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I am saddened by the statistics I have heard recently about today’s teenagers…specifically about how the average cell phone bill of a teenager would reflect zero minutes of talk time. It’s all about texting. I heard a quote from a teenager recently who said, “Talking on the phone is too personal.” Wow. I remember talking for hours with girlfriends and boyfriends on the phone. Yes, it’s personal. That’s the point, isn’t it? Psychologists are quick to report the harmful long-term effects of such a mentality… that today’s teenagers will grow up to be adults who cannot communicate face-to-face, cannot carry on a conversation, cannot expound on a topic for longer than 140 characters.

Whether those fears are grounded or not, we have to understand and adapt to this generation’s communication style. Even if these kids aren’t your audience now, they will be someday. Since I shout from the rooftops about knowing your audience, I have assembled (albeit a tad sardonically) a list of 12 quick marketing tips for start-ups, all of which are under 140 characters. Feel free to text these to the ambitious teens in your life.

12 Quick Marketing Tips for Start-Ups

1. Lay a strong foundation. Define who you are (and aren’t), what you do (and don’t), who you serve (and don’t). Do an honest SWOT analysis.
2. Write a positioning statement that identifies your services, your audience, your unique selling point and the personality of your business.
3. Be consistent. Use your positioning statement as the basis for all of your marketing efforts to ensure consistency and bang for your buck.
4. Invest in a professional logo. If your logo looks professional, so will your business. Use it consistently, everywhere you can.
5. Invest in a web site. It’s the 1st place people go to see if you’re legit. You don’t need high tech, but it needs to look professional.
6. Know your target audience. What motivates them? Where do they get there information? How do they make decisions?
7. Listen to your clients. Don’t assume you have all the answers. You can build goodwill, establish trust and increase the opportunity.
8. Offer introductory rates. As an unknown, you can’t charge what an established firm can.
9. Thank your customers. They are taking a risk hiring a start-up. A hand-written note and some goodies from a local bakery show gratitude.
10. Underpromise and overdeliver with both time and money.
11. Help others grow their business. Connect people, refer and recommend others. What comes around goes around.
12. Identify a mentor. Welcome him or her to “get in your business,” provide honest counsel and encourage you when you doubt.

Carol Reeve, marketing strategist
Girl on the Roof

It’s been a long time since I made my last blog post, which was allegedly the first in a series. Some of you have asked for the rest of the info. My apologies. I maintain another blog for a client, and that one has taken priority (the old plumber’s pipes, I guess).  I am serving on a panel tomorrow and will be discussing this topic, so I have outlined the basic points for the SCRAPE approach to long-term success. Below are the basics.  If you have any questions on any of these topics, please let me know and I will be happy to elaborate more.

Strategic Planning

• Open discussion of who your organization is (and isn’t), who you serve (and who you don’t) and what services you provide (and those you don’t).
• SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
• Mission (why you exist), Vision (what success looks like), Core Values.
• Identify what is required for your organization to be successful. Categorize into Critical Success Factors.
• Strategic Planning should involve your entire board as well as other representative shareholders when possible (a lead volunteer, maybe an individual who has graduated from your program). Ideally a professional facilitator should lead the discussion so everyone can participate equally (you can’t facilitate and participate at the same time).

Critical Success Factors

• Four to five areas you must NAIL in order to successfully accomplish your mission.
• CSFs typically include finances, programming, communications and one or two others (partnerships, board development, expansion…).
• Each CSF needs a non-staff champion (e.g., board member) and committee members to assist with plan development and execution.
• A detailed Action Plan should be developed for each Critical Success Factor, spanning at least 18 months. Include post-mortem reviews to determine what worked and what didn’t (e.g. after a fundraising event) and what improvements could be made the next time.
• Updates on these Action Plans form, in part, the agenda for board meetings. This ensures they remain living, breathing documents.

Research

• First step in any Critical Success Factor and subsequent Action Plan.
• Investigate Best Practices. Who else does what you do (or similar), and where are they successful (and where are they not)?
• How can you work together with other organizations to avoid reinventing the wheel?
• What is the general awareness and perception of your organization and what you do?
• What causes do your prospective donors currently support and why?

Audience

• Identify your primary (e.g. who you serve), secondary (e.g. donors) and possibly tertiary (e.g. volunteers and/or other nonprofit organizations) audiences.
• Identify what your audience’s biggest challenges are. How can you help them with solutions (not add to their problems)?
• Identify what motivates each audience.
• Identify where and how these audiences get their information (don’t make assumptions). A new story may not reach the audience you are seeking.
• Identify how each audience makes decisions (what criteria do they weigh, how much time to they take, what do they value most?).
• Identify the target audience for each initiative (events, press releases, newsletters…). Don’t try to reach all audiences with the same initiative. Prioritize and customize for the most impact.

Positioning

• Write a positioning statement that captures the essence and personality of your organization. Are you formal, casual, serious or grace-filled? Your positioning statement should say what you do, who you serve and what makes you unique. It should motivate your target.
• Stick to your messaging. Every initiative you develop should be viewed through the lens of your positioning statement. Is this consistent with who you are and what you’re about? If not, reconsider.
• Keep the same visual identity across all of your initiatives (web, newsletter, direct mail, brochures…). Same colors, same logo, same messaging. You may get tired of it, but step back and consider how many messages you are bombarded with every day. Keep at it, or you will never cut through the clutter.

Execution

• Be purposeful and deliberate. Develop a plan and stick with the plan. You can modify the plan if you need to and have good reason to, but it needs to be a strategic decision not just a convenient one.
• A strong web site is a high priority; it is the first place people go to learn more about you. Keep it current (a home page promoting an event that took place three months ago reflects poorly on everyone associated with your organization). List specific needs on your home page (a desk, a laptop, $500 to repair a vehicle…).
• Consider the bang for the buck. Don’t waste your resources on initiatives that don’t reach your target audience. Just because you are presented with an opportunity to promote your organization doesn’t mean you should take it. Consider the amount of time (yours, staff, volunteer, board) and money required to do it and weigh whether or not you will be seen by who you are targeting in a way that matters to them.
• Do it with excellence or don’t do it.
• Again, be consistent with your messaging and identity so you can increase the effectiveness of each initiative ­– past, present and future.

I was recently asked to give a presentation on Marketing to a group of nonprofit leaders. It’s a tough economy for just about everyone, but few have experienced the scarcity more than nonprofits and government agencies (recent news of inflated salaries did not include the Knoxville area).

I knew that most of these leaders had experienced cutbacks and were likely now wearing the hats of two or three staff members. Many of them were trying to find jobs for developmentally disabled individuals in an economy where fully capable folks are struggling to find jobs. There was likely little I could say to these folks that would come as news to them; still, a refresher course in some marketing basics could recalibrate their thinking a little bit. My goal was to keep it simple so they could remember it easily. I quickly came up with the acronym SCRAPE. Here’s how it plays out.

SCRAPE

Strategic Planning
Critical Success Factors
Audience
Positioning
Execution

It’s important to note the order here. Audience remains a constant in all of these steps, but the true fleshing out and defining of that audience should be the center of the process. Aside from that, the order here is critical for any organization wanting to maximize its resources (and who doesn’t want to do that?). The next few blog posts will touch on each of these topics, laying out a few basics. Again, most of us know this stuff; but a little reminder is helpful.

More to come from Girl on the Roof.

I was speaking with a client a few weeks ago about the appropriate order for developing and implementing a marketing plan. To me this is common sense, but it was a bit of a revelation for the client. He runs a large organization and has countless areas of expertise; admittedly, he says, marketing is not one of them. So he asked me to write the steps down for him so he could reference them as we go through the process together.

1. Strategic Planning. Before you can figure out your messaging and the appropriate ways to get that messaging out to your audience, you need to determine what it is you should be focusing on: what works, what doesn’t, what’s profitable, what’s growing, who your competition is and how you are superior. These questions – and many more – are answered in a strategic planning session. Read the rest of this entry »

The term “touchpoints” has been used in marketing for a long time. But the concept of it is still lost on some people. Every interface you have with your target audience – be it your web site, signage, Twitter page, business card, an advertisement, print materials, phone call, hold message, voice mail … these are all touchpoints; and they are all opportunities to present your message.

Stop for a moment and think about how many of these touchpoints you experience as you go through your day. If you live in a busy city, this could reach into the millions. But how many of those really made an impression on you? How many do you remember? How many would you act upon?
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Sixteen months ago, flinching from market losses, my husband and I decided to diversify our portfolio with some lake view property north of Knoxville.  We found a gorgeous lot and hired a builder to construct a home there.  It has been an interesting (though painfully long) process to watch.  We’re building on the side of a ridge, so the construction process has been tedious.  But the views of Norris Lake are a worthy payoff.
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I recently helped a client, Bridgewater Management Group, with a positioning statement.  A few hours into the positioning session, their “hook” became apparent. It’s not like it was a revolutionary new thought (after all, there is nothing new under the sun). Perhaps for me it was just a fresh perspective.

Among other offerings, Bridgewater provides information management services including records scanning and storage, process workflow improvement, etc.  When we looked at the list of their services, specifically as they relate to the healthcare industry, they had one specific characteristic in common.  These tasks were not money-makers for their clients; they were drainers.  No one dreams of going into the healthcare field so they can scan medical files and process claims.  This is a painpoint.  It is a bottleneck.  It is a distraction from their core mission.  It is a necessary evil.
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What do ink jet printers, Corn Flakes, chocolate chip cookies and penicillin have in common?  Click the link below and listen.

Writer’s Almanac

(Here is the written transcript if you prefer to read v. listen.)

I’ve long been a fan of Garrison Keillor. I remember many summer evenings, sitting on the sun porch of my childhood home, listening to Prairie Home Companion with my dad as he worked on a ship model.  My college boyfriend worked the Saturday evening shift at the NPR station in Lexington, and I would help him switch over from the satellite feed of PHC to his local jazz program. To this day, my husband and I consider it a treat to happen upon a broadcast featuring Guy Noire, Powdermilk Biscuits (heavens, they’re tasty) and the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band (if they can’t do it, the Girl’s band can). There is something about the voice of Garrison Keillor that soothes even the most stirred-up soul.
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When I facilitate a planning or positioning session, I clearly communicate the objective of the session, in writing, in advance. I state a clear agenda. I document on flip charts every thought and idea that is expressed. I later record all of those thoughts into an electronic document that I circulate to all who attended the meeting. Why? Because people pay me for results, and I am committed to providing them.

Unlike many facilitators whose solitary role is facilitation (and then they pass the baton and step aside politely), I hold tightly to the baton and keep running. It’s my job to distill what I learned in that session into something that benefits the bottom line of an organization.
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When I am hired to do any marketing or positioning work for a client, I almost always start by facilitating a planning or positioning session. The objectives of that session are:

1. Get everyone in the room together, focused on this organization. Talented people are involved with lots of organizations, and at any given time, their attention is divided among a number of them. A planning session directs their attention 100% to the organization in front of them, allowing us to get their most insightful thoughts.

2. Teach me what I need to know about the organization so I can help them. Hearing from a group of people tells me more than if I get the download from just one person, however closely connected that one person may be. It also helps me understand individual passions and group dynamics which can be helpful when developing next steps.
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