The Care & Feeding of Creatives

There they sit, huddled in the dark in front of movie screen-sized computer monitors, doing something with those weird pen things, surrounded by toys with their heads shrouded beneath enormous headphones. They’re your creative team. And they are nothing like you.

Creatives are a separate breed from every other group in your organization. Creativity isn’t magic and wizardry, but the good ones make it look that way.  Here are five things to remember if you’re managing a creative team or simply need to interact with one.

CREATING SOMETHING REQUIRES PERSONAL SACRIFICE

In order to produce artwork of any kind, be it for a gallery showing or a corporate promotion, a designer needs to pour some of themselves into it. There’s no getting around it. To produce something creative, one needs to create. And that requires a great deal of personal energy. Creatives are making a form of art. As such, they are making thousands of creative decisions that each impact another. Commercial design requires not only creativity but market awareness. There’s a lot of themselves creatives put into each project. Why is this an important point? Because it colors every interaction surrounding the project. You want your creative team to be passionate. In order to be passionate, they need to care. It’s very difficult to care in an environment that doesn’t foster cooperation and mutual respect. Creativity is a personal experience. Constructive criticism is an important part of that experience, but destructive criticism such as “this is crap” completely negates cooperation. If you do only one thing to make your creative team more effective, it’s to play nice. You’re all on the same team. Constructive criticism builds up, it doesn’t tear down.

2. CREATIVES REQUIRE SPACE AND TIME

Some people call it the zone, others call it letting their mojo out. No matter what it’s called, it is the single most important part of a creative’s job. Leave them alone. Not all the time, but be aware that their process is internal. For a salesperson, their process is external. When you’re baking a cake, you need to let it cook. Something I’ve effectively done in the past is to set “creative hours”, where all other departments understand that while the cake is baking, don’t open the oven. The flip side of that is having “office hours”, where members of other departments can meet with and collaborate with members of the creative team. Creativity requires dedicated blocks of time. That’s simply how it works. 

3. CREATIVES REQUIRE FEEDBACK

We all want to hear if we’re doing a good job. We also all need to hear if something we’re doing needs to be changed. Creatives are no different. Their job in any organization is to be part of a collaborative process. Whether it’s designing advertising for a magazine, building websites or executing the marketing strategy, clear and distinct feedback allows your creative team to quickly and effectively morph the project into its final iteration. Most creatives understand that their ideas and contributions are part of the puzzle. Some creatives get their noses bent out of joint when hearing criticism. The reason is sometimes arrogance, but most often it’s because they’ve had to pour so much of themselves into what they’re doing. Here are some tips on how to efficiently provide feedback to creatives:

Be clear about what you’re asking for. “I just don’t like it” isn’t a proactive criticism. A seasoned creative will ask detailed follow up questions if they hear that response, but it’s important to have at least a reasonable idea of why something doesn’t work. 

Engage the creative in the feedback process. There are few things a creative likes less than being dictated to. You hired this team for a reason. That reason was their creative abilities. You have a valuable resource available to you. Collaborative input will not only make the project stronger, but will enable both parties to have a stake in it.

If your business is based on external client feedback, bringing the creative into the conversation with the client can help eliminate delays and miscommunication. The need for creatives to have “creative hours” may be at odds with the urgency of an in-person client meeting. That’s where the Creative Director comes in. They’re the traffic cop, among other things. A Creative Director needs to have their head in both worlds, the creative and the day-to-day business. And they need to be able to offer alternatives and propose solutions. Creatives know what questions they need answered. A short client meeting can help eliminate errors or misunderstandings. Your creative team shouldn’t be your sales team. If an urgent client meeting is required outside of “office hours”, use your creative resource wisely. Understand that disrupting the creative flow can often take significant time to regain.

 If a creative project receives praise, let the creative know. In business, we are accustomed to only delivering negative feedback. We operate on a reactive basis, and forget to celebrate our wins. A little praise can go a long way.

4. CREATIVES WILL MAKE MISTAKES

Just like you, just like me, your creative team won’t get it right every time. Spell check doesn’t catch everything, especially if the wrong word is an actual word. Mistakes can be fixed. We’re all human. I’ve worked in many environments wherein strong, aggressive personalities have taken great joy in pointing out small errors. Remember that your goals are the same. You’ll get farther with kindness than hostility.

5. CREATIVES REQUIRE STRONG LEADERSHIP

Being a leader and being a boss are two very different things. A boss dictates. A leader gives people a reason to follow. Leaders are leaders because they’ve learned that each person under their leadership is unique. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Effective leadership requires the ability to listen, to communicate, to empathize and to see the big picture. Creative leadership is a lot about mentorship. Some people prefer a strong hand, others require a softer touch. Learning that comes from actually engaging with your team. And leadership is also about learning to delegate. Throughout any creative team, there are people with skills at all different levels. A leader uses all of her or his resources so that everyone rises together. Sharing skills and tricks of the trade between the creative team not only builds up everyone’s skill set, but also builds a team. It’s hard to be in a competitive relationship with someone you’re helping and who’s helping you. Creativity fosters in a collaborative environment. And a collaborative environment doesn’t just happen. It requires a leader to move the pieces into place, and then to let the organic processes take place. 

Creativity requires a different muscle group than, say, your sales team or your customer service reps. Both of those groups can incorporate creativity into what they do, and should. But a dedicated creative team has an entirely different way of approaching the world. Their core job  is to create. They use different tools, need a different physical environment and bring different parts of themselves to bear than any other department. Creatives are a lot fun. They just need to be left alone sometimes in order to get the job done.

It's Storytime

Your brand has a story to tell. That’s not a metaphor—telling your “brand story” isn’t some marketing doublespeak. Storytelling is as old as the human experience itself. It’s how lessons are passed from generation to generation, it’s how we learn about who we are and the relationships between each other, and it’s how we understand complex ideas. Your brand is no different. Tell a good story and you’ll have customers eating out of the palm of your hand.

The operative word, of course, is “good”. We’ve all read atrocious stories and wasted enough hours sitting in front of idiotic films to recognize crap when we see it. It’s easy to write. Sit down in front of a computer and start typing the words that pop into your head. It’s extremely hard to write well. Here are a few writing basics you can and should apply to your own brand story.

WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?

Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? In fiction, we call this the “theme”. What is your story about? Not the sequential events—that’s an outline. What is the larger message? In fiction writing, we tend to have a few overarching themes. Man vs. nature, man vs. himself, etc. In brand storytelling, the theme is not necessarily so epic. Product X may perform particular functions, but those functions are not the theme. To resonate with prospective buyers, you need to talk about what larger issues Product X solves. What problems, issues or needs are being solved by Product X? The theme derives from the problem being solved. Understanding what you’re solving by your writing allows you to clearly develop a solution. It’s a bit like developing a mission statement. You should be able to describe your theme in a single sentence. Think of it a bit like a thesis statement in an essay. The single thesis statement will tell you what you need to say and what you need to support through examples in the brand story. Once you figure out what you’re trying to say, you’ll need to start figuring out how to say it.

WRITE FOR YOUR READER

Having a keen awareness of your audience allows you to tailor your storytelling to appeal to them. Specific groups of readers have specific needs, desires and vernacular. Fans of the Twilight books have different needs than fans of Fifty Shades of Grey. Both have common elements—they’re unconventional love stories, they both take the heroine into dark worlds previously unknown to her—but they satisfy different audiences. Shakespeare wrote for his audience. The jokes, earthy humor and thinly-veiled jabs at the monarchy and religious figures appealed to a low-brow audience. Shakespeare wrote commercially. He told stories that were designed to present his product to the widest audience possible. What is your audience wanting to hear? How do you speak to them in their voice, at their speed and in their chosen venue? 

SHOW, DON’T TELL

A big mistake novice writers make is to rely on description rather than action. The world around us is a constantly moving entity. Your brand story needs to contain forward movement. Your story will likely contain many moving pieces—web content, social media content, video content, print advertising—that all need to work together as part of a broader story, while also being able to stand alone. How do you make each piece vibrant and engaging? Use action. Verbs are powerful things, and finding the right verb can replace lines and lines of unnecessary copy. Is there a better way to say what you’re saying? Say the words you’re writing out loud. Read them to other people. Hear how the words fall. Storytelling is a lot like songwriting. There’s a beat behind everything. Find your beat. 

ALL STORYTELLING IS CHARACTER DRIVEN

In a traditional fiction story, characters are created to fulfill certain objectives in the story, and the story is built around the struggles and challenges of these characters. The same is true in brand storytelling. Your characters are most often your users and potential customers. Your audience needs to be able to picture themselves in the story, which means using the product or service. When you know your audience (through research and demographic data), you can build brand characters that share your audience’s stake in the story. They become surrogates your audience, which allows your audience to easily step into your story.

USE THE EDITING THUMB TRICK

Editing is one of the most difficult but most important pieces of a good story. At least twice as much time should be devoted to editing as to creating. There are two really good editing tricks I’ve picked up through years in publishing and printing. First, look at each sentence individually. Find an adjective? Put your thumb over it. Read the sentence again. Does it still make sense? That means you need to cut the adjective. The second trick is to read backwards. With the advent of autocorrect, you may be typing too fast to notice that your “if” became “of”. If you are expecting to see “if”, your mind will often read “if”, regardless of whether “of” is there now. Reading the text backwards (right to left, bottom to top) will kick off your brain’s habit of glossing over words and allow you to catch more mistakes.

GOOD WRITING ISN’T DONE BY COMMITTEE

Too many cooks will inevitably dilute your message. You operate in a competitive environment. Your job when writing evocative brand stories is to synthesize all the messages into a cohesive identity. A story is compromise. There are often lots of characters, each playing a valuable role, but all of whom are part of the larger story. Hitting all the important facts is vital. That’s kind of the whole point of the thing. But producing a white paper and creating a brand identity through storytelling are two different animals. The more saturated your writing, the less likely it is to be effective.

Not all storytellers can write effective brand stories. Just like not all marketing copywriters can write a good story. Find someone with the ability to analyze data, to extrapolate behaviors based on that data, and to provide engaging, creative content. I’ve built my career through both storytelling and copywriting. I’m a published writer and accomplished copywriter. You can reach me at jrosenplot@gmail.com, or at 812.822.2077.

Start A Content Conversation

We all have a lot to say. Between sales pitches and proposals and PowerPoint presentations, we’re kind of up to our eyeballs in information. But is information content? If so, what information?  

If content is king, how do you ensure he doesn’t get dethroned? The answer is to have a conversation.

BE APPROPRIATE

That doesn’t mean don’t post questionable photos on your website. (Don’t do that, though). Being appropriate means having something to say that reflects the venue in which you’re saying it. Your corporate website and a product-specific Facebook page that has a college-aged audience will have different things to say. Neither are mutually exclusive. But you likely have a different way of speaking when you’re talking to your best friend versus a corporate CEO. The content, or conversation you’re having needs to focus primarily on the audience with which you’re having it. Like any good conversation, it should be a two-way street. I’m not talking about a live chat feature. I’m talking about solid research. How your customers reach out to you tells you a lot about the conversation they’re looking to have. Traditional websites, product-specific sites, individual social media interactions, trade show interactions and even Skype chats, each attracts a unique audience that will respond to you if you are appropriate.

RELEVANT WEBSITE CONTENT

One of the primary drivers of Google’s search algorithm comes from relevant content. Google, they’re pretty smart. Not long ago you used to be able to type a bunch of keywords onto the bottom of your web page and jump to the top of Google’s search. Actual content that relates to the subject of the page, the industry associated with the site, etc., is one of the things that drives search results. More is not always better. Doing extensive research about search terms and analytics data will give you a good start in providing content that corresponds to the most relevant search terms for your site. If you tailor your content to what your audience is actually looking for, you will notice a dramatic difference in your search rankings.    

KNOW YOUR STUFF, BUT DON’T BE A KNOW-IT-ALL

Content is a conversation. It’s not a lecture. There’s a fine line between the two. Your job and the job of your business is to be the expert in your field. As such, you’re expected to know a bunch of stuff. But information is like having your in-laws come to visit. A little goes a long way. Keep in mind that what most of your customers want to know is that you know. They don’t need the complete recipe to your secret sauce. They just need to know that you know how to make it. 

BE BRIEF

A good deal of your ongoing conversations with your customers will be via social media. Social media is a drop in sort of place. It’s the virtual water cooler. Your interaction should be short, sweet and to the point. You don’t need to write the entire novel, just a short chapter. When you’re writing short content, be specific. Don’t necessarily talk about all your new products, just one at a time. Or maybe a single feature of a product. 

DON’T WASTE THEIR TIME

Your audience bores easily. Quick bursts of information that grabs their attention and allows them to get on with their lives will leave them wanting more. Respect the short attention span. You can’t win against it. Don’t even try.

BE BRAND CONSISTENT

Above all else, have a plan. Don’t sacrifice your overall brand strategy for a specific venue, but be flexible enough to remain appropriate. That takes a little effort. You may need to experiment a bit. 

There is no single way to generate awesome content. Your conversation is and should be different than your competition. What is consistent across the board is that you are having a conversation. You’re building a relationship. That’s the secret to creating killer content. Your voice should be unique. That’s what sets you apart. So now it’s time to start a conversation.

The Taylor Swift School of Marketing

We can learn a lot from young Taylor Swift. Love her music or can’t wait for her fifteen minutes to expire, she is one savvy marketer. Swift maintains control over her entire musical and public life. Her recent spat with Spotify proved that she has serious muscle when it comes to the music industry. No artist can exist in a vacuum, though. Her fans (called “Swifties”), are among the most rabid out there. So how does she do it, and what lessons can we learn from her brilliant strategies?

YOUR CUSTOMER IS EVERYTHING 

Taylor Swift regularly trolls her fan pages to get a sense of what her audience is talking about. I can only imagine how time-consuming this practice is, but she does it. Personally. She often comments directly to fans, which serves to make her more human and approachable. Taylor Swift uses social media in the way it was meant to be used. It’s a unique forum in which to engage directly with your customer base. Her interactions are not overtly directed at selling more albums. She is genuine in these engagements. Her brand is the girl next door, every girl’s best friend, every boy’s dream. She’s the cheerleader who hangs out with the goth kids.

When you’re putting together your brand, whether you’re a celebrity or a local shop, break down your identity to its essence. A lot of the basics can be developed by acting like you’re in high school. Although your customer base may be long past their senior year, there are lasting societal breakdowns that begin and are most evident in high school. Does your brand appeal to the brains, the jocks, the geeks, the freaks, the princesses? This is a great way to begin thinking about your customer—think about The Breakfast Club.

But unless you’re selling a high school product, don’t make this your final analysis. Your customer is complex. Savor their layers. Engage with them. Find out what else they do. What else do they like? All media is social media. When you engage with your audience, you develop a relationship. That has tremendous value.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO CHANGE THINGS UP 

Taylor Swift, the country music darling, make the cross-over to pop with her latest album. Some would argue that her version of country was already pop, but the media had a field day with her potential for failure. Swift proved everyone wrong and that infernal “Shake It Off” is now perpetually engrained in our gray matter. (I know you’re singing it right now).

Your business is fluid. What worked today will not work tomorrow. Sometimes paradigm shifts are caused by technology. Sometimes competition. Whatever the reason, you need to be ready to change. Taylor Swift’s transition was probably just a step to the left. But the ripples it’s caused have made it seem monumental. Give yourself the freedom to adjust. Change is good. It’s essential. Otherwise you get left behind. Sometimes change involves something minor. Other times, it’s a major brand shift. Look at McDonald’s. The mega-giant tried-and-true ubiquitous brand is being rebranded. Competition has led them to make changes. Will it save their business? Remains to be seen. Will the changes you make save your business? If you’re smart, do your research, talk with your customers, look at your competition, then you’ll at least be making an educated change.

BE GENEROUS 

The now-legendary Taylor Swift gift barrage that’s been lighting up social media is a cardinal example of how giving away can build your brand. From paying off student loans to hand-delivering Christmas presents to her fans, Swift is doing double duty. She’s connecting with her fans in a deeply personal way, and she’s doing it publicly.

True altruism is anonymous. When a business donates or does good work, their reward is prestige. It’s the reason most businesses engage in charity. Donating time, money, resources, it all has a public impact. The fact that Taylor Swift recorded each of these donations was simply a wise business decision. Give things away in unique and public ways. If your staff is donating an afternoon to a Habitat for Humanity build, have someone record the event and post it on your social media. If you’re donating product to a shelter or a Boys & Girls Club, make sure you have your logo clearly visible. Generosity by a business is often considered newsworthy by local media. TV, radio, newspaper, they eat this kind of stuff up. Making your donation or gift a public event allows your business to obtain a bundle of free publicity. The cost of the donated goods, your staff’s time, all of it is well worth the sacrifice if you go public with it.

DON’T SHY AWAY FROM THE BAD STUFF Taylor Swift has a propensity for having bad relationships. What 24-year-old doesn’t? The difference with Swift is that her relationships are very public. Her breakups top the entertainment news. Swift, of course, has had the last laugh by owning the charts and download sales of her song, “Shake It Off”, which is all about not worrying about what everyone thinks. She owns her mistakes, and the public has forgiven her for any perceived wrong.

Bad stuff happens. Brushing it under the rug or trying to put some sort of spin on it just makes your business look shady. Own your mistakes. You’re human. Your business is run by humans. We are a fallible bunch. People get that. They respond to humility. You don’t have to drag out your dirty laundry for every interaction, but be honest and solve the problem. The kind of double-speak in which many corporations engage just makes their customers frustrated. Own it. Your mistakes belong to you, and they’re how you grow.

HOLD ONTO WHAT’S IMPORTANT 

Seems simple enough, doesn’t it? When you look at Taylor Swift, you probably don’t think CEO. Sexist or not, our first impression of her is likely dismissive. Taylor Swift’s net worth is estimated at $200 million. When you compare that Michael Jackson, ($350 million) and Paul McCartney ($800 million), that’s not too shabby for a kid. The big difference between Swift and other artists is that she owns herself. She recognizes that her public persona is a commodity with tremendous value. Taylor Swift is the CEO of Taylor Swift.

As a business owner, you will face tough financial times. No matter what market you’re in, there are ups and downs. You may be tempted (or required) to bring on investors or outside financing. Remember what’s important. Don’t give away the store. Investors are savvy and will very clearly recognize what’s of most value in your company. That’s what they want. It may not be your product. It may be your process. George Lucas famously took a decrease in pay and “points” on Star Wars in exchange for merchandising rights. As anyone who was a kid in the late ‘70s on up will tell you, Star Wars merchandise is king. You may be required to make tough decisions about the future of your company. Hold onto what’s valuable. You’ll be grateful.

Don’t dismiss Taylor Swift as some bubble-headed pop star. We can all learn a few lessons from her. And since the haters gonna’ hate, hate, hate, it wouldn’t hurt to shake it off.

Put TOM To Work For You—Top of Mind And How To Get There

TOM, or Top of Mind, is a marketing term used to identify whether or not your business is the first one people think of when they need the services you offer. Marketing, like the military, loves acronyms. We have a bundle. But all TOM means is that, when your customers need you, you'd better be there.

Top of Mind Recognition isn't complicated to achieve. The ingredients are straightforward. And the whole package is easy to assemble. Unfortunately, it can also be very expensive. Being TOM is much easier in a small market, and very, very expensive in a large market.

Top of Mind really has everything to do with your brand identity. You definitely want a good one. Without a great brand identity, you can't achieve TOM. You need a clear, concise and identifiable logo. A catchy tagline doesn't hurt. Be consistent with your advertising, because repetition is the key to unlocking TOM. It's also the key to creating a brand identity, which is one of the key ingredients that goes into this.

A brand identity can best be defined as your company's visual personality. It encompasses your logo, your company colors, your tagline, different advertising campaigns, your website design, your building's signage, vehicle wraps, etc. All of these elements need to be consistent. That way, when someone sees your ad in a magazine, and then sees your commercial on TV, and then sees your truck down the street at their neighbor's house, your company name and brand will be reinforced in this potential customer's mind. You see where we're going with this. Consistent message. Repeated again and again, in different ways with different media, at different times and at different locations. Pretty soon, your potential customers will be humming your tune.

Getting your business to achieve TOM can be a long-term and costly endeavor. But the payoff is that your business is the first one your potential customers think of when they need the services you offer.

Think of the local businesses with the catchiest jingles. Sure, they annoy you, but you remember them. Having a professional jingle written is an additional and often expensive cost, but putting an advertising message to music is a proven technique to help people remember. When you were learning the alphabet, you sang the "ABC" song. Same thing with a jingle. That jingle you've got stuck in your head right now? The one you heard on the radio on the way home from work, the one you're going to see on the commercial when you sit down to watch the local news? When you need the service they offer, whether it's a plumbing emergency or buying a new car or anything else, that jingle will stick in your head and that will be the first place you think of. Most jingles include the company's phone number or website address. And, unfortunately, the more annoying, the better. As long as it's catchy.

Whether you commission a jingle or not, your message needs to be everywhere. Here's where it gets a little bit more complex. You need to think like your potential customer, not like you. The overwhelming majority of ad campaigns fail because the campaigns end up advertising to the advertiser, not the customer. It doesn't matter what you like. It matters what your customer likes. And you need to discover what that is. And when you know who your customer is, you can get inside their heads and discover what else they like to do. Because human beings are complex. That complexity gives you lots of opportunity to surprise them. For instance, let's say you run a theater that shows live plays. You know that your audience likes some culture. You also know that, if they're coming downtown, they'll likely be going out to eat beforehand, and probably grabbing a drink afterwards. That's an example of what else they like to do. So go meet with the owners or managers of the surrounding restaurants and bars and talk to them about co-op advertising—you put posters or coasters or other types of items in their locations, they put ads in your programs. You just run the theater, but you've also created an event night for your patrons. You've gotten into their heads and discovered what else they like to do. And when all these businesses work together, everyone wins.

All marketing is local, no matter whether you're a national chain or the small Mom-and-Pop down the street. You're part of a community. Get involved. Sponsor teams, which allows you to get your logo on uniforms. Have your business join the local adopt-a-road program. You'll get a sign with your business name on it. Be a member of local business groups. Have booths at local festivals. Does your community have a farmer's market? Have a booth there. If you're a car dealer and want to sell more hybrids, a booth at the farmer's market is ideal. Have a few models in the parking lot to test drive. The point is, be where people aren't expecting you to be. Marketing wears people down. Being advertised to is offensive and is easily tuned out. Find something unique to do that gets your name in front of people. Don't copy your competition. Make your own statement. That's the whole idea, isn't it?

Being Top of Mind isn't difficult. It just takes time and investment. But the return on that investment is that you are the first business everyone thinks of. Being Top of Mind is not a bad place to be.

It's Not Me, It's You — How To Break Up With A Client

We've all had them—relationships that start out great, the sky's the limit, love is in the air and there's nothing but rainbows and happiness. Just so we're on the same page, I'm talking about a relationship with a client. I mean, the same thing can apply romantically, but that's a different blog.

You start your relationship casually, maybe a meeting over coffee or a casual hour chat at their place, a conference room, and then it moves into the head decision maker's office and you know things are getting serious. You're selling yourself harder than a hooker when the eunuch convention's in town and you make the deal. Whatever it is you're selling, whatever service you offer, they are chomping at the bit to make the deal with you. Life is amazing. You are winning in a Charlie Sheen way.

And then time passes. Something goes wrong. The original spark just isn't there anymore. They call you constantly, all hours of the day and night, and they want changes, lots of changes. They've decided they don't like the concept they just spent the past week gushing over. Eventually, they end up taking advantage of your goodwill and they aren't holding up their end of the bargain. You don't get paid, or there's a new condition for you to get paid. And then you now it's time. It's time for the "it's not me, it's you" conversation. Because it is them, isn't it? It's not you. You tried your hardest and worked your sorry little heart out and did everything you could to make the relationship work. But they took advantage of you.

So how do you break up with a client? I've had to do it several times. I've had to do with and without lawyers. It's a lot easier without lawyers.

1. HAVE A PRENUP
No matter how much in love you and the client are at the beginning of the relationship, something will eventually go wrong. The longer the relationship goes on, the more likely it is that something will break down. Create an agreement that clearly states your obligations, the client's obligations, any compensation involved, the length of the relationship, any specific payment terms... essentially, every single detail involved in your relationship. This is a great time to find a lawyer. If the type of work you do has similarities across the board, a standard contract or a standard set of terms and conditions that are part of a contract will ensure that all parties involved, no matter how much in love they are now, will clearly understand the repercussions of the inevitable breakup.

2. COMMUNICATE EARLY AND OFTEN
All relationship specialists say the same thing. If you don't communicate, your relationship is doomed. On a side note, aren't most relationship specialists on the tail end of bad relationships themselves? I digress. The key to successful business relationships comes from identifying potential issues before they become issues and solve them in an expeditious way. The goal with your business relationship is to not have it end. It's a helluva lot harder to build a new relationship than it is to nurture an existing one. That said, sometimes communication fails. Sometimes people are just nuts. Communication breaks down for a multitude of reasons. Do your best to make sure it doesn't. But recognize that sometimes it does.

3. BE VERY, VERY CLEAR IN YOUR BREAKUP CORRESPONDENCE
The best way to avoid any misunderstanding or lack of clarity in breaking up with a client is to be absolutely clear with the client that you are breaking up with them. You will be shocked at the level of simplicity you need to explain that the relationship has ended. Sometimes it will come as a surprise to the client that you're ending the relationship. Many clients (hell, many people) don't see their own behavior as problematic or confrontational or difficult. You are there to serve them, after all. If you're a good and decent person, with a solid work ethic and a genuine trust of human behavior, well, first of all, I have great pity for you and some sad news for you—you're one of the few who does. Okay, I'm the same way, and it takes a lot of problematic behavior for me to get to the point of firing a client. I bend over backwards to accommodate nearly every request. But I've also come to the point several times where I simply can't accommodate anymore. My correspondence to the client is always in writing, usually via email (as that is the main form of communication by which I engage my clients), but from time to time it will be via written letter, and sometimes, if I believe there's trouble or there's potential legal action, certified mail. I explain why I am ending the relationship, I explain clearly what time period is involved in the breakup, what physical or digital files (if any) will be provided, and what compensation is expected. I generally will sacrifice compensation if it means the relationship will end and I will be able to move on cleanly. That may not be your way, but it's my way. I always figure that if money isn't involved, there are a lot fewer lawyers involved. Every situation is different. Every client is different. I've had multiple types of situations and each has been unique.

4. BE VERY WARY OF TAKING THE CLIENT BACK
I don't know if it's just me or if it's every marketing professional, but I have never had a client I fired NOT come back to me. Every single one. Seriously. Most will simply contact me as if nothing has ever transpired between us. Some will acknowledge the past difficulties. For the most part, the initial peace offering is "just a little job" that needs to get done quickly. "You know what I like, I know you can do a good job." As a self-employed marketing professional who's just survived the worst recession we'll hopefully ever see, I've been hungry. Very hungry. I'm not proud of it, but I've taken those clients back. When you're looking at a stack of bills and can no longer answer your phone because all you'll be doing is talking to bill collectors, your pride suddenly doesn't have quite so much value. There's not much that can be said when you have, as Seinfeld put it, no hand. When you do eventually regain hand, it's important to re-examine that relationship as quickly as possible, and get rid of it again as quickly as possible.

Breaking up is hard to do, that much is true. But breaking up with a bad client, like a bad romantic relationship, leaves you feeling a sense freedom and empowerment that will hopefully translate into intelligent forethought and well-vetted clients in the future.

Oh, who are we kidding? We love getting hurt. Bad clients give us good stories.

What Obamacare Can Teach Us About What NOT To Do In A Marketing Campaign

Love it or hate it, agree with it or continue to vote against it, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) is here to stay. At least until their ill-fated marketing blunders sink the program.

I'm about as liberal as it gets. Personally, I favor the Canadian system. I'm familiar with it, so it's not just a talking point. I have my own issues with Obamacare, but this is a marketing blog, not a soapbox.

We can learn some valuable marketing lessons from the ACA rollout. There was a lot that was done wrong. Here are the top three.

1. NEVER, EVER GO LIVE WITH A BROKEN WEBSITE
Your website is the central hub of any marketing strategy you're building. Even a social media campaign needs someplace to point. The Obamacare website was a complex, convoluted structure that fell victim to the oldest trick in the book—requirements that changed multiple times throughout the build, often changing the entire infrastructure. Everyone's familiar with the Healthcare.gov website jokes, the opposition's continued barrage of attacks, the Congressional hearings, the whole bit.

Here's the thing—the more complex the website, the more intense the testing needs to be. Any website needs to undergo something called User Acceptance Testing, or UAT. A website begins with a set of requirements—what the site needs to do. Most sites are fairly straightforward. A homepage, some product or service information, a contact page, etc. For more complicated sites, such as those involving data, (the capturing of customer information, the dispensation of customer information, product data, etc.), requires a much more involved set of requirements, and therefore a much more involved UAT process. We won't delve too deeply into web development here, but suffice it to say that you want to do at least the following when testing any site:

a) Test on multiple browsers. Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most common and should suffice for most UAT. Make sure you test multiple versions of Internet Explorer (IE9, for example, can throw a wrench into the most well executed and seamlessly developed website).
b) Test on multiple operating systems. Test on both Mac and PC.
c) Allow for operator error. Your clients may not be the brightest bulbs in the box. Is the site foolproof? Is it easy to navigate? Can you find information within two clicks?
d) Try to break it. The more complicated the site, the more errors you should find. Do things the site isn't designed to do—how does it handle these requests?
e) Create informative error pages. The last thing a user of your site wants to see is some convoluted error message that may mean something to a developer but just looks like your site is broken otherwise.
f) If there is an error, provide a clear path out of it. For instance, if you have a user signup page that requires a specific format for information to be entered, clearly explain this or provide a contact phone number or email address that can help.
g) For the love of punk rock, ANSWER THE PHONE and answer your email. Promptly. If someone is on your website and wants to sign up, search for a product, etc., they want to do it now. Don't make them come back. Don't make them wait.

Your website is your virtual front door. Whether you're a retailer, Realtor®, or are simply providing a contact portal, this is your first impression. Never, ever go live with a website that doesn't work.

2. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
One of the key provisions in Obamacare is the inclusion of a robust number of 18-34 year olds. There's a reason why everyone wants to market to this demographic. For the healthcare system to work, it needs to spread the risk across a large pool of healthy users.

These people are what I call The Unmarketable. It's not that they can't be influenced—you've got to know what you're doing. If you want their business, you've got to earn it. They have been sold to their entire lives, and they can see you coming a mile away. Here are the ground rules for marketing to the 18-34 demographic:

a) Don't try to be cool. Using popular catchphrases, current references, etc., will only make you look old. They know how to filter your pathetic attempt to sit at the cool table. Don't even try.
b) Don't talk down. One of the most common mistakes made when marketing this group is giving them the impression you think you're smarter than they are. You might be, but they hate that. Be direct. You're not talking to your insolent twenty-something. You're talking to a potential customer. Give them the respect you'd give any customer.
c) Celebrity endorsements can go very wrong. This is the era of five-second fame. Everyone is famous. If you latch on to some anti-celebrity, you have immediately put an expiration date on your campaign. Remember Gangham Style? Exactly.
d) Don't try to go viral. There are specific ingredients that go into a viral video, post, etc., You don't have them. You don't have access to them. Yes, it would incredible to have your commercial go viral and get twenty million views on YouTube. It would also be incredible to win the Powerball. Setting out to "go viral" is a waste of your time and resources.

There is no single way to market to The Unmarketables. There's no single venue, media outlet, or social media service that will hit everybody. The secret with this generation is that they're compartmentalized. The days of everyone watching a single TV network or visiting a single source for news online, or a single social media venue are gone. The "18-34 year old demographic" isn't a single entity. It consists of millions and millions of individuals. You need to know a whole lot more about your target audience than simply that they're between 18 and 34 years old. If you don't know them, they won't care one bit about you.

3. DON'T LET YOUR COMPETITION DEFINE YOUR STRATEGY
There's a reason you're in business. There's a reason your product or service can compete in the marketplace. And if you're in the marketplace, you've got competition. If you don't have competition, you will. One of the biggest mistakes the Obama administration made in selling Obamacare to the American people was letting the opposition (his competition) define the argument. It's your competition's job to point out why their product or service is superior to yours. That's what the free market system is all about. Your marketing strategy will not be successful if it's simply a reaction to your competition's marketing strategy. No one's interested in why Product A sucks. They want to know why Product B is great. Believe it or not, positive messaging is far more effective than negative messaging. The businesses that are #1 in their fields (Coke, McDonald's) don't spend their time focusing on their competition. The businesses that are #2 (Pepsi, Burger King), do spend their time focusing on their competition. That's one of the reasons these businesses are #2. Not sure how to do this? Here are the basics:

a) Have the best product or service. You can't survive in any industry for any length of time if your product breaks or your service is subpar. Wait, you don't think your product or service is part of your marketing campaign? Pumpkin, it's the centerpiece. You will go out of business if you don't focus on your core products and services. Simple as that.
b) Clearly and concisely explain why you are the best. Is it taste? Satisfaction? Quality parts or ingredients? What sets you apart?
c) Why is it necessary? Neither Coke nor McDonald's products are required to sustain life on earth. Why are they necessary, then? This is what they call in sales selling the sizzle, not the steak. What does your product or service provide, make easier, make better, or help satisfy?
d) Take the high road. You don't need to mention your competition in your marketing. It's your marketing, not theirs. Don't give your competition air time. It makes your business look petty. Product comparisons are for those in second place. First place doesn't need to compare.
e) Solve problems quickly and in public. Let's say your business prides itself on providing service within a 20-minute window. For one reason or another, your service tech was unable to arrive. Your customer complains on your Facebook or Twitter feed. The first reaction by most businesses is to remove the post. After all, who wants anything negative on their Facebook wall? Instead, engage the customer and MAKE THINGS RIGHT in the same post, in the shortest possible time. It doesn't matter that your service tech had a car accident. It doesn't matter that the snow hadn't been cleared off the roads. There are always things that are out of your control. The only thing you can control 100% of the time is how you respond. It's not personal. It's business. Give the client a gift card. Refund their service call. Give them a free service call. Whatever you do, do it in front of everyone.
f) Know the difference between slander and libel. In a nutshell, slander is saying "you suck", libel is writing "you suck". There are tons of legal gray areas, but that gives you the idea. Keep in mind that your competition may engage in nefarious tactics from time to time. We wise in your approach. Overreacting to some slight by your competition can make you look like a jerk. Underreacting to something that is potentially damaging can leave your business exposed to serious trouble. Know when something is business and when it's war. Take a look at my post about when to hire a lawyer. It'll help.

Remember that you need your clients more than they need you. The world will get by just fine without your product or service. When you're developing a marketing strategy, keep in mind that every aspect o your business is part of the strategy. You can have the most vibrant website, the most dependable product, but if your customer service staff is perpetually rude, you will go out of business. Your business is a series of links in a chain. That chain is your marketing strategy. A product that works, built from parts that are high grade, with an easy to engage sales interface, a customer service team that goes the extra mile, and truly dependable service is the centerpiece of your business. Your entire business is about marketing. Break a link, break the business. At least you won't be dragged before a Senate subcommittee.

What An Online Form Tells Your Customers

We've all seen them. The ubiquitous online contact form. On the surface, these forms seem to be a convenient way to collect and distribute initial contact data. If you've had a website with a contact feature for any length of time, you likely have one of these types of forms on your site.

From a website owner's perspective, these things are great. Deployed properly, they can help reduce spam email and triage client contact. Gathering a few important details (name, email, phone, etc.), can better prepare your team to speak with these new potential clients.

But from a customer's perspective, the view is different. Online forms can be seen as an impersonal form of contact. They get in the way. When a customer has a question or wants to contact you about the services you provide, the online form tells them the following:

1. You're too busy to talk to them. 
An online form that collects data becomes a black hole where a customer inputs their information and it disappears into the void. If your customer has a question or concern, or wants to hire your company, they want an answer. If the client is contacting you during normal business hours, the expectation is that you or someone else will be able to talk to them. If someone is sending you a contact email, they have reached the point in their purchasing decision where they're looking for specifics. Putting a form in their way stops the purchasing process in its tracks.

2. You don't trust them.
The use of CAPTCHA technology, those squiggly words and numbers that separate man from machine, are used to help limit the types of website attacks perpetrated by things called "spambots". These automated hacking tools scour the web to find open email addresses, and then inundate them with spam email. Spam email is a real threat—viruses are often embedded within them, so that when they're opened, nefarious things can happen. However, that's your problem, not your customers'. What you tell your customers when you force them to use this technology is that your comfort is more important than their ability to easily contact you.

There are a few simple ground rules for opening email. First, most commercial email hosts (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) have firewalls built in. They will detect what is likely spam and quarantine it for you. Your "junk" folder is a graveyard of these types of emails. It's important to check your junk folder often. Spam quarantine software isn't foolproof. And if your business is consumer-based, you will receive emails from people you don't know. Become email savvy. If someone tells you they want to send you $9 million from Nairobi, or wants to give you a way to meet local singles, or wants to give you free software, etc., those are bad. If an email seems like a legitimate contact, but has been quarantined, send a fresh email to the address to confirm. Or, if the contact has left a phone number, call them.

3. You're too big (or small) to help them.
This is another unintended consequence of an online contact form. Think about the last time you needed information from the IRS or the Social Security office, or a large bank. If you go through the online contact process, it's very similar to the chaos of an automated phone answering system. Press 1 for English, press 2 for Swahili... You have no idea where the form is going, when you'll be called back, or if you'll be called back. The same process works in the opposite direction. Many micro-businesses use this type of solution to help triage their incoming correspondence. There may not be anyone available to answer a direct email, or a phone call.

The general rule in website development for the past decade has been the use of these forms. Recently, however, many users are electing to abandon them. Why? Because they're not as secure as we've been led to believe, and they alienate customers.

What's the alternative? If you can't collect initial data from a client, how do you know what they need? Here are a few techniques that are so old-school that they're not even retro anymore. But they work.

1. Encourage phone contact.
Yep, the old standby. Giving your customers the clear and attractive option of calling you or your team directly, whenever they need you, sets you above your competition. We all get busy—a ringing phone can seem like a personal attack on your day. But a five minute phone conversation can not only solve a problem, it can reinforce a relationship. If a customer has a problem, solving it immediately will defuse the ticking time bomb. Forcing them to send you a form and then waiting for you to get around to answering them can bring even a tiny issue to a boiling point. Answer the phone promptly. If you can't, have a message on the phone that lets customers know how quickly you'll get back to them. And follow through. Most business phones have a flashing message light. Treat that light as if you were the bomb squad diffusing the big one. The faster the light goes out, the better the outcome.

Answering the phone and returning calls promptly (within the hour), is the basis of any successful marketing strategy. All the advertising in the world won't help you if you don't return a call. Just as a professional, friendly greeting by staff when a customer visits your store or office is the front line of your marketing plan, so too is answering calls.

Consider the value of a live operator. If your customers have to work their way through a maze of "press 1 for sales, press 2 for support", they will be discouraged. A voice on the other end, no matter how inconvenient for you, is convenient for them.

2. Provide direct email addresses.
Web development philosophy for years has been to mask or hide all open email addresses. This has been done, legitimately, for security purposes. However, the ability for your customers to contact someone directly via email outweighs any potential security or spam-related inconvenience you may face.

If you have multiple departments, provide a direct email to each. And then answer them, either by email or, preferably, by phone, and within a very limited time.

I appear to be brushing web security aside in this post. That's not the case. Having your email hacked is an inconvenience. Having your website hacked can be devastating. If your business relies on its website for any type of contact, you need to ensure your website hosting company is legitimate. Commercial hosting companies have server "farms" located across the globe, which can deflect web attacks by switching to a different location. Security for commercial web hosting companies is high and dependable—it has to be. The type of data stored on these servers is crucial. If you have a blog site, or if your website is inconsequential to your business, use one of the discount hosting companies. Security is important. It's also worth more than $3 per month. If you choose the right hosting company, it's not your problem.

The basics of marketing come down to this—when someone calls, answer. When someone has a problem, fix it. The basics of marketing have nothing to do with your logo or your website or your sign. It has to do with how you and your staff treat people.

The litmus test is this—would you want to do business with you?

The Pitfalls of Public Comments

Your friend on Facebook posts something about some topic. It doesn't have to be controversial. Maybe they've asked for advice on a specific product or service. You make a comment—something you'd say to your friend in private, maybe something rude or off-color. No harm no foul, right?

Let's do some math. I have a relatively small Facebook social circle—just 132 friends. I keep it small by choice, but the average Facebook user has about 500 friends. Depending on their age, they can have more—(younger skews bigger, older skews smaller).

One of my friends has 2,608 friends of his own. By making a comment on his post, my words and my thoughts have the potential to be shared with over 2,600 people, most of whom are strangers. Let's say I've made a derogatory remark about a person, a company, a product. It doesn't matter whether or not my post is factual. For many people, this one off-the-cuff post can mean the difference between using a particular service or buying a particular product. Social media is touted as being democratizing—it is, largely. But in any democracy, not only do we have rights, we have responsibilities.

Let's say that all 2,600 of this friend's friends read this post and my comment. Let's also say that four additional people, each with 500 friends of their own, commented on this post. Suddenly, my comments have reached nearly 5,000 people. That single comment that was made as either a joke or in the spirit of a private comment to a friend has exploded into a sphere of influence exponentially greater than I could ever have imagined.

As a business owner, you begin to see the impact a single negative comment can have. A majority of people, especially younger people, rely almost solely on social media for their product recommendations. As a platform for unfiltered, reliable feedback, it is unrivaled. But a single negative experience has the potential to spiral out of control. Before social media, word of mouth consisted of a small circle of people—physical influence was much smaller than virtual influence. And even if someone had a horrible experience with a company, they'd only share it with a small group over a short period of time. Social media (and the web in general) is permanent. It's the real permanent record your high school guidance counselor kept telling you about.

As a business owner who is also a member of society, your actions online can have far-reaching implications. Let's say you've made an off-color comment about some political or social issue. Using the same math, your single knee-jerk remark can define you to a huge number of people. Strangers. Customers. Potential employers. Your banker. You have no way of knowing.

The virulence of social media is akin to a pandemic. Once it begins, it's very hard to stop. Here are a few simple tips to help keep your business (and yourself) out of hot water online.

1. THINK BEFORE YOU POST. 
Use the "Rule of Mom". Would you say what you're about to say if your mother was sitting beside you? Unless your mother is known for her colorful language or off-color remarks, this litmus test will usually guide you.

2. DAMAGE CONTROL MEANS YOU'VE SCREWED UP.
If your business is in the position where it needs to do damage control, or you're getting overwhelmed by negative comments, it doesn't mean the Internet is out to get you. It means something's wrong in your organization. Do a process walk, which follows your business through every interaction to help determine where things are breaking down. Your goal is to identify customer touch points. The first place to look for the breakdown is where your customers interact with your organization. Once you've identified it, fix it.

3. IF YOU WANT TO SAY IT, SAY IT IN PERSON.
Here's a novel idea—pick up the phone. If you have virtual friends, they likely started as physical friends. A comment on a Facebook post, no matter how witty or insightful, pales next to actually picking up the phone and spending twenty minutes catching up. If you must remain digital, private message them or send an email or Skype with them.

4. BEWARE THE SHARE.
We've all seen them—the ubiquitous cartoons or witty graphics. As a business person, simply sharing something implies complicity. For instance, if you share something about drinking heavily, no matter how funny or cute, you have the potential to gain that reputation simply by association. You are what you share—it's the reason why most people share things. It defines your interests, is in tune with your sense of humor, etc. Even on your private social media pages, you never know who's watching. I have friends who are clients, and I have friends who are friends with clients. Chances are, you do, too.

5. WITH FRIENDS LIKE THAT...
Facebook has a great feature that allows you to confirm what is placed on your timeline. Sometimes the comments that damn you are not the ones you make yourself. We have different types of friends, probably from different phases of our lives. The person we are now may be very different from the person we were in college, or high school. You wouldn't bring your college drinking buddies to a client meeting. Be selective about what you let onto your timeline.

6. CLEAN HOUSE.
With all of this in mind, what do you have right now on your Facebook page? Take some time and go through your timeline. Look at your videos and photos. Is the beer pong shot from college really how you want to present yourself?

The goal with this post is not to sanitize you. Part of what makes social media as vibrant as it is, is the individuality of the pages and the posts. If the video of you doing belly shots in Vegas is something that defines you, that's great. But keep in mind that the video may be doing just that—defining you. Once you connect with other people, you have little control over what happens next. Being aware and being cautious may not make you the most interesting person on Facebook, but it will definitely help keep you in business.

The Three Bears Approach

The web is filled with marvelous and wondrous technology that changes and grows on a regular basis. How do you determine how much is too much for your clients?

Consider the Three Bears approach - you remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The first bowl of porridge was too hot, the second too cold... you get it. When you're building or upgrading your website, the Three Bears approach comes down to three options—is it too much, is it too little, or is it just right?

Your customer isn't always Goldilocks. Sometimes your customer is Papa Bear. Sometimes it's Mama Bear. Each have different needs—hot porridge and cold porridge. There's no single "just right" approach.

As with everything in your marketing plan, the question of how much is too much is answered by your customer. A tech-savvy, youth-targeted site requires all the bells and whistles. Your customer expects it, and your competition provides it. If your market is older, or your clients aren't techies, you may not need as much techno-pop.

Here are three questions to ask that will help determine the level of wow required on your website:

1. What type of site are you trying to build?
Most websites are informational—an online brochure. They're a way to provide a way for prospective customers to contact you and to learn about your services, skills and those special things that set you apart. We call those "static websites". They're not necessarily "static" in the sense that there's no motion on them. Slideshows, videos, etc., can and should be a part of them. But the information is relatively constant, and users are required to contact you or visit your location to complete the transaction.

Dynamic websites can include e-commerce sites (where you're selling products or services online), video upload sites, etc. These are more robust and are designed for continuous engagement with the user. Similar information to a static site is available, but the main thrust is some form of ongoing interaction.

2. Who is your customer?
Age is often the determining factor when asking this question, but not always. Younger customers are more likely to want to make a purchase online (if appropriate), but older customers (including senior citizens - surprise) will also use these types of sites. The more appropriate question to ask is, what does your customer expect to be able to do with the site? If you sell a product or service, does your customer expect to be able to order it online and have it delivered or confirmed without having to make a phone call? Or are customers using your site to gather additional data or comparison shop prior to making an in-person purchase or acquisition of services? Ask the question from your customer's point of view, not yours. You may not have considered selling goods online, but your customer may need that.

3. Who is your competition?
This is a trick question—your competition is everywhere. Don't just look at the shop down the street—look world-wide. The web has opened up competitive markets you may not know exist. Being aware of what your competition is doing will help you determine what you need to do. It can also give you research into new customers you may not have thought about. Competition isn't a bad thing. At least, if you stay competitive.

Building a website properly from the beginning will allow you to develop it for current-state as well as future-state. The web constantly changes. New technologies emerge and new standards are introduced. Examine your site regularly. Look at your competition. Ask your customers what they want to see. They'll be your best judge. And listen to them. Developing a higher-end website than you currently have may cause you to incur an expense, but not doing so means you're losing customers. And what's the cost of that?

The Rules of Social Media

Contrary to popular myth, even the Internet has rules. Social media is no exception. As a business operating a social media page, you have the ability to either effectively increase your market reach—or do irreparable harm. Here are the basics on the do's and don'ts of operating a business social media page.

1. KNOW YOUR MEDIA TYPE
Facebook is very different from Twitter. Pinterest and Google Plus are also unique. LinkedIn is a totally different animal. It's like talking to people from different parts of the country. There are ways of doing things and presenting information that varies between all social media venues. Twitter has a character limit - the most effective posts on Twitter are brief. Twitter users are used to brevity. They don't want you to be wordy. Facebook is more conversational. Facebook is relationship-based. Google Plus is similar. Pinterest is essentially a photo sharing showcase, so it's much more visual. LinkedIn is the professional social network—largely underutilized by businesses. There are literally thousands of social media venues. Each has its own vernacular. It's important to learn the dialect before you try to fit in.

2. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
This is not only true for social media, but for marketing in general. Unless you know who you're talking to, what they're interested in, and what will turn them off, you can't create effective posts. What is of use to your audience? What will they be interested in seeing from you? They're choosing to follow you for a particular reason. Discover that reason and tailor your posts to them.

3. YOU'RE A GUEST IN THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA FEED
Just like going to a dinner party, you are a guest in your potential audience's house. They've invited you in because they want to hear more from you. Just like going to a dinner party, you need to bring something. The proverbial bottle of wine in this case is information. You need to establish yourself as the recognized expert in whatever you do. How do you do that? It's different for each industry, and for each social media page. Don't be looking to sell, at least not all the time. Unlike traditional advertising, you don't need a constant call to action. Your social media page (if designed properly) will have all the information necessary for a follow up. Provide information your users can use. Get in, get out, and don't annoy your followers. Short, clear, insightful posts will make you sound like you know what you're talking about. Because you're the expert.

4. IT'S A SOCIAL NETWORK
The goal in using any type of social media is to increase your reach virally. This means that your user likes your post enough to share it. Once it appears on your user's social media feed, all of their connections can see what you have to say. If their friends like you, and they share something informative that you posted, you will be much more likely to be followed by your users' friends. This is the goal. Social media is about making connections in new and unique ways. While it is possible to sell products via social media (and many businesses do this), it's not the primary focus. Social media is and should be used largely as brand building. Your goal should be to remain at the top of mind of your users.

5. CHECK YOUR SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND SYNTAX
There is nothing more distracting than a business social media post that contains errors. If necessary, get someone to proofread your posts before making them public. You may not care about spelling—but your users do. This one is a simple fix at which many businesses, usually small businesses, fail.

6. CREATE A POST SCHEDULE
Unless your posts are based on events that are happening in real time (and this is a good use of social media—keeping up with things in real time), you can put together a post schedule in advance. Facebook allows you to schedule your posts in advance using their Activity Log feature. If you can make use of this, and most businesses can, do it. It keeps your social media in motion without having to dedicate resources to posting at a particular time. When creating a post schedule, look at what your users need. Is your business seasonal? Look at a calendar to see key dates when people will be most likely to be thinking about your services.

7. MORE IS NOT ALWAYS MORE
Think about the junk email you receive as a business owner. Deleting messages from the same sender multiple times a day is not only a time waster, but makes you less likely to ever consider using that vendor. The same is true with social media. You don't need to blast your message out ten times a day. A well-written, well-timed post 3 or 4 times per week can do more good for your business than a bunch of desperate messages throughout a day. In social media, it's about quality, not quantity.

8. PLAY NICE WITH THE OTHER KIDS
Never, ever insult a client on your social media feed. Never, ever complain that no one's coming in to your shop today. And if you receive any negative feedback on your social media page (which is one of the reasons why you are engaging in social media activity—you want your users to get involved), never, ever argue with them. You have the ability in a public forum to solve the problem. Recognize that you have an audience watching you. Most customers will remember the problems they had if you don't immediately make it right. It's always worth giving a little to make the customer feel they were heard. And don't take anything personally. This is business, not personal. Leave the attitude at home. And finally, no matter what, don't complain about your customers or your business on your personal social media. Once it's out in the world, you can't get it back.

Effectively managing your business social media can be a full time job. You don't have to have a presence on every single venue. Start with your customer—what do they want you to do?

Back To Basics

We all know the saying, you can't see the forest for the trees. That adage applies to your marketing strategy. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the micro details, the bigger picture gets lost. Stripping down your marketing plan to its basics can help you see what's working, and where you're going wrong.

WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO?
The single biggest mistake made by businesses in regards to their marketing strategy is marketing to themselves. Marketing is all about having a conversation with prospective customers. Look at it like a dinner party—if you're the person who spends the evening talking about what you like, what you're comfortable with, and what appeals to you, you will lose your audience. Who is your customer? Are there new customers out there you're not hitting? What do they want to talk about?

IT TAKES MONEY AND TIME
No matter what you do in regards to marketing, you will be spending money. Often lots of money. A large percentage of what you spend won't have a direct cost-value relationship. Brand building, the type of marketing that gets your name in front of your potential customers without selling a particular product or service, is long-term. You didn't build your reputation with your current customers overnight. You won't do it with new customers in that timeframe, either. This is called "top-of-mind recognition". You need to be the first company your potential customer thinks of.  Brand building  is measured in months and years. Targeted marketing, things like sales or events or promotions, have a more immediate return. Keep in mind, however, that a sale involves a loss-leader product or service. An event involves expenses you might not foresee. All businesses, markets and strategies are unique—however, a good ratio of branding versus targeted marketing is 5:1. You want to build your reputation at least 5 times more often than you want to have a sale.

WHAT ELSE DOES YOUR CUSTOMER DO?
Knowing your customer, and your prospective customer, allows you to speak to them on their terms, and in the places where they are. Things like social media, television, radio, movie theater advertising, gas station pump advertising, newspaper, magazine, bus sign advertising, etc., all have value only if your customer sees them. What does a typical day look like for your customer? A typical month? What are their habits? We paint with a broad brush in marketing. Each element of your strategy should work together. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, unless your customer dictates that. Follow your customer and you can't go wrong.

HAVE A ROAD MAP
If you don't know where you're going, you can't get there. If your goal is to increase sales of Product X by Y%, simply blasting your message out to the world without a plan and without measurable metrics is a waste of your time and money. Set your goals and build a map to get there.

STAY THE COURSE
When you've developed your plan, stick to it. Review it regularly, make necessary course changes, but don't scrap it without good reason. An effective, well-developed strategic plan will be a combination of quality customer intel and solid market knowledge. Make media buys that work for you and your customer, not what works for the media company. Newspaper advertising is ideal for certain demographics, a waste of money for others. The same goes for television, radio, and all other venues. If you've done your homework, your customer will tell you where to advertise.

Marketing is a marriage between the science nerd and the trendy art student. Understanding the strategy behind it, and building the creative element to support that strategy, will help your company grow.

My Customers Will Always Buy Local. Won't They?

Local businesses tend to believe that if they build it, their customers will come. Everyone wants to support local businesses, right? That works when the economy is good. The moment the economy goes south, most consumers will throw their social conscience out the window in exchange for lower prices. In the real world, simply being local doesn't always cut it. In the age of the Internet, your competition is not just the local megastore, but can be any online outlet store anywhere in the world. How do you compete?

It's important to not rely on the implied guilt trip of being local. There are lots of good reasons to shop locally, but a majority of people do so only during times of abundance. It's the same thing as buying organic. Unless your customers have a specific moral reason to do so, buying local and buying organic are the first things that people stop doing. So the question becomes how to ensure your customers have more reasons to use your services than the fact that you're their neighbor.

Your overhead and limited buying power will likely not allow you to compete with megastores on price. You have to figure out a way to set your business apart. The simplest and most effective is by offering incredible service. Keep in mind that service extends to every member of your team, every sale you make and every issue that comes up with your products or services. If you lose a sale because your service is not exemplary, understand that you are likely losing the business of every person in that customer's sphere of influence. It will be nearly impossible to win them back.

Another way to remain competitive is to offer a wider selection. Consumers are used to shopping in locations that allow them to multitask when they shop. The days of visiting multiple small retailers for a single item are gone. Listen to your customers. What else do they need from you? If you sell shoes, have all related supplies available. If you sell cookware, also sell gadgets and ingredients your customers will need. Be as complete as you can in your stock.

If you can't compete on price, compete on quality. Sell higher quality merchandise than the megastore. Offer free classes on how to properly use the merchandise. Educate potential customers about the benefits of your higher end products. Offer follow up classes.

Set your business apart by using real differentiators. Don't rely on the fact that your shop is local. It might work when times are good, but the moment there's a hiccup in the economy, your business will be the first to go.

What Else Does Your Customer Do?

Your customers don't live in a vacuum. People have multiple interests - often disparate interests. Your product or service is one small part of what makes your customers whole. If you sell a consumer product, your customers will have multiple related consumer products they view as a part of a whole. If you sell business products or services, your customers will have and need multiple related things. Your business customers are also people. The decision makers have families. They have pets. They have parents. They have lives outside their business. Consumer customers can also be business people.

Talking to your customers in their language means you have to understand their entire world. Now, you can't customize your marketing plan to a specific individual. There are certain generalities you make based on what your customers are most likely to do. Marketing is about stereotypes - not in a negative way, but as a means of targeting a group of individuals in a broad way. It's about hitting the widest target with the least amount of ammo.

Here's an example of what I'm talking about. Let's say you run a small cafe in  a downtown area. Your cafe isn't isolated. Potential customers are generally not coming downtown to visit your cafe exclusively. They are likely shopping or going to a show at the theater or visiting a museum or visiting an art gallery. Your customers have multiple other interests. You can be part of their experience by tapping into how they're using downtown. They are visiting for specific reasons - you can make your cafe fit into their day. You achieve this by being aware of events that are going on, patterns throughout the day and week and promote your cafe according to how your potential customers are experiencing the entire area. Partner with some of the venues to help customers make the connection between visiting these places and visiting your place. Link yourself to where your customers are and you become part of what they're doing. You become part of their experience.

Another example - your shop sells a specific type of product - let's say a specific line of athletic shoes. You've noticed that sales are way down. Because your athletic shoes are so good, they don't need to be replaced often. Your clients are thrilled, but repeat business is way down. Your existing customers would buy more product from you but don't need it. Expanding your product line to include additional related products such as dress shoes, hiking boots and other high quality footwear allows you to tap into the goodwill of your existing client base and increase multiple sales. People have multiple footwear needs - people buying athletic shoes also need dress shoes. By understanding that your customers have multiple interests and mutiple needs, you can offer product lines that satisfy each of them. You increase your sales by increasing the per-customer sales.  You know your customer has multiple needs and you're satisfying them.

Business owners tend to have tunnel vision. They establish their business because they want to sell one certain thing. While that is the impetus for starting a business, don't forget that your customers have many other interests. Figuring out what else your customer needs and providing it for them will increase your bottom line and your customer loyalty.

Antisocial Media - A Case Study

Recently a local restaurant owner had customers in her restaurant that brought an infant child into the restaurant. The child obviously didn't want to be there, and cried and screamed the whole time. The incident itself is repeated every day all across the world. What sets this one apart is that the owner posted a lengthy complaint about these guests on her Facebook business page. In the post, the owner stated that other customers were disrupted, and that she overcharged the customers for their meal to compensate for her staff's trouble. Unfortunately, the subject of the post turned out to be a fan of the page.

If you don't think social media matters to your business, try doing something like this. Social media is a phenomenal tool - and can also be a nightmare. For businesses that want to increase word-of-mouth traffic, spreading their message across social media is worth its weight in gold. The benefit of re-posts recommendations and sharing is that your business is being introduced into the lives of your customers' friends. In essence, your customer is working for you. The downside, of course, is that one blunder can spread worldwide in a matter of moments. Social media, like the Internet itself, is perpetual. Everything you've ever done online, every mistake you've ever made, every embarrassment, is forever captured and cataloged and archived.

Let's start with the basics - never, ever, ever post a complaint about a customer anywhere. Don't even send it in an email. If you can help it, don't put it in writing. The customer may not always be right, (and quite often isn't), but they're your boss. Social media gives us the feeling of invulnerability - the same feeling we have when we're in our car. But like driving our cars, accidents happen when we're careless. And for crying out loud, don't post it on your business page. Especially if the person you're posting about is a fan of your page.

The business owner had the ability to salvage the situation at several points. First, as the owner of the business, she had a responsibility to the majority of her clientele who were being disrupted. Much like the captain of a ship, the business owner has absolute authority in a situation like this. Simply explaining privately to the parent that the child's unhappiness was disruptive to the other guests and asking the parent to quiet the child or come back another time without the child would likely have solved everything. At worst, the restauranteur would have lost one customer instead of the dozens she now has lost.

Second, the business owner should never in a million years have posted the customer complaint. Once the customer commented on the post and the comments began to fly, she should have immediately removed the post. She should then have called the customer directly and offered a full apology. Offering a free meal or two wouldn't hurt, either. Although the customer was originally at fault for the disruption by not listening to the needs of her child and having the common courtesy to leave the situation without disrupting everyone else around her, the business owner made cardinal mistakes in handling this situation. (And I know many people will argue that point, that the customer was at fault. But as a business owner, you are responsible for the satisfaction of everyone, not a single person. As a customer, you need to recognize when your behavior or the behavior of those in your party - whether they are capable of stopping the behavior or not - is disruptive. And as a parent, your responsibility is the well being of your child. If your infant child is incapable of handling a high stress social situation, it is your responsibility to remove your child from that situation. Unfortunately, your social life goes on hold in many ways when you are the parent of a small child. It doesn't last forever.)

I didn't hear about this story firsthand. A friend reposted the link. As did many others. A relatively small circle of people suddenly grew into a huge group of people with most now having a strong negative opinion of the restaurant. Social media travels fast. Impossibly fast.

The best way to avoid negative publicity is to not do something that will cause it. Never complain about customers, even on your personal social media pages. If a customer is unhappy, make them happy. No matter what. It is far easier and less expensive to give away a few meals than to have to undo catastrophic damage. If you're at fault, make it right. Make the solution exceed the problem. Make the customer remember the solution.

Branding versus Targeted Advertising

Business owners tend to want an immediate return on their investment. Who can blame them? Most consumer-facing businesses operate on a quid-pro-quo basis. Goods or services are exchanged for compensation, usually within a short time frame. This is the way business is done, after all. Why should marketing be any different?

Marketing works on a more glacial timeline. A majority of your company's marketing budget will never see a clear return on the investment. This portion of your marketing budget is called "branding". This represents the ethereal, intangible "brand identity" that's created by repetition of a single message. Creating a brand identity takes patience. And consistency. The trick is repetition. The same message, across as many venues as you can afford, targeting your audience.

Soft drink companies are good examples of how to create brand identity. By repeating their message over and over again, it burns itself into your mind. When you're ready to purchase a drink, the brand has stuck with you and you make your buying decision based on the brand awareness the soft drink company has implanted in you by repeating their message. Otherwise known as "top-of-mind recognition", establishment of a brand identity means that, when your customer is ready to buy, yours is the first name they think of.

Targeted advertising, on the other hand, can be thought of as a time limited event. For instance, a one-day-only sale moves only items that are on sale. An event around a holiday can drive short-term traffic to your business but is not likely to create loyal customers. Direct, time limited advertising has a strong place in any marketing plan. However, relying too heavily on this immediate traffic with sales and limited time items will cheapen your brand. Companies that are always having sales will be viewed as the discount store - and cause potential customers to only shop the sales.

Establishing a brand identity allows your business to build a reputation all the time, not just when you're trying to move overstocked merchandise.

A brand identity consists of a logo or wordmark, a consistent color scheme, consistent font choices and additional peripheral items - an informational website, store signage (both inside and out), vehicle signage, salesperson apparel, printed materials, giveaway items and anything else that puts your business name in front of the public without directly asking for their business. Clearly state what you do, what sets you apart and why you understand your customer's needs better than your competition.

Consistency. Patience. Repetition. It's how businesses create their identities.