How come wine company’s never offer a contest where you could win something on the bottom of a cork? Ok, you’re right, people who buy $50-$100 bottles of wine do not care about whatever it is under the cork, as long as it smells like fine wine. I’m talking about the cheap inexpensive wine, you know the bottles that no one is aging in the cellar, the ones that you buy for the weekend and if they last till Monday you’re having wine with supper.
I see an opportunity here. You could develop a classy contest, partner with the New Yorker or Napa Valley and offer a prize people will talk about around the water cooler.
Creating an incentive for customers to look for your wine at the store can be a powerful tactic. With whatever excuse you come up with as to the reason why wine company’s don’t do this, ask yourself, why? And why couldn’t they? I am open for a discussion.
Photo Credit: Gary Tamin
Many company’s have an e-newsletter and I believe the majority of those company’s should not or need to take a lesson from the masters. Here’s why.
How many e-mail newsletters do you subscribe to? Out of those, how many, when you see it hit your inbox are “drop everything you’re doing to read the newsletter”? Very few I bet. On the flip side, how many were you subscribed to that when you received it, there was nothing of value to you whatsoever? Probably a lot more.
The best example of how to do an e-mail newsletter is from Chip and Dan Heath. They do not have a schedule they publish on, they only send it when they have enough content that they are satisfied that the newsletter provides exceptional value to the reader. It delivers value.
Granted, they are authors of two best selling books, and write a column in Fast Company magazine but they offer a lot of free content on their site and the newsletter is no different. The best part about it is that you don’t feel like they are bragging about their work in the newsletter, nor are they trying to sell you something, they genuinely want to fill your appetite of useful knowledge. Because I get this feeling from them I remain as a subscriber.
If you don’t have enough content that provides value the solution that I would recommend is quite simple; DON’T SEND THE NEWSLETTER!
Now it’s your turn, do you have an example of a great newsletter? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
Word-of-Mouth of course. If you disagree, please, I’d love to hear why in the comments below. Word-of-mouth is the most authentic and effective because for it to occur successfully, there must be more than a minimum level of trust established. Let me explain.
If I don’t trust you I will never take your advice on anything, let alone a product I will be purchasing. On the contrary, if I trust you a lot (an influencer in my life) I will take your word on what I should buy over any marketing message no matter how clever it is.
Trust = influence.
As fast as we can share our opinions on Twitter, Facebook, blogs etc. I can’t fathom why more businesses haven’t created incentives for customers to share their delightful experiences online for others to see. EXAMPLE: Foursquare is becoming a very useful tool for me, now that people are sharing their opinions openly when checking in.
Your brand isn’t your website, store, logo or your OWN perception of your company. Your brand is what other people say about you and the internet makes it much easier to say anything about your company, positive or negative.
This is your warning, it’s only going to increase, how are you encouraging positive word-of-mouth?
On September 16th the Executing Social Media conference will be held in Regina at the Queensbury Convention Centre. Now I may be a bit biased but I think they have a great lineup of speakers. Some locals and some from abroad all taking about our favorite topic, online media.
Besides myself the list of speakers includes:
Kip Simon – President, 22 Fresh
Mike Klein Senior Online Communications Strategy at University of Saskatchewan
Philippe Leclerc, Interactive Communications Manager at the City of Regina
Adam Herstein - Partner, Pitblado LLP
Doug Walker - President, WebWalker
Ryan Lejbak – CEO & Co-Founder, ZU
To see all the speakers and presentation outlines click here. Let me know if you are attending as we may organize a small Tweet up the night of the conference.
Photo Credit: Hubspot.com
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