Two of the Most Important Words in Business

Thank you.

You can’t succeed in business going it alone. You need a lot of help.

Do you take the time to thank those who have made your success possible? Most of us (and I include myself) don’t do it enough.

So in that vein . . .

to my blog readers, clients, former clients, prospects, business partners, mentors, advisers, business associates, friends, and family -

my sincere thank you for your:

• time
• business
• care
• ideas
• comments
• patience
• criticisms
• praise
• advice
• testimonials
• interest
• understanding
• love
• confidence
• referrals
• critiques
• trust
• insights
• brutal honesty
• kind words
• not so kind words
• brain power
• inspiration
• sharing
• openness
• feedback

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Nichify Your Name

The arrival was highly anticipated.

Then early one beautiful fall morning, the truck arrived with what we’d been waiting for . . . a brand spanking new front loading washing machine – and a dryer to match.

(When you have an 8 month old that is a serious laundry making machine, a new energy efficient, back-saving, programmable washer and dryer with storage pedestals, is a life changer.)

But there was a problem. The pressure of the valves opening and closing in the washer caused a water hammer in our pipes. This is when the pipes shake and shudder so violently that eventually it sounds like they will break open creating a lake in the basement. Not good.

After consulting with my official plumbing problem adviser (Google), I found that there are devices called water arrestors which can be installed to reduce, if not eliminate the problem.

There were a lot of water arrestors out there, and not being an expert, I had no idea which one to choose. And that brings us to the point of this post.

After performing a few searches I came across a search result from Lowe’s that shows they carry something called a “washing machine arrester.” It was the only search result for water arrestors that mentioned washing machines, and they had it available at the local Lowe’s.

SOLD!

When I found the device at Lowe’s, I immediately noticed something that gave me pause. Nowhere on the packaging did it say “washing machine.” It was definitely the same device that came up in my search results – looked the same, had the same manufacturer and price. It just didn’t say “water machine arrestor” on the package. The packaging called it a “mini-rester.”

That’s when Lowe’s marketing smarts dawned on me. If they had called the device a “mini-rester” I’m not sure I would have bought it. By nichifying the name and calling it a “washing machine arrester” on their website, they positioned the product as THE solution for people like me who have washing machines that make their water pipes dance.

Brilliant!

So that begs the question, can you nichify the name of your product or service? How do you take the same labels that everyone else is using – consultant, web developer, battery, etc. – and nichify it so you stand out from the crowd?

Instead of a consultant, could you be THE small business social media consultant?

Instead of a web developer, could you be THE web developer for upscale local restaurants?

Instead of selling a battery, could you sell THE rechargeable battery for portable electronic devices?

Because when you use a name to nichify yourself to become “THE” something instead of “a” something, you make your prospects decision to use you (or buy from you) a lot easier.

I’ll leave you to ponder all this while I go do some more laundry.

3 Overlooked Lessons From Obama’s Online Marketing Success

There’s a huge buzz in internet marketing circles and the popular press these days about the role President-elect Barack Obama’s online efforts played in him wining the election.

And rightly so. From Pay Per Click ads to email marketing to social networking, the Obama campaign put together an internet marketing juggernaut the likes of which has never been seen in politics. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say the likes of their effort has never been seen on the internet – period.

However, the coverage in the media and blogosphere focuses on the methods – Facebook, Twitter, email marketing, Google AdWords, website design, etc. – while overlooking what made this all so effective.

Here are the three main things I think have been overlooked and what you can learn from them. . .

1. Strong Message and Content First

Tens of millions of Americans felt a strong emotional and psychological connection to Barack Obama and his message. I’ll leave it for the political commentators to cover the details of the reasons why this is so – I’m not trying to make a political statement here, I’m just stating the facts.

But it was this strong connection and how it moved people that was at the heart of the success of the campaign – both online and off. Armed with a powerful message, it was then up to the campaign’s marketing team to develop content that reflected that message and then figure out the most effective ways to deliver that content online.

LESSON: Online, content is king. You can emulate everything that Obama’s campaign did online and still fall flat on your face if you don’t provide quality content that strongly resonates with your target market.

Your job as a marketer is to find out what your market wants and desires, then develop quality content that satisfies those wants and desires.

This comes FIRST.

Figuring out how to use Facebook, Twitter, blogs, email, etc. to effectively reinforce and deliver that message comes later.

2. He Made it About You

On a number of occasions throughout the campaign, Obama made a point of saying that the campaign is not about him, it’s about you – the people of the United States. (Of course this ‘about you’ talk resonated with me!)

And Obama’s social networking strategy reinforced this message. The campaign built a social networking infrastructure that made people feel more involved and connected to the candidate. They felt like they were being listened to and what they said and did mattered.

LESSON: It’s arguably the biggest mistake marketers make – talking about themselves.

No one cares. They want to know how you, your products and your services are going to make their lives better. How you can help them do or become something they want to be.

The best way to do this is listen to people. Get them involved. Engage them. Make them feel important.

Social media sites – Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed, YouTube – are a great way to do this. Use these tools to build a community of followers (or Tribe, as Seth Godin calls it) that believes in you and your message. Lead them. And be sure to make it about them and not yourself.

3. Go Where Your Prospects Hang Out

Obama got a lot of support from younger voters. And a lot of these younger voters hang out online on places like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. If Obama’s support came from the nursing home set this strategy would have been ineffective.

LESSON: It’s easier for you to go where your prospects hang out then to get them to come to you. Do your research. Find out where they are and then get there too.

The Bottom Line

I’ve seen some articles crediting Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. with delivering the election to Obama. While there’s no denying the campaign did a masterful job in utilizing these tools to help Obama to victory, there’s more to the story.

I’ve said before that the key to online marketing is offline. And it’s precisely because the Obama online marketing team understood that, they were so successful.

As evidence, I include this excerpt from Newsweek (emphasis mine):

“I don’t care about online energy and enthusiasm just for the sake of online energy and enthusiasm,” said Chris Hughes, head of New Media’s social networking. “It’s about making money, making phone calls, embedding video or having video forwarded to friends.” There was nothing starry-eyed about Hughes, who had been the Harvard roommate and later partner of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and made his first millions before he was 24. His goal was to make old techniques – like call centers and getting polling information to voters more efficient. “When computer applications really take off, they take something people have always done and just make it easier for them to do it,” he said. “And maybe bigger.”

And that’s the big overall lesson (and bonus Lesson #4) here for online marketers. Take timeless marketing fundamentals and strategies that have worked offline for years and then find the tools available online that will help you execute them faster, easier and more effectively than has ever been possible.

Doing that may not win you the presidency, but it may just help you build your own little internet empire to rule over.

I’m a Piece of What??!!

I’ve been called a piece of a lot of things before in my life and most of the time it hasn’t been good. But in this case I’m truly honored to be included on this list with such great company!

Thanks, Scott!!

Watch This Video. Save Hours a Week.

This video picks up on our recent blog posts about Google Alerts and Google Reader and connects the two together. If you need to keep track of a lot of information online the techniques shared in this video will blow your mind and save you countless hours a week!

Who Prospered During The Great Depression?

Whether or not we’re headed toward a depression, this seems like a timely question to ask.

So I decided to research it and here’s what I found.

The companies that not only survived, but came out of the Great Depression with flying colors are the ones that kept advertising.

It’s easy to pull way back on the purse strings when times are tough. Most people do. While that may be a wise strategy for a family or individual’s budget, it’s not a wise one when it comes to your company and its marketing budget. But that’s exactly what most companies do during economic downturns.

And the fact that most companies are so quick to cut their advertising and marketing dollars creates an even bigger opportunity for those that don’t.

In good times or bad:  if people can’t find you, if they don’t know you exist, if you don’t remind them you exist, it doesn’t matter how good, affordable, convenient, etc. you are – they can’t buy from you.

Especially in tough economic climates, if you put your company in hibernation mode there’s a good chance it won’t wake up.

One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Warren Buffet:

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

For investors, that means when people are scared of the stock market and are emotionally selling off their investments while running around yelling “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” sending stock prices into a free fall – it’s exactly the right time to start pouring your money into the market.

It’s not easy. It takes guts to do. But over time, investors who do this are very well rewarded.

And so it is with advertising your business. When times are tough, it’s easy to panic and keep a tight lid on spending. But when everyone starts doing that, it presents an incredible opportunity for the businesses that take the opposite approach and maintain or increase their advertising budgets.

It’s not easy. It takes guts to do. But history shows that companies that do this are very well rewarded.

If you’re interested in digging into this topic a little more, here’s a great write up on Google Answers.