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6 Marketing Secrets from Santa Claus

by Carolyn Higgins on December 12, 2011

Whether he meant to or not jolly old St. Nick created one of the most recognizable and beloved brands in the western world; one that children have adored and parents embraced for centuries.  Santa Claus has endured wars, depressions, scrutiny (is he real or not??), imposters who tried to tarnish his image (ala The Grinch), and even opposition from certain religious groups.

So how the heck did he do it? How did Santa Claus build such a phenomenon, despite the obstacles and challenges the world threw at him? And what lessons can businesses owners learn from him for building our own brands?

I’ve identified some key things that Santa does to solidify his brand, create raving fans, build trust and grow his Christmas Empire! Here they are, along with the lessons we can learn from his success:

Marketing Lessons from Santa

1.  Santa is painstakingly reliable. Most of us awoke every Christmas morning, year after year, to find a plate sprinkled with cookie crumbs, an empty milk glass, and a bounty of presents; all bearing witness to Santa’s  late night visit. Despite snow storms and freezing temperatures, or dad losing his job, moving to a new house, or fighting with our brothers too much, Santa never let us down. Santa is the epitome of reliability.

Business Lesson:  How reliable is your business? Are you letting customers down?  Like expectant children on Christmas mornings, our customers have high expectations and it’s our job to deliver – or risk losing them.  Make it a habit to ask customers if they’ve ever felt let down by your company, what areas you can improve upon, and what products or services they’d like you to offer.  Being painstakingly reliable builds trust and people buy from companies they trust!

2.  Santa surprises and delights us!  Who doesn’t think of Santa and smile? Why is that? It’s because he always surprises and delights us! Whether it’s flashing a jovial smile and belting out a jolly “Ho Ho Ho”, delivering that Barbie doll we’d been obsessing over for months, or making a surprise appearance with a bag full of goodies at a holiday party, happiness and smiles follow Santa wherever he goes.  

Business Lesson:  Can you say the same about your brand? Does your business leave a lasting smile and happy thoughts? Do you surprise and delight? If not, study your competition and your industry, talk to people, and find out where others let customers down. Then do something that no one else in your industry does.  Find that  “something extra”  to add to your product or service mix.  Customers love the unexpected, so what can you do to leave a lasting impression?

3.  Santa encourages us to write.  Everyone knows Santa loves getting our letters – and even reads every single one of them! And what does he ask of us?  Nothing but a list all the presents we want him to deliver on Christmas morning!

Business Lesson:  Imagine if our customers felt comfortable enough to send us a list of their wants, needs,  and desires. Don’t you think that would help us understand  and serve them better? What can you do to encourage your customers to stay in touch with you?  Since we don’t have our own North Pole address, I’d recommend things like suggestion boxes (on, or offline!), surveys, and, service follow up calls.

4.  Santa rewards good behavior.  ”Have you been naughty or nice?”  Your answer could mean the difference between that diamond necklace you’ve been eyeing or a big ole lump of coal!  

Business Lesson: Businesses can build their brands by rewarding “good” behavior too! Did a customer buy more than usual? Reward them with a discount or an extra freebie. Did a customer refer you or leave a raving Yelp review? Send a special present or gift certificate to say “thank you.” Rewarding good behavior not only shows the customer your appreciation, it encourages them to do it again!

5.  Santa has elves and  8 reindeer- Santa wouldn’t be Santa without his team. Do you think he’d be able to read all of our letters, be painstakingly reliable, or jolly and delightful if he didn’t have a team to help him with all his Christmas responsibilities?  Of course not, so then why do you expect to be able to take care of all of your business responsibilities by yourself?

Business Lesson:  If you don’t have the time to provide the level of service you want, surprise and delight customers – or market and build your business then it’s time to get your own team of elves and reindeer! No one ever built an empire alone…not even Santa.  Want to be insanely popular like Santa?  Then it may be time  to hire some help!

6.  Santa is one-of-a-kind!  Santa has an image like no one else:  long gray beard, velvety red suit, and shiny black boots. Santa has a catch phrase, “Ho, Ho, Ho”.  Santa knows his target market are children. Santa also knows these three things set him apart from the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and moms and dad -  and he used that to build the Santa brand to be the unmistakable symbol it is today!

Business Lesson: Take a look at your business, what can you do to make your business stand out from the crowd? Do you have a unique image? A symbolic uniform? A bright red sleigh pulled by 8 tiny reindeer (Ok, a fleet of bright red trucks will do!)?  A quirky catch phrase? Find your uniqueness and do something big to stand apart from the competition!

Summary:

The bottom line is this: Santa “gets” marketing – he built one of the most recognizable brands that ever existed by doing these 6 things.  Sure, we may never be as popular as Santa but by following his example, we can certainly create our own little world of magic!  Happy holidays! Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

By the way, if you liked this post, I’d really appreciate your Retweet!!! Thank you. :-)

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The Process of Planning

by Chelle Parmele on October 14, 2011

When is a plan not a plan? When it’s a tool.

Perhaps the most important factor in achieving your desired result and turning your plan into a management tool is regularly reviewing the plan.

In the final two videos of Tim Berry’s video series on how to write a successful business plan, he talks about the actual heart and soul of business planning.

It’s not in the number of pages you have, or in how the finished product looks, or even if everything is spelled right. It’s in its ongoing success. Were you able to take your thoughts, ideas, forecasts and plans and make them work? Did your work on the original plan give you the proper base from which to continue your business by making adjustments, setting goals and milestones and achieving them as close as possible to what you’d planned?

This is the key.

A business plan is never done.


(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

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It’s all about the money, money, money!

by Chelle Parmele on October 13, 2011

Tim has taken us through what a business plan is, how to just jump in and get started, how to hone your strategy and focus… now it’s time for the reason why you started a business in the first place. Money!

Knowing how much money you have and how much you need are two important parts of a successful plan and a successful business. But just as important is forecasting out your sales.  According to Tim Berry, good forecasts are created by forming well organized, educated guesses based on research and past results. In other words -  it’s okay to be wrong in your forecasting! But make sure you pay attention to where you were off and why. That will help you make better guesses in the future!

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

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Crafting and Developing Your Business Plan

by Chelle Parmele on October 11, 2011

We’re continuing the series from Tim Berry on how to write a successful business plan.

Yesterday we learned the basics and how to get going, today Tim talks you through narrowing your focus and strategy.

I’ve learned a lot from Tim over the years, and this quote from him is something I’ve found myself passing along to others – “You don’t write your plan in the same order that somebody would read it.”   It’s one of those things that after you hear, you totally get. Of course you wouldn’t write a summary of your plan first thing! And yet, that’s where so many people seem to start.  Check out the next two video’s from Tim below.

(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

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Creating a Successful Business Plan

by Chelle Parmele on October 10, 2011

Business planning is about determining your business future.

Where do you want your business to go?
Where should it be in three years?
What are the steps to get there?

Wouldn’t it be great if you had someone who could help you through the hard parts of business planning? Maybe give you a guiding hand in the how and why of it all?

This week we’re going to be posting Tim’s popular business planning video series.

Tim has spent years studying and honing his process of writing successful plans. And he’s passing that knowledge on to you.

We’re starting with the first two videos.


(If you can’t see the videos above, you can view them on our how to write a business plan video page)

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Now or Never

Why Passion & Creativity Are Not Enough- You Need Goals, Too

by Carol Roth on June 7, 2011

Many of us fall into business because of passion, circumstance or perhaps an exciting idea, forgetting about the end game.

However, goal setting- making tangible, definable goals- is critical to get you to where you want to go.

To illustrate this, I wanted to tell you a bit about my mother, Sheri, and her adventures in entrepreneurship.  I can only describe my mom as a cross between Martha Stewart andCher, meaning that she can create an elegant evening broach out of a brown paper grocery bag and free-hand pancakes in the shape of elephants (the Martha part) and would often do just that wearing four-inch stiletto heels and purple contact lenses (theCher part).  Being talented and creative, once upon a time, that creativity led her towards entrepreneurship.

In the early 1980s, my mom was putting together some really unique holiday gifts that looked like this:

One of our neighbors came over and asked my mom if she would make a few gift baskets for her to also give as gifts for the holidays.

My mom agreed (and as an aside, of course she didn’t charge the neighbor anything incremental to put the gifts together!).

Proof of Concept

News of the unique gift baskets my mom was making spread like wildfire throughout the neighborhood and kept my mom busy throughout the holiday season.  She enlisted a friend to help her- who thankfully informed my mom that they should charge something to make the baskets- and a “jobbie” (a hobby disguised as a business) was born.

When the orders continued after the holiday season for baby gifts, get well gifts, birthday gifts and more, it occurred to them that maybe this jobbie could be turned into a business.

The “Job Business”

While today there are hundreds of gift basket companies, nearly 30 years ago, this concept didn’t exist and my mom and her partner really were pioneers in the niche.

They started in the business in our basement, which usually looked like a tornado had hit Party City.  Inventory, cellophane, ribbons and balloons were everywhere.  The business quickly took off- they were working full time, taking orders, assembling and wrapping the gifts, packing, finding new business, purchasing inventory, invoicing, chasing down payments and creating marketing materials.

Eventually, the operation outgrew the basement and they bought a warehouse and they continued to work hard.

And by 1991, nearly a decade after they had started the business, their circumstances changed.  My mom was getting a divorce and her partner’s family was in financial trouble and so they had to look at the business and how much they were making.

They realized, for the first time, that they were making $10,000 a piece.

Working 50 hours a week and 50 weeks each year, they were pulling in a whopping …drum roll, please…$4 per hour.

This was a job, not a business, and one that wasn’t even pulling in the minimum wage.

This was not enough money to sustain either my mom or her partner when their circumstances changed.

Now or Never

Needing a Purpose

My mom went into her business because she had a creative idea.  Even though she got some proof of concept, there was no goal, no purpose and no real strategy.  She got orders, she filled orders, she had increasing interest in her product, but ultimately, she never made enough for it to be worth her time or effort- a fact ironically lost on her for a decade until her circumstances shifted.

If you are led by your creativity or passion, make sure to ask yourself what you want out of your business.  If you don’t set goals, how will you know what direction to go in?  Do you want to build something?  Do you want to help even more people?  Do you want to create jobs and growth in the economy?  Do you want recognition as a savvy businessperson? Are you looking for a hobby?  It is totally up to you and there is no right answer, but make a conscious decision.  You can’t keep score if you don’t know what game you are playing.

Why it Matters

After my mom’s circumstances changed, she had to abandon her business to support herself (as did her partner).  She swore she would revisit running a business and do it differently the next time.

However, there wasn’t time for a “next time” for her.  Just a few years after leaving the business behind, my mom was diagnosed with Leukemia.  She passed away just after her 51st birthday.  She was creative, she was bright and she had an entrepreneurial spirit, but she never had someone tell her how important having a goal was to get where she wanted to go.  She never had an opportunity to hear that message and she also never had an opportunity to be everything that she could be.

In her honor, I have vowed to help change that and I hope that her story can be an extra motivator for you to be and achieve everything that you can.

There are no right or wrong goals, only the ones that matter to you.   Set them so that you can make progress and achieve success, whatever that may mean to you.

(Image by Drew Melton)

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Marketing Success

Creating Your Marketing Routine

by Cidnee Stephen on May 5, 2011

Think about the last time you made a big change in the way you run your business or perhaps even in your personal life. It’s hard to adjust your day to day habits. Sometimes we are even at a loss where to start. The same tends to happen with our marketing. Perhaps you have worked with a strategist like us to help you build the right marketing system for your business, but don’t know how to actually implement all these changes going forward. There seems to be so much ongoing content, “tweets” and updates to the website. It can all be overwhelming unless you can make certain elements part of your day to day routine. Here is a roadmap to your marketing routine

  • Make the time. Let’s face it if you had a hot prospect that was looking at spending a considerable amount of money with you, you wouldn’t ignore them to go get toner for your printer. Yet when it comes to marketing – by far our biggest prospect for earning a considerable amount of money for the company, it always remains low on the priority list. So start treating it like a hot prospect.

Action: Book a recurring appointment with your marketing in your work calendar every day for at least 30 minutes and then once or twice a week for 1.5 hours each.

  • Create your tasks. I love my Tasks feature in Outlook. It allows me add a task, make it recurring and prioritize it. I can even share it or allocate it with others. You can’t just expect, after all, to sit down to do your marketing and then wonder what the heck it is you’re going to actually do.

Action: Using a task program (or a spreadsheet) start by listing what you want to accomplish this quarter. Then back this up into monthly tasks, weekly tasks and possibly even daily tasks.

  • Do your tasks. Now this might seem obvious, but if you have ever created a to-do list before, you probably have found that a few of those “to-do’s” just don’t get done. There is one reason for this. Simply, you don’t want to do it right now.

Marketing SuccessNo matter how you try it’s just not your forte, you don’t want to learn it, you can’t find the time or it just is against your personality. It would be like choosing swimming as part of your new fitness regime, when you can’t even swim and have no time or desire to learn. In the case of marketing then you have 3 options. If a task element is still on your list a month or two after it’s due:

Delay it – Move it to the next quarter if the reason it hasn’t been done is you have ran out time or it’s not as big of a priority as you thought.

Delegate it – If you don’t have the forte or don’t have the desire to learn it, delegate it to someone else with experience in this area to get it done for you. After all, a successful person is one who has learned to spend money to save time instead of spending time to save money!

Delete it – if this just doesn’t fit with who you are and you can’t delay it or delegate it. Delete it as part of your marketing system. Don’t be surprised when you go to actually delete it if you have a change of heart and find you can’t really let it go! This is good news because it means you have now chosen to either do it, delay it, or delegate it!

So what might a marketing routine look like? Here’s one created by one of my peers, Kelly Weppler Hernandez of WH and Associates.

Daily

  • Facebook and Twitter daily update first thing in the morning, and maybe a posting later in the day

Weekly

  • LinkedIn update at least once a week.
  • Hand-written Notes – every Thursday. Send at least 2 handwritten notes to colleagues, past clients, strategic partners etc.
  • Blogging – anything that’s related to your industry. Blogging might be written, video or audio.
  • Update content on your website

Monthly

  • Newsletter – email corporate newsletter at least once per month. Pick a target date like the 15th.
  • Run a monthly promotional campaign

Quarterly

  • Speaking Event – set a goal to do a speaking event once per quarter.

Annually

  • Client Appreciation Event – pick a month that works within your calendar and work with a few strategic partners to host a client appreciation event.

Remember the best way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. Create your own marketing routine and make appointments and tasks in your calendar to get it done!

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Making Facebook THE Social Network

by sara on October 5, 2010

This is our third post on startup lessons from David Fincher’s new film about the founding of Facebook, The Social Network. We’ve already seen that business ideas aren’t protected, and that startups, especially, need to be clear on partnership agreements, and whether partners are actually a good idea. Today, the important lesson is about actually shipping, getting to market, and seizing opportunities.

Doing, marketing, selling is what makes a successful business
While the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendr focused on the idea of the business, Mark Zuckerberg actually coded and launched a product. When his friend and partner Eduardo Saverin dragged his feet on investment and expansion decisions, Zuckerberg cut him loose to move faster.

The success of Facebook wasn’t about the idea. Business ideas aren’t actually worth very much. “If you have a good idea, a thousand other people have the same idea. You’re in a race to take that idea and make it happen, make it real. You build the business, you don’t just have the idea.”

As one commenter wrote about the case back in 2007, “I have taken a look at ConnectU and their script…anybody could write such a script..what makes Facebook facebook, is not because of any code or script…it’s Faceboook’s strategy and [how they] positioned themselves.”

Zuckerberg himself credits Facebook’s success to three things:

* Boldness
* Speed
* Focus

Zuckerberg used his technical savvy to take an event that was already happening offline – college students socializing – and move it online. Boldness and speed were apparent even in the one-day success of an earlier experimental site, Facemash, which he created in a weekend while at Harvard. According to the Harvard Crimson, Zuckerberg intended to share the site only with a few friends, but it quickly spread across campus to get 22,000 votes. No doubt that early feedback (and the fact that more than half of all Harvard undergrads joined Facebook in its first month) helped encourage him to moved quickly to expand beyond his initial market (Harvard) into other colleges, and then to non-college students.

Of course, as reviewer Richard Corliss says, “Zuckerberg would make billions selling friends — and if need be, the film reckons, selling them out.”

Making it, getting it launched and to market, is especially true for startups now, in a down economy, as venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki explains.

“In today’s economy and tight credit markets, there is a much greater emphasis on getting to revenues fast and more emphasis on business models than before,” Kawasaki says. “You also meet companies that are further along. Whereas, a few years ago the accepted practice was you raised a bunch of money, then you went away for a year and built your software. You needed the money to hire people, buy tools and all that kind of stuff.”

Will you follow through, or foul up?

Sara Prentice Manela
Editor

P.S. Speaking of Facebook – Have you joined our fanpage?

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Hustle and Flow

by Chelle Parmele on July 30, 2010

“Entrepreneurship is 99% hustle and 1% good ideas.”
-Joe Fernandez, Founder of Klout.com

bulbAt some point in your life, you are going to come up with a good idea. A really good idea. One of those “Million Dollar” ideas.

From the moment you think of this really great idea, you’re going to obsess over it. Ponder it. Adjust it. Hone it. And as you do, you’ll get more and more excited about how it’s going to revolutionize how the world looks at everything. It’s going to make the invention of sliced bread a mere footnote in the history books of inventions.

You’re really, really jazzed about this idea!!

To you, this idea is priceless. Its value defies measurability. Someone, somewhere is going to pay you millions and millions for this idea.

You’re sure. You’re positive. It’s going to happen.

Here’s the problem. An idea, rarely, makes money. Joe from Klout.com has got the formula right. Your great idea is still great, but unless you put in the work required to make it a great business… it will always  be just a great idea.

And nothing more.

‘Chelle Parmele
Social Media Marketing Manager
Palo Alto Software

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CriticalBiz Founder Knows How Critical Business Plan Is

by Jay Snider on May 7, 2010

Like a lot of entrepreneurs, Michael Turner started his own company after growing disillusioned with working for somebody else. As he remembers: “There were meetings galore, lots of PowerPoint slide shows, big buzzwords that meant nothing—all resulting in very little productivity, but costing millions of dollars.” After 10 years, Turner decided to head out on his own.

In 2006, he started Marketing Max, with the goal of providing companies with marketing, PR, and design services. With business plan in hand, he and his wife relocated from Atlanta to Jacksonville, Florida, hired an employee, and landed several large clients.

Despite his strong belief in the power of a planning, says Michael, “nothing prepared us for what happened a few years later. In 2009, when the U.S. economy tanked like most of us have never seen, every one of our larger clients almost instantly laid people off and cut back on marketing spend.”

This had a tremendous effect on Marketing Max’s business. “I knew I needed to target more small businesses that, while also affected by the economy, still needed pros to help them market their businesses to survive.” So, rather than cutting back like so many others were doing, Michael instead changed gears.
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“Later that year, I revived an old name that I had used for a popular small business community website back in the early 1990s called CriticalBiz. I shifted focus a bit and extended the services that we offered at Marketing Max, but on a much more simplified level with very clear terms. Instead of the intimidating “big marketing firm” persona that was Marketing Max, I decided to get more personal.”

Starting over

CriticalBiznow offers services ranging from document creation, employee recruiting, graphic design and copywriting, to sales, public relations, and even Web design and development. Michael brings more than 20 years of business experience to the table, and enlists a team of consultants who are experts in a variety of fields to assist. The idea behind CriticalBiz is that they can provide services that go beyond typical “virtual assistant” tasks but that aren’t needed often enough to justify hiring a full-time employee. As the website says, “working with CriticalBiz means you can focus on other things that may be more important to your business.”

Before he ever struck out on his own, Michael armed himself with a plan. “Before leaving [his previous position]… I put a ton of time and energy into writing the business plan for Marketing Max. I utilized Business Plan Pro, as it forced me to stay on track and organized. I was not seeking outside capital, but did enlist a former colleague to review the plan. This forced me to write as if I were in fact presenting the plan—it helps to keep things honest and realistic.” That planning helped him weather the economic downturn, and helped him figure out what the next logical steps for his business should be.

Michael is a true believer in planning. He feels that a business plan is not just a static document that you write up and stick in a drawer. “I believe that a business plan is a living document that needs to act as a guide to success,” he says, rather than a document created as part of a one-time process that a business owner goes through.

photo by flickr user JMRosenfeld

photo by flickr user JMRosenfeld

Think like a football coach

Michael sets aside a full day every quarter to review and refine both his marketing plan and his business plan. “Far too many of those that do create business plans, simply do so by going through the motions,” says Michael. “Once it’s written, it goes into a file cabinet, never to be seen again. If more people would use their business plans like a football coach uses his playbook — to strategically manage the game — fewer businesses would fail.”

In fact, according to Michael, some of the biggest mistakes made by entrepreneurs are caused by a failure to plan. “I would be willing to bet that most small-business owners spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning for their businesses,” he says, noting “if more small businesses would stop to create a detailed business plan, including all of the market research and number crunching that they should be doing,” they would be better off.

Speaking of crunching numbers, Michael echoes what a lot of folks say when asked about the toughest part of writing a business plan. “The hardest part is the financials. This section of the plan requires you to be completely honest with yourself. Business Plan Pro made the number crunching much easier for me because it forced me to answer the tough questions. The math doesn’t lie, and making sure you put all of the right numbers in is critical. You have to keep things real!”

As Michael sees it, the value of the plan is lost if you don’t remember that you’re not fantasizing or imagining best-case scenarios. You’re doing your best to project into the future. “Those who do plan, and are honest with themselves throughout the process, will be able to cope with critical issues much, much easier when they do arise… and they will. Planning ahead of time always makes for a more predictable, successful outcome,” he says.

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