Two Hat Marketing -- Smart Marketing For Small Business

Are the businesses you do business with wearing you out with surveys?

I sent out a plea for help yesterday to all my BFFs. I asked that you fill out a very short survey to help me in an upcoming speech. (BTW, if you haven't done that and it's still before Oct 31, 2011 you can still help! Click this link and take the survey. It's about 3 minutes.)

I also received a lot of emails about people's feelings about the topic of my survey. Thank you very much! But then I received one survey from BFF Bud Hughes complaining of insincere, unnecessary surveys. Here's what Bud had to say:
 
Seriously, I know you just sent me a survey, and I completed it, but EVERY hotel, airline, rent car, credit card, phone call to AT&T Verizon, Energy provider, Cable company, virtually any service I use nowadays is sending me follow up surveys.

I mean, come on Hampton Inn, it was just a bed and a shower and a little bottle of shampoo. Leave me alone already. And, are you really listening to my comments?
And then if you don’t fill it out they pester you about it.
 
Symbolism over substance, I say….
Send me out a 1 question survey. “Bud, was it what you expected”. If not, then send a follow up to get more info.
 
C.K. (Bud) Hughes
Travis Body & Trailer, Inc.

Any comments? How do YOU feel about what Bud's talking about?

Reviving Work Ethic - Interview with Eric Chester

This post is a bit off my usual topics of marketing, strategy, innovation, and experience. But I believe this is important.

I had a chance to interview a friend of mine recently -- Eric Chester. I've known Eric for over 20 years now and he is without a doubt one of the most honest and sincere guys I know.

For many years Eric focused on helping the youth of America get ready for adulthood through speeches and books. He's a rare adult who is able to gain the trust of young adults and, at the same time, understand what makes them tick.

For several years now, Eric has reached out to Corporate America with the important message of helping them attract, motivate, and retain young talent. Too often we hear managers complain about young workers and Eric has the answers.

Eric labels himself as the only speaker on developing work ethic. It's a complicated issue, bot one that needs to be addressed.

If you have young people in your workforce, you should listen to my interview. If you have children you want to help someday become valuable members of America's workforce, you should listen to my interview. If you are concerned at all with the growing problem of work ethics, you should listen to my interview. It's 22 minutes. Just click on the box below. You can also right-click to download to listen on your own mp3 player. 

Eric Chester

Order Eric's book by going to his website: Reviving Work Ethic. Be sure to tell Eric you heard about it on my blog and he'll SIGN it for you!

If you're interested in helping teens and young adults launch successful careers, go to: The A Game.

Dan Kennedy & My LinkedIn Group

Hey, I'm in beautiful, sunny (NOT) Cleveland, OH today for a small get-together with my old buddy, Dan Kennedy. Not saying Dan's old. He may actually be younger than me. But we go back pretty far. He's calling this party his "Old Gang Of Mine Dinner & Day." I think there's about twelve of us coming tonight (does this mean we're the ones still alive?). Should be really interesting. I'll give a report next week.

HEY, have you joined our new LinkedIn group -- Two Hat Marketing Network? You HAVEN'T? We've got 77 new members in just two days, which I think is pretty cool. Go to: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4132580

An Insider Look: How I Do My Videos

NOTE: I have a new Two Hat Marketing group on LinkedIn! Join the discussion and share ideas and tips on marketing! Click this link to join: Two Hat Marketing Network on LinkedIn

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If you can't tell, I really enjoy doing video. It gives me a chance to be creative and a bit of a ham while still sharing some good content. And it nicely feeds my fragile-macho-male-speaker-author-consultant ego when so many of you send nice comments! Thank you very much.

After posting last week's video, I also received a number of requests about what software I use to produce my videos. 

The software I use is called Screenflow. It's only for Mac OS and produced by Telestream, Inc. (For those of you who are still stuck on Windows, see below.) Here's a quick video I produced about Screenflow.

  

If you want to get Screenflow, CLICK HERE. (Full disclosure, this is an affiliate link.)

For those of you still stuck in the Windows world, the most popular screen capture program is Camtasia Studio. I've heard many good things about it. (This is NOT an affiliate link.)

Interested in learning more about my Business Video Academy when it's available? Just fill in your email below and send to me. You will get in on the priority list. (I promise it will be worth it!)

 

Join my new LinkedIn Group!

I just started a new networking group on LinkedIn as an extension of Two Hat Marketing. Please join me in sharing ideas, questions, and answers about all things marketing, strategy, branding, and innovation, by joining us. Go to this link:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4132580

And please be sure to tell your friends about our group. The more the merrier.

A Referral Marketing Tip from Makers Mark Bourbon

 

Do NOT Trick People Into Opening Your Emails

I recently received an email from the World of Concrete that I believe is a great example of what NOT to do with email blasts.

The Subject Line read:

Re: Big news from World of Concrete 2012...

So as I scan this what am I thinking? Well, first it has an "Re:" in it. Normally, this starts a subject line as a reply ot somebody's email. It tells us this has some type of connection to something we either sent or we should be aware of, right?

Second, there's the promise of "Big news." Put these together and you have "Re: Big news!" Important! You'd better open this email!

OK, I bite and open the email. What's inside? Here's what's inside: Registration for World of Concrete 2012 is Now Open!

Sorry, but this is NOT big news. This is NOT the way to make a prospect like you, know you, or trust you. Tricking a prospect into opening an email is a great way to irritate people and incent them to unsubscribe, which I did.

I understand getting people to open your email is difficult. It's no different than getting people to open that direct mail piece, or stop by your booth, or take your phone call. BUT you should never use unabashed trickery or deception to accomplish any of that. 

Steve Jobs

My heroes are few and an eclectic bunch. Albert Einstein. Stan Freberg. Harold Ramis. Howard Luck Gossage. Maybe a few others.

My heroes aren't so much people I put on a pedestal. They're people I would like to know personally and have long conversations with. I want to learn about how they see the world...how they see problems...how they see themselves...how they think. I know I could learn a lot.

I think Steve Jobs would be on that list. I think it would have been fascinating to spend an evening hearing about his path over the last forty years. From hiking through Nepal to starting Apple Computer to the original Apple I to the Macintosh to the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad...all the thinking that went into developing these amazing, world-changing products, as well as the missteps and failures in between.

I've been an Apple evangelist since 1984 when I bought my second computer, the Apple IIc. My first was something from Heathkit that required assembly and didn't do a lot. The Apple IIc changed my world and when I got the Macintosh Plus (still have it) I knew the rest of the world would never be the same.

I never did switch to PC, even during Apple's low years. It wasn't so much that I was stubborn. I didn't have to. As a two-person office with my wife, Kay, I could anything I needed to do on my Mac. I was comfortable and figured I would switch when and if Apple went away. They didn't and I've purchased at least 30 Mac desktops and laptops over the years, not to mention all the iPods, IPhones, and now iPads. My clients always knew I'd show up for a speech or meeting with the latest Apple toy.

How did he do that to me and the rest of the world? How did Steve Jobs come up with the coolest looking, easiest-to-use computer products over and over? How did he produce the exact right product that I didn't know I needed until he produced it? What else is in the pipeline right now that he started, but we don't know about yet. I'm not sure he would have been able to answer those questions, but I still wish I had the chance to ask.

IMNSHO, Steve Jobs was the Thomas Edison of our time. Part innovator. Part showman. I won't deify him, but he made helluvan impact on my/our world and that is impressive. 

Don't Start Believing Your Press Releases: Old Rule #10

Most of you remember the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of 1983. That Christmas Season (this was before we started using the politically correct "Holiday Season") the Cabbage Patch Kids were the hottest toy to put under the tree. 

To fill in those of you consarn, fresh-faced whippersnappers too young to know what I'm talking about, the Cabbage Patch Kids (CPK) were the brainchild of a guy named Xavier Roberts who later sold the distribution rights to Coleco Toys (you can read the full story on Wikipedia).

To say the CP Kids were a little hot that Christmas would be like saying Kim Kardashian has had minor cosmetic surgery. Near riots and fist fights broke out in toy stores across the country for the hard-to-find dolls. The Cabbage Patch Kids taught Elmo everything he knows about managed scarcity.

While the CP Kids dominated the news and the girls side of Santa's deliveries, I was personally involved in one of the hottest selling toys on the boy's side. I worked for a small, Japanese manufacturer named Shinsei Corporation. We manufactured radio control toys. In a brilliant move, we licensed the rights to manufacture a 1/8 scale replica of the top-selling Honda 250 3-wheel ATC (All Terrain Cycle), naming it the Dust Runner. 

Unlike most low-cost radio control toys (under $100) at the time, the Dust Runner was rugged and well-built. It popped cool wheelies, was fast, cornered on a dime, could indeed go off-road, and took a serious beating. Demonstrating it to prospects, I would grab the antenna and just throw the Dust Runner across the pavement. Setting it upright, I'd hit the gas and off it would go. We created a new category for the stale radio control toy industry. Kids and Dads loved it and it became a giant seller.

All of a sudden, this 31-year-old was recognized as a wunderkind in the toy industry. I was on the cover of trade magazines, touted for my foresight, and lauded for my ability to "know" what boys wanted. Oh yes, I was a smart cookie.

Clearly, I knew what I was doing and had the Midas Touch. Looking for my next smash hit, I discovered another type of RC never manufactured before - a radio-controlled ball. That's right, a BALL. It was about ten inches in diameter and had no external antenna. It was very weird to watch this ball roll all over the parking lot as if it had a mind of its own. 

I KNEW I had my next Dust Runner. I ordered my new "GoBall" into production with new, expensive die-cut packaging, confident it would equal or beat the success of our Dust Runner. I was so smart, I didn't need to take a prototype around to Toys r Us, K-Mart, and Montgomery Ward for their opinion.

It bombed.

My "can't miss" GoBall sold worse than the Zune and Tinkles the Toilet Cat. More boys probably bought Cabbage Patch Kid dolls the next year than bought my brilliant product.

The GoBall failed for so many reasons, but most of all, it failed because of my blind arrogance. I'd had a big hit and became convinced I had the magic touch. In other words, I broke the tenth Old Rule of Business that Still Matters:

Don't Start Believing Your Press Releases

Last week I wrote about the head-shaking moves Netflix has made lately and many of you commented. We look at Reed Hastings' decision-making and subsequent non-apology and wonder how he can't see the damage he's doing to his brand. This week Bank of America's announcement to add a $5 monthly charge for debit cards smacked of the same arrogance.

The more I thought about all this, the more I was reminded of my own GoBall debacle. My unwarranted conceit taught me a lesson I'll never forget and, I hope, never repeat. It's okay to pat yourself on the back and develop self-confidence. It's not okay to let yourself become convinced you are smarter than everybody else, especially your customers. 

None of us are that good.