1. Do you know your clients?

What DO they want? It might not hurt to do a little client assessment and ask them for some feedback. Sending out a little email asking them for their opinion with a little incentive for completing it is one way you can get an idea if you are really serving the needs of your clients. This doesn’t mean you change your whole game plan but it can help guide the direction you want to take in your business.

2. Take an honest assessment of your business community.

Take off the “business X” filter that tells you everyone should want your product or service because you are so great and look around with virgin eyes. Believe it or not, the world is bigger than your business and your clients needs and wants are diverse. Make sure your business is fitting within those areas.

3. Try something new.

You don’t have to bet the farm on a new item to introduce something new to your client. Test the water with free samples or free information and see who bites before you make a big financial and time commitment to a new product. But don’t be afraid to try something different.

4. Stay educated

Stay educated on the latest trends, techniques and tools. Learn to discern the good information from the hype.

5. Read information OUTSIDE your industry.

Obviously you want to also read info related to your industry but remember . . . the world is bigger than your industry. You might find something that you can use to your advantage by thinking outside the box.

APPLE

As you might have guessed, we are Apple fans here at Brite Idea but we regularly assess whether our enthusiasm is merely hype or if there is a reason we love their products sooo much. We keep coming back to the fact that they produce products that solve problems for us AND do it in elegant and surprisingly simple ways.

How do you solve a problem like {you}? is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

I’ve had a gift certificate for Legacy Chocolates in a nearby town for, oh, five months and just hadn’t found the time to stop in. Part of it probably was to avoid the temptation of buying their delectable truffles (which I have enjoyed as a gift) but finally today I stopped buy to pick up a coffee and spend a few minutes in the store.

I should have come sooner.

Not only is this the best cappuccino I think I’ve ever had (lovely whipped foamy milk helps) but I discovered they have local meats, homemade soups daily and of course a whole section of amazing looking truffles (but I resisted the temptation to blow my workout calories on a piece of chocolate – another time perhaps:). I noticed right away they are doing several things right. One their store is immaculately clean and mixes the charm of an old building with modern industrial decor indoors. In addition they have plenty of room to sit and talk, relax or as I’m doing, getting some work done.

Lessons to learn from Legacy:

High quality and unique products

*Uses local products to greatest advantage AND markets that fact effectively by mentioning on literature, when you buy your coffee or truffles or food.

*Sales person/staff is knowledgable about their products and the services they offer, they add to the sale by mentioning other things they offer!

*Niche marketing with their chocolates but also good add on products like local meats, homemade soups, coffee

*Quiet, relaxed atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable.

*Delicious food and good marketing.

Check Them Out

Want to take your business to the next level, go and check out this great local business at http://www.LegacyChocolates.com

Doing it right: Legacy Chocolates is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

Communication is Job #1?

What is a Blog Anyway ?

Blogging Drives Sales

Share your Wisdom

You’re the Expert

Communication is a 2 Lane Highway

Just Do It

Should a business waste time blogging is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

Have you ever experienced the following?

Phone Rings . . . . and rings and rings and rings (no answering service?)

Finally someone at the business picks up.

Business: “YUP.” the voice on the other end of the line says

Me: “Is this Joe Bob’s Plumbing & Heating?” I ask, a little confused and slightly annoyed.

Business: “Ah, yeah”

Me: “Well, I, um, I’m looking to hire a plumber for a residential job I have coming up.” I am a little bothered that I’m having to carry the conversation. I’ve never been very good on the phone carrying a conversation when the other person only answers in semi-literate grunts and I did call the listed business line and not his personal home phone but I’m starting to wonder.

Business: “Ok, well, I’m pretty busy but I guess I can see if I can get out there sometime.”

Me: (thinking internally) Don’t you want to ask me about the job? Out loud: ” Well, I was hoping to get some rough estimates on the project before having anyone come out, would you like to hear about my project?”

Business: “You know, can I put you on hold, I have another call coming in.”

Line goes dead.

WHAT ABOUT THIS SCENARIO?

Ring Ring Ring

“Hello the number you have reached is being served by a voice answering service. The number 888-555-5555 is not available. Please leave a message after the beep.
Beep!
I’m sorry this voice mailbox is Full.
Line goes dead.

OR HERE’S A GOOD ONE:

“Hello this is MMMM Business. (Kid is screaming in background and something sounds like it just broke on the floor). Leave us a message. (Cat howls and Dog barks).
Beep.

MY PERSONAL FAVORITE

Ring, Ring Ring Ring RING RING RING RING . . . . .

(thinking to myself) What! No answering machine?

IS THIS YOUR BUSINESS?
Let me first say that NONE of the above should be characteristic of your business if you are interested at all in keeping good customers loyal to your business. People are too busy to waste time calling you back because you don’t have an answering service or are so lousy at helping customers that they can’t get an answer in good time. They’ll find someone easier to talk to or work with in a hurry.

I’d like to say the examples above are rare or better yet hypothetical, but about 50% of the time when I contact a new business about a service I get one of the above phone responses. So is this you?

THANKFULLY THIS IS EASY TO FIX.
First, if you don’t have an answering service – for heaven’s sake, get one. A basic answering machine is ok but sometimes the quality of the voice service is less than ideal. For a small fee most phone companies, (including cellular companies) have higher quality answering services that are well worth the monthly fee. Please, call your phone company TODAY and get one set up.

Second, while were on the topic of voice answering – PLEASE do not use the default computer voice as your message! Take 5 minutes in a quiet location and write a short descriptive script and READ it to record your message. Then listen to it and make sure it’s clear. It should be something on the lines of:

“Hello, you have reached X business. We are so glad you called. We are currently away from our phone but we would love to help you. Please leave your name, phone number and a short message and we will return your call as soon as possible.”
(or give a time like – within 24 hours – as long as you can keep your promise).

A TIP ON WHAT NOT TO INCLUDE IN YOUR MESSAGE.
The message isn’t a time to list every single sale you are currently having, nor should you seek to be incredibly creative (like singing the message) . . . KISS – keep it simple stupid:).

Whew, now that we have that out of the way.

SO THE PHONE RINGS AND YOU GET READY TO PICK IT UP. . . (this includes anyone in your business who answers the phone)
Do you sound like a professional or someone that is surprised they are getting a phone call? I’m going to tell you that if you answer the phone like it’s an unwelcome surprise or interruption, you have just given the person on the other end of the line several impressions, none of them good.

you are not really a professional
you are not very busy
you are not trustworthy
you probably won’t be around long

Whether or not these are true of your business doesn’t matter – because the person on the other end of the line is basing their assumptions on how you responded to their phone call. You might be extremely professional – the best in your industry, you might be incredibly busy, etc but all they know is that you just answered your phone like their 9 year old nephew who is addicted to video games. While they might love their nephew, they wouldn’t want him performing a professional service for them!

AGAIN, THERE IS A SIMPLE FIX FOR THIS.
Seriously write a script if you can’t seem to just flow and practice it until it becomes a habit. I don’t want to be mean but you can teach a 5 year old to answer the phone properly.

Here’s a sample of what you should say when you pick up the phone:

“Hello, this is Joe’s Plumbing. This is Amanda speaking. How can I help you today?”

I know this isn’t rocket science. It’s barely Kindergarten science really. Call it common courtesy, professionalism or whatever you like, but it matters. You are establishing a first impression on your customer and it’s a lot easier to build on a good first impression than trying to repair a bad one.

**Phone etiquette Part 2: “Do you answer customer messages promptly?”

Phone Etiquette is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

Over the past 13 years, I’ve had the opportunity to design and develop hundreds websites for all sorts of businesses. From Chiropractors to Doctors to Dentists to Lawyers to Ski Resorts to Photography Studios and a few Fortune 500 Companies thrown into the mix; trust me, I’ve seen the good, the bad, the ugly, and the “what on Earth were you thinking”. Let’s break it down to what we’ve seen and what we are going to do about it.

MISTAKE # 1 – NO ONE CAN FIND YOU

It doesn’t matter if you have the greatest product or service in the world, if no one can find you, you’ll be broke in no time fast. The same can be said online as well. Your website is a reflection of you, your company, and your brand. Does your website talk to the “important people” on the Internet, namely the Search Engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and many others ? If you go Google and search for what you do, not your name, but rather what you do, are you in the top 20 ? For example, if you search for “chiropractor, hudson, wi” will your clinic show up ? No.. We’ll fix it soon enough.

MISTAKE # 2 – WHAT & WHY NO LONGER MATTER

Back when the Internet started out, it was simply enough to have a site explaining what you did and why you “loved” doing it. We called it the, “I’m passionate” phase of marketing. Maybe you’re a mom and you became a photographer because you “loved taking pictures of kids”. That’s great ! I love taking pictures of kids, in fact, I have over 100,000 images of my 3 boys from the past 10 years. What you need to convey is WHY that is important to your CLIENTS. What problem are your truly solving? Are you simply taking pictures because you love it or are you “preserving family memories for generations to come”.

MISTAKE # 3 – LOOK AT ME.. LOOK AT ME…

Many websites focus on what they’ve done, and not what they are doing. As a business owner, you need to to answer the #1 question your prospects are asking, “What’s in it for me ?”. They are wondering, can this company do what I need them to do ? Maybe, but if you don’t give them enough reasons to stick around, they are not going to give you the time of day. It great to win awards and do awesome stuff, but you need to help your customer. As the famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar say, “You can get everything in life you want by just helping enough other people get what they want in life.”

MISTAKE # 4 – BEING ANTI-SOCIAL

In case you missed it, Al Gore invented the Internet, and Facebook and completely redefined it! You website should no longer be an online billboard, postcard, or digital brochure. They might look pretty but websites need to be more than an simple advertisement. You need to be a part of a community. You need to have customers RAVING about you and sharing the awesome experience with others they know. If your website isn’t connected to the major social networks, you are losing and going to have to work a lot harder than necessary.

MISTAKE # 5 – FLASH IS DEAD

Ten years ago, Flash was all the rage. Flash allowed your website to elegantly merge graphics, text, and motion is a smooth, harmonious balance. The downside of Flash was it was a single page with a bunch of “internal” tools to make it appear to many pages. Now with current websites using things like HTML5 and CSS3, Flash really is no longer needed. Don’t worry if you don’t know what HTML5 or CSS3 are, we’ll get you fixed right up.

MISTAKE # 6 – THE SOUND OF MUSIC

“The hills are alive with the sound of music…” and so is your website. Nothing annoys a visitor more than automatic music playing and not having a clue how to turn it off. Oh wait, they do know how to turn it off! They move to another website or close their current browser window. In either case, they’ll never set foot on your website again. Out of the thousands of websites I’ve seen music playing when I visit, I’ve only seen it used wisely once. That’s right, ONCE ! Cut the music so your prospects can listen to what you really have to say.

MISTAKE # 7 – IT’S SO 1997

NEWSFLASH : The scrolling marquee across the top of your website is no longer necessary.  There is no need for your site to look like it was designed in Microsoft FrontPage 97 when there are so many great designers looking to help you out with VERY affordable rates. Only 5 years ago, it was not uncommon to have a new website cost you $5,000 – $10,000 (or more). Today it is a different story.  In an upcoming post, I’ll show you how to get an entirely new website setup for less than $100.

MISTAKE # 8 – YOU ARE NOT MOBILE

In the era of Apple iPhones, Apple iPads, Blackberries, and Android Smartphones, more and more people are going to be coming to your website on a smart device. If your website is not optimized for mobile users, they will come and go and fast as hitting the home button on their devices. See mistake # 5, most mobile browsers either don;t render flash (ie Apple) or do it poorly because of the smaller screens. In either case, if I can’t see your site when I’m browsing it on my iPhone or iPad, I’m not going to remember to look at it later.

MISTAKE # 9 – YOU AREN’T UPDATING YOUR SITE

I love to see this on a website that’s new to me, “This site last updated March 4, 2003″ WOW !! I should see what this person has to say and what they are selling! NOT! Back in the day, in order to update a site you needed a hire a web developer to make even the slightest of changes and he had to have complicated software, customized web servers and something called FTP. It was a hassle and most people stopped updating their sites as it was time consuming, expensive, and a major hassle. If you can’t update a web page in under 3 minutes from the time you have an idea, it’s time to rethink your website.

MISTAKE # 10 – NO CALL TO ACTION

This is the worst offense of all of the 10. When I come to any of your webpages, I should be able to clearly see what you want me to do on EACH & EVERY page. Do you want me to buy something, sign up for a newsletter, see a gallery, call you, book an appointment, or take some action. As a friend of mine tells me, “If you don’t know where you are going, any train will get you there.” Likewise on your website, “If you don’t guide your viewer, they’ll go any where.” You need to control the flow of information and actions on your website.

IF I WERE A …

After reading this, are you thinking, “Well, that’s all good and nice, but what would D3 and his team do on my site ?” Well, as a way of helping you with your marketing, we want you to submit your site and we take 1 site each week and break it down to what we would do to make your site stellar ! Just go and click on the “Ask D3″ link on the top of the site and submit your website today !

Why your website stinks ! is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

Chaos Lying Around

However, when I ask him to clean his room, his face goes blank and it’s clear he doesn’t know how or where to start. So I’ve learned if I give him a little guidance and step by step plan, not only can he clean his room but he has a knack of organizing it a most visually pleasing manner. Without a game plan, however, there are just piles of creative chaos lying around.

One Hit Wonder

I’ve known a few people who seem to succeed by “winging it” or “flying by the seat of their pants” . . . .but I’ve also discovered the ones I know well have someone behind the scenes doing some organizing. Even with extraordinary talent, resources or skills, without direction, all you are going to get is a few one hit wonders and the inevitable crash and burn.

Marketing for your business is just like that. You might have the most creative, unique ideas for your business but without a plan to execute them, they are like glass jars on the shelf growing dusty with potential. You might pull one down here or there to use at times but mostly they just take up space. And in your business “space” translates to wasted time, money, energy and resources. If you are serious about your business succeeding, you seriously don’t want to be wasting anything.

The Road Ahead

The marketing plan I have in mind is a two part animal. Part plan, part execution. Getting the first part done will make the execution a whole lot smoother. Think of it as a road map with a suggested route. You can always detour if needed but you have a destination you want to get to and a general direction of how to get there.

Scheduled and Regular

So here we are at step one. You have this business or you want to start your business and you have your skill or talent or resources. Now you need to get busy and get a little homework done. The first and best step in your marketing plan is realizing you need one. Then the next step is setting aside a regular SCHEDULED time to work on your plan. Just like Rome wasn’t built in a day, your marketing plan is going to take some time. Did I mention this time has to be SCHEDULED and REGULAR? You can’t do it when you feel like it or if you feel like it or when you get inspired. Let me tell you, those moments will come weeks or months apart. Keep a notebook or iPad or your Android or some other device for notes handy when inspiration hits you but make an appointment with yourself (and anyone else in your business that should be in on this) and keep it. Think of it as regular exercise for your business. Commitment and consistency really do pay off. And we’ll be here to help – sort of like that annoying physical trainer that encourages* you along the way. (*see pushes you past your comfort zone to see results)

Take Action

And just think how nice things will look when you put a little planning into action!

In our upcoming posts, we’ll discuss what is in a marketing plan, timelines, and how to write one from idea to execution.

Just Do It !

Why you need a marketing plan ! is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing

A New Logo is a post from: Brite Idea Marketing