Aglow Marketing's Blog

QR Codes: Fab or Fad?

Marketing trends come and go (some more quickly then others) so it'll be very interesting to see the fate of the uber trendy QR (Quick Response) codes. 

Are QR codes here to stay and more importantly to marketers, when does it make sense to use them?

First, start by considering your audience. Are they aware of how QR codes work? Do they have the technology accessible to utilize them? A recent survey on QR Awareness showed that nearly 20% of teens didn't even know what these images were. In fact, only 33% were able to identify the image as a QR code, with only 19% having the right software to read the QR codes.  Having said that, 74% who had used a QR code thought it was worth their time.  Moral of the story - start by considering your audience and their willingness and ability to accept this marketing tactic.

Next, consider what is your goal? Sounds simple enough, but as we markters know sometimes the novelty of a given tactic can be enough to sway decision makers to want to use them.  Are you trying to increase sales of a certain product? Raise awareness of a service you provide? Entice customers to view you as a thought leader?  Start with the goal and then ask yourself if a QR code can help you achieve it.

Here's a few effective ways we see QR codes being used, and a few thoughts on when not to use one.

Fab

• Coupons & Discounts - QR code research shows that consumers will take the time to scan a QR code if they get something out of the deal.  It's also a green marketing technique that some audiences will really appreciate.

• Contact Information - A brilliant use of the QR code is to provide instant down-loadable access to your business contact information/VCard via a QR code conveniently located on your business card.  Time savings for your contacts means a innovative brand image for you and your company.

• Events - Did you know you can create a QR Code for an event which creates a calendar instance when scanned?  This is an effective use of QR codes for those putting on workshops, seminars and other events who want to offer a quick and easy way for potential attendees to plan to attend.

• Captive Audiences - Think about using QR codes in locations where your audience isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Table top displays at restaurants or events, point of purchase displays, waiting rooms, airports, etc. 

• Customized Content - At trade shows, consider a hand out with a QR code that directs your audience back to a unique landing page with an article or white paper about the trade show topic. The key here is customization - with the ease of creating QR codes at will, one size does not have to fit all.

Fad

• Primary Web Site Promotion - Creating a QR code to simply link back to your main web site is likely not the best use of this technology.  While it may seem novel at first, your not providing any extra value. However, QR codes can be effective when directing someone to a landing page with customized content on a given topic. This can be as simple as directing someone to an interior page of your web site, or as elaborate as sending them to a micro site. 

So how do you get a QR code? There's a few reputable & free services out there, but we personally love QRStuff.com, which even allows you to make your QR Code pretty! Choose the color to match your brand, vs. the boring black you see nearly everywhere. Another way to breakt thru the marketing clutter!

At the end of the day, QR codes are just one more tool at your acccess when creating your marketing plan and strategies.  If you're interested in learning more about our marketing strategy service, simply scan the QR code above ;-)

Marketing That Moves Us: I Was Born Green

Lily and I were chatting today about a new blog series entitled "What Marketing Moves Us" - because even though we are marketers, we're also consumers and buyers of goods and services. In fact, I'll be the first to admit I'm any great markete'rs dream.  I will buy new products, shop at new stores, and eat at new restuatuants based upon marketing alone.   So...the idea is that we'll be doing a regular post on marketing that moves us, makes us want to buy, and pass that insight along to you.  Our hope is that we can learn a little something from these examples that can be applied right away.  

THE CONCEPT:    A simple sticker on a Chiquita bannana that proudly states "I was born green."

WHAT GOT ME:   Such a clever play on words, especially with Green Marketing & Green Iniativies being one of the hottest  topics right now. (Interested in learning more about Green Marketing? -Join Indy AMA for a special luncheon focused on this very topic this April.)

WHY I THINK IT WORKS:    It's smart, it's  humourous -- plus it's worth passing along to a friend in conversation.  Also, when checking out Chiquita's web site I noted that they actually have an section dedicated to Being Green - so it's more than just a fun slogan, it actually is part of their culture and value system.

WHAT WE CAN LEARN:     When you are thinking of how you position your product or business, don't think quite so literally.  Expand your mindset. Think about how can you position yourself that evokes a sense of humor in a clever, thought provoking way that makes people think, remember you...and smile.

Making Time for Marketing: How To Make Sure Your Marketing Isn't an Afterthought

Is it just me, or has the beginning of this year gone by in a flash?  Between snow days and sick days, it's been difficult to get into a solid work groove.  As a result, the Aglow Marketing team has been keeping up with our clients' needs but (as is the case for many small business owners) not carving out time to work on our own marketing.  It's the same old "the cobbler's children have no shoes" conudrum. 

Many of our potential clients face the exact same issue - they know they should make time for marketing, they believe in the value of marketing, but as duty calls they simply don't make time for it.  As a result, their efforts become reactive or - worse yet - non-existent.  So how do we make sure that marketing isn't an afterthought and that it becomes a part of our daily activities?  Here's a few quick steps to get going:

1. Get A Plan -  It's difficult to make marketing a priority when you don't know what you are supposed to be doing.  Sounds like common sense, but so many people wish to bypass this important step and jump straight into tactics without an integrated plan.  Think through what you are trying to accomplish, who you are hoping to reach, what will move them to act, and how you will measure success.  Take the time to formulate a solid marketing plan rich with well-thought-out strategies to reach your goals - you will never regret it.  
2. Timelines & Calendars - Move your marketing plan into action by plotting out your tactics on a calendar.  Assign due dates and reminders - whatever it takes to engrain marketing your business into your daily life.
3. Be Accountable - By meeting with your marketing team on regular basis and reporting back on your progress, you will ensure your marketing activities are getting done.  Don't forget to track your success through analytics or whatever other metrics you have established in your marketing plan.

Lily and I recently spent a half-day working through our own marketing plan, and although it's not yet complete we are making sure we practice what we preach in 2011.  Stay tuned for some fantastic marketing efforts for Aglow yet this year.

5 Hints to Make Your Marketing Message More Compelling

I recently attended the Master of Business Online Conference, and thoroughly enjoyed the variety of presentations ranging from InBound Marketing to Mobile Marketing.  However, my favorite session of the day was a bold talk on “How to Make Your Story Not Suck” by Don Schindler.  Don’s engaging talk really pulled me in, just like any great story can do, which ironically was the entire point of the discussion. 

 The session was a great reminder of how quickly we can forget how important the story is behind our marketing.  It can be all too easy to jump into a tactic without slowing down and making sure the messaging is interesting and touches our audience.  All great strategies are a loss if the story is wrong.

 Here are 5 quick takeaways that will help your copy read less like an ad and more like a best seller:

1) Ask Questions – Don previewed the Notre Dame “What would you fight for?”  ad campaign and brought up the brilliant point that people simply cannot stop themselves from answering question. Incorporate questions into your marketing to get your audience engaged immediately.

2) Pull from well known story genres – People love reading mysteries, comedies, and romance novels.  They don’t get as excited about reading lists of features and benefits.  Stop boring your audience with the dull bullet points of your business and wow them with the emotional pull of your company told in a completely different way. 

3) Make Your Company the Hero – What problem is your product or service helping to solve?  You are a superhero in someone’s eyes, so think through what evil you are helping to rid the world of and go with it.

4) Use Storytelling Techniques - Write your content following the techniques of every great storyteller:  Set the scene quickly, hook them with the conflict & rising action leading up to the climax, and then recount the resolution to the problem. Don highly recommends reading The Story Factor for even more insight into this inspiring way of writing.

5) Write Differently – When you consider how you are writing about your product or service, break away from how you have described it before.  Rip away all of the marketing fluff.  Think about new and interesting ways to position yourself that are not only interesting to the reader, but also make you stand apart from the competition. 

Here's to great storytelling and more effective marketing!

Best way to handle a potential issue? Shed some light on it.

When Laura and I picked out a promotional item for our business we knew we wanted a particular kind of candle.  It needed to look great, smell great and be environmentally friendly.  After extensive searching we settled on a personable small soy candle business based out of California, SoyCandles.org.

Recently we ran out of our custom candles and I contacted Claudia Davenport for a re-order.  What I love about Claudia is she is so thorough and makes me feel like each order is the only one she is dealing with.  She promptly got our canisters and scents together and shipped us our order.  Each scent even had a test candle, which is something I never would have considered.  Even though it's more product for her, it gives me peace of mind and allows me to enjoy the product, too.

Then Claudia sent me an e-mail alerting me to an issue with one of our scents.  She was right in that I didn't feel comfortable in the way the scent was burning off.  She asked how I'd like to handle the concern and promptly suggested a similar scent, re-made the candles and sent them to us.  I just got them and they are fantastic.

More often than not, there seems to be a tendency to hide when there might be an issue with your product or service.  Most employ the tactic, "If they don't bring it up, then don't mention it."  However, I tend to feel better when a trusted vendor alerts me to an issue beforehand rather than waiting for me to figure it out.  Building a relationship of trust with your clients is key.  By being open & honest with them, it will go a long way in building customer loyalty.  Thank you Claudia at SoyCandles.org for this great reminder!

Who's Managing Your Customer Experience?

I'll be honest - I've never noticed the details on my pizza box before. I typically just dive right on end.  But, for some reason this little detail caught my eye today.  I squinted closely to read the fine print on the Papa John's box which said that "My pizza experience was managed by Anthony."  Why thanks Anthony - I had no idea!

Now I highly doubt Anthony is a member of the marketing team...but yet he is charge of my customer experience and thefore my impression of the Papa John's brand. Depending upon how I was treated and ultimately the deliciousness of the pizza I received, my viewpoint of the restauant can be swayed one way or another.

When you consider who your end customer interacts with - keep in mind that that person is representing your brand.  Depending upon your business, that initial contact point may be a receptionist, a sales clerk, or a delivery person.  Are they representing your brand promise? Are they even aware of what your brand stands for?  If you hope to be known for being friendly & approachable, make sure your first line of defense brings on the charm and isn't harsh or abrasive. 

Zappos.com is a great example of how a brand promise is exemplified through it's customer service.  If you've ever ordered from this great online store, you know exactly what I'm talking about.   Not only do they offer fast/free shipping, their customer service team lives and breathes their brand promise of providing no-hassle, no-questions-asked, easy to deal with returns and exchanges.  You can tell that Zappos' brand promise is a part of their culture. 

So as a small business owner, consider who your customers interact with the most and (perhaps mostly importantly) first.  Are they aware of your core values and goals as a brand?  If not, arm them with this information so the very essence of what you want to be known for shines through each and every interaction.

The firepower of having a partner - in business and across it...

 When I started my own photography business, LBS Photography, 6 years ago I was so excited to be ON. MY. OWN.  No more bosses to answer to and no more obnoxious co-workers to deal with.  I was free to pursue every idea I had and work whatever hours suited me (I love the middle of the night!).  But after a while I was surprised to find myself BORED. STAGNANT. and UNINSPIRED.  How could this be?  I thought working for myself would keep me from every feeling that way again.  WRONG-O.

Around this time, I had finally nailed Laura down for lunch - mainly a reason to get out of the home office for me.  I thought it was a chance to catch up with a good friend. (Aglow Fun Fact: Laura and I met at our first jobs at Centerfield Marketing downtown.)  But the Laura I saw that day was not the fun-loving, go-getter I had always adored and admired.  She had picked the more corporate career path and had enjoyed great success, too, but was feeling much the same way I was - Now What?

What was born from an innocent lunch among good friends turned out to be a powerful partnership.  Laura brought the strategic and sales mastermind skills to the table I didn't even realize how badly I  needed.  I brought the creative firepower and operational know-how to showcase our talents.  And it's been more fun and challenging that I could have every imagined.

And, now a year into it, we are learning this lesson all over again.  Through Laura's involvement with the IndyAMA (She's the Prez, actually.), someone suggested we meet with a design firm called Creative Roots.  The first meeting was a bit like a first date, a touch awkward as you're trying to get to know each other.  But once we really started talking about our business dreams and how we run our businesses (from the heart!) - it was instant chemistry.  And each time we've gotten together I feel more energized to be around Alan and Anna who share the same passion for helping clients grow their businesses.  By teaming up, it allows each of us the opportunity to focus on what we each do best while knowing we are supporting each other along the way.

So, if you're feeling like your business is losing a little luster, get out there and start asking (and looking !) for who might be a great partner to you.  You can define the terms - whether it's just a chance to talk shop, work on certain projects together or really seal a deal.  Chances are you'll come away with a renewed excitement and fire for getting down to business.

Quick Tips to Develop A Stellar Brand Strategy

I recently had the opportunity to present on the topic of Branding to the Indy Non Profit & Marketing PR Group.  We had such a great time chatting about branding and all that goes into, including: 

• What really is branding?
• Why is it important?
• How do you develop your brand strategy?
• How your brand is so much more than a logo.
• How do you make sure your brand remains consistent across all marketing materials?
• How do you make your brand likable - or better yet - how do you develop brand love?

One of the primary points of discussion was walking through the steps of developing your brand strategy. Here are a few quick questions to get you started:

What is your brand position?  Find out by asking yourself:

• Who does our company serve?
• What do we offer each audience?
• Who is our competition?
• What is it that we do different/better/more unique than the competition?

What is your brand promise?  Find out by asking yourself:

• What is the problem we are solving? 
• What is the emotional pull that we have to make people feel good about buying from us? 
• What do we promise to provide our customers – every time and in every experience with us?

What is your brand personality?  Find out by asking yourself:

• What keywords and personality traits do want people to use to describe our company?
• What comes to mind when people hear our organization's name - hint: ask other people outside of your organization too!
• What type of tone and style should our messaging have – playful, formal, etc.

You can check out the full presentation here (also found in the show on the right) plus use our complementary Quick Branding Checklist to implement the information here: Download AglowBrandingBasicsChecklist  This is a great starting point for all marketers to keep handy when developing their brand. 

Take your time and have fun developing your brand strategy - it's such a cornerstone of all you do!  And if you need a little help getting started, we hope you’ll contact us. We offer training and can facilitate a brand strategy session with your group.  So let’s get to it!

Feel the love for your vendors, too.....

So often we are worried about clients, getting them and keeping them, that we forget that we have many business relationships to handle as marketers, project managers and business owners.  The one I have often felt is under appreciated is our vendors, the ones where we are their clients.

I didn't really truly come to appreciate my vendors until I started running my own photography business 6 years ago.  A photo printer would suddenly start putting out shoddy work and I'd be left scrambling to find another one with projects and deadlines looming.  However, once I found the right one (usually via referral), I came to truly admire how they took the time to make sure I was on board, understood their process, were available and friendly when I had questions and always delivered in a timely manner.  They gave me piece of mind that while I was out shooting that I'd be able to produce the final product according to my schedule.

As Laura and I have been creating Aglow, we still deal with these issues.  This time a local printer I had trusted with one client's work suddenly started giving me terrible customer service and basically told me that Aglow wasn't a big enough client to spend his time on.  So, I moved on from this terrible experience and asked other trusted designers for their referral.  I was hesitant that being a "small" marketing firm that, again, we might be shooed away for lack of size.  However, we were welcomed with open arms at Faulkenberg Printing.

Jim Faulkenberg and Brian have been nothing short of phenomenal since day one.  Our first project we did with Faulkenberg Printing took several weeks with lots of little details to address.  They took endless amounts of time working through them with me and never made me feel like I was wasting their time.  I was impressed with their extensive experience and ability to answer my questions without going over my head.  And as we continue to work with them, I am continually impressed with their prompt communication and looking out for our client's best interest.  Jim even goes out of way to keep me updated on new orders my clients place after the initial set up to keep me in the loop.  I know he's a busy man and he doesn't have to do this but the fact that he does makes me appreciate them all the more.  It exemplifies customer service at its finest.

In closing, remember to love on your great vendors like Faulkenberg Printing.  They are an essential piece to keeping your business running smoothly.  Just like the rest of us, they appreciate hearing what a great job they do for you, too!

Making Your Dream Business a Reality

One of the most exciting things about working with our clients is helping those who have started (or are getting ready to start) a new business realize their dream.  These entrepreneurs are putting it all on the line to do what it is that gets them excited to start the day every morning.  You have to love the passion for what it is they do - it truly is inspiring to see in action.

We've all had those moments - maybe while taking a walk or perhaps even at work, when our mind starts to wonder and we think...what if I could...open my own business, write a book, start an event planning business, begin a non-profit for kids, you name it.

No matter what that dream may be, the important thing is that you are following it.  For Lily and I, our dream of starting our own marketing company is finally a reality. We had talked about doing this for years, and finally took the leap and said - why not - let's give it a go.  And I can tell you wholeheartedly, it's been one of the best decisions of my life.  Is it still hard work - of course.  But, it's work that I love and am truly passionate about which makes all of the difference.

If you are getting ready to launch your new business, keep in mind these initial planning steps..

1) Choosing a name - It's almost as hard as naming your child! However, give it lots of thought as you will be living with it for some time to come. We chose Aglow because it means "generating warmth & excitement" which is what we want our marketing to do.  Select a name that is memorable and evokes the feeling you want people to have about your business.

2) Designing a logo - Another major investment in your long term success. Sure your brother-in-law could help you out, but I encourage you to invest a little money to get this right.  Your logo is your identity and it will show up on everything from your business card to your web site.  You want to make sure it looks professional and again represents the image you want to project.

3) Determining your key marketing messages, target audiences & tagline- What is it that you offer that makes you unique?  What is the tone you are setting?  Who needs what you have to offer? And what is that phrase that will help people either remember you or understand quickly what it is you do.

There are many other planning steps that you'll need to take to move your idea into implementation, but don't let those steps stand in your way!  And if you need assistance, Aglow can offer brand image design services as well as marketing strategy services to help you with your business plan or in applying for a grant to fund your idea.

So, what's your dream? And what's stopping you from chasing it?