GM May Be Creating A Watershed Moment in Advertising
April 2, 2008
Imedia Connection’s Michael Estrin reports that a watershed moment is occurring in the history of advertising and marketing. In the article Why GM gambled $1.5B on digital he reports on the recent decision by General Motors to shift one half of its total advertising budget to digital over the next three years.
Part of the thinking driving GM’s move is the web is the ULTIMATE tool to tightly target niche markets. Take for example, the car shopping site that targets female car buyers: Car Tango.
When you arrive, you’re greeted with a distinctly feminine design and the opportunity to take a Cosmo-style quiz to help you choose the car of your dreams. You’re asked questions about your fashion preferences, your vacation preferences and which celebrity you’d like to hang out with for a day. When you finish the quiz, you’re presented with your “car soul mate”. (Mine is a 2008 Volvo S40… which surprisingly enough is one of the models I am considering when I trade in my mini-van for my next car.)
Now that I’ve found my “soul mate” vehicle, I’m able to invite a dealer to “tango”.
Right now, Divine Caroline dominates the ad space at Car Tango… which brings up the biggest problem GM faces as they move their advertising dollars to digital. During the Car Tango survey, one of the questions asks about your preference as to your car soul mate’s origins. I chose the “I don’t care” option and in the end, not a single GM product made it into my “soul mate” list of 6 cars.
GM’s problems run deep… so deep that a new attitude when it comes to promoting their products may not be enough.
For an GLARING example of GM’s problems… back in July, the blockbuster movie Transformers hit the big screen. I came home from that movie PUMPED and ready to buy the new Camaro I’d seen in the movie. I wrote about the experience in “Transforming Your Business by Targeting Your Niche.” It was a GREAT marketing move by GM. There were reports of people putting down deposits to secure their own Camaro as seen in the movie. The only problem? The car wasn’t available…. it still isn’t. All that buzz… all that excitement… down the drain.
Hopefully GM won’t be investing $1.5 Billion in hyping products you can’t buy when they take half of their advertising dollars to the web.
Why the best marketing tactics may fail to produce results.
October 4, 2007
Lately, in my work with individual clients, the issue of marketing TACTICS keeps coming up.
One client in particular is fond of taking free teleclasses with various marketing experts. She listens, she takes notes and then she sets out to implement these marketing tactics in promoting her business. The problem is, most of the marketing tactics she’s using are to promote MINOR SALES instead of the MAJOR SALE she is making.
Let me explain…. Neil Rackham’s book SPIN Selling, he breaks the sales that businesses make into TWO separate categories: Major Sales and Minor Sales. (I outline the basics of these two types of sales in my book, Beyond the Niche: Essential Tools You Need to Create Marketing Messages that Deliver Results
Basically, a Minor Sale is just that. It’s a low cost, low emotional investment type of a purchase. If you’re selling e-books then you are making a MINOR SALE. If however, you’re wanting to be hired as a consultant, well then that places you smack dab in the middle of the MAJOR SALE. A major sale is a high cost (emotional and/or financial) type of transaction. One of the characteristics of a Major Sale as defined by Rackham includes the possibility of continued interaction AFTER the sale is made.
My client, a consultant, is taking notes at these free seminars and wanting to implement these MINOR SALE marketing tactics to promote her MAJOR SALE consulting practice.
Which is what brought her to MY practice in the first place. She couldn’t understand why she was doing all the "right" things when it came to marketing her practice, yet wasn’t seeing results.
Remember, TRUST is a key factor in making the major sale. Your goal, if you’re making a Major Sale, must be to build trust with your potential clients.
Which is precisely the reason I ADORE self hosted blogs for independent professionals engaged in making Major Sales. Define your audience (your potential clients), establish what they need to know and then communicate it to them via your blog.
Terrific Video Testimonials….
March 21, 2007
If you’re a professional service provider, you have to work harder marketing your services than any other type of business. Because while the appliance store owner needs to convince you to shop at his store, he doesn’t have to “sell” you on the need for a refrigerator. Also, once the refrigerator is in your home, you also won’t have any trouble discerning whether the refrigerator is working.
If you’re a professional service provider, on the other hand, you have a tough road ahead of you. Not only do you have to let people know what you can do, you also have to CONVINCE them that you can, in fact, do what you say you can do. Read more
I hate liars…
October 12, 2006
I hate liars and I’d be willing to bet you do too.
So why, oh why is this “marketing guru” lying in his latest newsletter?
This guy has done almost EVERYTHING right. He’s listed high on Google for some GREAT keywords. He has the word “marketing” in his domain name and he appears to have some GREAT products. (The only recommendation I would make if he were my client is that he put in place an affiliate program.) He’s got a compelling offer and you have to sign up for his newsletter to get a report that sounds like it has REAL value.
Actually, that was the first “oops” in the process. When I got his “free, valuable white paper” it was nothing but a long sales pitch for his many ebook products. However, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and continued to open his newsletters, hoping to see something of value there.
See, an email newsletter is a GREAT tool for ANY online business person to use. It’s conventional wisdom that it takes 8 “touches” before a customer will make a purchase from you. That’s the whole POINT behind the whole e-mail newsletter system. A visitor comes to your web site, subscribes to your newsletter and then begins reading what you have to say on your topic of expertise. After reading your pithy and pertinent newsletters for a few days or weeks or months, finally you will have built up enough TRUST with them to have earned their business and they’ll follow the link to your product and buy, buy, buy. It’s a delicate process.
Julie Andrews sings..”Getting to know you… getting to know all about you….”
So why, oh why, would you open your first SIX contacts (a.k.a. newsletters) with a lie?
The offending practioner opens each of his email newsletters with the following:
“Have you read my latest resource? Just a reminder in case you haven’t read it yet. It’s only online for two more days.”
The thing is, this is how he’s started the last SIX emails with that exact same sentence. It’s the same link and it never expires. I just visited it now, a full 10 days after he sent it and it still works!
Maybe it’s a man thing. I mean, one of my favorite comedians is Bill Engvall and he has a bit where his wife catches him lying about smoking. In her way of thinking, if he would lie about something so insignificant as smoking, then how can she trust him on the bigger issues such as marital infidelity?
During Bill’s bit, he reacts in disbelief. How did his wife get from smoking to infidelity? “Evil Kneivel couldn’t make that leap.”
So maybe it’s just a woman thing, but when someone who is trying to sell me something lies to me about how long a link will be live, I begin to doubt whether I can trust him with my financial information. Gee, maybe it’s best that I used my hotmail address to sign up for his stuff. Maybe with that lie, he’s just earned himself a place in the JUNK mail folder.
Guys, you should know that as my 19 year old daughter and I watched Bill’s skit, we both looked at each other and said, “Yeah. I can see the connection. If you’d lie about little things, you’d lie about big things.” After all, character is what you do when you think no one can see you.
It maybe it’s just that I’m a “girl,” but I don’t think it’s a huge leap to worry about whether this guy will charge my credit card for purchases I’ve never made based on the fact that I can’t trust him to tell me the truth about how long a link will be live!
The devil is truly in the details. In sales, the marketing guru’s closing technique is referred to as “The Impending Doom Close.” It’s really old school and if you want to see it in action, visit just about any used car lot in the area and try to walk away without making a purchase.
“I had a young couple looking at that VERY car this morning.”
“That one is going to the sale tomorrow, so if you want it you’d better get it now.”
The problem is, when you drive by the car lot a week or two later and still see the car sitting on the lot, if you didn’t know it when the line was being applied you do now… you can’t trust that dirty slimy rat’s word! If you can’t trust his word, how can you trust him with your money?
Make sure you let your potential customers know that they can INDEED trust you with not only their time, but also their money!
The biggest hurdle you face when making the Major Sale
October 9, 2006
I’ve written before on the trials and tribulations my family and I have endured as we continue to adjust to moving 1300 miles away from the state where my husband and I both grew up. Most of our angst centers on making major sale purchases, which almost always involves the hiring of independent service professionals.
One factor that has amplified our problem is we moved to America’s fastest growing city (2005). At one point last year, there were 60 new residents moving to our fair city each day. That’s almost 22,000 residents a year moving into a city that, 20 or so years ago boasted a population of 330. That means that not only are we living in a new and unfamiliar landscape, but so are our friends and neighbors. We’re all awash in a sea of the unfamiliar.
For those who moved here to escape the “Miami” experience, they tend to hang on to their old providers. One of our neighbors continues to take his 16 year old son to their pediatrician in Fort Lauderdale, a two hour drive each way. Another neighbor drives nearly that far to take her dogs to the vet. I’ve got to admit, when my family moved from Northern Indiana to Central Indiana, after a couple of REALLY bad dental experiences in our then new home, we happily made the 2 hour trek up to our trusted and familiar dentist.
If you are engaged in making a major sale, read the above paragraph carefully again. These people, successful and busy professionals, are driving past HUNDREDS of other providers of the same service to maintain a relationship with their familiar provider.
The thing about the Major Sale is people can’t judge your competence up front. If you’re a tax professional, your clients won’t know how good you are until the IRS come a knocking. If you’rre a chiropractor, it’s only after someone has been your client for months will they be able to tell their friends that you really know your stuff. That means giving away a free session really won’t help someone judge whether or not you’re competent to provide the services you do.
So how do you demonstrate your competence? You begin by sharing custom testimonials and lots of them.
One dermatologist collects testimonials from patients as they leave the office and posts them in their entirety on his web site. The problem is that means including in the transcription of the testimonials misspellings, and grammatical errors Perhaps it would be more compelling if the comments were scanned and posted.
Offering compelling testimonials is the key to winning the major sale. With so many “con†artists operating today, building trust is the biggest obstacle in making the Major Sale. The more authentic your testimonials, the more powerful a tool they will be.
Testimonials are an essential key to closing the Major Sale.
How powerful is a testimonial?
October 6, 2006
Are you making a Major Sale? The Major Sale is defined by Neil Rackham in his book Spin Selling as:
- There is more than one decision-maker
- The buyer’s financial and/or emotional investment is significant
- The purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives
- There is the potential for a long-term relationship between you and/or your business and the customer
- The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high
If your business is engaging in making Major Sales, then you have GOT to get serious about getting testimonials. Unfortunately, the power of written testimonials is being diluted daily.
See, back in the old days (the late 1990’s), when you included a testimonial for your product or service on the web, you wanted to be sure to list contact information for the person providing the testimonial. The reason you were to include the contact information was to act as a credibility check. The easier it was to check the credibility of the testimonial, the more powerful the testimonial was.
However, the state of the internet today makes it poor practice to include an e-mail address right out there in the HTML of your web page where it can be harvested by any spam-bot that happens along. Placing contact information in the path of a spam-bot (an automated program that gathers e-mail addresses from the code on web pages) is no way to reward your customers who are kind enough to lend you their testimonial!
Unlike the claims of some, clients or customers who include their contact information as part of their testimonials were RARELY, if ever bombarded with inquiries. It makes a nice story though for those who don’t want to go to the time and trouble to collect REAL testimonials. By removing contact information, it makes it easier to doctor an authentic testimonial or create one that’s a work of fiction. Unfortunately, many of the testimonials I read today on the internet are obvious works of fiction and that dilutes the power of a testimonial for everyone!
If you are making a Major Sale, there are several great reasons to collect testimonials. Of course, the most obvious is so you can share the testimonial on your web site or in your marketing materials. However, there are other gems to be mined from your customer’s testimonials.
Reading what your current customers/clients have to say can help you focus on what’s important to them. If your testimonials have the recurring theme of how EASY it is to do business with you, then perhaps that’s a message you need to focus upon delivering. If your testimonials rave about your outstanding service department, then THAT is a message to focus upon in your marketing and advertising.
Testimonials are an essential element in making the Major Sale, since the Major Sale is based upon building trust. Try to provide as MUCH credibility to your testimonials as possible. In one client’s case, that meant putting up testimonials that were authentic, but didn’t deliver much “punch.” We chose to include those “luke warm” testimonials because they were authentic. Real testimonials usually don’t sound like they were written by an advertising copywriter! Remember that if you do decide to craft your own testimonials. However, I’d recommend getting authentic testimonials. There’s much to be learned from listening to your customers.
The Power of Problems
September 6, 2006
According to the Neil Rackham, during the Huthwaite Institute’s study of outside sales people, they identified two type of questions sales people ask buyers in making the sale. The first type of questions asked by sales people are situation questions. You know, “How long have you been in business?” and “How many employees do you have.” The second type of question sales people ask are called “Problem” questions. They begin with such openings as:
- “Are you worried…”
- “What if…”
- “What needs improving?
According to Huthwaite, outside sales people who focus upon PROBLEM QUESTIONS have a signficantly higher success ration when making a major sale.
I could have saved Neil a LOT of time and research with that one. In creating marketing messages, situation questions and their answers would fall into the category of “features”. Features don’t make good ad copy. PERIOD! On the other hand, problem questions and the corresponding solutions would be classified as “benefits” and should be the foundation of your marketing message.
Of course, most of the time when you deliver your marketing message, you aren’t sitting face to face with your potential customer and that’s what makes Rackham’s research irrelevant to creating marketing messages.
Now, there are “info-gurus” out there who are just sure that the internet changes the rules. They honestly want you to believe that your email message or web page is a two way conversation. It’s not now (even with the new Web 2.0 applications) and it probably never will be.
On the internet, those who just watch and don’t participate used to be called “lurkers.” I don’t hear anyone refer to “lurkers” these days, but back in the 90’s, anyone who read but didn’t contribute to a newsgroup or bulletin board was called a “lurker.” For heavens sakes, they’d even venture out of lurk mode, identifiy themselves as a lurker, post and then retreat. The thing is, there were a LOT more lurkers than there were “active” participants. Come to think of it, isnt this the way it seems to goes in real life as well?. Two of the most frustrating aspects of these lurkers are:
- their numbers and
- their silence.
One of my clients has a newsletter with hundreds of subscribers, each and every one a card carrying “lurker.”. She actually contemplated shutting her newsletter down because she NEVER heard from her subscribers. Yet we’d go, look at her log files and see that 75% of her subscribers actually logged onto the web page to read her monthly newsletter. For those of you who aren’t familiar with e-mail newsletters, that is an incredibly high open/read rate. Yet my client has fallen victim to this “the internet is interactive” mentality and thought no one was reading what she was writing.
For the most part, creating messages for the web is very similar to creating messages for direct mail, television and even radio. You begin by assuming the reader/listener can’t respond. You don’t write radio copy which asks a question and then waits for the listener to actually call in and respond? (If that’s your format, you’re doing TALK RADIO and not commerical advertising.) However, if during your creation of a web application: web page, pod cast or newsletter, you hit a nerve, then expect feedback and lots of it.
My client with the successful newsletter is sending out feel good messages and recipes. That’s her sunny, bright and cheerful style. If however, she took an “in your face” approach, she might find her feedback rate increased. Knowing my client, so would her blood pressure. That’s NOT the kind of relationship she wants with her readers.
Problems are powerful. Providing solutions can make you $$$ and tons of it. Touch even briefly upon a powerful problem and you can expect and explosion of response which is what makes the web so much fun. But the first you have to identify the problem.
Apple’s wonderful series of ads
June 13, 2006
Buying a computer falls under the major sale category, which means:
- There is more than one decision maker
- There is significant financial/emotional investment on the part of the buyer
- The purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives
- There is the potential of a long-term relationship between you and your customer
- The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high.
By running a series of clever ads, Apple is showcasing their “solution” to computer users “problems”.
Each television ad features two male actors. (Click on the image below to go to the web page for the campaign.) The actor on the left represents PCs while the actor on the right represents Mac computers.
While I’ve been amused by the campaign for quite some time, the ad jumped because my daughter, who just graduated from high school and is 8 weeks away from starting college, saw one of the ad as she was watching television this morning. Upon seeing the ad, called “Out of the box”, my daughter announced that she wanted a Mac.
I could be hurt. After all, we’ve had at least one PC in the house since she was 7. Right now we have four pcs, three of which are laptops. I’ll admit, I had visions of her taking one of the laptops with her to college instead of adding yet another item to the ever growing list of “college necessities”.
But once I pushed my feelings aside, I realized how pursuasive those darned Mac ads are and how well they address the “problems” of the average computer buyer and how effectively they planted those seeds… one ad at a time.
- “Out of the box” tackles the “problem” of setting up your new computer after purchase. “
- “Touche” tackles the “problem” of purchasing all new software because everything you have runs on PCs not Macs.
- “Work vs Home” tackles the “issue” of why most people actually buy a computer. Most people buy a computer to play music, work with pictures and edit home movies, etc.
Lessons to learn from the Apple Campaign:
- Identify the problems:
Apple not only identified the “problem” their potential customers had in purchasing a Mac over a PC, but they also identified the “problems” their potential customer is now having since they purchased a PC. Oh, and they over came a HUGE one which was allowing Macs to run MS Office applications. - Illustrate the solutions :
Apple illustrates their solutions through the catchy television spot. - Recognize that this is a major sale:
Apple doesn’t try to overwhelm you with the catchy television spots. They don’t barrage you with information. Each spot as a “focus”. Want to learn more? Type Apple Advertising into Google and there’s the web page with ALL the information you might need to make the leap in a nice, easy to access form. - Recognize the best use of each media:
Television is a good “introduction” medium, but Apple uses the website for those who want more information.   Instead of trying to use one 30 second spot to illustrate ALL the advantages of purchasing a Mac, they focus on just one per ad. If you want to know more, visit the website. The old “one-two punch”.
The thing is, Apple really has done a GREAT job of identifying the “downs” of PC ownership in those ads. Gee… after watching the ads and reading the web site copy, maybe my daughter’s computer for college will be a Mac.
Walking through the major sale
June 2, 2006
It all began innocently enough. I was dropping off paperwork to an office in a strip mall when I saw the sign which read, “Exotic Birds”. A few weeks later, the kids were in the car and we had time to kill between sporting event practice so we stopped by the exotic bird store for entertainment purposes.
I should note here that we are not totally inexperienced with birds. About 8 years ago we acquired a cockatiel for my daughter from a friend of a friend who happened to own a male and a female bird and had allowed nature to take its course. As a result, we had a brief but unhappy bird ownership experience. In other words, as a result of our first experience, we now knew that we didn’t know anything about birds.
Much to my surprise, our previous “foul” experience hadn’t cooled my daughter’s ardor. In fact, my youngest (who was too young to remember the initial bird experience) also discovered during that visit that he shared her love of winged creatures. As a result of our visit, the wheels were set in motion for a major sale; the acquisition of an exotic bird.
All the criteria for a major sale were present in our decision.
- There was more than one decision maker.
This was a family decision. Of course, the kids and my husband were sold LONG before I joined in.
- There is significant financial/emotional investment on the part of the buyer.
Not only was the financial investment significant (I should have known that “exotic” = $$$$$) but the emotional investment level was high as well. We’d fallen in love with a bird before only to have our hearts broken when she died.
- The purchase warrants significant time and research into alternatives.
I’ll admit that I looked into adopting a special needs orphan refugee as an alternative. While it appeared that decision would cost less and be less disruptive than adding an exotic bird to our family, the kids and my husband insisted upon the bird instead.
- There is the potential of a long-term relationship between you and your customer.
I had no idea coming in how much “relationship” would be involved in this transaction.
- The consequences of making a purchasing mistake are high.
SKY HIGH, as in broken hearts and years of therapy high. If we screw this bird up, not only will my children be emotionally distraught, but I’ll NEVER be able to sell him for what we paid for him initially.
I recognized our descent down the path to the major sale from the second visit to the bird store (which was really just a breeder who had rented a space in the stripmall and supported her bird habit with careful breeding and the sale of cages, toys and food) so I kept track of the process.
Since my husband had to be included in the decision, we tried to stop by the store front one evening only to discover the store was closed. (Like I said, it’s not a “real” store with “real store” hours.) However, the web site address was painted on the store windows. www.fantasticfeathers.net
Turns out, Fantastic Feathers is the name of the store. However, in a BRILLIANT marketing move, the store owners ordered their signs to read “Exotic Birds”. I know that I wouldn’t have brought my kids to “Fantastic Feathers” but I did bring them to “Exotic Birds”.
The Fantastic Feathers website is not superbly designed by any means. Images are missing and the design is crappy, but the information contained within was EXACTLY what we needed. Not only was there a list of the birds available but there were also descriptions of each type of bird. There was more than enough information there for us to decide to try to visit during the less than convenient hours of operation.
We made several visits to the store and even more visits to the web site during the next few weeks. We searched and we read and most importantly, we talked. We talked to the breeders at the store. We talked to friends and neighbors. In the end, we bought a bird from these breeders because of their extensive knowledge and experience… which they first relayed to us via their website.
It took us almost a month to put down a deposit on our hatchling. Then we waited two more months while we waited for little Beldar to be ready to come home with us. To say I was petrified wouldn’t describe the level of terror I felt. I would have felt more comfortable bringing home the special needs orphan refugee.
In the end, the store’s web site was the most influential factor on our decision to purchase the bird from this breeder. We visited other bird breeder and bird store websites in the area. None of the other store web sites showcased their “expertise” on their web site and therefore, we didn’t even try to visit the other stores. While one other competitor actually listed on the site birds for sale and their prices, there wasn’t the other essential information we felt we needed to trust them with our purchase. By the way, the breed of bird we chose was listed as costing 20% LESS on this other bird store website.
Perhaps it was the wealth of information available at Fantastic Feathers or perhaps it was our “foul” experience with another “bargain basement bird”, but in the end we paid a premium for our beloved Beldar, a Rose Breasted Cockatoo.
If you’re in the business of making a ‘major’ sale, don’t underestimate the power information plays in making the sale. Your web site is a great way to showcase your expertise by sharing information potential buyers need. Filling your site with articles, how to’s and top 10 lists really do help to convince visitors to take the next step and walk into your store. Studies have shown that a majority of customers will search for and try to visit your web site BEFORE visiting your store. It’s also been estimated that only 1 in 10 web visitors who become customers will actually use the web to complete the transaction. That means, if you have a brick and mortar store with a web site, for every online “sale” you make, there are as many as 9 “physical” sales that are the result of your web site. However, keep in mind your customers probably won’t mention this fact to you. It’s rare for the average customer to think about much less reveal that they visited your web site before making the decision to walk into your store.
