Purple Diamond Marketing Blog

Having worked in TV advertising for many years I recognized the importance to getting your complete message out with only 30 seconds. Yes, TV can have shorter and longer ads and even infomercials that are 30 or 60 minutes long, but the majority of TV commercials are 30 seconds. But what about a video for your website, what is the best length for that message?

My standard answer to this question is to keep the video short so that you do not lose your audience and have them leaving your site to go somewhere else. Try to keep all video on your site to 2 to 3 minutes at the most. If you have a longer video, ask the producer to see if he can edit it to several shorter lengths and use it throughout your site. Try to put yourself in the chair of the consumer and see if you would honestly be interested in the video. If there are parts that drag on your video or it is not of the quality you would like to see, take the extra time to get the video message clear before posting it. This is not the best time to call in amateurs to do your video. I highly recommend you connect with a professional and have the quality that reflects your business image or hold off on adding video until your budget allows for it to be done well. Rates for video can vary widely so do some price shopping and look closely at what the producer has done for past videos.

Finally, once you have your video be sure to post it to as many places on-line as possible so that you are getting the most for your efforts. YouTube, Facebook, and any other site that allows you to upload your video message should be considered since it is how you will draw attention to your product.

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Many of us would not be in business if we did not know how to ask for a customer’s order, but how many business owners realize the importance of asking people to subscribe to your newsletter, read your blog or follow you on Twitter and Facebook? Nancy Black of Organization Plus used her 30 second elevator speech at this morning’s North Shore Business Forum networking meeting to ask the members to please sign-up for her newsletter since she is trying to reach a goal in her newsletter subscriber count before the New Year. YAY! Great job Nancy.

Often we forget to “ASK” for help from the people we network with every day. We create fans pages on Facebook and sign-up for Twitter and create great content for our newsletters and blogs, but we do not think to ask the people closest to us to please follow us and sign-up for our newsletters. Organization Plus needs your help in breaking their subscriber count goal for their monthly newsletter and I am choosing to blog about it because I like to support people who are not afraid to ask for help.

How are you growing your on-line networking? Are you thinking outside the box in building a following and do you see how valuable that following is for your business? This is not a time to sit on the sidelines and watch others build their business and continue to procrastinate on your own. Be smart and connect with as many people as possible and share with the world why your services are essential to their life!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

In good years your company was able to offer holiday bonus money and raises, but this year you have a hold on everything and your team is being asked to do more work than ever before because of lay-offs, how do you keep your workers motivated? History shows that employees who feel unappreciated and not compensated for all their work will be looking for new positions when the economy improves, but you, as the business owner, know your business will not make it if you start to hand out raises and bonuses while sales are down. So, how do you keep people smiling without the added cash?

Being honest with your employees about the current financial situation and asking them to help you allows them to feel like they are part of the team. Ask them for their help and ideas on how to improve sales and cut costs and be direct about adding back raises and bonus money when the company is doing better. When you include your staff you help to build trust and loyalty, but be sure to give the raises and bonus money when things improve. Also, be careful of wasteful spending and extravagant business trips and luncheons during these lean times because it does have a way of making your employees question if you are really being truthful about the financial picture.

If you have a holiday party every year outside the office, but this year you cannot afford the expensive event, consider having a pizza party and allow your staff to dress casual for the day and have a Yankee Swap of gifts at a reasonable price. Free food is something that the last company I worked for used quite often to make the work place more fun. We had Friday breakfast every week and cakes for birthdays. It was not the best place to lose weight at, but it did make people happier and feel more like a family.

Beyond saying thank-you’s to your employees for their efforts, you might want to offer time off as a way to give the employee the feeling that they are recognized for their efforts when raises are not in the budget. This can be tricky if you are working with a smaller staff, but if you look at days around holidays that might be lighter for your business, this could be a perfect time to let people leave work early or take the entire day off. Also, don’t be shy about stepping in to other positions and doing their work if possible. Nothing says that a position is important like when the owner is willing to be the receptionist and answers the phone all day. This might even be an excellent time to consider giving awards to recognize the efforts of your staff in some way since you do not have a bonus to offer. Take the time to know the employee so that when you hand them a certificate of acknowledgment in front of their peers you are able to compliment them on a job well done.

There are many things you can do to improve the mood in your business during a time in which there are no holiday bonus or raises, but these are just a few suggestions. Please share your own and tell us about what you are doing this holiday season for your staff.

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

This weekend I braved the malls to do some people watching and check out the sales. As my husband and I managed to work our way in to the local Best Buy store, I bumped in to another shopper in the crowded aisle. She was very pleasant and we joked about hearing that there was a rumor about a recession, but by the looks of the long line at the register and the crowds, you would never believe the reports. Holiday gift giving, a tradition that I have grown up with and my children see as the norm of what you do in December. Maybe people scaled down the quantity or the amount they will spend, but that is why advertising during tough times is so important. The big box stores understand this and that is why they invest in air time on TV, radio, mailers, and aggressive on-line campaigns. But what can a small business do to be sure to get their share of shoppers?

Beyond my first choices of doing a targeted cable TV campaign in your direct area and advertising on a few local radio stations, you can still draw people to your business in other ways. Getting involved in the community holiday festivities through your chamber organization and hosting an event at your store will offer an opportunity for a press release about the event and attract potential shoppers who come to the event. Also, if the city zoning allows your store front to have holiday balloons and signs out front be sure to add them, along with decorative holiday lights and wreaths around your store window so that when people drive by they notice your place and want to stop in. If you lack the holiday spirit and your store reflects that, it is tough to motivate shoppers to spend money for gifts with you. This also applies to your website. Have your web designer add some festive colors and bold sale signs to your landing pages so that a person remains in the holiday frame of mind when they visit your site on-line. Make purchasing on-line simple and with the least number of steps as possible and have your phone number on all your web pages. Also, if you have a monthly email newsletter that you send to your current client base, be sure to add a coupon for savings as a way to thank them and draw them to your business. Remember to smile and be friendly and add a bowl of candy at your counter if possible. You want to make sure that when people are in your store they have a great experience and ask them to tell their friends to stop in, too.

Happy Selling!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Yesterday was one of those days in which the world was rushed and not everyone was offering the best customer service. Since I start my day with coffee, the local coffee shop sees me quite often and handles my order of Pumpkin flavored coffee at their drive thru window. Unfortunately, the beloved pumpkin was replaced with regular coffee and I did not discover this til I was back at my office. Right then I knew it was going to be THAT type of day. And, sure enough when I stopped by the bank to deposit a check and get some cash back I was treated poorly by a teller who was not too thrilled to be working this week. This was followed by being cut off in the parking lot by a driver who just had to be 2 seconds ahead of me in traffic. So, what does this have to do with marketing and why am I blogging about it today? Well, the local coffee shop needs to be applauded for “doing the right thing” and apologizing today for yesterday’s error and giving me a coffee for free. I had not mentioned the mistake for that since I had my money in hand to pay for the coffee today, but just wanted to be sure that I received “pumpkin”. The clerk was excellent and so was the manager who also chose to come over and apologize for the minor mistake. WOW, I was so impressed by their excellent customer service this morning that I am writing this now in my blog! And this is an important lesson to us all about customer retention and building your brand of being the “best” in your business for customer service. Doing the right thing when you make a mistake or if a customer is hurt by your rude behavior, apologizing  goes real far.

Had the bank clerk who waited on me yesterday chosen to be as gracious as the clerk from the coffee shop today, I might not be considering moving my account to another bank. [Note for local people reading my blog: I have 4 different banks I work with so I do not wish to do harm to any bank by stating which one it is, but it is easy for a business to get a negative comment on-line which could hurt their business and that is why I am blogging about the importance of good customer service.] When you are considering your budget this year for marketing and advertising please do not forget the little day to day things that might be losing you business. Customer service and doing the right thing for your loyal customers will go further than an expensive ad campaign. Of course, choosing to offer great service [that means closely monitoring ALL the people who work for you] along with a strong marketing and advertising campaign will get you the best results!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my loyal blog readers and clients!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

November and December are two big months for advertising because of the holiday sales, but they are also important months for businesses to talk advertising strategy for the New Year. How many times have you had a media sales rep contact you about placing an ad in the paper or on radio and they tell you that the rate is a special discounted rate, but you need to sign-up immediately? Hit or miss decisions of how and when to buy your advertising is not the best way to market your business. An advertising agency or specialist can help you to see the importance of advertising planning and can negotiate rates that you might not get if you try to buy media directly.

What do you need to know to develop an advertising plan? First, you need to have a marketing goal. The goal is simply what you want to accomplish or what percent increase in sales have you set for a goal. If you are unsure of what this amount is then I highly recommend working with an accountant or a business planner who can share some insight on what is a realistic goal for your business. If you have no idea of what your sales goals are it is like playing a game of baseball, but never keeping score. Yes, you will be selling, but it will be without direction and this often leads to wasted energy and money.

So, developing a strategy for your advertising needs to include who you are trying to reach, what you want to say to them, how and when you are going to reach them and why you have chosen the steps you have selected. I applaud anyone for taking steps to advertise their business, but for the businesses that want to grow faster than their competitors it requires designing and sticking to an advertising plan. Know who you are trying to reach, your target market. An advertising specialist can assist you on how to determine your target market and which media choices will reach that target audience. Television, radio, magazines, newspaper, direct mail, coupons, outdoor media which includes billboards and messages on transit transportation and the internet are all media choices for advertising, but depending on whom your target market is and your budget will help to determine which ones make the most sense for your business. Knowing when to reach that targeted audience and how to time your advertising is also very important.

The two types of advertising schedules that most people have heard of are “continuous schedule” where you choose to advertise the product throughout the year where seasonal factors or demand do not directly affect the business. An example of this could be an Insurance Agency who is open all year and is not a seasonal business. The other advertising schedule is called a “flight schedule” where the advertising is distributed unevenly throughout the year because of seasonal demand, promotions, or introducing a new product. A ski resort that is only open seasonally for a few months per year or a political candidate who is running for office would choose a flight schedule over an annual continuous schedule.

After you have completed an advertising plan it is key to have a way to measure how the plan worked. This can be difficult to measure with some forms of media, but you can do a random research sample by asking people how they heard about you or your product or you could employ the use of different phone numbers or codes on your advertisement coupons so you can track which advertising source was effective. If you do not use a coupon with your business the last way of measuring your results might be to look at the activity level before the advertising campaign and how many sales, visitors and calls increased from the previous year without advertising.

So, as you approach the holiday season and look to the New Year, be sure that your business has created an effective advertising plan that will bring you the success you deserve!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

So you are about to embark on a new business venture or maybe you are choosing to “recreate” your existing one, are you struggling with writing the content for your website or brochure? Relax, this is not a doctoral thesis, great marketing is when your message is understood, remembered and motivates me to take action by contacting you and purchasing your goods and services. “Simply said” main points that are highlighted or set off with bullet points, along with graphics and photos will enhance your message and make it easier for me to read and quickly understand what your message is and hopefully get me to call.

The trend for less content writing for a website or marketing material is great news for people who struggle with writing. Even short press releases are selected over lengthy versions because most papers and media outlets are pressed for time and do not have space for a long story. Less is better; create a message using the least number of words so that your message is heard by a larger audience who most likely consist of people who will only give you a short amount of time to capture their attention. Most people stay on a web page for 3 to 5 seconds so make sure your message jumps out and if you do incorporate video, keep it short and eye catching. Remember, a great picture conveys a message far better than words so get clever with your digital camera or call in a professional photographer to help you tell your story in pictures and use them whenever possible. Proper lighting of camera shots will make your products look better so be sure that you are getting the results you want from your marketing material.

When you are creating your website or company brochure try to put yourself in the seat of a potential customer. Remember that most customers are not usually looking to spend money and they often are short on time, so offer a clear message that will quickly offer the benefits of your product, what the perceived value of the product is and how it will satisfy their needs. Show photos of people using your product and wherever possible, include short testimonials. Keep your marketing message clear and “simple”!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

My blog is around a month old and I decided to create my own blog so I could see for myself how well this form of marketing works. It is one thing to read reports about a new marketing product, but it is another to see firsthand what my client’s potential experience would be by starting a blog. My short experience with this form of marketing has been positive for the most part. I am getting tons of unique clicks, many loyal readers who come daily and I am developing a following in my own business by mentioning my blog at a few different business groups. How would I know they read my blog? They actually email me or mention my blog when I see them at a networking event. The blogging itself does require a strong commitment to create new topics on a regular basis, but it has been rewarding in that it offers me a place to easily add the content I am missing on my website and to share my thoughts with a target audience that is interested in business marketing. So, why have I written the phrase “spam marketing” in this title? Well, if you are the person who is the administrator to your blog then you most likely know what I am referring to. Each day I get a significant number of spam comments either to do with selling some type of drug or sharing a triple rated site. YUCK! I asked my IT specialist to look in to this for me and find out what I can add to my blog to keep these spam sites from attacking my blog every day, but the marketing person in me is laughing. If I wasn’t interested the last 50 times I deleted you, what makes you think today would be any different? Now, I do get that this is an automated process, but I have to note that these spammers could teach all of us about “perseverance” and not giving up on trying to “sell”! Though they are an annoyance for me, I do applaud their tenacity and we can learn something from their marketing strategy……..post comments on popular blogs or targeted blogs in your field so that anyone reading it can click on your own name and have it go back to your site. If what you post as a comment is interesting or insightful, it could be an easy way to get known and drive traffic to your own business. So, if you read my blog and you want to add a comment and your business isn’t pushing drugs or naked people, but you have a business that you are trying to market then do not be shy and let us hear from YOU!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

If you watched a football game on Sunday in which both teams came out in all different colored uniforms instead of one “team” uniform, would it be difficult to distinguish who was on which team and which team you wanted to route for? Keeping your business image [business logo, company name, tag-line, color used on marketing materials and website] consistent and your marketing message clear is how consumers will set you apart from your competitors and will connect with you in future years.

When I meet a client for an initial meeting I often ask them to show me what they have used in the past for marketing materials. We look at the website, business cards, brochures if they have them and anything that a potential client or current customer may see. That includes and email signature and company letterhead. If there has been an advertising agency or marketing firm affiliated with the client, there is a good chance that most of the materials carry the identity of the company in a consistent way. However, if the business has not had the expertise of a professional who understands how valuable it is to have all materials uniformed with their logo, Company Name, color & fonts, and tagline consistent, then we work on developing the “uniform” for their business and helping the consumer to see them, do business with them and remember where to reach them for future sales.

So, does your business have a consistent “uniform”? Quick check is to look to see if your business cards, letterhead, email signature and website all have the same logo, colors, tagline and fonts for the lettering of your business name. If you have a blue business card, but your website is brown and most of your marketing material is red…..YIKES, call me! That is equal to needing a trip to the emergency room because you have several broken limbs. You might have had a business that survived without consistent image and marketing materials, but look at the most successful businesses today and you will be able to identify their logo and products just by the packaging and taglines they use so why fight having this for your own business?

Increase the odds for success and contact a marketing or advertising agency to help you create your business identity and marketing message!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

Have you ever met an “Energy Vampire”? These people walk among us and may look like us, but after one meeting with an energy vampire you will see what they are great at…..stealing your energy and leaving you exhausted for the rest of the day. Often when you ask an Energy Vampire how their day is, they will reply in a monotone voice about every problem they have encountered in just the morning and by the time they start to tell you about their afternoon you want to jump out the nearest window. Now that might sound extreme, but the point I want to make to business owners is that you must be careful to avoid negative people and if you are in a negative mood, do NOT share with your staff or customers. Find a life coach or friend that you can be open with, but bring a positive attitude to your business daily and you will see that it is the greatest attribute your business can have!

I mentioned this tip to a group of local business owners who attended a Marketing Breakfast Seminar talk that I gave today for the Beverly Chamber. “Stay positive!” No matter what is happening behind the scenes at your business, always smile and stay positive. People worry about doing business with struggling companies because they may not be around if there is a problem with a product later. Lead by example. If you believe in your product….others will follow! And, when you meet business people in the community and at networking groups, if you find that someone is draining all your energy or their negative talk is creeping in to how you see your own business, limit your contact with them.

This also holds true to social networking on-line, be sure that you are representing your business in a positive light and that you are not using these places as a place to vent about your problems. It is ok to connect in a fun way with others, but be sure your comment is coming across as comical and not something that someone may misinterpret as serious. If you are not sure how your post will be received it is better to be cautious and write something else. The same goes with posting on Twitter or Facebook a link that is very controversial or negative, not a good idea. If you are using on-line social networking sites to help your business and you are someone who posts about politics, religion or any other topic that can divide people in to groups “for” and “against”, my best advice is to avoid these topics and look for more positive messages to share.

Remember, avoid “Energy Vampires” and surround yourself around “Positive People” and watch your business grow!

All my best to your success!
~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”