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Aggressive Small Business Marketing & Advertising
Showing archives from 10/2006.
Alexander Ovechkin, exceptional experiences and marketing your business
Posted by Michael Cage on Friday, October 27, 2006Hockey is one of the most exciting sports to watch live. If you've never been to a game ... go ... and thank me later.
From 2001 to 2004, Michele and I regularly went to the MCI Center to watch the Washington Capitals. They were underperformers, but the Caps have one hell of an owner in Ted "Teddy E-mail" Leonsis ... and we always had a great time.
Then the league went on strike and there was no NHL hockey for the 2004-2005 season.
During the strike, we found other things to fill out our time. We became used to not seeing live hockey games.
Not seeing hockey live was our "new normal."
And even though hockey came back in 2005, we haven't been to a Caps game since.
When the strike ended, neither Michele or I thought about going to see a live game again. It wasn't on the radar the way it once was.
This was true even though the Caps had one of the most exciting players in the league, Alexander Ovechkin. He is not a good player, he is a great one. A goal scorer with amazing quickness who will knock the stuffing out of people much bigger than him.
Anyway, I was aware of the great season he was having. I checked the stats on ESPN every day, I watched the highlights and I read Ted's blog. But the days of catching every game live or on TV, start to finish, were gone.
Which brings me to yesterday, when Ted wrote:
Sometimes I marvel at what the rest of the world thinks about Alexander Ovechkin. I only hope our fans and the city of DC understand how fortunate we are to have a young superstar right here in DC--blossoming before our own eyes--night in and night out.
And it hit me that I'm missing a chance to watch a great player grow into a legend.
That's an experience I don't want to miss.
And, now, Michele and I are going to see the next Caps game we can.
If you are wondering what this has to do with marketing your business, I'll tell you.
Businesses lose more customers because of apathy than anything else.
You don't see a regular for a few months, and instead of wondering what happened ... they just fade away. A consistent client for several years suddenly stops calling, and, instead of picking up the phone and making sure things are ok, a week passes ... then a month ... and then they are forgotten. Or something out of your control, like a strike, happens ... that turns once loyal fans into fans with a "new normal" about how to behave towards to the team.
If you rely on doing more of what you have always done to get those people back, you will not get them back.
If you make incremental improvements in your business, you will not get them back.
But when you stage an exceptional experience that intrudes on their "new normal" ... they can't stay away.
Alexander Ovechkin is at the heart of an exceptional experience being offered in my hometown. Ted Leonsis has been intruding on my "new normal" for months by writing about Ovechkin, offering highlight videos and talking about the team. And, finally, that post last night was the straw that brought what I' missing to my attention.
And something tells me the next game we see live won't be the last.
My questions for you?
- Are you consistently crafting new experiences to reengage customers and clients who have become bored with you?
- For past customers and clients who have forgotten you exist?
- And are you consistently bringing those experiences to the attention of your market?
PayPerPost and the “corruption” of the blogosphere
Posted by Michael Cage on Friday, October 20, 2006This blog, first and foremost, is about strategies that can help fast-growth, entrepreneurial businesses grow. Because of that, I try to stay out of blogging debates that aren't directly relevant. I'm bending that rule a wee bit today...
I'm a huge Calacanis fan, AND I think he is "months and months behind" on the corruption of the blogosphere:
Note: I've been talking to the PayPerPost folks about how to make their service NOT destroy trust in the blogosphere. Right now my position is that any post that is paid for must say so right up top. Not on the side of your blog with some icon that no one will ever see or understand. Not at the bottom of the post where someone might miss it. Not on some blog post you did seven months ago. Every post has to be clearly marked as paid for. Anything short of that falls into the deception bucket.
I don't buy the disclosure bit ... here's why:
The best restaurant and travel critics eat and travel incognito because they know the experience they receive if recognized is not the same experience the diners they are reviewing for will receive. Andrew Harper, for example, has built a rock-solid reputation in luxury travel by never accepting a comp of any kind from a place he reviews.
From his site:
Who is Andrew Harper? It's a mystery - for a reason. Remaining a mystery lets Andrew Harper critique the world's finest resorts, hotels and hideaways objectively. * He travels incognito. * The resorts don't know him. * He pays his own way. * His respected monthly Hideaway Report accepts no advertising.
When Hugh sent bottles of Stormhoek wine around to bloggers, the bloggers wrote about the wine. They weren't required to, to be sure. Nor did Hugh have editorial control over what was written. But everything we know about social psychology tells us that when we receive a gift from an influential "somebody" there is tremendous pressure to reciprocate in some form. It's a classic "loophole" to pretend that a gift or review copy is anything but compensation in exchange for consideration that you hope leads to coverage.
Big media "Ben Metcalfe" made a similar point...
Plus there is certain expectation (be it implied or just passive) for someone to give it a favourable review having received a complimentary bottle. Of course, that’s nothing different from wine tasting reviews in newspapers or magazines — or any other reviews for that matter. I just hoped that kind of stuff wouldn’t find its way onto the blogosphere.
Which Hugh responded to, correctly, by pointing out...
Give me a break. It never occurs to Ben, the bloggers could have shredded the wine to pieces just as easily. He doesn't mention that.
True enough, they could have. But, going back to our friend, the social psychologists, the likelihood that they will do so is not "50/50." In fact, it's not even a fair fight.
The bottom line is that, regardless of the tone of the post made, the provocation for making it was receiving a gift bottle of wine.
That is compensation.
So...
If someone wrote about Stormhoek without disclosing they received Stormhoek as a gift ... have they crossed an ethical boundary?
If you apply the "no deception" standard Jason proposes ... I believe it absolutely does cross the line.
(Note, I have no problem with what Hugh did. I think it is brilliant. I also think it is silly to call it anything other than what it is.)
FACT: There is bias in even the most "authentic" of bloggers.
Whether that bias is due to...
- Cash compensation
- Gifts or review copies (since starting blogging I've receive books, CDs, offers to travel, access to thousand-dollar-plus events for free, and so on ... many from "A-list authentic bloggers")
- A desire to attract the attention of an "A-lister"
- A desire to retain insider access (web 2.0 pundits, hello!)
- A desire to attact and retain an audience for advertiser compensation
- A desire to keep advertisers (again, HELLO web 2.0 pundits!!!!!!!!!)
...whatever the reason, bias is there. And, while it would be nice if everyone disclosed their bias, the ultimate solution is self-regulation through conversation and readers who enter into any reading with a "buyer beware" attitude. Hell, truth be told, most people aren't aware of half of their biases to start with!
I believe readers are NOT looking for unbiased info ... they are looking for people who they perceive have interests aligned with their own. Witness what TV channels grow ... what magazines sell ... and what blogs get read and I think my point is made.
I also believe readers are becoming increasingly intelligent about how they sort and filter the information they receive ... due in no small part to the wide variety of opinions available on blogs and other social media.
To bring things back to PayPerPost...
What is the difference between Hugh offering sample bottles of wine to bloggers to get them writing about the wine and someone offering cash to bloggers to get them writing about a product or service?
The only significant difference is that, using the PayPerPost system the client can approve or deny a post.
So, let me take it one step further...
What if someone using PayPerPost gave up the ability to approve or deny a post and let the blogger write whatever their honest opinion is?
Now where is the difference?
I love blogs, blogging and the blogosphere. But the idea of the blogosphere being "pure" is a joke. Even the most "authentic" of bloggers have their own biases and preferences ... and there is nothing wrong with that. Part of the power of conversation is the ability to openly discuss and debate those preferences in an open forum.
In the end, it's not that I find the idea of forcing disclosure to be "bad."
I do believe it is futile, and is being applied with a healthy double-standard (see 2nd PS).
P.S. FWIW, I have never "hired" PayPerPost, nor do I intend to. I'll never "sell" my posts. Because, in the end, I believe building a business which uses blogs as a tool to interact with its market is far superior to building a business that is a blog (the advertising model).
P.P.S. The classic defense of advertising supported blogs is that they make it clear the advertisers are advertisers and that there is no implied endorsement. This, of course, is horse-puckey. The fact that is sits on your site is an implied endorsement. Period. You know what happened when newspapers started to require "advertorials" (ads that look like newspaper columns) put "this is a paid advertisement" at the top? NOTHING. It gave the media "ethical cover" and didn't effect response rates in the least. Same thing with television infomercials. If you accept the advertising, there is implied endorsement. Period.
There are 18 comments, add your own!Customer service at Starbucks
Posted by Michael Cage on Wednesday, October 11, 2006Over a year ago I posted about an experience at one of my local Starbucks. I had my days mixed up and pulled up an hour before they opened with a serious caffeine fix. You can read all about it here, but I'll give you the nutshell version:
As I was leaving a barista who was getting the store ready to open came out to get me, asked me if I wanted a drink, invited me in and took care of me. He didn't have to do it, but he did, and I think it is an amazing testament to the hiring practices of Starbucks that they sort for people who "get" what a great customer experience is all about.
From the original post:
Managers at Starbucks put tremendous attention into hiring good "people people." People who enjoy interacting with and pleasing others. Their hiring and training process is designed ... systematically ... to produce events like the one I described. It isn't an accident. It isn't left to chance. And it's part of why they win.
Fast-forward to yesterday, and I was browsing through my local Borders and saw this book. Turns out, my story made the book.
What didn't make the book, was the following:
The barista's name is Wen, and he works at this Starbucks. If you are flying into Dulles, live or work around Herdon, Reston, Chantilly or Sterling ... pop in and tell Wen he is famous ... and appreciated. If you are from Starbucks, give the dude a raise. He and people like him make you look good.
UPDATE: Incidentally, the lesson to take from this is not to mandate that your employees do 2.3 good things per day. That'd be as silly as mandating that all the introverts in your company magically transform into extroverts. The lesson is that Starbucks (or, at the very least, the management in our region) makes it a point to hire people for whom doing things the "Starbucks" way will be easy and natural. Do that well and the company can step out of the way and let the employees be themselves.
There are 11 comments, add your own!What failing 9 out of 10 times will get you…
Posted by Michael Cage on Tuesday, October 10, 2006I try to avoid linking to stuff that everyone else will, but this is worth it.
via Seth.
There are 1 comments, add your own!Philosophical marketing and the DNA of your business
Posted by Michael Cage on Friday, October 06, 2006A software product I use has undergone massive changes over the last 6 months. So much so they skipped from version 1 to version 3.
In response to complaints about the changes on their forum, they offered the following basic response:
We did version #1 and people complained, so we completely changed the ways things work to do version #3. And we still get the same complaints!
There is a very subtle and potentially damaging message being offered here.
It says, "we are a rudderless ship, being blown about by the whims of the sea."
Some would look at this situation and say things are great ... that this is an example of a customer-driven company. To an extent, I agree.
The problem is that I have no idea what they'll be moving towards tomorrow ... next week ... next month ... or next year.
Many businesses talk about the importance of building a relationship with their customers. But a relationship is a long-term commitment, and without a core philosophy that I can buy into beyond the here and now ... I'm missing a huge part of what I need to make a decision.
Think about it this way...
Switching from PCs to Apple computers was a big jump. I had to relearn a new OS, all new apps, find new resources sites to get things done. What encouraged me to do it wasn't the pretty hardware (though it certainly caught my eye) ... it was knowing their commitment to a philosophy of "it just works" going into the future. I was buying into a year from now as much as I was buying into today. Make sense?
Contrast that with the core philosophy of the Microsoft PC ... well, do it if you can figure out what it is. 
Here is an interesting question...
Imagine that I am a "perfect customer" for you. Now imagine I am standing in front of you and ask, "What are you doing right now, behind the scenes, to make my life even better going forward? And what is driving you to do it?"
Wouldn't a good answer to that go a very long way to getting me beyond buying your product and to buying into a relationship with you?
P.S. Ever wonder why "behind-the-scenes" blogs are so effective? Why we like to see the development process, as it is happening? It feels good to know people are working, day-in and day-out, to help your life work better. Right?
There are 1 comments, add your own!