Dave

Sep 12 2009

The Power of Printed Marketing Materials – And How to Really Muck Them Up

Those that know me know I used to be the CEO of a company called U Sphere. We got on a few mailing lists – higher education influencers, marketing for higher education, student mailing list providers – you name it, Higher Ed folks would send us mail. Snail Mail. Some of it good, a lot of it bad, and 99% of it unnecessary.

Print is great, just don’t muck it up.

Mucking it up can be really easy to do, if you follow these steps with your print marketing materials. (This is a WHAT NOT TO DO LIST. Do the opposite. Please.)

Do no research. At all. Today’s case in point is a mailer I received from a XYZ University. My title is all wrong – in fact, they used a title that I didn’t have EVER at U Sphere.
Send me a redundant printed version of stuff. In this case, something that is not only available online but never used in print anymore. I’m talking about the Application for Admission to XYZ.
Make a false claim. And use odd words to make the claim. This can stick in someone’s craw – when you say you are “at the top of the list” and it’s a list that you’re “habitually” at the top of…well, you had better be sure that I can find you at the top of that list. OR ANY LIST.
Know your target. XYZ’s materials do not speak well to any of the myriad target audiences in the higher education marketing world. As a result, XYZ felt the need to send me everything.

Remedies: or, the “What To Do List.”

Think differently. The best, most “awesometastic” piece of printed higher ed marketing material EVER, IMHO, came from MICA. It’s the photo at the top. It’s awesometastic because it follows this mantra…
Don’t sell me. Help me. I drool over stuff like this because someone there obviously gets it. The college search is a crazy process – if you’re looking for an “Art School” it’s even nuttier a process. This gang doesn’t sell MICA, they embrace the process of finding an art school. In a 140+ page book, they start talking about themselves on page 106. That’s gutsy. It’s also so bloody effective.
Update your lists. Mailing stuff is expensive. MICA did not send me the updated book, I called to ask for it. Good for them. XYZ still has me on an old list, and didn’t understand where I fit into the mix anyway. Which brings us to the final point in our discussion of how not to muck up marketing materials:
Make a phone call. “Hi, this is XYZ, we have some stuff to send, but don’t want to waste your time. What are you doing these days?”

Sep 09 2009

Pareto Was Wrong: It’s NOT 80/20, It’s More Like 95/5

What are you doing today to “Find the 5 percent?”

We’re serious when we say this – you remember Pareto, the geneticist, philosopher, Italian economist? He noticed that 80 percent of the land in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the people. Applying “80/20” is easy to do just about anywhere – 80 percent of your joy comes from 20 percent of your relationships, 80 percent of your company’s profits come from 20 percent of your customers.

It’s a great theory – but I’m going to argue that it’s WRONG.

Today, it’s more like 95/5.

You could talk about the distribution of wealth, you could talk about your company’s profits, or you could talk about your relationships.

Find the 5 percent. Be the 5 percent.

Example: I sat down last week for a meeting with a couple Chicago-area entrepreneurs. (Let’s assume, for a moment, that their business sells computer hardware, so they have something in-demand from just about everyone.) Their sales strategy involved going after the Global 2000 companies and finding out who held key relationships in their industry with those Global 2000. Then going after those relationship holders.

Now we’re talking.

The 80/20 route would have started with the Global 2000 and stopped there. But, if we’re talking computer hardware, is it easier for them to go after 20% of the market (the Global 2000), or finding the INFLUENCERS for the 5%.

Good for them. But what about you?

Take a look at your clients, your customers – you don’t have to rank them, but find out where the pain is coming from. Is it the 80 percent? Or is it more like 95 percent?

Find out where the joy is coming from – where the challenge, the euphoria, the fun is coming from. Probably, again, a smaller sliver than even Pareto would have thought.

Oh, and in your own business, your own personal life – are you being the 5 percent? Adding value in your personal relationships? Delivering in business? If not, what habits do you need to start to get into that 5 percent?

Find the 5 percent!

Sep 07 2009

Labor Day Weekend 2009 – What Did You Learn?

This could be filed under “tragicomedy.” Or not. All depends on your point of view.

Background: The WordPress Worm struck the old Area 224 site. It struck quite a few sites. Here’s a great write-up on what happened from an appropriately named site: I’d Rather Be Writing.

Long Story Short: Now was the time for us to pull the trigger on a new look – “theme” in WordPress vernacular – for our site. We went with the Thesis Theme. We’re uploading old stuff and writing some new.

Our Point of View: Well, it’s early. Like, we’re only 12 hours into our new look, and we’ve sketched out some of what’s to come – whether or not we are able to get our data from 48 hours ago back, or whether we are forced to use some stuff that’s a little older.

During this relaunch, I’ve been going back and forth with fellow vagabond entrepreneur and web analytics guru David Dalka.

David has strong opinions on a number of internet marketing things, like SEO and helping big brands best allocate their marketing budgets for the new realities of user-generated content and social media marketing. David was the first person to email me and implore me to upgrade from 2.7.1 to 2.8.4 – something I had already started doing, but just a smidge too late.

But this comment in one of his emails struck me:

“…I should smack you for thinking about themes right now…”

I see his point – forest from trees, strategy vs. tactics, all that fun stuff. But in this case, I’m not sure I totally agree. Here are a few reasons, but I’d love to hear your arguments – for/against/neutral – about the role of “themes” and blog look in your marketing.

Reasons I should NOT be smacked, IMHO:

The old look was a little boring.
Thesis is THAT good. Take a look at some of the brands and people that use it. Like Chris Brogan. And Danny Sullivan.
This theme – or any theme – allows me to actually think more strategically about Why Area 224 is in Business.

That last one is key to this firm’s ability to thrive in this new economy – as it is the single most important question any business person must ask.

Forcing me to ask that question of my own business brought me to a couple answers. Social Media Marketing is where Area 224 has been focusing. Realtors and Coaches are two industries we’re working a ton with. We do consulting work with some big brands. And I’m on the speaking and event circuit (or I’m in the process of creating my own circuit).

An either/or moment? Either rebuild the old site or launch a new one. In this case, the theme I had been lusting after for a year but hadn’t pulled the trigger on? Well, this was time. And the elegance of the theme helped me relaunch AND refocus my efforts at the same time.

What did you learn this weekend?

Sep 06 2009

We’re Back, and Using Updated WordPress

After the fun that was the WordPress hack of the old version, we’re working on grabbing all our stuff out of the backups.

Fun! We’ll talk to you soon.