Chapter 3: The Four Principles of Customer Relationships That Pay

Marketing Plan Podcast_WEB BANNERWhy transaction hunting doesn’t work

In Chapter 3 of The Marketing Plan Podcast we will consider the main character of the story the customer.  Looking at most business models, we can see that the customer is a target. Something to be captured. Customers are often considered transactions to be acquired, trophies to be won. This is the essence of transaction hunting, but I think that’s running the wrong way.

The goal is an emotional bond between your brand and the customer, this transcends product and service. When you establish this bond, sales happen. And while the key to sustainability and growth is sales, creating a relationship does not come from sales tactics. I believe they arrive through four, simple relationship principles.

Principle 1: Understanding

Principle 2: Empathize with Action

Principle 3: Give Unconditionally

Principle 4: Safety

itunesInterested in the new show?  Please subscribe in your feed reader or ITunes at http://MarketingPlanPodcast.com/subscribe Jay Ehret signatureThanks for listening!
Jay Ehret
Dean of Marketing Know-How
The Marketing Spot

 

Episode 64: Marketers Roundtable 7 – Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

Current Marketing Issues Podcast

The Internet Show About Small Business Marketing

Podcast Episode #64: Marketers Roundtable


Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the seventh gathering of the Marketers Roundtable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,

Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss hot marketing topics for all to hear on Power to the Small Business .

Guests:
Shashi BellamkondaNetwork Solutions
Scott EllisTechnology Translated
Erica CampbellForRent.com
Jay Ehret The Marketing Spot (Podcast Host)

Length: 29 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business

You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #64 (for personal use only)

iTunes

Selected quotes from the marketers:

ON USING YOUR OFFICE AS A NETWORKING TOOL

SCOTT ELLIS: “One of the biggest mistakes I see people making is pounding away at whatever social media outlets they’re using and not getting out there and making those personal connections.”

JAY EHRET:“Even though I’m constantly talking to other people on social media, I think I’m missing out on that personal face-to-face contact by being trapped in my home office.”

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA: “You can efficiently reach more people using these tools, but you shouldn’t forget the fact that you need to have face-to-face interaction.”

ERICA CAMPBELL: “It just makes for a stronger organization, rather than doing everything just online.“

ON ONLINE CONTENT ORGANIZATION

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA: “When a person comes to your website, they don’t have time to go through what you think is cool. They should be able to conduct their business as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”

SCOTT ELLIS: “It really behooves someone to spend quite a bit of time really thinking through all of the different types of content that are going to be on their site and how those things are going to impact what their goals are.”

ERICA CAMPBELL: “Look at it in five pieces where you’ve got your communication piece, your connect, your collecting, organizing and categorizing of your content, your customization, and your conversation.”

JAY EHRET: “What’s the most important thing I want my website to do? Take that as the starting point and say everything I do with this website should be organized around that one thing that I want people to do when they come to my website.”

ON SOCIAL MEDIA CONTESTS AND CONSUMER LOYALTY

SCOTT ELLIS: “The advantage, and the risk, with video is that the barriers to entry to producing a reasonably good quality video are just a little bit higher than they are for doing something as simple as writing a blog post or publishing a picture.”

ERICA CAMPBELL: “Another issue is coming up with what exactly your contest should be and what the consumer need is, because that will help unfold how successful your contest is.”

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA: “If you’re going to upload a picture on to your website or property. Make sure you can post it on other places also and use it commonly. You increase your audience a lot.”

JAY EHRET: “You still need to have something interesting happening in the contest… You need that engaging content, but at the same time you need people to participate too.”

ON THE COUPON AND DISCOUNT CRAZE

SCOTT ELLIS: “While you want to be reasonably priced for whatever you’re offering, you don’t want that to be your competitive differentiator. That just spells a long, slow death for most businesses.””

ERICA CAMPBELL: “…mobile coupons and location-based advertising coupons that you may find on Foursquare are really exciting.”

JAY EHRET: “I think in the long run…it could be a death spiral.

SHASHI BELLAMKONDA: “There will always be opportunities to keep trying things and see what works. I think people should definitely try it to see does this work for me or not.”

Show Links

Shashi Bellamkonda: GrowSmartBiz Conference@ShashiB on Twitter
Scott Ellis: VSEllis.com@vsellis on Twitter
Erica Campbell: ForRent.com@ericacampbell on Twitter
Jay Ehret: Free Word-of-Mouth Webinar@TheMarketingGuy on Twitter

To receive new episodes by email, enter your email address.
(We keep these private and do not give or sell them to anyone else)




Delivered by FeedBurner

Email Marketing Featuring Christopher S. Penn

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #63 – Email Marketing


If you ask small business owners (and a lot of marketers too) how to do email marketing, you’re likely to get a lot of blank stares. It’s one of those things that’s difficult for entrepreneurs to wrap their minds around. Consequently, the power of email marketing is mostly under-utilized by small business.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business, email marketing expert Christopher S. Penn joins host Jay Ehret to discuss how to get started in email marketing, as well as its strengths, best uses and taboos. After listening, you may find that maybe email marketing is right for your business.

Guest: Christopher S. Penn, Blue Sky Factory, Boston
Length: 25 minutes

iTunes

Email Marketing Notes and Links

Where email fits in the marketing mix: Marketing, Sales, Customer Service

To avoid spam problems, you have an ethical responsibility to send email that is;

  1. Relevant
  2. Timely
  3. Targeted
  4. Valuable

Contact your domain registrar and add these no-charge service certifications to your DNS records to help you avoid spam problems: SPF, DK, DKIM

Free email tools:

  • Google Groups: “The simplest, easiest way to start a mailing list”
  • Postfix: Open source email server for the tech-savvy.

Email Must Do’s:

  1. Have something valuable that is worth sending
  2. Educate
  3. Ask people to subscribe to your newsletter (Most important)

Free ebook: 50 Ways to Build Your Email Marketing List

Selected Quotes from Christopher S. Penn:

“Email marketing is what I like to call a pre-buy…for people who are not ready to make a full commitment to whatever it is that you’ve got… It’s a way to get that minor acknowledgement that eventually leads them into the sales process.”

“Email is a channel. If you have the ability to work in any channel, you can work with email marketing.”

“The one thing that differentiates email from most other forms of online marketing, is it’s one of the few accepted ‘push’ channels.”

Show Links

Christopher Penn’s Company: Blue Sky Factory
Blog: Awaken Your Superhero
Podcast: Marketing Over Coffee

Special Offer: Discount VIP Registration at Optimization Summit

Subscribe to this podcast by email: Power to the Small Business by Email Subscribe in a blog reader: Receive in a Blog Reader

The Keys To Transformational Branding

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #62 – Transformational Branding


There are two ways to move your business forward. The first way is to make your business better. You look for ways to incrementally improve your business to gain an advantage against your competitors. It’s a crazy tough battle because your competition is likely doing the same thing. That causes you to think about the second way.

The other way is to be different, to turn your business into something that creates it’s own space. True differentiation is powerful because it changes the game. Your business is no longer part of a competitive herd. Sold! “What are we waiting for? Let’s be different.” But here’s where it gets tough.

To be different, you have to change. If you really want to be different, you have to transform your business into something that truly is different. That’s a lot harder than playing the improvement game. But not impossible.

In this episode of Power to the Small Business host Jay Ehret and guest Eric Brown discuss how you can achieve true differentiation with the Keys to Transformational Branding.

Guest: Eric Brown, The Urbane Way, Royal Oak, Michigan
Length: 23 minutes


iTunes
To receive new episodes by email, use the link below and enter your email address. (We keep these private and don’t give or sell them to anyone)
Subscribe to Power to the Small Business Podcast by Email

Transformational Branding Notes and Links

The Keys to Transformational Branding

  1. Reframing your business into something that’s different (second-order change).
  2. Analyzing the purpose of the things you do in your business to determine if they align with the results you get from those actions. Eliminate those that don’t.
  3. Changing the rules. Getting rid of the old rules and making up some new ones.
  4. Overcoming the fear of being something that’s different.

Selected Quotes from the show:

ERIC BROWN: “In lieu of doubling down on our strengths, sometimes we try to work on our weaknesses. Therefore, that brings us to a very safe and level place, but we’ve reduced what we’re different about.”

JAY EHRET: “In order to be different, you have to become something that’s different.”

ERIC BROWN:“The answers were really always right in front of us; by merely looking at, ‘What are we doing in our industry that everyone else is doing, that maybe we shouldn’t do?’ And then the opposite question is, ‘What are we not doing in our industry that maybe we should do?’”

JAY EHRET: “First order change is change that’s not really change. You rearrange the furniture in the house. Second order change is becoming a different class of business; reframing your business into something that’s truly different.”

ERIC BROWN: “When we began to focus on the customer’s experience, as opposed to our rules and regulations, it began to free up a lot of old thinking.”

JAY EHRET: “There are two big determinants (to transformation): Being able to think differently and reframe your business, and then overcoming the fear of changing into something that is different.”

ERIC BROWN: “When you start really transforming your brand, and by that I mean your behavior, and all of your employees’ behavior, your culture begins to shift. Your customer starts to notice that. And there is an expectation then, of what you’re different about.”

JAY EHRET: “One thing you have to decide as an entrepreneur is do you really want to be different, or do you really just want to be a little better at what you do. And If you do just want to be better, then you have to expect that you will be confined within your industry, competing with everyone else.”

Show Links

Eric Brown’s Company: The Urbane Way
Jay Ehret’s Company: The Marketing Spot
Transformational Branding Presentation at: Optimization Summits
Jay’s Presentation at ProductCamp Austin: Selling Your Soul
Recommended Event: ProductCamp Austin

The Social Media Marketing Formula

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #61 – Power to the Small Business


Social Media Marketing Formula

If you spend enough time on the popular social media sites, you’ll find plenty of advice telling you to use social media marketing to increase business. It’s the specific “how-to” advice that’s lacking. Oh, there’s plenty of advice, but mostly in abstract form, such as “listen,” “engage,” and don’t forget to “share.”  In this episode of Power to the Small Business podcast we’re going to ignore the abstract in favor of concrete, exact advice. You get specific A-B-C steps that you can implement to help drive sales from this social media marketing formula.

Maybe the best thing about the information in this podcast is that it is result of research and real-life application. Stephen Woessner of the University of Wisconsin La Crosse Small Business Development Center, and author of the soon to be released book: Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking, gives us this social media marketing formula based on his research and his first-hand experience selling products on the web using social media. He found that using the tactics he shares in this podcast episode increased sales conversion rate from 2%-4% for normal website traffic to a 22% conversion rate for social media traffic to the website.

Guest: Stephen Woessner, University of Wisconsin La Crosse Small Business Development Center
Length: 24 minutes


iTunes

Social Media Marketing Show Notes and Links

Stephen Woessners’ Social Media Formula

The Steps

  1. Open your free accounts on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (If possible, set them up as personal profiles)
  2. Start getting engaged with the conversation by sending out status updates. Reply to others and comment on their status updates.
  3. After you have built your network, start following the 6:1 recipe. Six life or professional-related posts for every one product or service related post.
  4. Start publishing status updates twice per day and do some testing.
  5. Every third day post about your product or service and link back to your business website.
  6. Use Google analytics to track the data.

Selected Quotes from the show:

“From my experience, I can easily conclude that a small business owner, out of nowhere, can use social networking to build a profile, launch a product, and generate online sales.”

“All these different content pieces are important, wherever they exist, because that’s what gives you things to talk about within your social network.”

“Just like any other promotional tactic, it needs to be nurtured, it needs to grow. Otherwise …you will wear it out just like a direct mail list that you send to 15-20 times without adding new people to it.”

“In my experience, you have to invest in building a community, you have to invest in developing conversation, before you can ever develop commerce.”

Show Links

Stephen Woessner’s Books:
Increase Online Sales Through Viral Social Networking
The Small Business Owner’s Handbook to Search Engine Optimization

Upcoming Events:
ProductCamp Austin
Optimization Summits

Subscribe to this podcast by email: Power to the Small Business by Email
Subscribe in a blog reader: Receive in a Blog Reader

The Essential Small Business Marketing Reading List

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #60 – Power to the Small Business


If you want to grow and learn, the best way to do that is read books. I once heard Brian Tracy say that in five years you will be the same person you are today, except for the books that you read and the people you meet. In this special episode of Power to the Small Business, I present my small business marketing essential reading list, and will features five of the authors of books on that list. But first, let’s reveal the list:

The Essential Small Business Marketing Reading List

The list is organized around The Marketing Circle of Life. It is comprised of books that will give you a foundational understanding of the four essential spots of small business marketing.

Branding Books

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Microbranding: Build a Powerful Personal Brand and Beat Your Competition by T. Scott Gross

Experience Books

The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage by Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore
Managing the Customer Experience: Turning Customers into Advocates by Shaun Smith and Joe Wheeler
What’s the Secret: To Providing a World-Class Customer Experience by John DiJulius

Conversation Books

Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

Promotion Books

Advertising Secrets of the Written Word: The Ultimate Resource on How to Write Powerful Advertising Copy by Joe Sugarman
Ogilvy on Advertising by David Ogilvy


The Guests:

Five of the authors listed above will be guest on this podcast…with one exception. Brad Shorr will be discussing Ogilvy on Advertising (David Ogilvy passed away in 1999)

Length: 41 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the embedded player below, click here to listen to The Essential Small Business Marketing Reading List

You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #60 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below.

iTunes

Show Notes:

Bonus Authors:
There were no authors from the recommended experience books. However, authors of all three books have previously appeared on Power to the Small Business. Here are the links to those shows:

Instinct and Remarkable Customer Experience Creation with Shaun Smith
What’s the Secret to a World-Class Customer Experience? with John DiJulius
The Experience Economy: 10 Years Later with Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore

SELECTED QUOTES FROM THE AUTHORS

JACK TROUT on Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
“It was the first book that really introduced psychology and marketing and crossed the two of them, and essentially introduced the mind as the key battleground.”

T. SCOTT GROSS on Microbranding
“The definition of a microbrand is a little brand, that sits on top of a big brand, and is often the more powerful of the two.”

JACKIE HUBA on Creating Customer Evangelists
“These tenets that we looked at among the businesses who have great evangelists, these are evergreen concepts.”

CHARLENE LI on Groundswell
“We designed it to be a book that would have some legs, because it’s not a technology book. It’s a book about how you can accomplish goals by changing the relationships you have with people.”

JOE SUGARMAN on Advertising Secrets of the Written Word
“Knowledge of copywriting is extremely valuable…I’ve had a lot people contact me and tell me that their life changed because they spent time learning how to be a copywriter.”

BRAD SHORR on Ogilvy on Advertising
“David Oglivy was a guy who was way ahead of his time…There’s just so much in here that I think is still of value to any business for writing, for marketing, for advertising.”

Subscribe to this podcast by email: Power to the Small Business by Email

Subscribe in a blog reader: Receive in a Blog Reader

Episode 59: Marketers Roundtable 6 – Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

The Internet Show About Small Business Marketing

Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the sixth gathering of the Marketers Roundtable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,
Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss marketing issues for all to hear on
Power to the Small Business.

Guests:
Jay MiletskyMango! Creative Juice
Rich BeckerCopywrite, Ink
C.B. WhittemoreSimple Marketing Now
Jay Ehret The Marketing Spot (Podcast Host)

Length: 34 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers – If you don’t see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #59 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started.

iTunes


Selected quotes from the show:

ON MARKETERS AND SOCIAL MEDIA REALITY:

C.B. WHITEMORE: There are commodity products and then there are products that require greater engagement.

RICH BECKER: We don’t need to connect with everybody and every product and everything.

JAY EHRET: People don’t want to be social with every brand that’s in their cupboard.” “Marketers tend to make things more important than they really are.

JAY MILETSKY: What I think is important is to use social media not necessarily as a conversation piece at all times, but to use it as a listening piece.

ON MANAGING AND MEASURING THE MARKETING MIX:

JASON MILESTKY: “We’ve gotten so into this culture now of believing in the one-to-one communication, and the conversation with individual consumers, because social media allows it, we forget that scale is still important.”

RICH BECKER: “I think that’s where some of the consumers have had some push-back, is they feel like conversations are sometimes thrust upon them in the wrong venue.”

JAY EHRET:I don’t think there’s a way that you absolutely control and say 100% of the people who come in contact with this message are perfect targets for this message. We’re not that good in marketing yet.

CB WHITTEMORE:Traditional ways of reaching people and building brands should go hand in hand with the newer ways, the more social ways.

ON BLENDING ONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING:

C.B. WHITTEMORE: “Social really offers a gift…in that there’s a renewed focus on people and customers vs. products.”

JAY MILETSKY: “There’s no way you’re going to be able to show an ROI model, so that social media will generate X amount of dollars immediately. What you can show, though, is how it’s going to enhance a traditional campaign and bring down the cost of all your other efforts, including HR, customer service and marketing.”

JAY EHRET: “I’m just not for meeting the needs of the people. Because you can’t discover what the needs of the people are, the people don’t even know what their needs are.”

RICH BECKER: “I think the most successful companies, 100% of the time are able to deliver a product that the customer doesn’t even know exists, or that they have a need for.”

ON BEING DIFFERENT VS. BEING BETTER:

RICH BECKER: “Generally (businesses) want to be better than the other guy. But that’s not necessarily something that’s worth pursuing, because you have to be different.”

C.B. WHITTEMORE: “An easier way to become different is to do it in small steps.”

JAY MILETSKY: “I don’t think it comes down to a matter of different or better, I think it comes down to a matter of successful.”

JAY EHRET: “The more you try to become better at something, the actual ‘less different’ you will really be.”

Show Links:

Jay Miletsky: Mango! Marketing Juice @JayMIletsky on Twitter
Rich Becker: Copywrite, Ink@RichBecker on Twitter
C.B. Whittemore: Simple Marketing Now@CBWhittemore on Twitter
Jay Ehret:
The Marketing Spot@TheMarketingGuy on Twitter

Book Reference: Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd

Event: Transformational Branding at Optimization Summit

A complete archive of all past episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business Got a marketing question? Call the “Help Me Help You” line: 254-433-8529. I’ll answer the question in a future episode.

Subscribe to this podcast by email: Power to the Small Business by Email

Subscribe in a blog reader: Receive in a Blog Reader

Episode 52 – Filling In Your Brand Gap with a Zag

Best-selling author and branding expert Marty Neumeier joins host Jay Ehret for Episode #52 of Power to the Small Business.

Click on the play button to listen to the conversation.

Show notes and links available on The Marketing Spot Blog:  Filling in Your Brand Gap

iTunes

Episode 47 – Out With the Old, In With the New

The best podcast moments from the 10 most listened-to episodes of 2009.

Get complete show notes and links to each guest and episode on The Marketing Spot Blog

Complete Show Archives: Power to the Small Business

Episode 45 – Marketers Rountable: A discussion of current marketing issues.

Marketers talk shop at the Marketers Roundtable. Topics for this episode are:

  1. Will the social media bubble burst?
  2. What’s the real value of inbound marketing?
  3. What’s the effect of price-focused advertising?
  4. Should you still be pitching journalists for PR?

Marketers at the Roundtable:

Spike Jones of Brains on Fire
Jay Ehret of The Marketing Spot (host & moderator)
Chris Wilson of Fresh Peel
Joan Stewart the Publicity Hound.

Press the play button on the player to listen.

Get complete show notes, including links and quotes, on The Marketing Spot Blog – Marketers Roundtable 3

iTunes

Listen to past episode in the show archives: Power to the Small Business