Managing Outside Vendors

I have participated in a few conversations recently about hiring outside people to perform marketing functions such as pay per click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO). The experience that most seem to have is that the agency they hire does not perform or live up to expectation. Some have a vendor that performs well initially, then efforts seem to decline as time goes on. The result is that the client often feels taken advantage of and sometimes even soured to the field of search engine marketing (SEM).

So what is a small, or medium-sized business to do? Many organizations can't afford a full-time marketer, let alone one that is dedicated to SEM. At the same time it is extremely important to participate in online marketing to stay competitive. What steps can you take to make sure you aren't taken advantage of?

Here are a few steps to make your SEM experience a good one:

1. Learn - Develop a basic understanding of SEM and best practices. When you know the basics of SEM it will be much easier to know what you are looking for in a vendor, how to measure their success, and what you want them to do.
2. Set Goals - Know what you want your vendor to achieve, not overall long-range goals, but measurable short-term goals. This can be anything from the amount of increased traffic to the number of blog posts, or both.
3. Hire for Specific Actions - This will take more of your time to manage, but it will make you more involved, and less likely to be taken advantage of. So hire a separate vendor to work with your web developers in on-page optimization, a separate person for link building, and a separate person to run your PPC campaigns. 

These steps will make you better prepared to manage the SEM efforts of your vendors and help to ensure your aren't being taken advantage of.

Direct Your Customers' Thoughts

Believe it or not you can guide the thoughts of your customers in a direction that works for you. One of the cheesiest, and most obvious, ways that some organizations like to direct the thoughts of more gullible customers is to list several prices for a product showing how much the product has been discounted. This method does work to a certain extent, and why you really shouldn't will be a post for another day.

You aren't convinced? I wouldn't be either.

So let's do a couple exercises to illustrate how this works. First I need you to get a timer or stopwatch, pen or pencil, and a sheet of paper. No really, no cheating, you need to do this exercise.

OK now that you have done that I want you to set your timer for 20 seconds and take those 20 seconds to write down everything you can think of that is white.

Finally, set your timer for another 20 seconds and write down everything that is white in your refrigerator that is white.

If you did this correctly you probably wrote more things the second time around. That is because instead of having your mind open I was able to direct your thinking in a more productive direction.

The second example is from one of my own experiences. This was in a classroom setting and so I felt confident that it wouldn't affect my career, or my grade. I wouldn't suggest doing this in an actual customer research situation. During a class we were asked to come up with an idea for several new products, and to poll people to find the best one to pitch to the class. However, when it came time to write the survey I was able to word the question in such a way that we were able to come up with a much better response than another team that actually had a very similar idea to ours. All with adding a few words asking the respondents to answer as though they were in the market for something in that product line.

The ways to lead your customers' thoughts in the best direction are varied and really depend on the situation, but with some practice and careful thought you can improve your customer response by guiding their thoughts in a direction that is advantageous for both of you.

Still don't believe me? The next time you go to do pushups or some other form of physical exercise focus on a number that is 50% larger than your last result and see how much better you do. Then leave a comment and tell me how much better you did.

Treat Your Budget Like an Asset

Your budget is an asset - It is such a simple phrase, and I can imagine that it would be rather difficult to find a person that would argue the opposite. At least with their words, yet so many managers argue the point with their actions. We have all known the manager who comes into a situation and seeks to show their worth by cutting costs.

So if your budget is such an asset, why are you throwing it out the window?

Cutting costs is an extremely short-term solution that only serves to give you short-term recognition from those that write the checks. In the long run you are left with no money to get results, and no experience for getting results if you can get the budget back.


An efficient organization will base a budget off careful planning regarding what each department needs to operate at its best. If that budget doesn't get used that sends the message that your department doesn't really need the funds that it has been given, and your funds go down for the coming year. However, your department should be looking for opportunities to outperform last years' efforts. How are you going to do that? Do the same as the year before with less? Where else are you going to make cuts? Resources can only be stretched so far, so eventually your department will be doing less with less.

At the same time the world is moving on. New innovations are taking place, your competitors are getting better at finding customers, creating new products, moving into new markets, or just finding ways to take better care of your customers than you are. And what have you accomplished? Where were you? You were too busy figuring out how to do the same old thing with less money.

Now when things really get hot and you need to find the next big thing you have to start with convincing your superiors that you need more money to just start testing what your competitors already know what will and will not work, and how to get the most out of it.

Does that mean that when you end up with extra funds you should give bonuses to all your employees, buy a new ping-pong table for the break room, or even take everyone out for a steak dinner? No, you should invest in testing and developing for the future. A smart executive will be more pleased to know that you are planning for the future of the organization as a whole than that you decided to just save them a few dollars.

This does not mean there is never a situation where costs should be cut. There are times when immediate needs take precedence. But if you find yourself cutting costs for the sake of looking good just stop, and go do something proactive immediately.

The "Like" Button turns one year old

It was pointed out to me through this article on mashable.com that the Facebook "Like" button is one year old today. Of course before the Like button a consumer could show support for a brand by becoming a fan.

But the Like button is so much more than a way for consumers to connect with brands. The Like button is quite possibly one of the best things that has happened to social marketing. It has made it less obtrusive for a consumer to follow a brand, allowed consumers to interact both with brands and other consumers without actually saying anything, and allowed brands to more easily use their sites to encourage social interactions.

For a consumer it is much more of a commitment to say that they are a fan of something than it is to say that they like something. By changing the term to like Facebook has made it much easier for brands to gather followers and interact with them through Facebook.

Of course the Like button extends to the consumer-to-consumer level as well. Many consumers will now interact with each other and show their support for each others posts without having to directly interact with each other. Facebook understands something that other social networks have missed: most people do not want to actually talk to many of their connections. Instead, by providing the Like button Facebook provided the solution, now consumers can give a kudos without having to directly interact. They can now feel connected without having to break into actual conversation.

Finally, the Like button has enabled brands to have simple terminology and one recognizable button that allows brands to remind consumers about their brand (encouraging return visits) through social interaction.

The most important point of this is that through what seems so simple, and by understanding the needs of both consumers and brands, Facebook was able to become more relevant in the everyday life of both brands and consumers. For consumers because they can now interact without breaking social barriers, and brands because easier interaction with consumers makes Facebook a more effective marketing tool.

So here is a big "Like" to Facebook for paving the way for better social interaction!

Simplify Marketing - Or - You Don't Have to Be a Champion . . . Yet

During the last few months I have started to train for a triathlon. This event will be the most that I have ever tested the abilities of my body to condition and perform. I knew there was a lot I needed to learn so I started to read about what others had written and talked to anyone I knew that had done triathlons. I quickly discovered that there was a lot to think about, and to focus on. Between workout times, training techniques, diet plans, fueling during the event and training, etc.

Needless to say it can be easy to get lost in everything trying to figure out everything that you need to take care of. Fortunately I do not have plans to be a competitor with the top triathletes involved, I am just a guy who has a life goal to complete a triathlon. What to do?

After diving into training and trying out a few things I came to the conclusion that I really only needed to focus on three things: Endurance, Strength, and Fuel. You don't want to hear all the details, but I will give a brief explanation of each.

1. Endurance
The biggest hurdle to a triathlon is having the endurance to last through the whole event. The process of developing endurance is a long and constant one, that allows an athlete to go strong through the whole race.

2. Strength
Strength conditioning allows your body to build up the necessary structure to avoid injury and gives you the strength to power through the uphill struggles of the race.

3. Fueling
Learning the right methods to keep fuel in your body is crucial to having the energy to make it through a long endurance race. Without fuel a racer runs the risk of hitting a wall during the race and possibly causing long-term damage to their body.

The Application
As you are starting with a marketing plan it is easy (even for an experienced marketer) to get caught up in all the things you can do to grow your business. More often than not a person ends up getting lost and isn't sure where to start.

That is when it is important to focus on a few key elements that will simplify your marketing, integrate it into your business, and focus on the most important aspects. These areas of focus are the long term, short term, and fueling growth.

1. Long Term
The long term focuses on developing long-time loyal customers. So many business owners only focus on how to get a sale immediately, almost like they want to trick a customer into a purchase. By looking at the long term you can focus on your core customers and how to best serve them.

2. Short Term
Of course, only thinking of sales in the future often means they will never come. The saying goes that 'cash is king' so ask for the sale, and know how you can get sales in the short-run. Combining short and long term focuses allows you to not only get the sale, but keep the customer as well.

3. Fueling Growth
Finally you want to look at how you can grow to new markets, new segments, or just serve more needs of current customers. Don't wait until it is too late to fuel growth, or you will stall and may not recover before it is too late.

So don't worry, by focusing on the right things you will get your business off to a good start, and by doing the simple things you will be able to grow into a champion marketer with time and experience.

Engagement

Overheard today:

- I know almost all of these twitter followers are fake, but I figure a few of them have to be real, and they have real followers, so I am still getting benefit from all these bots.

The people having this conversation have had several like this in the past, comparing who is getting the most followers as though they are comparing who has the most Pogs (if you don't know what Pogs are . . . you aren't missing much).

The fact of the matter is that whether you are working with e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking tool, if your followers aren't engaged you are wasting your time. Let me say it again in case you didn't catch it the first time: You are wasting your time!.

When it comes to reaching people online you can either pay for it, or do the work. You simply can't jump online, get a bunch of empty bots, or people with the same mindset as you, that aren't going to listen to a thing you have to say and expect to get benefit from it.

Advertising online does work, if you want quick results and/or to reach a wider audience there are a lot of options that work very well. However, if you want to have followers that will engage and have a relationship with your brand, you need to put in the time and engage with them at the same time.

Customer Loyalty, Online and Offline

Most organizations that I have been involved with struggle with creating customer loyalty. While customer loyalty can be hard enough for an organization to accomplish that comes face-to-face with their customers, the problem is expanded exponentially when the customer becomes more obscure through the veil of an online shopping cart.

Despite the challenges in developing strong customer loyalty it can still be done if the organization is willing to put the necessary resources toward customer loyalty. Below are a few ideas to help your organization develop some loyal customers, and even brand ambassadors that will grow your business:

1. Talk with your customers, not at them. Communicate openly with your customers, don't just shout more sales pitches at them. Find out how your customers like you to communicate with them.

2. Make your product easy to use. I worked for an organization that had a lot of customer loyalty in two product categories because they found a way to make those products easier to find and order than anyone else in the industry. On the other end of the spectrum, if your site is hard to use and find what you need your customers won't come back.

3. Follow-up, customers want to know that you are glad they are doing business with them. The more valued a customer feels the more likely they are to come back. This comes any time you come in contact with them. Even if they sign up for a newsletter, don't wait for your next communication to be when the next newsletter comes out, send them a personalized e-mail with a special offer to say "thanks".

Customers do want to be loyal, it is nice to have someone that you can count on for certain things, it is just up to the organizations we deal with to allow that relationship to develop.

Marketing Through Social Media

A leader in the field of social marketing recently asserted in a twitter post that if customer service isn't involved in your social marketing efforts then you are doing it wrong.

He is absolutely right.

My experience with social media is that most organizations don't know how to really take advantage of social media. The leaders of many organizations only know the basics of social media, as a result they choose to assign it to some department, often marketing, and then announce that they are involved in social marketing.

You see the term social marketing is misleading. Social Marketing is an opportunity for your organization to build direct relationships with your customers, employees, potential employees, suppliers, . . . everyone that your organization comes in contact with. To ask just the marketing department to harness this entire potential as an island within a whole organization is a near impossibility.

The way to organize social media is different for every organization, but the truth remains the same, multiple aspects of your organization need to be involved. I would even suggest that the reason some of the organizations that use social media the best is because the organization is still small enough that those involved are involved in understanding the overall objectives and strategies of the organization, and whomever is involved in the social media can use that direction in administrating the social media efforts.

To make social media start to work for your organization begin by establishing a consistent voice. Get input from all aspects of your organization, find out what information they want presented to their "customers" and run with it.

Wi-Fi? Who Needs Wi-Fi?

Earlier today I read a blog post by Peter Shankman entitled "Is it time to say goodbye to Free Wi-Fi?" The idea of the post is that with the availability and affordability of Mi-Fi products do we really need to have coffee shops offer free Wi-Fi?

Granted, Peter is talking to those people that are still scrambling for a coffee shop to get free Wi-Fi so that they can get their work done. In that instance Peter is 100% correct. If you really want to be able to work anywhere and freely there really is no need to rely on the hospitality of the corner coffee shop.

However, if you are a coffee shop owner you MUST offer free Wi-Fi. Let me explain:

Through marketing we know that when offering a product there are three categories of peripheral amenities that you must consider for any product or service. The must do, the nice to do, and the don't do.

A must do is what a customer expects from a product in your industry. The nice to do is your differentiation, what makes you different from some or all of you competitors. The don't do are things that will turn consumers away.

For coffee shops offering free Wi-Fi is what customers expect. Granted having free Wi-Fi doesn't sell more coffee. But not offering free Wi-Fi will keep you from selling as much coffee. This is not a contradiction. Customers will not make your coffee shop, diner, etc. a destination just because you offer Wi-Fi, but they will make your location a non-destination if they cannot get free Wi-Fi.