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HALF of All Advertising Works!

There is the old joke in the advertising world which says:

“Half of all advertising works.  The problem is, we don’t know which half”.

And while it was certainly a joke, it was also a truism. Through most of the history of modern advertising, there weren’t a lot of great ways to track what worked, and what didn’t. Yes, there were the Nielsen ratings for broadcast TV on the high end. And on the low-end, coupons could be tagged, tracked and measured.

But these systems left a lot to be desired. And at the end of the day, there was a lot of informed guesswork needed to move the process along. And costly mistakes were made.

Our digital revolution, and more pointedly, our move from CONSUMING our media via analogue channels (print, broadcast) to digital (streaming TV and online magazines) has revolutionized the world of marketing, allowing extreme demographics.

Many will argue that there is both good and bad to be found here. The good is our enhanced ability to track, analyze and break down our potential customers into well-defined demographic groups. We know who they are, how long they watched, or stayed at the online store.

The downside of our access to extreme-analytics is the tendency of the industry to become all about bean-counters. To have the “bright young men” with slide-rules in their front shirt pocket, take over the industry.

This is a problem because, like much of the best science, it is at its best when it’s equal parts science and intuition. Yes, intuition can lead one astray. But it can also create the most amazing results. Results that science alone does not readily accomplish.

The take-away here is learning to understand what works best for your brand.

THE QUESTION IS: How can your marketing team deliver the best in both the art and science of marketing?

Sit down with Graphlink Media and learn how our decades of experience can build your business.

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Who is your POTENTIAL CUSTOMER?

As you read through these blog posts you will see the terms “POTENTIAL customer”, and “TARGET market” used throughout. Just what are these, and how do we define them?

Marketing and sales use many terms to describe customers, and to help define the “state” that a given customer is in. For example, you could have a list of customers in the “active” pile, meaning they are actively purchasing from you company on a regular basis. An “inactive” or “dead” pile, is obviously people who were buying from your company at one time, but haven’t in a while.

But a POTENTIAL CUSTOMER (or “TARGET customer”, “TARGET market” etc.) is someone who has not yet purchased from you, and yet, for various reasons, the business owner feels they are the most likely to want, or benefit from, what your company sells.

Great For What Ails You

When asked “Who is your target customer?”, many business owners, especially smaller business owners, reply with “Oh, our products are great for EVERYONE. Anyone can be our potential customer.”

Insert losing game buzzer sound effect here, because that is a business owner with far too little insight into how his business works.

By contrast, ask that question to a savvy business owner (usually someone running a mid-sized company or larger), and you may very well get back a roster of demographics including age, gender, geographics, economics and more.

Successful business owners really know their market, and their potential customer!

Defining your target can be a tricky procedure. But doing it well can make or break most businesses. And here’s why, let’s look at two scenarios:

1. YOUR MARKETING TEAM CORRECTLY DEFINES THE POTENTIAL CUSTOMER

By defining your target correctly, your business benefits in TWO WAYS. It can save thousands of dollars in marketing. It does this by preventing your company from spending its marketing dollars on people that are unlikely to ever become customers.

Equally important is that if your target it accurately defined, then more marketing gets to go to the REAL TARGETS. Those that are actually likely to buy from you. So you are far more likely to see increased sales.

2. YOU “WING” IT, AND TRY TO GUESS WHO YOUR TARGET MARKETS ARE

By incorrectly defining and identifying your target, you ensure that your company’s marketing dollars will be wasted, and not drive conversions and sales.

This is especially common with business people that feel their product is “for everyone”. Even a ubiquitous product like FOOD is not marketed to “everyone”. Decades ago, food used to be marketed to females, when they were housewives running the home. Today, food marketing is far more pin-pointed to the full range of demographics. Some food is best sold to kids, others to older people, and much of it towards people on the go who need it fast.

No product, is for everyone. Define the people most likely to buy, as they are your target market. The people you want to go after.

The take-away here is learning how to identify your POTENTIAL CUSTOMER, and your TARGET MARKET.

THE QUESTION IS: How can your marketing team help you become the efficient marketing machine, that your business needs to be?

Sit down with Graphlink Media and learn how to identify the people that will grow your business.

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Website, Check! Now What?

SORRY, BUT THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET.

We have all been terribly over-sold with the concept of a website. Yes, it’s crucial to a business. And if you don’t have one—and a REALLY GOOD ONE—you are likely doing your business irreparable harm. This, my friends, is the truth.

But having said that, what then? Because I will be the first to tell you that having a website ALL BY ITSELF may not change your business all that much. Think of it this way:

Most websites are, essentially, a brochure on the internet. This is fine. So imagine it’s 1985 and you just designed and printed 5,000 brochures. They are delivered to your office from the printers.

NOW WHAT?

Well, unless you actually do something with them, then...nothing. There in your office, they shall sit. It might as well go into a black hole.

If you want to drum up more business, those brochures need to get out and get into the hands of potential customers. This means mailing them, or dropping off stacks at other businesses (traditionally restaurants, hair salons, hardware stores, etc.), handing them out on street corners, dropping them out of helicopters...you get the idea.

Whatever you do with brochures, some additional actions beyond just printing them is required. Websites need to be treated EXACTLY the same way.

However nice your website may be, it will still just sit on the internet very lonely until you get people to come see it. And this is where MARKETING comes in. Marketing is the process of getting the information about your company and its products/services to the potential customer. And this can be done many different ways.

But today’s marketing is unfortunately far more complicated than the mailing and handouts of the past. Which is why GRAPHLINK developed our BLITZ Marketing Campaign. It helps SMB’s get a campaign out each and every month, like clockwork.

Our BLITZ Marketing is such a good system, the industry magazine ADVERTISING AGE called it "Very smart marketing for small/medium businesses."

I have had conversations with MANY business owners who have told me they spent on a website, and it didn’t change their business one bit. When I ask what they did with that website, I always get back blank stares. “What do you mean ‘what did I do with it?’ I paid for it, it’s up there on the web.”

Many business owners are poorly informed as to what they should expect from a website. And what the website (and business!) should expect from the entrepreneur. Let’s put it a different way:

What part of your business is ever, “Set It & Forget It”?

Probably not much. So why should your marketing—debatably the most important part of a business—be any easier? It requires nurturing and support, just like every other part of your business.

The take-away here is understanding that your BUSINESS WEBSITE is where things START.

THE QUESTION IS: How can you bring people to your website, so it can help sell your business?

Sit down with Graphlink Media and learn how BLITZ Marketing can build your business.

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Where to Get Your Websites

These days, with all the stores closing and filing chapter 11, it’s hard enough to know where to buy a new pair of sneakers, let alone where to get a business website.

But get one, you must. The question is, where? And as usual, the answer will depend on your answers to a number of questions. Here are some example questions, in no particular order:

What are your business goals?

What are the goals for the website?

What are your general marketing goals?

How much do you have to spend on it?

As you can imagine, different business owners will respond with a wide range of different goals. Thus getting a website can mean very different things to different business people. Let’s take this as methodically as we can, one step at a time.

Do you need a website?

If you are in business with the goals of making money, getting your product or service greater recognition, or almost any other goal, then yes you need a website. Every day you do not have one, SOMEONE ELSE is getting your potential customers. We even built one client a “Going Out of Business” website, his company’s first (and last, but it made him a lot of money). Even a simple website is (usually) better than none.

Roll Your Own

I’m a big do-it-yourselfer. So I have no problems with clients who want to create their own website. GO FOR IT! But not without some serious caveats in place. After all, this isn’t a weekend project done at your spouse’s insistence. You aren’t hanging some new shelves in the back closet that only the family will see. This is for your BUSINESS, the thing that FEEDS that family.

So if you want to go up and create a WIX or SQUARESPACE website, go ahead, knock yourself out. I’ve never used any of those systems, as they simply are not professional tools. But I have heard from others that they are ok, and in some ways help with things like design, for non-designers. I have also been told that it will take MUCH LONGER to create a website than was expected. And support isn’t as good as they had hoped for.

If you have a small business, without much real competition, and do not plan on doing any marketing, this can work as a simple online brochure. If you will be doing marketing, then the site will need regular updates, you will need to create things like CUSTOM LANDING PAGES, and will need to decide if you are up for both the challenge, and the amount of time it may take.

One client who did it himself later told me he puts it on par with trying to do his own dentistry. FWIW.

Hire a College Kid

To be frank, if this is on your plate, it seems a waste for you to be reading anything on this website. We aren’t even close to playing in the same game. Word of warning:  I have never even ONCE seen this work out with anything even close to a professional site. You’d be better off rolling your own.

Hire a Web Design Shop

To clarify things up front, Graphlink is NOT a “web shop”, and I am NOT a “web guy”. Yes, we design and build websites, but not as an end product. We design websites to be part of an entire marketing effort. A website is the central cog in the entire marketing. But it is still just a cog.

And while most “web shops” will list a wide range of services that are similar to ours, ask to see their work. Ask to see samples. Ask for some of their client names. Chances are good that none of it will be impressive. Why is that?

Because 95% of “web shops” are a salesman, and a few low-paid web hacks (either college kids or low-paid workers in places like India or Pakistan). They pull out a template that looks like its from 2010, swap in your company’s details, and as they say in BK, “Bah-dah-bing!”, it’s done.

And for the most part, their other marketing services are going to be worse. And they will try and both up-sell, and over-sell you on things like SEO services. Maybe you will get lucky? Maybe. And I wish you the best.

Again, if you have any sense of personal style, or are at the very least sober, you will likely do much better by rolling your own. Or at least, it will cost less.

Hire a Branding & Marketing Firm

This is what Graphlink is. You will not find real B&M firms on every block. Why? Because it takes years and even decades to be able to do the range of services we offer, and do them correctly. You are trusting some company with THE FUTURE OF YOUR COMPANY. Maybe I take this more seriously than you do, but when a client decides to work with us, we take your success VERY seriously.

Our clients, even our smaller ones, get the very same commitment to detail and quality of work that our largest clients get. Because we fully expect that you will grow into a larger company.

As a BRANDING specialist that has helped build brands like Olive Garden, Miller Beer, American Express, we understand how the details make up a lot more than merely the sum of its parts. We understand just what your big-picture needs to look like.

And as a MARKETING firm, we understand what to do with that website once it’s finished. And how to best integrate it into your social media and other advertising. That’s why we created our BLITZ Marketing service. 

We also understand how to turn your passive website into an ACTIVE WEBSITE, that you can use for marketing, sales, auto-delivery of marketing materials, schedule appointments and launch an online store.

And as one of the last shooting studios left midtown Manhattan, we can provide you with photography, video and any other content you will need of your products and people.

The take-away here is understanding the true needs of a BUSINESS WEBSITE.

THE QUESTION IS: How many times do you want to be “penny-wise and pound-foolish”, rather than getting it done right?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you build a website that builds your business.

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Marketing-Stupid #1

SOMETIMES IT JUST FEELS LIKE we’re talking to asylum escapees. Because some people simply do not want to benefit themselves, their employees, or their family. Here’s just one story. 

This is one of my favorite stories because it underscores how easy it is to do some really irreparable harm to your own business, for years, without even being aware of it.

GYM OWNER

(NOTE:  It will help you to know that people come to websites via desktop, tablets, and smartphone. Most consumer oriented businesses get most visits from smartphones. A gym’s clientele might be over 95% from smartphones.)

Before our meeting, I did my due diligence and explored the gym owner’s website. I looked at it on my work computer first. It wasn’t great, and it wasn’t bringing him any clients. It was over-run with text, and hard to read, even on a large desktop screen.

Then I pick up my phone to look at the mobile version…

I met the gym owner at his business and got the cook’s tour. A nice operation, but he told me he wasn’t getting enough clientele. He had tried and tried, and nothing had worked. He was just skating by. In fact he told me, if the laundry raises its rates for cleaning the towels, he may no longer skate by. 

I asked him to tell me all the things he’s tried, that have not worked. He told me, among other things, that he had been doing Google ads for a very long time, and had gotten nothing out of it. I asked how long? After pondering for a moment, he replied that he must have done at least 2-3 years of ads, and spent thousands. And never got a single client from it.

Now I’m concerned, because I think I see where this is heading. 

I asked him to “Tell me, how long have you had that website up?” He thought about it and told me it must be up there almost 5 years. This would have put it’s launch in the early 2010’s, a time when most websites were already including mobile versions, but not all.

I asked if he had taken a look at his website lately. He hemmed and hawed, and then he said “Yeah, sure, why?” I asked if he had looked at his MOBILE website recently. He hemmed and hawed more, and shrugged, “It’s been a while, why?”

I said, “You mean it’s been a very LONG while, right?” He grunted that I could be right. So I asked, “Could it be so long a while, that maybe you NEVER actually looked at your business website on your phone? Is that possible?”

I sat there, and watched him. It was literally all unfurling right there in front of me. On his face:  Puzzlement. Confusion. Worry. “W-why….why are you asking me that?” as he reached for his phone and began typing the web address into it.

The problem I had seen when I checked it myself earlier that day, was that he actually didn’t even have a mobile website. It simply did not exist. So his phone, like mine earlier, and everyone’s phone over the last 5 years, all brought up his DESKTOP website instead. And as you will recall, his desktop site was an over-crowded mess even on a large desktop. On a small phone’s screen much of the text was 2-3 pixels tall. In other words, completely illegible.

He looked at his phone for a moment. At first I assumed he got it, but he didn’t. He still didn’t understand the breadth of damage to his business and brand. 

“Oh, what’s wrong with it? Why does it look like that?” he asked. I explained he didn’t actually have a mobile site, and THAT was the reason for his lack of success with Google ads. 

“No, you don’t understand.” he replied. “I didn’t even get ONE phone call from those ads. It was just a TOTAL waste”. He was the one not understanding.

I explained in more detail:  

“When someone sees an online ad, what do they do with it? If interested, they CLICK on it. And where does that click take them? To your website, right? Even if you put your phone number in the ad, almost everyone will first click the ad to learn more. Where? ON YOUR WEBSITE.”

“The problem is, almost all of your potential customers are busy, active and mobile people, who do their gym research between other activities, like while in the back of a cab. Without a mobile site, this is what they are all seeing, unreadable gibberish.” 

“Would you call a company that placed and ad and sent you to a website filled with gibberish? I wouldn’t. Most people wouldn’t. You spent thousands to advertise that you do NOT have your act together.”

It was starting to sink in. And maybe, just maybe, he was starting to guesstimate the amount of money he had wasted in advertising over the years. The amount of hard-earned dollars he might have well just flushed down the toilet. It was painful to watch.

Sometimes, this is where cheap websites take you. And why getting a real BUSINESS website from an experienced marketing firm makes all the difference.

The take-away here is understanding how marketing works, and how all the pieces need to fit.

THE QUESTION IS: How long can you afford to keep losing business by not doing things right?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you streamline your marketing, and make money.

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Websites with Something Extra

The following events happen every day, in every market, and in every industry. It may be happening to your company right now.

It’s 10:07 PM, on a Tuesday night: You’re watching a James Bond film and thinking, “you can’t get a suit like that off the rack”. You’ve always wanted a nice custom-made suit. With an old frat brother getting (re)married in a month, now would be a great time to finally do it.

You recall seeing a snazzy looking European tailor shop in the area—that might be just the ticket! You can’t recall the name of the shop, so you hop onto Google Maps and look for it in the general area you recall seeing it. You find it and read a few nice reviews available on Google (never many, unfortunately), and you click the link to their website.

But the link isn’t active because...you guessed it, they appear to not have a website. So you can’t learn more about the shop or the tailor. You can’t find their prices, or learn about any terms. How disappointing!

But Google Maps has 3 other couture tailors listed in the area, so you click on each of them. One has the most basic of websites that gives no more information than a business card. So on to the next.

The other two are both quite nice. Both give most of the information a customer might need to decide. Both websites did their job. But one, yes, just one, went on to do a bit more.

That last website had two things that won the job over. What were they?

First, there was a bio of the owner. An older Italian man named Vincenzo, who was originally from Rome, where he studied couture tailoring. You even get to read some excerpts from an interview he once did with W magazine. You can’t help but be a bit seduced by the idea of having such a craftsman create your new suit.

But you think, a talented man like that, he’s probably booked for months. Then you notice a button on the menu that reads “Book an Appointment”, so you click it. Up comes a calendar with all of his available times. You see he actually has a free hour the next Friday morning at 11am.

You click it, fill in your information, and hit the “Book it!” button. Moments later you hear a “ding”, letting you know the confirmation email has arrived.

You are very excited. Later in the day, Vincenzo will see his bookings filling up for the rest of the week, and he will be excited as well.

The take-away here is understanding how your website works 24/7.

THE QUESTION IS: How long can you afford to keep losing business to your competition with a better/smarter website?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you build a website that builds your business.

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Websites: The Digital Divide

PICTURE THIS:  It’s 1975, and television has been with us for a solid 25 years. For those of you who were around then, was there any debate in 1975 as to the impact TV had on our culture? No, there was no debate. TV was huge. In fact, by 1970, 96% of all homes in the US had at least one TV set.

Come Back to 2020 Now: The internet became public in 1995, also a solid 25 years ago. Is there any debate of the impact it has had on our culture? Not at all. 

However…

I regularly meet business people who completely ignore their online branding. Business people who actually have no website, or perhaps even worse, have a website that does more harm than good.

The Pros & Cons

I think we can agree that posting a website, no matter how grand, is not the same thing as sponsoring the “I Love Lucy” show in 1952. You will never get that level of eyeballs on your product from a website, right? (Though with the ever shrinking viewership of broadcast TV in many markets, the two may not be as far apart as they once were.)

But a website isn’t really a commercial. It can be a magazine, it can be a brochure, it can be a coupon circular. And along with the listing sites like Yelp linking to it, your website can essentially be a huge yellow pages ad. And yes, include a video on the homepage and it’s also just like a TV commercial!

The Digital Divide

Despite all of this capability, and the overwhelming impact the web has had on us for decades now, there are still business owners who do not engage with it for their business. Business people who simply do not understand the power and impact the web has. People who do not understand the impact that a good professional business website can have on their potential customers.

“All the old guys, right?” I have been asked. And yes, there is some truth to that. But not completely. In fact, I have known some older men who were very up on digital marketing, and very savvy. So age is a factor, but not the only one. We can rattle off some other factors, like education, intelligence, computer literacy, and even shear exhaustion from all other aspects of running their business.

Beyond the excuses however, there is simply a digital divide: Some people get it, and some people don’t.

Here’s the Bottom Line:

How many successful companies can you name, that do NOT have a good business website?

From my experience, I will tell you very few. And those that do exist were usually formed decades ago. And, since many companies do share private information with us, I can tell you that many of these older companies are running on reserve. In other words, they have not been so successful over the past decade or so.

It’s Simple:  Successful companies have successful websites. (And successful marketing and sales teams as well!)

The take-away is understanding how a website brands and advertises your business 24/7/365.

THE QUESTION IS: How long can you afford to keep losing business to your competition with a better website?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you build a website, that builds your brand.

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Content Is Still King

You have undoubtedly heard this expression over the years. But may not know that it refers to the ever-waging debate in the media business between the intrinsic value of content (when done right), versus other factors like distribution, or financing.

The acknowledgment that content is king is the acknowledgment that those with the talent to create, are really the ones to drive all markets. That without creatives creating, there would be no need for funding, or distribution or any of the other contributing forces.

This is easy to justify when you see a Picasso selling for hundreds of millions. Or when you realize that when Aaron Sorkin left “West Wing”, the ratings dropped. Thus, while mediocre content may not be king, great content truly is.

And this applies to websites as well, which I have been saying for YEARS!

Forbes Magazine ran an article entitled “The New SEO Rules For 2020”* that stated:

“Backlinks are out; dynamic content is in:

“Now Google’s algorithm focuses more on the richness of your content ... This means the worth, depth and differentiation of your content are more important … Things like the use of images ... visual aesthetics and depth of writing are all measured by the algorithm and can set you apart. So make sure to include … images and video.”

Forbes further stated that:

“SEO never goes away:

Ads go away as soon as you stop spending, but SEO lasts forever, and the longer you have your domain, the more your domain authority rises. Google rewards longevity … you’ll always have that content and footprint until you delete your site or remove the content.”

What all this means is essentially, well...content is STILL king. And Google will reward those that put a lot of good work into their website creation. And dramatically penalize those that do not. Have a fluffy website? You will hurt. Have a lot of pages with empty content? It is going to cost you.

What Google is now basically doing, is EVALUATING YOUR BRAND IMAGE. If you have a well honed brand, which is reflected in the quality of your website, you get treated well. If not, then you get treated like, well...like how you should be treated.

The take-away here is learning BRANDING online is as important as anywhere else.

THE QUESTION IS: How can you develop a website that is enjoyed by Google, and your target market?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you build a website, that builds your brand.

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Does Humor Sell?

Humor and sex (see other posting) often both do the same things, albeit in different ways. They both call attention to the advertisement, and if done well, capture a viewer’s interest.

By comparison to sex, a truly humorous commercial is a much more difficult thing to achieve. Right off the top, a “sexy ad” will almost always be divisive at the start, as it will be targeted to only half the population, male or female.

And while each of us has our own unique “sense” of humor, we expect that all funny advertising be funny to just about everyone watching. This is not an easy thing to do, as men and women laugh at different things, as do teenagers and the elderly.

The other very big difference is that a sexy advertisement takes about 1-2 seconds to identify as being sexy. You look, assimilate the content, and bang, your brain says “sexy!”

You can rarely do that with humor. Sure, a quick pie in the face can be done in around 3 seconds. And all I have to ever do is just LOOK at John Cleese or Bill Murray’s face and I start to crack up. But those are probably the exceptions.

Most humor in advertising has to be listened to, allowed to build, and then hang in a bit until you hit the punchline. That means actually reading a print ad, or paying attention for 30 seconds while watching a commercial.

Asking someone to invest 30 seconds for a commercial is a big ask in today’s world. Especially if they have no idea what the payoff will be. That’s why it usually pays to tip your hand earlier in the commercial, letting them know it’s a comedy routine and thus, they can expect a funny payoff.

If the commercial and the humor is done well, it should be integrated into the ad, and the product. How many times has someone said to you, “Hey, did you see that hilarious new commercial with the elephant?” “No”, you reply. “What’s the company or the product being advertised?” And after a pause they admit “I have no idea, but it was funny as heck!”

So does humor sell? Yes. As long as you remember that the PRODUCT is the king, not the comedy. Never allow the viewer to wonder what is being advertised. Never allow the product to get lost in all the humor.

No surprise that Apple offers us a great example of a great series of funny ads. Remember their “I’m a Mac/I’m a PC” campaign? It was funny, yes. It was even funnier if you understood the subjects being discussed, as the dialog was very well integrated into the subject matter.

But on top of it all, you could never-ever watch it and not know (and remember!) that the commercials were for Apple Computer. How? Because of the character’s names! They introduce themselves as “I’m a Mac!” which is both brilliant, and checks off every box it needs to.

Humor does sell. But only when it is a supporting player. Never when it’s allowed to become the star.

The take-away here is learning to identify humor that works in your marketing.

THE QUESTION IS: How can you tap into humor to increase brand awareness and sales?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you build a marketing campaign that works.

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Does Sex Really Sell?

We have all heard, forever, that “sex sells”. But is it true? Well, it’s certainly true if what you are selling happens to actually be sex. But in most cases, and in most jurisdictions in the world, that isn’t what is being sold.

Imagine, you are just back from a very tiring day of work. You come home to find the house empty, and a note from your wife of 20 years that she if off visiting her sister for the evening, and you should warm up the leftover meatloaf in the fridge. You do that, and grab the last beer as well. You sit down to your meal in front of the TV set, and a commercial comes on the screen.

As this commercial comes on the screen, you see a woman come into focus. My goodness, you think, as your eyes adjust to the new image before you. She must be the most fabulous looking female you have ever seen in your life. Yes, in your miserable, pathetic, sitting-eating-leftovers-life.

Your heart skips a beat. Maybe a few beats, you can’t tell. In fact, you may have actually stopped breathing altogether. The fork holding your meatloaf has been hanging mid-air for 15 seconds, and your other hand is about to drop the bottle of beer and allow it to spill all over the wall-to-wall carpet.

As the model speaks, her lips pout in just the way a woman’s lips should pout. And as you hear her voice, every muscle in your body melts. You hear birds chirp, and violins play, even though neither of those are in the commercial’s audio track. You begin to ponder, if only just slightly over the edge of consciousness, that if your wife decided to never return, maybe, just maybe, you could get something going with this wonderful creature.

And then….SCREETCH! FULL STOP.

Your new love, the woman you just threw your 20 year relationship out the window for, starts talking to you about, I don’t know, Popiel’s (aka Ronco) Pocket Fisherman, and your heart sinks with disappointment. You aren’t a fishing kind of guy.

You WANTED to like whatever she was selling. You were even wondering where you left your wallet, so you could have your credit card at the ready. But, you don’t fish. And while it may momentarily cross your mind, you realize starting that sport just to buy her product is totally silly. And besides, your wife doesn’t even like fish, and OH! Look at the time, she should be home soon. And damned, you almost spilled the beer.

And the spell is broken.

Sex in advertising, no matter how enticing, rarely ever sells people products that they really don’t want or need. What is does do however, is it brings both ATTENTION and INTEREST to your advertisement. Or at least it can.

It is also just as likely that a male looking at the model is so enthralled by her, that by the end of the 30-second spot, he can’t even remember what the ad was for. This happens with sexy ads, and also funny ads. Especially if the sexy or the funny is gratuitous, and not well integrated into the rest of the product or ad.

We know a fellow that owns a leasing business for a niche industry product. He has used direct email marketing for years, and has a team of beautiful sales women promoting his service (their photos are prominently placed in every email, so you are enticed to reply to “Stacy” and “Victoria” and “Bridget”, whether or not they even exist). So yes, the emails get our attention for a moment. But it will not convert me into the sale of a product which I have no need.

Here’s what works even better:  You’ve seen tech shows or auto shows with a tomboy type of woman that appears to actually be into the same things that the guys are? The women are beautiful and sexy, but in a girl next door way, instead of in the Vegas lounge-girl look.

Or maybe the woman that accompanies her man clothes shopping, and gives him that sexy “you look so good in that suite, I want you right now!” look. It’s integrated into the product, and works to build the brand of the product.

The same holds true for attractive men used in commercials for female products. The male approves of the dress/perfume/cooking of his female co-star. Making the female viewer feel that if she too used that product, she could get the approval of an equally appealing male. It works, because it’s integrated.

Just, don’t try to sell her a fishing kit. It probably won’t work.

The take-away here is to identify what will work for YOUR marketing.

THE QUESTION IS: How can you tap into Eros, without being tacky, or distracting from your core message?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you determine how to get under your client’s skin, and be remembered.

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Ben’s Heart-Sell

We have all heard of the “hard sell”, a technique we often associate with a used car dealer, or maybe a life insurance salesman. It’s the process of forcing a sale down the potential customer’s throat. In terms of the old “carrot and stick” metaphor, the hard sell is most certainly the stick.

Our senior creative partner, Ben Colarossi, is a legend in advertising. And after years of seeing the results of the hard sell, he came up with the “HEART SELL” technique, which he used to amazing success with most of his top clients, like Revlon, Timex Watch, AJAX Cleanser.

Taking his inspiration from old Sanskrit writings that said, “Where the heart goes, the mind shall follow”, Ben understood (years before the science was conducted to back him up!), that most customers buy with their HEART first, and their MINDs second. That most purchases, no matter how intellectually based, as still EMOTIONALLY DRIVEN.

In terms of the carrot and stick, this is the carrot. This is the WANT. What is it that your customers ALREADY WANT? It is far easier to sell someone what they already want, then it is to FORCE them to buy something, right? Of course!

Ben’s Heart-Sell techniques were regularly written up in the advertising magazines and columns. And the essence of this technique can take on many forms. For example, you may want to show the RESULTS of using your product. If it’s AJAX Cleanser, show the viewer what their heart wants most, a clean home. Maybe a HAPPY family. Maybe a home you can proudly invite family and friends over to share the holidays.

But it can be used much more broadly as well. Think of the old axiom that “Sex Sells”. Think of all the commercials that used attractive people to help sell products. You can think of those ads as a heart-sell via transference. The viewer sees the sexy model and wants her. The implication being made to the viewer’s primitive mind is, “Get the car, get the girl.” If you already wanted the car, then this is doubly effective.

What is it about your products or services that your customers WANT? That should become your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)!

The take-away here is to identify your customer’s WANTS.

THE QUESTION IS: How can you learn to tap into your client’s deepest desires, and satisfy them with your products?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you determine how to get under your client’s skin.

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Small Biz Guessing Game

Imagine, you’re experiencing some kind of health malady. The days or weeks click by and it isn’t going away, so you make an appointment with your doctor.

Upon arriving at the doctor’s office, you are escorted to the examining room and moments later, the doctor comes in and asks, “So what seems to be the problem?” Rather than give the doctor a detailed reply, you instead say: 

“Guess!”

That is of course absurd, and you would never do that, as it’s a tremendous waste of everyone’s time and best efforts. Similarly, you would never walk into your accountant’s office without your QuickBooks or shoe box of receipts. Or hire a law firm to defend you in court, but refuse to give them the details of the case. ABSURD!!!

And yet, we have routinely found that our small business clients do this with their marketing all the time. Trying to get basic information from them feels like trying to obtain the nuclear launch codes. Many simply will not share. Or, and this is always a good laugh, they will share only part of the data, without being willing to share all of it.

For years we often wondered if we should take this personally. Did they not trust us with their information? And yet, we realized, our larger clients not only trust us with ALL OF THEIR DATA, we hardly ever even have to ask for it. Many larger clients that understand the process, simply forward all of their pertinent information the same day as we are hired.

Why is this? Because larger (and more successful!) clients understand that we need that information to move forward in the most efficient way. And after all, the more efficient we are, the better job we are doing...FOR THEM!

Once, a small client would not provide us with even the most basic of information. We had no choice but to resign the account, at which point he explained that he was simply “embarrassed by my low revenue and tiny client base.” (Such admission was cathartic for him, and maybe saved him a few therapy sessions. But didn’t make him any easier to work with.)

So if you have the need for any number of professional services, marketing included, it’s best to man up, go in, drop your pants and prepare to cough. Then you can move forward with your new team to resolve the real problems.

The take-away here is that your need to work with a company you trust.

THE QUESTION IS: How can they do their work, if you do not do yours?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can understand where you are, and map a path to where you need to be.

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Get In The Boat

Here is an expression I only learned a few years back, and have loved it! I learned it from LinkedIn sales guru Brynne Tillman (socialsaleslink.com).

What does “Get in the Boat” mean?

It suggests that many of us are standing on the shore of a small desert island, looking out into the bay. In the bay is a small boat with your target clients/customers in it. Your clients do not have the same view you do. They are looking towards shore, and see you standing at water’s edge.

There is no way that two people, standing in very different places and having very different experiences, can be thinking the same things. Or having similar experiences.

You look out at them in the boat and think, “Hey, pick me up and get me the heck off of this deserted island!”

While they’re thinking:  “We’ve been cast across the sea without food for days. Finally, land-ho!”

You will never be able to speak to each other until you are both standing in the same space, experiencing the same things. Hence, the full line of the phrase is:  

“Get in the boat with your target customer, so you can understand what THEIR NEEDS are, rather than your own.”

Graphlink once had a client that kept saying, “I don’t understand why people aren’t buying my products.” Which he refused to understand is never the right question. No potential customer wanted to buy from him, or from anyone else. They simply wanted their problems resolved. They cared about their own problems, not the manufacturer’s.

By metaphorically getting in the boat, you better understand the wants and needs of the people you are trying to help (as well as sell to).

This is also how you begin to identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP, see another posting). And it is why things like surveys and focus groups can be tremendously helpful in developing a products and brands that sells faster, and more easily.

The take-away here is that your needs and your customers are not the same.

THE QUESTION IS: How will you better address your customer’s needs, so that they can buy more products from you?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you better understand your target market.

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Shop. Convert. Repeat.

For most businesses, the life-cycle of a customer should be, more or less: 

SHOP — The act of a customer coming into your store, or going to your website. And spending some time to see if anything strikes their fancy. Or solves their current dilemma.

CONVERT — This is the action we want, conversion from being just a shopper to becoming a buyer. An actual customer.

REPEAT — This is where you want to get all of your customers, in a repeating loop. Repeat customers should account for a large percentage of your business. Otherwise you are stuck always playing with those silly funnels, right?

This three step process seems obvious, but there’s more to it if you dig down just a bit. Ask yourself, just how do you get your customers to move along that path, and to the end-goals you want them to cross over?

SHOP = ADVERTISING How do you get someone to become a shopper at your business? First, they have to know that your company exists, what it offers, and how it will benefit them. This is done through “word of mouth” (see my other post on that!), social media marketing, editorial referrals and mentions. But mostly, it’s done through good old-fashioned advertising and marketing techniques. A print or online ad. A broadcast or online video commercial.

Once someone is at your store (brick or virtual), your advertising has accomplished much of its goals. Now it’s on to the next step…

CONVERT = BRANDING & USP What converts a shopper to a buyer? Generally a NEED, or a WANT. Our senior creative partner, Ben Colarossi, is famous for his “Heart Sell” technique (see other posting for that!), which says that, “where the heart goes, the mind follows.” It says that people buy what they WANT. This is different than the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which is a much more cognitive approach.

Whether you sell to a want or a need, or to both, you will also be selling your BRAND, and your REPUTATION. Your product’s packaging, placement within the market, and even the quality of your store and website—all of this plays a significant role in conversion.

Work with a company like Graphlink, who understands how these things increase your sales.

REPEAT = EVERYTHING Getting a customer to repeat the process may be the biggest challenge, as it becomes a summary of the entire purchasing process. If any part of the journey was unpleasant for the customer, this is where they get to stick it to you. You may never hear from them again, or they may even post a poor review online.

But, if you created a successful and enjoyable path for them to move through the process, then they may just reward you with another dance around the cash register.

Remember though, that no amount of good branding and marketing can overcome a poorly made product. It is for this reason that Graphlink has helped many companies redefine their products, rename their products, and even better design client products to increase sales.

The take-away here is that your REPEAT CUSTOMER is out there.

THE QUESTION IS: How will you treat them to ensure they SHOP/CONVERT/REPEAT with you?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you find your most profitable conversions.

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USP:  It’s in Graphlink’s DNA

Not familiar with the concept of a UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION (USP)? Then pay close attention. This is the cornerstone of all good advertising. And conceptually, it really isn’t complex.

When trying to figure out how to best market a company, product or service, ask yourself, “What do we offer that our competition doesn’t?” If what you choose is really unique, and of high value (real or imagined) to the potential customer, then it could be the USP you were seeking.

One of adman David Ogilvy’s favorite USP stories:  While other car companies bragged of speed and 0-60 acceleration, Ogilvy took his client, Rolls-Royce, in a different direction:

"At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock"

Sometimes, something can be a true statement, but a fake USP. For example, our senior partner Ben Colarossi, was the creative director on the Anacin aspirin account at Ted Bates Advertising many years ago. He came up with the brilliant idea to ask the pharmaceutical scientists how long it would take the pill to begin entering the blood stream. From that simple question, we got decades of advertising telling us that:

“ANACIN:  Starts working in just 20 seconds!”

While the statement was true (more or less), the implication was that Anacin was the only aspirin to work that fast. A fact that I’m sure nobody ever tested, yet, it sold millions of Anacin bottles.

Once you’ve determined your USP, you then must determine the best way to communicate both it and its value, to your potential customer. (Or current customer, as we like retention, right?) Communicating with clarity is always a challenge. Much like the old axiom that says “Minimalism takes a lot of work.”

At Graphlink, we work with our clients to solve all of these challenges.  

We make sure our clients identify their strongest USP, and push it forward so that customers realize our client’s offerings are the best. Shop now. Convert now. And...repeat.

USP is not the only way to create an ad or campaign. But over the last half century, it has proven itself to be one of the most effective strategies. Make sure to work with people who understand it.  

So it may be no surprise that the creator of the USP concept, Rosser Reeves, was also the co-founder of The Ted Bates Agency, where both Ben and I worked for many years. Ben, who was there a long time before I was, actually worked with Rosser Reeves himself. So USP is in both of our advertising DNA.

The take-away here is that your market is waiting for you.

THE QUESTION IS: How do you define your REAL USP, and how do you communicate it best?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you find your most profitable message.

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Rancid Social Media?

If you’ve been a listener of NPR over the years, you may be familiar with their “Freakonomics” radio show. And if you are, you may recall one of the host’s stories of a RANCID CHICKEN, served to him at a fancy upper west side Manhattan bistro. The scathing story went viral in in 2005, and can still be seen online all of these many years later (https://freakonomics.com/2005/05/08/why-pay-3609-for-rancid-chicken   — it’s a good read!).

The point is, if your business services retail customers, the internet and social media can both MAKE you, but it can also BREAK you. And it can do both in the blink of an eye. Though mostly, it only breaks you in a blink. Rarely does it make you that quickly.

And that is the reality most business owners don’t get. They’ve heard stories of the internet creating overnight stars, and kick-starting billion dollar businesses. And while most of those “wild west” days are behind us, the full story was always a lot different than the hype surrounding it.

Such successes may represent a mere 0.001% of all that reached for the brass ring. And many of those successes fizzled fast.

For the vast majority of established businesses however, social media is about playing DEFENSE. And by that I mean you must do everything you can to make sure that social media doesn’t come along and nullify everything you’ve built. Which it can do, if you’re not careful.

As with the story of the rancid chicken, you will never know which customer will explode your world. But someone will. And if you aren’t running a tight ship, then it’s likely there will be more than a few poor reviews. If you have that situation, then you have a systemic problem (i.e., not just a social media one) that needs to be addressed.

Whether you have one poor review or many, it is how you handle it that is most importance.

STEP #1:  If you don’t follow your own reviews on sites like Yelp, then wow, anything could be happening and you wouldn’t know it.

STEP #2:  Be responsive, to both positive and negative reviews. Never argue anyone’s point of view. NEVER. You will never convince them to change their minds. They will double-down, and remember, this is in PUBLIC!

Always offer to correct any problem. (And then of course, make the correction.) Even thank them for the opportunity to make those corrections. Your goal is not to change minds, it’s to get them to like you, and see that whatever issues they had, were not intentional. Nip it in the bud. Even better to nip it while the customer is still in your store.

Remember, social media is VERY long-game. Especially on the benefits side of things. And always keep in mind that however you represent yourself and your business, will be up on the internet, in public, for many years to come.

The take-away here is that social media gives you communication with your customers.

THE QUESTION IS: How do you want to be seen by your customers, and potential customers? 

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you find the right balance.

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Small Biz & Low-Hanging Fruit

Most small businesses survive by selling to “LOW HANGING FRUIT” (LHF).  Which, in case you don’t know, is simply an expression to describe the easiest pickings available. Or, as the dictionary says, “a thing or person that can be won, obtained, or persuaded with little effort.”

This makes sense, as LHF requires less time or effort to sell to. The problem is that LHF rarely makes significant purchases. And businesses that subsist on that market (which is more than you would imagine!) tend to go for years “just barely getting by”.

A great example was a stationary store we worked with years ago. Even though they were located in midtown Manhattan for years, the middle-aged couple that owned it only sold retail. That meant they sold a pen here, a box of paper clips there. Oh, and gum. They sold to whoever walked into the store, and that was it.

After much prodding from us (each time we walked in to buy a pen or paper clips!), they finally agreed to up their game. They brought on just one salesperson to reach out to the office managers at law firms and other companies in the area. We helped them craft a direct mail campaign, and used other channels to get their message to their potential customers.

It didn’t take long for the Unique Selling Proposition (USP. See other blog posts if you are unfamiliar) that we crafted for them to take hold. Within a few months their new corporate sales were paying for all marketing expenditures. And within the year, they were selling far more merchandise directly to the offices, than they were selling in the store.

The following year, as you might have guessed, they chose to not renew their ground-level store. Instead they got a far less costly office, and hired a few more sales people to expand their corporate sales.  Along the way, Graphlink helped them grow and expand, until they sold the company and retired earlier than they had ever expected to. The new owners did things their way, did not continue with our services, and was out of business a few years later (interpret as you wish).

LOW HANGING FRUIT is a nice add-on. But unless you just sell hot dogs in front of Radio City, it’s never going to earn enough. You have to go after the bigger fish (and yes, I get that I’m mixing metaphors). If you do not, then you will always remain a small business.

The take-away here is that your market is out there.

THE QUESTION IS:

Do you really want to waste your life with LHF, when there are much bigger fish to fry?

Sit down with Graphlink Media so we can help you find your most profitable markets.