Top 5 Marketing Mistakes NOT To Make in 2011

Most of my marketing and advertising experience focuses around Real Estate, but as I speak with authors and other managers here and there I see some common "denominators" when it comes to mistakes in marketing and advertising that put up barriers to success.

Most of the time I find people looking for this generic "Step-by-step" approach of "one size fits all" --especially when it comes to the Internet.  The truth is that "one size doesn't fit all" and that type of mindset should be avoided.  Let's take a look at the top 5 mistakes most make when it comes to marketing and advertising:

1. "Marketing and Advertising are one and the same." 
   Marketing is best defined as "telling the story of the product".  Advertising therefore is the mechanism in which that story is delivered to the consumer.  How one "tells the story" within the advertising is made up of a combination of things such as images, descriptions, features, benefits of those features, data, etc.  When you approach the two separately, you are able to develop a more comprehensive and effective plan.  When you simply lump the two together a lot often gets missed.  For example when my wife lists a property and we set out to get it sold for the owner; the marketing is about telling the story of that house through a package of photos, property information, description of the features and benefits, and conveying a sense of living there. 
   
   All of which is delivered through various advertising mechanisms and channels to potential buyers.  Office Divvy is a great example of a local company that does an excellent job telling the story of the unique service products the company offers through multiple advertising mechanisms and channels. 
   
   
2. "Everyone is my target customer."  There is often this notion that products apply to everyone.  I hear this a lot with authors of books.  Not every reader is the same, and every book written will not appeal to every reader.  Maybe everyone should read the book, but the reality is that everyone will not.  The same goes for other products and services.  If you are not sure exactly who your target market is, find a starting point from similar products or services.  As you venture out to deliver your message to them through advertising you may find your target market being something other than you initially expected.  At which time, you can tweak your strategies.  Books are a great example here.  "Harry Potter" was written for young readers.  The "Twilight" series was written for teens.  Both found a very strong adult reading audience as well although that wasn't what was originally anticipated.  
   
   
3. "I Think People Will..." Strategies. 
   My wife and I have a little saying we go by when it comes to marketing and advertising, "It's about I know.  NOT what I think."  When you begin applying the "I think" attitude, you are basically applying only what you personally respond to and expect.  You are not everyone, and you are not every one of your customers.  To avoid this you have to look at the data and "listen" to what customers are telling you through the data to effectively deliver your message.  For example, there is this blanket notion sometimes that all buyers are online in Real Estate. 
   
   Contrary to this assumption are year-after-year surveys that show that about 85% to 90% shop online which leaves about 10% to 15% that are not shopping online.  Therefore, our advertising strategies must accommodate both online and offline methods to capture the widest possible buyer audience.  We do not stop placing signs on lawns for instance, but we do seek ways to enhance those signs based upon consumer behaviors such as adding smartphone scannable QR codes.  Did we decide to do this simply because we "thought people would use that"?  No.  We made the decision based upon the fact that consumers in many industries are utilizing QR codes provided on products to get more information. 
   
   
4. "Attention always gains you business." 
   Gaining attention alone is never a guarantee that you will gain business.  In fact, some attention can create undesired results and actually lose business.  I've come across blogs by professionals that are plastered with the industry they are in and the topics are filled with negative political perspectives that have little or nothing to do with their industry.  Sure they may have created attention, but have not attracted business because the message has no relevancy to the actual consumer.  In fact, they are probably alienating more business than they realize.  The notion of "Brand, You" comes to mind here as well and not one I find is executed very well often times.  When it comes to the individual, I focus more on building reputation based upon the expectations of consumers.   I find that when individuals start focusing on this "branding" of themselves they tend to get overly creative and the message of benefit to the consumer is never effective.  Brand focus in my opinion is more effective when it is built and centered around the message of relevant and beneficial products and services to the consumer.
   
   Although my wife (Kathleen West) is www.PalmCoastHomeShow.com, the site and the services it provides are a brand in and of itself designed to provide visitors with the best possible local Real Estate shopping experience blending her in with the services the site provides. 
   
   
5. "Advertising is an expense." 
   All businesses have necessary expenses to keep the business operating.  But not everything a business pays for is an expense.  Advertising is one of those things, and should be approached as an investment.  Like any investment an individual or business makes, you should expect a return.  For example, if I spend $100 on a print ad with a coupon discount and I receive a large response that increases my sales 20% over last year . . . the ad has paid for itself and provided a return.  Now if I spend $100 on that ad and never receive any response, my advertising is an expense and should be re-evaluated.  So you need to measure your business advertising and know which mechanisms are delivering a response from consumers which will allow you to maximize your investment and provide the most return.  The difficult thing here too is that not all advertising returns are so direct as the example above.  Some of those returns may be more indirect or realized over time.  For example, business cards are still relevant and handing them out is a beneficial means of advertising.  You may not immediately gain business from the recipient or the recipient may pass it on to another who ends up doing business with you.  Therefore, when it comes to business cards I look to get as many as possible at the lowest cost with the best appearance.  The investment is low and the return is therefore huge.  

So if you are revisiting your marketing and advertising initiatives for the new year, take a moment to see if any of those items are you.  Now's the time to make a change and get off on the right foot for great possibilities in 2011.

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The Real Estate 'For Sale' Sign Just Got Better With QR Codes

The 'For Sale' sign on the lawn of a property is still alive and well and continues to serve a purpose . . . letting others know the property is for sale.  In fact, buyers still continue to find properties of interest by these signs and continue to take drives to look for them in an area of interest.  But the sign has always had a huge barrier that has bothered my wife, Kathleen, and I . . . the lack of information.  You basically get three bits of information from the sign:

1. That the property is for sale
2. The company and agent the property is listed with
3. A phone number to call

So if the buyer does want to know more about the property they can either call the number on the sign or jot down the property address and look it up when they get home.  The buyer has really never been able to get any more information immediately other than maybe 'clunky' text message or 800-number requests . . . until now.

Realtor, Kathleen West (PalmCoastHomeShow.com) just launched scannable signs.  The lawn sign has a scannable QR Code (quick response code) which can be scanned with a smartphone and a scanning app such as Shop Savvy.  Once the code is scanned, the person is directed automatically to a site that contains the property information plus photos, local information such as schools, satellite maps, and more.  If the buyer wishes to schedule a showing or has more questions, simply click the 'Request More Information' button or touch the phone number on the screen to dial.  It's that easy. 

An example of the rider is below which you can scan the QR code on the screen to see the result at 13 Pinelark Ln in Palm Coast, FL:

 

The custom rider was created with help from Palm Coast Signs.  Fernando and his team have always done a wonderful job for us and provide quick turnaround.  

Strategies to Connect People to Policy: Communicating Economic Development to Residents | By: Harriet Lewis, PhD

How much information do residents need prior to the execution of a new economic development initiative?

Now, I’m not referring to economic development activities such as recruiting specific companies to bring jobs, because in the competitive market, confidentiality is key. Nor am I referring to activities such as economic development strategy development. I believe the trained professional should be allowed to develop the map for the community. I am referring to the specifics—such as the "how we will get there": 

“Will it require additional taxes for residents?”

“Will we need to offer special incentives that may be counter-productive to economic development in order to attract firms?”

“Does it create the jobs that residents are eager and able to perform?”

Too often local residents believe there is an attempt by economic development professionals to take advantage of them. It really does not matter whether or not there is any truth to the belief, the fact that the belief exists creates challenges for politicians and economic development professionals.

Economic development professionals are charged with creating an engine in the community that will spur jobs and improve the quality of life for its citizens, and at times, this involves attracting out-of-state businesses through incentives and ready-built infrastructure. In an ideal situation, the newly created jobs would offer salaries to support a family and improve their quality of life; unfortunately, too often this is not the case. It is also an unfortunate situation when there is a need for policy makers to leverage public revenues, in the hopes of attracting industry—industry that will come not this year, but a few years after new infrastructure has been built—to create the jobs that are needed now. Residents understand these challenges, but they don’t particularly like to be the last to find out—especially when they are being asked to foot the bill.

So what’s an economic development professional to do?

How can they get the support they need from the community in order to move initiatives forward without too much hassle?

Perhaps try communicating economic development ideas and plans with the community...

Residents seek transparency. Usually, when an economic development project encounters resistance from residents, it is because the residents do not believe that the economic development professionals are transparent and accountable in their actions to promote the community using tax dollars.

Economic development professionals need to act in a “community-oriented” way in relation to how they communicate with local residents.

There are three principles for communication that should be considered: focal point, accessibility and medium (aka FAM)...

First, the focal point is the single location for information. Information should not be “officially” coming from multiple economic development actors in a community. Economic development players need to determine who that entity will be to disseminate information as the “source”. In a municipality, should it be the city’s economic development department, the local chamber of commerce or the local private/public partnership? I don’t know, but it needs to be one entity disseminating the information, because other than that, the official information appears to be unorganized, political maneuvering, and counter-productive.

Second, the information must be accessible to everyone in the community. Too often the informed are the few members of the community who sit on economic development boards and local government committees, who at times have agendas of their own. When it is time to set an initiative in motion where community support is required, the community is uninformed. Local economic development officials need to launch a community-wide information campaign, aimed at various constituencies, to ensure broad representation of feedback for its initiatives.

Finally, the medium is the mode of communication used to connect people to policy. Proposed policies and new initiatives must be communicated broadly through a variety of media to reach every type of resident.

These should include the following:

• Hold regular town hall meetings
  Typically, there are opportunities for audience feedback in city council meetings, however there also needs to be regularly bi-monthly or quarterly community-wide meetings with one or two agenda items. These meetings should be widely advertised through local media and other outlets. At these meetings, information about proposed economic development initiatives should be presented. Audience participants should be allowed time to ask questions, evaluate the pros and cons of the initiative, and present alternative strategies to be considered at that meeting or perhaps at the one in the future.

• Capitalize on social media
  Economic development professionals must capitalize on the current trend of social media. Many of the constituents participate in social media. They need to have a presence on sites such as facebook, and perhaps a blog, in order to disseminate information and solicit feedback from interested audiences.

• e-Government websites
  Local governments and economic development agencies need to use their websites as much as possible as a source to disseminate information and solicit feedback. Economic development proposal summaries can be posted so that residents will have access to information in a written form to review at their leisure.

• Survey and Poll residents
  It is important to survey and poll residents regularly to ensure that they understand the initiatives being put forth that affect their daily lives, and to measure the effectiveness of the strategies or the delivery of the information. These surveys and polls should be random and scientific, outside of the current network of feedback like the e-Government websites and social media forums, and completed by third parties. This strategy should be implemented throughout the year for various initiatives.

The key to these strategies and the purpose of this article is to encourage opportunities to connect local residents to economic development initiatives early, in order to minimize backlash later.

Local economic development officials at a minimum must appear to be transparent to the local resident if they seek their support. This can be accomplished by employing the FAM principles. The days of assuming that one may be able slip a referendum on a ballot to be passed without backlash are over.

More importantly, why would an economic development professional want to slip something through, if it is really for the people?

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Harriet Lewis, PhD is the Co-Founder/President of Konesens Research, a Palm Coast, FL based international market research firm specializing in online data collection and panel development, and studies of social and economic interest.

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