Why I Hate Twitter

I could almost just generalize with “Social Media” in the above headline, but it sounds more violent and unruly to hate something with a cartoon name. I mean, it’s like “I’d Like to Scrub the Toilet Bowl with Sponge Bob”; who wouldn’t read that? (Power in a headline.)

Anyway, “Twitter” and other social media sites are indeed the rage. Facebook, with a mere 200 million users, is hardly a kiddies’ playground anymore. LinkedIn (sort of like Facebook for business) is “the” social hangout for commercial connections. With myriad other discussion groups, subgroups, and topical hotspots for micro-niching, how’s a marketer to make it anymore?

Heck, we got kicked off of two social sites in 40 minutes because my 20-something year old intern failed to read the rules. He posted a mildly promotional link (“mildly promotional” to a marketer is like “moderately costly” to a Government Official) on both, we got an “instant death” email, and that was that. Oops. Been kicked out of better places.

But we continued down the Social Media paths as an experiment, attempting to see why it was so crowded, being reminded of Yogi Berra’s famous quote: “It’s so crowded, nobody goes there anymore.” As it turns out, he was more prophetic than imagined.

Before you get your twit in a wad, or unlink me from the scintillating post that “you’re going to breakfast soon”, please put on the marketing glasses for a second. My first and main interest is the “who”. It is the defining, crowning, all-valuable “who” that dictates the message and its hopeful response.

If a market’s sole value is sheer numbers, then there’d best be a unifying language, problem, villain, or passionate cause in their psyche or the marketing is for naught. Have fun with that “branding” campaign; just don’t ask me to pay for it. Thus, my “who” needs definition. The reason I also hate card decks (Money Mailer et al) for contractors is the same: big, broad, ill-defined numbers.

By all accounts, staying “active” long enough to define your Social Media groups is time consuming. (I’m bracing for the email response now “IT IS NOT! MY BOSS WOULD BE MAD IF I SPENT MORE THAN 7 HOURS A DAY DOING IT!”) Some experts claim just “30 minutes a day” but I ain’t buying it.

Any interruption in our ADD prone world takes 10 minutes to refocus, so if you’re tweeting your little pecker off (bird analogy) at each twit, that’s a lot more than any 30 minutes. And going “silent” in this group is not endearing. Plus, given the parameters of the group, “marketing” to them is not nice or socially acceptable. Seems a three-time loser in productivity.

Yet, in a nearly redemptive statement that all marketers do not have leprosy, FaceBook has just announced sweeping changes to their advertising rules. They may now realize that ad revenues actually support media. (Just ask XM and Sirius.) We’ve got an experiment going there too; I’ll let you know.

In Twitter, you get 140 characters per Tweet. (Every time I talk like this, I imagine myself wearing huge orange shoes, scanning for Sylvester the Cat.) This is scarcely what we’d call “long copy”, and without a TweetDeck (organizational tool) you’ll be mind-numbingly insane before you establish enough of a relationship to even mention what you do for a living. Snidely, you may be in the minority there anyway.

So, back to the numbers. The hours spent, the nose-time invested, the “ad aversion” mentality, message brevity, and response reaction time all lead me to conclude this is a currently sorry place for B2B. For the time/productivity wasted, you could buy a radio station and get your following that way.

Twitter has its place – obviously - but do NOT consider it as anything other than a tangential media. It is really NOT for business any more than hanging out at the bar or golf course is designed for business. That may come as a long-term, profitable way to rationalize the time spent, just don’t mistake the mission.

So, let the crowds check it out; let the Today Show feature it; and let the marketing gurus laud it (and be sure to watch for their “how to” packages, kits, training on “mastering it” at an e-commerce site near you soon!) You’re advised to spend your time more productively.

Next time, FaceBook and LinkedIn.

Until Then, Here are some thoughts on how (or if) you should consider Social Media...

1. Common sense first. Do your target buyers use social media? If so, READ THE RULES and register. Follow the lead of those claiming success. Basically, understand the WHO.
2. How big is your database? If of the above group, ask them to sign up for your Facebook page or follow your Tweets. See how many do so.
3. If your database is under 500, is building the list on social media the way to go? Similar to #1 above, you must know who they are and if they are online.
4. Once you’re POSITIVE social media is right for you: start a Facebook and Twitter account. Stay focused on your profession, not what an idiot your Congressman is, or how Dale Jr keeps getting the shaft this year. Let people know you by your profession, and put SOME personal things in there, but never damaging or unnecessary polarizing.
5. If it gets active, get a Tweetdeck. Far easier than the Twitter tool. In a shocking display of efficiency, Tweetdeck helps organize your posts, replies, and followers.
6. Provide quality content. Just like the golf course scenario, it helps to ‘give’ advice before expecting someone to pay you for it. You can discuss technologies, ‘green-ness’, point to articles (hopefully ones you’ve written), other sites, books, more. you need to be a “Helpful authority.”
7. Get Promotional and Get Gone. This is why you do #6 instead. If it becomes the “you show”, then you can get banned, deleted, cancelled and otherwise “offed”.
8. There are some benefits to consider:
   a. Fast feedback. (Quantity and quality of your responses is a great measure of your success.)
   b. Good posts get spread virally. Clever, informative posts get shared on other networks, creating more links and exposure.
   c. Cross –promotion. You can put other sites, blogs, of yours on Twitter, Facebook, linking them back and forth. (Of course, once on your site, you can promote.)

Let us know your THOUGHTFUL thoughts, reactions, responses, or suggestions by sending an email to TwitThis@HudsonInk.com. Some selected comments may make it to our editorial or blog. Thanks!

There's Goodness In The Badness

Housing starts are up. (What? Someone in this country is being paid to build an actual house? Someone tell CNN!) Pending home sales up 2.1% from February to March. Unemployment slide slower than expected. Retail sales better than both 3rd and 4th quarter projection. Consumer confidence – perhaps the most important of the indices – plateaued in March from a 6 month freefall.

Sure, you’re used to me doing April Fool’s jokes, but this time I’m leaving that predictable hilarity to others. (“Contrarian” being my continued advice to you.) This is good news for real, though the perceptions remain “bad”.

People are paralyzed, polarized, or both by “bad” news (it also sells media, opinions, and short-term dependency.) Yet people are magnetically attracted to good news, and right now, “good news” is the attractive contrarian approach more than ever.

You can change one perception into the other, because as an entrepreneur, you’re in charge of both.

In other good news, the Hudson family returned with all the ligaments we had before our ski trip. (click to read last editorial if you missed it.) If the ski vacation business mirrors America even slightly, then more people are staying home (important to note contractors), saving more, and being more sensible. This is certainly not a bad outcome, even though skiing vendors say post-boom business is off 30%. Considering the escalated prices paid for dinners, they’re making more money off of less food. Complaints were few, because regulars told me they enjoyed their trip more due to less crowding. Take two marketing notes there.

Yet the whole buying public seems to be in a holding pattern of collective schizophrenia: “Capitalism is good; gluttony is bad.”

A fine line of perception divides them. Hard to spend your way out of a recession when – to a large degree – the inability to save enough for a “proper” down payment triggered it. (Feel free to disagree openly in your comments; I’m not running for office.) Regardless, most buyers aren’t inclined to plunk down for the unnecessary when they might need supplies during the apocalypse. “Showy overbuying” is definitely out. Makes you feel good to be a supplier of required services doesn’t it?

So, what perception isn’t selling now? Okay, cars, namely American ones. The perception is that this is due to a “quality” issue. Sure, the US Auto Industry has its woes, but quantifiable quality is not among them. To wit: since its inception in 1990, Lexus has won the world-acclaimed “JD Power Customer Satisfaction Index” (the top “Oscar” of automobiledom). Until this year. It was won by the very American Buick. The most “unreliable” car on the list? Suzuki, which last time I checked was Japanese.

However, the perception (important word for salespeople and marketers) among the public is that the average unreliable Buick is driven by a 112 year old female who needs a periscope to see above the steering wheel. Sorry if that’s NOT you, but that IS the perception. (I owned a turbocharged Buick Grand National, loved it, but every time I drove it I had the irresistible urge to shop for dentures.) Likewise, we think, “If Japanese, then reliable.”

Both are factually incorrect; perceptionally intact.

So, perceptions are running the asylum, and you and I are inmates.

What perceptions are in the market now? The general perception is that contracting is down (as an industry). Yet the #1 reason our clients miss a paid coaching call: “We’ve been too busy.” They’re having record months, amassing customers from quieted competitors because services are in high - and potentially increasing - demand.

That’s one perception you can drive a stake in. Good riddance. I’ve written so often about not becoming a silent statistic to your customer base that I’ve chosen to only give the shorthand list here –

1) Thank you cards 2) Scripted Thank you calls 3) Scripted Follow up surveys/referral generators 4) Newsletters 5) Maintenance Agreement bumps 6) Radius Mailings 7) Google and YOUR own website “Rankings” (no one is taking this seriously enough; thus a leadership role awaits you)

Then there’s the public perception (not your customers) that contractors are messy, unprofessional, and on the edge of trustability. Whatever, I don’t make the opinions. Your job is to obliterate that perception about you.

As an entrepreneur, you’re the Chief Perception Officer out there. For the last several months, we’ve urged clients to resist the dour attitude, find the good news, focus upon finding more. Become the “anti-contractor” image. He’s quiet; you’re loud. He’s amateur; you’re professional. He forgets his customers; you tattoo your logo into their frontal cortex. His ‘fleet’ looks like extras from a crash film; yours like a showroom. And on it goes.

So if the “norm” is to gripe and become a long-term repellant, then the “contrarian” becomes a relevant long-term attractant. You’re an entrepreneur, this is what you do.

In his February 24th State of the Union Address, Barack Obama publicly declared that “The future of our economy relies on the imagination of our Entrepreneurs.” Regardless of your political convictions, those 12 words are about business, and the perception of your role in it. Curl up with the complainers or gather gold with the gainers.

Benjamin Franklin – our nation’s first millionaire by the way – persevered through adversity, always seeking the “good in the bad”. He said, “Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain… and most fools do.” He followed that up with, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable, and those that move.”

Get moving.

Some Much-Kneeded Time Off

My left knee hates me. We go back a long way together, and I thought we were past that little “episode”. Apparently not.

My family is taking a ski trip for Spring Break. (The word “break” already having a dual meaning.) I had resisted such a trip, since a time when both knees loved me equally and I went to Colorado with two college friends. We were 25 and stupid, which may be redundant.

They told me it’d be fun to drive cross country, which the way we figured, was just under 7,000 miles. And they insisted it’d be fun to ski, “ESPECIALLY if I’d never done it”. The logic in this – and I use that term loosely – is that basically anything, such as sticking a hot needle in your armpit would be fun, ESPECIALLY if you’ve never done it. I oddly never questioned it, nor readied my body for the trip.

I was in “reasonable” shape and took care of myself. As a bachelor, this means Cheet-O’s are one of the major food groups, along with coffee and Slim Jims. I was limber enough to touch my toes, provided my toes were 18 inches long, so I had that going for me. And I could watch someone on TV work out for hours without even breaking a sweat. With this rigorous training, we headed to Colorado.

After a month of solid driving, we arrived. The first day we went to “Hit the slopes” (ski lingo for “accelerate down a mountain with no provision for brakes”) but wisely decided to get our skis first.

The guy who rented me skis and poles (also known as the “Weed Technician”) must’ve instinctively assessed my powerful a) experience level b) physical prowess and c) fear of ramming a pine tree, because he skipped all those dumb “aptitude” questions and merely asked, “MasterCard or Visa?”

Soon after, all three of us, dressed and looking like overserved Michelin Men waddled off, chafing madly toward the ski lift. If you’ve never skied, the ski lift is basically a proctologist on a conveyer belt.

Everybody else knew how to “ride” it gracefully to the top of – I think it was Mount Vesuvius – while sipping bubbly and chatting about moguls. We however, all peered nervously over our shoulders braced for a highly personal trip up Witch Mountain. Soon as realize your skis dangling far above the earths’ atmosphere, you must “dismount”.

Again, the bubbly-sippers eased out, shooshing gaily away. There’s not really an “Exit” sign per se. You’re suddenly aware, “Hey, this stupid thing is turning around, and I’ll be the only doofus in all of Mountain Time Zone riding it BACK downhill if I don’t jump out NNNNOOWWWW!” and you do. Two of us busted it, while the third looked like the Tin Man in a windstorm.

So, we stood atop Mount McKinley, peering down. One by one, we descended. Except I called a cab. Not really, but just before I went, I had an “epiphany” (where you realize how stupid you were a moment ago): Once high atop the mountain air, I understood why people would trudge 7 or 8 miles vertically up a frozen mountain, then strap long, thin strips of metal coated in Z-Max to their feet and let gravity, ice and a rather large rock do whatever it wanted to you for several terrifying, defenseless minutes. Makes perfect sense. So I did it…more than once, sort of.

My second trip down Mount Saint Helens was even more exhilarating. I exited the proctologist with ease, and not wanting to look like a “newcomer” (since I HAD been down once) I turned left instead of right. Soon I saw a different sign. “Golly, a Black Diamond Slope. That must be the pet name of this fun hill” I thought, much in same way a slaughter-house pig says, “Hey, let’s follow Larry into that fun barn!”

For those not in the know, a “Black Diamond” is technically not a slope since it has “0” angle. It’s a gigantic, ice-encrusted fireman’s pole that’s several miles tall. The easiest – and perhaps only - way down it is by helicopter. My “weed technician” failed to mention this option.

I did however see others heading down it, in an ever-speedier parade of death. I joined them, since my brake pads must’ve fallen off. As I picked up speed, I noticed various 12- year-olds, smiling and shooshing their overly-agile selves, not even realizing the horrific fate ahead. Once I hit the speed of sound, my only option was to jump the children or forever impale them in sort a ‘kid kabob.’ This would’ve been very difficult to explain to horrified parents at the bottom of Mount Rainier.

Yet, I needed ballast, and I needed it now.

So in an act of heroics, I took an intentional fall at roughly 700 mph. This caused whatever held my left knee together to go shooting over the next mountain and land in Montana. I never looked for it, but I’ll bet it caused a stir in some quaint shopping village. Once I came to a halt, I felt lucky I didn’t burst into flames re-entering the atmosphere. Plus, though most of my clothes and ski garb were scattered over the mountain, my left ski was still firmly in place! You sure don’t want that baby coming off when you’re doing a nuclear pirouette!

To be honest, it hurt. And I’ll never ever forget it. Pain does that.

You’ve got two ligaments per knee (or should) called the interior and anterior “cruciate” ligaments. From this, we get the word “excruciating”, so they were well-named. I’ve had a great recovery, actually enjoying stretching exercises ever since.

Yet as soon as we began “thinking” about going skiing, my left knee started tugging at forever-shortened cruciates, saying “Remember Mount Everest?” That’s all I needed to hear. Plus, something’s wrong if you keep up a conversation with your knee.

Plus, it reminded me that the world’s best marketing message is “Absence of pain.” Pain, and the avoidance thereof, has a long memory.

We’re going to Park City, Utah. My athletic kids and my dear healthy wife will have a great time skiing. I will be an easy sale of anything my knee wants. I plan to enjoy a few hours of marketing study on my iPod, a book, a few car magazines and may even take a day trip to a quaint Montana village, just to um, look around.

Have fun in your business.

http://www.hudsonink.com/

Numbers, Members, Reminders, Blinders

This was not a shy group. Nor a depressed one, unlike the relatively pervasive mood out there. Their questions were top-drawer stuff, seeking the “next thing” in this now-changed economy. Plus, I’m always appreciative when people don’t throw blunt objects at the seminar leader. In a dark room, there’s so little time to respond.

Having just returned from the ACCA National Conference, I’m glad to report they had record attendance. I don’t mean “if you count everyone twice” or any other statistical hogwash, I mean “biggest ever”. This, the result of a few things, nearly all marketing based:

1. Relentless retention efforts. Members of the “old” way were contacted infrequently, and then generally about something thrilling like IRS codes. Current members get weekly, snappy communiqués, membership benefits are regularly restated (take note if you have an Agreement program) member-discounts are liberally announced. Likewise the “disconnect” fee should you rescind membership is painfully stated, as it should be.

2. “New and Improved” is powerful for a reason. The “old” events were primarily aimed at the deceased (and I’m being kind) with hushed changes – if any – as not to cause any stir. The “new” event formats are jiggered, adjusted, yanked, stretched to the point of mild confusion. The question for you and your company “What’s new?” had better have an answer.

3. Relevance. Upgrades and updates are a regular subject in their newsletter, magazine, ezine, and platform announcements. (Note how many ways they communicate with members.) Mainly, ACCA “gets their point across” to members that they’re not just “behind” members, but “ahead” of them too. This helps breed a dependent community (vital for membership, as it is for “customer-ship”) that appreciates the service. You want to become irrelevant? Quit telling your customers what you do for them, what you’ve learned, how you’ve changed.

4. Education. ACCA offers their annual Conference but now has ComfortU (acclaimed topical monthly webinars.) Two smart moves here. Instead of just telling members they should “get smarter” ACCA actually offers, organizes, schedules and wisely charges for it. Likewise, it gives them another way to communicate directly, reinforce value, enhance membership experience. Even if you NEVER took advantage, you couldn’t blame them for educational deficiency. With your customers, this is done by any form of regular communication (newsletter) where you marvel at how different your company is from just 5 years ago: diagnostic gizmos, GPS, billing, training, hiring standards, etc. If you just invest in this stuff and don’t tell your customers, how in the world are they to value it over Lonny the Half-Wit and his #2 pencil? Too many contractors invest in “customer enhancements” and fail to tell the customer.

All these things have been done front and center, for all to witness over the past 5 years, and the transformation has been remarkable. Attendance and membership continues to climb while loyalty (retention) to the mission deepens, as well it should. Of course, I focus primarily on the marketing initiative behind the incredible content, value, and leadership, but that’s my job. It is applicable to all contractors, all those who’s “service” can occasionally be hidden behind what a customer might deem a dull exterior. In a crowded market, trying to cut through the clutter is tough enough. Now, in a fairly dismal mental state, getting noticed is even tougher. Attempting to do this through frightened silence, impossible.

Please note, that a common theme in their message has been “regular reminders of value”. You’d be wise to emulate. Yet be prepared for the negative “advice” you’ll get...

When other membership groups decided to “save money” and go with cheap, very deletable, very forgettable email only, ACCA improved their magazine. When others talked of the dismal 2008 event attendance and how this year would be worse, ACCA put on the blinders (if not the earmuffs too) and marketed earlier, harder, smarter, actually adding targeted events to the schedule. (Four marketing lessons in this paragraph. Click here if you caught them all – a prize awaits.)

In many ways, ACCA had a harder challenge with contractor members than you have with your customers. (“Optional vs. Required” comes to mind.) Make your presence known to customers; rattle your competitor’s cages; push while others pull back. It’s a changed market out there. The thinking that forced many contractors to the brink of insolvency is not the same thinking that’ll keep you from it.

How to Make A Recession

You’d think there was no business shortage. You’d think it was business-as-usual. Maybe we all dreamt up this “recession” thing, because these people can’t be having one.

3 Examples of the Apparently Fake Recession

#1: I needed tires for a weird old car. One tire was badly worn, the other three “passable” but too old to try and match. I told my wife it was for safety reasons. (This is how car guys justify most purchases, including paint jobs.) I called a tire place I’d dealt with a few times before.

When I called, I asked tire dude if he was looking at my account. “I don’t need that now” he says, “I’m out in the shop; can you call me back in an hour or so?” This is a pet peeve of mine, shared among the customer public: We called YOU already. So now we’re supposed to set a reminder to call and ‘guess’ when you might be available? The other problem was I felt like an unknown; no history nor regard for any prior relationship (marketing lesson). I never called back.

Called the competition, was treated fairly, paid slightly more (most customers value service and reliability above price anyway) and have my tires. I guess the other company, where I’d bought 16 tires previously figures I’ll “remember” to call them one day. More likely, I’ll remember not to.

#2: Our church needed banners to display in the very Gothic sanctuary and being a formal “traditional” church, the ones from Kinko’s wouldn’t do. (Picky picky.) They wanted tapestries and it was my job to find them. Fortunately, with digital printing technology, this can be done without employing Turkish women from the 11th Century. If you’ll do a Google Search – and gosh why wouldn’t you (marketing lesson) – you’ll see roughly half of America is in the church banner business.

In this apparently competitive field, I chose 4 companies, and completed the dreaded “contact field info” for my query (marketing lesson in the word “dreaded”). I filled out all the little boxes and emailed them saying basically that “We want to purchase 4-8 tapestries, with custom designs, and were excited to speak with them about this project.” I don’t know about you, but some might call that a “buying signal.”

I guess the tapestry business is booming. I guess those looms are humming ‘round the clock, because exactly ONE company called me back. I couldn’t even compare services. I won’t say she did a great sales job, but she did comply with Woody Allen’s mantra: “Half of life is just showing up.” She showed up, got the business.

I guess the others are weaving their own little tangled webs about why business is off.

#3: We painted our house 3 summers ago. Had some mildew attacking the sun room windows. (This is Alabama; if you don’t keep moving, you’ll mildew. We cleverly use Tilex as a Body Spritz.) I called the original painter, who collected $21,000 for the work 3 years ago, that I’ve not heard from since but referred one job to, nearly immediately afterward. (Actually 2 lessons in that sentence.)

I wonder if he’d stayed in touch, acknowledged the referral, or had a referral ‘system’ if he’d have gotten the apartment building job down the street, my small warehouse downtown, or gotten introduced to the ever-popular interior designer next door? Just a thought. Anyway...

He gave me some home-made chemistry lesson on how/why the mildew attacked my fairly new paint (though it didn’t happen with my old paint, go figure) but said he could pressure wash, etcetera, and use some new/different/better paint to correct. All on my tab. I wasn’t enthused, but agreed. (Painters: have you ever considered a maintenance agreement? I’d have one if it existed.)

He did that job, and just for being here, (proximity and recall, very important in future sales) my wife ‘remembered’ two other small jobs inside, that he also did for a fee.

I made the mistake of asking him how business was. Told me that times were hard; no one is doing anything, he has laid off 4 painters, may be selling his other truck and calling it quits if things don’t pick up this spring. (My knee-jerk reaction: Does the calendar tell you what to do? Farmers rely on seasons too, but THEY PLANT SEEDS to get results.)

While he was inside, he never noticed that our stairwell looks like it’s been sandblasted (I have two teenagers) and that our baseboards may have Chicken Pox (teething puppy). Never asked us if we were even considering getting this done, or any new work to our house, even though the aforementioned Interior Designer has been nearly camped out here helping us with a Kitchen remodel. (Lived here 12 years, it’s about time.) He was blind to the opportunity less than 6 feet from where he was standing.

I mentioned, “What if you mailed all your former customers in this area, told them about your ‘House Wash and Touch Up’ Service that could make their house look like it had been repainted, but for a fraction? Told me no one would do it, even though I just had.

I mentioned, “What if you agreed to give a free ‘Painting Check Up’ – inside and out – to gain audience with customers and find other jobs they’d neglected?” He said, “Too much trouble for the work, probably no one would do it.” We just did that too, and he was holding a check as evidence. Sigh.

With that, I knew he’d been beaten. Had nothing to do with his skill or availability, but everything to do with a self-created limitation. His attitude pummeled his aptitude, limiting his altitude in the process.

Sure, there may be ‘victims’ of the recession, yet some hoping not be left out, become partners as well. Here’s to the victors.

Marketing Research You Can Copy Now!

“Talk to your doctor about Cialis,” said the overly friendly voice at the end of the Super Bowl commercial. Just then, there were some less friendly warnings that I think said, “Stop taking Cialis if you experience cramping, or if your liver starts kicking your duodenum, or if an image of the King of Clubs appears on your forehead.”

All prescription commercials seem to follow the same, apparently lucrative even if warning- filled format. Yet, they likely figure, “Since 80% of our prospects will be ‘turned off’ by the little, tiny, insignificantly debilitating side effects, let’s mark up our price to 812 times what it costs us to make it.” Then all the 3-eyed board members laugh manically and go to lunch at the nuclear power plant.

Yet – legally required warnings aside – the pharmaceuticals have several zillion dollars (each, rounded up) to spend on research including demographics/psychographics and the most likely hour we’ll arise in the middle of the night to deal with that little “going and going” problem.

You’re not seeing ED drug ads during the Tyra Banks show but you are seeing Anti-depressants during the Nightly News. You are seeing ED drugs more before Valentine’s Day, but less allergy medicines after allergy season wanes. Not exactly coincidental, and the results are staggeringly profitable.

You think predicting a plumbing problem is difficult? You think aiming your furnace message to the right crowd is tough? Try combing through 2 billion people who all claim individuality, and would like to keep their medical problems to themselves.

Four marketing lessons emerge from these gargantuan models, worthy of emulation. If, in a downward-spiraling economy, you’d prefer to copy than to re-invent with your own wallet, I offer.…

$660,000,000 of Marketing Research You Can Copy Now (This sample will ONLY be open to the public for 24 hours; thereafter only for Coaching Members.)

1. Direction or Call-to-Action – Drug companies always give specific “call to”, “ask” “get a free DVD” advice. Tell your prospect what you want them to do. Especially in a downward economy, leaving them to “guess” is a bad idea, a waste of your ad space, time, and money. This has been my advice for 8 years in a row; significantly more important now. No guessing allowed.

2. Damaging Admission – Drug companies are law-bound to mention anything that occurs in a certain percentage of cases, laughably-frightening or not. Yet in marketing – and here’s the lesson - there is an “automatic filter” that we all employ when an offer sounds too good, too perfect, the be-all, end-all of our misery. Thus, a “damaging admission” is a honesty-inducer, effectively opening the filter toward credibility. Such as - -

“We have the most popular colors and the biggest selection in town!” is ‘typical’ ad schlock, filter set to “high”. Then read, “We have virtually all colors, but navy blue sells out the fastest.” This one is far more specific, interesting, urgent, and allows the customer to ‘accept’ other statements more readily. The trick is to make your “admission” positive.

What is worthy of admitting? What % of calls are handled same day; how often are you late; what’s your customer retention rate; what’s the warranty claim rate. Any of those ‘exacting’ numbers are more believable, turning, “We have the #1 Best Service Department in Town!!!!” (Unqualified, highest “filter” rating, common) into “Voted #1 in with a 96.6% Excellent Rating!” (Specific, limited, credible.)

3. Targeting – This is actually the most important one, but put here on purpose. The “who” you want to attract must match the audience for the media. This is why you won’t see Viagra ads on the Tyra Banks show, but you DO see anti-depressants during the Nightly News. Not coincidence. What is your targeted audience watching, reading, listening to?

The best target – by far – is your current customer base. Immediately after is a shocker: former customers. Then referrals, then those “like” your customers, then those in proximity to customers. This is the most efficient method of contact, with the highest “probability” of sale, now more important than ever. Leaving your customer base “to chance” financially suicidal. Your competitors will gladly invite them to dinner, serving you as the main course.

4. Benefits over price – In a weakened economy, “cutting prices” up front is common, but often interpreted as “desperate, quivering, weak” negating any real gain. They don’t know how much a furnace tune up should cost; discounting up-front is pointless.

Make sure your price cuts are positioned powerfully after benefits are spelled out. The drug ads speak initially of “improvement, health, increased energy, no soreness” and other benefits, then offer a free 1 month Trial, making it irresistible.

Offering a free energy survey, plumbing ‘freeze free’ inspection, 4 outlets for the price of 3 had better come after value points made. Also, better to “bundle” services as a discount once in the home, such as, “I’ve invoiced you for the water heater today, but since you’ve already paid for the trip charge, we’re reaching out to customers who’d rather not pay it again on a small repair. So, with your permission I’d be glad to take care of any other smaller repairs while I’m here, or could I ask you a few questions about your plumbing and heating system?”

See, this way, you’re adding to the transaction size, getting closer to an agreement sale, locking in the customer, and filling up a tech’s time with billable hours, gaining valuable “future sales” information simultaneously. Not bad for 2 sentences.

LIMITED TIME CASE STUDY ACCESS: Problems on the website, and several other places too

Okay, now the LIMITED TIME ACCESS to a free rewrite, using most if not all the above. This was for a P&H company’s website, which was about stupid looking anyway. No one could find it either. (Not my specialty, so I sent them to www.markethardware.com)

The home page copy was rotten. But it was taken right out of their oversized, junked up Yellow Page ad. (A failure from the start, but they told me, “But we already had it!” as if that was a bonus. Like saying, “No need for Salmonella, I already have syphilis!”)

Then, if you DID call them, their CSR had NO CLUE how to “convert” a call into a sale, upsale, or an appointment for that matter. Very pleasant, but largely ineffective. (This wasn’t my specialty either, but we spent a year on this subject and found it is a profit sinkhole of epic proportions. Get this fixed. Call or email here for options.)

I was hired to do the copy rewrite, several pages, lots of good money invested. Here’s the OPENING paragraph only, rewritten using the lessons you’ve just read:

‘Typical’ Company A Opener: “Our Plumbing and Heating company is always available, 24/7, to serve the needs of our many customers. We’re #1 in the service area in quality and dependability. We know plumbing and heating. We have a great selection and best prices too! So, for ALL Your plumbing or heating needs, call on us today! XXX-XXXX.

Okay, even though I’m about to throw up after writing that schlog, which is painfully reminiscent of virtually every amateur with a braggy but low performing ad, here’s the rewrite...

‘Atypical’ Company B Opener: Your plumbing and heating system doesn’t always work perfectly. (Nothing in my house does!) But your call is welcome here – 24 hours a day – and routed to one of 5 stocked trucks, with a skilled tech that can solve your problem in ONE visit, 94% of the time! (We’re working on the other 6%!) Company B doesn’t waste your time hunting parts or guessing. Gives us a call at XXX-XXXX.

Be specific. Target your message. Give “admissions” to raise credibility. “Position” yourself powerfully, not negatively. And finally,

“Ask your marketing doctor about advertising. Should you experience pain or lack of customers in this recession, stop taking the advice of your whiny competitors and contact someone who’s actually solved the problem in real life, not just seen it on TV.”

NEXT UP ON THE CALENDAR:

Adams Hudson heads to the ACCA Conference and Expo in Fort Worth, February 23-26. Will they change the locks while he’s gone? Will anyone in his seminar learn the methods that put nearly 400 people in a Home Show booth or increased a post card’s results by 17 times?

MegaMarketer Coaching Call – next Wednesday, February 11 at 1:00 Central
TOPIC: Continuity Income and Maintenance Agreements.

Contractors Are Fired Up!

At some point, it’s just ridiculous. And I love it.

Tuesday, we had a Teleseminar called “Your 90 Day Contractor Marketing Map”. This was under-promoted (intentionally) to a tightly controlled list.

For reasons I’ll let you figure out, we got 41 pages of questions. I couldn’t answer 41 pages of questions if you gave me a two week head start. (I did answer about 15).

But that’s not what I want to tell you now, this is -—

Contractors are fired up. They – I mean you – are not taking this economy sitting down. Oh sure, you got some lazy dogs with less excitement than McKain’s wardrobe designer, but those people are in every industry. I’m talking about the scads of contractors who are pro-active, revved up, and fully accepting that we all make our own economies.

Now, if you work for someone else, this doesn’t apply. But if you’re at the helm, in a commodity, “must have” service then you own your future. You can “re invent” the commodity to become more valuable, more desirable, with better benefits than any “normal” commodity by some creative marketing and packaging.

And that fires me up. But what happened after the Teleseminar choked me up a little, yet excited me far more….

When I read the 41 pages of questions, I saw it written between the lines. I caught the enthusiasm to “Change what you can and not complain about what you can’t”. Good enough for me. Things are changing, they will not go back to the old way. The economy, customers, marketing efficiency, contractor/client relationships, but more than anything, your attitude – even amid dismal headlines – is inspiring.

We pay each other, you and I. I get paid in dollars to straighten out a marketing mess, you get paid in dollars from the hopeful result. Yet when it comes back here in the form of appreciation, or excitement, or the motivation to get to the next elusive level, I feel like we were paid with something far more valuable than currency.

What I “suspected” was in the now-famous 41 pages of questions, came back in the form of your response to our effort to answer, solve, simplify. If you were any part of the following, I thank you from the bottom of my little capitalist heart. If you weren’t, doesn’t matter. You’ve read this far and that’s enough for me.

It’s going to be a great year. Yes it is.


This is what contractors are saying about our teleseminars:

“You Marketers seem to make sales sound so easy! Very encouraging. You have a strategy for everything; looking forward to learning them!”

Larry Baxter
Medicine Hat Refrigeration & Air

“The teleseminar was the most information packed hour I have ever been a part of.”

Skip Farinhas
GMC Air Conditioning Services

“Great information on all aspects of running a contracting company. I couldn’t take notes fast enough!”

Debbie DeGrace
Comfort Air Distributing

“Fantastic info – I can put these ideas to work right now!”

Dana Mack
Atlas Butler Heating & Cooling

“Adams is crazy. Excellent information – why give it away?”

Brian McDonald
Outer Banks Heating & Cooling

“Missing these teleseminars would be detrimental to my business!”

Juan Cardona
JC Heating & Cooling