Local Search: The Game is Changing

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #50 - How Small Businesses Get Found in Local Search Results

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Google has gone and done it. We thought we understood how search engines work. Build a website, create good content, get found by search engines. But the game has changed. For small, local businesses, your search engine visibility is now determined by something called "local search," those special search engine results when people go looking for a business in a certain geographic area. There are different rules to local search, and you need to know what they are. In this episode of Power to the Small Business, we discuss how small businesses get found in local search results, and what you can do about it.

Guest:
Mike Ramsey, of Nifty Marketing, Burley, Idaho
Length: 34 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers - If you don't see the player, click here to listen to Local Search: The Game is Changing

You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #50 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call our brand new audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Show Notes:

LOCAL SEARCH: THE GAME IS CHANGING

What is local search? Mike Ramsey separated it into four categories:

1. Internet Yellow Pages – Sites that have a lot of local small business information like Yelp, SuperPages, City Search, Urban Spoon
   
2. Geo-focused organic search results, such as those when you type in a term in a search engine like “plumber in Dallas.”
   
3. Geo-focused pay per click – Paid advertising on Google, Yahoo, Bing that appear on the right had of the search results.
   
4. Local listing results - Those with a map, 1-10 local business listings with a “balloon” indicating the local business on the map, and the business’ basic information.

Selected quotes from Mike Ramsey on the show:

ON BEING FOUND IN LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS

"If you’re not in the (Google) 7-pack as a local business, your visibility just drops so much….As a small business owner, you really do want to make sure you’re visible on those seven listings"

ON INFLUENCING YOUR POSITION IN THE GOOGLE LOCAL 7-PACK

“You’ve got to make sure that your name, address and phone number for your business is exactly the same and matched everywhere on the web.”

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR WEBSITE IN LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS

"A website becomes much more of a selling factor than a ranking factor in local search. But it’s not as important as having your information…all across the web."

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF REVIEWS IN DETERMINING SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

“Google, as well as gathering business information data, they gather reviews from all across the web….Companies that have reviews, especially those that have large amounts of reviews, it helps rankings.”

ON THE INFLUENCE OF BLOGS AND WEBSITE CONTENT IN LOCAL SEARCH RESULTS

"I don’t see that being a huge factor into your actual Google Local Business listing. It’s going to help you with the organic rankings…But for the local business center, sites that have a blog, sites that don’t have a blog, that won’t determine your 7-pack ranking."

Show Links:

Mike Ramsey - Nifty Marketing
Mike's Blog post with all the links: Local Search Tools
Claim your listing: Google Local Business Center

Events:
Optimization Summit, March 23-24 2010 - Dallas, Texas
Small Biz Social Media Summit, June 5-6, 2010 - Hutchinson, Kansas

A complete archive of all past episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business

If you enjoyed this podcast, consider subscribing to this blog and let future podcast episodes and articles come to you: Receive The Marketing Spot by Email or Get The Marketing Spot in a blog reader

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12 Exceptional WordPress Website Resources for Small Business

When it comes to websites, WordPress is an entrepreneur's best friend. The free, open-source content management system allows small businesses to take control of their website and save thousands of dollars. WordPress makes it possible for you to build your own website in minutes, and maintain it yourself after it's built. And while it's fairly simple to use, there is a bit of a learning curve.

The first thing you should know is where to go. WordPress.com is the free WordPress blogging platform. That's fine if all you want is a free, hosted blog. However, for small business websites, your source is WordPress.org. You will need your own domain name and website hosting account, but you will have complete control over your own website.

So let's get started. Here is my short list of WordPress resources for small businesses wanting to create and control their own website. The list is by no means complete, so please add your favorite resources in the comment section below.

Getting Started with WordPress

Your New Wordpress Website Step By Step. Beginner’s Guide - Simple basic instructions for beginners

WPBeginner - The Beginner's Guide for WordPress. Offers tips, tools, resources and suggestions. Leans to the blogging side of WordPress, but lots of good stuff here.

Creating a Website with WordPress - My own three-part tutorial on setting up your own small business website with WordPress.

Tutorials

WordPress Codex - The official WordPress help resource. Includes all the basic stuff, including how to install and get started in WordPress.

WordPress Video Tutorials from Weblog Tools - Collection of tutorials that you may need to refine and search further.

Themes

WordPress runs on themes. It's what makes a site look pretty, but more importantly gives the site function. Themes are easy to switch out, but their functionality can vary significantly. Be careful with frequent switching of themes. Here are a couple of sources for your website theme. The WordPress.org site has more themes than you can imagine, these links help narrow down the choices.

25 Fresh, Clean and Unique WordPress Themes - and Free

40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes - All Free.

Plugins

Plugins are WordPress add-ons that enhance the function and usefulness of WordPress sites. There are lots of them, both free and premium. If you're just getting started with WordPress, don't go crazy on them yet. Learn a little first and then add them gradually.

10 Essential Wordpress Plugins For New Wordpress Installation - Don't be fooled by the article's focus on blogs. This is good stuff for websites too.

WordPress Plugin Directory - This is WordPress' own repository of free plugins. Some good, some not-so-good. The advantage of this site is that WordPress collects reviews and ratings from the user community.

Your Go-To Guide of Wordpress Plugins - Quite a collection of links to plugin reviews and recommendations.

Search Engine Optimization

Overall, WordPress is great for search engine optimization. But it can be made better with a few simple tricks and plugins. Here are a couple of links to get you started.

WordPress SEO - Dutch WordPress developer Joost de Valk with seven useful search engine optimization tutorials. He focuses on the blog aspect of WordPress, but still great stuff for full websites.

The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Theme Search Engine Optimization - A 10-part series on tweaking your WordPress theme. Beginners may not be able to follow some of this stuff. If not, bookmark it and come back to it later.

After reviewing these resources, you decide that you don't have the time or the desire to build your own website, check out my inexpensive JiffyBat small business website building service.


We can build your website in two weeks for under a $1000

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Creating Remarkable Customer Experiences is About Two Things

Remarkable customers experiences don't just happen, they are carefully planned and orchestrated. A couple of years ago I developed a tool to help small businesses with this task. As of this writing the Customer Experience Map has been downloaded from this blog almost 800 times. (Revised and updated version is coming this Spring) The map, and accompanying tutorial, is by far the most popular installment of my Build Your Marketing Plan series. But it's important to get it right. So let's discuss what really goes into your customer experience.

(Download your copy here: Customer Experience Map)

There are three purposes of a planned customer experience:

1. Meet brand expectations: Before customers arrive at your door or website, you have created expectations. They have a certain preconception of your business based on word of mouth and your marketing. They have decided to try you out based on a preconception. It's important that you reinforce this preconception. It comforts the customer and reaffirms they made the right choice.
   
   
2. Create loyal customers: A customer encounter is not a chance to make a sale, it's an opportunity to form a relationship. Customers prefer to be loyal to a business because they don't want to waste time finding another place to buy. Loyalty is rather easy to earn if you simply give customers everything you promise and everything they expect from you.
   
   
3. Spark word of mouth: People are so excited and inspired by their experience with you that they feel compelled to tell their friends, family, and co-workers. This is where things get tricky. The most popular advice here is to "exceed customer expectations," but that advice is of little help because it's too abstract. Exceed them by how much? No, what really sparks word of mouth are memorable moments, or what I call magic spots in the customer experience.

Making Memories - Making Word of Mouth

As you can see from the list above, here are two things that go into a customer's experience: what people expect, and what people will talk about. So plan your customer experience in two phases. In phase one, map out an experience that includes everything the customer expects: service, information, products. By meeting expectations you are earning trust and loyalty and eliminating negative talk about your business. In phase two, you insert magic spots at strategic points in the experience.

Magic spots are important to word of mouth because they give customers something specific to talk about. When is the last time you heard someone saying "I love my apartment complex because they exceed my expectations!" No, Instead, if someone does spread word of mouth about an apartment complex it goes something like this; "Dude, I love my place at Urbane Apartments. It's so cool. Last weekend, we did a pub crawl. We got discounts and VIP treatment at every bar." Customers need something specific to remember and talk about.

The big idea: Meeting expectations earns loyalty, creating memorable moments earns word of mouth.

Are you delivering everything a customer expects? What memories are you creating?

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How to Make Your Advertising Not Suck

Advertising that sucks is pervasive. In fact, most advertising sucks. Which is good for you, because it makes it easier for your good ad to stand out. The challenge for you is to create excellent advertising. To do that you answer the question: What makes advertising suck? The answer does not lie in the ad.

Whether or not advertising sucks is determined before the ad is ever created. It's determined by your commitment to your brand; the desired perception of your business in the mind of the consumer. If you are not committed to your brand, then you have no advertising plan. And commitment always reveals itself in the form of focus.

"Focus, focus, focus. These are the three most important words in branding. The danger is rarely too much focus, but too little. An unfocused brand doesn't stand for anything. a Focused brand by contrast knows exactly what it is, why it's different, and why people want it."
Marty Neumeier - The Brand Gap

And if I could append Marty's excellent advice, I would add: what to say about it. Know what you are, why you're different, why people want you have, and you have an advertising plan. Where do you come up with ideas for excellent advertising? By focusing on your brand.

"...when you have a narrow idea, it is a lot easier to get good creative work." -
Laura Ries - The Origin of Brands

Definition Spot:
Advertising That Sucks - Forgettable advertising that doesn't advance your brand identity, generate store traffic or create positive conversation. Most commonly associated with the phrases: "We didn't see any results." and "That was a waste of money."

Let's see this focus-on-your-brand advertising strategy in action. We'll use Super Bowl ads because they're easily available on YouTube. The Snickers Betty White ad has been hailed as one of the best ads of Super Bowl XLIV, and I agree. The reason is that Snickers has focus. They know who they are, and they focus on one message. Take a look at the other TV spot in the "You're not you when you're hungry" campaign:

(Email Subscribers and feed readers click here if you don't see the videos: advertising that doesn't suck)

Snickers focuses on the hunger satisfaction message. The commercials are funny, but they're funny with a purpose. That purpose is advancing the Snickers brand as the snack that cures hunger. By comparison, let's take a look at one of the worst ads of this year's Super Bowl, CareerBuilder.com

"Expose yourself to something better." Do you get it? Everyone's walking around in their underwear. Clever, but ineffective and a waste of money. Because CareerBuilder.com's brand is not about "better jobs," it's about "lots of jobs." CareerBuilder.com touts that it is "The Largest Job Search, Employment & Career Site." A trip to their website is a total disconnect from their advertising. The advertising and the brand are two separate entities. And that's advertising that sucks.

Start with your brand, stick with your brand, and you'll have an advertising plan. Aren't you ready to stop wasting money on advertising?

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Conversation Starters: Bandwagons, Twitter and Free Stuff

Jumping on the New Tools

There's always something new in the marketing pipeline that will supposedly someday change marketing. The latest of these is Google Buzz and FourSquare. Then the evangelism starts with a few marketers trumpeting the new tools as some sort of "killer." You know the "Facebook Killer" or the "Yelp Killer." That sounds awfully violent to me, but what the hype does is create some pressure on marketers and entrepreneurs to pay attention to this new stuff. Should you jump on the bandwagon and start using it?

I usually don't recommend my clients jump on the new stuff immediately. The purpose of marketing is to reach people, and to reach them now. It's about where your customers are not where they will be in a couple of years. So what's your policy on using these new tools? How quickly do you jump on board?

The Twitter Follow Game

I got called out today by "Tim" aka:@hannibal666 for not following him back on Twitter. In his tweet he called me "gamey." I found that humorous because I've created some pretty rigorous criteria about what links I tweet and retweet.

Mainly I think Tim was just upset because I didn't follow him back, but he really didn't make it possible for me to follow him back for these reasons:

1. He didn't include his full, real name in his profile.
2. He didn't include a link to a website in his profile so I could verify his real name.
3. His tweets were of no value to me. (Although they may have been to someone else.)

I get 20-30 new follows daily on Twitter, mostly from people trying to get me to follow them back so that their follower numbers look impressive. I may follow back 1 or 2 of those new followers, based partly on the above criteria. What criteria do you use to follow-back on social networks? Or do you have criteria and just follow everyone? Are you getting tired of the follow game?

Giving Your Stuff Away for Free

Some businesses struggle with blogging. Their primary worry is they might give away some of their proprietary information and systems. Competitors and ne'er-do-wells might copy their stuff. Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, says this about what people might do with her free ebooks "I don’t worry about it. Period."

Neither do I. In fact you can find most of my stuff for free on this blog, including most of my coaching system right here: Build Your Marketing Plan. But what you don't get is me collaborating with you. I think that's the real value that I offer. The information I give away on this blog and my podcast builds my credibility and authority (hopefully), and also forces me to organize and codify my stuff.

Do you struggle with what you might give away? What are you willing to share or not share with potential clients?

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Local Search Results: Getting listed in Google's local 7-Pack

It's becoming increasingly important to be found in the local search engines. People prefer to find information about local businesses through search engines rather than in the yellow pages. In this Spotlight on Marketing Video, we look at how the local search engine results work, and how you can increase your chances of making it into Google's local 7-Pack of results.

Spotlight on Marketing: Getting listed in local search results

Email Subscribers & Feed Readers, click here to see the video: Local Search Results

As you can see in the video, if you want to make it into the local search results, you either need a website or a listing in Google's Local Business Center. It's probably better to have both. Claiming your local listing in Google is free and easy to do. While you're at it you should probably claim your listings in Yahoo, Bing, and Yelp too. Just click on these links for each search engine's local business center.

Google Local Business Center
Yahoo Local Business
Bing Local Business
Yelp Business Listing

Related Article: Best Online Tools For Small Business Marketing

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Success Through Creativity: Small Businesses turn to social media for ideas.

Network Solutions and the University of Maryland School of Business have released their annual State of Small Business Report. Among the gold mine of information in the report they found that small businesses try to differentiate themselves in four primary ways:

• Superior customer service (78%)
• Higher quality products (76%)
• Creative ideas to address customers' needs (65%)
• Lower prices (44%)

But only two of these four differentiation strategies can actually bring competitive success: superior service and creativity. Quality and low prices actually make little difference to small business success. The study concluded that was because:

"everyone claims to have high quality, making it a marginal strategy for differentiation, while cutting prices is not sustainable for small enterprises that lack the economies of scale to
keep costs low."

But if being creative is a success strategy for growth, where can small businesses turn for these new creative ideas? The report found that the most common source of ideas is customers (68%). And that's where social media comes in.

Once Again, It's All About Engagement

Social media's strength is engagement: the ability to interact and engage customers in near real-time. Your customers are full of ideas: Ideas that you need, ideas that can help you creatively gain a competitive advantage and grow. All you need to do is ask. Dell does it with Idea Storm, Starbucks does it with My Starbucks Idea, and you can do it too.

Actually you can do it better than Dell and Starbucks because you're smaller and can move faster than the bureaucracies and committees at those big companies. Use your smallness to your advantage. Need an idea? Reach out to your customers...today. Get an idea...today! Customers are more than willing to help you if you just engage them and ask for their help.

In conjunction with the release of the report, Network Solutions interviewed me for their GrowSmart Business Podcast. In the 10 minute interview, I discuss how small business should use social media.

Listen to the podcast: Small Business and Social Media
Download the full report here: State of Small Business Report (pdf document)

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Marketers Roundtable 4: Discussion of Current Marketing Issues

The Internet show about small business marketing.

Podcast Episode #49 - Google Buzz, Trending Topics, Trust Deficits, The Most-Normal-People Rule

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Hear ye, Hear ye! Interested citizens of The Internet, you are invited to the fourth gathering of the Marketers Roundtable.

Whereas marketers like to congregate and discuss marketing,
Therefore, let them gather at The Marketers RoundTable to discuss marketing issues for all to hear on Power to the Small Business.

Guests:
Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
Geno Church - Brains on Fire
Mark Roberge - Hubspot
Jay Ehret - The Marketing Spot (Podcast Host)

Length: 38 minutes

Email subscribers and feed readers - If you don't see the player, click here to listen to Power to the Small Business
You can also download the mp3 file here: Download Power to the Small Business #49 (for personal use only)

Press the play button on the Box player above and get started. Comments, questions? Please share it in the comment section below or call the audio comment line: 254-433-8529.

Marketers' RoundTable - A discussion of current marketing issues:

Selected quotes from the show:

ON GOOGLE BUZZ:

JASON FALLS: “In order to use this tool most effectively, we really have to parse and narrow down the number of people that we follow or the number of people we want to connect with there to a more reasonable level. "

JAY EHRET: "I just wonder is it something we really need, we’re going to use? Is it a marketing utility at all? What are we going to do with it?"

GENO CHURCH: "It appears really busy and fractured and a little bit half-baked."

MARK ROBERGE: "Don’t be a late jumper to the game even if you don’t believe social media is for your target audience because I think the impact of something like a Google Buzz is going to be much beyond social media to SEO and other elements."

ON TRENDING TOPICS:

JAY EHRET: "The key for small businesses Is getting in to fresh content. Because if you’re not creating fresh content, you’re not likely to be engaged in these trending topics or show up when people start searching for information on these trending topics.”

JASON FALLS: "It’s an opportunity for (local, small businesses) to tap in to, put a finger on the pulse, of what their customers are talking about at that given moment."

MARK ROBERGE: “It’s not that hard sometimes to be a trending topic when the community is new. And that presents a whole new environment for you to go into when something comes out."

GENO CHURCH: “I know first-hand of a corporation that online conversations about trending topics, and I’m not talking about the mass trending topics, they’re using it to help build better products."

ON TRUST DEFICITS:

MARK ROBERGE: "It’s just a function of people’s definition of what a friend is and what a contact is and how many people they’re able to keep in touch with is much broader, and that in turn has decreased the trust."

GENO CHURCH: “Just collecting friends, collecting numbers does not transfer to people talking about your product or services or recommending you."

JASON FALLS: "I think that we’re a little bit more skeptical of the relationships we have (online); maybe think they’re a little more superficial than we did a couple of years ago."

JAY EHRET: “Maybe there’s 20% less trust because our circle has become too big, and you can’t trust everybody."

ON THE MOST NORMAL PEOPLE RULE:

GENO CHURCH: “We talk about how many missed opportunities we have for extending the conversation face-to-face. A lot of times we don’t ask customers that love our products and services to have a conversation on our behalf."

MARK ROBERGE: "Search is the big thing where the everyday person is. I think that folks just need to appreciate that search, social media, and blogging are all connected. And you do them all together and you generate that ROI and everything flows.”

JAY EHRET: “Most normal people like to talk to other people, and they like to do it face-to-face. They like to have conversations about the products and businesses they frequent. Pay attention to that and don’t get caught up too much in this online stuff."

JASON FALLS: "Email and search are pretty much ubiquitous. Everybody has it, everybody does it. And I think that’s where you can focus and reach the most people.

Show Links:

Geno Church: Brains on Fire Book, Geno on Twitter
Jason Falls: Backupify, Jason on Twitter
Mark Roberge: Website Grader, Mark on Twitter
Jay Ehret: Jiffy Bat, Jay on Twitter

- All guests on today's show will be appearing at the upcoming Optimization Summit on March 23rd in Dallas, Texas.
- A complete archive of all past podcast episodes can be found here: Power to the Small Business

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February's Free Marketing Webinar: Optimizing Your Online Presence. Get details and register here: Free Marketing Webinar Build an Awesome Brand Workshop on February 23rd. Get details and a discount registration here: Marketing Workshop

What The Numbers Mean for Social Media Marketing

One the loudest arguments in favor of social media marketing are the big numbers. Everywhere you look you see the numbers if favor of using social media. Here are some examples:

• Facebook has 400 million active users! (Source: Facebook)
• Facebook gained over 100 million users in the U.S. from January 2009 to January 2010! (Source: Inc.)
• Facebook has more than 100 million mobile users! (Source: Facebook)
• There are 55 million LinkedIn users! (Source: Mashable)
• There are 75 million Twitter user accounts! (Source: The Metric system)
• Teens spend 25% of their time on social networks! (Source: Screenwerk)

Incredible! Only the numbers mean nothing to you, and here's why. Facebook as 400 million users...Wow! Go ahead try to reach them all. Big numbers don't mean you should do it. For example, 99% of all Americans still watch television. That doesn't mean you should be advertising on TV.

Don't get blinded by the big numbers. Social media marketing is still one at a time. You don't put up a Facebook page and today and see a 25% increase in business tomorrow. Social media marketing is just like anything else. It takes time and effort. So turn a blind eye to all the big numbers and concentrate on the ones that mean the most to you: how many people you can realistically reach through social media, and how much work you have to do to reach them.

Do you get caught up in the numbers? How much do they really mean to you?

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Getting More Business by Making it Easier to Buy

Sometimes the way to get more business is to simply make it easier for customers to buy from you. I was recently reminded of this when I tried to place a client advertising schedule with a local media company. Despite my best efforts to give them money, the company made it almost impossible for me to buy from them. I think this happens a lot. So maybe it’s time for all us to review how we sell to customers and clear a path for them to buy.

Give Clear Directions

Do customers even know how to buy from you? You may think it’s intuitive, but you’re in the business every day. Customers may not really know how to buy from you. This is especially true in a service business. For example, when I met with the rep from the local media company, she gave me a “media kit,” filled with lots of information about how great they were. But there was absolutely no information about how to buy. Now, I’m a seasoned marketing professional and I know how to buy, but a local, small business probably doesn’t know how to buy a media schedule.

So ask yourself, and your customers; “Am I leaving it up them to figure out how to buy from me?”

Remove Friction

Sometimes we just need to get out of the way and let the customer buy something. Eliminate friction points in the customer’s experience that slow down the process. Back to my story with local media company (can you tell I’m protecting their name?). I requested some ratings information from them to help me make my final placement decision. They told me that to give me that information, they would have to schedule a meeting to explain everything. I was ready to buy immediately, but they wanted to schedule another meeting!

Are you requiring too much effort from your customers to buy something? How can you remove the hoops customers are required to jump through?

Give a Push

..or a helping hand. You and your customer are in this together. How can you help them with a purchase decision? Maybe they need to be able to compare your different options side-by-side. Maybe they need your specific advice on which product is right for them. Be available to help your customers make a decision. Finally, don’t forget to ask for the business! “So would you like to go ahead and purchase now?”

How can you work with your customers to make it easier to buy from you?

So, what happened in my attempt to do business with the un-named local media company? One day AFTER I placed an order with them, they called me back to let me know that I would need to pay cash in advance for the order to run. 15 minutes later I had the business placed with another company.

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What a Logo Does

While the importance of a logo in brand-building is overblown, there is another aspect of logos that is often overlooked: the effect it has on the business. I've just completed my ninth logo facilitation using crowdSPRING and am starting another logo project this week. Without a single exception, the completion of each logo project energized the business.

Click to see an enlarged view

Excitement & Energy

It's true. Logos generate steam within the business. Most of the other branding stuff is hard work and hurts your brain. Despite the critical role it plays in branding, no one looks forward to working on their brand promise. Crafting a tagline makes you humble and challenges your ability as a wordsmith. But creating a new logo energizes a business. Maybe it's because vision is our most critical sense, I don't know. But I do know that when a business gets a new logo, everyone gets excited.

From Concept to Reality

Logos make a brand touchable...in an interesting way. Take the logos above, for example. What if you had never seen them? What if someone only recited the name of those businesses to you? You probably would have a much different concept of each business. A business idea is hard to grasp, but logos make a brand, and the ideas behind that brand, real. They give substance to a brand.

Stimulate Movement

When you get a logo you don't just stick it in a folder somewhere. Now, you have to use it. So the website get's refreshed, new marketing and sales materials are created, advertising campaigns are launched. Logos incite action.

I'm not saying put the logo before the brand. You still have to do the hard work of brand-building first. But when you do, nothing gets a brand moving like a fresh logo.

Logo Service: The Marketing Spot will facilitate the creation of your logo using crowdSPRING. We offer a logo service that includes branding consultation and cost-efficient logo creation. For details and a no-obligation quote, see contact information here: The Marketing Spot

Note: The Marketing Spot is NOT a crowdSPRING affiliate, nor are we compensated by them in any way. Our only relationship with crowdSPRING is that we pay them for logo creation.

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Conversation Starters: Staying in touch, Getting Rid of Stuff, and Word of Mouth

How Much do You Have to Be Like Your Clients?

The Grammys were on TV last Sunday night and I proudly avoided them. That led to a Twitter conversation where my Friend Lisa Trosien suggested that I should be watching the Grammys because some folks in my speaking audiences might be millennials. Meaning the Grammys were required watching so that I could stay in touch with my audience and potential clients. In response, I asked Lisa if millennial speakers with baby boomers in the audience should know about disco (I'm still waiting for disco's return). The real question is this: How much do you have to be in touch with your client's lifestyle in order for them to do business with you?

What Goes in Your Marketing Delta File?

The Delta is a Greek letter that looks like this: Δ The delta symbol is often used in mathematics, physics and business to represent change. I bring this up because we all have short memories and we forget things; things that we see other people doing wrong and vow that we'll never do, yet someday we end up doing them. Mike and Mark over at Manager Tools suggest one way to improve your memory is to keep a file of things you'd change if you had the power (and the memory). What are things from your marketing past do you need to change? What marketing standard operating procedures would you get rid of?

The Death of Remarkability?

Paul Williams has written an excellent series of articles on word of mouth over at his Idea Sandbox. It was spurred on by his appearance on my podcast debunking the bunk of word of mouth. Paul says (and many other marketers) that word of mouth comes from being remarkable. That usually comes in the from of a remarkable experience. But the hype and frenzy by marketers over social media has taken the focus off remarkability and put it on conversation. This is putting the cart before the horse in my opinion and is a disservice to small business owners. I can't help but wonder if social media is killing remarkability, or at least damaging it.

You?

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How the Tyranny of Choice Costs You Business

People's brains tend to instruct their owners to stay right where they are. That's why people tend to stick with what they have. Because when they stay where they are, they get to avoid the tyranny of choice.

In their forthcoming book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard, authors Chip and Dan Heath tell us why it's so difficult to get people to buy something new.

"The status quo feels comfortable and steady because much of the choice has been squeezed out."

It seems that choice is exhausting; not physically exhausting, but mentally and emotionally exhausting. The more choices you offer customers, the more exhausted they become, the less likely they are to purchase something they've never purchased before. The Heaths call this decision paralysis:

"More options, even good ones, can freeze us and make us retreat to the default plan."

Ok, you know how to fix that, you'll simply offer fewer choices. But that's just the beginning, especially if you have a retail store. Think of your customer as they walk into your store for the very first time. They see rows and aisles of products they have never seen before. That unfamiliarity immediately hits customers with their first choice: "Where do I begin?" Think about that. As soon as people walk through your door, you are already pushing them toward exhaustion.

The same goes for your website. If you bombard visitors with an array of choices on the home page, they have no idea where to go, and they get tired just trying to choose their first click.

A Good Place to Start

How do you get around this? The business trend is to offer more choice. You can blame it on Chris Anderson, who wrote The Long Tail, in which he proclaimed that "the future of business is selling less of more." Meaning more choices. Chris is an engineer, and likes analyzing data. What he didn't take into account was how more choices would exhaust customers. In his book, he offered up the examples of Amazon & Netflix. I'm glad he did because Netflix provides a model for overcoming the tyranny of choice.

When you first join Netflix, it's easy. You type in a couple of movies that you missed at the theater and they arrive in your mailbox a day later. What happens next? You get to choose more movies, as many as you want. Oh the tyranny! But it doesn't seem like you are choosing from their long-tail selection of 75,000 different movies, because Netflix narrows the choices for you by giving you a place to start.

Netflix customers get to browse the Netflix Top 100 and choose from that list. That's a good place to start. Then, Netflix begins suggesting movies to you, based on your previous choices. Another good place to start. They further narrow your choices by genre, so you can start with comedies if they are your favorite.

Give customers brains a rest and make it easier for them to make the new choice of purchasing from you. Give them fewer choices, not more. Then suggest a good place to start.

Ask yourself: Are you exhausting your customers with the tyranny of choice?

Related read: Three Predictably Irrational Pricing Strategies That Get the Sale

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Dear Restaurant Owner: Please don't think like a restaurant owner.

John Foley writes what restaurant owners think about Valentine's Day: cash flow. But that's not what customers are thinking.

Photo credit: Esparta

Actually customers are hoping. Hoping that the restaurant they choose gets it right. Hoping that their server will actually spend time with them. And hoping it will be a romantic evening worthy of Valentine's Day. So my plea to restaurant owners is to not think like a restaurant owner. Think like the customer. I've written about this before. Here's my advice from a couple of classic articles

Restaurants Miss The Point of Valentine’s Day - What customers want and how you can give it to them on Valentine's Day.

How to Become the Most Popular Restaurant in Town - The real reason people choose a restaurant as their favorite.

Won't you be my Valentine's Day Restaurant?

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