Have you been wondering how to translate your success in the large-enterprise market into successful selling to the fast-growing and profitable small-business market?

Though you might be an expert when it comes to marketing to large businesses, selling your products and services to smaller companies requires an entirely different strategy.

While still on the rise, large-IT budgets are not increasing as quickly as small-business budgets. Worldwide small-business IT spending is increasing at 10% annually, while large-IT spending is increasing only 4%, according to Computer Economics.

Technology usage by small businesses is rapidly increasing as the price points of both hardware and software products drop and technology solutions advance along adoption curves. This makes the small business market an attractive new growth opportunity for many technology vendors, but the rules of success in the small business market are different from those of enterprise markets.

Product features, high-value price points, distribution channels, and the connection of technology solutions to the small business owner’s overall success are critical to penetrating this market segment.

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Misconceptions—and Actualities

The mistake many technology companies make is to view theses small businesses like a big enterprise, but with simpler needs and a small IT budget. These companies often believe they can delete a few features from their enterprise solutions and sell them at a lower price. This simplistic approach is a recipe for disaster.

In developing a small business market strategy, keep in mind the following key factors:

• The “small business market” is not a single market. Small businesses vary by size, vertical, and the speed of adopting technology. In developing a plan to enter this market, technology vendors need to sub-segment the market based on customer needs and the solutions offered.
• Small businesses have needs different those of large enterprises. They aren’t interested in purchasing big solutions that have unnecessary functionality that will get in the way of what they’re trying to accomplish. Keep in mind that these companies can’t afford the overhead of a full-time IT staff or expensive implementation costs. The best solutions need to go in quick and be easy to maintain, while still providing scalability as the business grows.
• Because of lower average selling points, the cost of sales for the small business market segments must be lower than for large enterprise sales. A direct model is virtually impossible to sustain profitably. Distribution through two-tier channel partners (VARs), online sales, and retail presence are critical to achieve the reach required and the price points needed to offer compelling solutions.

• When marketing to small businesses, you will face new competition from many smaller and regional players that provide focused solutions for niche markets. If you want to successfully compete against these niche players, you need to be able to position your technology against a multitude of offerings in a low-touch sales model.
• Small business buyers are much more apt to turn to the Internet and online communities for purchasing advice. With the growth of these online resources and communities, it’s important to use some of your marketing dollars to tap into these large networks.

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Examples of Success

Bear in mind that while many large technology vendors are entering the small business market, there are only a few notable success stories. For example, NetSuite’s small business ERP solution offers the only online business application that streamlines both front- and back-office operations for small businesses, allowing companies to make “smarter, faster decisions” with accurate real-time metrics of crucial business data.

As one of the first online, on-demand ERP solutions, NetSuite got a head start in marketing to small businesses. The company’s success is credited to its focus on its strategic price points as well as ease of purchasing additional features, along with the growth of its customers’ businesses.

Meanwhile, Intuit, the maker of Quicken and QuickBooks, can justly claim it knows more about the current state of small businesses than anyone else, based on its dominance of the small-business accounting market. It recently teamed up with The Institute for the Future to produce a lengthy report titled the “Intuit Future of Small Businesses Report,” which takes a look at what small businesses will look like in the coming decade. The report highlights how a new breed of entrepreneurs will emerge, including women, immigrants, and baby boomers. It is their interests, financial needs, and social goals that will fuel small-business growth over the next decade.

To reach this growing market, Intuit has aggressively pursued new ways to target these small businesses. Last year, Intuit partnered with Google to provide tools that help small businesses use its financial software to help market themselves online.

Meanwhile, the company maintains a site for small businesses with advice message boards and a free site called “JumpUp,” which helps new businesses get up and running.

Intuit’s success in marketing to small businesses stems from its intensive market research and closeness to its target market.

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“Change the font.”

“These colors are all wrong.”

“Don’t like that word. Use this one instead. Hey, what about our mission statement? I didn’t see it. That needs to go on the front.”

Executive- and director-level managers have their own quirks as to what they like and don’t like in presentations, project plans, contracts and what-have-you.

Many of us get frustrated and think, “C’mon! It’s just a presentation! Those changes aren’t going to impact the information presented!” On occasion, valid suggestions do affect the content—but result in missed deadlines. Time runs out, and whatever material is in the current version becomes the final version. When this happens, how late is the presentation? How much time has been wasted that the presenter could’ve used to prepare for giving the presentation?

Does this vicious cycle of trying to please everyone with a document have to happen to avoid stepping on political landmines? You finish the draft early enough to have the final done on time, yet it rarely meets the deadline—thanks to the picky feedback from others who won’t let it move forward until they’ve eyeballed it. What are ways of dealing with approvals to get a document completed on time and with fewer go-arounds?

MBA

Those not stuck on the merry-go-round of documentation, hop on board and share your frustration with our readers. Does a boss or coworker have you pulling out hair? Has leaders hip or morale hit rock bottom? Is your marketing organization stable, or does it bounce up and down like the ponies? Get on the e-bullhorn and tell us about it, and we will ask the 100,000 MarketingProfs readers how they would handle it. You will receive a free copy of our book, A Marketer’s Guide to e-Newsletter Publishing, just for dropping us a note with a new topic to get us all talking.

This Week’s Dilemma

‘Can’t please everyone’ syndrome affects our presentations

How do I manage the creation of a master corporate-capabilities slide presentation when there are multiple executive VPs playing the role of reviewer/approver? These kinds of presentations are subjective in so many ways—graphic elements, story structure, level of detail, content flow, font style, EVERYTHING! I want to avoid the political landmines that I’ve encountered in the past. How do we create a slide deck for everyone to approve? How can we assure the project is done on time with fewer approval rounds?

—Senior Product Marketing Manager, MBA

Previous Dilemma

How do I break into marketing?

I’m still a college student who has been lucky to expand and enhance my MarCom abilities for the past five years though work experience. In the last year, I was placed in the position of Director of MarCom (I’m sure due to trust in me and the lack of budget); anyway, I have matured through this position faster than I have with anything learned in business school, and now I am considering a venture into different industries to get more experience. Where do I start? How did other marketing professionals come into their careers? How do I convince people I might actually be good at what I do despite my age? I plan on continuing my degree through my university, but in the mean time, where do I begin?

—An MBA student

Summary of Advice Received

Dear student, you’re off to a great start, because you’re building experience while receiving your education. Any experience gained while in college gives a boostyou’re your resume. Students are encouraged to take advantage of internships, part-time jobs, summer programs… anything that offers knowledge and skills that transfer to the business world.

In this wild job market, many students don’t get the job they want right away. Readers offer tips to increase your chances of getting your ideal position.

1. Market the product—you!

2. Use the network.

3. Explore other avenues.

1. Market the product—you!

After leaving college, AJ Smith, the marketing guy at Niche Retail, found a tough job market waiting for him:

I did some freelancing, then took a job for a very low salary designing a sports retailer’s Web sites and preparing graphics. I tapped into online marketing, created a budget, found my targets, and turned over a great deal of ROI for them. Soon after, I updated my resume on Monster.com and my phone started ringing. Then I found a great job doing marketing for another online retailer. The rest is history. So what’s the trick? Develop your own proven results. Compile a track record of your successes. Most of all, market yourself. Your ability to market yourself to a company directly reflects your ability to market, period.

When creating your resume, use a task-directed approach recommends Luis Javier Rodriguez of Gilvi publicidad:

By constructing an accomplished-task-directed resume, highlight your achievements inside MarCom as seen from a managerial point of view. After thoughtfully researching the competitive landscape, apply for job interviews in your fields of interest. This will show your interest and how you can translate your skills to a new field.

A director at GENESIS, Adrian Woodliffe, has worked as a management consultant where he also undertook executive recruitment focusing on marketing/communications and senior exec/CEO areas:

I also used to find the time to talk to marketing grads. Few other people used to make the time to help these people. But I saw them as being the business leaders of tomorrow. On occasion, I would also need to recruit them for specific clients. The biggest advice I can give grads is this: You have been trained to think strategically, as a commercial specialist. Why not apply the same techniques to yourself? Think of YOURSELF as a product/service. The same principles apply—don’t they? You are an emerging entity. You want to get on the “shelf,” to be considered and then “bought.” Simplistic terms, but the analogy is relevant.

So, how you plan your approach to the market should be on the same sound foundations as if you were developing/launching a new product. After all, you are a brand. What are your differentials? What is your value proposition? What values do you extol? Remember packaging. It’s amazing how many people who want to get into the area of marketing simply put together an A4 [paper] CV [or resume] and, at most, consider using nice paper stock. Oh, and color? Nah, old hat. You wouldn’t present the most amazing thing since sliced bread on A4 white paper would you? Why do it to yourself?

So think brand. Think strategy. This also means that you will probably be much more TARGETTED in who you talk to regarding job positions. Be selective. Find out more about the company than what they present to the market. Delve. Research and tailor your approach accordingly.

2. Use the network

The saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is true; but what you know is still important. Several readers have indicated that they found jobs through their networks. If you need help developing networking skills, some excellent books may help, such as The Networking Survival Guide. Joining Toastmasters or a similar public-speaking group is also beneficial.

Dominique Grinnell, director of marketing at VPA, Inc., believes that networking is the best way to make professional moves:

Get your story together, which is a 30- to 60-second pitch statement about who you are professionally, your goals, and how you can enhance an organization. Start talking to alumni of your school, past work colleagues, and anyone else who will listen to your story. Find some companies where you think you might want to work and set up informational interviews with the heads of marketing there to find out what the environment is, what skills are transferable, and what skills you will need to add.

Your age is not an issue if you are confident, competent, diplomatic, and willing to put yourself out there. You may have to put issues of ego aside if you find a company you want to work for—they may want you at a lower level. As long as you can grow and it’s in a good environment this may be a good deal.

A reader says the experience gained while studying is valuable:

My experience was that while studying for a bachelor’s of commerce (marketing), I worked for a catering company as a food/drinks waiter at functions. In my final year, I looked for graduate roles unsuccessfully, but contacted a sales and marketing manager that I had met through the catering company. It just so happened that a sales and marketing coordinator role was just coming up. My already established relationship and experience with the company played a big part (bigger than years of study, I think) in getting the job.

After 18 months, I successfully applied for another marketing coordinator role for the corporate marketing department of the company, a good step up. The lesson I learned was that while my studies have helped me perform well in the job, they were not important in getting the job in the first place. Contacts are vital—your prospective employer wants to be able to trust you, and for that they need to already know you or have a strong recommendation by someone who knows you.

Another reader has received half of his job interviews through networking and the other half through traditional searching. Taking advantage of other opportunities may also help you find your ideal position.

3. Explore other avenues

Doug Davila, director of new business at Slack Barshinger, points to nonprofits as a great resource for gaining experience:

Typically, these organizations don’t have huge budgets, so the extra help is welcome. Nonprofits are great learning environments, because you must stay focused and maximize your budget.

Doug also suggests looking at certificate programs offered by many universities. It’s an opportunity to get exposed to different disciplines within marketing while giving you a chance to network, and they provide credentials. It’s not an MBA, but in many ways gives you much more real-world experience than an MBA in a field other than marketing can.

A reader offers a simple road map to finding the right job:

1. Know your skill sets.

2. Identify how those skills can solve a problem for a potential employer.

3. Find out what other skills you need to get by doing informational interviews with professionals in your desired industry.

4. Acquire such skills through work or volunteering.

5. Continue your education through academics and the work world.

The same reader shares the experience of changing careers from biology to marketing:

Nine years after college, I made a career change into marketing. My degree was in biology, which I find incredibly useful. I think logically and can perform analytical functions required in different marketing roles, whether direct marketing, marketing management, or product management. My start came from a smaller company that saw I was smart enough to pick up on the material quickly (direct marketing) and could adapt by using a variety of skills. I’m creative, so I can write copy. I’m analytical, so I can crunch numbers and understand how they relate. I have critical thinking skills, so I can see how the big picture—or bottom line is impacted from what I do.

And because of my scientific background, my current employer asked me to put together business requirements for a marketing database we were building in-house. Although I’d never done that before, I went about it logically and methodically, used my direct marketing experience and came up with something I thought was viable. I was pleasantly surprised with the positive feedback I received from our IT department when they told me they’d never received such an easy/clear plan to work with—even from people who have done it for years. From my point of view, education teaches a person knowledge, yes, but it also teaches a person how to process information and think in particular ways.

The reader advises paying attention to the company size and industry. For example, a Fortune 500 food and beverage company will likely want an MBA with 5-10 years of experience for an entry-level job; a small to midsize company in the publishing industry might be more flexible.

Take advantage of your school’s resources and networking opportunities. Does your school have a career center? Take advantage of it. Think networking in everything you do, as it can happen anytime, anywhere. Even in a doctor’s office, where one reader started talking to another patient and ended up mailing a resume to her. Save work products to use as samples when going on job interviews. Good luck!

Why not network through this column?

Did you know you could use this column as an opportunity to network with other readers? Did a reader’s response click with you? Search for the person’s company and you’re halfway there to finding out how to reach the person. If you enjoyed another in MarketingProfs or event our article, drop us a line. You never know what may happen.

MBA Notes

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So just what is TransPromo?

In plain English, it is the effective combination of regular bills and statements and targeted marketing material using techniques like color, segmentation, and personalization.

ROI is the key driver for the success of TransPromo. Organizations face increased budgetary constraints, staffing issues, and both boardroom and investor demands for favorable quarterly returns. Business is focused on cost more than ever before, both on containment and measurement.

Leading-edge enterprises have been successfully, and quietly, achieving significant ROI on marketing spend using multiple tactics, including the elimination of additional inserts from statement envelopes, replacing them with a more sustainable option: onserts.

An onsert is the placement of colorful, targeted promotional materials, such as an offer-of-the-month, on the white space directly on a statement, meaning extra inserts are no longer required.

In some cases, onserts can reduce other production costs, serving as a revenue generator. Suppose you are a hotel chain or a retail department store, and you have extra white space available on your statement. Why not utilize that space by selling a non-competitive offer such as an Amazon book offer, rental car discount coupon, or florist 1-800 offer? The income generated could likely offset 10-25 percent of the mailing you were going to produce and fund anyway.

Zoomerang recently conducted a survey of 1,000 18-35-year-olds for InfoPrint Solutions Company, to better understand how they believe marketers are speaking to them. Some 64 percent of respondents said they would use personalized coupons if printed directly onto monthly statements and bills, with nearly half responding these would actually encourage brand loyalty.

Innovative marketing organizations are tying in customer data they already have—like transactional information, types of purchases, size, frequency, or payment history—and intelligently using these to cross-sell the next logical product, through a true one-to-one marketing initiative.

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Take another example: A retailer’s file indicates that “Bert” purchases snowboard accessories both online and via store locations. The marketing possibilities seem endless…

Why not offer “Bert,” via his next regular monthly statement, a 20 percent discount coupon for his next winter apparel purchase, printed on his bill? Or, offer a 10-20 percent discount on lodging or a rental car at a mountain resort, meaning your third-party lodging or rental partner pays you? Then, start thinking about adding seasonality to this mix.

To prompt this cycle, marketers should set up a marketing campaign calendar to send a customized message to “Bert” during the October/November billing cycles to activate purchases, perhaps with a money-off coupon attached.

That is only one example of using the data available on a customer to up-sell and cross-sell additional services.

Other key applications include retention of current clients. All savvy marketing executives know exactly what their acquisition cost is per head, with many allowing for this when budgeting. But how many truly measure the cost of a lost customer?

Why not effectively use an existing communication vehicle—the monthly statement—to thank audiences for ongoing loyalty? Customers are people and like to be complimented occasionally. Just an impromptu “thanks for doing business with us” can have measurable improvements in customer retention rates. And why not print a coupon awarding money off their next purchase directly on that same billing statement?

This is not rocket science, but it does require a level of sophistication and expertise to help organizations understand their existing customer better. Through careful evaluation of data they already have, marketers can easily craft appropriate offers driven both by individual consumers’ purchasing habits and by the available attitudinal and behavioral characteristics. It is then critical to build back-end analytical components to measure the results effectively.

These improvements will mean marketing is accountable and measurable, and the ROI will truly be a win/win both for the marketer and the enterprise.

Final thought: Select marketing partners/vendors that can assist you in the entire process—from initial data analytics to producing the targeted output. Print and production capability is critical, but no less important is the direct response marketing expertise to help you identify, analyze, plan, implement, and report-on your efforts.

Crafting all these components into a cohesive effort is critical to your success.

MBA Notes

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Few would question this simple truth: Businesses must differentiate. Growth, profit—survival, even—hinge on their ability to set themselves apart from competition.

Professors Terrell and Middlebrooks of the Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, respectively, say it well:

Service companies need to dare to be different. To find a leadership position in the market…and then to lead. The key strategy is to be different from competitors…. They break free from “be better,” internally oriented initiatives to “be different,” externally oriented strategies. Being different is grounded in providing customers with unique value that they cannot get from any other competitor.1

They go on to cite McKinsey as their first example.

The “need” for differentiation is so well accepted, it’s considered simplistic to even make the case for differentiation. Why make a case for something everyone already knows?

Much of the differentiation conversation therefore centers more on how to do it and how strongly to do it. (Terrell and Middlebrooks go as far as to say you should position yourself so far opposite competitors that they coin the nifty term “oppositioning” to describe it.)

That we need to be differentiated at all… accepted without further thought.

I disagree. Put some further thought in it. Most everything I’ve read and heard about differentiation is wrong. I suspect the same is true for you.

On Unique Selling Propositions

Among the favorite platitudes of the high priests of business is that every business—nay, every person—must have a unique selling proposition (USP). A USP can be defined as doing or saying something about yourself or company that is unlike what anyone else does or offers. In other words, unique… one of a kind.

I deliver about 40 speeches and presentations per year. During presentations I frequently ask the members of the audience to take a few minutes to deliver their elevator pitches—the minute or so discussion they would use to describe themselves to the CEO of a company they would like to win as a client.

When they’re done, I ask folks to raise their hands if their partner delivered a fabulous elevator pitch. Many hands go up. When I ask what was so great about them, I typically hear things like this: They were clear about what they do, what difference they make for their clients, and which industries they serve. Often I hear of stories told that brought their companies to life.

I then ask who has heard of the concept of a USP, and who has been told at least once in their business lives that they need to have one. Most hands go up. I then ask whose elevator pitch partner said something unique. Usually no hands go up, but here and there a bold person or two jump into the fray.

In the end, good as their elevator pitch partner’s delivery might have been, most people back off their stance that their partner was unique.

The “Unique and Different” Label

Too often in elevator pitches, and in marketing messages in general, professional services firms ill-advisedly label themselves as unique and different. A quick Google search for “unique consulting firm” (with the quotes, so it would get results that only had these words in a string), yielded close to 4,000 sites. Here’s one from the first page:

[Firm Name] is a rather unique consulting firm…. Our target audience is composed of those firms that seek quality rather than quantity and price. Our company specializes on small and mid size businesses, but we are looking for clients that are less worried about prices, than exclusive services and results that they will receive. Thus, a price conscious client is not really suited for our firm; our services are of high quality and slightly higher priced, but the customer service and end results are virtually almost exceeding the client’s expectation.

[Author's note: I tried to find more professional-sounding copy that included the term "unique consulting firm," but they were all pretty much like this. Can't make this stuff up, folks.]

Once a firm labels itself as unique, it elicits this question from the reader: Is it really unique (or, as in the case of the firm above, “rather unique”) while, at the same time, “virtually almost exceeding the client’s expectation?” Ugh.

Should the answer be no, and by and large it is, the firm loses credibility. More than anything, its sounds as if they’ve read in some marketing textbook that they have to have a USP or differentiated message, thus they use words to that effect.

Many admit later just how amateurish they sound, and sometimes acknowledge that they thought it sounded amateurish before they launched their unique-speak publicly. Firm leaders tend to have good common-sense radar, but they seem to check common sense at the door when it comes to self-designated uniqueness.

Some firms seem to take the quest for differentiation literally, creating a spate of “we’re different” messages. Consider a top Boston law firm with the following message:

At [FIRM Name], we practice law differently. While our attorneys agree that results drive our business, building relationships with our clients and providing value-added service is the key to our success.

This firm might be amazingly good—and, from what I know of their reputation, they are. However, results’ driving business, building relationships, and providing value-add are pretty par for the course—both as firm goals and marketing copy.

What Clients Really Want

Much as firms might hear otherwise, being different isn’t much of a factor in winning or keeping clients. Often, the “we’re different” message affects them negatively. Consider the following scenario: Your tooth hurts and your dentist is out of town. You need an oral surgeon and you need one fast, so you ask a few trusted close friends, Trip and Beverly, if they know anyone.

Referral #1: Close friend Trip suggest Dr. Phlox.

He says that his aunt Deanna needed oral surgery and went to Dr. Phlox, who has been in the town next door for 20 years and has a very busy oral surgery practice. Word on the street is that he’s pretty solid. When aunt Deanna went in, the doctor took the time to explain the surgery and what was going to happen, and to answer all the questions that Deanna had.

The surgery went fine (for all they knew) and Deanna hasn’t had any problems since. He’s a little more expensive than average, but Deanna says he’s very booked and established so it’s understandable.

Referral #2: Close friend Beverly suggests Dr. McCoy.

Supposedly McCoy is well known throughout the nation as a cutting-edge oral surgeon, often going where no other oral surgeon has gone before. He has a unique blend of people at his office, process for oral surgery, and tooth technology that he has pioneered. His results, says his brochure and Web site, are 22% better than all other oral surgeons’, which is how he justifies his very high prices.

His uncle Pavel went to McCoy and all went well with the surgery (for all he knew), though uncle Pavel met McCoy only for about 30 seconds, as he was so busy.

At a gut level, even with uncle Pavel’s satisfaction, few people would choose referral #2. This is because many of the dynamics of how clients buy business-to-business professional services is similar to how people choose dentists:

• Should failure happen, the consequences are painful.
• You don’t need the world’s greatest outcome. You just need a very good outcome.
• Since you can’t sample a service like you might sample a piece of gum, you have to rely on reputation, experience, and expertise as proxies for expected results.
• Price is a factor, but you’d rather not skimp when the outcome is important. (Side note: if I told you that Dr. McCoy’s innovations have enabled him to charge less than half of what other oral surgeons charge, would you have been more interested in buying his services, or less?)

Innovation in the sense that the doctor does something different from others, or is somehow unique, by and large won’t tip the scales of purchase preference in the favor of the innovator.

So what is it that clients are, indeed, looking for? In my experience, and according to research such as How Clients Buy, most buyers want to tell service providers the following:

• Reliability. Do what you say you are going to do, and be on time about it. (This is listed first, because it’s so important. If only the service providers I’ve worked with in my life were better at keeping their commitments…)
• Accessibility. Be there when I need you.
• Impact. Help me buy the most helpful and impactful services from you, and help me translate your services into success for my business in my industry.
• Fit. Be a good fit for the specific needs that I have. If you’re not the best fit, help me find a provider that is. Don’t shoehorn your service into something that, in the end, won’t meet my needs as well as something else would.
• Importance. Make me feel like we are, as a client, important to you and your team.
• Service. Deliver great service as well as great services.
• Prudence. Be careful and do your homework before you suggest a course of action for me.
• Research. Stay on top of the developments and trends in your industry and in mine.
• Listening. Understand my business, my team, and my clients so you can come up with ideas relevant to me.
• Teaching. Help me understand what you’re doing. I might not be an expert in your area, but I’m pretty bright and I make the decisions here. Help me understand what’s new in your area of expertise so I can apply that knowledge in my business.
• Business management. Run an efficient operation and constantly improve so I don’t pay for your inefficiency.
• Relationship management. Be pleasant and fair, and work with me through communication or other breakdowns on your end or mine. In essence, treat me like a person.

Different situations warrant different mixes and degrees of the above. For example, with many necessary-type services like Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, efficiency is important as well as expertise. On the other hand, buyers looking to hire product-innovation consultants will likely be concerned less about efficiency and more about the creativity and innovative thinking of your team.

Regardless of the mix of what’s most important to your buyers, you probably won’t see many of them inserting this into the list of client wants: “Different and Unique: Be one of a kind, offering something that no one else in the market offers.”

So be different: Stop listening to the continuous pleas from consultants, marketers, and textbooks to be different… one of a kind.. .a shining beacon of newness in a sea of same-old same-old.

Focus instead on actually delivering the value to the market that you say you deliver (which, in and of itself, can be uncommon if not unique), and find ways to create a conversation with buyers around that message.

Not only is it better marketing, it’s less lonely than being unique.

Endnote:

1 Terrell and Middlebrooks, Market Leadership Strategies for Service Companies. 2000 McGraw Hill. P. 31.

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You already know that certain words are automatic spam-filter traps in email marketing, but if you’re reading this you probably aren’t using any of the worst offenders, such as obscenities or pornographic lingo.

Nonetheless, your email marketing messages can benefit from a thorough edit to ensure both the avoidance of anti-spam filters and, even more importantly, the inclusion of the most powerful words in direct response.

First, though, examine how you and your colleagues speak about email marketing and describe it as a practice to those outside your world.

For example, how often have you heard (or even said) an email “blast” was being sent? I don’t know about you, but to me “blast” doesn’t have a positive connotation. I don’t wish to be “blasted” with anything (well, maybe $1,000 bills would be OK), including email “blasted” to my inbox, and I’d venture to guess that your customers and list members feel the same.

When we as practitioners of email marketing become more aware of how the words we use to describe our craft are perceived in the outside world, we can see “blast” is a dirty word. Instead, you might say “broadcast,” “announcement,” “send,” or “campaign” after the word email to describe your message deployment. But, please, no more blasting.

Furthermore, despite the Email Experience Council’s efforts, we still don’t have unilateral agreement on how to spell the word “e-mail.” The official AP style guide, dictionaries, and journalists continue to insist on the hyphen between “e” and “mail.” Most everyone else has already dropped it. Chances are, the word will follow the previous evolutionary pattern of “on-line,” “jell-o,” and “e-commerce.”

Those and other factors aside (such as no agreed-upon definition of spam), the words used within your email messages can make or break your campaigns.

Adhere to these Letterman Show-style Top Ten Lists—the first for language pitfalls and the second for power words—to ensure successful delivery, avoid complaints, and improve response:

Top Ten Language Pitfalls in Email Marketing Messages

10. Typos and misspellings due to poor editing

There really is no excuse.

9. Subject lines in ALL CAPS

Writing in all capital letters online is the equivalent of shouting. You would never scream at your customers or prospects in person, so don’t do so virtually, either. If you must, capitalize a single power word within your subject line and leave it at that.

8. Use of punctuation marks and numbers within the subject line

If absolutely necessary, use only functional punctuation such as a hyphen or colon. Do not put phone numbers in your subject line—ever!

7. ALL CAPS within the message body

Remember, no need to shout. Use other creative means such as color, different font, or buttons/banners/backgrounds for emphasis if there is an explanation, offer, or condition not to be missed.

6. Excessive or unnecessary Power Word repetition; especially of power word #1

See below.

5. Copy written in passive rather than active voice

We need to get to the point quickly in email. Front-load sentences and paragraphs with action verbs and eye-catching benefits.

4. False or inflated sense of urgency

The very nature of email implies expediency, immediacy. Pushing recipients to respond by intentionally creating an environment of panic or scarcity usually doesn’t provide an incremental lift in response. In fact, it can be a real turn off. Your audience is already in a mindset to quickly access and process email messages. Nudge, don’t shove. Subtly mention deadlines or expiration dates when necessary or legally required, and if in doubt, test.

3. Vague calls-to-action

“Click here” or “visit our Web site” are too general; they don’t reinforce the subject of your message or your offer. Nor do they instill confidence in where a responder will land. Be specific, such as “download your free white paper” or “see the movie preview” instead.

2. Exaggerated Modifiers

Like “Amazing,” “Revolutionary,” “Great,” “All New,” (when just “new” would suffice) and even “Special” and “Important,” especially when used in the subject line, can land your email in the junk folder. Hype is a hallmark of spam and is unnecessary when your messages are targeted and relevant. Assuming they are (targeted and relevant), they will already be perceived as important, special, or great. Why state the obvious?

And the number-one pitfall:

1. Including the word “spam” in your message (such as “this is not spam”)

The very existence of written justification that your email is ethical calls its legitimacy into question. I can’t think of a more self-defeating proposition than stating your message is NOT what you fear it will be.

Now for the good news.

Top Ten Power Words

Here are the top ten power words for your email advertising and communications:

10. New

Appeals to our basic human curiosity to seek novelty.

9. Save

We all love a bargain.

8. Safety

Connotes reliability; appeals to basic human needs.

7. Proven

Justifies your claim, removes fear of the unknown.

6. Love

An all-time favorite.

5. Guarantee

If you have one, state it. It iron-clads your offer.

4. Immediate (Now, or Instant)

Instant gratification is the expectation online. If it can’t be found, completed, or received almost immediately, you’re offer is in the wrong channel.

3. Results

Provides rationalization for instant conversion.

2. You

Remember WIIFM? Your audience wants to hear about what’s in it for them, not you. Articulate your benefits in personal, conversational terms.

And the number one Power Word:

1. Free

Surprised? Probably not. Because this is the time-honored, most potent motivator in direct response, be particularly vigilant of overuse. Just a dash’ll do. Strive to optimize placement, and test if necessary.

MBA Notes

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As marketing managers seek to keep their brands fresh and relevant, many are tempted to jump on the latest trends and fads. You know: online and major media advertising with new imagery… new slogans and taglines… new product packaging—all playing to the latest pop-cult phenomena, hot colors, and new vibes.

But is that really the solution? The short answer is “no.”

If anything, jumping on the latest trends will have the opposite effect. Brands cannot and should not be all things to all people. Nor should they be diluted by constantly going after whatever is trendy at the expense of consistently reinforcing their core values and assets.

If brands are less relevant than they should be, then their core values, and the way they are aligned and projected—or not—should be examined and addressed.

Consumers respond to values they identify with more than they do passing trends. Especially if those values are culturally ingrained and have deep personal meaning for them as human beings.

Brands should have the ring of authenticity and conviction. They should possess and express the following:

• A reason for being
• A definitive point of view
• A system of beliefs
• Clearly defined values and assets

The unearthing of a brand’s core values and truths must then be consistently acted upon in everything that companies communicate and in every decision that is made. There has to be complete alignment at every touch point so that the brand is consistently and faithfully portrayed to employees, business partners, stakeholders, and customers.

Cultural anthropology can play an important role in developing consumer connections by taking marketing to a more meaningful, more human level. Tying core brand essences to deeply held cultural meaning gives consumers “reason to believe” in them. By being firmly grounded in cultural values that really matter to the customer, brands can transcend competitors to become not only category leaders, but icons.

These kinds of brands become a way for consumers to affirm who they are and what their lifestyles are—and allow them to project their identity to the world.

In their book Symbolic Brands and Authenticity of Identity Performance, British marketing professors Richard Elliott and Andrea Davies* state: “In a consumer culture people no longer consume for merely functional satisfaction, but consumption becomes meaning-based, and brands are often used as symbolic resources for the construction and maintenance of identity.”

It is still true that consumers choose products based on price, quality, and cachet. Yet to a considerable degree brands with deeply significant cultural meaning override these aspects of marketing. For example, Apple, the brand, has an iconic presence among consumer-product brands and a cult-like following. So do brands like Harley Davidson, Coca Cola, Nike, Starbucks, The NFL, NASCAR and Whole Foods.

None of these brands appeals to everyone, but among the consumers they do appeal to they enjoy a devoted, and even fanatical, following. We can also point out that whether consumers are devotees of these brands or not, very few consumers the world over do not recognize their brand marks or fail to understand the essence of these brands’ core values.

The evangelism inspired by these brands has everything to do with their meaning and an integrated lifestyle fit among their devotees. When these brands are marketed, and their products and services packaged, their core values are leveraged in a consistent, targeted manner that does not respond to every trend or fad. Otherwise, a dilution would occur with the very audience for whom they are viable and relevant.

Brand Evolution

Since consumer culture continues to change and evolve, brands must change with it, but without losing their essences in the process. Companies no longer operate autonomously behind impenetrable walls. So why do some continue to market in that manner?

Brand marketers have to realize that they no longer have absolute control over their brands through carefully crafted external images. Consumers have wrested a sizeable share of control away from them.

Everything about companies and their brands is transparent now. Consumers play an active role in the shaping of brands, thanks to…

• The Internet
• Social media
• YouTube
• A significant increase in WOM (word-of-mouth).

The culture of those consumers, who are active participants in the Apple brand, for example, or the Harley Davidson or NFL brands, and the way they attribute specific meanings to those brands, help determine their evolution. These brands, over time, have increasingly come out of the hands of the marketers and become shaped by their adherents.

Smart marketers actively engage their customer bases, seeking their input on company-sponsored blogs, even asking for submissions of ideas. They plug into the free-flowing conversations among consumers to learn more from their adherents. They pay attention to what WOM is conveying about their brands.

Brand marketers are increasingly hiring cultural anthropologists to conduct additional research. By asking consumers—or, better yet, watching how consumers use the products to gauge—what they like, what they don’t like, what they would like to see integrated into product designs as well as what they say, anthropologists gain great insights into the current culture around the brand.

These insights should be valued, and they should enable marketers to see the souls of their brands mirrored in their customers’ comments.

Anthropologists delve into…

• The deeper meanings that consumers ascribe to brands
• The changing way they are integrated into consumers’ lifestyles
• Consumers’ emotional attachments to specific brand assets and drivers
• The evolution of consumer base culture

Thus, as the culture of customer bases subtly changes, brands can evolve with those changes in a subtle, rather than overriding manner. Jumping on superficial, passing trends would only muddy the brand to its adherents and cause disconnects. By making changes that are responsive to the ways customers’ view of the brand and how they want to use it, however, the brand remains viable, relevant, and meaningful to its adherents.

The idea of letting consumers internalize the brands they identify with in a deeply, more personal way, and dictating gradual changes is orchestrating brand new thinking. Result: the consumer is more in tune with culturally significant brands more than ever.

And when it comes to brands, ongoing cultural relevance trumps the latest fads and trends hands down.

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