home | Blog

LA Dodgers’ McCourts needed a spanking – Plus personalized marketing

April 25, 2011

Categories: Brand/Reputation, Content Development, Family Business, Family/Quality of Life, Management, Strategy

The big news in baseball this week didn’t take place on the field. Out in Dodgerland in sunny LA, a major family dispute has brought that business to it’s knees.

Frank And Jamie McCourt, the owners of the Dodgers are at war. Their irresponsible management of the team followed by a pugnacious divorce forced the commissioner of Major League baseball to step in and take over the operations of the team.

The way I see it, nobody was ever minding the store. The owners lived in an alternate reality and demonstrated sheer lunacy. They ran the business into the ground and nobody was watching.

Give someone else the keys

Such can be the case with family businesses. The owner reports to no one. Family distractions, being in over their heads, poor leadership skills and ego can produce horrible decisions. Who’s going to tell the emperor he has no clothes?

To avoid the pitfalls inherent in family business ownership decision making, get yourself a boss. Or at least make sure someone is looking over your shoulder.

Suggestions to protect you from yourself -

Build a trusted Board of Advisers and give them some real authority to veto bad decisions
Appoint an official arbitrator to settle disputes between family members quickly and in the best interests of the business
Find a great accountant and attorney and report to them on a monthly basis. Allow them complete access to your books and have them each conduct a surprise audit once a year.

Owners of family businesses are in the enviable position of having greater control over their lives. But you’re human. You make mistakes. You don’t know everything. You have family problems. And you have a healthy ego or you couldn’t run a business.

*************************************************************************

Smart marketers know personalization

A recent survey of marketers around the country show that the benefits of personalized marketing – online and offline – has been embraced:

Chart personalization 04-19-11-lp

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

Comments (0)

“Canstruction” shows how non profit marketing needs to work with shrinking funding…Plus social media sites used by business

April 18, 2011

Tags: canstruction, new york state museum
Categories: Marketing Blueprint, Strategy

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to view the Albany, NY version of “Canstruction” – a unique design competition at the New York State Museum to benefit the Food Pantry.

This proves once again that channeling creativity + talent + motivation into a program package can yield extraordinary results. And it holds and important lesson for those interested in non profit marketing.

[Vote for your favorites by leaving a comment]

Show them how to help…and they will

No doubt, these are challenging times for the Capital Region’s non-profit organizations. Funding uncertainties are pushing boards and leadership teams to the limit – scrambling to make up for budget cuts and a likely future with lower public funding.

We’ve encountered numerous organizations that have dedicated leadership, staff and volunteer advocates, but are concerned that they are treading water. They’re not able to stay ahead of the wave of shrinking public funds. There is no shortage of the will to do what’s necessary – but there has been a crisis of direction.

In short, there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

The key, we are finding, is in the adoption of programs that give each constituency a role to play. Local organizations need to invest in the development of a vision – one that is more encompassing than their own mission.

This example, canstruction.org, is a national organization dedicated to unite multiple groups of people in feeding the hungry nationwide. Their vision is carried out through “Canstruction” competitions nationwide.

Canstruction’s vision:

Wherever a Canstruction competition is held thousands of hungry people are fed, a greater awareness of the issues surrounding hunger is brought home to the public, and a spotlight is placed on the design and construction industry giving back to the communities it helps build.

Why Canstruction succeeds:

They have used the building blocks of a marketing plan to the fullest advantage:

1. Target Markets:

Primary – design and construction industries
Secondary – the general public and display spaces

2. Relevant Message:

Design and build stuff with cans and you will get exposure and goodwill while the hungry get fed

3. Call to action:

To the primary target – participate, fulfill you role; To the public – view the contest and donate food

It’s a win, win, win program. The program is fun and interesting. And it’s effective. Last year, canstruction.org raised enough food to provide over 1.5 million meals.

That ain’t small potatoes!

****************************************************

Canstruction sculptures from the exhibit.

Comment on your favorites

IMG00026-20110416-1424

IMG00025-20110416-1420

IMG00032-20110416-1428

IMG00028-20110416-1424

IMG00027-20110416-1424

IMG00029-20110416-1426

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

Comments (1)

Maintaining Customer Targeting … killer direct mail envelopes

April 11, 2011

Tags: Albany, global foundries, neilsen, sematech, tech valley
Categories: Business Development, Customer Focus, Marketing Blueprint, Strategy

I’ve got some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that all the hard work (and billions in tax incentives) expended supporting the “Tech Valley” dream is looking pretty good for the Capital Region’s long term prospects.

The bad news is that you’re probably not going to get a piece of it.

In the strategy sessions we hold with clients at our office, we spend lots of time defining the target market. Discussing distribution strategies. Brainstorming tactics. We argue and debate and ultimately whittle down all the possibilities into a finely honed formula for producing more sales and profits.

And then a client asks one final question; “how will we monetize Global Foundries?”

I get it. I really do.

The Albany – Schenectady – Troy market is #58 (source: The Nielsen Company) and the transition to a more diversified private sector in our economy has been hard fought. We have a right to feel good about our wins. But are we entitled to get a little piece of the action?

No. No we’re not.

It may not be a popular notion, but as big a win as landing Global Foundries promises to be (along with GE’s planned job growth, Sematech and others), that tide will not lift all boats. Most of us are still going to have to do the hard work of marketing and selling to our usual customers and pursuing other growth opportunities.

To that end, keep your eyes on the prize – your core customer. We use a specific tool – called the Audience Decision Matrix – to create the laser focus needed to capture their attention as the economy warms. Do the work needed to get inside the head of the decision maker and who has their ear.

Learn their routines. Where they hang. What they think is important.

Don’t let the Malta miracle distract you. Stick to the fundamentals. If you’re meant to get a share of the winnings, then good planning will bring the opportunity to do so into focus.

**********************************************************************

Envelopes that sell

I came across a really enjoyable entry on the Direct Creative Blog about great direct mail envelop designs. Online coolness gets all the love and adoration. But here is proof that great creative (and money making power) is still put on paper and in the mail.

A direct mail envelope for a recipe book. Lots of color and excitement with a token showing through a window to encourage involvement -

Here’s one selling a conservative newspaper. Simple design with a focus on a bold headline, teaser copy and a token -

Having seem my share of inter-office envelopes, this one’s caught my attention -

Here are some more envelopes featured on the blog:

envelope-sample-03

envelope-sample-04

envelope-sample-06

envelope-sample-07

envelope-sample-08

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

Comments (0)

Misleading Social Media Advice

April 6, 2011

Tags: advice, marketers, Social Media
Categories: Social Media

These days, marketers are scrambling to be recognized as social media experts. They’re all giving out free advice on the subject, but it isn’t necessarily the best advice. Here are three pieces of advice you’ve probably heard, but should never, ever follow.

Inflate your stats. Social media should be more about sales and conversion rates than the number of people you “know” online. Your goal in using social media should be to drive traffic to your website. Use your stats to track your activities and conversion over time, but don’t expect your stats to encourage people to engage in your social media activities or calls to action.

Just jump in. Some suggest building your social media presence by just blindly beginning your activities. But, like any other marketing initiative, you need a plan. Examine the platforms you want to use so you’ll become familiar with the lingo and practices. Map out your goals for using social media, and then think of the best tactics to encourage conversion.

Post as much as possible. Don’t post everything that comes into your mind. Create messages that are relevant to your business. Participating less frequently with bigger impact information will create a higher ROI. Your readers won’t be as likely to listen to your important messages if you bombard them with useless, extraneous tidbits.

As we’ve mentioned, use social media as you would any other marketing tool. Approach its planning and use the same way you would an advertising or public relations campaign. Before you begin, know how to engage, utilize and maximize your efforts, and don’t inundate your readers or followers with items that won’t drive people to you website.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

Comments (0)

Babies strike it viral – just dumn luck?…Plus building your email list

April 4, 2011

Tags: email list, marketing tactics, Social Media, viral video
Categories: Marketing ROI, Social Media, Strategy, media mix

Last Tuesday, I heard some serious baby babble coming from the office next door. My colleague Jennifer was hysterical watching these twin babies having a “conversation.” In case you haven’t see the vid, it was absolutely a conversation.

The view counter read something over 7,000 views – plenty popular, right? In the next two days it got national play on GMA and was video of the day somewhere else. As of this morning the twins had a worldwide audience…with over 13 million views and counting.

Striking it viral is like catching lighting in a bottle. Like hitting Lotto. And there ain’t no strategy for winning the lottery.

It’s luck. Not a strategy.

For all those out there who are convinced they’ve got the approach to go viral. Who have completely bought into the thought that social media is a cheap, simple way to market your business – I’d like to offer a few simple words of discouragement:

No it’s not.

It’s not easy. It’s not cheap. (if your time is money)

Over the last year or so it seemed every Capital Region chamber, business and civic organization has had a presentation on Social Media marketing. They showed up in droves.

Was it interesting? Yeah. Have you built your list of friends and Linkedin contacts? Probably.

But, have you made any money with it?

I’d argue that the only thing that’s gone viral is social media itself. Facebook has a zillion members and is making money hand over fist. Are you?

Look, using social media as part of a well conceived, overall marketing strategy can make sense. Just don’t go thinking that every new friend you add brings you closer to hitting the lottery.

Got an opinion? Share it with us.

*********

Marketing chart of the week – building your email list

Email marketing strategies have matured and are no longer strictly about increasing the number of subscribers. Today, the priority lies in building a quality list of names.

A survey of more than 1,100 marketers to provided insight into the level of effectiveness of each list growth tactic used by their organization. Here are the results:

Chart - email list building

These results align well with content marketing strategies. Tactics that deliver value to the customer such as purchased products, downloaded material and webinars develop trusted relationships which enable customers to share email addresses and contact information. For this reason, company blogs and published articles have become an excellent method of capturing email addresses.

Expect to see growth in mobile capture in the coming year as marketers rank the effectiveness positively and the difficulty low.

Want to Know More about Albany Marketing firm Burst Marketing?
Visit us at www.burstmarketing.net

Comments (0)

Why choose us?

Get In Touch

Burst Marketing

LA Dodgers’ McCourts needed a spanking – Plus personalized marketing

Give someone else the keys

Smart marketers know personalization

“Canstruction” shows how non profit marketing needs to work with shrinking funding…Plus social media sites used by business

[Vote for your favorites by leaving a comment]

Show them how to help…and they will

In short, there are too many cooks in the kitchen.

Canstruction sculptures from the exhibit.

Maintaining Customer Targeting … killer direct mail envelopes

Envelopes that sell

A direct mail envelope for a recipe book. Lots of color and excitement with a token showing through a window to encourage involvement -

Here’s one selling a conservative newspaper. Simple design with a focus on a bold headline, teaser copy and a token -

Having seem my share of inter-office envelopes, this one’s caught my attention -

Here are some more envelopes featured on the blog: