David Young | Branding Blog - Marketing Advice and Advertising Strategy for Local Business Owners

Spending Your Ad Budget on Personal Experience

The next 3 months are usually not the best time to "buy" advertising. I'm not saying it's a terrible time to run advertising, just that you should have already bought it before the traditional holiday push that depletes media inventories, driving prices up. I'll give you some tips on when and how to make media decisions in future posts.

So, where should you be spending this quarter if you haven't got an ongoing schedule? If you own a service or retail business that isn't reliant on holiday sales (HVAC, Medical, Financial, etc) think about putting some of your ad budget into sprucing up the Personal Experience of your customers.

Here are a few ideas…some more expensive than others.

• Complete deep cleaning of your store/offices. Hire an outsider to help because they will see the dirt/clutter that has become invisible to you.
• A fresh coat of paint can breathe new life into a store.
• Interior decorators can help you imagine what your store COULD be instead of what it has become. Face it, you got into the business because you are an expert in your own field, not a designer.
• New service vehicles…talk to your accountant to take advantage of end-of-year spending strategies…car dealerships might have screaming bargains just to move vehicles out of inventory before the end of the year.
• New signage/Exterior remodel…evaluate how your business looks from 2 blocks away, 1 block and from the sidewalk. Are you invisible from any of these vantage points? Sometimes you become invisible just by having the same sign for too long. Many contractors would appreciate a commercial job in the off-season just to keep workers employed. Shop for good deals.
• Spy season…hire some secret shoppers to visit your store along with all of your competitors. Don't use friends or you risk getting smoke blown up your….well you know. You want honest evaluations about how you stack up.
• This is a good time of year to embark on some customer research. Offer a prize or discount to customers who will fill out a lengthy form or complete an interview. You'll be amazed at the good suggestions your customers will provide you when you simply ask.

The bottom line is….if the holiday season is slow for you, don't just sit on your bottom. Get busy doing something so when your own season rolls back around, your customers will be delighted by the "new" you!

QUESTION: This list isn't exclusive. What other suggestions do you have?

Will You Be Transparent?

Driving home from running a few errands, my eye caught a used Chrysler Crossfire sitting on the lot of my local Chrysler dealer. Painted on the windshield was "'05 42,000 miles."  I looped back around to see if there was a price. I'm not really in the market, but I've like the Crossfire ever since I had the chance to chase one around a track a few years ago. I was curious about the price.

No price marked on the car. (Down the road, at a local used car lot, the prices are all handwritten on the windows.)

I get it. The dealer wants me to call them, to ask for the price, so we can have a conversation. Problem is, I don't want to have a conversation. I live in a small town. Experience has taught me that I'll start getting phone calls from them every few weeks, or until they see me driving a different car. I'm simply not interested in playing this game.

What do you think? Would the dealership be better off putting the price on the car? I can find prices on eBay easy enough. Why not just be transparent?

How to Profit from a Higher Bounce Rate?

It's simple. Put your phone number in your banner. The phone rings more and the bounce rate goes up.

I get tired of web gurus telling people that they should make sure their bounce rate isn't too high. Some will cite studies that quote an average bounce rate. Some will say things like, "Obviously a high bounce rate means your site has low relevance to visitors, and so to capture more of those visitors you can work on making your site more relevant."

Here's the rub…comparing YOUR bounce rate to somebody else's is simply bad math. The only important comparison to make with your bounce rate is to compare it to the past. If it changes, dig deeper into your web analytics to find out what is going on.

So, how will putting your phone number in your banner increase your bounce rate?

And, why is this good?

If you are a local retail or service business and you are doing other advertising in your market, you will no doubt be enjoying traffic (you do have a web site...please say yes) from visitors who have searched for you by name. (The good news about this is that when they search for you by name, they most likely won't find your competitors.)

Many of those visitors are coming to your site for one reason; to find your phone number. If you bury it on a "contact" page instead of making it prominent, you create friction for your customers who are already convinced they should call you. If they are forced to click through to find it, your bounce rate drops because these visitors don't count as a bounce.

If you put it on your banner, a visitor can find your site by searching for your name, see it on your banner and stay on your site just long enough to dial the phone. Your analytics program will count this as a bounce.

I would count it as making the phone ring.

Wouldn't you like the phone to ring more?

The Recessionary "Share of Voice" Bonus

You hear a lot of people talking about how stupid it is to stop advertising during a recession. They recount how so many businesses stayed the course and came out the other side with increased market share.

Question: Were they just better equipped to weather the storm, or did their advertising work better during the downturn?

Share of Voice: The percentage of total ad messages in your business category that are YOURS.

If your competitors are cutting back (or belly up) you can actually get a boost in the effectiveness of your advertising because your Share of Voice just got bigger.

The Advertising Performance Equation accounts for how your market share relates back to the Share of Voice that you've purchased through your advertising. All things being equal, if you have fewer competitors barking on the airwaves, your ad will do a better job of "branding" your business in the minds of consumers as the first place they think of and feel best about, when the need for your product or service arises.

You see, Share of Mind, is the result of your Share of Voice times the Impact Quotient, or level of effectiveness of your message. Couple a powerful message with an increased Share of Voice and something magical starts to happen. If you don't fritter away this advantage by delivering a below-average customer experience, increased market share is sure to follow. It's all in the math.

It's not simply that your competitors have left a void in the market, but they've left a void in the minds of their customers.

Will you step up and fill that void?

Which Coffee Shop Do You Choose?

iPhone drive-by photos of two coffee shops in my town. They are 1 block apart.

UPDATE: I drove by the Black Mug yesterday (9/17/09) and they are now out of business.

 

What are the assumptions you make just by looking at the outside of the shops?

Which one are you more likely to invite a friend to? 

Which one do you think has a more pleasing ambiance?

Which one has higher prices?

Which has the best coffee, or the best treats to go with the coffee?

Jon Spoelstra, author of "Marketing Outrageously" turns to Fiction

Links: Wizard Academy, Jon Spoelstra on Amazon

Thank you San Pellegrino! Pop-can innovation

At our recent Book Publishing event in San Francisco, I went out during a break to grab a beverage and found this can of orange soda. What grabbed my attention first, was the extra foil seal on the top of the can. I don't know about you, but where I live it's hard to find a can of pop (yes, I live where we call it pop) that isn't covered in dirt from 100-mile cross-country ride in the back of a truck. Gross. Always gross.

So, the foil lid caught my attention. It was such a great idea that I didn't even open the can for awhile. I thought about keeping it. Yet, my thirst got the better of me. I snapped this blurry picture with my iPhone and then opened it and consumed its citrus goodness. BTW...best orange soda I've ever had. Thank you SanPellegrino.

First Mental Image should draw you in! (video version)

Big thanks to Craig Arthur for this video. We were experimenting with his new flip video camera while waiting for flights.

One noticeable difference between the two eateries is the tables. Obviously, Paradise Bakery is the anchor establishment here. They are bigger, bolder and all of the tables are in front of their place. So, of course, even the patrons of Oaxaca are sitting in front of Paradise Bakery. That's no excuse for their lack of visual presence and poor First Mental Image.

First Mental Image should draw you in!

I shot these pictures yesterday at Phoenix Skyharbor's modern Terminal 4.

It was such a striking difference between two ADJACENT food service outlets.

At any busy walk-by location your First Mental Image (FMI) is just about the only tool you have available to draw in customers. Your reputation will help with repeat business and word of mouth, but for a hungry traveler in a strange city you'd better be putting your best food/foot forward.

I didn't walk more than 5 steps to shoot these two pictures. Oaxaca is just to the left of Paradise Bakery. If you click on the images, you'll see a few observations about both places. If you didn't know anything about them, which one would draw you in?

Click on the images to see bigger, readable versions.

Any other observations? What would you recommend to Oaxaca?

Happy New Year...Ready to Learn?

I've got a couple of course recommendations for you.

First...Fight the Big Boys and WIN! Just a few seats left and you might just get to stay in Engelbrecht house if you hurry.

Second....The Marketing Performance Seminar in Denver, Colorado. This one is a bargain, especially if you're a retail or service business owner. Your registration will be just $99 and you can grab an on-site hotel room for just $99/night.