For a small business, it’s never too late for “social” outreach (And it’s crucial for new customers.)

No business owner in his or her right mind would spend money on something that didn’t offer a return on investment. Yet in my research on established small-to-medium sized businesses, I am continually surprised at how many of these businesses have ignored or underused social media.

I do understand the thinking. Social media can seem so extraneous, time consuming and downright confusing. Facebook entries? Do a weekly blog? On what? And what exactly is Pinterest?

Social/Digital advertising options: the choices are intimidating. (Business Insider.)

For the experienced business owner who’s been in his or her local market for 20 or 30 years, traditional media placements, mastery of product knowledge and a devotion to high levels of customer service have worked pretty well. Why change now?

The simple answer is that consumer behavior and attitudes change over time. Yes, most of your older, previous customers will still come back to you to shop. Maybe. And by being local, you will gain some new customers. Perhaps.

The problem is your store's bottom line can't absorb this hopeful attitude, at least not for long. Truth is, many more new likely customers are already accustomed to the presence and power of social media, and their buying behavior has already changed.

Today’s younger affluents grew up with Google search, know they can always find a “30 percent off” coupon online, and geo-targeted web ads delivered to their home computer or laptop tells them who is really interested in them. All consumers today have grown skeptical of advertising claims, and lean much more on the opinions and customer experiences of people just like them. If they are not praising you and your products to their friends, don’t expect their friends to choose you over your social-media friendly competitor.

Do you really want to miss out on the hundreds or thousands of “likely” customers every year?

At this point, I know what you’re thinking. The social media landscape is still young, and what it looks like today won’t be what it looks like tomorrow. Business Insider recently published a graphic showing all the “digital and social marketing” options out there. You can’t do them all, and certainly some of them are a waste of time and money for your situation.

E-commerce/web search expert Jay Wilner, of Kansas City's own Out of Bounds Communications, puts the new opportunities into perspective. "Social commerce is where it's at. It's a great way to build your brand. This is the new word-of-mouth. Set up Facebook, Google+ and Twitter accounts. Integrate Facebook widgets into your web site so people can share your products and your information with friends. It's like a cocktail party."

But the purpose of this blog is to get more of your current customers spending more money with you, and new customers coming to you for what they need. So let me throw out a few general ideas that will do just that.

• If you don’t have web site that you have a personal stake in developing, do it now. About 50 percent of all shoppers do web searches before they make a purchase. 
• Start a Facebook site. It’s free and the potential for it to grow exponentially is too good a prospect to ignore.
• At least once a quarter, post a short “how to” video on YouTube.
• Once or twice a year, send out a zip code based direct-to-the-neighborhood postcard or web ad to show the range of services and products you have, and to publicize your web site for later reference.
• If you use traditional advertising (print/radio/TV/direct mail), take a percentage out of that and put it toward a web search effort that puts you on the first page of a Google search.
• Reach out to another retail company across the street and come up with a co-marketing deal, allowing their customers to spend a few more minutes shopping with you. (Example: you’re a hardware store, and across the street is a custom-cut meat store that grills brats and hamburgers outdoors on weekends. You have their coupon and they have yours.

To miss out on the promise of social media via a re-balancing of your promotions thinking is akin to the 1940s comment of IBM CEO Thomas Watson, Sr.: “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”

Seems pretty silly now, right?

Passion + Knowledge + Execution = Smarter Marketing

As a lifelong advertising creative (writer/producer and creative services manager), I know there is a fine line between product success and failure. For success, one has to know the need and develop an approach that reaches its full potential with its target audience.

So it’s a bit of a cliché to boil it all down to a formula, but allow me some latitude to introduce one that makes sense: Passion + Knowledge + Execution = Smarter Marketing.

Recently, I discovered a solid example. It’s a very small company addressing a “found” need for a very specific niche audience. The company is Main Street Dream Makers, LLC, created by Gordon Wolfgang, a life-long musician with a B.S. in Industrial Engineering and long executive career with British Telecom and Electronic Data Systems. 

The product is the Wolfgang TELEMONITOR. It’s an elegantly simple solution to a problem faced by club and professional musicians around the world: during an on-stage performance, how do you ensure a non-flub set when you have an extensive song catalog? 

Sure, the easy answer is full memorization of all chords and lyrics. But as Gordon explains, “When the crowd knows your song, and you don’t, that’s a problem.”

The problem accelerates as people age. Healthy Living reports that between the ages of 30 and 70, “the brain produces 15 to 20 percent of the chemicals that send messages between neurons. This combination brings on normal memory lapses such as the misplaced handbag." Or for a performer, a long-remembered lyric just disappears. So for a musician on stage, it’s human physiology in its most naked form.

How big is the problem? Big. In a February article from The Washington Post it’s revealed that even Bruce Springsteen uses a little prompting help on-stage. In an article in Modern Acoustic, writer Paul Farhi reveals that Paul McCartney has a prompter built into his piano.

Meanwhile, leave it to Gordon Wolfgang to realize that out of his passion (musician/lyricist) and knowledge (Industrial Engineering and Information Technology Delivery), there ought to be a much more elegant solution to a clean on-stage performance than music stands and custom-manufactured solutions. After all, the thrust of Gordon’s degree and work experience as a Delivery Executive with British Telecom and Electronic Data Systems over 30 years, centered on delivering effective business solutions. Why not apply those talents and interests to this problem?

The Wolfgang Telemonitor

Like all entrepreneurs, Gordon’s vision for the eventual product was clear, even if the product was yet to be. With his engineering talents and awareness of musician needs and wants, Gordon created a prototype that not only displayed lyrics, chords and set lists but did it in an on-stage cabinet (with the perfect 38-degree viewing angle for the monitor) that looked precisely like an audio monitor. Control pedals (just like guitar effects pedals) allow performers to make selections on-the-fly. Because of its design, the unit’s presence never gets in the way of the performance. 

Anyone could have come up with the basic idea, but it took a musician at heart to design it. “If I wouldn’t use it on stage, I don’t use it in the Wolfgang TELEMONITOR,” Gordon says.

Also unique, and important, in the product development process was the use of many widely available components, such as ACER monitors, and sourcing out a local cabinet maker for the cases, all of which kept costs down. 

“I cobbled one together in November 1999, and then made some improvements in several prototypes over the next 10 years” Gordon says. “Then I got serious and built one with an eye to commercial distribution. I built three and posted advertisements for them on E-Bay.”  Within three months, Gordon had sold two through E-Bay and another through a referral. Demonstrating his product at musician conferences such as NAMM (National Association of Music Manufacturers) a year later also proved the interest in his “elegant” solution was in line with reality.

In early 2010 he launched his corporate web site, developed product materials, and engaged in online keyword search advertising. He also began to get referrals from satisfied customers. From there, the Wolfgang TELEMONITOR gained sales speed. By February 2012, more than 100 of the units could now be found  (discreetly) on stage.

The best news, though, is that the need smartly extends to today's well-known classic rockers. There, Gordon's big idea and unique execution is on the mark.

Because of confidentially agreements, we can't reveal them here. But think "I Write the Songs," Hot Blooded," and "Lucky Man," among others ... and you get the picture of just who is purchasing the Wolfgang TELEMONITOR.

Gordon Wolfgang has done more than create a new product that satisfies a need. His story offers a constructive case history for true success in business: passion + knowledge + execution = smarter marketing.

And who wouldn't want a testimonial like this?

“When I first started exploring the idea of a teleprompter, I went online shopping through literally 20-30 sites including Amazon and Ebay. I just didn’t like the idea of people seeing I was using a teleprompter and all of them looked like a teleprompter. Awkward and in your face, as well as the audiences.So when I landed on the Wolfgang TELEMONITOR site I was very surprised to see that I was instantly looking at what I saw in my head that I needed. A teleprompter that didn’t look like a teleprompter.  I can program basically any song, or script I use on this thing and see it from anywhere on stage during the show.  Even my band members are using it for back-up vocals.”

Joseph Alexander Wraith
Professional Rocker
Phoenix, AZ

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Michael Johnson Creative Company
www.MichaelJohnsonCreativeCompany.com

Fed Ex Office vs. UPS: Who’ll win the “Print Here” War?

First, thanks to all of you who commented on my exploration of the insurance coverage battle. I noted that the so-called “cut-rate” car insurance carriers like Geiko and Progressive had forced traditional insurance companies like Allstate, Farmers and American Family to discover new approaches to getting customers.

In looking at the marketing and media action steps, I concluded Allstate, with its personification of  “mayhem happens,” best hit the mark. Check out Allstate: "Lawn Mayhem." In 2012, new commercials following the same theme have hit the TV market.

Leaving that market segment alone for now, there’s a new battle brewing. Are you ready for the “printing services” battle between co-behemoths the UPS Store (a division of UPS) and Federal Express Office (a division of Fed Ex)? 

If you haven’t noticed, the economic downturn since 2008, combined with costs associated with having in-house communications and printing, have led corporate America to turn to specialists like the UPS Store (franchise stores) and Federal Express Office (corporate centers) for printing, copying and signage services.

From the UPS Store

From Fed Ex Office

So now the game is on, literally. Since the start of the 2012 NCAA basketball tournament, the UPS store has been touting its familiar  “We are logistics” theme (more comment on that, later), and combining this umbrella thrust with a targeted, product appeal centered around 25-cent color copies.

Clearly, the impetus here is to capture more of the growing outsourced printing market. 

The UPS Store in 2011 ran commercials during the NCAA basketball tournament offering discounted printing and copying. No doubt counting on the high viewership (especially males) during this period, The UPS Store is again pushing the “use us” concept and providing an incentive to do that. For review, check out UPS: "Logistics", and UPS: "How Do I Do That?".

Last fall and winter, FedEx Office set the scene for a positioning battle via a series of national TV commercials, too. FedEx Office plays off its reputation as an efficient shipper in one TV spot and adds awareness of its expanding number of services to businesses in FedEx Office: "Witness Protection." Also check out FedEx Office: "All Nighter" and FedEx Office: "Half Pipe". The emphasis is that Fed Ex delivers solutions in every service sector in which it is involved.

Fed Ex took over the Kinkos locations in 2004 and re-branded its Fed Ex Kinkos locations as Fed Ex Office centers in 2008, and since then has made progress in its move for increased market share. Check out 2007's FedEx Kinkos: "Office Meeting.". That's a good spot. But for a lot of reasons beyond creative execution, the the public has not yet fully connected "FedEx Office" as the top-of-mind successor to the entrenched "Kinkos" brand, even though the overall Fed Ex brand is as strong as they come. 

My advertising and marketing intuition, backed by 25 years of experience in advertising agency and corporate communications, tells me the Fed Ex Office approach of depicting its 1,800 centers as places to get “business solutions” is reaching the right “need it now” mind set of today’s business customers. The commercials convey a serious message, but deliver the right mix of whimsy at the same time – much the same as the Allstate insurance commercials did.

Now, back to my earlier comment about the UPS Store approach. I continue to be puzzled by The UPS Store’s leaning toward its broad theme of “We are Logistics.” Logistics? I can’t imagine a higher yawn factor for business execs who are so focused on cutting costs and finding more faster and more efficient delivery of services these days.

In Kansas City, FedEx Office went public
with its 29 cent color copies promotion
March 19.

Sure, one can extrapolate that better logistics translates into more effective delivery and a better understanding of today’s business needs, but why tout a “feature,” when you can illustrate it faster and clearer with direct examples of speed and competency? That, I believe, it the degree of difference between the UPS Store approach (logistics) and the FedEx Office execution (business solutions.)

Rumor also has it that FedEx Office is upping the ante in this entire conversation by testing out an awareness campaign with steep discounts for walk-in copying and signage and banner products. FedEx Office will be promoting 29-cent color copies in several regions, staring in late March. So check out your local FedEx Office center over the next few weeks – you just may find some of the best “business solutions” deals of the year.

Opinions aside, the marketplace will judge the marketing executions of FedEx Office and The UPS Store.

For you, which one wins the war?