The Yellow Pages Are Dead

I’m going to get some hate mail for what I’m about to say. I’m encouraging all of my customers to downsize their yellow page advertising as soon as they possibly can. The yellow pages are dying – and dying fast. take look at how much you’re spending on yellow page ads – you’re in for a shock. Use the money you save on something that works harder for your business. this week do a fun, informal poll – ask anyone under 40 where they go to find phone numbers. They’ll Say “the internet.” have your intern or favorite 10 year old update your internet yellow pages to make sure your business name, phone and address are correct. the advertising world is changing – make sure your business changes too.

Move Toward Consistency

This week is a simple marketing exercise that will reap big rewards for your
business. Take a look at all of your marketing materials. Spread them out on
your desk and really look at them. All – and I mean All – of your materials
should have the same look and feel, the same logo, colors, the same slogan,
the same color paper. This consistency can help you build a stronger brand
for your business. It applies to all marketing and advertising such as web,
radio, print, television and outdoor. this is your image and it’s important. This
week take a look at your marketing materials and make sure they’re consistent.

“I’m gonna be a PRO.”

In fourth grade we lived in Holly Park, which is part of the Seattle Housing Authority. We just called it “the projects.” Mom dropped out of high school and was recently divorced with four kids. We really didn’t mind at all. We had tons of other kids to play with and learned all kinds of new things.

One of our neighbors and my best friend was Tonya. Her mom would iron her hair in the morning to straighten it. My sister and I would beg her to iron our hair too. We liked it because it made our hair warm. She’d just laugh at us and iron our straight hair too.

Tonya’s brother, Mike was a lot older than us and was a complete mystery. He would bounce his basketball all the time and tell us frequently, “I’m gonna be a pro.” We had NO idea what on earth he was talking about. We tried to find out what a pro was. We even asked adults, but out of context, they had no idea either. You have to remember this was in the 1960′s. Professional sports had not yet become the big business it is today – well, not that we were aware of anyway.

Years later I realized Mike wanted to be a pro basketball player, make good money and have respect.

It got me thinking that maybe we should encourage our young kids to become a pro. Professionals at something – anything! It would encourage them to work hard on their dream career, practice, maybe go to college or a trade school that they hadn’t considered before. To shoot a little higher (pardon the basketball pun) for a larger goal.

I had no idea what I would do with my life when I was in fourth grade, but I’m proud that I became a pro in my field. I hope Mike became a pro too. I wish all of our kids could grow up to be pros, earn the money they want and get the respect they’ve dreamed of.

Voicemail Purgatory

It’s time to take a close hard look at your voice mail system. If you don’t have one – don’t worry. I think you’re actually in better shape than most companies with a voicemail system! How many times have you tried to call a business and got stuck in Voicemail Purgatory? Last week I called a local station that I call frequently. I have a new sales rep and could not get to him. The phone system was overloaded with calls and asked me to type in his last name. I had no idea how to spell his last name. I needed something right away and this was aggravating – and I know their system! Think of how a new customer would have felt dealing with this same issue.

This week call your own office and listen carefully. I’m sure there’s something you can do to make your voice mail system work better. Your customers should be able to reach you quickly and easily. Don’t ask them to go to a menu or type in your last name or call another phone number. It’s dumb. It stops you from making a sale and is poor customer service. Rethink your voicemail system and seriously consider a warm live voice instead of a machine.

A Flash in the Pan

There’s something I’ve been seeing in web marketing that you need to be aware of. Many new websites are being built with fabulously entertaining animation. Some sites are built totally with animation (or Flash, as we call it in the web world). Recently a neighboring community paid a design firm to build its entire downtown shopping site. They built the site in Flash – totally. While it looked just fine, all the years of search engine optimization and ranking went right down the drain. No one could find this site without knowing its exact URL, or web address. It’s very important that you know these sites cannot be viewed on most smart phones and often don’t have the words built into them that search engine “bots” look for to allow your site better worldwide recognition. You want your site to be as helpful as possible to your customers – so they need to be able to find it! That means it needs to be smart phone and search engine compatible. Use animation sparingly in your website – and use with a designer that understands the business so you don’t get put out of business.

What Is Your Web Site Strategy?

Having a web site is great, but without a strategy your web site might not ever be seen except by friends and relatives. Here are some tips to get your website recognized and your business and services noticed.

Choose A Memorable Name

One of our clients has TheBestSellerExperirence.com to promote his seminars in teaching writers to write and market their best seller. The name of the site is catchy and easy to remember. Have some fun. Brainstorm a name that will further define what people will find on you site. Domain names used to be expensive – not any longer. If you are spending more than $15 per year on each domain name, you are spending too much.

Know Your Purpose

Is your web site selling product, services or is it simply informational? Why do you want people to visit your site? At one time having a web site was simply a cool thing to have – now it is essential. You can save money and time by sending clients to your web site to get information rather than printing and sending them glossy brochures. People can get your information faster and make sales decisions faster. Know the reason you are wanting a web site and gear everything toward that goal.  Once objectives are stated, your web site will be much easier to plan and organize.

Know Your Demographic

Who is your target audience? Who is your average customer? Tailor your site to that customer and make sure you are doing everything you can to give that customer what they want.  Giving away free tips and white sheets (information) helps make the sale, and positions you as a leader in your industry.

Budget & Timeline

Have some idea of how much you want to spend on your site, and when you need to have it finished. Timeline will depend on the size of your site. If you need shopping carts, plan on that taking additional time depending on how much product you want to sell online. Your web developer can help you with both budgeting and timelines. You will need to buy hosting for your site. Hosting is approximately $100 per year depending on how much space you need. Hosting with shopping capabilities will be higher. Web design really varies in cost. Sure you can have your fourth grader build your site, but you want to put your best foot forward. Find a graphic designer, or design firm to help you. Make sure the company you choose is stable. We have taken over plenty of web sites from companies that went out of business, leaving customers hanging – or loosing their site, and domain name completely.

Build A Site Map

One of the most important parts to a web site is an overall plan or map. We outline each page, how it connects to other pages and how everything fits together. You don’t want to miss critical information, and this is a great way to make sure you have everything you need.

Simple Navigation is Crucial

Keep your navigation buttons consistent from page to page. Use drop down menus if you have multiple pages – organize by category. Label your buttons clearly with short easy to understand names. Don’t go too wild with effects. It is important that people can click and find what they want quickly. Too many FLASH® files and large photos slow people down and cause them to lose interest fast! Remember FLASH doesn’t show up on the new smart phones at all – and more people are browsing the web on their phones.

Emotional Content of Web Sites

Your home page must tell what you do in a language that benefits customers. Recognize that you may have a variety of visitors. Speak to them. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Limit content to the customer you have targeted. Provide content that relates to them. Be empathetic and understanding. Keep everything clear and easy to read.  You are building your company’s recognition, and a relationship. You want your customer to feel engaged. Draw them into the site – give them the feeling they can relate to you and you to them. Sometimes stories help people connect. You CAN build a relationship online.

So get out there and get started. Make a plan and work it. If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact Poole Advertising. We have been in business for over 20 years and fully understand marketing your company and promoting your business.

5 Web Tips

OK – it’s true – your sixth grader CAN build a site and so can your buddy looking for work between beer breaks. Today there’s so much more to making a web site work than just putting up a page. You need to consider how well your site can be navigated, linked, and how well it will perform with a wide variety of search engines and browsers. Design can made the difference between a half hour exploration and a click off in disgust because the page takes too long to load because of all those cool video files you added incorrectly.

Here are a few things to consider when building or upgrading your website:

1. Have a Focused Plan – develop a site map before you start on your site. Know what pages you want and where you want your customers to go.  At all times keep in mind what goals you have for your web site, for instance: information, increased sales, or membership.
2. Content is King – Make sure your language is clear, concise and is benefit oriented. Don’t go on and on about yourself or your company. Tell your customer what makes your company different how you can help them. Write for a low literacy audience. We usually write at a 6^th grade level to ensure effective communication.
3. Consistency is Important – keep your layout standardized throughout the site. Keep links in the same place – don’t make people look for them. Remember if your viewer can’t find it in 3 clicks, they’re gone.
4. Understand Technology (at least a little) – remember there are still a LOT of people out there with dial-up Internet access and won’t wait for your movie to load. FLASH or video based sites are not fully recognized by search engines. This hurts when people look for you on Google,  MSN, YouTube or other search engine.
5. Use a Statistics Package – and monitor it monthly at least. Keep track of where your visitors are coming from and when they are viewing you most frequently. Plus it’s fun to see how often the competition is checking you out, and it’s important to know that your customers are shopping most on Tuesday at noon.

Finally, make sure your site is carefully tested with a variety of browsers before going live, and keep it under wraps while you are working on it. It makes your company look sloppy if your site is not finished and there are lots of broken links and blank pages.

Choosing An Agency

Your business and its’ needs are unique. It is important to find an agency that fits those needs and can grow with your company. Like any partnership, your relationship with an agency should be carefully considered. Here are a few questions you might want to ask before hiring an agency:

Who will you be working with? Make sure this person is skilled and knowledgeable. Often agencies will send their top people to get the account and then assign a lower level person to work with you. Find someone who is a good compatible fit for you. You need to work closely with this person.

What size is the agency? Don’t be dazzled by big agencies. Many smaller agencies can provide more attention. Look at their client list and pay attention to how long they have worked with their clients. Look for client turnover.

Are they easy to communicate with? Remember that you will be working as a team. Realize that the agency is human and mistakes can be made. Do you have a good line of communication with the agency? Is there a good rapport. Don’t be fooled by good sales people.

Do they have references? The agency should be able to give you names of people they work with. Also check with the local media and ask their opinion. Find out if the agency pays its bills on time. It isn’t unusual for an agency to go out of business due to poor management.

How long has the agency been in business? Ask them about other experience. Look for an agency that has a well rounded background in all media. Often sales reps go into business as an agency and specialize in the media they once represented because they are not knowledgeable of other media. Look for a business that has been around for at least five years to ensure business stability and knowledge.

Is there a conflict of interest? Check to see if the agency is doing work for one of your competitors. Ask for an exclusive contract. A reputable agency will usually only handle one bank, one car dealer, etc. unless they have the staff to form teams to handle competing businesses.

How is the agency paid? Agencies make their money in one of three ways: Commissions (usually 15%), fees or retainers. Commission is figured by dividing the net amount by .85 to equal gross amount. Example: $100 / .85 = $117.64. Fees are usually charged for creative services. Fees range from $25 to $250 in our region. It is wise to get all work bid on in advance. Retainers are a monthly fee charged to handle an account. Usually a certain amount of work is agreed upon to be completed each month with an agreed upon price. This can lead to confusion over what work is being accomplished if everything is not documented clearly. Make sure you know how you are being charged.

What is the agency’s philosophy? Does their working philosophy mesh with your company’s. There are a few agencies that focus on dollar volume over doing what is best for their client. For instance, the agency may have an agreement with a billboard company and encourage your company to purchase billboards to meet their own obligations rather than your sales goals.

Visit the agency. Take a good look at the office organization and personnel. You want to work with a business that is well organized and pays attention to detail. You want strong creative and friendly service. You can find out a lot by a company by just visiting and seeing how you are treated.

Look for the Golden Rule. The bottom line is that you need to be treated with respect. You deserve to be carefully listened to. You know your business and you need to be able to share thoughts freely so that as a team you can build ideas that will work best for your business. Beware of a company that tells you what you are going to do – as much as you need to watch out for agencies that acts simply as an order taker.

Poole Advertising wishes you tremendous success in your search for an agency. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have questions. There are a lot of good people to work with in our region. Trust your instincts, and get out there and build more business.

Who Owns Your Blood?

I remember when my son was born, I was so curious that I asked to see my placenta. The doctors and nurses refused. Flatly. They told me it was disposed of. Keep in mind this was minutes after his birth. Not hours. Not days.

Those of you that know me, know my friend John. John is a red-headed giant. He is also a retired Army officer with a rare blood disease that is eating his lungs. He has to have an infusion each Wednesday that costs $6000. The disease is rare and the medicine is very expensive. The hospital in his home town calls him each Wednesday morning, to make sure he’s going to be there, before they mix the medicine.

In the process of investigating John’s disease, the doctors found that his body makes too much blood. Isn’t that interesting? Too much blood.

Once a month on his Wednesday infusion day, the hospital removes a pint or two of blood. For a while they were doing this AFTER the infusion. One day, John asked them if it wouldn’t be smarter to remove the blood BEFORE the infusion so it didn’t remove the medicine they had just infused him with. After that, the nurses removed the blood first. No one had thought of that.

Bear with me.

One day John asked what the hospital did with his pint or two of blood they removed. Through quite a few questions, he found out the hospital was sending his blood to a specialist in New England – and charging this specialist $500 to “handle the shipping”. $500. Must have been a pretty special shipping container.

John was surprised they hadn’t asked him for his permission. Wasn’t it his blood after all? It turns out that since they were supposed to be burning it with all the other bio-hazards, it was considered trash and they could do what they wanted with it – until John asked what they were doing with it. He asked them to stop sending/selling his blood to the specialist in New England.

Some of you may think that in the name of science he should continue sending his blood. Some scientific breakthrough may occur that could save others with this same rare disease. I would more strongly agree – if the hospital had simply asked John’s permission. The blood was/is John’s very personal property – not the hospital’s. His permission should have been granted before anything was done with his blood – let alone selling it for a profit.

After hearing this, I wonder what happened to my son’s placenta. Was it sold for research? Was it truly destroyed? The curious reaction from the doctors and nurses led me to believe that it wasn’t simply destroyed.

It’s important to ask questions – and find truthful answers.

$88 to clean my teeth.

I just spent half an hour with my dental hygienist. I was charged $88 for the experience of having someone else clean and brush my teeth. Granted there was a fluoride treatment too. The dentist didn’t even stop by to say hi.

I would have rather had a nice pedicure. It would have been less expensive and more fun.