Who owns what? Don't get taken by your suppliers

Not all graphic designers and website programmers are created equal. And in this case, it isn't a talent thing although in that category it is beyond true that not all are equal. In this instance, the inequality is based on honesty and a knowledge of intellectual property and marketing law.

In Canada, intellectual property law and marketing law are both built to protect the creative folks and their clients. It is very clearly stated that creative work continues to be owned by its creator until it has been paid for, in full, by the person who contracted the work. At that time, the work becomes the property of the client.

The exception here is when there is a signed contract that stipulates that the work remains in the ownership of the creator. Notice I said 'a signed contract', not a verbal agreement, not a terms and conditions that appear after the project is completed.

Too many small business clients discover that, in the end, their creative designers and programmers hold them over a barrel saying that the work remains in the ownership of the creator and additional fees will be charged for the client to obtain possession of the work.

An example happened recently to my newest client. Their website had been created by a local firm and the client understood that, other than proprietary software used in the creation of the website, they owned all the work and images (having paid substantially for them). In the Terms and Conditions at the base of the website pages, it clearly stated that all work remains in the ownership of the programming company.

Well, big surprise, just because you say it, doesn't make it so. However the challenge is that my new clients would have to spend money in the legal system to rectify the situation. One hopes that a reasonable conversation with the programmer will fix the issue, but you just never know.

Credible creative folks are aware of their rights and yours as small business owners contracting them to develop work. Don't sign a contract without reading it (and that shouldn't even need to be said). Ask the question out loud about who owns what once it's paid for. If there's any weebly-wobbling about the answer, find someone else to do the work.

Oh, and the mysterious proprietary software used on my new client's website? Flash. Don't get bamboozled. Understand what's being built and how.

It's your responsibility to protect yourself and your business. Make sure you do.

A special place in hell for marketers

There's a certain line in the sand with marketing - and it keeps being crossed. I believe there should be a special place in hell for marketers and programs that haven't the wits to know when they are irritating their audience. Irritation doesn't breed happy brand experience in anyone's world.

The first special place in hell goes to programming that blatantly uses paid product placement to finance their projects. A little product placement may be amusing but, when it is in your face every five minutes, it screams of desperation.

Case in point - So You Think You Can Dance, Canada (SYTYCDC). I've watched both the American and Canadian versions and the Canadian one is a patchwork quilt of useless product sponsorships that precede nearly every commercial break (as if what we see in the commercial break isn't enough).

Now I get that marketers are having to be more creative in how they reach their audience but the product sponsorships on SYTYCDC are embarassingly uncreative. The Aquafina glasses the judges have strategically placed in front of them so they are in every shot is quiet and traditional.

The Canon sponsorship of 'how the stars get their transformation' is ridiculous. Quick snapshots of the dancers getting their make-up applied - honestly how many times do we have to see the same style of snapshot? If anything, it demonstrates a lack of creativity when using the camera. Good message? I think not. (And of course it is followed in the commercial break by a Canon ad.)

The Joe fresh stage for the audience to dance on is also leaning toward nonsense. A nasty excuse to get the brand in front of both the studio audience and the viewers - and of course followed by an ad in the commercial break.

Finally, as if this wasn't enough, and gracious there may be more that I've forgotten (which indicates how successful this is), is the Tylenol Muscle and Back Pain backstage update. Followed by chatter from the dancers as they breeze by the camera and, you guessed it, a Tylenol ad in the commercial break.

Now in my world, each and every one of these product placement sponsorships should be asking for a discount because their impact is watered down by being trapped with all the other ridiculous activities of paid sponsorship. Is SYTYCDC that desperate for money - or are the advertisers not finding value in buying regular advertising spots? In either case, perhaps a measurement of the value of the programming, or how it is presented, is in order - by both the producers and the advertisers. Perhaps they should just pay for their 15 minutes of the program and spare us the commercial break. Imagine that - network television could become commercial break free! Obviously not commercial-free, but we'd get more program in the one hour than the 40 out of 60 minutes we currently get.

Oh, and the second special place in hell goes to the marketers who think it is clever to buy space to play the same ad back-to-back. Yes, a 15-second ad becomes a 30-second one when you play it twice in a row, but for heaven's sake - do you know how irritating that is? Just a suggestion - negative impact is not a good brand experience and while it gets someone talking about you, it isn't in a pleasant way so they aren't going to support your brand. Fools.

Why you win & why you lose

Imagine a business owner who doesn't want to know why he won a customer, why he lost one or why they chose just to not buy from anyone. Far fetched? Not even close. Small business owners and their sales teams often try to spray the wall in hopes that something will stick, rather than having loads of information to guide and streamline their efforts. This is inefficient on man hours, but even worse, it eats into your profit.

Knowing why you lose a sale is arguably the most important aspect here for small business owners, however it's just one piece of the puzzle. There's no doubt knowing why you lost a sale can help you make changes, whether in staff or tactic, however knowing why you win sets up your brand story. Knowing why people simply chose not to buy at all helps you recognize barriers you can plan to climb over.

Many small business owners spend too much time staring at their own navel; they make broad stroke announcements on the best features of the product/service without ever consulting their customers. Take the time and spend the money to learn why you win over your customers. Their answers may surprise you and give you a whole new brand story to tell that will sway potential customers in your direction.

On the opposite side of the fence, some small business owners are too willing to accept creative excuses for why a sales call failed. Just because your sales team has experience in sales doesn't necessarily make them good at it; it may just make them good at coming up with creative excuses. There's no doubt it can be challenging to go back to a customer who has told you 'no' and ask why. But the benefits far outweigh the discomfort.

You can learn whether your sales team is focusing on the customer's needs or simply the sound of their own voice. Maybe you're missing the boat on what makes your product/service special in the eyes of your customer. There is so much learnin' that can be done by talking to your customers after the fact, not just during the front end of the sales cycle.

If you need to, hire a consultant that can handle the surveying and conversations with your customers after the fact. An experienced consultant can wade through the information and give you the tidbits that will make a noticeable and profitable difference to your business.

Be brave, be willing to listen and be prepared to change.

Your current customer - your best business growth asset

It doesn't matter whether it's a recession, depression or just business as usual - your current customers are the best source of business growth. Unfortunately, too many businesses neglect their current customers to go searching after new ones.

Research has shown it takes about five times the money to get a new customer as it does to retain a current one. But just retaining a current customer really isn't enough. Why not get them to do more business with you? Why not get them to bring their friends and family to your business as well? Or in the case of business-to-business enterprise, why not get their co-workers into your customer base?

In some businesses, management believes it is solely the job of the sales force to stay in touch with current customers and try to grow the business. I would suggest however the sales force could be more efficient if the marketing team is on side with the importance of incenting current customers to grow their business.

Have you contacted your customer base to let them know you're still there to support their needs? Have you sent a postcard, letter, email? Have you told them they're appreciated? Have you demonstrated your appreciation through a special offer only to your current customers?

If you haven't, you're missing an efficient, economical business growth opportunity. If you have a retail location, invite your current customers to a small wine-and-cheese party to show off your new merchandise and have some great loss leaders to show your appreciation. If you are in the service industry, perhaps a partnership that compliments your service could be a good appreciation gift (and then you can do the same for that business).

Everyone likes to be thanked. Especially when there's gifts involved. A promotional item with your logo prominently displayed would be an excellent gift. That way your business identity stays in front of them for a longer period of time. But make sure the gift matches your branding. Don't give away a cheap pen if your business represents expensive items.

Bottom-line is: you need to stay in touch with your current customers and give them a reason to do more business with you. And if you can get them to talk about you to their friends and family, even better. Don't wait for someone else to do this for you. Get on it, right now.

Message match your meaning

Okay, so maybe I watch too many crime shows, but the new Air Canada television campaign is rather spooky to me. It's supposed to be the re-launch of the brand but, to me, half of it looks like a murder mystery. The smearing of red paint with fingertips is too much like writing with blood. (maybe I should seek help?)

I seriously believe an airline wouldn't want to be associated with spilled blood, so what were they thinking? The company's in trouble financially and they spend money on a high production ad that doesn't really sell any of their services but certainly puts a negative picture in my mind.

It is however an excellent example of what can happen to your marketing message if it isn't clear, concise and tested. Branding is important, don't get me wrong, but when your budget is tight, delivering messages that are high level and don't actually have a specific call-to-action are not a good use of your money (but it certainly puts cash into ad agencies' wallets). Of course, maybe Air Canada doesn't have anything positive to say about seat sales or services (that's certainly the sound of things in the media over the last while) so this weird bloody ad is all they have in their pocket.

There aren't a lot of ads, television, print or otherwise, that people take the time to discuss to discover what their impressions actually are. So you're stuck with their first impression - good or bad.

And it isn't just the words you use. In the case of Air Canada, there's nothing wrong with the words of the commercial. In this case, it's the visuals. So make sure your images are worthy of the message - both supporting it and enhancing it. For some people something as simple as brussel sprouts can be such a negative image that your brand is scarred forever.

Depending on the audience psychographics, you could find customers turning away simply because the imagery doesn't match their temperament. And the only way to know for sure is through testing or being completely in touch with who your customer actually is deep in their heart.

The more you know about your customer, the more you will be able to reach them with engaging and motivating messages. It's worth the research to not become an airline that markets writing in blood.

When is new radio too much radio?

Enough already! Over the last month or so, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been madly granting new radio station licences. And most of them are in communities that are already extremely well-serviced by an overdose of radio choices.

Just because it sounds like a good idea to put a radio station in "wee tiny town Canada" doesn't mean it actually makes sense. The logic seems to be, according to one radio station owner in "wee tiny town", that it's important to have local news and information. Yep, okay, sure. But unless you are an independently wealthy radio station owner doing it from the goodness of your heart, you are simply watering down the audience market for your advertisers.

As it is, I hear from innumerable small business owners that radio doesn't work. I always beg to differ with this opinion because radio does work, when you do it right. And part of doing it right is choosing a radio station that matches your audience definition. If the audience is spread over five radio stations instead of three - well, you can see that this becomes a nightmare of planning and budgeting. All these additional radio stations are just going to make it harder for a small business to make a reasonable buy that gets results.

As a marketing coach, I get to meet a lot of small business owners. In one local community, a number of the small business owners that attended a coaching session were quite frank in their dislike of buying their local radio station. They felt the music choices were erratic and didn't sit well with their potential customer.

As a result, I had a rather long conversation with radio station owner from "wee tiny town Canada". The biggest surprise to me during this conversation was the emphatic statement, "People don't listen to the radio for the music. They listen for the information." Well, yes that might be true if you are a talk or news station, but if you're going to play music you might want it to have some logical association with the audience you are trying to sell the local businesses.

And in reality if radio can't deliver results, then people will stop buying it. And when they stop buying it, people lose their jobs and the radio stations cease to exist. How does it make sense to saturate the market with loads of radio stations - either for the radio stations or the small businesses?

Smart recession survival

Small business owners can see recession two ways. One where they sit in fear and one where they take advantage and stay ahead of the pack.

I suppose it's a natural survival tactic to hold everything close, keep it safe - particularly your money. But if you let fear govern your business decisions, you simply may not survive.

Recessionary times are when the smart survive and the unique get noticed.

Smart companies recognize marketing as a revenue generator, not a cost centre. They don't immediately cut their marketing budget. They get smarter about how the money is used. Mass communication is replaced with targeted communication. Interaction with the customer is increased so they stay front-of-mind.

Unless you are in a luxury market, your customers still need or want your products. Make sure your products and services are priced to reflect market tolerance. Surviving recession isn't about lining your pockets, it's about survival.

Get creative about how you reach your customers. Surprise them with where they find you and what you are telling them. Small business messages have historically been very ego-centric. You have to become customer-centric to make it through tough times (actually you should be customer-centric all the time, but it's even more important now). Standard tactics won't be enough.

And tighten up your marketing spend. That doesn't mean cut the budget, it means eliminate the chaff and be efficient with the money you have. If a tactic isn't bringing a return, then change the tactic. But remember when you are measuring the success of your tactics that it isn't just about the immediate return. It's about developing a relationship with your customer. If you're getting inquiries or website hits but no actual buying, then your tactic has done its job. Marketing's purpose is to bring customers to you, it is the job of the sales team to actually make the sale.

The best weapon you have in recession is a good data base of your customers. This will help you deliver personalized attention at the marketing level. You can gather a good data base through a contest with a small survey as part of the entry form. The contest creates traffic, either to your website or your place of business, and while your customers have a chance to win so do you with the information you gather. Variable data printing isn't only for big companies these days. It's affordable to businesses of all sizes.

Develop a referral program. This is common place in the financial services industry but is functional for all types of business. Your best advertising is word-of-mouth (whether it's traditional word-of-mouth or through social media) and if you can get your customers talking, you're a step ahead. And if your referral program is strong enough, they'll definitely start talking.

Above all, don't try to manage your marketing on your own. You're in the business you're in because that's what you are good at. Don't try to be good at everything - no one can manage that. Call in the specialists to really get your marketing budget working for you. But make sure they are trained and experienced. Just owning some desktop publishing software doesn't make someone a marketing specialist.

Small businesses can be agile. That's a great advantage over big business. Be ready to change at a moment's notice - whether it's your product list, your audience base or marketing tactics.

Recession means get smarter

The economic news throughout the world has recently become a big threat to small business. Lending has tightened, customers are holding their funds close to their chest. For many businesses, the next order of business is to cut costs. AIC, a mutual fund company cut their staff by 20% this week. In the article it is mentioned that this isn't as big a deal as it appears because most of the staff cuts were to IT and marketing.

And there's the rub. So often, the first that gets cut in a recession is the marketing team and the marketing budget. And without either of these, how do you get your message out?

Recessionary times are about being smarter with your money. Quite frankly, in my book being smart all the time makes the most sense but so many business people and even in-house marketing teams take the money for granted in the good times.

So how do you use your money wisely?

First, get to really know your audience. Mass marketing isn't economical if you sell a niche product or your audience represents a specific market. Find ways to fine-tune your delivery mechanisms. Stop talking to the people who will never be your customer. To use an example from last week's blog, if you are selling something that costs $30,000 stop talking to neighbourhoods with high unemployment or low incomes. You may have to get out of your office and actually sell your message in person.

Second, stop buying message delivery systems just because they seem inexpensive. If you spend $125 to reach no one who responds it is actually more expensive than spending $250 to reach those who will. Of course, you can only spend what you can afford, but if you resist the urge to spend that $125 that seems so inexpensive you can add that to next month's budget and actually reach people who care.

Third, and while I've come to hate this expression, think outside of the box. Be creative in how you reach your audience and how you spend your money. For some US readers, this could mean thinking about getting a Canadian marketing team to craft your messages. The difference between the Canadian and US dollar right now means you get more for your money. But it doesn't mean to resort to your nephew to do your creative development just because he happens to have a design program on his computer.

The companies that stay in the customers' minds during a recession are the ones who survive and grow more quickly after the recession ends. Which it will. It always does.

Relevant messaging - what if your customer doesn't care?

The Canadian election on October 14th had the lowest voter turnout in Canadian election history. And yet, for many of the people who voted, it was considered the most important election in their lifetime. What went wrong?

Apparently the majority of the population just didn't care. (I am a firm believer that if you don't vote, you don't get an opinion about the state of the government later on.) They were getting mixed messages from the media, backtracking from the politicians, irritating telemarketers and door-knocking canvassers.

There was too much negative commentary from the parties as well. And here's a very important point for small business that would have put a different tone on the election. Spend your time and your money telling me what is good and unique about you; don't spend my time just yapping about the things that are wrong with the competition. Yes, yes, each of the parties purchased advertising in which they spouted their positive attributes, but we all know that media coverage gets more attention and belief than any paid advertising. In the end, all the political leaders looked lame and some even looked childish.

I had a conversation right before the election with my local MP. We had a great chat about how the Conservatives are their own worst enemy when it comes to messaging. What they mean to say and what gets published in the media are often two very different things. And I can't help but think that if they actually had a marketer, instead of just a whole slew of public relations folks, their messages might be a little tighter. Sure they use a marketing firm to produce their lovely paid advertising, but where is the marketing guidance for the every day mess?

The complicated stories that were the underlying issues of the election were too complicated to resolve in speeches or one-minute ads. The environment, the economy and leadership abilities all require a consistent, understandable message - one that isn't up for media interpretation.

And small business needs that relevant, clear message as well. You can spend a lot of money uselessly if your messages aren't relevant to a person's life. You can help people care through education and exposure, but neither one of these things is an instant return. Are you selling a $30,000 item to an area with high unemployment and a fear of job loss? You might want to check in on the relevance of your messages.

Politicians are fun to watch because they have to educate, get exposure and convince people their "product" is the best, all in a short period of time. Jack Layton hasn't changed his "product" in years - so if it wasn't relevant to people before, why would it be relevant now? Elizabeth May personifies what everyone feared of the Green Party - fanatical extremist. That has a pretty limited relevance. Stephen Harper obviously had the most relevance for the voters - a calmness in the face of economic explosion, a leader who admits mistakes rather than blaming others. He has his flaws but he came closest to being relevant to Canadians. And Stephane Dion? Well, poor Mr. Dion just didn't have a clue. And all the Liberals are equally to blame. They voted him into the leadership position and supported the Green Shift. Don't let any of them convince you that Mr. Dion did that all by himself. Relevance, gentleman ( and lady). If you want voters out, you better find out what is relevant to your customers. And that's us. Every single person in Canada is your customer.

Be careful how you say good-bye

Companies expend a great deal of time and money protecting their brand in the public, but for many companies it is their internal behaviours that are the most dangerous. How new staff are greeted, and existing staff let go, have multitudes of impact on the perception of the brand.

A recent example is, of course, the automotive industry in Ontario. The lay-offs abound and some brand damage has been delivered to General Motors and Ford, among others. The important thing here is these companies put effort into minimizing the public effects of the lay-offs as best they can with great buy-out packages, paid new training for laid-off workers, minimizing impact through attrition and negotiating support with the government.

A disgruntled laid-off or dismissed employee has a huge impact on the brand. They all have families that are part of the experience, feeling the anger, humiliation and fear right along with the worker. And all those family members have extended families and friends that hear about the issues. All told, one worker can impact the brand attitude with over 50 people.

Companies in the financial services industry have varying levels of attention to how they treat workers. Many of these companies in Canada are out-sourcing support departments. (The financial services industry in the U.S. is just another story all together) How these out-sourcings are handled impacts the brand.

A positive example is Sun Life Financial. They undertook to save costs against their budget by outsourcing their cafeteria, fitness staff and print departments. There was fear among the employees as the negotiations took place, but Sun Life Financial minimized the impact with regular communication and assurances of protection for existing employees. When the outsourcing was implemented, the staff in each department were offered the opportunity to stay, have benefits and keep their seniority.

A not so great example is the out-sourcing of the mail room at Aviva Canada. The staff were informed of the negotiations last November and were promised protection. Suddenly just before Labour Day, a meeting of the mail room staff was called and they were all informed the department had been outsourced and their jobs at Aviva Canada would end in four days. So much for even an act of courtesy like two-weeks notice. Sure, they gave them a buy-out package including the two-weeks in lieu of notice (required by law), but these people were suddenly out of work - after understanding they would be protected. The next day, the outsourcing company, Pitney Bowes, arrived and offered the staff their jobs back, but at $10,000 a year less, with no seniority, no accumulated holidays and a three-month probation period. And they had one-day to decide if they would commit to this new job.

Aviva Canada was most pointed in informing the mail room staff that they would now be considered outside employees and would be treated as such if they should apply for a job with Aviva in the future. This after some of the staff had been with the company for nine years.

Now a couple of nasty brand things happened here. Aviva Canada's brand got nailed as being untrustworthy, secretive and uncaring. Pitney Bowes gets nailed as being cheap, uncaring and advantage-takers. It's not about the money and the 30% cut in pay most of the workers experienced, it is about decency and dignity. Giving these people only one day to decide if their future was tied to an advantage-taking company or tied to unemployment in a potential recession, fear would certainly win out. Perhaps this is good business strategy - trained workers at 30% lower cost - but it isn't even close to good brand strategy.

And if these companies think for one moment that the staff of the mail room didn't share their experience with their families, they are not thinking clearly. And what the family members do with the information - well, the company has no control over that.

Next week - be careful how you say hello. Yet another brand damaging experience.

The cost of creative - in dollars & sense

Great marketing is driven by great creative - the words and pictures that engage the consumer. It evokes emotion, whether good or bad. And emotion is the key driver in 90% of purchases in our modern times.

Before the 1970s, features and benefits helped the customer make the buying decision. Now the decision is based on how they feel about the product or service. Does it make them feel good? Is it easy to see "What's in it for me?"

Creative that doesn't engage the consumer or, heaven forbid, causes a negative reaction is, at best, a waste of time and money and at worst, damages the relationship between the company and their customer.

Great creative isn't cheap. It's a rare thing when the perfect creative answer happens in the first hour of work. But don't be fooled that you need to pay $250/hour or more for creative that really works for your customer.

Quick case in point - Microsoft (you knew I was going to there). The Jerry Seinfeld/Bill Gates partnership on what was supposed to be Microsoft's venture into being "cool" is a fiasco. And certainly didn't come cheap. Why would they even try to be cool? Well, because Apple looks cool, sounds cool and is slowly chipping away at the PC world. But Apple is cool without obviously trying. Microsoft is rather like your great uncle who wears plaid pants and sock with his sandels. You can give your uncle a great, funky haircut and new clothes - but he'll never be cool. He doesn't talk cool or walk cool.

Somewhere along the way, the creative team on the Microsoft fiasco forgot that the success of Seinfeld, the show, was based on the interaction of the characters not on the simple presence of Jerry Seinfeld. It was an ensemble success. If you change one element, it no longer has the appeal. Seinfeld himself was never the key element. He was simply the glue that held it all together. And worse news, Seinfeld is old news.

I have the utmost respect for Bill Gates, his philanthropic work and how he has taken Microsoft to the edges of world domination. But I simply have no respect for the idea that Bill Gates can act or even look comfortable on screen.

Big lesson here? Don't try to be something you're not, even if the highly paid creative team thinks they are on to a new direction. Use common sense. And no matter how you look at it, $10 million for an "old news" performer to kibbutz about everything except the product is bad, bad, bad.

But fortunately for Microsoft, all the brew-ha-ha over the Seinfeld fiasco allowed their Mojave Experiment campaign to basically fly under the radar. Whose brainchild is this? The creative team obviously recognized that Windows Vista is a behemoth of negativity. But trying to disguise it as a new operating system called Mojave is just emphasizing how really negatively consumers feel. If Microsoft accepts the consumer view that Vista is the devil in disguise, then seriously make headway in changing the consumer attitude. And not through an ill-conceived television campaign. Deal with the issues that make consumers angry. Deal with the megalomaniacal behaviour that made the decision to design Vista so you have to spend a ton of money replacing your older programs with new versions that work with Vista. And how about more testing before release so you don't fry people's brains with ridiculous errors and constant updates to the product? If you bought a refrigerator and then discovered you had to re-wire your house to use it and it only remembers how to stay cold with constant adjustment - well, you'd just return it and probably not buying anything from that company again. This concept isn't rocket science.

And contrary to what Apple would have you believe, their operating system is not without its own bugs. They may not have the blue screen of death, but they have the ever spinning wheel which, if you watch it long enough, probably hypnotizes you into believing they are a direct descent of the gods.

Enough with trashing poor, poor Microsoft. (Although if you folks at Microsoft can hear me, maybe next time hired folks who are a little less "cutting edge" and a little more "common sense")

To bring it all back into the world of small business, your creative should engage your customer in a positive way. Keep it neat and tidy (no over-designed grunge please). Catch their eye and give them a reason to spend a minute with your message. Don't embellish (you'll get caught), don't lie (you'll get fined), and don't think that amateur creative doesn't damage your brand. It does.

Plain Language - a gift from the gods

Small business writers, owners and general marketing staff often get bogged down in their own industry lingo and leave their customers behind. The 'big guys' are even more prone to this. The financial services industry has completely forgotten how to speak normal-people-language; technology companies, I think, prefer to never speak regular language in lieu of boggling all our minds and cell phone companies are happy with the bewilderment they create with terms and conditions.

But finally, I have had a wonderful language experience I think bears noting. And can be a terrific example for small business when building "the sound of your brand".

I lost all respect for my cell phone carrier a long time ago but had to wait until my contract was up to change to a new provider. The shop clerk understood why I wanted a change and recommended Virgin Mobile. I was prepared for the "same old, same old" but was in for a fantastic surprise. Not only are there no hidden fees - or for that matter no additional fees for things like access or set-up - but they actually speak the same language that I do. In fact, they speak a language anyone over the age of 12 could understand!

And the brilliance of all this, is they not only talk a comfortable level of language, but they write it too! Their brochures and guide books can be understood even by someone like me (I'm an audio-kinetic learner so the written word is sometimes a challenge if the language is high-falutin' or too much technical jargon). Heck, my eight-year-old neice Emily would be able to manage in the Virgin Mobile environment.

Now don't get me wrong. They don't talk down or in a condescending fashion (nothing makes me boil faster than that). It is the simplicity of it that really makes the mark.

The lesson for small business here is the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Silly. (We don't like the word 'stupid' around here, so no need to write and tell me I got the acronym wrong)

Don't use four sentences when one will do. Don't get lost in your industry jargon - even if your industry doesn't seem to have a lot of technical terms. Your industry could be peopled by folks with masters degrees who just by nature write at a high-end university level.

People tend to scan material and get involved only if the scan has given them value. It is easy to scan two or three syllable words. Much above that and you run the risk of them scanning and getting the meaning all wrong. Courts have said that contracts must be written in plain language so the common man can understand them (not that contract writers are actually listening in most cases). If the courts are insisting on plain language, it only makes sense to make sure your small business insists on it too.

Listen to your customer - navel gazing part II

It's too easy to become self-absorbed as a business owner. And once you start spending time looking at your navel, you stop listening to your customers.

Case in point (once again) is Canadian Tire. Earlier I wrote about their perfectly dreadful website and now they have canceled production and delivery of their catalogue, which forces people to go to their perfectly dreadful website.

The Canadian Tire catalogue is an icon to Canadian baby boomers. It had an extended shelf life in bathrooms all over the country. And now, no doubt thanks to a hip and happenin' marketing team, this icon is no more. Was there an actual review of customer behaviour?

I can accept there is a cost savings on making this decision. Printing is costly. Distribution perhaps even more so. But hiding this motivation under the environmental wonderment of saving trees is almost pathetic.

For decades, Canadian Tire customers have used the catalogue to stream-line their purchase behaviours. They would browse the catalogue at their leisure (making them more susceptible to the marketing messages) and discover items to buy they didn't even know they wanted. And there is nothing leisurely or even intuitive about the Canadian Tire website. So kiss those add-on sales good-bye.

Why did Canadian Tire stop listening? First they ended the great TV commercials with the lovingly annoying Canadian Tire couple, now they are eliminating the catalogue. Both of which were strong representations of the brand. There was a hew and cry, even in Marketing Magazine, about the end of the TV campaign. That campaign had garnered enough recognition that it had reached the often unattainable heights of being mocked by comedians. And the death of the catalogue has been mourned in Canadian Workshop magazine (which no doubt is the biggest demographic of Canadian Tire shoppers).

So now that the rant is finished, how does this pertain to your business?

Listening to your customers and knowing when something is working for them is paramount to success. Just because you have become bored with your marketing tactics doesn't mean your audience isn't reacting to them. And there is no point in trying to become something other than what your customers want you to be. If Canadian Tire is trying to appeal to a younger audience with these changes, well they have lost their minds. Visit a Canadian Tire and see how many young people are there, other than their ill-trained, ill-informed part-time staff. So not only are young people not their audience but they are alienating their solid baby boomer audience. And good heavens, baby boomers have most of the disposable income in this country!

So the lesson here:

1. Talk to your customers. Find out what they like and don't like. And use that information as a guide.

2. Don't let your personal feelings about being bored with your campaign be the deciding factor in whether to continue.

3. Understand that mocking by comedians is the highest compliment to the strategy there is. Comedians won't mock something unless it has had enough audience hits they are guaranteed 90% of their audience will know what they are talking about. I spoke with some folks from AIG Assurance the other day. We talked about the mocking of their insurance for seniors - they actually track how many times they are mocked and they love it! Kudos to them.

4. Don't cancel a marketing program that is working. You may think that the hew and cry is valuable because it creates chatter, but negative chatter can destroy your business.

And for Canadian Tire, for pete's sake, you could have saved money by making the catalogue by-request-only. Which would have given you a pretty solid database to really pinpoint behaviours and characteristics of your audience. Maybe think next time.

Your business in one sentence or less

Marketing folks and advertising salespeople will both tell you that you need to deliver your message to your customer a minimum of five times before the customer will act on your offer. What sometimes is missed in this discussion is that it needs to be the same message five times.

So, without boring your audience to tears with the repetition, how do you get space in the frontal lobe of their brain?

That's where a great tagline fits in.

A great tagline defines your business in one sentence or less. A great tagline is also arguably the most difficult part of developing your marketing strategy.

A great tagline has rhythm. It defines your business in a way your target customer can relate to. It also doesn't try to be all things to all people. And a great tagline immediately tells your customers "what's it in for me".

Burger King has one of the great taglines - Have it your way. If there was ever something that spoke to "what's in it for me", it's this one. (Pity they can't get their act together on their strategies...even a great tagline can't save you if you flip flop all over the place with your strategies.)

The value of a great tagline is in its ability to be on everything you do to market your business. It should be on your business cards, brochures, print ads, signage and...well, you get the idea. If your tagline is well done, then all these "hits" on your customer will help you develop space in their brain.

How do you get a great tagline and how do you know when it's great?

You can, of course, hire a professional. Writing great taglines is a serious skill. When you think about how many business owners can't describe their business in 30 seconds or less, you can imagine how hard it is to actually come up with something in one sentence or less.

Another option, and one of my favourites, is to have a tagline party. Silly? Yes, maybe. But I have found wonderful taglines evolve from many brains bouncing ideas around. Get some friends, customers or staff together and throw all ideas into play. No idea is too silly. From silly ideas come great taglines. After a couple hours of eating, drinking and making merry, pick two ideas and massage them into final examples. Then test each of them to find which one relates well with your customers.

I'm not saying a tagline party will work for everyone. And you should bounce your final ideas off a professional to make sure they are all the things you think they are. A professional can help you polish your tagline into a bright shining example of clever marketing.

Many business owners think that a tagline is only for the "big guys" but a great tagline is a lifeline for new and small businesses.

Psychographics - a better audience definition

For many businesses, trying to get a great definition of your customer base just can't happen with demographics alone. In most instances, your customer base is defined by a lifestyle or a mindset, rather than by their age, income and education.

You need to discover what makes your customer base tick. Do they love to read? And if so, what do they read? Do they love to garden? Are they fans of old movies? Every one of these answers teaches you more about your audience and how to reach them with your marketing efforts.

For the sake of example, let's look at organic products. This is a very specific mindset and lifestyle. They cost more than traditional products and their benefits tend to not be seen immediately. So what might be the defining elements of this customer base?

With traditional demographics, this audience could be defined as anyone over 21 years of age, largely female, with college or university education and a mid-range to high income. They have a healthy lifestyle that would include exercise, outdoor activities such as gardening or hiking, they stay away from prepackaged/preprepared foods. They like to read and support the arts in some form.

So what could your marketing plan include that would reach this customer base? If we only looked at the demographic information, it might make sense to buy traditional media like radio or newspapers. But that just isn't targeted enough.

With the information about the customers likes and dislikes, you can fine-tune your plan and hit them where they live, thereby getting more return on your marketing investment. Gardening magazines would be a good choice. Magazines based on hobbies or interests are read with more attention than general stream newspapers or magazines. In Canada, Canadian Gardening offers a subscription base that would well match the psychographics of an organic product purchaser.

Sponsoring an art event or buying an ad in a theatre program, would also streamline your message delivery. The most important thing is to not waste your money on traditional, general interest media.

So how do you figure out the psychographics of your customer base? Talk to them. Survey them. You'll see commonalities fairly quickly. And there will be commonalities you can take advantage of to grow your business.

Perception is Reality - Finally proof!

For years, I've been coaching clients through the maze of their customers' perceptions and how they relate to the business' reality. I've also written periodically about audience perceptions in these blog pages.

The bottom line is: your customer's perception about your business is truly their reality about your business. Based on your marketing tactics do they perceive you as trustworthy, reliable, quality? Their perceptions are built from the quality of your paper choices, the colours and language styles you use, their personal experience with you and the myriad of other things that represent your brand.

This week The New York Times, that most august of publications, ran a story discussing two studies into consumers' preferences in wine. Within the article I discovered valuable proof that perception is indeed reality.

In one study, researchers scanned the brains of 21 volunteers as they tasted small samples of wine. They scanned the part of the brain where flavour responses apparently register. The subjects were only told the price of the wine. Without their knowledge, they tasted one wine twice but were given two different prices for that wine. Invariably, they preferred the one they thought was more expensive.

So now we can safely say perception is not a small trigger. If brain activity can actually be measured and responses changed because of perception, small businesses need to be ever more aware of the perception they are delivering. Professional marketers have been aware of this for centuries, but most small business owners aren't professional marketers.

Perhaps the most marvelous example of perception being reality is Cervantes' Man of La Mancha. In this story, Don Quixote is viewed as a dangerous madman because he sees the world differently from those around him. But his perception of the world is truly his reality. Where everyone else sees a barmaid prostitute, Quixote sees a chaste, saintly woman. The strength of his belief eventually sways a couple of people to believe they are what he sees.

Unfortunately, for small businesses there isn't time to convince your customer of your reality if it differs from their perception. So the key is to control their perceptions right from the start. You might be proud of your business, but do your customers see that in your marketing tactics? You may believe you have a valuable, unique product or service, but do your customers see that?

Customers make purchases with their heart and their head. We know the emotional purchase is almost always based on perception, but now we have proof that perception is also affecting the brain.

Two takes on "you get what you pay for"

My work with small and rural business has made me realize there really are two concepts covered by the adage "you get what you pay for".

The first one is obvious. If you buy a cheap pair of shoes, they last three months; if you buy a good quality but more expensive pair, they last you years. The same goes with your marketing communications. A designer who charges you $10 per hour is probably one of three things: desperate, untrained or unemployable. Most designers have pride and talent that comes with a fair market value. This is also true of your marketing consultants. If your consultant has solid experience and a background with results, then it is going come with a price tag.

The second interpretation is a little different, but is a piece of information to which start-up businesses need to pay particular attention, and small business might still require.

In this case, "you get what you pay for" speaks to the fact that once you have paid for your design, you own it and your designer or advertising firm should make it readily available to you. In fact, you really should get copies of all your designs - logos, ads, print materials - to keep for your own records.

I have recently heard of too many situations where designers are refusing to release logo designs and print ads. And in some cases, promotional item houses are refusing to release the digitized logos used to sew garments. I assume they do this to try to keep the business to themselves. If they give you the logo, you can get anyone to do the work for you.

In both cases, once the item has been paid for, you own it and are entitled to have it in your possession to do with what you wish. Don't ever let a designer, ad firm or promo producer tell you otherwise.

Canadian Intellectual Property law stipulates that once the work is paid for, it belongs to the person/firm who paid for it. For there to be an exception to this rule, there must be a contract, signed by both parties that clearly states the property remains in the designer's ownership.

I think it is fair to say designers/companies who will not release your logo, ad or other designs are not ethical marketing personnel. If this has happened to you, I hope you no longer do work with them. If it hasn't happened to you yet, the minute it does change your supplier to someone who knows and abides by the law.

There may be a small fee from your designer to supply you with digital files of your work, and I mean a small fee. This would cover the time to back-up the files, sort them, burn them to disk, etc. Hopefully, your designer has included this in his estimate of costs and automatically supplies you with your files without any form of debate.

So if you are tired of hearing people say "you get what you pay for" as you go along marketing your business with cheap paper, amateur design or free existing templates - and then not seeing the results you desire - perhaps you weren't meant to be a long-lasting success. But even for you folks, the second interpretation is valuable.

This week in television ad land

We haven't talked about television very much because in most cases it just isn't a good buy for rural & small business. But there are certainly lessons to learn from what the big guys are doing with their ads.

Let's start with my favourite ad of the last couple of months. It's a Jeep ad using pop music as support. People who have attended my workshops know I despise pop music in ads because you remember the music but never the vendor. In this case, the ad is so well done that I remember the vendor just so I can reference it successfully to others.

So take a look at the "Rock Me Gently" Jeep ad. Why does this ad work so well?

First off, the acting is great. The guy has so many terrific expressions that actually match what's going on. And they have done a great match between generations. The guy is young to appeal to a 20 - 35 audience but used music from a generation older. They have made the music an integral part of the ad, not just background music. (and the music sticks in your head altho not sure that's a positive attribute) And laugh! Oh my goodness, after watching it 50 times I still laugh when I see it. And humour is the #1 way to get people to remember your ad. Jeep has found humour that is great to participate with, without being rude or disgusting.

Kudos to the creative team. Positive genius!

Now, the medium success on Canadian television. Aviva Insurance is starting to advertise and went big with the buy. They are on American Idol, Family Guy and some other huge audience spectaculars. Primarily, not sure the buy is worth it. So much of this audience group is outside of their target market. But hey, more people will see it even if they won't care. Maybe a really targeted buy to some specialty channels would have been a better use of the money. It isn't all about being on the biggest shows, it's about using the money sensibly to hit your specific market more often. For every hit on American Idol, no doubt there could have been five hits on a specialty channel.

The ad talks about changing insurance. They have tried to go for humour but it falls down. Mildly amusing at best. The big issue is the colour choices for the banner at the end that identifies the company through logo and website. You can't read the website address and the yellow just overwhelms the screen. You instinctively watch the announcer rather than reading the text in the bright yellow box. Yellow is the most conflicting colour to the human brain so maybe not the best choice for so much screen space.

But bravo to the folks at Aviva that built the survey that supports this ad campaign. It is amusing just walking through, but when you select the "relief" button you can really see that someone has a great sense of juxtaposition. The yellow is still really hard on the eyes so folks will probably rush through it, but at least the exposure and more of the story are there.

And last, and certainly, least - the new RONA split 15-second spots. I've only seen one of them, but in that one they share information that isn't even correct in an attempt to sell more of their product. In the front end 15-second, you get a question. In this case "Can you use the same drywall in all rooms". In the back 15-second, they give you the answer (after you have sat through other people's ads). In this case, they answered "no". Well really, of course you can use the same drywall in all types of rooms. You may not want to, but you can. And in my opinion, split 15s just make people watch the ads in between with more vigour while they wait for the answer. So other advertisers should be thanking RONA for this less than clever sales tactic.

What's the big learn from today's rant?

1. Know your audience and the audiences around them. Jeep does a great job reaching a broad audience base by using music that is now multi-generational.
2. Humor is your friend. Especially when you can do it without being disgusting.
3. Make sure you use great talent. Whether it's your actors or your designers, great talent shows. Jeep has used a terrific creative team and a brilliant, funny actor. Aviva has used some good ideas but the visual team (or the corporate folks with the final say) have mucked it up with the insistence of using so much yellow.
4. Don't use yellow if you don't have to. It hurts the brain.
5. Be smart with your buy. Target your audience and use the methods that reach them with as little spill into useless audience as possible.
6. Don't stretch the truth in your advertising. You'll get caught and it's a negative mark on your brand.

When less is definitely more

How many ads have you seen and heard where the advertiser tries to do too many things at once? Unfortunately, I've seen way too many over the last weeks. My focus on rural and small business has exposed me to print and audio/visual advertising that is over-designed, over-produced and completely unfocused.

If you want to make the most of your advertising, there is a very key thing to remember. Be focused, focused, focused.

Keep your message short and sweet. People today have very short attention spans, especially for advertising. You'll never successfully be all things to all people, so don't even try. Know your audience thoroughly and design your messages to speak clearly to them.

Don't mix your messages. Pick a topic and stay on it. The 30-second radio spot is great for this because you can only do a little bit in 30 seconds. But print ads and flyers can get away from you pretty quickly.

Make sure your designer understands the concept of minimalism. There's often no need for tons of illustrations, graphic effects, and there's definitely no need for a kazillion type styles and sizes. Trained designers know this. I realize that not everyone is working with a trained designer, and those companies can be spotted instantly through the over-design and clutter in their advertising.

Remember too that white space is easy on the eye. If your customers have to struggle to read your message, they'll just turn away. Be careful when using reversed-out type (white type on dark surface). Many type styles can't hold up under this treatment. Most especially script fonts.

Test all your print and audio/visual advertising with someone who doesn't know the message. If they don't get it quickly, then you need to modify.

Even word-of-mouth doesn't happen on its own

One of the big news stories in the US this week is the purchase of XM by Sirius Satellite Radio. It's big news because of the discussions around competition and how the consumer is affected by Sirius buying up their competitors.

But I bring it up here because their marketing tactics could have foretold who was going to come out on top. A couple of years ago, I was working with a large financial institution on a project in which we needed some prizing. I chose a package from Sirius as the major prize and had to defend this decision with the senior executives. Their big question was, "How do you know Sirius will be around in a few years and that everyone won't have gone with XM?"

My answer was, "Their marketing". Now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, marketing has to be interpreted here as more than just advertising. I was never a big fan of the Sirius advertising, but they were managing their budget well. They became a supplier to Canadian Tire and other large retailers. They sponsored some great events. They had a terrific PR machine keeping them in the forefront of people's minds.

Where was XM?

And this is my point today for small and rural businesses. You have to get out there. It doesn't always have to do with advertising.

This week, I heard a story about a group of small business owners lamenting that they had made no sales. When asked what they planned to do to change this, they all said, "Nothing, word of mouth will get me sales eventually."

For those of you who have read some of my other blogs, you can probably imagine the screaming going on inside my head when I heard this. Word of mouth doesn't happen on its own. You have to start the cycle of referral with planned tactics.

Similar to Sirius, rural and small businesses can increase their sales, and their chance of still being in business a year from now, by getting out there with whatever means are possible. I'm not talking a huge advertising campaign. I'm talking specific, economical tactics that have an excellent chance of returning the investment.

Event-based marketing is a good example. Develop or sponsor an event and promote the dickens out of it. Use media releases, posters in your neighbourhood variety store and post offices, develop an inexpensive postcard to carry with you and hand out everywhere you go.

You don't have to spend a fortune to get your business into the front of people's brains. But you do have to be creative with your tactics and messages. As a rural or small business owner, you have to set the ball in motion so word of mouth can develop. Take advantage of networking opportunities like your local Chamber of Commerce. Attend their events and hand out your postcards or business cards and talk up your business like crazy.

Once you have a few satisfied customers, then word of mouth marketing stands a chance. But if you can't get a few people talking, word of mouth will never do you justice.