Reynolds Group Blog

Companies are paying big bucks to Social Media consultants and services who are overexposing their business and turning customers off.  Filling up the email box of a prized customer with useless and unwanted information does not endear them. The customer’s natural response is to turn them off!

For the first time in its short history FACEBOOK usage is on the decline. People are un-linking business pages. They are becoming skeptical and jaded because of its over-use. The public is getting wise to the fact that some businesses “game” the system to their advantage. Read more about this topic here: “Are we killing our customers with engagement?”

Make your SM strategy about your client… not you!
Social Media is not bad… just misused. Proper use will gain new customers and expand your brand. It will keep your customers up-to-date and informed. It is friendly, compelling, and personal — not pushy, second-hand, deceptive, or abrasive.

Social Media has many forms and choosing the right one for your client is critical. Not every Social Media tool will work for every business. However, businesses and customers want and need a marketing tool that allows real-time - two way conversations. Moreover, effective Social Media marketing will improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO) which will result in higher page ranking on Google and Yahoo.

Simon Burrow, a recent speaker at NexGen, a peer-network for business owners and executives, offered advice on how to sell a business. He stated that building and promoting his brand was the single most valuable thing he ever did! Buyers pay more for a brand than for a customer list or operational skills.

What impressed me most about Simon was that he always worked from clear intentions. He wanted to own a business, not own a job. He wanted to sell that business profitably. He determined the price he needed from the business to be comfortable for the rest of his life. He enlisted his employees to help him grow the company, promote the brand and deliver a consistent level of service. He knew who the right buyers would be and got his brand in front of them.
Simon started his business by developing a clean logo and appropriate tag line and never changed it. He put it on every piece of paper or pen they had… and on every division he started. He worked hard to get it in front of his whole audience including customers, vendors, and the natural buyers of his business. He burned it into their consciousness.

He sold his business for the price he wanted. His customers and equipment were absorbed into the acquiring company, but his brand lives on, creating even greater value for the buyer. Everybody won!

For twenty seven years I worked in a family business my grandfather started called Reynolds Printasign Co. We manufactured and sold internationally machines that made Point of Purchase (POP) signs. Our motto was “Nothing reads easier than type.” Our equipment gave typeset quality to signs and presentations using typewriter technique. It was the state-of-the-art from 1929-1984.

To sell our machines we had to convince retailers that good signs sell merchandise. Once sold, to insure results, we then taught the retailer’s staff how to write effective sign copy.

Below is an excerpt from a brochure my father wrote in 1966 (I was in the sixth grade). What you will read is also good advice on why to have a website and how to write web or social media content. Just replace the word “sign” with “website” and add several zeros after any number.

Dad wrote:

Whether You Are Selling Ideas or Products -
Make it Graphic

• To move ideas or products you must first move people
• Good graphic presentation maintains the image you have worked hard to create
• Visual communication is efficient… Twenty people at a time can read a sign or presentation
• Remember that a “visual” is never too tired or too busy to tell, to sell, to inform, to direct
• Copy well thought out will lead the reader your way
• People don’t think with their “thinkers” they think with their  “feelers” - their emotions
• “Who me?” and “Why?” are questions your prospect has a right to ask - and you MUST answer
• Remember, the reader is interested in the reader
• The answer to what motivates people is “What makes people people?”
• Retailers: a sign sells efficiently 40, 50, 70 hours a week at a cost of pennies.

Another thing my father said was that our society is suffering from information overload and how important “a tight, well-engineered message” can be. Here is a great video on information overload today.

My favorite line:
“If you have the same problem for a long time, perhaps it’s not a problem; perhaps it’s a fact.”

The best source of leads for your company is your website. Everyone has one… but is it doing all it can for your business?

Don’t redesign just because you like change or think it is time. Get some facts and then make a decision. If you want to begin the process of redesigning your website, email me your URL at tom@reynoldsgroupweb.com for a free website analysis report.

The sales process starts with your client asking a question: “Where can I find,” “How do I” or “I need help to do X.” So before you build a website, create a flier or write an ad ask yourself what does my customer want or need that I provide. Create your message from their prospective, their questions and their desires… not yours.

Finally, tell it like it is! Be upfront about what you want the customer to do. Burying your intentions at the bottom of the page, not stating exactly what you want or assuming they know what you mean will not get the action you desire.  It is not pushy to be clear and direct.  As my dad use to say, “There is no such thing as hard sell or soft sell… just smart sell or dumb sell.”

So your core business is down and sales are flat…what can you do now to get more business?  Look to the internet!

Internet Ideas:

• If you are not collecting emails from your customers, START NOW. Email communication with customers is the most effective and least costly way to get business.
• Focus focus focus: Connect your exact product to the right customer using keyword themes (SEO), landing pages, Pay-Per-Click and internet PR.  If they ask the right buying question, don’t distract them with other messages or links.

Non-Internet Ideas:

• Design a simple telemarketing program to get new names and phone numbers.
• Mail five - call five: Send a note to 5 new prospects on Monday and call them on Thursday every week.

“NO” just means you have not sold them yet!

Every company needs an internet strategy. Website marketing is not just for consumer products or retail sales. Furthermore, it involves more than just a virtual brochure. It is the living, real-time representation of your entire marketing, sales, public relations and branding programs.

There two types of people who visit your website.

1. People who know your product and/or services and want answers right away, or
2. Strangers who search for your site and will linger and be “sold” in the best sense of the word.

The website has less than four seconds to do either.

Advanced web architecture and good planning can meet both visitors’ needs. Whether you are a Retailer or Wholesaler, B to B or B to C, Non-Profit or For-Profit, your website must mean business. It is worth having a plan!

Something to think about:

• The number one reason people visit a website is to find a phone number.

• The average purchasing agent spends an average of 5 hours a day on the internet.

Prospecting for business yesterday, one client said, “Stay in touch, we are all in this together.” It struck a chord!  In these strange economic times we need to hang together because the world is not ending–it’s just changing. The lesson is, don’t act alone, build a team.

Here are some ideas: Send me more if you have them!

• Join or be more active in your trade assocation.
• Call your good vendors and see how you can work together better.
• Call your good customers and see how you can work together better.
• When you see an opportunity for another business, let them know, and they will return the favor.
• Find time to help people in your own “backyard”who are less fortunate than you are.

Good deeds are rewarded, and it takes more than one person to “move a mountain.”

Here is a lesson from Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carol  

The scene starts when Alice first meets the Cheshire Cat:

“The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice.  It looked good-natured, she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

“Cheshire-Puss,” she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider.  “Come, its pleased so far,” thought Alice, and she went on. “Would you tell me please, which way I ought to go from here?”

“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.

“I don’t much care where—-“said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

“———so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. “What sort of people live about here?”

“In that direction,” the Cat said, waving its right paw round, “lives a Hatter: and in that direction, “waving the other paw, “lives a March Hare.  “Visit either you like: they’re both mad.”

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.

“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here.  I’m mad. You’re mad.”

“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.

“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”

My Thoughts

To build a successful website you need a plan.  All plans begin with a clear starting point and destination. If you have a clear mission you will have a clear website. A clear website will result in the right people finding and acting on your internet marketing strategy. Your mission states in as few words as possible what you do. It is ground zero for your planning process which includes building a website.

All Plans need a vision too. A vision is your ideal destination or goal. A clear vision on a website helps visitors see the future opportunities in doing business with your company or organization and makes them feel secure because there is a future. A vision states in as few words as possible where you are going. It is why you are planning in the first place and identifies the the place you will celebrate geting to. A clear vision allows your organization to pull together in the same direction, and will help your people make right decisions along the way.

If you do not want to end up a “Mad Hatter” you may also want to work on your purpose which Lewis Carol touches on in the last few lines of this quote. Purpose is the “why we do it” or “why are we here” part of a plan.  Mining “purpose” will bring you and your organization even more riches