Our Monmouth Blog

There seems to be a very big buzz about Twitter lately. I have always been skeptical about how much time should be invested in these types of tools. Time is always at a premium when you plan how you want to invest outside of the walls of your business. In spite of that you may want to do some experimenting with Twitter as part of your Internet Marketing Plan.

Recently Aaron Wall of SEO Book blogged “Are you Using Twitter Yet”? Yes, Aaron and so is Barack Obama and John McCain conversely no Hillary Rodham Clinton. Could that be the difference? Probably not but there may be something to Twitter.

Darren Rowse of Problogger helped shed some more light on Twitter. In Darren’s March 25th post he tells us “How I Use Twitter to Promote my Blog”. Darren is not is only a great teacher but he also really knows how to leverage these tools. Since I am Twitter subscriber to both Aaron and Darren I was able to see how the best in the business use these tools to promote, market, and network. Darren uses it to engage his subscribers with questions that help guide content and direction for his blog as well at promote recent posts and his other blogs. As business owners I think there is a potential opportunity to apply this tool for business promotion.

I had to go directly to Twitters website to answer some basic questions about Twitter. The following was taken directly from Twitters FAQs:

What is it?
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing? Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!

How do I use it?
Tell us what you’re doing in 140 characters or less! Send your thoughts, observations, and goings-on in your day. Whether you’re “eating an apple” or “looking forward to the weekend” or “Heading out of town” it’s twitter-worthy. Join us here. All of your personal information including your phone number is, of course, confidential.

But… what is the point?
As it turns out, your best friend is probably interested in knowing if you’re “loving the new Radiohead album.” And yes, your Mom may want to know if you’re “skipping breakfast in favor of a latte.” You might want to know if your significant other “feels like taking a road trip.” Find out what your friends are doing; keep each other abreast of your quotidian rituals.

Here are some ideas:

Are you a restaurant owner?
Use Twitter to tell about daily specials and events. Or maybe even ask you best patrons what they want for dinner tonight?

Own a retail store?
How about using twitter to promote an Internet only special event. You could also use Twitter to link to special coupons.

The bottom line is as a business owner will anyone care what you are eating for breakfast or if you love the latest Radiohead album? No, but I think there are some opportunities for creative business owners to use Twitter to promote and communicate with your clients and prospects.

I’m IMNJ on Twitter.

Check it out for yourself and let me know how you use Twitter!

Best Wishes!

3/31: Correction As Hart pointed out Hillary does have a Twitter account. Frankly, I can not explain why at the time when I did several Twitter searches I did not find the presidential hopeful.

Email is a powerful but often underestimated marketing tool. According to a Direct Marketing Association report the ROI of all non-email online marketing is $22.52 compared to the estimated ROI for email marketing of $57.25 for every dollar spent. In another relevant report Silverpop CEO Bill Nussey detailed that Email marketing is twice as effective yet only 2.5% of businesses have marketing budget is allocated to email. This represents a huge opportunity and potential competitive advantage.

Despite valid concerns about spam, email is the consumers preferred medium for receiving information. Make no mistake about it spam is a legitimate marketing concern and consumer nuisance. It is estimated that an astonishing 62 billion spam message are sent event day. For email marketing to be effective your business message must get delivered to its target audience.

It not enough to have the message delivered to an email address. The message must be professional, compelling, timely, and with a call to action. Using opted in email address or rented lists must be done with purpose. If email are poorly planned and designed they can do more harm than good to your brand and reputation.

Best Wishes!

I must give credit to the marketing genius that thought this up. Invite some 2,000 brides to be to a sale with reported savings in the thousands of dollars. The story reported in The Star-Ledger makes it a success. The Internet buzz it created only furthers the potential of this marketing opportunity. It doesn’t matter if you love it or hate it as we should all learn from it.

The report describes the frenzy:

“As the doors to the store in the Bergen Town Center mall opened sharply at 8 a.m., hundreds of hootin’ and howlin’ women and the friends and family they brought along stormed racks of wedding gowns on sale for savings in the thousands of dollars.

In less than a minute, the racks were stripped bare as some 2,000 wedding gowns were carried off into the aisles to be quickly tried on by scantily-clad brides-to-be wearing sports bras, shorts, tights or bathing suits.”

Any business would benefit from this type of attention. I am fairly certain this will also get the added benefit of TV coverage in addition to the print and blog buzz it already received. Now that is what I call maximizing an opportunity.

Best Wishes!

Announcement:
The OurMonmouth.com directory has everything you need for a fabulous wedding including a local list of bridal boutiques.

When was the last time you did a quality browser test on your website? It may be more important now than ever before. According to the February ‘08 W3Schools Browser Statistics Firefox(Fx) continues to gain market share over both IE6 and IE7. Thats right, I said old IE6 and you may have more users hitting your site with this past version browser than you think.

For those that are unfamiliar with Firefox it is a fantastic alternative to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It is significantly easier to use and has many features and plug-ins that advanced users want.

I have always stressed the importance of having robust reporting on your website. Now is a good time to do another review and make sure that your site is optimized for the browsers your visitors are using. I would suggest using a service like browsercam if you don’t have access to the top three browsers.

Unexpected negative results within your website is a credibility killer. Credibility is key to earning trust especially with new users. You have less than three seconds to make an online impression and we all need to make sure our best foot is forward.

While the Internet has done incredible things for society it is not without negative consequences. People get lured into a false sense of security and anonymity on the Internet. Every time you go on the Internet you leave a trail of where you have been and where you are going. What terms are you searching for, what web sites you visit. For a marketer this is a goldmine.

Here is just one scenario. Imagine you search for the term “newborn” and visit a few sites. A few days later a packet arrives in your mailbox with coupons for diapers and formula. This is just one non-threatening example but the possibilities are endless.

I recently read an article in the New York Times titled A Company Promises the Deepest Data Mining Yet by Louise Story. The title alone made me cringe. The article goes on to say

“Amid debate over how much data companies like Google and Yahoo should gather about people who surf the Web, one new company is drawing attention — and controversy — by boasting that it will collect the most complete information of all.”
“The company, called Phorm, has created a tool that can track every single online action of a given consumer, based on data from that person’s Internet service provider. The trick for Phorm is to gain access to that data, and it is trying to negotiate deals with telephone and cable companies, like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast, that provide broadband service to millions.”

If that is not bad enough in the interview the COO goes on to say with swagger

“As you browse, we’re able to categorize all of your Internet actions,” said Virasb Vahidi, the chief operating officer of Phorm. “We actually can see the entire Internet.”

The fact that I am in the Industry has left me with some serious doubts and concerns about my data. Data is such a nice term but when you boil it down it is my personal information. The companies that have this information have a responsibility to the consumer but need to answer to their shareholders and board members. Can we trust them to do the right thing and not sell our personal information?

If the past is a good predictor of the future we should all have our doubts.

I felt horrible when I read this Star Ledger article about a robbery and arson of a West Caldwell Pizzeria. The below excerpt is taken from the report:

A group of men robbed a West Caldwell pizzeria owner early this morning, then beat him before tying him up and setting the shop on fire, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The report goes on to say

… two West Caldwell police officers were injured rescuing the restaurant owner, who was not identified. The prosecutor’s office could not confirm that and West Caldwell police would not comment.

As if tough competition is not enough, issues like shop-lifting, internal theft, bad checks, credit card fraud, are sure to make any business owner cringe. As business owners we need to always be aware and watching not only to protect our assets and business but to protect ourselves.

Unfortunately these types of events are something that we all need to be prepared for. Having a alarm and video surveillance is a great deterrent. These types of systems are not cheap but what is the price of peace of mind worth? We all work very hard to make a living and need to take steps to protect ourselves.

In a recent press release Google Inc., the world’s leading search engine, said “it was concerned about the free flow of information on the Internet if Microsoft Corp. were to succeed in acquiring Yahoo Inc…….“. If this is not hypocrisy than what is?

If there ever was a company that in theory could control the free flow of information it is Google. Yes that darling little company we all love and praise has the potential to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In a fantastic article written in Feb 2006 Chris Taylor has the courage to start “Imagining the Google of the Future”. In the article Mr. Taylor asks

“What kind of company will Google become in the coming decades? Will it succumb to hubris and flame out like so many of its predecessors? Or will it grow into an omnipresent, omnipotent force–not just on Wall Street or the Web, but in society?”

There are obvious social and moral obligations to those that control the flow of information. There is also huge money and big business on the line. If you are a small local travel agent what are the odds you can compete for a highly competitive search term like “book a trip”. The odds are stacked against success for many reasons including funding, man-power, and technology. Top paid results always go to the highest bidder and natural search engine results are dominated by only the biggest corporations in the travel industry. Every time there is a shift in Google’s search engine algorithm top placements in competitive search terms will undoubtedly change hands. With such money and business on the line could Google give in to such temptation? I can dream up more than a few conspiracies.

Because of Google’s relevance and potential it has a great responsibility to the Age of Information. According to the comScore Core Search Report September 2007 Google sites process 57% of all search related traffic with Yahoo as the closest competition at 23.7%.There are no signs that Google’s continued dominance will slow in the coming years. There are many analysts that predict Google will gain up to a 70% market share.

It should be a concern to all that Google has made a point to clearly state its position against this merger. With so much at stake it will be interesting to watch the future unfold. We all need to consider these facts and how it could potentially impact us all personally in the future. It could influence the information your daughter or son finds for a research report or it may give your business competitor an advantage. On thing is certain, for the time being Google clearly is on top of the information food chain.

I recently had a fun night out with my wife. Our children were at a much anticipated sleep over at my sister in-laws and we went to the Borgata in Atlantic City. Our evening began with dinner at Bobby Flay Steak, and continued with the fine stand-up comedy of Lewis Black. We were both really looking forward to this long overdue time together. The weekend was fun and we had a great time with Lewis Black, but our dining experience at Bobby Flays was outstanding, and that got me thinking.

Bobby Flay has a marketing machine with his multiple food network shows, and he does not disappoint. Everything from the quality, preparation, and presentation of the food to the service and the décor combines for a world class experience. Bobby’s unique cooking style was prominent and the staff did a good job explaining the menu helping us make perfect selections. There really is a recipe to success and every business can apply it if you take these principles to heart.

The marketing. Yes, I understand not everyone is going to have multiple network TV shows, but your business plan must include a way to reach your target market. In Bobby’s case the food network is perfect to attract Bobby’s target market. It worked like a charm on me… As business owners we should look to identify inexpensive ways to reach our target market. Ads, newspapers and magazines in most cases are overpriced and less effective. A good marketing plan contains high ROI advertising opportunities that enable us to track results. From the results you can make small adjustments in plan along the way to refine and improve it.

The experience. My expectation for Bobby’s restaurant was very high. What made this meal special was that my already high expectation was exceeded. This is where many businesses go wrong. Client experience should not be taken for granted and must be paid attention to. All of our clients have a minimum set of standards they accept from businesses they are patrons of. Complaints and lack of repeat business occur when expectations are not met. When client expectations are exceeded good will, referrals, and people will talk (or blog) about you. This blog post is the direct result of exceeding my expectations. Can you think of a better ad? I wanted to share my fantastic experience with you. Now that is powerful marketing.

As business owners we need to think about our ingredients for success. Are we reaching our target market with our business message? Is our product or service unique? What makes doing business with us special? How do we service clients to create an exceptional experience? Think about the places you like to do business with. Where do you like to shop? Apply the lessons learned to your business and the sky is the limit.

Now if Bobby Flays Steak only served breakfast….

Best wishes.

ourmonmouth.com offers a local list of steak houses.

People like to be recognized for doing something good, employees are no different. Many successful organizations distribute awards for those who go above and beyond the task at hand.

When an employee does something extra, happily, not expecting an award, it’s a perfect opportunity to “reward” them. This is not the place for time off or a pay raise, but consider lottery tickets, restaurant gift cards, movie rentals or theater tickets, CD’s or take something from your promotional closet. Employees are proud to display the company name on shirts or desk items. Make a big presentation, to encourage others to do more than is expected. Consider instituting an employee of the month program, or a mention in your company newsletter or annual event (such as a picnic or holiday party).

Get more for your money – small rewards to employees will “reward” you in the long run.

Dawn is President of Daybreak Marketing Services, a promotional marketing company.