Tag Archives: business

July 22, 2013 · 8:48 am

Liar Liar

The phone rang the other day and it was someone asking me for more information about the services I can provide. That’s not really unusual. Sometimes they’ve read the screed, sometimes they’ve seen my business website, or sometimes something from a past life – an article, and interview, or another client – will send them my way.  I’m thankful for those calls – some turn into business and each is an opportunity to learn about another perspective on the business world.

The call I got the other afternoon was much like many of the others.  It was someone  – Mary was what she said her name was – who had seen my site and wanted to know more about how I could help them.   I asked about their business and they said they were selling shoes.  We chatted about the differences between selling online and offline, about website optimization, content creation, and analytics.  It was a pretty typical chat and it went on for 10 minutes or so.  Typical, that is, until “Mary” came clean:

So we’re a marketing company too and I’m wondering if maybe we can work together because our services would fit well with the ones you offer.

My response was about what you might expect.  Yes I do on occasion team up with businesses that offer services that I don’t but no, I can’t work with anyone who begins our relationship with a lie.  Then, I hung up.  But it got me thinking about how many businesses do just that – sometimes without malice, sometimes on purpose.  We engage with potential customers under false pretenses, promising to solve their problems when our primary motivation is self-enrichment.  We might think a little hyperbole is OK as we’re selling and maybe it is.  But lies aren’t.

In this case, I don’t have a clue what this woman was thinking.  Why would anyone want to continue the dialog after you come clean?  But it’s a great example of what NOT to do.   Do you think I’m being unfair?

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July 19, 2013 · 9:41 am

Start Wine-ing

This Foodie Friday we’re going to talk about wine.  I realize some of you are not fans but I think a good glass of wine can enhance a meal much as finishing salt enhances the flavor of a perfectly ripe tomato (I have those on my mind these days as well!).  I don’t think of myself as being very knowledgable about wine but I do know what I like when I’m drinking it.

Wine

(Photo credit: Uncalno)

One other thing I like about wine is the simplicity of it.  You get a bunch of grapes, stick them in a solid container, crush them, and wait.  In theory, the natural yeasts that float all around us should find their way into the juice and begin turning the sugar into alcohol.  Strain it and it’s wine.  Of course, it if was that simple, we wouldn’t refer to a winemaker‘s art.  In fact there are lots of decisions the winemaker needs to make – what kind of grapes, what kind of container, at what temperature to keep the juice, what kind of yeast (if any) to add, how long to let it ferment, how long to age it, and even where to make it. All are factors that affect the final product.  Which of course got me thinking about business.

Business at its core is equally simple.  Create a product or service and sell it for more than it costs to make.  Just as with wine, however, it’s all the decisions you take on the way that dictate how the final product turns out and what sort of success you have with it.  Do you do what some wine makers do – try to create a flavor profile that is “popular” and go for big sales or do you make something that might sell less but be of a higher quality?

One thing about which you’ve heard me rant is being authentic.  Bad wine uses wood chips and artificial flavors.  Great wine coaxes out and maximizes the flavors inherent in the grapes.  Be transparent too.  That doesn’t mean giving away all the secrets about why your business – or your wine – is better.  It does mean, however, that you don’t hide bad reviews and you admit when a vintage (or an outcome) isn’t everything you want.

Simple isn’t easy.  Wine – and business – are simple at their core, but translating that simplicity into success is much harder. When it’s right it’s incredibly satisfying to me.  To you as well?

 

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July 17, 2013 · 8:48 am

One Man’s Relevant Is Another’s Spam

There is a factoid coming out of some research that will be our topic today.  I find it of interest because it’s a dilemma that I share to a certain extent with the folks surveyed.  While the topic of the survey was the use of email, one of the key findings resonated with me:

The greatest percentage of marketers still felt challenged to create relevant and compelling content that will really draw in recipients. This ranked as the No. 1 challenge among B2B and B2C respondents to achieving their marketing objectives, but it was also considered the most effective tactic, cited by 71% of B2B marketers and 65% of B2C marketers. If marketers can create strong content, they believe it really does work at converting consumers.

This survey was conducted by the folks at Ascend2 and Research Underwriters.  I can attest to the challenges of creating compelling content – you see the result of that struggle each day here on the screed.  However, I wonder about the definition of relevant.  After all, you don’t have to go further than your own daily conglomeration of inbound emails to recognize that what’s compelling to those sending the stuff isn’t always at the top of your interest list.

Let’s take it out of the realm of commercial email for a second.  You probably get a few emails each day from friends or coworkers that are totally useless.  By that I mean you can ignore them and be no worse off – no less informed or enlightened.  They’re the “thanks” emails when you say you’ll follow up.  They’re the mails sent to 25 people on a team about a meeting involving 5 of them.  I’m all for communication but that gets to the “compelling and relevant” issue found in the survey.

Take that notion to mail you’d send on behalf of a commercial enterprise.  If you’re and airline and you’re sending me information about special fares that don’t apply to the city in which I live, you fail.  If you’re a vet sending me a special offer for the dog that died last year, you fail.  You see, what I’ve found is that compelling and relevant also means reader-focused, segmented, and based on whatever user data I have such as best read posts, etc.  It’s not  just some formula that satisfies MY agenda.

Marketing is hard and getting harder.  So’s blogging!  Neither one succeeds without a laser-like focus on the user.  Right?

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