Agencies: How to land new business.

As a marketing manager, I am the gate keeper. The person that holds the keys to the budget and the person who decides what campaigns we run. As the gate keeper, everyone wants to talk to me. I'm a popular guy. (But only because I have money).

So here's a little bit of advice when you pitch me a campaign. Help me grow my business. Don't help me grow yours.

They don't say it out loud, but when a person is pitching me, in the back of their mind I can hear them thinking:

"He's got money. If we could just get him to sign this one year contract, it will help grow our business."

Before they pitch me, they have an agency meeting(A how can we get him to spend money meeting) that goes like this:
Top Exec:"What services could we provide for him?"
Brainstormer #1 "We have that giant hot air balloon shaped like Darth Vader's head and he likes Star Wars."
Brainstormer #2 "We've got an idea, but it will cost him 10 times more to generate a customer than his other marketing channels. We can file it under 'Testing'."
Brainstormer #3 "We've got that bear that juggles live rattle snakes. It's really cool."
Brainstormer #4 "We've got a random magazine that none of his customers read. But we can get him prime placement, and we get a nice commission for placing it."

These are all ideas for services that grow their business. There is no mention of growing mine. And that's where they fail.

My job is to grow my company's business, not hand out money so other people's businesses can prosper. My business is new customers. If you can help me get new customers, then I absolutely want to talk to you. But know that when you pitch me a marketing/campaign idea, I will ask you, "How does this get me new customers?". And after the campaign has run, I will measure it against how many customers that campaign generated and at what cost compared with other campaigns. Yes, I actually compare it against other marketing channels and spend the money on the more affective channels.

To be fair, I have been on the other side of this coin and have sat in meetings and suggested ideas that favored growing the agency's business. And not surprisingly, the customer didn't buy any of them.

So the bottom line is, if you want me to buy what you are selling, then sell me something that helps me grow my business. Not something that grows yours.

If you can grow my business, then you will have a customer for life.

Ze Frank is my Hero

The guy is a creative genius.  These are a bit old, but here are both of the TED talks he has given.

TED 2044



2010


When I grow up, I want to be like Ze.

Online Checkout - In Real Life

This is just a great video for anyone who has ever bought something online.

Improving the iPad

More and more people at the office have been carrying around iPads.

But they don't like typing on them, so they also carry around this nice little keyboard.

You also have to carry around the little stand to make it all work. But carrying around three different pieces seems like a hassle.

You know what would make it all easier and more convenient to use? Put a hinge on the bottom of the iPad and attach it to the keyboard so that it is one convenient bundle. Sorta like this.

Free Marketing and Free Cats

There is no such thing as a free cat and there is no such thing as free marketing.  Both require something.

Someone might give you a cat for free, but then you realize that you have to pay to take it to the vet to get immunizations and buy all of the stuff that a cat needs. $200 later you have a free cat.

Some people think SEO is free.  Its not.  I once had someone tell me that with a little "Creativity" I could appear in the top results for some very competitive terms.  I am not sure what they meant by "Creativity" but unless they meant time, money and lots of effort, then no, you can't appear in the top results.

There are a lot of marketing tactics that may seem free.  SEO, Social Media, Guerrilla Marketing, Grass Roots, Word of Mouth.   But at the end of the day someone is still paying for it.  Either you are doing the work or you are paying someone to do the work.  Its not free.

How to fix the Postal Service

The US Postal Service is in trouble and if it doesn't fix it, it will soon be bankrupt.

The Problem
USPS is trying, and failing, to compete with the big boys in the shipping and mailing business.  FedEx and UPS are the Coke and Pepsi of the shipping business, while USPS is the RC Cola.  In an effort to gain market share, USPS offers many of the same services as the two market leaders.  These include Overnight, International and Packages and Boxes.

The Solution
The solution is to do the opposite of what they are doing now.  Instead of trying to compete with the big boys and offering the same things they do, USPS needs to narrow its focus and offer something they can't.  But what can the USPS offer that a corporation with lots of money can't?

The Mailbox
That uniquely shaped box on a pole with the little red flag outside every home in America.  FedEx can't compete with the USPS delivery to the mailbox.  USPS basically owns them.   That's the focus.  That's the niche for success. 

And if it can't fit inside a mailbox, DON'T SHIP IT.  Period.  No exceptions

Companies succeed when they find a niche that they can be the leader in and stay focused on it.  FedEx is overnight.  UPS is ground.  USPS should be the mail.

Southwest Airlines
This is what Southwest did in the Airline business.  Instead of trying to compete with Delta and American Airlines, and offer everything they did and fly everywhere they did, Southwest found a niche and stuck to it.  They focus on interstate, point to point, low cost flights.  They don't offer first class or inflight meals.  They don't fly internationally and they don't fly to tourist destination.  And they only have one type of airplane, which cuts down on maintenance and training costs.  And they are profitable.

If it doesn't fit in a mailbox....
Don't ship it.  This means letting go of anything that is overnight, international or in a box.  Leave those to FedEx and UPS, they are the leaders in those anyway.

Dropping these other services will greatly reduce cost and will simplify the whole company.  It will greatly reduce the extras needed to run the company.  Like, special planes to fly a package across the country overnight, or a plane to fly a package to another county.

Focus on the mail.  Stuff you can put a stamp on.  Leave the rest to the other guys, who are already beating the USPS at it anyway.

Beat them at the Mailbox.

Nuggets from Hugh

I am a big fan of Hugh MacLeod of Gapingvoid.

I came across these artworks of his and thought I would share.

 

Enough said.