Marketing

(Name) tag, you’re it!

November 2, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Wood Name Tag from Naag Tag

I know who I am. Not only that, I rarely if ever forget my own name. The problem is, try as I may, I can’t recall everyone’s name off the top of my head. Sure, maybe after five minutes of thinking, the name may pop in my head. What can we do? Well, you can wear a name tag.

I enjoy watching David Siteman Garland’s interviews at The Rise To The Top. He talks to some amazing guests and the information you glean from these interviews is great. One such interview was with Scott Ginsberg. Years ago, Scott made a choice that would change the direction of his life forever; he decided to wear a name tag everyday for the rest of his life. He even went so far as to get a name tag tattoo. What may have started as a quirky thing to do turned into part of a business that now supports him. So, what is important about a name tag? Should I be concerned with name tags if I own a business?

A big part of owning a business is having a professional image. The image you and your employees project to customers, prospective customers, and the general public can have an effect on profits. Would you hire a plumber in a three-piece suit? Would you hire a banker in short pants, flip flops, and a Hawaiian shirt? The image you project will often dictate the clients and customers that are attracted (or not repelled) by you, your employees, and your business. So, how does a name tag fit in?

First impressions are important. If you and your employees are dressed appropriately for the clients and customers that are in your target market, you have made a good first impression. Now, assuming that you introduce yourself to your customer, you are continuing to make a good first impression. What happens if the customer is bad with names, did not understand what you said, or was just not paying attention to the introduction? Name tags allow you and your employees to become more personal with the customer or client. Some clients or customers would feel more comfortable dealing with John rather than Mr Smith. By having a name tag, you lesson the worry of the client or customer in using he wrong name. Since name tags vary widely, what style should you choose?

Name tag from WoodenNameTags.com

Your first impression should be memorable. The client or customer should remember you above the competition. Your product or service may differentiate you from the competition, but how are you, as a sales person, being remarkable and memorable? Does a small, plastic, generic name tag sound remarkable or memorable? What if you interfaced with clients with a name tag from Wooden Name Tags? What if the only thing your customer or client remembers is how unique your name tag was? Wouldn’t you want to do everything you can to be memorable?

Many businesses try to be relevant and remembered. They believe they are being memorable by offering their logo on pens and other small trinkets but how often do those trinkets get thrown away because they are low quality or not relevant to the customer or client? A well designed, unique, creative name tag is memorable, cost effective (able to use it over and over), and is yet another way to make you and your business remarkable. Remarkable is what gets remembered. Remarkable is what differentiates the common from the extraordinary. Being remarkable drives business, drives profits, and drives growth.

How are you being remarkable in your life and business?

What can you do to your personal or professional image to be remarkable?

How can a simple name tag make you remarkable?

Who is your ideal customer?

September 24, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Am I your ideal customer?

Photo: Naypong/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I try to be as frugal as possible. I do my best to eat simpler, healthier foods. One of the foods I have chosen to base most of my meals around is legumes. My favorites are black beans and lentils. To save money and eliminate any extra sodium or additives, I purchase dried beans and cook them in a pressure cooker. I normally shop at Wal-mart, but today, my quest for beans took me to Fresh Market in Mobile, AL.

While I was there, I was greeted by more than four workers. I was told, by the cashier, that she was happy to see me today. I was asked by the workers in the meat department twice if they could help me (the first time I was just looking). Besides making me feel valued as a customer, it made me wonder, who is their ideal customer? (this is not a random thought; I am going through an online class at Free Agent Academy with Jimi Gibson)

I have read that Wal-mart’s ideal customer is a single mom, working full time in a moderate paying job, with two children. She wants to get in the store, find what she needs, and get home as fast as possible. Obviously, all Wal-mart’s customers don’t fit that profile, but the marketing and branding of a company is dictated by their ideal customer, as defined by the company. So, if that is the case, who is Fresh Market’s ideal customer? Am I their ideal customer? I may not be, but I do feel valued as a customer and look forward to shopping there again.

Who is your ideal customer (you have one, right)?

How are you using the definition of your ideal customer to improve their experience with your business?

How are you letting the customers know you are different from your competitors?

Laser Etching and Fashion Week

September 17, 2011 by Alan R Leave a Comment

Fashion week is the ultimate springboard for aspiring designers and a showcase for established brands. They are held in cities all over the world to let the fashion industry know what is “in” or “out” for the coming season. Invitations are sent out to buyers and celebrities from a wide variety of companies, all vying for attention. With a deluge of invitations, it is often the most unique that gets remembered. This year, according to the Wall Street Journal, that prize goes to Frye.

In an effort to stand out, Frye had their invitations laser etched. The invitations were made from 3/8 inch thick maple-wood blocks in Pennsylvania and enclosed in a cotton sack with a hand stitched label. According to an article from the Wall Street Journal, Jamie Laycock, the creative director of Frye, said “we really wanted something that would catch people’s attention and represent the company’s core equities of being handcrafted.”

These invitations were an important part of the marketing plan that Frye put in place to build buzz around the opening of their new store. The attention to detail, from the custom laser etching, to the cotton sack and hand stitched label, shows a growing trend in companies to design unique products and marketing material. Companies are realizing that items which are not unique and new are failing to gain consumer attention.

In business, gaining consumer attention is a major focus in many areas, including sales. It is often said that it takes seven exposures to a product or service before a consumer makes a purchase. Most customers are deluged with products and information that often look the same so when they are presented with something new and unique, they take notice. If the item or information is interesting enough to keep their attention, that attention will often lead to a sale.

How can laser etching help your business? Do you need a custom designed laser etched postcard to send to your VIP customers? Do you need unique store fixtures and signs to show customers that your business is relevant and worthy of attention? How would your potential customers react if your business card was embossed (with a custom laser engraved embossing die), had laser cut areas or custom cut borders, or a stamp from a custom made laser etched ink stamp? What if your business card around if it was unique, different, and attention grabbing? Would that business card help keep your business in a top-of-mind position to a customer?

Remember, it often takes seven exposures to a product or service before a consumer makes a purchase. If your company pops into the customers mind when they need something, you are one step closer to making a sale. So, how can laser etching help your business?

Practical Small Business Technology Marketing – Part I – Barcodes

May 2, 2011 by Alan R 1 Comment

Technology can have a huge impact on the marketing efforts of small businesses. Most of the technology is low cost or free but requires time and a little knowledge to take advantage of. This series of posts will focus on practical examples to apply technology to small business marketing. In this first post, I will detail some practical ways to implement barcodes into small business marketing, with a focus being on QR barcodes.

QR linking to this post

Smartphones are popular. Those “magic phones” can do a variety of tasks and most people that have them are rarely out of arm’s reach of the devices. Most modern smartphones are capable of scanning barcodes through embedded or third-party applications (one such application that I have used is RedLaser). Through these applications, you can check prices of products online and at local stores as well as get more information on the products themselves. But not all barcodes are equal; there are many variations to the common (or not so common) barcodes.

The standard barcode that most of us are familiar with is considered a one-dimensional (1D) barcode. They are printed on practically all products you buy, encoding a limited amount of specific information that businesses use to identify the product. By utilizing algorithms and encoding methods, more information can be added to the barcode within the same physical space, increasing the density of the information available. With this extra information, smartphone makers and application designers are able to trigger distinct events, such as links to websites, contact information, and text messages among others. There are many different ways to encode the data, but one of the most popular is the QR, or Quick Response barcode. [Read more…]