R-E-S-P-E-C-T  

What can happen if your marketing messages don't respect your customers?  Think DOOM and DISASTER.  Think New Coke!  Here are things you can do to avoid these bad outcomes.

1. Do your homework.  Study your customers.  Find out what that they like.  What they do.  What they want and need.  What's important to them.  
2. Apply what you learn.   After you've gathered the information, analyze it and find where you can meet a need...solve a problem.  Make that your core message.
3. Be interesting.  You need to grab attention. It's hard to bore someone into buying.  Maybe humor will do the trick.  An intriguing visual and headline.  An eye-catching presentation.
4. Be engaging.  The very best marketing doesn't sound like marketing.  It sounds like one person talking to another.  A conversation.
5. Tell the truth.  Folks are very good at sniffing out untruths.  And they're suspicious of hype.  Why risk ruining your reputation with even a small fabrication?
6. Be persuasive but not pushy.  You have a good story to tell, so tell it.  But if you get too aggressive, you may get pushed back.
7. Invite feedback.   Check with your customers to see how you're doing.  What you learn can inform future marketing and make your programs better.

 After all, showing respect is key.

Who remembers these 80s classics -- the movie, The Breakfast Club and the song, Don't You Forget About Me? 

When you're running a business, you don't want to be forgotten. It’s not just about what you know OR even who you know, but WHO KNOWS YOU.

Selling starts with awareness because prospects need to know about a product before they’ll buy.  But awareness is so basic many business people overlook it. Sadly, lack of awareness (being forgotten) will stymie business growth every time.

How do you create awareness? You need to be visible. These tools can help you:

• WEB/SOCIAL  Electronic channels are essential.  You'll need to figure out which ones your audience uses and how.  Then develop a plan for how you'll use the vehicles to reach the right folks with the right messages.
• ADVERTISING Often the most effective and cost-efficient way to create awareness if you have a broad audience that can be reached through publications, online, broadcast or other avenues.
• PUBLIC RELATIONS Product releases, features and case histories can get the word out about your product. This can be a slow way to build awareness, but the cost is less than advertising.
• EMAIL  A good list is essential plus a compelling headline and offer.
  
• TRADE SHOWS/EVENTS This is like retail for B2B. Attendees come to learn about new products, to “kick the tires”, and to be entertained as well. This is your chance to add some flash and sizzle to your presence. Make it fun, but make it meaningful, too.

A combination of all the above can be very effective. Just be sure to repeat, Repeat, REPEAT your message over time so it sinks in.  Don't be forgotten!

Here's a truth about marketers. We're drawn to bright, shiny objects. Like a bunch of hoarding magpies, we gather around whatever's new in our world and chant, "Must have it. Must have it."

Social media marketing is the latest shiny object in marketing, and nothing is brighter and shinier than Facebook. Everyone believes they gotta have a Facebook page. 

Wait!  Don't get sucked into this frenzy without thinking first:

• What do you want your marketing to achieve?
  

• Who's your audience?
  
• Do they use Facebook?
• How do they use it?
• When do they use it?
  
  

The first 3 questions are critical to whether you really need a Facebook business page.  If you want to make special, Internet-only offers or set your company up as a thought leader, social media could play an important marketing role for you. If you need to reach a broad audience that skews female and younger, Facebook could work. Ask your customers and prospects if they use Facebook, what they use it for and when they use it. 

Social media success depends on getting the right messages posted at the right times in the right places. (Just like any marketing.) Make sure Facebook or any other platform is the right place before investing time and money.

 I've been doing Voice of the Customer research on my own while working as a food demonstrator at a large grocery chain. 100% of the time, the selling points provided by the manufacturer are dull, dull, dull. Where's the fun?! What people respond to is FUN.  An upbeat attitude and a playful manner trumps zero transfats, low sodium, and all natural ingredients every time.

"You can't BORE someone into buying your product." So I'm told by a wise friend. Memorable consumer ads have a funny or dramatic hook to get you involved.

But what about the serious world of B2B marketing communications? Aren't we just presenting facts? 
Certainly facts are important, but ONLY in terms of what's relevant to your buyer. To be relevant you need to understand how users benefit from using your product or service. If you aren't sure, ask! A little research can go a long way toward building your company's sales success. 

Once your message is relevant, it's time to develop a personality. People buy from other people, right? Since they're your company's public face, marketing communications pieces need to present a consistent, likeable personality. 
Injecting humor can do this. It might be light-hearted visuals or tongue-in-cheek headlines. Either way humor requires that you relax and take a fresh look at what you're selling. It can be tricky but pay off big-time.  Done right, an attitude of fun creates a strong bond with prospects.

Some folks, when they write, work hard to sound like someone else.  Usually whoever they think they SHOULD sound like. That's OK for freelance writers like me who make their living writing for other folks.  But let's say you're president of an engineering firm and think you should sound like Samuel L. Jackson.  Well, if you really talk like that...great.  But I'll bet you don't.  So don't go there. Readers know a false note when they hear one and may turn off if they sense you're trying to be something you're not. Just be yourself..and stick to it.