I love reading about choice architecture over at the Nudge blog, I just happen to find a local example.

There are hundreds of lottery kiosks in Saskatchewan.  Pretty much every gas station and convenience store offers lottery tickets.  You wouldn’t think any of these places where you buy your lottery tickets differentiate at all but I found one.

At Superstore on Rochdale blvd. the lottery kiosk offers a small incentive to come check lottery tickets there.  Usually when you check a lottery ticket and it isn’t a winner you throw it in the trash.  At the Superstore lottery kiosk you put your name on the back of it and enter a draw for a prize.  Doesn’t seem like much does it?  But would you rather have no chance at winning the draw or at least a small chance?  I know I’d take the latter.

In an industry that offers a commodity (something you can find anywhere for the same price) this lottery kiosk has created an incentive to become a repeat customers.  Choice architecture is underrated and growing in importance.

What small incentive you could offer your customers so they’ll want to come back again and again?

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

BEXDM5AZVCKN

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Have you experienced this yet?  A random number texts you “HUGE SALE ON (Insert product), BEST PRICE IN TOWN, LOOK NO FURTHER FOR YOUR (Insert product) NEEDS!”

It has happened a couple of times now and I don’t like it.  Here’s why if you use text-message advertising we’re both losing.

1.  I have not given you permission to interrupt me on my phone, doing so makes me strongly dislike whatever the message is you want me to read.

2.  You seem lazy and disrespectful, I want to return the favor.  I’ll call you back or MySask411 your number to see who you are and when I find out I’ll realize how elementary your understanding of marketing really is.  I will not forget this.

3.  The more niche focused your text-message deal is, the better your chance of it being completely unrelated to my purchasing patterns.  EXAMPLE: Niche focus, “HUGE SALE ON GRANITE”   Broad focus: “HALF OFF ICE CREAM AT COLD STONE” – The first one you lose all credibility, the second only works if the person receiving the text sees value in what you’re texting.

Moral of the story?  Lay off the Spam sandwiches, you’re hurting your personal brand and wasting my time.

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A long, long, time ago advertisers would interrupt people to get their message in front of them.  Commercials interrupting your favorite show, coupons in your mailbox, awkwardly placed billboards, branding of anything and everything, commercials interrupting the top 10 countdown on the radio, telemarketers trying to sell you something, sales people showing up at your door, and video billboards promising even more interruptions than static billboards.

There was no permission established so eventually these were bound to fail once the market was saturated with messages competing for the next chance to interrupt you.

Enter Seth Godin coined term “permission based marketing“.

I need to be friends with you for you to show up in my Facebook newsfeed or to be able to post on my wall.

I need to be following you on Twitter to receive your tweets.

I need to subscribe to your e-mail newsletter to receive it.

I have never been forced to watch a Youtube video, I choose what I want to watch.

I can’t force you to read my blog, it’s your choice.

Notice a trend here?  To communicate with people you must have their permission, no matter what medium you use.  Marketing hasn’t gone anywhere since “social media” took over, it just got smarter.  The winners now will be the ones who understand permission based marketing and come up with the newest innovative way to acquire permission.  It’s the next generation of word-out-mouth.

On the other hand, I hate to hear campaigns talking about “mass-text-messaging” services and mass e-mail marketing.  Just further attempts at interrupting more people to tell them a message they don’t want to hear.

If you want to delve further into the topic pick up this book:

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Anytime you cross someone in a bad way they will remember.  Your reputation is your business.  We have the ability to communicate online with thousands of people instantly, it is what those people say about you that becomes your reputation.

Humans remember the bad things much longer than the good, if you have broken someone’s trust in the past I’d suggest working on making it better soon because it’s going to take a while.  Think of the last person who broke your trust, have you worked with them since?  How do you feel about him/her?

Trust is a peculiar trait, difficult to earn but once trust is established amazing feats can be achieved.  On the contrary, if you lose someone’s trust it is extremely difficult to earn back and you probably ruined the relationship you had with that person.  In the small business landscape that Saskatchewan is, you can’t afford to break someone’s trust, word spreads too quickly.

Remember:

• you can’t hide your reputation
• acquiring and keeping ones’ trust will be one of the most important things you ever do in business
• bad things spread much faster than good
• people who really do trust you will defend your reputation as if it were their own
• if your business is not based on integrity you will lose in the long run

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Cause marketing is utilizing a non-profit organization as a means of putting a for-profit brand or product in front of someone in return for fundraising and awareness.  Anytime you partner with a charity for anything it is a win-win situation.  The charity gains funding and exposure to a group of people it may not have been able to touch and the company gets to show people that they actually do care by helping out a charity.

Cause marketing is growing in part because some large players are getting involved such as Pepsi with it’s refresh project.  Other companies have the charity aspect as a part of their day to day business like Toms Shoes, their fascinating business strategy is worth a read.

The example I love to tell people about is a local company.  Coda Clothing & Shoes (@CodaClothing) throughout the year does not promote the store or sales via any mass media type other than the large billboard on the side of their building shown here:

Instead of telling everyone in Regina to come to Coda, they host Charity fashion shows where a large amount of money is donated to a specific charity and Coda gets to show off their new line of clothing.  It’s difficult not to like companies like Coda that are active in the community, that care about your city, and that want to give back.

I love the concept behind cause marketing because in this ever-changing marketing world you can never be certain as to what is the best medium to be broadcasting your message on.  Cause marketing works because it’s like putting a huge sign on your company’s building that says, “WE CARE”.

So when you’re thinking about the next big ad campaign to roll out with, why not pair up with a charity and try help them too, you’d be surprised at what you can do.

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“You can be traditional in a non-traditional medium and as well, you can be non-traditional in a traditional medium.”

I heard this for the first time on the Six Pixels of Separation podcast.   Joseph Jaffe said it to Mitch Joel talking about what is currently taking place across all mediums.  I think that statement is very applicable for areas such as Saskatchewan, that have a much slower adoption rate for online technology and media.  Let me explain.

In Saskatchewan companies need to focus on bridging the gap between traditional and new media.  It would be ignorant not to be exploring what you could be doing online as well, to spend your entire budget on internet marketing.  If you can figure out how to be non-traditional in a traditional medium you already have a head start on the competition.  So how could you go about doing this?  Simple.

Begin by knowing that your customers have the most marketing influence in the World, give them the tools to spread your message.  Put your web-site on all printed material, if you’re on Twitter put your username on your business cards and e-mail signature.  Start producing content that your followers would want to consume be it video, pictures, audio, or a blog.  Put that content in one easy place for them to access.  Now finally they have a reason to go to your website.

Refine it.  Get better at it.  Keep improving.  In no time you’ll have a strong online presence that will pair nicely with your communication offline.

The other route that many companies are taking is the default, a traditional message in a non-traditional medium.  These campaigns standout because they just don’t seem to fit, they’re lame and their creators obviously don’t understand the medium.

Using Twitter as a one-way messaging service like a commercial.

Starting a Facebook group for no apparent reason.

Unsolicited mass e-mail marketing.

Anytime you interrupt me to put your message in front of me I probably won’t like it or remember it.  On the flip side, if you have a interesting and innovative way of telling me what you’re about or you start a conversation, I’ll probably listen, if I like what I hear I’ll support you and most likely try to influence others to do the same.

Just because you’re “online” doesn’t give you the right to dictate your message to me, all we hear is the same ol’ bark coming from a different dog.

What impression do you get when you see a company in a new medium using the same traditional messaging?

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