To our future....

This morning brings a great sense of optimism, hope and a renewed enthusiasm, so raise a glass (or a mug of coffee) to our future. One of my colleagues just walked in the office and said "it is going to be a beautiful morning" and she is absolutely right.

Today is the first day of a new beginning...and it is going to be great!

What is your consumer willing to give up?

There was an interesting study released recently by Solutions Research Group of Toronto...it ranked what consumers will give up first to save money and what would be the last to go.

The bottom line was that they will give up almost anything else in their household except their home internet service.

In order of cuts from first to last:
1. Events such as concerts and sports
2. Movies (in theaters)
3. DVD purchases
4. Magazine subscriptions and renewals
5. Cable TV additional services/extras
6. Video game purchases
7. Home phone
8. Cell phone
9. DVD rentals
10. Home Internet

As a business, it is even more important than ever that your website is current, informative and compelling.

Is it easy to navigate? Can your consumers find the information fast? 79% of visitors to your site don't read...they scan...so get to the point fast. Add new photos, add new information. Keep it fresh and new. There isn't a better time than right now to take a close look at your website. We have here...and our new website will launch next week!

Travel Trends

In our shop, we have always said that people will continue to travel, despite the economy and gas prices.

Most of us believe that travel is our right. We work hard and deserve it. With our hectic schedules we need vacations as a way to regain our sense of family and togetherness. We need to stop the world for a minute and get away for it all. And, we want it to be a real, genuine experience.

An interesting study was presented recently by Peter Yesawich of Y Partnerships (I have long followed his excellent work!)...a few highlights:

* Family time is an important reason to travel.
* Celebration vacations are becoming increasingly popular - celebrating milestones such as birthdays and anniversaries as a reason to travel.
* People are taking fewer trips but still traveling. They are "trading down but not trading out."
* Value is everything...people are looking for ways to economize when they travel, even affluent travelers
* People will travel about 4 hours...which in a drive market is about the distance of a tank of gas.

These are simple trends to capitalize on in your marketing....for example, create a value-added offer, such as a room upgrade, and call it the "Special Occasion Package or Celebrations Package". Make it a genuine value-added (consumers are smart), and not too restrictive (please don't make it available only Tuesday nights in November), and then email it to your database. I would offer it for a limited time, meaning the consumer needs to make reservations by a certain date, and this drives some urgency. Your potential guest can look at the emotional side "yes, let's go away to celebrate our anniversary this year" and then rationalize it by saying "...and what a great value."

This is a great time to get creative!

"In this economy"

It is today's mantra, isn't it? How many times a day now do we hear "In this economy...?" Nearly every client meeting, prospective client meeting, discussions with friends and with family seems to begin with this phrase. Yet, I remain completely optimistic for us all.

My mantra starts with "In this economy...." but goes on to add "....we have the opportunity to shake up the status quo, to be different, to stand out, to spend less and be more creative..." And, isn't that exciting? As marketers, we get totally charged when we land on something different...and immediately we know at a gut level that it will work. It creates greatness - and ultimately sales - for our clients. No, it isn't as easy as it was - my, have times changed - but for our clients, it does present great and interesting opportunities.

We just need to dig a little deeper, uncover a little more, work alot harder and . How lucky are we.....we have this enormous opportunity right now to bring fresh ideas to the table and to be great.

"In this economy"....this is the fun stuff. Bring it on. Every day.

Women rule the world

I run a seminar for businesses called "Women Rule the World" where we discuss the enormous influence women have on just about everything. Recently, while preparing for a new client meeting, we refreshed our knowledge just a bit...which is always fun....and is worth repeating here.

There are boilerplate statistics, and there are some general concepts that are important to know when marketing to women:

Shopping is a process of exploration for women. They seek out an emotional connection to your business....they respond to warm and real messages. They like see themselves as active (which means your photography should too) and they embrace all that life brings forth. And, with an emotional connection to your business comes loyalty.

And loyalty is key....if a woman is satisfied with her experience, she will tell an average of 21 other people. This can create a huge fan base for your business. But, watch out the other way. If she is unhappy, expect it to triple.

Women want to know that your business cares, and that you appreciate that they chose your business. I recently bought something from a catalog retailer, and was so pleased that I received a "thank card" in the mail with a $20 gift certificate. I'm in marketing and know all the tricks, but I still had a little "ohhh...they care about me" moment!

Women also want to know that you care about the world, that you are good people. Women will pay 20% more if they think your business is socially conscious. But, they want authenticity and genuineness. Don't say it if you don't mean it. And by all means, do as you say.

A few other statistics....

Over 80% of all consumer purchases are made by women
58% earn college degrees (compared to 42% of men)
50% are managers and professionals

70% of all new businesses are started by women, and women-owned businesses are growing twice as fast in numbers, three times as fast in employees and four times in sales revenues.

53% of investment decisions are made by women
80% of home improvement purchases are made by women
60% of all new cars are purchased by women


Women approach life with drive, passion and optimism and they have a great joy in being .....which makes them interesting and fun consumers!

The experience is worth the price of gas

We are so fortunate to live and work right in the heart of the White Mountains. It is an area that relies heavily on tourism visitors. This summer, we've been hearing concerns that the price of gas may deter visitors from driving here. However, we have long maintained that if the experience is unique and that differential is marketed effectively, visitors will come.

Today, travel is not considered a luxury...it is a right, a necessity, a "payback" for all the hard work and long hours we put in, and it is a necessary way to reconnect with our families. Travel isn't going away....despite the price of gas. We will be more discerning and more demanding with our dollars (see previous post about the guest service) and may wait to check out the forecast before we commit...but we will travel.

Which leads me to the point of this post....one of my sons and I spent the weekend hiking around the Presidential Range and stayed up at the Mizpah Hut. At dinner the first night, we sat next to a man from Philadelphia who had driven up with a friend and their 4 sons, ranging in age from 8 to 11. When I remarked that I was surprised he made the drive with the price of gas (in a Suburban, no less), he said that it really wasn't that bad...between the two men they figured that they would spend about $150 each on gas. He said that "it wasn't a bad price to pay for this experience, and it was definitely worth it." He made an analogy about bottled water and that people were buying it despite the price and waste..."it is all a matter of perspective, and what is important to you."

The next night, we sat next to a couple from Austin, TX who was at a conference in Boston. When the conference was over, they rented a car, drove up and then hiked up to Mizpah for the weekend. "For the experience...we can't get this in Austin, and we were 'right' here, so we had to come do this." Sunday morning, they left the hut at 6:30 am to hike down and then drive to catch a noon flight out of Manchester....squeezing every possible minute out of this experience.

And, finally, we bunked with a couple of chaperones for a high school class trip. They were from an hour north of Toronto and do this every year with their junior Outdoor Education class. Did the price of gas deter them at all? "This is nothing compared to our prices in Canada...and it is well worth it. The kids get so much out of this experience."

Here you can climb the tallest mountain in the Northeast and its surrounding peaks, stay in a mountainside hut, eat hearty meals family-style and meet lots of interesting people.

I'd say that this unique experience is well worth the price of gas.

Teens and Social Networking

An interesting little fact....

The average teen has signed up for over four social networking sites and currently belongs to two. Teens are receptive to advertising on these sites, where the majority of teens learn about:
• Financial services (63%)
• Movies in theaters (59%)
• Mobile services and accessories (58%)
• Travel (57%)
• Other websites (53%)

The conversation starts now - Social Media

Social media is simply about a conversation. A conversation that takes place with or without you...so now is the time to figure out how to be a part of your customers' conversation.

We presented an educational session last week on social media...and it was great. The audience was very engaged and interested. Some were currently involved in social media but most had not yet determined what worked best for them.

Social media is one of the new buzz words, as is social networking. And there are hundreds of ways to involve yourself in social media. It can seem very overwhelming. In our session, we attempted to break it down into those opportunities that are currently most relevant to doing business.

We presented what we call "custom social networking sites" using a platform called "Ning." We love Ning in our shop...in fact, I think we are borderline obsessive about it. (For more information on the phenomenon called Ning, see the May 2008 issue of Fast Company). To date, we have created 6 Ning sites....each designed as a forum of "like-minded" people - a room in which to hold a conversation about a common interest.

For example, one that is taking off nicely is icommutebetter.org. The site icommutebetter.org is simply a conversation for anyone who has come up with better ways to get from work to play. We have just 21 members so far, but they are engaged in the discussion. We post comments, photos, videos - all revolving around the idea of commuting.

Another is womenofthewilderness.com which is a community for women who are outdoor enthusiasts.

Simple idea? Yes. Conversations should be comfortable and easy. Simple to create? Most definitely yes. This is why we are so into Nings right now.... it allows us the opportunity to quickly and easily put up a "room" in which to host a conversation. Now our challenge is to drive more like minded people there to join the conversations. While I'm confident that by the nature of the topics, we will attract enthusiasts - we can not rely on a "build it and they will come" mentality.

We've built the rooms, and now we must send out the invitations to come visit, stay and chat a while. Stay tuned...we are working on that part now.

Adventures on Water

I have had the great pleasure of chaperoning two school field trips the last two weeks. Last week was a "re-enactment" of the Lewis & Clark trip that involved a 22 mile canoe trip down the Saco with the 7th grade class. It was a crash course for me...quite humbling when I realized I didn't remember a single thing from my own middle school history. I had to ask alot of questions.

Then, last night I returned from a whitewater trip up to the Kennebec with the 8th grade. What amazing trips they were. Both trips were fairly tame on my adventure scale, but my adrenaline rush came from seeing both experiences through the kids' eyes. On the canoe trip, the moment came when they made the connection between their trip and Lewis & Clark's. One boy commented when we had to portage the canoes, that it must have been awful (although he used much more colorful and inappropriate language) for Lewis & Clark to carry their heavy hollowed out canoes over land so our canoes weren't that bad.

On the whitewater rafting trip, it was amazing to see the change in the kids' personalities when they were on the boats. All the "too cool" and "tough guy" facades just melted away, and they were just kids having an awesome time. In every single case, they took the importance of working as a team very seriously and bonded as a team. The boats and the experience leveled the playing field and everyone was the same for those four hours.

There must be a metaphor for life in this experience somewhere. Maybe it is as simple as the importance of working as a team particularly in rough times - so that you can stay afloat and make it into the calmer waters together. Hmmm........ I might just run with that one.

An unlikely client

A local church approached us recently and asked if we could help them develop a strategic plan to grow their membership. We paused just for a moment, as we are quite an eclectic group of creatives, and me, a traditionally-raised Catholic (no meat on Fridays served with a little side of guilt) and now not even a "C & E" person - a term one of my college marketing professors used meaning "only on Christmas & Easter." But we do love challenges here, and we quickly came to realize that this church was no different than any of our other clients - a business looking for more customers. And what a great client they are....nice people, open to new ideas and really motivated to grow and succeed in this competitive marketplace. We are getting to know their "business" better by speaking to their existing "customers" and we are working on defining their brand: helping them craft their story and determine what makes them unique.

This is the aspect I love most about my job - the diversity. Every day, something different. Around every corner there are new, exciting and interesting opportunities, sometimes from the most unexpected sources.

Be an advocate

A departure from my usual notes on marketing, this is a comment about being an advocate for healthcare. Not in the sense of the expense of healthcare...although I definitely have strong feelings on that subject. But on how important it is to advocate for your own, your child's and your loved ones healthcare.

We on day 5 of a stay in a nearby children's hospital for what was to be a simple, routine overnight procedure. When the procedure was over, our baby just didn't seem right, and we knew something was wrong. We spoke to every nurse, every doctor and every resident who entered our room, and we weren't heard. Every person told us it was just the anesthesia.

We firmly believe that we are the advocates of our children's healthcare. We just kept dogging it, and finally 20 hours later one nurse and one doctor heard. We said what we had said many times before, that there is something wrong with our child and the doctor stopped us and said "that is all I need to hear, you are an experienced mother and if you say there is something wrong then let's find out what it is."

24 hours after our baby's first procedure, he was rushed back into surgery. When we thanked the doctor who listened, he said "don't thank me, you were right on. As doctors, we need to remember - as we are taught in school - that the parents always know their children best and we need to listen to them".

It is ok to ask. It is ok to insist. It is ok not to give up. We have a great deal of respect for our family's doctors - particularly at this children's hospital. They are world class.

But, only we know our children and our loved ones the best, and it is ok to say "something just isn't right." This situation was a great reminder for us never to give up and to always advocate for our healthcare.

The power of sig lines

How many emails do you send out during a day? Imagine if you could send a marketing message 10, 25, 50 of your existing and potential consumers per day for free. Use your email signature line. Too simple? Many of the most effective marketing tools are that simple. Most are simple common sense. Set up your sig line to communicate your brand positioning, your unique selling proposition, your differential. Use it to direct those consumer to interesting ideas. Position yourself and your business as a trusted resource, an expert. Do you have a blog? Do you have a youtube video that you've created for your business? Do you participate (or better yet, own) a particular social networking site? Add these to your signature line. Simple? Yes. This one is a "no brainer."

Value and service will win

At breakfast this morning, the owner of the restaurant explained to me how much her food costs have increased in the last few years - her cost of eggs has more than quadrupled, her bread is going to $4.00/loaf, etc. Unfortunately, this is the way things are right now and how we as businesses deal with it will make the difference in our success.

The key to brands surviving these times will be differentiation through value and service. Genuine differentiation, not the "steepest, widest, longest" differentiation (pardon my reference to the heydays of Sunday River marketing - however, it was brilliant then - one of the best marketing campaigns of the time.)

Despite the rising costs of everything, your customers will still buy - they still need to eat, they will still want to work out (they need to buy gear for that), and they still need their "Americano" coffee to start their day. But they will make you work harder for their business. They will look for value - not discounts, but value. They will spend their very hard earned money on those brands and with those business who demonstrate value - and, most importantly - here is the real secret to success right now: consumers will spend money with you if you show them that you care. Not candy and flowers type of love (although that could never hurt). You need to show them that you care that they've chosen your business or brand over the many others. Show them - tell them - that you appreciate that they've chosen your business. The businesses that figure this out - and quickly - are the ones who will win in these times.

Save a bag, save the world

After work tonight Bruce and I were brainstorming on a new marketing idea....which I won't share here yet. But it was born from the idea that plastic bags are dead and reusable bags are becoming so hot. We calculated that since my family made the commitment a year ago to only use cloth bags for groceries, we have eliminated 1300 plastic bags. Just one family. 1300 plastic bags that never made it into the environment. Can you imagine if every person just in our shop made that commitment for one year? What an impact we could make. And, it made me think that reusable bags shouldn't just be for groceries....why not carry bags in the car and use them for any purchase? A book at Borders, a t-shirt at Banana, a jersey at Pearl, etc....you get the point.

Commuting better

After two weeks of lively discussion about new social media, our group launched a social networking site at ning....icommutebetter.ning.com. We have three other sites planned and it is our hope to not only spread the social fever but start a global conversation about the things we are passionate about here. Stay tuned....