4 Ways to Avoid Marketing Like a Weiner
June 13, 2011
(Note: Did you really think I’d let this opportunity to pass me by? I mean I’ll never get another opportunity to write a title like that…)
If you live in the US, you’ve heard of the big Congressman Anthony Weiner Twitter scandal. It’s everywhere. Another politician caught with his pants down – or to be more accurate, caught tweeting pics with his pants down…
Some say there is no such thing as bad publicity. As a marketer, I have to disagree, especially if you’re Representative Weiner and living up to your last name by acting like one. O
vernight, Rep. Weiner has become a joke – and not just to snot-nosed 11 year old boys who still giggle when they hear ‘peacock’ but to those of us who are older and mature enough to understand that sometimes a peacock is just a peacock. So, yes, there is such a thing as bad publicity – and these days publicity, especially bad publicity is all too easy to come by. Just one little slip of the keyboard or a too-fast flick of the “send” button, and you could be ruined.
Social media is a wonderful resource for promoting and managing a small business reputation. But as the Rep Weiner debacle has shown us, it can also be a reputation/small business killer.
Here are four ways you can avoid marketing your small business like a Weiner.
- If you make a mistake, own up to it. Man up, admit your mistakes and do everything in your power to improve and prevent it from happening again. Whatever you do, don’t lie! Businesses are made up of human beings and human beings make mistakes. We are never going to be perfect. The key to managing your reputation is to admit your mistakes, deal with them, and find ways to improve. Lying or pretending that everything is perfect when it isn’t alienates everyone. You will never build a successful business this way.
- Nothing you put out on Social Media is private – especially your privates. Marketing is all about managing your image. If there are things about your business, your processes, your finances, your procedures, your management, etc that you don’t want the general public to know about, keep it to yourself. Social media is not the place to complain about employees, customers, or vendors – and you never want to air your dirty laundry.
- Don’t get too comfortable with your Facebook or Twitter “friends”. Rep Weiner wrongly assumed that all of his little Twitter girlfriends were his real friends and the information and pictures he shared with them would be kept private. But as a high-profile government figure, that was just plain stupidity. As business owners, we need to be just as mindful of what we’re putting out there. Many years ago a well-meaning co-worker gave me some much needed advice that I think applies here. He said to me, “going out for drinks with co-workers, and especially bosses, is still work – and you must treat it like work. Don’t drink too much and keep it appropriate.” I think that same rule should apply for social networking.
- Don’t wait until your flaws are embarrassingly exposed to get help. Rep Weiner has issues… whether he’s a sex addict, or just plain stupid is for him to decide. But clearly, he has issues. Who is without flaws? I’d be lying if I said my business (or my life for that matter) is perfect. My point here for small business owners is this: recognize your weaknesses, own your weaknesses and then commit to doing something to address them. Too many small business owners wait until they’re a job away from closing their doors, or a week away from missing payroll to get help with their businesses. Don’t wait until it’s too late – get help now.
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you. 
Why Small Businesses Need a Marketing Strategy
May 2, 2011
You decide to throw a dinner party. You want it to be the type of dinner party that people remember fondly and talk about for years. Imagine that you will serve an amazing meal and that your guests will rant about the delicious food, the great atmosphere, and the wonderful conversation. Now imagine throwing it all together without a plan. You won’t plan the menu. You
won’t plan the decorations. You won’t even plan the guest list.
Instead, you just go to the grocery store and pick up whatever is on sale that day, hoping that you can somehow throw it all together and make it work. You end up with a box of Fruit Loops, 3 lbs. of chicken fryers, 10 boxes of mac and cheese, Velveeta, and 2 litres of Hawaiian Punch.
For the guest list, you figure you can just tell one or two people and count on them inviting everyone they know – you’re sure a crowd of the most fun, excellent conversationalist dinner-party-guest-types will come.
Given this scenario, I want you to imagine the type of dinner party it will be now! Do you think you’ll be serving a delicious meal? Do you think you’ll have the best guests – and lots of them? Or do you think your menu will consist of some crazy meal made of Fruit Loops and Velveeta with a few mismatched guests including the boisterous lady from your spin class who ends up drinking too much and insulting everyone in the room and the neighbor down the street who hasn’t showered in weeks, shows up just for the free meal, and stands in the corner mumbling to himself all night?
Would you really rely on 1 or 2 of people to get a bunch of the most fun, outgoing, and best dinner party guests to your house? Would you plan a meal without a menu, a recipe or two, and a shopping list? Of course you wouldn’t! So then, why would you run a business this way?
Yet, that is exactly what small business owners do every day. They have a vision for a business: offering the very best product or service, standing out from the competition, and serving lots of happy satisfied customers who talk about their business for years! But instead of mapping out a plan for achieving all of this they go to work every day, work IN their business, deliver the best they can handle, buy whatever advertising is cheap or on sale, attend events because they think they should – all the while hoping to attract the right kind of customers who appreciate their work and are willing to pay a decent price for their product or service. And then they expect those customers to tell anyone and everyone about them, without teaching them how to refer the right kind of customer! (Think dinner party guests!)
Just like a dinner party, you can’t build a successful business without a plan. You need to outline a strategy: Who would make the best customers? Who do you want to invite to do business with you? What will you offer? How will you package it? How will you deliver it? How will you promote it? Buying whatever is easy and cheap and counting on a few people to spread the word might get you some results, but are they the results you want???
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way – if you like this post, I would REALLY appreciate your ReTweet! Thank you!!!!
5 Simple Ways to Refresh Your Marketing
April 17, 2011
Is your small business kinda slow these days? Are customers just not calling and coming in like they used to? It’s probably because you’re using the same old marketing and advertising you’ve been using for years.
It’s time to change it up a bit. When’s the last time you looked at your messaging and marketing materials and made changes…. I mean really looked???
Here are five ways to refresh your marketing 
1. Update or improve your product or service offerings. You can refresh them by simply making some minor changes to your selection, how you package them, or what you call them. For example – an oil change can become your “Car Wellness Package” and you can include a “5 point wellness check”. A CPAs tax preparation service can be “Keep the IRS Off Your Back Service” and you can include a little “Stay out of jail free certificate” – maybe even a t-shirt saying “I’m a not a jailbird because Joe’s CPA firm did my taxes” (corny, but effective!).
2. Experiment with your pricing. Repackage and restructure your offerings. Maybe offer some new creative discounts, special offers, new member incentives, loyal customer deals.
3. Find new ways to offer or deliver your products or services to customers. Is it completely 100% easy and convenient for your customer to use what you offer? If not find ways to break down those hurdles… maybe you go to them, maybe you offer a delivery service, or do your service in 1 hour instead of 3, or offer online shopping.
4. Is your brand image out dated? Was your logo and imaged designed in the 80’s? Does your business look dated and out of style? If so, you may want to consider refreshing you image or potential customers may view you as being passé.
5. Try creative new ways to communicate with customers and prospects. So you’ve been doing direct mail and print ads and the returns are diminishing each year… Try something new and fun and different. Items to hand out don’t have to cost you a lot money – (I like my promotional items cheap and branded with a logo), hand out flyers at the shopping center, try email marketing, Facebook, Twitter, sponsor a little league team – find out where your target market hangs out and literally, get your message in front of them!
Of course, the important thing is, no matter what you change or do, TEST, TEST, TEST and MEASURE, MEASURE, MEASURE! Small business marketing is really about testing and measuring to find what works and what doesn’t. It doesn’t do any good to do any marketing if you don’t do these things…. you’re simply just playing an expensive guessing game!
What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!! Leave your comments here.
By the way – if you like this post, I would REALLY appreciate your ReTweet! Thank you!!!!
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+Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company
- Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses get the customers they need to sell more, increase profits and achieve all of their business and personal goals. We do this by implementing and managing marketing systems based on data and strategy - there is no guess work. For more information visit us at: FortuneMarketingCompany.com. We'd be glad to help!
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