Epiphany Marketing's Strategic Marketing Blog

Today is National Coffee Day. I still haven’t figured out whose idea that was, but hey… I’m all for celebrating! Especially the beverage that I spend so much of my time with, and even attribute some of my business success to!

Why do I attribute some of my business success to it, you ask? Well… aside from keeping me awake so I can be productive, I frequently use an example from Starbucks when speaking to audiences and training small business leaders to get better results from their marketing.

With the Starbucks example, we are essentially trying to help business owners and those responsible for their marketing to understand this: people aren’t buying what you think you’re selling. Starbucks roasts coffee beans purchased from growers all over the world and sells them primarily by making drinks out of them in their local retail stores. What business is Starbucks in?

a. Coffee

b. Beverages

c. Legal Addictive Stimulants

d. Entertainment

Obviously, if Starbucks answered “A: Coffee” then they would probably have to sell for the lowest price possible. They would compete against anyone and everyone selling coffee. But Starbucks is most famously selling something more. There’s a full discussion of that over here.

Let’s Get to the Free Stuff

That illustration on coffee has helped a lot of business leaders grapple with and ultimately answer the question, “What are you really selling?” And when they realize that they’re selling something different than what their marketing has historically focused on, they realize they need help. That’s what has been great for me because that’s when they realize they need training on how to reach out and get new customers in the 21st Century.

That’s where the free stuff comes in. We’re launching a brand new training course that will begin next week. It’s called “The Secrets of Search Engine Rankings for CEOs, Owners & Executives.” If you’ve ever wondered why your business does or doesn’t show up at the top of page 1 in the Google search results, then this training is for you.

Here are some of the questions we’ll be answering:

• How does Google decide which websites to show on top of page 1?
• How can I find my website’s position if it’s not readily visible on a particular search?
• Do I really have to pay someone to be on top of the search engines or can we get there ourselves?
• What can I do to make sure that my site is moving up?
• How can I make sure I’m not getting ripped off with Search Engine Optimization (“SEO”) services?

This training will happen over the course of 3 LIVE webinars. Each will last approximately 1 hour. Here’s the deal: we will be recording this to produce a brand new product that will sell for $97.

I’d like to give you the opportunity to be in on this product absolutely free. Here’s how it works: anyone who purchases our Ultimate Small Business Growth Kit by Friday at 5pm Eastern will automatically be registered to attend the 3 live training sessions absolutely free! This is a priceless bonus! By attending some (or all) of the webinars live, you’ll have the opportunity to get your questions answered live during the training. People who only catch the recordings after the fact will obviously not be able to do that. So this a huge added value!

Check out all the details for the Ultimate Small Business Growth Kit here.

What Others Are Saying About “The Ultimate Small Business Growth Kit”

From December, 2010:
“A quick note to let you know how valuable your training has been to me! It has already helped me identify several key areas that need my attention to cause my business to flourish like I want it to. I am nowhere near finished the training but I have already identified and implemented some of the ‘techniques,’ as I interact with my customers. The results have been phenomenal! I have already made my money back with the orders I have captured as a result of your training.” (emphasis added)

From March, 2011:
“I wanted to thank you again for the services you provide through Epiphany. I have moved up to the first page of the Google search engine in as little as 3 months! One month ago I secured a $40,000+ contract with a vending manufacturer who found my company on Google. I was also recently contacted by another manufacturer who wants to send us all of his business … and yes he found us on the front page of Google. Don’t stop what you are doing. You are truly a blessing to the business community!” (emphasis added)

Sonya L. Thompson
First Choice Locators & Vending SVC LLC
Minneola, FL

I look forward to “seeing” you on next week’s training webinars! Be sure to purchase by tomorrow (Friday, September 30th) at 5pm Eastern in order to get in on “The Secrets of Search Engine Rankings for CEOs, Owners & Executives” absolutely free!

Happy Coffee Day!

Photo: LotusHead

Ah summertime… the dog days of summer… sweating under the sun with the smell of coconut and salt water wafting by…

Wait a minute!

If you’re in business, then those may not be relaxing thoughts at all! It’s time to do something about growing your business!

Unless you’re in a tourist industry (in which case you need marketing ideas fast) or other seasonal business, summertime may be a slower time of year. Customers, clients and prospects are more inclined to be on vacation, and that can make it harder to get results with your marketing.

So how can you use the slower season to your advantage? Here are several ways you can use right away!

1. Develop Your Content Marketing Plan

I’ve said it for years. On the web, content is king. Regardless of any search engine “tricks of the trade” you (or your web designers) may have employed, none of them will have any significant long-term effect if you don’t have good quality content.

But having the right content strategy is even more valuable now than ever before.

Why?

2 words: social media.

In a time when Facebook fans are being shown to spend hundreds of dollars more per year than non-fans, it seems awfully attractive to “get some fans.”

But you won’t… not without highly focused content.

Developing a solid content marketing strategy takes time and energy… even if you’ve got someone else to implement it. More importantly, however, it can take some time to get results — particularly if you’re just getting started or if you’ve neglected this for a while. So there’s no time like the present to get started!

2. Revisit Your Contacts Database

If you’re old school, this means whip out the Rolodex and go back through it. Here’s what you’re looking for:

• Potential Joint Venture or Referral Partners: Separate out the non-competitive contacts who serve the same market you serve, or for whom there is significant overlap. For each one, write down 2-3 possible ways that you could each cooperatively reach out to your existing relationships with an offer for the products/services of the other. Teaming up gives you the ability to share resources and gain new prospects at very low cost.
• Customers You Haven’t Heard from In a While: You’re looking for people who used to buy from you, but who dropped off the face of the earth. Set aside an hour or two a week to reach out to them. If they’re local, take ‘em to Starbucks or to lunch. If not, set phone appointments. Find out what’s changing in their world. Your goal here is to listen, not to try to win back their business. This is one of the most valuable exercises any business can engage in since the changing needs and wants of a given customer can be a big clue about what needs to be changed in your business. Maybe a new product or service needs could be rolled out that’s a better match for their needs. Perhaps your message is missing the mark. You won’t know until you listen!
• Happy Customers: Find the people you’ve done a “bang up” job with and reach out to them. Find out: why they bought from you, what thrilled them about your product or service, and who they know that needs what they got from you. After you’ve heard them tell you in their own words about their experience, ask if they’d mind if you write down what you heard them say and post it on your website, Facebook, YouTube, etc. after they approve it. Even better: get a photo (or video… keep reading!) to add authenticity and credibility to their words.

3. Acquire a New Skill

Marketing is a continuous process. It happens all the time in your business whether you want it to or not. Proactively getting the right message out in today’s world involves using some skills you may not have need in a while (or ever before!). Here are some of the most valuable skills you can acquire right now — either by learning them yourself, sending a team member for some training, or hiring someone who has one or more of them:

• Writing better copy. We all need marketing copy all the time. Your Facebook posts, Tweets, blog posts, postcards, in-store promotions, e-mail, newspaper ads, radio spots… whatever you’re doing to reach out… they need to effectively communicate and compel the right people to take action.
• Simple video production. Using video on your website, Facebook posts, or even on YouTube can pack a substantial punch in terms of communicating quickly and powerfully with prospects and customers. Here’s a tip: grab an inexpensive digital device like this Flip UltraHD Camcorder that makes creating and uploading videos a snap! You can get great results even if you’re shaking like a cold Chihuahua when you show up at a customer’s location and shoot.
• Actually using Social Media as a marketer. It’s one thing to share pictures of the kids (or grandkids… you know who you are!) and “like” the latest funny video posted by your friends. It’s another thing to roll out an engaging stream of content from your business fan page or Twitter account that measurably produces new sales.

Incidentally… while I hope that the thoughts here have been useful to you, we’ve got a valuable webinar coming up next week that I’d like to invite you to. If you’re an e-mail subscriber, you’ll get your personal invitation automatically. If not, sign up here and get a free download in the process! It’ll be worth your while… I guarantee it!

As salespeople and business owners, we’ve often been trained to communicate value. After all, if we don’t connect what we sell, produce and provide with the needs of our prospects and customers and do it in a way that helps them understand the return they should expect on their investment, we’re sunk!

But in times like these, it’s more important than ever that we communicate valuably!

What does it mean to communicate valuably? It means that the value is in the message. When you reach out to the people you’re in touch with — whether they are existing customers, suspects, prospects, or even the general public — make sure that what you’re communicating to them is valuable… to them!

Here are 5 ways to communicate valuably:

1. Find out what they need.  This can be time-consuming and demanding. But it pays off. When you are in touch with the needs of people, you can be best positioned to make yourself and your communications valuable to them.
2. Put a strategy in place to reach out regularly. We get annoyed when communicated with too frequently, this is true. But if your messages are concise and valuable to the people you’re reaching out to, then they will anticipate and even look forward to your messages. Whether this is done via e-mail, on the web, via voicemail, text message, Twitter, snail mail, or in person, having something valuable to say and doing it consistently helps build relationship, trust, and a desire to reciprocate.
3. Budget for it!  Treat this like an advertising expenditure: devote time, resources, and — yes, even money — to it.  Put a staff member on it (multiple staff members, if you can). If you’re a salesperson or a smaller company, then carve time out of your schedule on a regular basis to make sure you’re reaching out. The more you do this, the more efficient you’ll become at it. Learning how to use tools such as WordPress, RSS feeds, e-mail service providers, and even Social Media can have an astounding impact on your ability to reach out to more people in highly-targeted ways for very little cost. Many businesses are now wisely diverting money from traditional advertising methods to see to it that they are communicating effectively and regularly with audiences that are likely to produce new business.
4. Create feedback mechanisms. Hopefully it goes without saying that your communications should be highly measurable. Understand whether you’re reaching your target, whether they care enough to open/read/listen to/etc your communications. But, in this day and age, we’re without excuse if we aren’t going beyond measuring and tracking and into really listening.  Give the people to whom you’re reaching simple mechanisms to respond and let you know what they find useful, what they dislike, and what they want more of.
5. Reward those who participate in the dialogue. Amazingly, some businesses still don’t understand that if people care enough to provide feedback, it should be rewarded. Even if the feedback is negative and not presented in a constructive fashion, the point is that they cared enough to respond! Sometimes you may wonder why they cared enough. Find out! And by the way, the reward for participation should at the very least be an acknowledgment or a response. But you can easily go above and beyond… and you don’t always have to provide discounts, coupons, or the obvious financial incentives. Here are some ideas from Starbucks about creating rewards.

Do you have an intentional, strategic process in place to communicate valuably? If not, get busy! The marketplace rewards value. Make sure you’re delivering so they know who to reward!

Today I walked into a local Starbucks and was greeted by a prominently-placed offer for the new Starbucks Gold card. You probably know by now that I’m a Starbucks regular. But I’ll admit, I’ve spent a lot less time (and yes, money) in Starbucks locations in recent history.

A quick scan of my unread e-mail shows that they sent me something about this card a month ago. I missed that message. No big surprise, since e-mail has been a background process for me with a few minor exceptions in recent weeks.

Here’s the quick skinny on the card: $25 annual membership, 10% off (nearly) all purchases, sneak peeks and surprise offers via e-mail and postal mail. On top of that, you get a free drink (anything you can dream up) when you buy the card in-store, a free drink on your birthday (evidently an old-school card arrives snail-mail-style), and a very classy exclusive-looking card ensconced in a booklet with free “guest” offers you can give to friends. One added bonus: a gorgeous high-usability “private” website for members of the Starbucks card where you can manage your account and benefits, including up to 2 hours of free wi-fi at AT&T hotspots within company-owned stores.

Lessons for Businesses Working to Beat the Recession

The introduction of this loyalty program serves up a number of great takeaways for any business tackling the challenges in this economy. Here are a few:

Listen to Your Customers

Starbucks started by bringing back Howard Schultz, who is almost single-handedly responsible for creating the famous Starbucks experience. His first move? Start listening.

The company has engaged in any number of efforts to solicit and obtain feedback from its customer base to determine where it had missed the mark. The bottom line? It’s done a great job of listening.

Give a Little

Customers wanted free wi-fi (something the company had famously sworn off forever). The solution? It’s available for the company’s loyal customers only, and within reasonable limits. Others may continue to pay, thank you very much. Customers wanted free flavoring syrups and other little bonuses to help counteract the escalating prices of their addictions. Again: available for customers willing to use a prepaid rewards card.

These and other relatively low-cost accommodations will pay off handsomely for the company when given to those of its customers willing to give up a little bit of information (the rewards cards are certainly being tracked, more so when registered online).

Let Your Biggest Fans Self-Identify

Another important facet of this process is that those customers who felt snubbed as the company went through changes resulting from rapid growth were given an opportunity to identify themselves and sound off. The result? The company has elegantly reached out to them and strengthened its relationship with them. These are now the people who are receiving Starbucks’ most frequent e-mail communications. Remember: this is a very high ROI marketing medium.

Be Creative

Listening to your customers can be a risky business. Taken at face value, raw feedback and suggestions from customers — especially ones you may have injured — may not be directly actionable. They’ll ask for things you may not be capable of delivering. (And, your feelings may get hurt — especially if you’re a small business.)

Starbucks’ promotion belies a lot of intentional effort on their part to hear what was behind the complaints and the feedback they got. They worked to create a viable solution that capitalized on their own need to market to their customer base and to give where they were able to give while still delivering great value.

We all know it costs a lot less to keep existing customers happy than it does to acquire new ones. So, Starbucks used some of its marketing budget on discounts to loyal customers.

At the same time, charging a $25 annual fee for the Gold card created a great income stream while filtering out customers who don’t spend enough in the stores to justify the purchase. For me, between my occasional cappuccinos, the beans I go out of my way to purchase for my home brewing setup (burr grinder & french press), occasional entertaining at Starbucks locations, and the days like today where I want someplace different to work, the purchase was a no-brainer. It will pay for itself in short order.

Can you find creative ways to reward your loyal customers? Absolutely. And in times like these when your customers are vulnerable to being picked off by low-priced competition or by other economic factors, now’s the time to nurture those relationships like never before. But do yourself a favor: start by asking what they want and need. Customers who feel neglected are the first ones to go.

Personally, I’m feeling a bit less neglected by Starbucks. Now if only they’d bring back the almond syrup.

Now It’s Your Turn

What creative ideas have you seen (or used!) to reward loyal customers on a budget?

Use the comment box below to sound off!

In Part 1, we talked about getting clear on your identity. Knowing who you are is absolutely fundamental to marketing – no matter what business you’re in. So… what business are you really in?

The Starbucks example is a fun one. They definitely sell coffee. They make a variety of beverages. Legal addictive stimulants are in virtually every beverage they make (does anyone really buy decaf?). And they truly create an experience designed to bring pleasure to the senses… to truly entertain. Of course, this is the factor that adds the most value to the commodity they sell and… yes, it’s why people pay more than they have to pay every single day. Starbucks customers are not buying just a commodity. Are yours?

Given that they could key off of any of those options (there isn’t a “wrong” one in the list), do you see the far-reaching implications of their choice? That simple, critical decision will determine virtually everything about the marketing decisions they make. And yet, simple as it is, when you’re working on this for your own business, this step can be one of the most difficult. Why? Because most of us are dealing with some degree of fuzziness about our identity.

If you are fuzzy about your identity… how can your customers and future customers possibly be clear that you are the right choice to meet their needs? Fuzzy logic may be great in mathematics, but in marketing it’s deadly. It’s the difference between nailing the bullseye and missing the target entirely.

Don’t make another marketing decision until you settle this essential question. You’ll get your best results on this work when you pair up with someone outside your business who can serve as a “sounding board.” As my clients and trainees have all heard me say, you can’t read the label from inside the bottle.

Tomorrow: who are your customers?

In my work with clients over the years, one thing I’ve observed is that most marketing mistakes made by businesses both small and large come from a fundamentally poor understanding of the real identity of the business. If you don’t know who you are, how can you properly introduce yourself to your future customers? In truth, how can you have any real clear idea about who your future customers are if you aren’t crystal clear on who you are? It’s an extension of a personal identity crisis that gets carried over into the business world, and it’s much more common than I ever would have imagined had I not observed it first-hand again and again.

To illustrate this phenomenon, I’ll let you in on one of the processes that I take nearly every client through to help them better understand who they are. It’s actually a very simple process, but is typically overlooked. It begins by asking the very simple question:

What is your true product or service?

Before you respond with the most obvious answer, let me ask it a different way. What business are you really in?

Most companies (and this is particularly true of small businesses) define themselves too specifically and do not think about the answer behind their answer.

To illustrate this, let’s use a well-known company as an example. Starbucks roasts coffee beans purchased from growers all over the world and sells them primarily by making drinks out of them in their local retail stores. What business is Starbucks in?

a. Coffee
b. Beverages
c. Legal Addictive Stimulants
d. Entertainment

Give it some thought. We’ll pick this thought up in Part 2…