Red Zone Marketing's Blog

7 Steps for Releasing Valuable Content through Social Media

Valuable content is the key to getting and keeping people interested in your social media sites. You can put endless amounts of time and effort into creating your social media profiles, but if your content is lacking, so will your following. And, your social media is an extension of your brand so it needs to be representative of who you believe your firm is. Here are 7 steps to prepare for the development of consistent and valuable content:

1. Take 1 hour and go through pre-approved or pre-written content available to you (or have a staff member do this) and create a list of potential topics for inclusion into your social media.

2. From your list, determine priorities based on the timeliness of the topics and the potential interest level of your target markets.

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Why Nobody Reads Your Brochure (or any other marketing materials)

I’ve been trying for years to determine why some marketing, in general, is simply not effective. In fact, sometimes marketing has the exact opposite effect than what is desired. Case in point - the company brochure. Some firms work for hours, days, and months to create the perfect brochure with the best writing and layout. Yet later they discover that they could have inserted a swear word inside without a single person noticing (I don’t actually recommend trying such a thing though). Why don’t they bother reading this piece that you poured your creative blood sweat and tears into?

The objective of most marketing collateral is to present a distinctive company filled with unique benefits that a customer needs and wants. Ultimately, the goal is to have a brochure so compelling in nature that people read through it and then decide they HAVE to do business with the firm! But the reality is, people aren’t reading most brochures (or other marketing materials, for that matter) because they know exactly why it is being presented to them. To “sell” them.

A brochure or even your website, filled with perfectly created marketing phrases and pictures of models and ocean waves hitting the shore, certainly are aesthetically pleasing. But in order to compel people to read your brochure and find out more about your firm, your message must sound and be authentic. That is truly attractive. Marketing today should be…

…as authentic as you are. The words you use should be the words your clients and prospects would use to describe their challenges, solutions and benefits. Not perfect words and perfect pictures.  People want to work with someone they are comfortable with, someone they can trust. In sales, less of the pitch and more of the informal conversational approach has proven to be more successful. And that’s what we need more of today.

We are attracted to real, authentic marketing and portrayals of what you do and who you are.  So, take out the perfect-ness to your marketing and replace it with you. Create a blog with your words, use real pictures, create a video. Show them the real you. You may be surprised at how much more attractive you are – without any of the fluff!

People Do Business With You…But Why?

Why do people do business with you? Is it because of WHAT you do or is it because of WHY you do it? According to author and thought leader Simon Sinek, people buy the “why.”

Over the past few weeks I’ve been asking clients and other professionals their “why.” Many times it doesn’t seem clearly defined. I do believe the “why” is critically important in business, and if you watch Sinek’s short lecture on TED video, you may see a different perspective on its importance too.

In this TED video, Sinek explains what he believes to be the reason for Apple’s constant innovations and their repeated successes. It is not because they had some unique access to talented people, advertising, consultants or the media. Sinek makes a case that it's all about the messaging. While most companies explain that they make great products, Apple is unique in that they begin by telling the consumer “why” they make their products.

If Apple communicated like most of us, their message would sound something like this, Sinek says: "We make great computers. They're beautifully designed, simple to use, and user friendly. Want to buy one?"

Instead, according to Sinek, Apple is actually telling us: “Everything we do, we believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in thinking differently. The way we challenge the status quo is by making our products beautifully designed, simple to use and user friendly. We just happen to make great computers. Want to buy one?”

Sinek says, "All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it's Apple, or Martin Luther King or the Wright brothers - they all think, act and communicate the exact same way."
I believe a compelling “why” exists in many businesses – it just needs to be clarified first.

Red Zone Marketing’s “Why”: We focus our efforts on finding simple, common sense and inexpensive alternatives to creating growth in a business. We are committed to designing smart marketing strategies – not the flashiest or most complex. We use our focus to design, plan and implement sustainable marketing strategies proven to compel others to WANT to buy.

Is Your Marketing Authentic?

 

 

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing 

Do you think politicians are authentic? How about financial advisors? What about the way you present your business?  Do you take an approach that is genuine to who you are?

Many people assume that their marketing has to be a hard push to get people to take action.  Relying on tactics that strike fear in their audience or attack their competition, instead of taking an approach that highlights who they are, and what their business offers others.

Why does being authentic make such a big impact on your business?

People who are authentic, genuine and real are usually at ease because they’re not trying to cover anything up. In turn, being at ease puts others at ease. Authenticity is giving others the idea that what you see is what you get.  Real people are easy to be around because you feel safe knowing that you can trust what they say.

Marketing should be as authentic as you are. The words you use should be the words your clients and prospects would use to describe their challenges, solutions and benefits. Not perfect words and perfect pictures – your words, their words and authentic pictures. We are attracted to real, authentic marketing and portrayals of what you do and who you are. 

In politics and in business, people want to vote for or work with someone they are comfortable with, someone they can trust. In sales, less of the memorized pitch and more of the informal conversational approach has proven to be more successful. Why? Because it is authentic. And that’s what we need more of today.

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A Tiger Woods “Moment”

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

What can Tiger Woods teach us about success? It’s not the obvious case study in what not to do. In business, success comes and goes. We can be successful for years, experiencing steady sales growth and profitability. But then one day, in seemingly one game-changing moment, everything can change. It is probably the biggest nightmare for a business owner, a salesperson, an employee – or anyone whose livelihood depends on others buying something we sell. I have talked with business owners who know exactly what their “moment” may be - from losing their biggest client to having a product recall. Even the biggest companies have their moments (think… leaky oil well).

Although Tiger Woods’ issues appear to be of his own making, many business-changing moments may be out of our control. And we can’t prepare for everything that may go wrong, but we can consider how to avoid the obvious ones.

However, it’s not fun or uplifting to talk about worst-case scenarios. And, many people I know live their lives focusing on the positive, not the dooms day possibilities. But maybe once a year, or once a month for some businesses, it’s a helpful exercise to bring awareness to some of the potential game changing negative moments that we know of, and plan for them never to happen.

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A Picture Says 1,000 Words – Especially on The Internet

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

If a picture of you appears on Facebook or somewhere else on the Internet, it is likely that just about anyone can see it if they search for you. Right now there is a Facebook application called Photo Finder, powered by Face.com. It uses facial recognition and social connections software to locate a photo of someone – even if it wasn’t identified by name (tagged). You want you and your business to be searchable, but are we becoming too searchable on the web?

According to the exceptionally insightful article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (July 25, 2010), as facial recognition software becomes more sophisticated, people will be able to find any picture of you located anywhere on the Internet. Someone could simply take a picture of you with a cell phone, plug the image into Google, and pull up all photos (whether identified or not) of you that are on the Internet. Yikes. What about that fun neighborhood party last weekend where a bunch of adults were swimming… yeah, better not put those on Facebook...

The lesson to takeaway from this is to remember that our public image and our reputation are not just in our hands to control.  Being a key player in your brand and your business means that you must use caution with your online presence. Make sure you know what is out there about you - pictures, reviews, and everything else.

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Do You Have a “Reputation?”

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

When I was growing up, we wanted to avoid being someone with a “reputation.” Today, we want a reputation, but we need it to be positive. However, maintaining one’s reputation is getting harder and harder. As social media and social networking sites continue to flourish, the power of the individual voice is growing greatly. We have to protect our reputations, and have someone (it’s probably you) that is fully in charge of managing our online reputation. It may seem insignificant now, but new things on the horizon will make this a part of any businessperson’s life.

According to an article in The New York Times Magazine, “The End of Forgetting,” by Jeffrey Rosen (Sunday, July 25, 2010), in the near future, people will be rated on reputation (trustworthy, good parent, good insurance risk, etc), similar to the credit report rating services of today.

There are services now that can aggregate information about people from the Internet and social networks. Not your private information like social security or credit card information, but information that is readily available: the movies you like, books you read, search terms you use, blog posts you write, videos you post/watch on YouTube, and people you follow.  These reputation and trustworthy ratings could eventually be used to determine employability and other factors. And it can be incredibly positive or incredibly detrimental to your career.

There are services that can help. Check out Reputation Defender or other similar consulting services that, for a fee, will monitor your online reputation and help you remove inaccuracies, etc.
Although no one (absolutely no one!) is perfect, it may be best to keep the imperfections away from the web. Is what’s out there about you having an impact on your business? 

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Manufacturing Loyal Employees – Is it Possible?

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

I have observed many firms attempt to create loyalty and an inspiration for hard work amongst their staff. One financial planning firm has actually gone to the extreme in attempting to create a staff of loyal, committed staff people. But what has transpired, instead, is more of an episode of The Office than a truly inspired workforce. The reason: loyalty is not something you can force upon people or manufacture; it is earned through the relationships you establish with your employees.

In an attempt to motivate and inspire the staff of 15, this firm holds a weekly, 1½ hour Monday morning rally/staff meeting. Each person is required to speak into a microphone and tell the rest of the staff what they did the week before and what the current week holds for them (sounds good so far, right). There is also often a 15-30 minute assigned book report delivered by an employee. Once a month a PowerPoint on the state of the company is presented by all the staff who stand and face the group to talk about what’s working and what isn’t in their department or area. Each person also must take a minute to speak about something positive that happened to them the past week and  they are required to state why it is positive to them. They close every Monday staff meeting, in the spirit of Sam Walton and Wal-Mart, with a company “cheer” that the employees must stand up and yell. The problem is, the employees aren’t willing participants. This has been mandated to do – with a smile. Now, the intentions on the part of management are good, but the result, unfortunately, is a staff that dreads the meeting, finds excuses to miss the meeting, takes vacation days on Monday’s, and moreover is fearful to admit this to company leaders for fear of having to lead the cheer the next week. 

So how do you create loyal, motivated employees if you can’t make them stand and cheer…

Leadership 101, the Hawthorne Effect (study by Harvard)*, and almost all research conducted on workforce development have suggested that the way you create a loyal and inspired workforce is through changing the way employees feel about the organization, not by requiring them do things that already loyal people would be inclined to do (manufacturing loyalty). Studies done over nearly the past 100 years have shown that it is the time and attention individually paid to employees and a valuation of their work through compensation and acknowledged appreciation that causes them to value the work they are doing, like their place of employment and who they are working for, and inspires them to give of themselves in a way that isn’t required.

In the case of Wal-Mart, the morning cheer was started as part of a culture of a store founded by enthusiastic “hog-calling” Arkansas Razorback fans that already liked going to work and had a passion for what they were doing. The key word is: already.

*For more on Harvard’s Hawthorne Studies and creating employee loyalty, see The Connectors: How the World's Most Successful Businesspeople Build Relationships and Win Clients for Life (p. 139-146)

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3 Lessons for CEO’s from Reality TV Show Undercover Boss

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

The top rated CBS reality show, Undercover Boss, offers some real and valuable lessons for the business world. If you’ve never watched, the reality show follows chief executives at companies, such as Waste Management, 7-Eleven and even Hooters, as they work “undercover” alongside their unknowing employees. And although I’m not a big fan of reality TV (to say the least), I am a big fan of Undercover Boss because of the business lessons it shares. 

When was the last time you operated on the line, did the work of your assistant, or went back out to make sales? You may be amazed by what you could learn. Following are three business lessons I gathered from just a few episodes of the show. 

1. When you walk in my shoes, you see the business as others do (and are able to make better business decisions). Making the best decisions may require walking in the shoes of others in your company.  Now it may be surprising… but some CEO’s are fairly removed from what their firms are actually delivering. The boss can become so separated from the day-to-day operations of the company that he/she can’t possibly make the best decisions.  One can become so focused on reaching company goals, increasing productivity, streamlining, etc. and loose sight of how these objectives are achieved. Is it at the expense of your employees?

The COO of Waste Management cleaned out port-a-potties using a long vacuum tube, picked up garbage on the side of the road, and collected trash in a garbage truck.  His perception of his employees and what they do and how they have to do it changed dramatically. He was so far removed from the process that he lost sight of the hard work and effort put in by his employees that made the company what it was.

Would you be willing to participate in the different jobs and roles in your company?

2.  Listening to your employees that are having direct contact with your clients is invaluable. Do you have a method for listening to the valuable suggestions of others (beyond a “complaint box” that has remained locked since the early 90's) that will actually help the firm?

Each episode of Undercover Boss reveals that employees desire a voice in improving the company. When the big boss, while undercover, asks the employees about their jobs, challenges and personal lives, they receive an avalanche of information. The employees talk about their financial difficulties, health issues, job stress and fears of being fired.

A female garbage truck driver at Waste Management shared that corporate has mandated a strict quota for trash pick-up that means she must go to the bathroom in a coffee can because she doesn’t have time to stop at a restroom. The undercover boss was shocked at what his mandates were doing to the morale and humanity of some workers.  Once his identity was revealed, he asked the garbage truck driver to head a committee that will find ways to make Waste Management more female-friendly.

What techniques could you implement to encouragement your employees to share their concerns and feedback regarding the company?

3. Morale can be improved by authentic understanding and appreciation – not just money. Many employees don't receive sincere appreciation from above in their company, especially coming from a place of hands on knowledge. It’s not just money – it’s understanding and acknowledgment that cultivates morale. People want to know that their efforts aren’t going unnoticed. In each episode, after the undercover bosses were revealed, the boss acknowledges the workers face-to-face. It’s a reality show tear jerker (and for good reason) because of how the appreciation from the big boss resonates with the workers.

Just think – a reality show that can be applied to improving real life. Next up – critical life lessons from Dancing With The Stars (just joking).

  

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Are You a Problem Solver or a Problem Blamer?

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

I fly a decent amount and have had a lot of good and a lot of bad experiences with the airlines. The biggest issue I have with the airlines, especially my carrier of choice, is not that they make mistakes. I don’t expect any business to be perfect. At issue is how they deal with problems.  Too often, their first reaction is to put the problem back with me. The protocol seems to be to assume first that the customer is wrong (blame), and take responsibility much later, if ever.  How do you react when there is a problem with your product or service?

When I had an issue checking in to a flight this week, I immediately heard, “You must have entered your frequent flyer number in wrong… You must not have checked in properly… I see here, you didn’t pay a change fee.” But actually a previous agent didn’t complete the transaction properly, and there was no ticket number associated with the reservation. It is like being guilty until proven innocent. It is such a backwards method to customer service.

Are you a blamer or a solver? The first reaction of a greater part of businesses – especially those in service related businesses – is to react to a problem or complaint by assuming that the problem was caused by the customer. That’s why we set up FAQ pages, and often retrace the actions of our customers as a first step to solving the problem. Even if we try not to displace the blame from ourselves, our natural defense mechanisms kick in, and we typically react by deflecting any blame. Unintentionally then, the blame is often placed on the shoulders of our clients and customers. 

Instead of taking this blamer approach, try the approach of a solver - listening to the whole problem your customer has, asking questions, checking and then solving - no matter who made the mistake. It seems like smarter business to me.

We are all customers to somebody.  The best way to determine if our customers see us as solvers or blamers, is to consider how we react when something goes wrong with a business working with us. Consider what actions they take to resolve your problem and how it makes you feel. They may think they’re being helpful, while you feel they’re blaming you. For most of us, it is those companies that accept responsibility for the problem that make us feel like our problems are really being listened to and that we are being taken care of.

Are you ready to be a problem solver? 

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