How We Socialize

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau

I’ve been watching the news every day with anticipation for the latest Tweets from our President-Elect Trump. I know I’m not alone!

Communicate through social media

Social Media is our form of communication today

Whether you’re cheering his words, or shaking your head in dismay, there’s one thing for certain; Donald Trump is addicted to Twitter and we better get used to it, because this is how he’s going to speak to us.

Twitter has been around long enough now that people have gotten comfortable with communicating in 140 characters. These little written “sound bites” have forced us to get to the point quickly.

We have discovered that pictures and videos can say what words never could, so we post them to Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube, with no hesitation. Heck, now you can even speak to a full audience – hundreds and thousands of people – live whenever you like! Our political leaders have jumped on the opportunity to speak directly to us – minus the press’ filter – through Facebook Live. This is how we socialize!

When I train executives on how to speak to reporters, I tell them to put their most salient points into short, easily digested phrases. Give the reporter a heads up that the phrase is coming with something like “And, what I want people to really understand…” and then let the phrase rip.

What I don’t encourage them to do is speak in a stream of thought – to say whatever flashes through their heads. I teach them to take a breath and consider their words, to put up a yield sign in their brains before speaking.

Social media is a profoundly effective communicating tool. I would argue in several cases that we have never had a tool that has worked as successfully as social media.

But, there is the other side of social media that presents a challenge. Too often, people are lulled into the comfort of a quick way to communicate and forget that their words are on the Internet for the world to see. Once out there, they can’t be taken back. Far too many celebrities, business leaders and politicians have learned that lesson the hard way.

So, here’s my advice, and it’s the same advice I give my teen-aged son. If you wouldn’t say it to your mother, don’t post it on Twitter!

Where We Fall Short

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau
As business owners and managers, we want to ensure that our customer service is excellent. We have systems and procedures, computer programs and even talking points to make sure our employees are making our customers happy.

customers need personal service

Rule #1: Don’t frustrate your customers

We have all sorts of access points – face-to-face, email, telephone, social media, online chat – to let our customers get in touch with us. We can pat ourselves on the back because we are providing “excellent” customer service.

Whoa! Slow down a second. Before we get all self-congratulatory, ask yourself one thing. Despite all of the best practices you’ve put in place, did you solve your customers’ problems?

The answer might well be no.

When it is no, your customer walks away frustrated and unhappy. Trust me, they don’t keep that frustration to themselves, either. The words of an existing customer can make or break any business. It is, by far, the most trusted form of promotion a company will have.

So, how do you fix the unsolved problem issue? Ask your customers about their experiences with your company. If they say their issues are unsolved, find a way to fix the issues and don’t put the responsibility for fixing the issue in your customer’s lap.

I recently had an issue with a company that did not fulfill my online order. When I tried to get the pending charge for the item removed from my card, I was told by both the company and the bank that neither one could remove it. I literally felt like a ping-pong ball, bouncing between two customer-service reps. Now, I’m dissatisfied with two companies!

Where we often fall short is in living our customer’s experience and implementing changes that prevent failures in our systems. With today’s technology, either company could have solved my problem with a simple three-way call between both reps and myself.

The best advice any business owner and manager can accept is to walk in your customer’s shoes.

The first step is to realize that you are already customers with other companies, so identify the things that you don’t like and make sure they don’t happen to your customers. Then, go a step further and find ways to see your business through their eyes.

Your customers don’t know the inner workings of your company and they shouldn’t need to, so don’t make excuses or offer apologies for your systems. All they need from you is an experience that fulfills their needs and is pleasant.

A satisfied and appreciated customer equals many new customers!

Simply Words

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau

Thank you. Thanks. Appreciate it…

We say the words so casually these days. It seems like it’s nothing more than the end to a sentence – the period – when actually, it should be the exclamation point.

Thank you is really important, when you think about it. The words are intended to express gratitude, but somehow have become so diluted, so matter-of-fact, that they fall short.

Two simple words, meant to convey so much. But, to really mean some

thing, it’s not the saying of the words, but the action of gratitude that we must express. When was the last time you showed your customers, your staff and colleagues, your friends and your family gratitude? I’m not talking about just saying words. I mean showed your gratitude.

So often, in the busyness of the day/week/month/year, we forget that gratitude is the foundation of our relationships. It’s so easy to take for granted these relationships, only to find that over time they are lost for the lack of showing gratitude.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Words are important, but actions speak more than words ever can. I had an editor years ago who hammered into me a mantra: “Show, don’t tell.” I learned that the words I wrote needed to show my readers how the story unfolds, not just tell them about it.

The same can be said about relationships, particularly those we have with customers and employees. Showing gratitude doesn’t have to happen every day, but it needs to occur often enough that they clearly understand just how much their relationship is valued, how much we rely on them and appreciate them.

It doesn’t need to be a grand gesture. It can be simple, yet meaningful. Reaching out a hand and offering it as a sign of appreciation. A handwritten thank-you note instead of an email or text. Birthday wishes sent on their special day.

Next week, we will sit down over a turkey dinner and celebrate Thanksgiving. In the days leading up to the holiday, it seems like the perfect time to express our thanks beyond the words.

So, in the spirit of gratitude, I am reaching out to you, my readers, with great appreciation for your interest and support. May your Thanksgiving fill you with gratitude and give you the peace of knowing you are greatly appreciated.

So What if it’s Pretty?

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau

A client told me yesterday that she just didn’t like how a group of designed icons looked. When I probed further, she couldn’t substantively explain why, nor could she tell me what she does like in design. Okay, I get it. Design, like most creative efforts, is subjective. Personal taste counts. But, taste does not trump strategy.

Good design starts with a strategy and a goal. Great designers begin a design around those two factors and then add their creativity.

Graphic designers use strategy

Taste does not trump strategy

A designer friend told me about something that she had created and her client felt it looked “simplistic”. Okay, who is the audience? Are the message receivers not sophisticated? Or, will the audience be in a position to see something briefly, like on a billboard near a busy highway, and not have time to look deeply at a complicated design?

The next thing to consider is that while your personal taste counts, yours is not the only one that matters. The best looking logos have gone down in flames, because a focus group did not relate to what the logo needed to say. And, yes, that kind of qualitative research is essential in creating a logo. For other designs that don’t carry the magnitude of weight that a logo does, pulling together an informal group to review the designs and offer constructive comments will help you determine what resonates best.

Finally, when you don’t “like” a design, explain what you do like. Describe it. Better yet, find examples and show them to your designer.

If you want great design, you must understand your audience and the goals you have in conveying messages. Design does not start with good looks; it starts with good strategy.

Marketing ADHD

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau

Probably one of the most talked about and self-diagnosed disabilities today is Attention Deficit. It seems to be everyone’s reason for not getting things done, not remembering deadlines and not being able to focus.

Don't lose attention

Do you have Marketing ADHD?

It’s a problem!

But, you know what? It’s a problem with an awful lot of marketing, too.

Concentrating on your company’s goals over the long haul is difficult. It’s tedious. It requires a lot of work. And, well, it requires…focus!

It’s so easy to get distracted by that shiny, new thing. The newest marketing thingy to come along must be the answer…until the next new thingy comes along.

Focus and patience are essential to successful marketing. So, here are some steps to help keep the focus:

  1. Think of your marketing plan as a road map. Begin by writing a plan with marketing goals that support your company’s strategic plan. The goals likely won’t change, but the tactics toward accomplishing the goals may. Formally revisit and revise your marketing plan annually.
  2. Set deadlines for each of your marketing efforts and tasks. There should be start and end dates, along with ways to measure if the efforts are working.
  3. Create accountability. Assign efforts and tasks to people and set deadlines for accomplishing them.
  4. Check in monthly. Pull out the plan, sit down around the table with everyone who has a role in the plan, and talk through where things are going and what has been accomplished.

While it’s important to stay aware of what’s out there, add new marketing efforts ONLY when they will directly impact your goals

“We Need a New Brand”

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau
Branding means everything

Don’t confuse marketing terms

I have heard “We need a new brand” from more than one executive in my 30+ -year career, and the little voice inside my head keeps saying: “Why? Does your company have such a bad reputation that it’s worth blowing the whole thing up? Do you realize what it takes to build a brand from scratch?”

After I dig beneath the surface with a few probing questions, I soon understand what I had suspected all along. It’s not the brand that needs to be new, it’s a logo, or a marketing campaign, or even a website!

Therein lies the confusing question: What do people mean when they use the word, brand?

Now, don’t beat yourself up for not knowing the exact meaning of brand. We marketers, like so many other professionals, have our own jargon. If you don’t know what those words and phrases are, it can be very confusing and you may resort to the one word that seems to encompass it all – brand.

To help you along, here’s a short list of terms that can help you figure out what those marketing pros are saying and what you need them to know:

  • Brand: An overarching feel, look and essence of a company.
  • Identity: Another word for brand.
  • Logo: A visual (graphic) representation associated with a company.
  • Tagline: A written expression – generally only a few words – used to convey further understanding of a company and its brand.
  • Marketing Plan: An internal document, driven by the company’s strategic goals/initiatives, that outlines marketing goals, strategies and promotional activities.
  • Campaign: A promotional effort (generally advertising and/or public relations) that is associated with a strategy within a marketing plan. It has a beginning and an end.
  • Advertising: Paid promotion.
  • Public relations: Unpaid or earned promotion.
  • Social Media: Promotion (paid and unpaid) through websites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc…
  • Digital marketing: Promotion delivered on computers, cell phones and other electronic devices.
  • Collaterals: Printed materials, like brochures, direct mailers, and stationery.
  • Content: Words, pictures, videos, etc…
  • SEO: Search Engine Optimization, which in basic terms means getting your website recognized and ranked high on search engines like Google and Bing.

Marketing is the CEO’s Responsibility

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau
Marketing is at the table

Marketing strategy starts with leadership

Let’s get this on the table right now; the marketing department is NOT responsible for marketing.

Blasphemy! I know, right?!?

Well, it’s true. No department can market your company. It’s everyone’s job, from the janitorial staff to senior leadership.

While it’s everyone’s job, no one is more responsible for it than the head of a company. Besides setting strategy and watching the numbers, marketing is the CEO’s responsibility.

You may have heard the old adage that finance is king. Nope. Marketing is king. There is nothing more important for a company than surviving and thriving, and the only way to survive and thrive is to produce more business – a.k.a. marketing!

So, I have always been puzzled when the CEO steps out of the room when the topic comes up. All too often, this type of disengagement sends the message that marketing is a task, not the lifeblood of a business. The marketing department becomes the dumping ground for all of those chores and calls that no one wants to be bothered by.

What a waste, and what a mistake. Perhaps we need to reframe the Marketing Department. If marketing is king, then the that department is the king’s army.

The most effective marketing departments are those that have their CEO’s full attention. The CEO doesn’t drop in and out every once in a while. Their leaders are engaged, attentive and making sure that messaging, branding, promotion and sales are operating in concert and at full speed.

The department creates messaging, branding, promotional and sales tools so that every employee of a company can execute their jobs and promote the company.

That’s what makes the department so essential, and I don’t know about you, but that’s the last department I would make the dumping ground of anything.

Here We Go!

Posted on by Laurie Storey-Manseau

Blogs…

I’ve written posts of all types.

Years ago, I wrote blog posts about marketing. And then, I wrote a personal blog about being a working mom.

For a long time, I’ve resisted writing a blog on our website, but now there’s a number of compelling reasons why it’s a good idea. The most compelling is that we have something to share that is going to help others.

So, here we go. I hope you enjoy what insights we can offer. Tell us what you are thinking about and what you need, because we’re here to help.

Thanks for reading!

Laurie