Zugunruhe: Helping great people get [good] things done: Zoog.un.roo.ee

How much trust do you need?

Have you ever been on a blind date? The idea is that some friend sets you up with some other friend thinking that the two of you will hit it off. Now imagine a website dedicated to setting up total strangers for blind dates. Sound unlikely? Nope, there really is such a site: CrazyBlindDate.com.

I read about CrazyBlindDate in the May 2008 issue of Inc. The founders of CrazyBlindDate started off with another dating service site, OkCupid.com. These guys managed to raise a whopping seven million dollars to start their company which provides its services for free. The overall strategy, however, is to make money via ad revenue. The only way that the ad revenue model will work is by driving massive traffic. For a while, OkCupid wasn’t delivering. A new, hot marketing strategy was needed. Enter, therefore, CrazyBlindDate.

There’s a problem, though. For a guy, a blind date may not be a big deal. For a woman, however, there is a significant risk. Think icky words like stalking or rape. That means that there’s got to be a lot of trust to bridge that risk. Given my interest in marketing as know-like-trust on the way to some action, I was curious to learn how CrazyBlindDate was creating enough trust to be effective.

If you look at CrazyBlindDate’s home page, it shows pictures of city skylines which seems a bit impersonal. And then there’s the text: “…on very short notice we can set you up on quick dates with total strangers at public places like bars and coffee shops. You're not allowed to see their picture or even communicate.” Uh…no. Their target market is described as people who are “social, outgoing, and adventurous.” The words that came to mind for me included “stupid, desperate, psycho.” The word reckless also showed up somewhere. Their “Successes” page shows blurry photos and lists nothing but cities--no comments, nothing--just that they rated their dates as “Great.” According to their FAQ, saying yes to a date is a commitment to 20 minutes in a public place with a total stranger and that the dates are “safe.” From their terms of use, CrazyBlindDate says that anyone using their service agrees not to stalk, intimidate, etc. however that info is buried deep in the small print.

The site is noticeably low on information that allows people to know more. If you’re not already into the idea of a “crazy blind date” set up at random by an impersonal web site, I wonder what you’d find that would lead to like. And trust--well, there is almost no effort made to establish any.

So is CrazyBlindDate successful? It depends on how you define success. The idea was that CrazyBlindDate was going to boost revenue at its sister site, OkCupid. To some degree, the gamble has worked. According the report in Inc., OkCupid passed the $1 million mark last year.

I’m not in CrazyBlindDate’s target market but if a friend of mine suggested she was thinking about using this service, I’d do my best to try to talk her out of it. The reason that the old fashion sort of blind date works is because of trust. Trust in the friend doing the setting up is essential. She’d never put you together with a total goober, right? What CrazyBlindDate is doing is asking people to trust in them without doing any of the real homework to create that trust. They even hide their own identities on their staff page with the same blurry photos they use in their user profiles.

In the end, CrazyBlindDate is a marketing strategy for another site also requiring trust which does a slightly better job of seeming aboveboard and trust worthy. Only time will tell whether the strategy will yield more profit than publicity.

Marketing Study Group cancelled today

My bridgeline provider "spit the bits" today so I couldn't do today's call. If you called in and couldn't log on, my apologies. I'll reschedule the call and get a new bridgeline number to you shortly.

In the meantime, there is something I've been meaning to do: St. Joseph, thank you so much for your help!!!

More than 15 Minutes: Earn media attention and achieve expert status

If you’re in the process of getting people to know, like, and trust you on the way to some action—like buy, hire, donate, or volunteer—then you need to give some thought to how you’ll get media attention for your organization or effort.

Anytime you or your organization is mentioned on someone’s website, in the newspaper, a newsletter, on television, or anywhere else that your target market catches sight of you, that’s media attention. The most desirable sort of media attention is positive—it puts you in a good light and gives people a reason to like and trust you. Media attention is not advertising; it’s not something you can buy. Instead, media attention (from the Duct Tape Marketing perspective) is earned.

So how do you go about earning the right kind of media attention? Here are a few simple steps you can take to start.

• Identify the media target. Just as when you think carefully about who you’re marketing to, you’ll need a similar process to identify exactly the right media source to aim your efforts toward. What source does your target market admire and depend on for trusted info?
• Do your homework. It’s not enough to know that your target market reads a particular publication, you have to read it, too. You’ll learn more about the subjects your prospects are reading about as well as getting a handle on the sorts of stories your media outlet is interested in.
• Pay your dues. Once you’ve done your homework, you’ll need to pay your dues by starting small. Say you’re aiming for expert status in your own community. Check out the blogs written by the local reporter who covers news relevant to your field. Read their blog; submit your comments. A word of caution: always comment in a way that is relevant, professional, and on topic—spam will can your efforts in a hurry.
• Show up. Show up regularly and consistently with your core marketing message. Don’t just send a single press release or a news item and then stop. Put it on your calendar and send your items regularly. I’ve heard it said that it may take six or seven exposures before someone actually notices a marketing effort. Your news source is the same way; it may take several tries before you start to show up on their radar.

In the end, earning media attention is much like earning the attention of your prospects. It’s a process of know, like, and trust on your way to getting recognized. And once you get recognized and live up to your growing reputation, you’re well on your way to a good bit more than 15 minutes of fame.

Want to know more about earning media attention and achieving expert status? This month’s Marketing Study Group meets on Thursday, April 10, at 1 pm Eastern to dig deeper into the important topic. Want to join the live call? Email me or call 541-738-6339 for more info. To automatically receive the podcast for this and other great topics subscribe to this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ZugunruheTalks using iTunes or your favorite podcatcher.

The Loved Customer

Recently, a new family member came into our home: a beautiful, playful puppy! To make sure that our new dog learns good manners, I’ve been reading Tamar Geller’s wonderful book: The Loved Dog. In it, Tamar reminds me that every interaction is a training interaction. In other words, I’m constantly teaching the new puppy—whether I intend to or not!

The same is true in business. You constantly teach people all around you, all the time, whether that’s your intention or not. You teach your customers what to expect from you, how you work, and how to treat you. You teach your vendors, your employees, everyone! And likewise, they teach you, even when you’re not aware of it.

Like my puppy, many folks are working to get what they want. Puppies want treats, affection, and lots of playtime. Oddly enough, your customers probably want much the same thing. Here’s what training a puppy can teach you about marketing.

Keep your puppy busy so he’ll stay near by. I give my puppy a nice toy to play with when I want him to stay put. He entertains himself so well he doesn’t even know he’s being trained to stay! The same is true for your potential customers—provide them with information and interaction to keep them hanging around. The more contact, the more you’ll build know, like, and trust on the way to buy or hire (or donate or volunteer or…, you get the picture).

From Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, I learned about projecting calm-assertive attitude. A nervous owner will communicate their unease to the dog—the dog will get nervous or aggressive in response. When you project calm-assertive to your customers and prospects, you’ll communicate that you’re comfortable in your own skin. This gives people the knowledge that you’re competent and trustworthy, along with the sense that you’re in control of the situation. Like dogs, people respond well to those who move with confidence and serenity.

Be consistent. Puppies thrive on consistent routine. My older dog is extremely well behaved. When people tell me what a good job I did training him, I defer—my dog is calm because his owner is boringly predictable. I use the same words to describe everything in his world and he knows exactly what to expect. Like puppies, when people know what they can expect, they relax. It means that you can be depended on to do what you say you’ll do, in the way you say you’ll do it.

Be patient. Puppies forget quickly. If the puppy doesn’t understand or forget, there’s no point in getting angry, upset, or aggressive. The puppy has no idea what you’re upset about. When you’re marketing your business, you may notice that prospects have attention spans that are as short as a puppy’s. Don’t despair! Just keep repeating your message clearly, simply, unequivocally. When people hear things enough times, they get it, just as the puppy will when he hears you say sit for the hundredth time.

Finally, don’t forget the treats! Back home in Louisiana, we called it lagniappe. Lagniappe is the little something extra that is added as a gift that says “thanks for your business.” Just as rewarding your puppy will help him learn faster, rewarding your prospects for their interest will teach them how valuable they are to you.

When you train a puppy well, you end up with a loved (and loving) dog for many years to come. By remembering that every interaction is a teaching interaction, you can enjoy having “loved customers” who will love you back and bring you their business for years to come.

Animated trust: How SitePal might boost your business

If you read Inc., you might have seen their series of articles last month (February) on “The New Basics of Internet Marketing.” In the section on how to spiff up your site, there was a nice graphic depicted four people. Well, not people exactly. Avatars. If you’re not familiar with the idea of an avatar, check out the Wiki. You probably have one or more avatars of yourself already, whether you think of them that way or not. For example, any small square image that you use to identify yourself on a website is an avatar.

But the avatars that Inc was talking about are different. These are computer generated personalities who talk and move, and to a limited degree, interact with the user. I liked the graphics and decided I wanted to know more (for those of you keeping score at home: that’s the first two milestones in the sales and marketing mountain: know and like).

Next, I checked out the company that Inc. had profiled: SitePal. First, let me say that I really dislike it when sites start to talk to me without me asking them to. So when the SitePal avatar, an auburn-haired beauty named Ginger, starts yakking at me on every page, I get annoyed. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by the idea of having a greeter of sorts for a webpage or perhaps a blog. According to the report in Inc., sales increased by 20% for a Florida company called Say Thanks with Coffee, which added a custom-made avatar based on the business owner’s picture a year or so ago.

This got me to thinking. What the avatar does is create virtual rapport. It might just be a gateway to trust. Turns out that SitePal has a nice trial, free trial version. Creation of an avatar was surprisingly easy and recording the message for the avatar to speak took one, simple phone call. They even provide custom-made avatars that look like you, or whomever you choose.

You might check out these sites that use avatars and tell me what you think. What impression do these make? What do the avatars do for know, like, and trust?
Say Thank You with Coffee: avatar appears to have no mute button.
Dinners in a Flash: very tastefully executed here.
Daughter Nature:  does it matter to you that they’ve been in business since 2001?
Meet Chris Bennett: custom avatar that looks like Chris Bennett and novel approach to job hunting.

You might also want to look at how SitePal use case studies here. Looks like they might have been reading Duct Tape Marketing! This is a great example of a marketing kit component that you might consider emulating for your own business.

Corporate Social Responsibility: not just for big business anymore!

When you hear about corporate social responsibility (or CSR), you may think about big corporations giving away big bucks to big charities. But think again. CSR isn’t just for big businesses. Small businesses can make big impacts, too!

The idea behind social responsibility, whether corporate, government, or individual, is putting an emphasis on considering the greater good. In essence, it’s the idea that by considering the consequences of your actions, you can take responsibility for the impacts you have in the world around you. That means the impacts you have on your community, your personnel, your customers, the environment, and so on.

CSR is not just a good idea. It’s also good business. Businesses that are more socially and environmentally responsible attract better and more loyal employees. They often realize a savings in energy costs and materials.

Not only that but socially responsible businesses reap other benefits as well*:

• Over 25% of American consumers surveyed were willing to pay up to 20% more for “green” products.
• Sixty-six percent of people polled say that “doing good and doing well” is a good strategy for businesses.
• One of the strongest ways to build the value of your brand is through CSR.

It’s vitally important to remember that CSR is more than philanthropy. It’s a way of doing business that includes conserving resources (using less, recycling, reusing), reducing outputs (like garbage, carbon emissions, and toxic chemicals), as well as treating people fairly.

To see what this looks like in practice, take a look at Zugunruhe’s Low Carb Diet. Not carbohydrates, but carbon outputs. Zugunruhe balanced outputs with credits earlier this year as part of our commitment to renewable energy and fighting global climate change.

Once you’ve made the commitment to social and/or environmental responsibility, tell people about it. You can, and should make CSR part of your marketing strategy. Zugunruhe offers a dynamite coaching program that can help your business with green and socially responsible marketing, check it out here.

(*Source: Green Marketing Conference 2007)

What is Twitter all about?

I've been thinking about adding Twitter to my bag of tricks. If you haven't heard about it yet, Twitter is a microblogging tool. Here's the Wiki.

When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it was really, really dumb. Why on earth would anybody want to read about what someone else is doing at 3 am? But now I've learned that the LA Fire Department is using it.

This got me to thinking. How could companies and organizations take advantage of this new technology? Here are some of ideas I came up with on the fly:
*A restaurant could tweet its daily special or a new dish.
*A bar could tweet about the latest buzz as the night goes on.
*A police dept could tweet Amber alerts or APBs.
*Companies could tweet from trade shows.
*Buyers could tweet to the company blog from market.
*A church could tweet prayer requests, updates, and answered prayer.

Yes, there might be some privacy considerations but all in all, it seems like Twitter has great potential. The key will be using it for like, know, and trust. Like all social media, users are going to need to keep in mind that strong buy-point (think self-serving, salesy messages) are not going to go over well. It's got to be content driven, even if the content may be shallow sometimes.

So what do you think? How could you use Twitter and where? A widget on your blog perhaps? Pimp it in your newsletter? Stay tuned.

I think I'll may be tweeting soon...

Your Checklist for Marketing Success

Great article in the March issue of Fast Company by brothers Dan Heath and Chip Heath (authors of Made to Stick). The key to great performance, superb follow through, all avoiding costly errors is…a simple checklist. “Checklists,” the brothers Heath write, “help us avoid blind spots in complex scenarios.” The example they give comes from the field of medicine.

If you’ve ever been in a hospital setting where patient care was going on, you know that intravenous lines (i.e., IVs) are ubiquitous. IVs are used to deliver fluids, life-saving medications, and blood transfusions. IVs are direct lines into the body’s blood system which means they can be quick routes for infection to get introduced into the patient’s body. When inserting an IV, it’s easy to do it right: there are five critical steps. Dr. Peter Pronovost created a IV insertion checklist and put it into use at hospitals in the state of Michigan. After a year and a half, IV related infections were cut to nearly zero, saving an estimated 1,500 lives.

Dr. Provonost’s IV checklist was powerful because it reminded doctors and nurses of the right way to do a routine procedure. And that’s needed because routine can get taken for granted. Careful procedures can start to slip and slide and morph into sloppiness. A checklist puts down the important stuff in black and white, where it’s harder to ignore. In essence, a checklist is “insurance against overconfidence” that we’ll remember what we think we already know.

When it comes to marketing, it’s even easier to start slipping and sliding away from best practices. We drift away from strategy into tactics. We start morphing into chameleons of our competitors. We do things because we see someone else doing it--not because it’s the best thing for our customers or our businesses. So here’s a handy checklist you can use to stay on track with your Duct Tape Marketing efforts. These are the mission critical elements for any and every marketing effort--from fundraising for a non-profit to attracting clients for to a financial planning service.

Seven questions to ensure marketing success:

1. Is there a clearly defined target market or target audience for your effort?
2. Is it clear how you’re different (e.g., besides competing on price)?
3. Is your core marketing message stated clearly, simply, and memorably?
4. Is there a clear path with obvious road signs directing people to information they’ll need as they think through the decision(s) you’re asking them to make?
5. Are you giving the prospect sufficient imagery that they can find something to like?
6. How much risk are you asking the prospect to take? You have to demonstrate enough expertise, build credibility, and put in enough safety nets that the prospect can feel good about trusting you.
7. Are you inviting the prospect to action?

Seven simple questions. Yet so powerful. If you just take the time to analyze every tactic you consider using these seven questions, you’re are guaranteed to get a better result. You don’t need a complicated formula. You don’t need tons of money or expensive advertising. All you need to do is check off on the important stuff.

Are you interested in learning more Duct Tape Marketing best practices like this checklist? Join me this coming Thursday, Feb 28 at 1 pm. This week’s marketing study group gets an exclusive chance to sign on to try out a free, seven-day mini-course on creating your own marketing kit. Only the folks on the live call will have the opportunity to try out this course. Want to join? Simply enter your email below to get all the details.

What is the marketing impact of spelling and grammar?

Today, I dropped by to read someone else’s blog. And there, right there in the first sentence of the most recent post, was a big, glaring grammatical error. Farther down, there were two more mixed in with a couple of typos. All those careless mistakes got me to thinking: what is marketing impact of spelling and grammar?

Writing for your business can be a lot of things. It can serve as a point of introduction. It can allow people to get to know you. Readers of a blog, for example, may find something to like. When folks see that you’re consistent--you post regularly, have a coherent message, and show up on time--they may begin to trust you a little. And they might even come to hire you or buy from you because of your writing. I know this works because it’s happened to me. More than one client has said, ‘I started reading your blog and knew you were the right person for me to work with.’ Wow.

Studies show nearly 20% of web pages are visited for less than four seconds and almost 50% are viewed for less than 12 seconds. If the first thing your prospect sees is a bunch of grammatical and spelling errors, what impression do you make? At best, the prospect thinks you were careless. At worst, you wind up looking like a rube.

True, there are times and target markets that tolerate, and even encourage, variations on grammar and spelling. If you’re writing for a hip-hop audience, then the lingo dictates a certain style. When you want to create a vibe, you may need to bend the rules. There’s nothing wrong with having style. But style is a conscious, strategic decision. And so is using spell-check, doing some proofreading, and making sure you’ve got the facts straight.

Remember, your words paint a picture of you and your business in the reader’s mind. If you’re not a great writer, don’t despair. You don’t have to aim for the Pulitzer Prize. You can write simply and clearly--there’s nothing wrong with that. Use spell-check and grammar checking tools. Proofread relentlessly. Read what you’ve written aloud to see if it makes sense. And if need be, hire some help like an editor or a copy-writer.

In the end, the marketing impact of spelling and grammar is credibility. Writing well is a huge credibility booster. It shows you care about the little things. And if you’re faithful about the little things, it means you’re more likely to be faithful in the big things--where it matters the most.

How do you know you can do that?

How do you know you can do that?

I have to admit this question really threw me. I was talking to a prospective client--someone who was referred to me--and was coming to the end of an hour-long conversation. We’d talked about Duct Tape Marketing--how it works and what it does for people who use it--and then I’d given him a rundown of the services I offer.

“Can you show me a website of a client you’ve done this with?” he asked. Well, no, I admitted. I’ve worked with various people but all their websites are under construction. My own website isn’t fully up to speed--I’ve spent too much time working on other people’s stuff.

When this guy asked me, “How do you know you can do that?” My first thought was, I know because I’m doing it. But that’s not what I said. I explained my expertise, my background, my training--something I’d demonstrated for the past hour--but to no avail. In the end, I walked out leaving this prospect unconvinced. He didn’t believe me.

When I was leaving, the prospect said, “I like you. I really do.” I think what he was trying to do was be nice and make me feel better. But the truth of the matter was that I didn’t feel bad. The proof is in the pudding, after all, and I’d just seen it for myself. No trust = no sale.

I write all the time about sales and marketing as a series of milestones. Marketing is a process of introduction that leads to knowing. If knowing goes well, the prospect finds something to like. If liking allows rapport to form, then trusting is possible. Once real trust is established, an invitation to buy or hire can be extended.

With this prospect, I’d gotten to go on the journey from introduction to knowing to liking. As it turned out, the entire journey happened right there during the presentation--I’d done my homework about his business but he had no idea who I was. Liking created rapport but in that one hour, it wasn’t possible for him to make the leap to trust. He needed something I couldn’t give him: some kind of proof beyond my word, which clearly wasn’t enough for him.

When get a referral, and you get invited to present, it may not be enough for you to do your homework about the prospect. It may not be enough for you to be on your game and give a dynamite, well thought out, fully prepared presentation. It may not be enough that you know your subject backwards and forwards and unequivocally demonstrate your expertise. If your prospect perceives that he or she is taking a considerable risk, then you may not be able, in those few minutes, to create enough knowing and liking to help them make the leap to trust and buy. The take home message is this: don’t get discouraged when you walk out without the sale.

What I saw for myself (again) was the evidence that Duct Tape Marketing actually delivers what it says it does. The sales and marketing milestone process really provides a great framework for seeing where the prospect is in the process. My job, and yours, is to make sure that the stepping stones are sufficiently close together so that our ideal clients don’t have to make any scary leaps.

Over the next week, I challenge you to look at your marketing materials. Relive your last few sales presentations. Take a look at your numbers--leads and conversions--and see where prospects are dropping out. The drop-out point will almost always be at a transition point from one milestone to another. Wherever the drop-out point is, celebrate when you find it! You can only fix the leaks that you know about, right? And how do you know you can do that? Because you’ve got the world’s most practical small business marketing system--Duct Tape Marketing--at your fingertips.

Now, go out and get good things done this week!