Archived post. Originally published 8.18.2010.

Trent Hamm, author of "The Simple Dollar" posted a fantastic article the other day on OpenForum titled "Be Where Your Customers Are."

The premise of the article is an easy one - take your product directly to your customer, and they'll buy. Sounds simple enough, right? 

Unfortunately, no, sometimes it's just not that simple. Business and day-to-day operations happen, which pulls the focus away from simple tactics like this, and forces small business owners to rely on impersonal outreach to communicate with their customers. 

Sure, social media has helped to turn this tide by opening a deeper and more engaging relationship with an audience, but is that really more powerful than taking a product and physically putting it into the hands of a potential customer? No, it's not.

So my challenge to you (and myself!) is the same as Trent's - find one way to bring your business directly to your customers. Eschew the inbox, the newsletter, and the phone call for a bit and devise a plan to invest your time and energy to physicallybe where your customers are, and put your service or product into their hands.

To keep myself honest, I'll post my plan and update on its results within a month. If you're game for the challenge, tell me in the comments! 

Archived post. Originally published 8.15.2010.

First, let’s agree that everyone, even the best marketer out there, has bad pitches on bad days.

We have all bombed campaigns, have been stuck in the purgatory of voicemail, and have sat hoping that anyone, anything even, will click, call back, or respond.  I don’t care how much you’ve prepared and research – it happens to everyone.

This does not necessarily mean that you have a bad marketing idea on your hands – it just means that your message, for whatever reason, isn’t sticking the way you thought it would.

I’m of the mindset that the simplest explanation is often the correct one. So, before I completely kill a dog campaign, here are a few of the simple steps I take to rethink my outreach:

1. Consider the message
   Take another look at the message and copy you have. Is it clear and concise? Is it targeted and compelling for the audience you’ve selected? Is the language active and engaging? And most importantly, does it make sense?
   
   If not, try to come up with a few variations of the message that still communicates your main points, but approaches them from different avenues. After this exercise, try a few tests to select groups to see if any provide a greater return than your original.
   
   
2. Consider the offer
   Sometimes, a great offer is really just a dud.  
   
   Case in point – a few weeks ago, I received two offers from companies I do business with. One offered the chance to win a free mortgage payment if I moved to e-statements, and the other offered the chance to win an iPad if I took the time to answer a survey.
   
   I clicked to move to e-statements, and ignored the iPad offer. Why? Believe it or not, I don’t care about having an iPad, but I do care about my mortgage payment. And if offered the choice between the two, I’ll go with the chance to win a free payment. Besides, the time commitment itself was too much. Ask yourself: would you spend your time on one click to get a free mortgage payment, or spend minutes of your time and multiple clicks to win a piece of hardware that you don’t want in the first place?
   
   The point here is not to make mortgage payments for people. Rather, it is to know your audience and what’s truly important to them. Every day, we are offered with thousands of chances to win big. By demonstrating up front that you understand the needs and wants of your audience, you will win their attention every time.  
   
   
3. Consider your vehicle
   If your message and offer seem spot-on, the next logical step would be to consider your delivery vehicle.
   
   Certain people react only to email, while others will devour your blog. Some appreciate every piece of direct mail they receive (yes, it still works), and others choose only to pay attention to their Twitter feed.
   
   The best marketing campaigns work when you have a series of tactics working in tandem to deliver your message. For example, if you are relying solely on email marketing, consider adding a public relations angle to it by offering up a complementary customer story to a relevant publication that your audience reads.  Or if you have social media avenues, make sure to post content that relates to the campaign in order to get your response rates up. Not only will this cast a wider net and appeal to your fickle audiences, but you can also take this opportunity to find out which outlet garners the most response. 
   
   
4. Consider your audience
   Of course, this part assumes that you are working with a list that has agreed to receive information from you. If not, see here.
   
   Outreach campaigns work best when they’re delivered to a relevant and targeted audience. This means that rather than blasting your entire database, you deliver only to a specific segment of the list.
   
   If you are in fact blasting to your entire list, experiment with segmentation by breaking your list among job titles, known interests, location, and so on. However, beware: While segmentation of your database offers you the opportunity to test a wide variety of messaging and campaigns, you can overdo it. Be sure that you run a quality check on your lists to ensure that the overlap of people receiving campaigns isn’t overwhelming. After all, the last thing you want to do is spam your targets with too many messages at once.  
   
   
5. Consider the season.
   Ah, summer. Good for cookouts, blow-up pools and water gun fights, and miserable for marketing. 
   
   Why, you ask? No one is home.
   
   If you are running a tried-and-true campaign, and no one seems to be responding, the season might have something to do with it. For example, holiday weeks and the late summer are the absolute worst time to run a demand-generation campaign, while the fall season and early in the year are fantastic times to do so. Of course, your inbound marketing should be consistent year round; however, you might notice a few dips around these times as well. 
   
   If you find that this is the case, consider an alternate campaign until a better season hits. You never know – what failed in July might just succeed in September.

Archived post. Originally published 8.5.2010.

Great article the other day from Grace Smith of Mashable on Open Forum, which outlines 5 new web design trends to watch. 

Overall, I agree with the tips: minimalist design, unique photography, bold typography, clear calls to action and A/B testing; however, I can't help but feel that we're missing out on reaffirming the value of good content.

Because as I've said earlier, you can have a pretty design, but if a visitor doesn't understand who you are by scanning your home page in 10 seconds or less, the money you've spent on a website refresh has been a waste of time.

Archived post. Originally published 8.5.2010.

An interesting story published in this week's Bloomberg's BusinessWeek - Alex Bogusky, a celebrated adman and creative director of powerhouse Crispin Porter + Bogusky, tendered his resignation after 'creative differences' between his beliefs and those of the brands he revived.

And those brands aren't just names in a bucket - Burger King, Volkswagon, Microsoft, counted the CP+B team as their award-winning creative driver. However, according to the article, Bogusky's point of view changed over time. Or maybe he just finally found the resolve to voice those opinions. We may never know - according to BW, Bogusky did not offer comment for the article.

Whatever the case, the speculative article poses an interesting question for us to ponder. What would you do if you no longer believed in the brand that you built? And furthermore, does it matter? What is your threshold of disagreement between your core beliefs and the brand that you nurture?

The fact is, the answer is different for everyone because it all depends on the circumstances of the moment that you're in. Beliefs, like people, can be fickle and change over time. 

Don't believe me? Contemplate for a moment what your beliefs were 20 years ago, 10 years ago, even 5 years ago, and compare them to what you believe now. What has changed in your life, and how does that affect what you believe? Jaded, no?

The same happens with the brands that you create and support - over time, they mature and are put to the test of customer scrutiny. Every day, your brand is challenged. And every day, your brand develops, grows wiser, and hopefully with your help and support, takes on a positive life of its own.

The question is, when the brand moves in a direction that you don't believe in, or you find that your brand affects people in a way that you do not agree with, when is it right to realign your brand, or gently step aside and let it grow without you?

Again, it depends. Is it truly causing harm, or are your personal beliefs in disagreement with what you're promoting? 

I'll admit that I've been lucky enough in my career to stand behind companies and brands that I could buy into. Granted, I haven't had to take on business or missions that I don't agree with, but I also know that it's a choice I make. Simple choice really. If it doesn't pass my 'gut test', I don't move forward. Because if I don't believe in the company and its tenants, then I am a waste of their budget and time. Likewise, if I find that I am no longer impassioned about a brand, and that there's nothing that can be done to revive my belief in the brand, I move on. Because every company, every entrepreneur, and every brand, deserves to be nurtured by someone who believes in it.

Believe it or not, it's not always about money - it's about doing what you believe is right. 

Archived post. Originally published 7.28.2010.

Think email marketing has hit the wall? Think again.

Yesterday, MailerMailer released their 10th Email Marketing Metrics Report, which analyzed a sample of 900 million email messages (Ed. note - that's a lot of email, Batman), and found that not only is email marketing alive and well, but if presented and nurtured correctly, can provide the highest return on investment (ROI) than any other marketing venue.

Take that, email naysayers.

I encourage you to read the full report by clicking here. You'll find data on open and click through-rates by industry, subject line keywords, personalization statistics, and more.

Archived post. Originally published 7.20.2010.

We've all been there - sales slow for a bit, interest wanes, and someone gets the idea to rebrand the company. New designs, new materials, new messaging - essentially, revamp everything that isn't nailed down to the floor.

Now, multiply this by 4 quarters. Is this really where you should be spending your time? Or would you rather be producing campaigns that support your brand and messaging?

This isn't to say that I'm against rebranding. In fact, I completely support a brand turnaround if your message or image is stale or needs improvement. What I'm saying is, once you've worked through the process, stick with it. Otherwise, changing your direction every few quarters gives the impression that you're flailing. 

This is nicely summarized in a great article posted yesterday onOpen Forum, Monica Skipper, Marketing Manager, FedEx, discusses four reasons why it's better to be patient, consistent, and even simplistic when it comes to your branding.

To read her article, click here.

Archived post. Originally published 7.14.2010.

I am happy to announce that Red Plate Marketing has just launched a brand-new walking chocolate tour of Boston's Faneuil Hall and the North End for Boston Chocolate Tours!

What exactly is a chocolate tour, you ask? Imagine getting to visit all of your favorite neighborhood restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and chocolatiers, all in one day. And then they give you chocolate. Lots of it. Candies, artisan chocolates, brownies, cupcakes, and all sorts of creations, even chocolate soup if you can imagine it! Along the way, you get to meet and chat with the incredible people and stores that define the character of our most beloved Boston neighborhoods.

Sounds just about divine, right? I and about 2,700 other people on Facebook agree that it absolutely is. 

This tour is one of the most special projects I've done to date. While 'tour design' isn't normally considered a marketing specialty, partnership development and promotions most certainly are. I took this project as a challenge to myself, but the passion behind it was my 8-year old daughter, Eve. After all, who could be a better critic of a chocolate tour than an 8-year old girl?

Each tour stop and resulting relationship developed was built with Eve in mind - what would she love to see, where would she want to go, and most importantly, what treats and samples would thrill her? After our dry run last week, I'm convinced that I've nailed it, and I am happily taking her on her tour in a few weeks!

Check out photos of the new tour on Boston Chocolate ToursFacebook page, or click here to learn more about the tour at Boston Chocolate Tour's site.

Archived Post. Originally published 7.9.2010.

I'd like to take a moment to congratulate my client Catharine Arnston, better known as The Naughty  Nutritionist, on her success of making it to the next round of the MassChallenge competition.

And what is MassChallenge? It's a startup competition designed to help entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality. Great organization, great people - it will be one to follow this year.

And who, you ask, is the Naughty Nutritionist? A health maven dedicated to making nutrition fun, sexy, and easy for everyone! Best of all, her first product is organic chocolate - chocolate! 

Check her out today on her website, on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter. Better yet, check out her blog post today announcing not one, but two semi-finalist selection notifications in two award competitions!

Congratulations Catharine!

Archived post. Originally published 6.1.2010.

If only I had the patience to post 38 tips. Better yet, pull together 38 tips on a single topic.  

Thankfully, I don't need to go searching across my sea of post-it notes to find them - the team at Vertical Measures has already done the job for us by posting their 38 key takeaways from theOnline Marketing Summit in Phoenix. 

Want to know what the single most important answer is to your marketing challenges? Where to find and what to do with a fanboy? How you can fix a failing email campaign? Click the linkand find out. 

Archived post. Originally published 6.10.2010.

For the past few days, I've been in meetings. Lots of meetings. 

Throughout these meetings, I've been asked "Why did you name it Red Plate Marketing? Do you like plates?"*

And I tell the story of my mother and her red plate tradition, which was the inspiration behind my name. At first, I was hesitant to name it Red Plate Marketing, as I didn't want it to sound hokey or forced. But as time has passed, I realized what a gift it's been, as the name has begged a conversation of who I am and what I do. 

Not only that, but the story personalizes my company and my services, and gives potential clients, partners, and others, a better perspective of my philosophy and my personality. And my mom's. Let's not lie - she loves the fact I named it Red Plate, as any mom would. 

So the question is, what's your story? Take away the layers of fluff, the needless acronyms, the business speak and the dressings, and see what's underneath. What human element is there that can personalize, even humanize, your brand, your company, or your product? What's your red plate that you can share with the world?

*For the record, yes I do like plates. For 5 gift-giving holidays in a row, I received FiestaWare sets. Which is awesome, until you have to move, and realize that you never, ever, will entertain that many people in a tiny one-bedroom apartment. That, and there's really no use for a purple ceramic butter dish these days.