Don’t create a disconnect for your customers

October 16, 2013

Don't create a disconnect for your customersI live in Des Moines, Iowa and fly in and out of the Des Moines International Airport (I’m pretty sure we got the International because of air cargo, not because I can hop on a flight to Madrid from here) a couple weeks every month.

Recently the airport went through a major renovation that added some incredible gate seating, more plugs/outlets than you could imagine, some nice restaurants and all kinds of technology.  All in all — they made a good airport great.

But.

All of a sudden, all of the airport announcements (the “don’t leave your baggage unattended.  If you notice an unattended bag, please alert the authorities immediately” sorts of things) are being done in a British accent.  I’m not sure how good you are at geography, but Iowa sits in the heart of the US.  I don’t think I’ve ever met an Iowan with a British accent (although I know there are a few who have migrated here, I just haven’t bumped into them) and we actually don’t have an accent at all.  We sound like the national TV newscasters try to sound.

So here’s the problem with the new announcer.  Her accent is so out of character and so out of place that it not only gets noticed but it overshadows the actual message.  The disconnect becomes the focus.

The takeaway from this story — don’t create a disconnect for your customers.

We’ve talked a lot of on this blog about the importance of consistency in your marketing.  Normally, people immediately assume that I’m talking about visual consistency — using the same logo, the same font and color palette etc.  But that’s only part of it.

A question you should always be asking is — does this sound like the brand? Now, in my example — I mean it literally.  The airport announcements do not sound like Des Moines, Iowa.  But it can also be about tone, word choices and attitude.  Is the writing conversational?  Does it use humor? Jargon? Slang?

Remember — whether it is your Facebook presence, your website, your radio spots or how your phone is answered — every one of those choices either connects me closer to your brand or makes me notice the disconnect.

Why does that matter?  Remember the know • like • trust model.  No one will buy from you until they trust you.  Every disconnect feels odd.  Every disconnect makes me wonder. Every disconnect makes trust more difficult.

You might want to review your own marketing materials.  Are you creating a disconnect that needs to be re-aligned?

 

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Mitt Romney is getting tired (or lazy) in Iowa!

January 3, 2012

This upcoming Presidential election will be my daughter’s first opportunity to vote.

Combine that with the fact that we live in Iowa, the caucus is upon us and she’s a registered Independent and you can only imagine the flood of mail and calls she’s received leading up to the caucus.

You know what all the candidates are thinking…. fresh meat!

So I was a little surprised and appalled at what front runner Mitt Romney sent her late last week.

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The front of Mitt’s postcard to my daughter.  Understated would be a nice way to describe it.
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The back of the postcard sent to my daughter. No real message or reason for her to lend him her support.

Now….I’m all for plenty of white space but come on.  Is this really the best that Mitt and his team could do?  Why bother spending the money at all if this is the effort you put out?

The marketing message is pretty clear here.  Don’t just spend money or send stuff out to be doing it.  Have a vision/goals and make sure your copy and design support those goals.

Shame on you Mitt.  You claim to be the candidate that will run this country like a business.  Well no business I know would waste their money on this kind of a direct mail campaign!

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Build your digital footprint in a hub and spoke model

April 18, 2011

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The hub/spoke model. Click on it to enlarge.

Whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, a small retail shop or an individual consultant trying to be found — everyone is concerned with being findable on the web today.

And with good reason.  It’s the 21st century — so when we want to find anything or anyone, we Google it.  Being findable in relevant search queries matters to businesses (and people) big and small.  And to achieve that — you need a strategy.

We recommend to MMG clients that we build their web of content creation in a hub/spoke model.  You need to have a core or hub for all of your social media activity.  One place that is the repository for your core content.   In my case — it’s  this blog.  It’s home base — containing the bulk of the content I have created.  It’s where I link out from and it’s where I want people to ultimately land if they’re searching for marketers, marketing agencies in the midwest, Iowa advertising agencies etc.

You can have lots of spokes…but they all build off the same hub.  If you look at the diagram I’ve created for my own model (clearly not an art director!) you’ll see that both online and offline activities all point back to the blog.

The logic behind this is pretty straightforward:

  • You want to point all your links and backlinks to the same place — the spot you want Google to drive people to.
  • You don’t want to spread out the Google juice — you want it concentrated on your hub location. The more links and juice pointed at the same place, the higher your ranking.
  • You want people to find your best thinking, depth of knowledge and most authoritative voice — typically a blog or website.
  • You want the search engines to drive people to where they can actually connect with you — human to human.

I’m not suggesting for a minute that everyone should have a blog.  You know I don’t believe that to be true.  So for some businesses, it might be your corporate website.  It might be your Facebook fan page.  It might be a Squidoo lens page.

You need to look at how/where you’re going to be spending your time online and then carefully build your strategy around choosing a home base and building off of it.

Don’t dilute your online efforts by not having a smart strategy about how and where you want to be found.

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Get snipped so you can watch the big game?

February 28, 2011

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Is this a mad advertising idea?

I’m all for being fresh and innovative in your creative approach.  And when you sell something like vasectomies, you are no doubt even more challenged.

So I’m intrigued to get your opinion about a local clinic’s latest advertising message.

Here in Iowa, the Iowa Clinics is, according to their own website, “the largest physician owned multi-specialty group in Central Iowa with more than 140 physicians and healthcare providers practicing in 37 specialties. The Iowa Clinic serves a population area of 1.1 million, averaging 400,000 patient visits each year.”

So a large practice with many top rated physicians.  They’re regular advertisers and like many healthcare providers, their marketing tends to be about what you’d expect.  But not their most recent TV spots.

To paraphrase their entire spot — when you get a vasectomy, you have to take a few days off, sit on the couch and recuperate.  So why not time your vasectomy so you can enjoy March Madness?

What do you think?  Good idea?  Will it move people from the thinking about it stage to taking action?  Bad idea?  Is it tacky to tie a medical procedure to watching a sporting event?

I can’t wait to get your take — so please jump into the conversation in the comments section.

Note:  As I discovered, this is clearly not a new approach.  Here are some other articles about the combining of the two:

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