How well do you know your customers?

Lately with the economy being as it is, I've been asking myself this question. How well do I know my customers? For myself, I have to admit that it is at times trying to get to know all your customers, but lets focus on the 20% of clients which give you 80% of your business (i.e. the 80/20 rule).

How well do you know your customers? If your answer is not very well or not at all, perhaps some of these ideas could be of use to you.

1. Newsletters: Use this technique to engage your customers in a discussion. The best method to do this would be to create a newsletter which gives your customers interesting bits of information and ultimately there could also be a Q&A section where the readers of your newsletter could submit question to you to seek your advice. This would really demonstrate your expertise in your business.

2. Co host an event with another business: This would apply to companies targeting the same consumer base but not selling similar products or services. Examples could be:

- A bank hosting a small seminar with a marketing consultant to give tips and advice to customers on the best way to market their business.

- A financial planner and an insurance agent teaming up to run a talk on savings, retirement planning, etc.

- A caterer and wine specialist hosting a wine tasting and food event entitled "matching the correct food with the correct wine".

These ideas could help you to create a better relationship with a your customers and you won't have to resort to spamming them just to remind them that you are still around. These ideas are enduring and like all marketing efforts they take time to build up momentum and gain an audience.

Terms and Conditions

Its been a while since my last posting. My apologies for the absence.

Of late, I've been receiving quite a few value meal vouchers. In my last entry on delivering value, I advocated the importance of delivering value into your business. But recently, I've come across a restaurant which I felt did not quite delivery value or to be more precise, I felt they were cheating their consumers. Lets be very professional here. I've blotted out the name in order to save guard the restaurant.


When you first look at this voucher it says CRAZY FOOD OFFER... 1 For 1. But if you look at the bottom right corner of the voucher, 2 things stand out. First off, it says Saturday & Sunday Only... and of course Terms and Conditions apply. No problem with the first condition...

Most businesses always try to draw business towards their slower times and maybe for this restaurant this could be the case. But, let's take a look at the back portion of this voucher.


If you take a look at bullet number four you will notice this statement there, valid for dine-in only with a minimum spending of RM 100 (i.e. USD 27.00). My point of contention is this, for you to be able to spend RM 100 when your food meals are half priced would mean that you would probably have to order an appetizer and desert and probably booze.

So if I'm going to half to spend a minimum or RM 100 before I can get my meals at Half price then why bother giving me the discount at all...

The point is this, if you are going to create a value promotion of any kind, its important to take note of a few points:

1) That you can actually afford to and are willing to give such a discount. 50% off meals from my experience is quite a hefty discount.


2) Try not to have terms and conditions which are too stringent. If not, my bet is that the promotion will most likely not be very successful.

The above example of the restaurant clearly contradicts these 2 points, having me fork out RM 100 before I qualify to use the voucher only tells me either that the restaurants is not able to really give this kind of discounts or they are not very sincere in their marketing by inserting such ridiculous terms. Either way, my feeling is that this campaign may not do very well.

So, a good thing to remember is that in delivering value, more often than not this can be a double edge sword, do it right and you'll have a tremendous increase in sales. Be too stringent and the promotion will probably fail and could possibly hurt your brand image. Till next time.

Delivering Value

Been thinking a lot recently about the key words "value deals". As a lot of businesses are now undergoing a slowdown of sales, I've noticed recently that there has been an increase in most retail outlets using value deals as part of their marketing promotions to reach out to customers.

This is primarily happening in most if not all food service businesses. You see a lot these days on value meal promotions where restaurants are pushing set meals (i.e. lunches, tea time, dinner) which they hope the customer will see as good value deals and thus make the decision to come in to have a meal.

Now this is not necessarily a bad thing but what surprises me is this, companies are using this method more frequently now then before. I mean when times were good, I would rarely see established restaurants or business using value promotions. Most would rather just throw their money into advertising or worse still, act as if customers will visit their store because they are an established brand.

So my question is this. Is delivering value to your clients only important when times are tough? My advice to my clients is that delivering value in their products and services should be carried it irregardless of whether times are good or bad. The reason I advocate this is because, when a business is seen as delivering value in its products / services this creates a message to the consumer that the company

1) Stands for giving its customers the best possible quality product / service it can.
2) It creates the notion that although this business exists to make profit, this business has principles and one of these principles is that all its products are priced fairly and of good value.

Not matter how much advertising budget you may have, you just cannot buy perception like the above. If your products / service already has this perception in the minds of your consumers then good on you. If not, perhaps its time to start thinking of implementing this "value deal" promotion into your business?

Been thinking about the economy

Hey there, I'm sure you've been reading on the news about the current economic situation. Well, instead to just subscribing to all that doom and gloom I think perhaps we should draw our attention to what this current situation is doing to our businesses.

First and foremost you have to understand, if you believe at this juncture that what's happening now is going to make you go bust you're most certainly correct. Thus a good point to keep in mind here is attitude. Keep that attitude in check. Franklin D. Roosevelt once said during America's Depression that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself".

In a manner of speaking he's right, if we submit to the paralyzing fear of the times, we'll most likely shock ourselves into doing nothing!

Secondly, I think it important to remember that continuing your marketing efforts is a must at this point. Yes, so times are bad, you don't have much cash flow to carry out much marketing efforts. Instead of worrying how much money / cash flow you have to carry out marketing activities, why not focus on what kind of marketing activities that can be carried out at a low cost. Think guerrilla style marketing.

After all that's said and done, you can't be paralyzed by the current turn of events, instead times like these are probably a call back to real marketing efforts and a cut back from all that advertising which you've probably mistaken as marketing effort. Till next time...

Referrals marketing strategy (Part 1)

In my previous entry, we looked at the reasons behind why it was important to have a referral strategy as part of your overall marketing mix. Today, I'd like to introduce you to 3 steps which can help you create a referral marketing strategy:

1) Always have your Business Card on you:

I cannot possibly stress how important this is. How many times have you come across a person which you introduce yourself to and he / she mentions that they don't have a business card on them at the moment. Now imagine this, you're meeting someone for the first time and your introducer mentions that this individual could be interested in giving you your next million dollar deal. You check your wallet and you don't have any name cards. How is this person going to contact you? What kind of impression do you think you've made with this person? Is that the sound of a million dollar deal being thrown out the window?

So remember, always make sure that you have business cards.

2) Think Networking, not closing a sale:

Whenever you mention networking, most people equate that with closing a sale. The first time they meet you they try to hard sell you their business. Have you met individuals like that? I can tell you that I have and it sure isn't a joy to talk to them. Remember, networking is about building relationships and that TAKES TIME. Don't get their card and pitch them the next day. First and foremost it is not professional and second it makes you look desperate. Remember desperate people end up getting nowhere.

3) Join a Hard-contact Networking group:

Sure there are many avenues to networking out there, there's Kiwanis, Rotary, your local chamber of commerce but these avenues are usually open to everybody which means that you can also end up meeting a lot of people in the same business. Thus, consider joining a hard contact network. I'm borrowing this from a brilliant writer, Dr. Ivan Misner He's been called the Father of modern networking.

Now, Hard contact networks are networking group which only allow one profession / trade to be apart of the group. Thus, you will have the opportunity to meet different individuals from different professions and yet be the only profession of your type in that group. Isn't that swell? A good example of a group like this would be BNI.

So, now that you have 3 ideas to start you on the road to developing a referral based marketing strategy, its now your turn to act. There's no time like the present. I'll be back with 3 more strategies soon to develop a better and stronger referral marketing strategy. Till then, take care.

Referrals as a marketing strategy. Do you have one?

Your house pipes have broken down. Instead of reaching for the yellow pages, you instinctively pick up your phone to dial your best friend or dad, etc asking " do you know a good plumber"? How many of us have actually found ourselves in that situation?

I can sense you nodding your head. The truth is, a lot of us only want to do business with someone we know or someone we're recommended do. Its hard to sometimes just pick the yellow pages and dial the first ad you see in there.

So if we know that we only want to do business with people we trust or know, then what are we as marketeers for our business doing about building a strong referral based strategy as part of our marketing efforts? Think about it.... The first question to ask yourself, how much of my business is by referral? 20%, 50%, 80%. If 80% of your business is by referrals then you have to ask yourself, do I have a step by step process to make sure all my business translates to even more referrals?

In the next entry, I'll introduce some ways you can possibly use to develop a viable referral strategy to convert a majority of your business into more referrals for you. Till then, take care.

Company emails and websites

In my line of work with Small and Medium sized businesses, I'm constantly shocked at how little importance is placed in branding. That said, I think one of the basic requirements that all companies should have no matter how big or small is a corporate email and website.

Can you imagine meeting someone for the first time and having look through their contact details only to discover that they do not have a website and the other cardinal sin, a generic email address such as will@gmail.com or alanc@yahoo.com

Now, the first thing that comes to mind my mind when I see this is:

Is this person's business as genuine?

Is he/she going to wind up someday or is he/she here for the long term?

Having a website and proper email will help to establish in your customers mind that you are here for the long term. Bear in mind, this is to provide a psychological relief and to instill a sense of confidence in your client that you are serious in your business.

Thus, what are you waiting for? Make sure you have a website running and most of all a proper domain email. Branding wise, it will go a long way.

The Genuine Sushi restaurant (Part 2)

The Genuine Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant is back! This time I managed to catch a glimpse of their bunting. Since my last blog post about Sushi Zanmai in April, they are still using the phrase "The Genuine Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant".

Curious as I was, I needed to take a look at the writing at the bottom.... here's what it says:


Backed by more than 20 years of experience... Hey! That's interesting.... Imagine seeing this tag line... "From Japan to Malaysia: bringing you 20 years of great sushi serving experience!" Ok... Its a little rough around the edges but its a stronger marketing position than the "genuine conveyor belt sushi restaurant". However, when I checked their website, there was no mention of where they got their 20 years of experience... marketing 101... have a marketing position which you can back up!!! If they have 20 years of experience, they should put it up on their website. This creates consumer confidence in your brand.

Secondly, whenever you have a bunting, always keep your copy to a minimum... Their current bunting copy may be a little too long. Most of the time, consumers won't stand there to read your copy.

So, there's 2 things to take away from here...

1) Do you best to keep your copy to a minimum in any point of sale material
2) Develop a marketing positioning which makes sense.

till next time... take care.

business cards (part 2)

Dear Friends, lets take a look at this week's picture....


Ok, I've blurred the contact details out but in this picture, there's a card somewhere... a ghost card.... ok, that was lame but sorry, couldn't help myself.

Well, what I wanted to highlight was; sometimes, being a little too creative can be bad... I understand that the owner of this transparent plastic card wanted to stand out when they passed their cards out and I must say it is impressive. However, when you put in on your table or in your card holder box, there is a possibility that the card could disappear especially if it is placed between a white based card.

So, the point of this whole entry? sometimes is pays to put a little more practicality into your design and sacrificing a little creativity then to have that creativity work against you such as in this case.

Packaging and its role

Dear Friends,

Apologies about the late blog update but I was away on a conference. I'm part of a Business Network group called BNI (Business Network International) They are all about helping and teaching business individuals to generate business by referal. You can find them at www.bni.com

They recently had their KL 2008 conference which was a 2 day networking meeting of 500 over business owners from all over the world. I must say I had a ball of a time meeting new people. But enough about that, lets get on with this week's entry.

Perhaps this is an extension to what the last blog entry is about but I believe that packaging design has 2 roles to fulfill.

Its first being to ensure the product gets noticed and jumps out at consumers on the supermarket shelf. With over 1 million consumer brands available today at your average supermarket, a packaging which fails to excite or grab anyone's attention is doomed to failure regardless of the quality of the product.

Next, a packaging must also deliver value, meaning it must be seen to be worth the price which has to be paid for the product. This is what sets the distinction between a perceived substandard product and a high quality product. Bear in mind both products may be of similar quality however, the deciding factor of which product to buy almost surely lies with how the packaging looks.

I strongly believe that if any packaging you design delivers in these 2 areas, you product will stand out in a crowd and help ultimately contribute to the brand you're trying to build.

Packaging & Labeling, a silent salesman?

As with advertising, promotion & placement, the packaging & labeling of products are crucial steps to marketing of products that can & will become branded items. Yet ever so often, little attention is paid to this important aspect of marketing the product.

With some product packaging or labels, it appears that the product owner has no intention whatsoever to build brands worthy of its quality and promise the product deserves. If one were to asses deserving products in Malaysia, in particular, can we say that none has reached branded status as in comparison to Reebok, Nike, etc.

We, in Malaysia, had a product that has long existence, perhaps some 90 years plus or more. With available facilities, it has not touched base with the consumer movement and changes in consumer preferences to package & label its product, worthy of the trust & satisfaction the company has in the country.

Hence, it is crucially important that attention be given to packaging & labeling to allow strategic development of the product and turn it into a “branded” product. As always, the Gurus often reiterates that the packaging & labeling of a product is liken to a “silent SALESMAN”, it does not speak; but it says a lot.

Regards,

SL Liew

About the author: The post above is from one of my contributors Mr. Liew Siew Loong. Mr. Liew has been in the marketing field for the last 40 years dealing in FMCG products to food products and even high fashion. To find out more about of his profile, log on to http://www.viscreative.com/

business cards...

I was actually at a networking drinks session yesterday. As is known, the point of these little gatherings is of course to meet new people and catch up as it may. What is always curios to me when I attend these sessions is how some individuals can show up without any business cards.

Your business card, by any standard acts as sort of your identification card or drivers license. The point I'm getting at here is that you wouldn't hesitate to leave your home without any of these documents, so why would you not have your business cards with you at all times?

Not having a business card at a networking function translates to 2 things, one being an opportunity lost to let people know about your business. You never know when & where you might meet your next million dollar deal. Secondly, a lack of a business card reflects a lot about the person or company you represent. Not having a card sends a message to the person you're meeting, I'm not interested in any opportunity to do business with you nor am I excited to meet or get to know you.

So, perhaps it would be a good idea not to be caught without any business cards on you. You never know, your next million dollar deal could be the next person you pass your card to.

In search of customer service

Over the last weekend, I found myself at my authorized Perodua car service center due for my regular service. As it may, the service bill came up to RM 220 (roughly USD 70). As my car was in desperate need of a cleaning, my fiance urged me to ask them if they had a car wash service as well. As it turns out; they did, for a cost of RM 10 (USD 3).

Now, let me ask you this, would it be un-reasonable for them after spending RM 220 at their service center to throw in a free car wash? Now, the car wash if given away free would only work up to be a 5% discount off my bill.

The point is this, do you remember when we were kids and used to choose our cereal brands based on what free toys / gifts came with it? If cereal makers can think of such ideas to entice customers (i.e. kids) to tell their parents to choose a specific brand of cereal, why not car service centers?

The key objective here I believe is to instill customer loyalty. The reason is if I do not send my car to the authorized service center I can also send it to a private car service center whom I trust and there are plenty of those kinds of service centers.

As businesses today become more and more competitive, keeping customers loyal should be our primary objective no matter the type of business. As they always say, its easier to retain a customer than it is to find a new one. So giving out free car washes or maybe incentive discounts to keep customers coming back to you is a sure way to let customers know that you value their business.

By and large the same problem exists in many businesses throughout Malaysia. In this country, businesses still operate on the concept that success is measured by the number new customers, but the reality of the issue is that we should be spending that same amount of effort (i.e. time & marketing funds) in not getting newer clients but to maintain existing ones and hopefully get referrals to new clients. Wouldn't that be a better way to use your marketing budget? Perhaps something for Perodua and many of us to think about?

A Product for Everyone

I believe that these Marketing gurus put it best! "You can't be everything to everyone" and "products for everyone rarely reach anyone". In case you're wondering, the latter phrase was by Seth Godin and the former was by Ries and Trout.

What these gurus are essentially saying is that you cannot make a product / service targeted for EVERYONE!!! Yet, in my work as a marketing consultant for my clients; especially in Malaysia, I've seen this mistake being made by companies over and over again. Every time I ask them, who is your target market, more often than not I'll get the response... EVERYBODY!!!

I believe FOCUS / SPECIALIZATION of target customers are the key here... In today's business environment, you can't market your product and service to everybody. Here's why...people's choices and preferences are all different. Another is that the market is so wide, do you have enough marketing budget to market to everyone???

So my advice? taking after the gurus... I believe every business should find a niche or segment which they can dominate and concentrate all their marketing efforts on. With that, I believe your company will not only thrive but will honestly be successful. The question is not whether you believe me or these gurus, the question that remains is whether you have the courage to do what it takes to FOCUS your business. =)

The Genuine Sushi Restaurant???

Was wondering around yesterday at 1Utama shopping mall and came across this advertising panel which lets shoppers know a new outlet is about to come up... Here it is...


While looking at it, a thought occurred to me. How can a business, any business for that matter claim to be "THE genuine sushi restaurant".

From a marketing viewpoint, trying to create such a brand identity maybe difficult to defend. How does one justify being THE genuine sushi restaurant? What is going to be so genuine about this restaurant that makes it different from other kaiten sushi restaurants such as Sushi King or Genki Sushi?

Brands such as Sushi King and Genki Sushi also use conveyor belts or better known as "Kaiten Sushi". Maybe then Sushi King could come out claiming to be the 1st quick service Sushi Bar in Malaysia? This is an example of an easier to defend marketing position because they have been in Malaysia since 1995.

Something for Sushi Zanmai to re-consider??

Something's wrong with this bunting...

Recently I was at the Pavilion in KL. An amazingly designed place but slightly confusing to walk around. I always seem to get lost??? maybe my internal compass is out of whack!

Anyways, as I was touring the food court section, I came across a J.Co Donut outlet. I'm always amazed at the line of people awaiting to purchase their donuts. I think there's definitely something here to take away from how J.Co brings people to their outlet...

However, the point of this post is beyond words, only pictures are adequate.... something is definitely wrong with this bunting... Can you tell???





if you didn't catch it... here's a close up...




I'm sure what they actually wanted to say was...




I must say, it this was a joke it was a damn good one... If not, I'm sorry but someone needs to give the copywriter a kick in the *&&!!!


Moral of the story: Always! Always! Always! go through your communication material going to print.

Point of Sale Material

Hey there, was having lunch the other day and saw this little Advert (i.e. table talk) on the table which caught my eye. It was for some sort of health drink but after reading it through, something really got me confused... Take a look



Now besides the obvious health benefits of this drink, would it be "fermented from 10 fruits & 2 types of vegetables" or would the statement be "fermented from 102 types of fruits & vegetables".

Now I'm gonna go out on a limb here and state that the correct phrase should be "fermented from 10 fruits & 2 types of vegetables". Thus without soiling (no pun intended) their design, wouldn't this advert cause less confusion if it looked like this.


My my, what happened here?? Perhaps the designer should have run this design through a copywriter before going to print with this....

Designing a company profile that sells

Today, it is not uncommon for companies not matter their size to have a company profile. A company profile is intended to tell readers about the company as well as ultimately how they (i.e. The company) can be contacted.

But there is an important factor which I do find many company profiles lacking in, that is they DO NOT SELL the company. Though using the selling analogy rather broadly, what I mean is that a company profile or brochure has to accomplish 2 things; one being that it should let you know who and what the company is about.

Second and more importantly a company profile must sell the company's experience, expertise, knowledge, etc.

So, what sort of information should we consider when developing a company profile which sells.

Here's what I think should be very fundamental information of what contents a company profile has to have:

1) About Us: This section entails describing issues of who you are, your history and core beliefs. Anything more in my opinion would amount to story telling and no one wants to read a long winded profile. KISS is the acronym that comes to mind. KEEP IT SHORT and SWEET.

2) Products and services: Come on, this is a given! Why else would anyone want to come up with a profile if not to include this in it? The point here is to go into very brief descriptions of your products and services. Leave out the technical specs and specialist jargon which belong in the trash can and not your profile. Having something too technical to describe your product or service will serve to confuse your reader rather than infuse them with knowledge about you.

3) Why Us: For myself and my team, this represents the most important aspect of any profile. This is where you sell the company, its experience and knowledge. The point of this section is simple: to let the customer know you can handle his business.

4) Clients: This area helps a lot in giving your readers of your profile confidence that you are capable and competent. It especially helps when you have a few big names (i.e. well known clients) as your current or previous clients.

I believe that these are the basics of what should be covered in every brochure. Anything more could be boring, but if you feel it important then maybe it should be in there, but not covering your basic areas as outlined here is sure to guarantee you a weak profile that will be of no use to you or anyone else.

Is promotion marketing?

Have you ever wondered, “Is promotion . . . . . marketing ?”

Likewise with advertising, promotion through its extensive use of the advertising vehicle has landed its role as perplexed as the misplaced advertising. In all its intent & purpose, promotion activities carried out by many companies has become marketing per say; as promotion is used to generate purchase, induce consumer purchase, induce pantry stocking and its all placed under the expense of marketing. Why is this so - one may ask?

To get a glimpse of this scenario all one needs to do is to look at the number “price – off”, “special offers”, “consumer premium gifts”, etc.; that are funded by manufacturers and advantaged by the retail trade. To us, the sole purpose & role of promotion is lost and promotion is done solely for volume gains and to wedge competition, so to speak.

Now a big Question comes to mind, how long can one wedge competition by throwing special promotions; weekly, monthly, year round? In the Malaysian retail trade, it has gotten so bad now that most retail stores have sale after sale throughout the year just to encourage consumer spending. This has thought consumers to be very smart, if its not on sale; don't buy it! What kind of impact do you think a year long promotion will have on your brand?

So trying to wedge competition by throwing countless promotions is not feasible due to the number of products & SKU’s available in the marketplace, moreover the cost to do so is in itself prohibitive, even if you have a multi-million dollar budget.

Yet again, here we see a marketing tool which is obviously misconceived and misplaced. The age old rule & role of promotion primarily is to build consumer trust and acceptance of the “Brand” through product trials & usage thereby generating brand royalty, perhaps, even loyalty.

So lets keep those “price – off”, “special offers” & “consumer premium gifts” to a minimum and ensure that their usage is done so sparingly and in the correct context.

Choosing the right background...

I recently received a postcard as pictured above. First and foremost, I must say it is a great endeavour by the company that did this. It is an excellent way to build brand awareness via marketing tools such as postcards and flyer's to new or existing clients.

However, as we all know, the end result of any marketing material given out is that your potential reader might do 1 of 2 things when they get it. Number one being that they might just throw the darn thing into the trash can or second they will give themselves all of their precious 5 seconds to skim through your postcard and then throw it into the trash.

So in essence, designers and marketers have a big role to play when coming out with promotional material. Back to our story, to my surprise it was actually a LEGAL FIRM and not a INTERIOR DESIGN firm that sent me this postcard.

The point is this, whenever you design marketing materials always PUT YOUR CLIENTS BUSINESS in pictures. Pictures together with the right words can make a very effective promotional tool. I didn't know that it was a legal firm and that they were informing me that they were moving to a new location. I thought they were a design firm who were trying to introduce me to their service. Perhaps what the designer of this card should have done was to choose a background which suited the business of the client (i.e. legal services) and just put these words on "WE HAVE MOVED!"

Point I'm getting at is this, always choose a design which fits your business. Example; If you're in the design business, use pictures or design elements that say your in the design business. Perhaps in this case a more suitable picture to have used would have been a picture of a pen & paper or a picture of a legal document as a background. In this case, the background for this postcard should not have been a pen with some technical drawings & sketches in the background. YOU LOOK LIKE A DESIGN FIRM buddy, not a LEGAL FIRM.

A good example of what I'm talking about would be this postcard below. Simple, straight to the point. You know their in the beauty business.

picture courtesy of www.visatacreative.com

So keep on designing and be careful to choose the right pictures and design backgrounds that suit your business or you might end up promoting yourself in the wrong light.