Ever phoned Google toll-free, said what you wanted, and heard the search results for your area? I'm blessed to be a professional who gets to make a living by keeping up with the latest trends, and then showing my clients how to use those trends in their marketing efforts. Every now and then I find one that clicks so well that I just have to tell everyone I meet, client or not. Google's GOOG-411 is one of the ones that I've been promoting most.
From anywhere in North America (thank you Google for including Canada!), you can phone 1-800-GOOG-411 — that's 1-800-466-4411 for those who hate to look up those keypad numbers, or use a Blackberry Pearl! You'll get a recording that asks for your location, and the product type you're looking for. Speak your answers, and you'll hear a numbered list of the Google search results, for your area and requested product or service. When you hear the one you want, just say, "1" or "2" or whatever the number was for that company, and Google will connect you directly to that business.
You can also have GOOG-411 give a brief description for each company, to help you find the one you want. Very helpful if you need to find a business while away from a computer or phone book. What I'm telling clients though is that it underlines the importance of being very high — preferably in the top three but certainly in the top five — if you want to get noticed. True enough, GOOG-411 is still in the growing stage, but it is indeed growing. And for those of you who would like to grow with it, this would be an excellent time to consider how optimizing your site's search engine results could be a great investment for your company.
Another huge marketing implication of GOOG-411 is that ability to give a brief description of each business, based upon the description meta tags of each site. That's a scary thought for many companies; those description tags can languish in some forgotten part of their Web site for months or years without being updated. It's time to go back and revisit them. Like many aspects of your marketing, they can be a lot more valuable than you ever imagined!
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Recession Marketing. Do you know what to do?
It is January 10, 2009, and talk everywhere is about the economy, and what can be done to stimulate it. Will the economic stimulus packages make a difference? Will soon-to-be President Obama know what to do? Will you?
That last one is not a silly question. Your marketing efforts will impact your company and, to some degree, the entire economy. Research has consistently shown for decades that spending during a recession is a good move. Companies that invest in slow times generally do better than those that do not... both during and after a recession.
However, just spending money is clearly not what's needed. It is spending it strategically, given the context of today's limited resources for both you and your customers. Identify your markets and products that are doing best, and focus on those. The tendency for many is to pour more effort into the products that are generating lower returns, in an effort to boost them up. That certainly does make sense... to a degree. But dollar for dollar, minute for minute, the best returns on marketing come from supporting the offerings that are already doing well. So focus there if your resources are limited. You're more likely to see profits coming back to you.
Offer discounts where you feel they would be strategic, but don't rely too heavily on price cuts to save the day for you. People want value, and they will generally pay more to get something that serves them better, even during a recession. The key is that you have to be able to provide something substantially more valuable than they could get elsewhere at a lower price. If you build it well enough, and market it strategically, they will indeed still come.
Finally, always remember the big picture. We've all seen recessions before. Some of you have even seen the Great Depression. No one knows yet how big our current downturn will be. What we do know is that we have to keep moving, no matter how bad it gets. In every recession, some companies do very, very well, by listening carefully to what people want, and understanding how to get it to them. Maybe this recession is your turn to step up to the plate and set an example of how to market during difficult times. Maybe this time... it's your time.
That last one is not a silly question. Your marketing efforts will impact your company and, to some degree, the entire economy. Research has consistently shown for decades that spending during a recession is a good move. Companies that invest in slow times generally do better than those that do not... both during and after a recession.
However, just spending money is clearly not what's needed. It is spending it strategically, given the context of today's limited resources for both you and your customers. Identify your markets and products that are doing best, and focus on those. The tendency for many is to pour more effort into the products that are generating lower returns, in an effort to boost them up. That certainly does make sense... to a degree. But dollar for dollar, minute for minute, the best returns on marketing come from supporting the offerings that are already doing well. So focus there if your resources are limited. You're more likely to see profits coming back to you.
Offer discounts where you feel they would be strategic, but don't rely too heavily on price cuts to save the day for you. People want value, and they will generally pay more to get something that serves them better, even during a recession. The key is that you have to be able to provide something substantially more valuable than they could get elsewhere at a lower price. If you build it well enough, and market it strategically, they will indeed still come.
Finally, always remember the big picture. We've all seen recessions before. Some of you have even seen the Great Depression. No one knows yet how big our current downturn will be. What we do know is that we have to keep moving, no matter how bad it gets. In every recession, some companies do very, very well, by listening carefully to what people want, and understanding how to get it to them. Maybe this recession is your turn to step up to the plate and set an example of how to market during difficult times. Maybe this time... it's your time.
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