Client Gift Idea for Christmas – Personalized Memo Pads

It is that time of year and you are wracking your brain for a simple item of value you can send to your clients (and prospects) that will make you stand out in their minds without going over the top. Well here it is.

I featured this idea last year and was reminded of it the other day when I was in a client’s office and she was jotting down her to-do list on her personalized memo pad I sent her last Christmas.  Actually she was down to her last 5 pages so I better get them into production.

I am a big believer that too much emphasis is put on the sender and not enough on the recipient. When you send something to your client that is all about you, how much time do you think people spend reading it? What if you could send something to your clients that showed that you value their business and ensures that your name and phone number stay at the top of their mind.

Click on the images below for samples, but keep in mind there is no limit to what yours can look like.

Why not send a personalized note pad? For as little as $ 3.99 per client you can give them something that will have value to them, they will keep as long as the pages last and differentiates you from all of the other suppliers.

All you need to do is email me a list of names, agree on the layout and I can have the pads laid out and printed right where you live. (some restrictions apply)

Call Mike at 800-568-8338 (Vancouver 604-618-5512) or email me at marketingguy@shaw.ca.

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Halloween Cient Appreciation Idea – Custom Candy Box

You may think you are alone in celebrating Halloween, but nearly two-thirds (64.5%) of Americans were planning to celebrate Halloween in 2008 and spend an average of $66.54, according to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch. This compares to actual 2007 results showing $5.07 billion was spent and  58.7% of consumers saying they planned to celebrate Halloween. So don’t miss out this year.

Click for a larger image

The best way to celebrate with your clients and prospects and show your appreciation is by handing out treats in a Halloween candy box complete with your branding on it.

These candy boxes are the perfect size
4-3/8″ long by 1-7/8″ wide by 2-5/8″high plus the roof

They come in two styles; Jack-o-Lantern or Trick or Treat

They are food-grade and sturdy, glossy cardboard construction

You can have your logo or a message imprinted in the  2″ x 1-1/4″ oval (See below)

The Cost*
Qty   200 – $0.99 ea
Qty   300 – $0.89 ea
Qty   500 – $0.79 ea
Qty 1000 – $0.59 ea
* Plus $ 19.99 set-up fee. Slightly higher in Canada.

How will people celebrate Halloween? People will celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways

• Handing out candy (73.7%)
• Carving a pumpkin (44.6%)
• Decorating (50.3%)
• Dress in costume (35.3%)
• Throw or attend a party (31.1%)
• Take children trick-or-treating (33.6%)

Consumers will spend an average of $24.17 on Halloween costumes (including costumes for adults, children, and pets) in 2008. They also will be buying candy ($20.39 on average), decorations ($18.25) and greeting cards ($3.73).

Samples of 4 color imprinting of a message and logo. The “Talk to Keehn” imprint is the name of the client.

Imprint for Customer boxes. (Click for larger image. )

Click for larger image

3 Referral Myths – Or Why Your Phone is Not Ringing

There are three inalienable truths about building your business through referrals; you need to ask for referrals in person, you need to make it as easy as possible for someone to pass on a referral to you and you need to make the referring person aware of how grateful you are for them thinking about you and your business.

Okay there are at least 10 other truths, but start with these three and your business will thrive.

But why doesn’t your phone ring off the hook with client’s referring you to their friends and associates? I think it boils down to these three myths that many of us believe in about referrals.

Myth # 1.  Customers Know What You Do and How Your Services Can Benefit Their Friends

Fact: Not in a million years. When was the last time you told them?

Never assume that they are fully aware of the many services you provide and how those services

The Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus

can benefit your clients’ associates. In fact you may be surprised at how little your clients know about what services you offer. They rarely know exactly how your services can benefit their friends or associates or even if your services are appropriate for others.

If your clients are confused about which services you offer and which ones would benefit their associates, they probably won’t refer you. It is important to simplify your services and describe them in easy to understand terms that everyone can understand. It’s also important to focus on just one or two of your services when you follow up with your clients. Make it easy for your clients to refer you.

Myth # 2. Your Business is Uppermost in Your Clients’ Minds At All Times

Fact: Give your head a shake! They don’t even think about you because they are too busy with their own lives and business.

Your clients rarely think about your business and your services. They have a million more pressing matters that they must address. This is one of the most costly misconceptions small business owners have about their customers. They think their prospects and customers will remember them when they are ready to buy.

That coupon or even gift certificate you gave them six months ago is hidden under a pile of unread magazines, or under the refrigerator.

If you want to bring your business to the top of your clients’ minds, then you must follow-up with them on a consistent basis, with helpful information and special offers.

Myth # 3. Your Clients Are Always Looking for Referrals for Your Business

Fact: Not even your mother is.

Have you ever had someone hand you a stack of his or her business cards and then say, “If you come across anyone who you think might be able to use my services, please pass along one of my cards”? What did you do with those business cards? Round-filed them? Threw them away? No one keeps your business cards in their pocket just waiting for an opportunity to promote your business.

Almost always the referral comes when someone is talking to your client/customer about your particular service or business and a light goes on and they say “I know so and so and think they would be able to help / sell / assist you”.

One last stumbling block which could be myth number 4. Your clients know you need referrals to build your business. To the outside world we are all doing well and it does not appear we need business. You are probably telling people how busy you are which is a sure sign you don’t need referrals. Stop! Let people know you would like their referral business and they will start to think more about how they can help.

New Eye Tracking Study: List Layouts

The Catalyst Group provides a wide range of services that make your website or application as simple and useful as possible so that it performs measurably better.

They recently published the results of a new eye Tracking study of “friends” list layouts on Facebook and Linkedin. I thought the results were interesting as we often have to present information to clients and prospects and it turns out the layout makes a difference.

Facebook uses a one column layout and Linkedin uses a 3 column layout like these:

1 Column Facebook

3 Column Linkedin

Overall, the 1-Column layout was a much more effective and enjoyable way of presenting the tested information. The single column of names was easy to read straight down during the Name Recognition Task, and users were able to “ignore” the adjacent column which contained information that wasn’t relevant to the current task.

Eye Tracking data revealed that virtually all participants scanned the 1-Column layout the same way and there was very little hesitation or exploration at the start of the task – users were able to dive right into scanning without having to experiment with different scanning strategies (a phenomenon which was observed with the 3-Column layout).

The 3-Column layout was thought by most participants to be more cumbersome

1 Column Facebook Initial Few Seconds

and overwhelming in its design – more “tiring” according to one participant. (See image below) Also, participants felt much less confident that they had successfully completed the tasks with the 3-Column layout. In other words, they did not feel sure that they had seen all the names.

The Eye Tracking of the 3-Column layout revealed that the participants did not adopt a consistent scanning strategy for this design. Moreover, most participants had to begin by experimenting with different scanning strategies before “deciding” which one to use. This uncertainty was exacerbated by the need to

3 Column Linkedin Initial Few Sections

scroll the page in order to see the full 3-column list. Many participants found that they had lost their place on the page after scrolling and had to backtrack up the page.

Eye Tracking is a service that literally tells you where website users are looking on a screen as they attempt to complete a specific task or simply explore freely. This information can help you make informed decisions about a variety of key design elements, such as task workflow, site navigation, and advertising placement and formats. Eye Tracking can help by supplementing what users “say” with what their eyes “see.”

The most popular output from the Eye Tracking system is “Heatmaps” that graphically illustrate the intensity of attention that certain areas of a page received.

Sample Heatmap

“Gaze-plots” are another useful graphic report that indicates where users fixated on the page, for how long, and in what order.

For more information you should visit the Catalyst Group website.

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Direct Marketing Study Results

The Direct Marketing Association has just released the Power of Direct economic impact study. There were some interesting findings on Return On Investment (ROI) and the amount being spent on different forms of direct marketing.

• Email’s ROI in 2008 was $45.06 for every dollar spent on it which is lower than the $48.34 in the previous year.
• Non-e-mail Internet marketing delivered $19.94 for every dollar spent.
• Catalog marketing delivered $7.28 for every dollar spent.
• Non-catalog direct marketing’s ROI was $15.55.

Marketing Expenditures by Channel

• Email – $600 million
• Non-email Internet marketing – $24.1 billion
• Telephone marketing (estimated) – $42.5 billion (Now I know why we get so many calls at dinner!)

What Results Can They Deliver According to the DMA?

• Non-e-mail Internet marketing – $559 billion in sales in 2009
• Non-catalog direct mail – $561.7 billion in sales in 2009
• Email – $32.6 billion in sales in 2009

Thanks to Direct, A Chief Marketer Stop for some of the information used here.

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Top 10 Email Subject Line CatchWords

A recent study released by Mailer Mailer, a leading provider of email marketing services, determined the top 10 words used in email subject lines.

Ten Most Popular Terms
1. news
2. party
3. newsletter
4. free
5. night
6. sale
7. com
8. update
9. holiday
10. week

Based on this I guess this would be the perfect subject line:

Great Holiday News Update on our Week Long Holiday Party Sale With a Free Newsletter

Here is a tag cloud depicting the strength of these and other subject line words.

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Marketing to Millennials – 18 to 26 year olds

Do you market to Millennials? I currently have 6 kids that fall into this range and that should make me an expert, but they are a confusing age group. I was curious how they compare to their

These Are the 6 Millennials We Are Raising

older counterparts when it comes to social media and in the process also uncovered an interesting related study on teens and malls.

In a recent article, Media Buyer Planner published a study called Teen Mall Shopping Attitude and Usage Study by Arbitron and Scarborough Research that found that nearly all teen mall shoppers notice mall advertising. Teens are significant spenders at the mall and the study showed that 95% of teens notice mall advertising.

Other findings:
—91% of teens notice poster displays
—68% spend more than two hours at the mall
—Teens go online for mall information: 75% visit a specific mall store’s website; 72% of teen mall shoppers chatted
with friends online about meeting at the mall or purchasing items there
—48% are “social shoppers,” shoppers who like to browse, hang out, and possibly make a purchase
—46% of teen mall shoppers are bargain hunters

The survey of teen mall shoppers questioned 1,687 teens (ages 12-17) across the country.

So what about their social marketing attitudes?  Millennials — 18- to-26-year-olds — don’t see value in Twitter, although they spend hours daily texting friends and communicating on social networks in real time, according to a study released Monday from the Participatory Marketing Network (PMN).

The study suggests that only 22% of Millennials use Twitter and of those young people here is how they used it:

• 85% said they follow friends
• 54% follow celebrities
• 29% follow family
• 29% follow companies.

That’s not great news for marketers and companies trying to reach this demographic through the site.

When asked about social networks, nearly all who participated in the survey revealed having an active profile on at least one site. I am assuming they are referring to Facebook and MySpace. How did they use these  sites?

• 89% have downloaded an application to their profile page
• 89% post photos
• 53% play games
• 51% search out entertainment
• 32% followed the news
• 29% followed the weather.

The study also looked at mobile social networking for Millennials. Thirty-eight percent have an iPhone or iPod Touch. More than 50% have downloaded games; 35%, entertainment; 31%, lifestyle; 28% have downloaded free financial applications, and 7% have paid financial applications. More than one-quarter — 26 percent — indicated that they have not downloaded any.

PMN conducted the study in May 2009 with its research partner, the Lubin School of Business’ Interactive and Direct Marketing (IDM) Lab at Pace University, by questioning 200 PMN panel members and consumers between the ages of 18-24.

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Free Coffee Cups – Handheld Branding

Have you seen this service called Free Paper Cups?FreePaperCups.com is a marketing solutions company specializing in handheld branding in the office…ensuring office workers see, touch, and hold your advertising message throughout the day in the workplace. They bring advertisers and companies together by placing ads on coffee cups and distributing them free to companies for their employees to drink from.

For the company receiving them the benefits are:

• Not wasting money on paper cups for your office
• Saving money by eliminating this monthly business expense
• Eliminating Eco-Unfriendly styrofoam cups
• They can serve coffee in heavyweight paper cups like coffee shopsto preserve the coffee flavor,

For the advertiser:

• Hand deliver your marketing message to target audiences in offices via branded paper coffee cups
• Communicate your B2B or B2C message to corporate decision makers and consumers in the workplace 24/7 365 days a year
• Nearly 109 million American adults drink coffee daily
• More than 52 million Americans obtain coffee from their offices each day

Office Coffee Services benefit too:

• Offer your coffee service customers and prospects this money saving solution
• Utilize this competitive advantage to be truly unique in your market & win new accounts by providing significant cost savings
• Retain your existing accounts by adding value to their bottom line
• Customers who use quality paper cups consume more coffee because of the improved “coffee experience”

I have seen this marketing strategy used at local  coffee shops where an Automall has provided insulated sleeves with their branding. A great way to reinforce their message everyday to potential shoppers.

Marketing With Twitter

I started using Twitter www.twitter.com/GoodIdeas a few months ago as a social marketing experiment and have grown to value it as both a marketing tool and an educational tool. While I can only track a few instances of direct business as a result of being on Twitter there have been dozens of times where I learned something that I would not have known had it not been for following people on Twitter.

First let’s recap what Twitter is.  Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that lets you update your status and let the world know what you are up to. There are millions of Twitter user all over the world, and the number of active users has increased by 900% in the past year.

When you sign up for Twitter it is a bit like looking at a blank canvas and not knowing where to start painting. Most Twitter users sign up and then do nothing as it is not obvious what the next step is. What I recommend is you sign up at www.twitter.com and then do a search for me, GoodIdeas or Mike Blaney and Follow Me. I will be notified you are Following me and I will choose to Follow you. Your Twitter profile will then show you are Following 1 person and 1 person is Following you. The next step might be to see who is Following someone you respect and then Follow them.

The next step is to post a 140 character or less update. Here are  couple of my recent posts. They are dry, but informative. The last one is an attempt to get people to visit this blog:

1. People more likely to open email marketing messages relating to their interests than ones sent at a particular time of day or day of week.
2. Men interrupt women a woman’s conversation 76% of the time but rarely interrupt a man. Men, stop interrupting and start listening!
3. Mike Blaney – Today 145 people have googled business card and found my post about How to Make Your Business Card Stand Out http://tr.im/hgFK

Twits fall into two categories; the social tweeter (that is what a post is called) and the addict.  While I try to post tweets that will be of interest to people a lot of people Tweet a dozen or more times a day on every aspect of their life and you find yourself skimming past these people

But the point of this post is that companies can also use it to promote themselves.

Zeke Camusio, a serial entrepreneur and founder of The Outsourcing Company, wrote a great post on Startup Nation. His 7 steps are:

Step 1: Import Your Contacts

• Twitter allows you to to import contacts from Gmail, Hotmail and your own address book. Do it.

Step 2: Make Sure that Your Profile is Complete

• Fill in all the fields (both required and optional) and include your website URL. You can also personalize your Twitter page to match your company’s branding.

Step 3: Understand the Dynamics of Twitter
Twitter is a social tool, not a classifieds site. These are some tips that will help you to get followers:

• Don’t spam others about your specials
• Follow other users
• Don’t promote your company directly. Do it the smart way. For example, if you sell widgets, write a buyer’s guide about the kind of widgets that you sell and tweet about that blog post. That is useful information. Avoid tweets like “Great Widgets On Sale – Starting at $9.99!”

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 4: Build Your Followers Base
There are many things that you can do to build your followers base:

• Put a link to “Follow Me on Twitter” everywhere (your email signature, forums, website, and business cards)
• Every time you post on your blog, invite people to follow you on Twitter

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 5: Balance Your Followers/Following Ratio

• Try to have a balance between people you follow and people that follow you. If a lot of people follow you and you don’t follow them, they will stop following you. If you are following plenty of people but just a few are following you, you’ll be seen as a spammer trying to grow your follower base as quickly as possible.
• Grow slow. Instead of adding 200 new friends all of a sudden, add maybe 50 and wait for them to follow you back. Then follow another 50.

(See the article for a complete list)

Step 6: Make it Worthwhile to Follow You

• Tweet interesting stuff. Every time you are about to post something, ask yourself “Is this something I would be interested in?” If the answer is no, chances are that your followers will feel the same way.

Step 7: Learn from the Best

• Find users with several hundred followers and learn from them. See what they are doing right and get ideas from them.

Done right, Twitter should be part of your marketing arsenal as it provides positive exposure for your business. Depending on your business, Twitter could be an efective tool.

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Local Service Seekers Increasingly Favor Search

If you do a Google search for your business is your website in the top 10? If not you better take steps

My Business Listing

to get it there as you could be missing out on a big chunk of local business.

30% of local business queries are conducted online now, versus offline compared to 26% in 2007.

A comScore study sponsored by TMP Directional Marketing finds that search engines have become primary sources for seeking local services (31%) — followed by Yellow/White Pages (30%), online Yellow Page-type sites (19%) and then local search sites (11%).

These results, from the second annual Local Search Consumer Usage Study, represent a marked difference from last year’s findings, in which print Yellow pages ranked first by 33%, followed by search engines at 30%.  By the way, 90% of survey respondents say print Yellow Pages remain a valuable source of business information, even as they steadily lose ground to search engines.

So how do you improve your local search results?

Add your business to Google Maps or update your existing listing to include all of your business details. It’s easy; simply go to http://www.google.com/local/add/splashPage?hl=en-US&gl=US

You can claim your business listing today and let customers find you online!Create a detailed listing and stand out from your competitors by adding photos, videos and more.

Reach new customers on Google Maps and Google.com
Local customers are already searching for the products and services you offer. Why not make it easy for them to find you on Google search and on Google Maps? The Local Business Center is the place to start.

Works great for businesses of any size
Whether you run a single dentist’s office or dozens of coffee shops, manage all your listings from a single account.

Update your listing at any time
Use the Local Business Center to edit your listing whenever and however you like. Your Google Maps results will be updated in a few weeks, not next year.

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