Michael Phelps Teaches Golden Marketing Lesson from Beijing

(Photo by Donald Miralle, Getty Images)

As the world watches Michael Phelps collect gold medallions and shatter world records at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I had one of those "Aha!" moments as he was collecting his 10th Olympic medal on Monday night, August 11, 2008.

Michael Phelps followed the same superstitious ritual he has gone through prior to each swimming event the past several years. He listened to his Rap music, removed his ear buds, took off his jacket, climbed up on the block and flapped his arms like a gigantic bald eagle about to swoop down on an unsuspecting meal.

But it was how he managed this particular race, just like all the others, that gave me a take-away that I can immediately apply to my business as well as my clients'.

Tense Moments
Phelps left the block, effortlessly motored himself under water and suddenly emerged on the surface somewhere in the middle of the pack. As we watched, my wife stated what I was thinking, "He's not leading. The guy in lane one is." Right on cue, as if he heard my wife and millions of other viewers gasp in unison, the announcer reassured. "Oh, but he knows exactly where he his and where his competitors are."

Aha! That's it. Here is a guy not only swimming to be the most-decorated Olympian in history, but he's also teaching a valuable marketing lesson at the same time. Phelp's course syllabus might read something like:

Do you know where your competition is? You've worked too
hard to let your competitions take the lead and increase it's market share. In this course you'll
learn how to monitor your competition, get to know their strengths and weakness, and implement both a proactive and reactive marketing strategy to help you reach for the gold in your business and personal lives.

Practical Application
I am currently working on a competitive intelligence project for a client in. Like Michael Phelps, this business has been working hard for the past twenty years is truly a champion in its industry. But, a sagging economy combined with some emerging technological challenges has put a recent drag on the business. My client wants to know where the competitors are. Where do they excel? Where do they fall short? What are the opportunities and threats that can help or hurt their business? Are we truly a leader or is someone else threatening our existence? These are all valid and important questions for any business to ask every single day.

Michael Phelps teaches us that you don't necessarily need to pull up and look at your competitors. He keeps kicking and pulling water with each stroke. He's focused. Most importantly, he keeps his head down and concentrates on the task at hand. But, he is instinctively aware of his competition. He's done his homework and due diligence. He's watched endless hours of video on each competitor and himself and he's replayed his races time and time again inside his head.

Game On
In your business, you need to keep your head down and move forward. But, equally as important, you need to understand your competition and environment. Review their website. Acquire their brochures. Be on the lookout for their advertising and scrutinize it as if it were your own. Monitor their pricing strategies. Once you know where your competition is, you'll be better poised to know when to save your energy and when to turn up the heat. At the end of each race, you'll find yourself breaking all kinds of records and standing atop the podium.

BTK & Associates can coach your business to victory conduct Competitive Intelligence. You'll learn who your competition is both in your market space and geographically. You gain confidence knowing that you can make the necessary adjustments to grown your market share and be a leader in your market.

For more information on how BTK & Associates can help your business stand out in a crowd, visit www.btkmarketing.com, email me at brian@btkmarketing.com, or call 317.696.6734.

Press Release Experiment: Part I

If you are looking for cost effective ways to generate interest in your business or organization and you aren't using press releases, let me tell you about my current press release experiment.

Why?
I have a couple of clients and prospects that are considering adding press releases to their marketing mix. But, because they haven't done it before, there are concerns that it either won't generate leads or that a consistent press release strategy will be costly and difficult to manage.

So, last Thursday, July 3, I set out on a mission to follow a press release that I generated for my business. I wanted to see how fast it travelled through the Internet via news wires, RSS feeds, blogs and more. I also want to see if one press release could generate any inquiries and eventually provide a return on investment that I could measure against my investment.

The Topic
I didn't want to just issue a press release about my business. So, I zeroed in on a topic that I thought would be of interest to businesses, especially in today's economy. I specifically wanted speak directly to executives, managers, sales people and marketing professionals. My headline was BTK & Associates warns businesses against cutting marketing budgets. I thought it might grab some attention. Embedded in my assessment of marketing in a struggling economy was my underlying purpose - to position myself as an authority and hopefully generate interest in my consulting services.

Distribution
I decided to distribute the press release two ways. First, I emailed the release to my local media distribution list for print including newspapers, magazines and business journals. I decided not to distribute to radio and television. The second way I distributed it was through PRWeb.com.

PRWeb is a fee-based service where businesses can create and distribute press releases. Depending on which service you pay for (I think there are 4 levels with some add-on services), you can choose geographic areas by MSA, and you can select certain business sectors. I chose Indianapolis (the MSA where I live), Lafayette, Indiana (where I grew up), and Cincinnati (because its close and has a lot of businesses). I chose five business categories including executives, managers, marketing professionals, sales and technology. These are groups that people can subscribe to online to receive news about their job or industry.

And because last Friday was July 4th, I scheduled the release for 12:01 a.m., Monday morning so that it would hit the news wires for Monday.

Tracking Results
Here's the fun part - tracking results online. On Sunday morning, just for grins, I did a Google search and found that the press release had already been picked up by the Noblesville Daily Times, a small local paper. On Monday morning, again did a Google search and found that the release had made it's way onto some interesting news feeds including Gas & Oil News, eBusiness Automation, 8 Steps Success and a handful of others.

Next, I decided to log onto PRWeb and actually view my press release statistics. This is a great tool because it tracks how many times the headline actually appears in searches and how many full-page reads and downloads your release receives. Pretty cool!

Check It Out
If you want to see where the press release is appearing, go to Google and type in (use the quotation marks) "btk & associates". You'll find some of the more popular sites. Here is how it looks on PRWeb:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/7/prweb1075274.htm

Here is a link to PR-USA.net:

http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=117375&Itemid=34

My Press Release's Results
As of 10:30 on Monday morning, just 10-1/2 hours after the release was distributed by PRWeb, here are some impressive stats. The full-text had been read by 143 people across the globe. An additional 44 people had actually downloaded or printed it. The headline had already on over 6,400 websites/newsfeeds.

At 3:30 p.m., there were 156 full-page reads and an additional 74 dowloads/prints. The headline had now appeared on 12,466 sites.

As of last evening at about 10:30 p.m., the release had 236 full-page reads and another 203 downloads or prints.

This morning, at 9:18 a.m., there were 288 full-page reads and 268 downloads/prints. The headline impressions has reached 26,657.

Any Leads or Business?
Yes. Yesterday morning I had already received emails from three former colleagues, one in Indianapolis , one in Ohio and one in Michigan, who happened across the release. They had all visited my website and offered to help me network. I received two emails from people I didn't know asking me if I could speak at their business meetings. And I received a request for a quote helping an organization with sales collateral, website and scripting for fundraising. I'm pleased.

Measuring ROI
I'm documenting the inquiries, proposals and speaking engagements to see how much business is actually generated by this release over the next 90 days. But, I'm already confident that I will recoup my investment.

The Cost
Obviously, since I wrote the press release, I didn't have to pay. But, it did cost me about four hours of my time at a billable rate of, say, $75/hour. That's $300. My PRWeb fee was $140. So, my investment was less than $500. Compare that with one time insertion of a small print ad in a local newspaper...I'd never get that much exposure or generate the same results in 24 hours.

Updates
I'll continue to post updates here on my Marketing Muse blog. I'll let you know about any proposals, speaking engagements, interviews, etc... So, stay tuned!

To learn how BTK & Associates can help you develop and implement a press release strategy, visit www.btkmarketing.com or email me at brian@btkmarketing.com.

I Am Now An Official "Twitterer"

You might say that I am "Twitterpated" now that I have latched on to one of the newest Internet marketing tools called Twitter.

Left In the Dust
Back in February, when I started contemplating taking my business BTK & Associates full time, I started realizing that, as a marketing & sales consultant, it would be my responsibility to stay up to date on the most current trends and share them with my clients. That was going to be a bit of a problem.

Admittedly, technology passed me by at warp speed over the past two years as I was pigeon-holed in a stagnant bank marketing environment. We couldn't spend money and we sure weren't allowed to implement any new marketing tools - or very many traditional ones, for that matter. I can't believe how much the marketing landscape changed around me. It was like I went into hyper-sleep for 24 months only to awaken to find all of this new marketing technology.

Being Resourceful
As a self-proclaimed "marketing junkie", I am constantly reading and researching marketing & sales information. Whether it's speed reading a book while drinking a latte at a nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore or perusing the Internet, I am constantly on the lookout for new ideas and technology. I can't tell you how many Internet groups, forums and blogs I subscribe to currently. One of those sources is Larry Chase's Web Digest for Marketers. It's a great resource for news about new and emerging marketing tactics.

This week, he wrote about "Twitters". How people come up with terms like blogs, bloggers, widgets, blidgets and now, twitter and twitterers I'll never understand. But, Twitter technology has a lot of merit and promise as a corporate marketing and sales tool.

What is a Twitter?
In my own definition, a Twitter is a miniature blog that allows people in a group to establish a social network and communicate via email and cell phone by sending short messages called "tweets". You might say, "Well, we already communicate via email and texting." Not like this.

For example, when I build an email list for my business using a service like Constant Contact or Exact Target, which I pay for, I include clients, prospects, friends, family and neighbors. Depending on their email settings, my emails may not get through their spam filters. And, I have no way to know if they are really taking the time to read them before they end up in the trash. And when it comes to sending a text message, I have to set up my text message list and then type the message separately from my email message. Twittering solves all of these problems by combining the tasks...and it's FREE.

With Twitter technology, I simply invite clients and prospects to subscribe to my tweets. Or, other twitterers can become "followers" of my Twitter because they did a topic search and decided they wanted to stay in contact. Twitter networks can be set up for families, neighborhoods, friends, sports teams, support groups and more...it's limitless.

Marketing Benefits
So, how can your business benefit by using Twitter as a marketing tool? Let's say that you own a seafood restaurant. Your supplier offers you a great deal on Alaskan Sock-eye salmon. You can send a tweet to your list announcing your menu special in an effort to boost reservations. Your "followers" receive an instant email notification as well as a message sent to their mobile phone. A bank may use Twitter to alert customers to special interest rate. A Realtor may tell clients about a new home listing. Your company may release details about registration for a seminar or conference or news about a new product release or upgrade. Twitter is ideal if you want or need to communicate timely information with your customers and/or prospects to elicit a buying response.

Who's Twittering?
So, how popular is Twitter? Here are the names of just a few familiar companies and brands that use Twitter as a marketing & communication tool.

• CNN
• Computer World
• Fox News
• Carnival Cruise Lines
• Southwest Airlines
• MGM Grand Hotel & Casino
• Amazon.com
• Apple Computers
• Dell
• Monster.com
• Notre Dame
• Michigan State University
• Ford Motor Company
• General Motors
• Forrester Research
• Cincinnati Art Museum
• San Fransisco Zoo
• Smithsonian Institute
• Comcast
• M&Ms
• Barack Obama

And there's thousands more...

I encourage you to visit Twitter.com and see for yourself how you can join the Twitter craze. If you'd like to join my Twitter network, I can be found at http://twitter.com/btk_marketing.

If you'd like help setting up a Twitter and developing a strategy built around this new technology, visit www.btkmarketing.com or email me at brian@btkmarketing.com

New Marketing Incentive Gives People Gas

What do Chase, Callaway Golf, Big Bear Campground, Dick's Sporting Goods and the New Jersey Department of Transportation all have in common? They've got gas.

Ever since gasoline started approaching the $4 per gallon mark, people started wooing customers with the next big incentive. Free gasoline is everywhere, as long as you spend money with them.

What happened to the good ol' "20% Off Sale" or the "Buy One, Get One Free" offers. And where are those perks that banks offer like free tool kits, toasters and trips to the Bahamas? Oh, they're still around, but they seem to have lost their luster.

Fear Marketing
Now businesses are playing into consumers' fear and frustration over sky-rocketing gas prices by simply substituting discounts and gifts for "free" gas cards or rebates. Other businesses are building their prospect lists by offering gas cards in sweepstakes drawings. Just "Google" the term "Free Gas" and you'll find thousands of offers and chances to win.

While everyone is feeling the pinch of escalating fuel prices, gas in the United States is still below many other countries. If gas hits $5 per gallon, a $25 gas card will get me five gallons, or about 125 miles down the road. But, how much did I have to spend get that $25 gas card? I just saw a television commercial from a vinyl siding company that will give you a $25 gas card just for calling and "inviting" a representative into your home. So, you spend two hours with a pushy salesman that talks you into $10,000 worth of new siding. For what? $25 worth of gas?

Customers or Samplers?
Should your business ride the Free Gas wave? Well, that depends on what type of customer you want to attract. While $4.19 per gallon is an annoyance, I, like many, haven't reached the threshold that would cause me to spend more money on products I really don't need just to get a few gallons of "free" gas. People who jump at the chance to earn free gas may be feeling the economic pinch and may not have the expendable income to purchase your products. Are they truly going to be long-term, loyal customers or are they merely enjoying the "free samples" with no intention to buy?

Focus On Quality and Reward Loyalty
My suggestion? Focus on providing the highest quality products and services at reasonable prices with the best customer services. No, it's not a new concept. But, in the long run, people will still go out of their way if they perceive they are receiving value from your business.

One pet peeve I have with special offers, and my cell phone company Verizon Wireless is the perfect example, is that they extend rewards to new customers and neglect long-term, loyal customers. I pay them over $300 per month only to be told by some of the rudest customer service people that I can't upgrade my phone or receive the same "special discounts" as new customers. They aren't loyal to me, so when it's time to renew my contract, I will not be loyal to Verizon Wireless.(Sorry, I will step off my soap box now.)

Again, gift cards (such as Visa) can be used for any purpose including gasoline. And give them to your loyal customers - perhaps for referring new business or making a large purchase. Surprise them with the card. I was ecstatic when I received a $100 gift card in the mail to an upscale restaurant when I referred a co-worker to Matt Kennedy at Tom Wood Volkswagen in Indianapolis. They bought a car from him and he thanked me for the referral.

Like me, maybe your client isn't all that interested in free gas. Maybe it's a single mom that needs to buy clothes for her child. Or a gift card may come in handy for a parent to buy school supplies or for someone to take their spouse out for a celebration dinner. By showing your loyalty to your best customers, you will build long-term relationships and gain quality referrals from their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers.

A Passing Fad?
We've enjoyed low gas prices for many years and we are just catching up to the rest of the world. And, while we can debate the merits of drilling for oil on our own soil, prices aren't going to fall below $3.00 or even $4.00 again. We'll learn to adjust and the "Free Gas" marketing fad will disappear just like Green Stamps and free toasters.

If you stay the course with quality and service and you build loyalty with your best customers, you won't need to rely on gimmicks like "Free Gas".

To learn how BTK & Associates can help you market your business based on quality and service and establish a loyalty rewards program, visit www.btkmarketing.com or email brian@btkmarketing.com.

Marketing Your New Location

Establishing your business in a new location can be an exhilarating, yet daunting task.

Maybe your business has been forced to move due to a road expansion or a civic construction project. Or you might be looking to expand your business by opening a branch in a new geographic location. Whatever the case, you need a solid marketing strategy to announce your new location.

Recently, the city of Speedway, Indiana (near Indianapolis), announced a city "beautification" project that would add new retail, restaurants and hotels near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, home of the Indianapolis 500 and Allstate Brickyard 400. A few businesses in the shadows of the IMS, some of which have been in their same location for more than 25 years, will fall victim to progress and need to either close shop - or relocate. If they choose to relocate, they'll need a strategy to tell customers about their new location.

Banks and restaurants are two businesses that often choose to expand into new geographic markets. As residential developers continue to build homes in the suburbs, commercial developers aren't far behind with plans to build retail shopping complexes. This attracts a variety of eateries and financial institutions. These businesses will also need to step up their marketing efforts.

Your marketing strategy may include the following elements:

Construction Signage
If you are building a new location, a "Coming Soon" sign will alert curious onlookers that your business will soon be opening in that location.

Point-of-Sale
If you have existing locations, post signage in your lobby or place brochures to let customers know you are expanding. Your customers may be a good source of referrals to others who may live near your new location. They also be happy to know that you have a convenient new location if they find themselves traveling in that area.

Direct Mail
If you have an established business, you should have a customer mailing list. A simple postcard or letter announcing your new location can be effective. If you are establishing a new business or expanding into a new market where you don't have customer addresses, you can purchase mailing lists of consumers and businesses from a variety of sources. You can target geographic areas near your new location, say within a three mile radius.

Email
There are a variety of affordable email marketing solutions available that will allow you to announce your new endeavor to clients and prospects via email. Just make sure you follow proper email protocol and allow people on your email list to unsubscribe.

Open House
Any new business should host an open house. Inviting area businesses, government officials, dignitaries and residents can build rapport. Your open house should showcase our facility and staff. Offer appetizers and drinks. Most importantly, you want to start building your contact list by offering give-aways or door prizes. Make sure to collect important data on your entry forms including name, address, phone and email address. Always follow up with a "Thank You" and a maybe a special discount offering to attendees.

Press Releases
Once you have your opening date locked down, send a press release announcing your opening to the media.

Advertising
The impact of advertising in newspapers, radio and television has been diminished with the popularity of the Internet. More people are getting their news and entertainment online. If you are compelled to advertise in these mediums, ask to see audited demographic data on their readers, viewers or listeners. Target those publications, features or programs that are more closely aligned with your targeted customers. Always make sure you inquire about any Internet-related marketing opportunities they may have to supplement your media buy.

Networking
One of the best ways to spread the word is through networking. Get involved in your new community by joining the local Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Kiwanis, or business networking group. Volunteering or supporting local charities - not just financially but by actually donating your time, will allow you to meet other individuals who will appreciate your efforts. Support your community and your community will support you.

These are just a few of the basic marketing strategies that will help your business take hold in a new location. For more information about how BTK & Associates can help you business stand out in a crowd, visit http://www.btkmarketing.com/.