It’s how you work the page that strengthens the relationship with customers.

Let’s say you’ve created a Facebook page for your business, but now you don’t know what to do with it.

Here are 5 basic elements you can use over and over, that will build exposure for your business, create dialogue between you and the consumer, and connect customers with each other:

1) Ask questions.  Once or twice a week, post an question that is relevant to your business, and interesting to your customers.

Have you tried meditation? Was it relaxing? Was it hard to relax? What worked for you to keep yourself in the present? (Naturopathica Skin Care)

How have you or your child accessorized their Strider? (Strider Running Bikes)

2)  Let your fans ask questions. Once in awhile, put up a post encouraging your fans to ask questions and/or request help.  It builds trust between you and your fans, encourages dialogue, and places you as the expert in your field.  It also creates conversations between customers and builds community (take a look at Pandora Jewelry’s page – wow!).

3)  Post videos. You don’t need a fancy video set-up – a simple Flip camera or your iPhone camera will do.  Post a short video (no more than two minutes) on a topic relevant to your business – one that will educate the customer.  They’re fun, easy, and add a new dimension of personality to your business (check out WiseGrass for some great examples)

4)  Hold contests. Get your fans involved in posting photos or videos according to a topic you decide in advance.  Own a home/office organization company?  Hold a “messiest closet” contest (winner gets two free hours of organization help).  Run a bookstore?  Have fans list their “desert island” book list (best one wins a gift card to the store).

5)  Last, but not least, offer discounts and special events for Facebook friends only. Give them a “secret password” to use at the counter for an extra 20% off.  Invite them to a special cocktail hour with a renowned author.  At least once a month, offer your fans something that is only for them.  Once they catch on, word-of-mouth will spread and your fan base will grow exponentially.

Facebook is free and it’s a tool you should be using everyday. If you take these 5 ideas and rotate them on a regular basis, you may never need another Facebook idea again.

How are you using Facebook?  Share in the comments below!

Woot!

You can read all about it on the Books and Videos page.

If you’d like the softcover version, it will only cost you $15.95.

But you can also get it on Amazon for 99 cents.

You just have to have a Kindle, iPad, or iPhone.

The e-book version is my gift to you – sort of.

Why 99 cents? Well, I wanted to give it away for free.  But Amazon requires a minimum of 99 cents to sell any e-book for the Kindle.  And I want to make it fair across the board, no matter what e-book reader you own.

Give it a whirl.  I think once you’ve finished reading it, you’re going to want the softcover version (hopefully, multiple copies) for your staff and colleagues.

Check it all out (including download of sample chapters) on the Books and Video page.

Happy reading!

I have.  I first saw it last week.  And I almost didn’t blog about it.  Not because it has to do with menstrual products, but because it is a marketing strategy of such baffling proportion that I didn’t know where to start.

The first draft of this post was a balls-out rant about the video series.  But there are others out there who have commented on the topic with much sharper wit than I can ever hope to have.

Instead, I thought I would share my observations on why this campaign is an EPIC FAIL.

First, watch this video.  Then read on.

1. It’s an obvious attempt to ride the coattails of the wildly successful Old Spice Guy commercials.  The ad agency determined that lowest common denominator was buffed men without shirts, and assumed that women would respond in the same way as they did for Old Spice.

2. The videos don’t know what they want to be.  Are they supposed to be amusing?  Tongue-in-cheek?  Sympathetic?  Arousing?  Attractive?  Informative?  You tell me, because I can’t figure it out.  And if it’s confusing, it certainly isn’t persuasive.

3. The actors don’t give a s*** about the customer.  Watch them.  At some point in every one of these videos, the actor’s eyes glaze over, and you can almost read his mind.  I performed Hamlet in the park last year.  THIS is what I went to Juilliard drama school for? So, guess what?  The customer doesn’t give a s*** about them… or the brand.

4. The videos go on FOREVER, without getting anywhere.  With the exception of that guy on YouTube who had a nuclear meltdown over Britney Spears a few years ago, I don’t think I’ve ever had three minutes go by so slowly.

5. The creepy factor is off the chart.  Many women feel that having men featured in campaigns for feminine products will never work – especially when they’re presented in campaigns like this.  To go from seduction to menstruation in the blink of an eye (not to mention god-awful symbolism that pops up throughout the videos) creeps out a potential customer, and it plants the “DO NOT BUY AT ANY COST” seed in the brains of the very customers the brand is trying to attract.

I thought maybe I was being an “old lady” about this issue, and asked several young college-aged women whom I highly respect to watch the series and comment.  They were unanimously appalled.  As one of these women (enrolled at the Annenberg School of Journalism at USC) commented, “…no woman would ever trust a man to tell her which type of pad to use.  HOW WOULD HE KNOW?! That being said, I think viral videos can be very effective, but these videos really miss the mark in my opinion.”

I’ll leave you with the other two videos in the series.  Stayfree has created a viral campaign, alright but in my opinion, for all the wrong reasons.

Good thing Stayfree has millions to spend on advertising – they’re going to need it.

Setting aside the cringe-worthy “women cycle, men consummate” analogy used in the report, let’s look at Dr. Deutsch’s 7 Tips for Marketing to Women. If you had to rely on the analytical language used in the report, it’s likely that you’d run screaming from the room before getting through Number One.  Allow me to help – my translations are in red.

1. Pattern. Marketers should recognize that women have the ability to perceive more than the metric of a product attribute or an instance in time. They appreciate the underlying pattern (idea) that gives rise to the fleeting moment.

With four times as many connections between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, women are wired to detect grand, vast patterns.  That includes trying to decide where and how your brand fits into the pattern of her life.  Help her to figure that out, and you’re golden.

2. Authenticity. Beyond immediate appearance, marketers should realize that persona, biography (or history), and current contingency must all be factored into a brand, and that universal principles underlie particularities.

Okay, that one made my head hurt.  You have no idea which “angle of approach” a woman is using in deciding whether or not to do business with you, so the best thing you can do is be real.  Talk real.  Practice what you preach.

3. Quality, not just quantity (size). Marketers should understand that for women, bigger and more is not necessarily better. A steady build is often better than an impulsive response.

You can never predict your customer’s moment of need.  You also can’t tell your entire story in one piece of advertising.  Stop thinking that a series of “buy now!” transactional ads will keep drawing her in to your circle – start balancing your message with relational ads, as well.

4. Connectedness, not just individuals. Marketers should know that communality can reign over dominance. Women see people as all bound together.

Women “see” in patterns and look for connections – not just with people, but with incoming data to the brain.  Ask yourself if you’re part of her community, or if you’re just “selling” to her.  Be part of her life, not just part of her purchasing process – otherwise, you’ll gain no brand loyalty and will eventually lose her as a customer (sooner, rather than later).

5. Society, not just markets. Marketers should recognize that markets are numbers, but numbers are not people. Women are people and have personal feelings and social intentions.

See #4 above.

6. Quality of life, not just accumulation. Marketers should learn that women have material and spiritual needs made up of individual wants and musts, which are cast in the context of a social matrix.

Marketers need to understand that not only do women approach decision making differently from men, they also approach it differently from each other.  Learning the Four Neighborhoods of Women and how they communicate is a good start toward smart marketing.

7. Reasonableness, not extremism or absolutism. Marketers should see that all issues have grays, and exaggerations to one side or the other only cover-up the reality of subtlety and nuance to which women are attuned.

Women’s bullshit meters are in overdrive.  Stop with the hype.  Get on with being real and honest.  Everybody wins.

This report offers good insights.  It also offers a final lesson, one that was probably never intended: Don’t make the mistake of trying to communicate a message in a language that only a few people understand.  Getting stuck inside industry-speak isn’t going to be very effective in persuading readers (or customers) that you know what you’re talking about.

But there’s one news item that got my attention, and I wanted to share it with you.

Target has launched Target Mobile, with new cell- and smart-phone tools that raise the bar on the mobile shopping experience.

With Target Mobile, shoppers sign-up and/or download free apps, and are immediately privy to:

• Checking out with a mobile phone, using Target gift card information
• Locating and updating gift registries
• Coupons sent to a mobile phone, complete with bar code – no more paper coupons

Even if you own a small business and think you can’t afford such programs, sit tight and watch for now.  Immerse yourself in what companies like Target are doing, because it is the future.  It is YOUR future.  The time will come when the software to create such mobile shopping programs is cheap and easy to use, and you’ll need to be ready.

Sign up for Target Mobile today – it could very well be some of the best consumer research you’ll do this year.

There are two basic styles of advertising – Transactional and Relational.

In this post, let’s take a look these styles and what each offers.

TRANSACTIONAL ADVERTISING

Advertising used to promote a sale, event, or price point items.

Look at this TV example from Moon Nurseries:

Advantages:

• Creates a sense of urgency – “limited time offer”
• Allows for promotion of surplus inventory and discount pricing
• Gets traffic through the door of your business

Risks:

• Rise in sales will be short-term
• Done too often, customers get used to it and will just “wait for the next sale”
• No long-term branding effect – if your competitor offers lower prices, you will have a mass exodus of customers

RELATIONAL ADVERTISING:

Advertising used to promote your brand and make customers feel good about your business.

Look at this example from Tim Horton’s Coffee:

Advantages:

• Long-term investment in brand building  = substantial impact in customers’ minds
• Allows a customer to imagine herself interacting with your business
• Creates deeper connection with customer, for longer-term brand loyalty

Risks:

• Greater temptation to try and say everything in one ad, diluting the impact of the message
• Takes longer to build your audience – advertisers often “chicken out” early in the process

Start listening to radio and television ads more closely and try categorizing them into these two styles.  What works better, and why?  Which brands are doing a good job?  Do you have a preference of one style over another?

In the next post, we’ll look at how and when you should be using each type of advertising.  Used correctly, they can have a profound effect on your bottom line.

While on a family trip to Anderson, Indiana, Holly visited the Gruenewald Historic House and met Jean Whitsell-Sherman. Holly wrote, “Talk about a decimated town- almost everyone worked for GM and they closed all 4 of their factories in the area. The two women who run [Gruenewald] have little or no promotional budget.

After talking with Jean, Holly sent her a copy of The Soccer Mom Myth when she returned home.  Jean wrote to Holly afterward, to share how she used what she learned from the book.  And she blew us both away.

Here, in Jean’s words, is her story:

I waited until now to properly thank you for the book, because I used your ideas on a project and wanted to report back to you!

I have always wanted a used jewelry sale.  I had heard about them and felt it could be a good money-maker. The board seemed interested, only if they didn’t have to actually DO much. I took this as a cue that it would be MY baby and I could take control and do things my way.

SO while reading your book, I tried to fashion the sale with today’s woman in mind. Jewelry is expensive and you only buy it if it’s a bargain.  Its frivolous, but loads of fun.

• We needed jewelry
• We needed a compelling reason to draw them  to the house other than jewels
• We needed them to stay and browse
• We needed them to get involved in the Gruenewald Experience

IDEA: I came up with a form that was designed as a tax letter where ladies could list their donated jewelry and price the donation themselves. Two forms were enclosed in Ziplock with instructions to return the forms to me.  I would sign one and mail it back to the donor with a complimentary ticket to the sale.  They could put the donated jewelry in the Ziplock and place it in our mail slot anytime.  I would of course come to their homes if necessary and get their donations. Convenience!!!!

RESULT: I got tons of jewelry. Women don’t know what to do with old stuff they are tired of. They know its too good to toss out-so here is a good opportunity to tax deduct it. We got Coldwater Creek watches that had never been worn, Chico, 14kt bracelets, crystal beaded necklaces and bracelets, Brighton still with tags, etc!

IDEA: I got the owner of a local jewelry store downtown to agree to come and be on hand for an ”antiques road show” style opportunity. He could always use the publicity and boy did he get it! (See Anderson Herald Bulletin February 4th).

RESULT: People were waiting in line to see the jeweler.  At the close of the project, we said he asked if he could come back next year with an antiques expert (he was just a jeweler).

IDEA: We served an open house style tea luncheon. People are busy and don’t want to be locked in to a Saturday schedule.  We offered samples of sandwiches, scones, Devonshire cream, cookies, and teas that we serve . We charged $5 each (reasonable!). We served ready-made glass snack plates and they could meander about the downstairs, eat, look at the used jewelry, and talk to the jewelry expert.

RESULT: They loved the food, we got one reservation that day for a tea. Our scones were the big hit– we ran out of business cards for the supplier of our scones.  Note-the scone lady has promised to come next year to the event.

IDEA: The chapter in the book that explained the man’s brain and how it operates was also helpful. When selling tickets prior to the event, I approached a friend who is third in command at Ricker’s, a quite successful locally owned convenience chain here in Indiana. Asked him if he wanted to buy two for his wife and daughter.  He rebuffed me.  So I immediately thought ” gee, Jean you’re talking to a businessman-tap into that side of his brain!”   So I told him he would be extremely popular with the female employees if he gave them out as Valentine’s gifts to the “girls” (ugh) at  the office.

RESULT: He bought 10 and gave the out at corporate headquarters.

We were open for two hours and served over 55-60 people.  We cleared over $500.00, which pays for a month and a half of winter heat bills.  We were a success!

So, thanks for the book, it is a treasure and very helpful.

I am passing it on to our Wine Gala and Auction chair to read before that event in May.

Sincerely,

Jean Whitsell-Sherman

Think you’re too small to try ideas from The Soccer Mom Myth? Think again.  You, too, can have the success of Jean Whitsell-Sherman, if you have the inclination.

Bravo, Jean!

If you’ve made the wrong choice, it could be costing you a truckload of customers.

Research results issued by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and the University of Illinois at Chicago indicate that gender difference plays a role in the “thinking vs. feeling” debate.

In two different studies, participants were asked to rate which ads they found to be most persuasive.  The basic information of each ad was the same; it was just framed in different ways.

Take, for example, blood donations:

… one message, entitled “My Feelings About Blood Donation,” started with, “I feel that donating blood is one of the most important contributions I can make to society.” It went on to include several more arguments framed in terms of the source’s feelings — for example, “I feel that blood donation is the most fantastic thing I can do with 30 minutes of my free time.”

In a different condition, the message was entitled “My Thoughts About Blood Donation,” and opened with, “I think donating blood is one of the most important contributions I can make to society,” and went on to frame the exact same arguments in terms of the source’s thoughts — “I think blood donation is the most fantastic thing I can do with 30 minutes of my free time.”

Aside from the use of the word “feel” or “think” throughout the message, the content of the arguments was identical, yet those more emotionally oriented were more impressed with (and persuaded by) the “feel” arguments, while those more cognitively oriented liked the “think” arguments better.”

Another study used movie advertising to measure the reactions of participants.  Women were more influenced by reviews that began with, “I feel…”; men were more influenced by reviews that began, “I think…”

Yet another reason Burger King may want to be careful with its next advertising campaign. A woman may think your ad is creative, edgy, and funny, but will she feel good enough about you to be persuaded into purchasing your product?

It’s a slim distinction that makes all the difference in successfully marketing to women.

For a while now, Burger King has proclaimed the “superfan” to be young males that frequent fast-food restaurants on a super-regular basis (9-10 times per month).  And over the past year, they ramped up their advertising with controversial campaigns like SpongeBob SquareButt and the one I wrote about in detail, the Super Seven Incher.

Burger King said it was all about males, ages 18-34.

Now, they’re thinking a little differently – mainly because their sales have been riding a slippery slope in the downward direction.

According to an article in this week’s AdAge, John Chidsey, BK CEO, re-defined “superfans” for investors:

To clarify, it’s not just 18-to-34-year-old males, it’s all ages and all household demographics, with over half of them having children.

And interestingly, over 29% are 50 years of age or older.”

In other words, their marketing was all screwed up.  They spent a great deal of time and an inordinate amount of money alienating their core customers.

Women who not only purchase meals for themselves, but for their spouses, boyfriends, girlfriends, children and – perhaps most important – grandchildren.

Has Burger King learned its lesson? Time will tell.  The company is introducing new menu items and promotions to attract female customers back to its franchises.  No word yet on upcoming advertising campaigns, but most likely they will be backing away from the “wonderfully edgy” campaign their ad agency talked them into.

It’s another blow for the advertising myth of the 18-34 demographic.  Hazzah!

Most times, I’m pleasantly surprised.  Sometimes, my experience is so great I feel that I should be paying them for the privilege.

Such was the case this week with Wine Entre Femme, an organization of professional women in the wine industry.

Holly Buchanan and I traveled to Napa Valley to discuss marketing with this group of women, who had traveled from all over the globe – France, South Africa, Japan, Turkey – to learn, share, and explore.

This is the cream of the crop – vice-presidents of marketing, chief financial officers, vintners, owners.  Both Holly and I were immediately struck by an extremely rare balance of professionalism and personal friendship.

After rocking the house with our presentation and three 30-minute roundtable discussions, I came away with this:

These women know their sh**.

Whether a third-generation grower or second-career vintner, each of these women has immersed herself in the creation of wine.  She sees the big picture of all that’s required to make a successful business, from research to finance to marketing.  She isn’t afraid of hard work, and often laughs at the “romantic” perception people have of owning a winery.  As one woman told me, “Our way of life is hard work – it’s agriculture.”

These women see the big picture.

They do their homework, think big, but try to make business decisions based on reality.  Should we create an off-shoot label with a cute name to attract women?  How do we protect the integrity of our original brand?  Do we even have the financial and operational collateral necessary to give it a try? They realize that sometimes, the answer is no.  Holly and I spent a great deal of time talking to this group about “owning” whatever segment of the market they focus on, not just to follow a fad in marketing.

These women are family first, competitors second.

With literally thousands of wines flooding the market, these women are competing with each other for distribution and shelf space.  But they recognize the power of relationships.  The Wine Entre Femme members not only come together to learn; they share their secrets with each other and bond in ways that empower them all.

Holly and I broke bread (and drank plenty of wine) with these women at their Farewell Dinner on Monday evening, and laughed till we cried at the love these women have for each other and each others’ wines.

Women running up and down the Barrel Room of Trinchero Family Estates, grabbing the wines of their friends and telling others to try some.

Women telling stories of battling Mother Nature and bankers in suits.

Women who realize that in coming together and growing as a force to be reckoned with, they will break down the barriers of a male-dominated industry.

Every industry could learn from what this group does and believes in.  I know I have. I miss them already.