What if you could reach all your clients at once? What if you could do it with no print cost, do it in minutes instead of hours and have 100% of them listen to your message? Sound impossible? I’m here to tell you that it’s not.

What I am talking about is new technology that allows you to send out voicemail to all of your client’s cellphones at once. Their cell will not ring, it simply deposits the message into their mail box. All you have to do is create a message, upload it and your contact list, and hit send. No more hours of dialing and chatting with each one.

A few things you need to consider:

1. If your clients would not be surprised to receive a call from you on their cell phone, you’re probably safe to use this service. The law states that you must have permission to call them. We suggest collecting cell phone numbers from your clients as well as email addresses. One way to do this is to have permission to call embedded in your client agreements.

2. Your message should not be a canned message, but rather a natural message that sounds personal to them. Something like, “Hi. This is Mike from Oil Plus, and I just wanted to let you know that since you’re a valued customer, we’re offering a complete oil and filter change for only $15.99. Please give us a call at 555-1234 if you’re interested.”

3. I wouldn’t recommend sending messages to the same contacts every month. As with any other marketing method, familiarity breeds contempt. People will get tired of it.

4. People will delete emails and throw away mailers without reading them. EVERYBODY will listen to a voicemail before deleting it. This makes this technology the most effective way to contact your clients.

A few ideas on how to use this:

1. Personalize: Keep in contact with clientele by sending out birthday greetings. You can do this monthly to only those that have a birthday that month. “Hi. This is Amanda from Store X. Just calling to wish you a happy birthday. See you soon.”

2. Be Helpful: Send a quick greeting before holidays; “Hey this is Joe Smith from Better Homes. Just checking in to see how everything’s going in your new home. Oh yeah, remember that mothers day is next week - make sure you get your mom something nice!”

3. Reward: Send out a customer appreciation offer notice. “Hi this is Cheryl from Hair Plus. I wanted to call and let you know that you’ve qualified for your half price hair day. . .”

There are countless applications as well as some legal information you should look into. Go to www.svmCONNECT.com to find out more about this service.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations

©2009 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

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The phrase “can’t see the forest for the trees” is a very relevant concept when it comes to websites. Many a business builds a site to suit themselves. In reality, it should be built to suit your customers and prospects. Thus, the business can’t see the forest for the trees.

Many think that their website sells their product or service. It doesn’t. It generates interest, it qualifies, it provides pertinent information like statistics and user feed back - it does not close the deal. In most cases, your best result would be to get them to call or come in to a retail location. That way you have an opportunity to cross sell or up sell.

Here are a few concepts to help you organize your website:

1. How do consumers gather information?

To varying degrees, everyone falls somewhere on the chart below. You need to ask yourself, where do most of my prospects fall? This will help you to determine how to speak to them.

2. What will tip the scale?

If we try to justify all the reasons a prospect needs the product or service or take away all objections, we will end up with a long and muddied message. People buy for their own reasons. Each prospect’s reasoning is different and you don’t want them sorting through a bunch of information to find that key. The buying decision comes from comfort, not confusion. You’re not looking to close the conversation, you’re looking to open it. If your site is not well organized, so that all information is at their fingertips (not force fed), chances are the prospect will bounce out of your site and move on to another company. 

3. What’s not to love?

As a business, you must trust that your website is an effective tool. At the end of the day, you don’t have to love your website, your prospects and clients do. It has to speak to them, not you. The right images and the right message organized in a comprehensive way. You can have all the information you want to convey, just don’t shove it down their throat.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations

©2009 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

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Do you sometimes feel that your website isn’t working for you? Are you frustrated to have to turn to your “web guys” every time you want to update your website? Are they taking too long to make the updates? Is it cost prohibitive?

These are very common problems I hear about on a daily basis. This particular problem has several solutions ranging from the inexpensive up front cost to the complete overhaul that will save you in the long run.

Here are some options that may work for you.

1. Adobe Contribute

Adobe Contribute is a popular program that allows you to add new pages, change text, insert pictures, add audio/video, build PayPal buttons, and more. The biggest benefit is the ease of use. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, you can use Contribute. It requires no programming knowledge and has easy learning curve. You can download a free trial version from Adobe.com.

2. Content Management Systems (or CMS)

Larger website these days require diverse functionality and regular updates in order to keep the content current and relevant. Features may include blogs or news items that are ever changing, shopping carts with changing catalogs of merchandise, event calendars - the list goes on ad infinitum. If this sounds like your situation, a content management system may work best for you. From custom-made systems to large feature-filled options to open source software, there’s a content management system out there to fit your needs. These systems require some ground work and cost initially, but once up and running they enable multiple people to edit content in an intuitive and easy-to-use fashion. You simply log-in to your website from your favorite browser and make changes on the fly. This allows you and your staff to make changes from any computer at any time.

3. Online Alternatives

There are many services now that provide complete packages of hosting and content management delivery in one. These vary according to scale and features required ranging from a simple blog-like site to a complete database with e-commerce capabilities. You can find thousands of alternatives by searching the internet for “content management systems”. Make sure you do your homework. You want a company that has a solid reputation and will not disappear overnight.

Technology is growing daily which is good news for the business owner. You no longer have to be a slave to a web company. But make sure you have the time to do the edits yourself. I have seen companies spend money to have this ability and, in the end, send the edits back to their “web guys”.

Now get out there and look good!

Motley Creations
©2009 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

Tags: cms, website.

Gas prices are up. The stock market is down. A lot of things are going on in this economy that can scare a business owner to death. I’m here to tell you that - yes, there are frightening things going on but that doesn’t mean you need to panic. People will still buy products and services. What you will see missing is the low hanging fruit. What does that mean to you?

I believe in processes. I believe in measuring. I believe that you control what you control and worrying about the economy is like worrying about the weather. Yes, it can cause problems but you can’t change it. Instinct may tell you to cut your marketing & advertising efforts to save money. That is like not watering your vegetable garden because of a drought.

If the low hanging fruit is drying up right now - that is, the jobs that fall into your lap - do you think it wise to stop looking for new clients all together? My answer is a resounding NO. Listed below are 3 principles to help you get through this tough time.

1. Processes:
If you have processes for bringing in new clients, stick to them. Focus your efforts. Your sales force should still make the calls they need to. You should still ask your current clients for referrals. You should still work on your social networking. You should still plan verticals and look for introductions. This is the time to increase effort, not slow down. Contact your current clients and ask them how you are doing. If they have an issue, you can correct it and increase loyalty. If they are very happy, ask them why they hired you. If they say “fair prices”, ask them if they know anyone else who could benefit from fair pricing.

2. Measure:
Use simple means to measure the results of your advertising such as putting “ask for Mr. Green” in your ads when their is no Mr. Green in your office. Use “mention this ad and receive . . .” or “ask about our fall special.” Have your calls to action go to a specific landing page on your site and keep track of the analytics. Make sure the dollars you do spend are getting you leads. Remember that purchasing is an emotional decision and your advertising and marketing validates you and makes you more comfortable to do business with. This makes it easier for your sales staff to close the deal. You do, however, need to know if your advertising is reaching your prospects.

3. Spending:
Consider spending less on yellow pages and more on your website - this is a medium that you can control and change quickly if you add a new product, service or location. You can also add functions like “tell a friend” or a blog to encourage referrals and recurring traffic. Use google analytics to measure your efforts. Transfer advertising dollars to local Pay Per Click campaigns. Remember that these days 96% of people find local businesses through the internet. Consider doing a couple of e-newsletters in place of just one of your printed versions. Reallocating the dollars will allow you many more customer touches for the same price. Don’t stop the printed version - you may already have clients that look forward to that and you don’t want to disenchant them. Consider spending more time networking on sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo rather than just the standard networking groups. You’ll spend less money and time and reach more people. You may need training to use them effectively.

This is a time to sharpen your efforts, not eliminate them. In the end, you’ll be more effective and increase profits substantially when the low hanging fruit comes back.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations

©2008 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

Tags: Advertising, analytics, Marketing, processes.

1. According to AC, Nielsen 96% of people use the internet to find a local business.

2. 67% of the people surveyed who didn’t choose to do business a second time with a company, chose not to because that business made no attempt to communicate with the client.

I recently had a client point out these interesting statistics and thought I should share them with you. I find them very interesting and think they are important to take into consideration when you are looking for, and trying to maintain clients.

How do you take advantage of these statistics?
Starting september 1st, there will be a website that can show you just how to do this at a reasonable price. Make a note of the URL: www.4EyesMarketing.com. Here you can take advantage of local search marketing to get you in front of the 96%, e-touch marketing to communicate with the 67% as well as call tracking to monitor your marketing results. You can even get a one page website built for a minimal cost.

I highly recommend this system as it’s made with the small business in mind. The small business owner must be smart and effective in how he spends his dollars. You might not have a large marketing budget. You may be great at what you do but have little idea about marketing. You may have even tried on your own to do some of these things with mixed results. Believe me, there is a science to this and the results can be measured down to the penny. Can you say ROI? You don’t need to try anymore of the “push marketing” or “casting the net” with little proof of results.

Remember: www.4EyesMarketing.com - look for it September 1st and start taking real steps towards growth.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations
©2008 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

Tags: Growth, internet, small business, statistics.

I have spent precious time and money learning how to steer this ship called Motley Creations. I’ve spent bad dollars as well as good dollars. I want to talk a little bit about five key principles that I have learned over the years to help you grow your business.

1. TALENT IS LIKE TABLE SALT: There are millions of talented people out there. Talent does not automatically ensure success in business. The most talented person can take a shot to the gut, which running a business will do, and they will stand up and say “to heck with this, I can do this for XYZ company without the pain!”. No, it’s not talent that counts. It’s persistence and the ability to stand back up after being hit and go “tape me up coach! What did I learn from this? How can I keep it from happening again?”

2. 51%: I have seen it a million times. I have actually done it myself. Procrastination caused by fear of making the wrong choice. The most successful people are right 51% of the time. That’s a large margin for error. Do your homework, set self-imposed deadlines, and make the best decision you can with the information available. Most importantly, learn from your mistakes.

3. PLAN THE WORK, WORK THE PLAN: I have been accused of being a “big ideas” guy. While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can hurt you. The most successful people write down their goals. They develop plans to reach them, measure their progress and make adjustments. When tough times come, they stick to their processes. Jumping to the next “big idea” instead of trusting your processes can cost valuable capital and momentum. People who have the processes and plans in place rarely complain about the economy or other outside influences they can’t control.

4. EXPERIENCE, NOT ADVICE: I can’t stress this enough. Advice is someone’s opinion. Experience is the result of being in the same situation and found an effective, successful way out. Someone’s advice may sound great but if they don’t have the resources or the experience to back it up, it could lead to more trouble. You really don’t have time to make all the mistakes yourself. Learn from others. Choose successful people to ask.

5. FOR LOVE AND FOR FUN: Money is a great thing. However, if it’s all that matters to you, it will show to your clients. The more you listen instead of talk, the more you see what you can bring and not what you can take, the more your clients will trust you and the more money you will make. The more your clients will see value in what you do and be willing to pay fair market value for it. It can’t be faked. Do what you do for love and for fun. Have your clients best interest at heart. If you don’t think your a good fit for them, don’t get a bigger hammer.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations
©2008 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

Tags: experience, Growth, plan, procrastination, talent.

I get so many clients that start a conversation with, “my neighbors, cousin’s, co-worker built my site, but they don’t answer their phone now”. The old adage, you get what you pay for, has never been more true. I’m a little tired of the damage I come in contact with on a daily basis. It always shocks me what people will do for a fast buck.

There are a few things I want you to look at for while you’re out there in the world. There are a few concepts I want you to take to heart to protect you from spending “bad dollars”. This is something none of us can afford.

1. OWN YOUR OWN DOMAIN NAME
Do not let me, or any other website development company, advertising agency or marketing company buy your domain name for you. It takes about 10 minutes of your time and is VERY easy to do. I’ve had clients come to me after letting a company buy their domain name and then going out of business - a particularly sticky proposition if they’re out of state. I searched high and low for this person including a who-is look up and then contracting a very knowledgeable and reputable hosting expert. All to no avail. The original owner literally disappeared off the face of the planet. My client ended up buying a new domain name and then went through the expense of notifying all their clients. Not good.

2. HOST WITH THE BIG COMPANIES
I offer hosting to a limited degree but encourage my clients to host with a company like Go Daddy or Network Solutions. Chances are, the small company you use now has a “resellers agreement” with a company like this so technically, you are already using them. With the bigger company you will have 24/7 tech support, the latest and greatest security and virus protection. The cost is minimal for the full service support. If you call “Joe’s website and live bait” at 3 AM because your email is down, will he answer? Also, it’s much better than hosting your site in house. That way you don’t have to have an IT person on staff to upgrade server software to accommodate new functions on your site and you don’t have to worry about making sure you have the latest virus software, hardware and security. If you’re not a hosting expert, why become one for one website?

3. WEBSITES ARE NOT MADE OF CONCRETE
Pretend you have a magic wand and money isn’t an object. Write a list of everything you would want your website to do if money weren’t a factor. Now go back through that list and pick out what are the core functions your site MUST have to make it worth the expense. Start with these. I know that some companies want to sell you extra functionality, bells and whistles. Don’t pay for what you don’t need. Make sure your clients will use the functionality before you spend the dollars. You can always add to your site later.

4. ALL WHO CLAIM TO BE SEO COMPANIES ARE NOT REALLY SEO COMPANIES
I’ve seen several companies out their who claim to be “SEO experts”. I have also had clients sign a long term contract with an SEO company that was clearly using outdated methods and was really just a scam to get money. The first sign of fraud is that they have no way to prove results. Granted, some methods take months to show results. In the end you want to make sure you receive some kind of professional reporting (such as Google Analytics) that show’s the number of hits you get from search engines. You also need to check into click-through rates, conversion rates and bounce rates to make sure it is worth your time and money. You can spend a lot of money on the wrong search words and not know it. A reputable company will be forthcoming and have no issue with reporting results in a way you can understand. They should also have some sort of case studies on what results they achieved with other like companies. Believe me folks, this is a science that you can pay a lot of money for. There are several schools of thought and no short answer. Just remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations
©2008 Motley Creations.

Tags: big idea, domain name, hosting, search engine optimization, website.

Brand Image is defined by the American Marketing Association as:

“The perception of a brand in the minds of persons. The brand image is a mirror reflection (though perhaps inaccurate) of the brand personality or product being. It is what people believe about a brand - their thoughts, feelings, expectations.”

I want you to understand that your “brand” is not just your logo. It is the culmination of all your ethics, how your employee’s dress, how you answer the phone, events you put on, how you handle problems, your advertising, your contracts, ad infinitum. It is also your persona. Consider companies like Harley Davidson, Nike and Victoria Secrets. What do you think of when these companies are mentioned? I would bet it’s a lot more than their products. These companies spend billions to make it so.

Let’s assume here that you have already made the important investment of having a logo designed and a brand guidelines developed so that all of your advertising looks like it comes from the same company, including business documents. Just as important is to make sure all of your staff are on board and believe passionately in your brand and key messaging. Your staff is part of your brand. Consider the lesson learned from a child if you tell them not to lie, then the phone rings and you say “tell them I’m not here”. You can broadcast your message all you want, but if your delivery doesn’t match, it hurts your brand. You need to make sure the right people are on the bus, and they know what your vision for the company is.

I have run into businesses that have about 6 variations of their logo around the office. What kind of document with what kind of brand you get depends on who your contact person is. This causes confusion in a target audience and gives you an unorganized persona. That does not instill confidence in your clients and by proxy lessens your brand.

Every purchase is an emotional decision; To relieve pain or to increase pleasure. We rationalize and justify later. Were this not true, credit card companies would go out of business. That being said, your goal should be to make life easy for your target audience and create a comfort zone. Always keep it simple. You may have a complicated message but you need to communicate it as simpley as possible.

The important thing is your brand image. Remember that your brand image lies in the minds of the public; their thoughts, feeling and perceptions of what your company does and stands for. Your logo and your name are the icons people use for that association.

Now get out there and look good!

Chris Motley
Motley Creations
©2008 Motley Creations.

Tags: Brand, image, logo, Marketing.

We recently did some research about e-newsletters and the numbers we came up with are VERY interesting. So much so, that I thought I would share them with you.

First of all, if you haven’t read my article “E-marketing: Newsletters” do so now. Go ahead, the rest of us will wait . . . done? Good. In that article, I mentioned some of the benefits of an e-newsletter. Now, I have some hard numbers to show you that speak to those benefits.

I have a client that sends out e-newsletters as well as printed newsletters. We had some of our preferred print vendors bid on it with the specifications of 11″ x 17″, 4 color, 2 sided, 2 folds and full bleed. the vendors were bidding on printing, folding and mail services, that is, they would label each and put them in the mail based on my clients database. The number of the people on this particular list was 2,000.

Here is the average cost sent back to us: $1,000 for the printing and $300 for the mailing. This doesn’t include producing the piece, so let’s add in $500 for production cost. That brings us to $1800.

One thing you should know is that mailers of any sort, have a 1% response rate. That means if you send out 2,000, about 20 people will respond. Given the bid numbers above, that equates to $90 per lead. That’s right, LEAD. You haven’t made a sale yet. Let’s hope your average sale is over $90.

To reach those same people through an e-newsletter the cost is about $200 on average. Yep, that’s it - $200. Of course you will have to pay some up front charges, if you have your newsletter professionally designed. I left design cost out of the printed version, so I left it out here as well.

The response rate on e-newsletters is recorded at being 25% on average. Most services can be set up so you can test these numbers yourself. They’ll give you “click through” rates; which is who opened the newsletter and clicked on a link in it to visit your site. That means about 500 people will respond and your cost per lead would be 40¢ each.

What do you think now? 20 vs. 500 and $90 each vs. 40¢. If the bottom line is important to you, and if you’re a business owner it should be, then it’s all about margins. Need I say more?

Now get out there and look good!

Chris Motley
Motley Creations
©2008 Motley Creations.

Tags: E-Marketing, e-newsletter, response rate, save.

Did you know that the major players in the market spend around a quarter of their budget on knowing who they’re talking to? Even Pepsi has a target market and it’s not, “anyone who drinks soda”. If you haven’t spent time doing it yet, you might want to determine who your target market is. Who gets your service? Who readily pays and understands the value? Who will frequent your store? You might be surprised to find out it’s not who you think.

Once you’ve established this, you need to know why people buy. It’s usually for 2 reasons: To make themselves feel better or to solve a problem. We rationalize and justify later. If this weren’t true, credit card companies would go out of business.

Now you should know who you’re talking to and the reason they buy. Let’s layout some simple rules to follow:

1. Don’t put the declaration of independence on a postage stamp: Your ad is to generate interest so that you can close the sale - it is not a list of everything you do. The more you stuff into your ad, the more confusing it is and the more it makes you look hard to work with. Choose a product or service and go with that. You can always drive them to your website to find out about the rest of your products or services.

2. Call To Action: Once you have your product or service, give your prospects a reason to call now. “mention this ad and get 25% off”, “Offer ends Sunday”, “Act now, supplies are limited”, “Call now and get a free widget”, etc - You get the picture.

3. Tracking: Develop a system for tracking the response on your ad. Put a special phone number, tell them to ask for Mr. Green (when there isn’t a Mr. Green) or point them to a special landing page on your website. The point is to make sure you know what the return is on your advertising dollar.

4. Language & Photos: Use visuals and language that your prospects respond to. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees - we get caught up in industry terms and trying to sell the benefits we think are important. People buy for their own reasons. If you are selling a beverage to men, you might use images of single women and talk about how it tastes. If you are selling to women, you might use couples and speak to less calories. You have to like your advertising but your prospects must love it.

Now get out there and look good.

Chris Motley
Motley Creations

©2008 Motley Creations. Use by permission only.

Tags: Advertising, budget, call to action, tracking.