniors interested in the marketing profession, I asked who in the room wanted to have a career in sales. No one raised their hand. I wasn’t surprised. To an eighteen-year-old, a career in sales probably means walking door to door or sitting at a telephone making cold calls all day. What I told these students may not change their minds about sales, but it’s the truth. It’s hard to find a job today that in some way does not involve sales. True, most think the sales job is the guy working out of the office and calling on prospective customers. But what about everyone else with jobs directly related to supporting these sales efforts? I would bet that most jobs not associated with sales still somehow impact the way a product or service moves from a seller to a buyer.
At our agency, I am an Account Executive, which is a fancy title for salesman. But I would not succeed without the support from all corners of our organization. Our receptionist is the first voice our customers and prospects hear. She is in sales. Our strategists, writers and designers all have unique input into the final product that the client is paying for. Each of them is in sales. Our project manager keeps a project moving and keeps all the outside vendors on task to assure a timely project completion. She is in sales. But these hidden sales positions don’t just reside in the marketing industry. Next time you order a meal, realize your server isn’t a waitress, she is in sales. An accountant does everything in his or her power to provide the best tax service possible. But without sales, a tax return is never started. The guy mowing grass for a living better have some selling skill, or he may not have many yards to mow. I could go on, but I am sure my point is made. Sales drive business. Without it, nothing would happen. Although not everyone is well suited to go out and pound the pavement for the next sale, everyone in the organization does play some role in sales and it’s important they realize this.
What’s your role in sales? Have you ever looked at it that way? What can you do in your job to increase sales for your company?
