Elements of Success

To be heard ... be seen ... and be smart – these are the elements of success.

This is the basis of Sullivan Creative’s spring marketing campaign, which we’ll be featuring at a meeting of the Concord (NH) Chamber of Commerce and at the Massachusetts Statewide Training and Resources Exposition (STAR).

To be heard and be seen – this is basically a matter of getting yourself out there, which is critically important in tough economic times. Make sure people are seeing your image and hearing your message. They need to recognize that you’re still here, and you’re keeping things positive and planning for the future.

To be smart is to make sure you know what your business objectives are, and then working with a firm that can help you achieve them. You need to develop a strong working relationship with skilled marketing professionals. They can help you craft a compelling story and orchestrate it with an integrated marketing campaign that will be seen and heard by your customers and prospects.

In difficult times, some companies will fall by the wayside. Yours doesn’t have to be one of them. If you make the elements of success work for you, you will survive – and prosper!

Pam Sullivan

Delivering True Customer Service

Some days, it seems true customer service is on its way to extinction. With today’s advanced telecommunication and Internet technology, you’d think prompt, responsive customer service would be easy to achieve ... but the opposite seems to be true.

About a month ago, looking for better Internet service, I called up Verizon, and quickly got lost in endless phone trees, with scratchy background music and dozens of recorded pitches for different products. None of the branches took me where I needed to go, and I never talked to a human being at all. Finally, I sent them an email, but I still haven’t heard anything back, four weeks later.

In contrast, I had a name and contact information at Comcast. I left a message, she called me back within 4 hours, and we had a signed contract for new Internet service within 48 hours.

It’s obviously not about the technology, but about the contrasting ways these two big companies put it to use. Customer service is all about communication. Comcast understands this, but Verizon doesn’t seem to.

Customer service is also about standing behind what you offer, and representing it fairly. Sullivan Creative had been having problems with our Xerox color printer, and called in our service company.

The technician puzzled over it for awhile, and said “We have to get Xerox technical support on that.” However, it turned out he couldn’t, because the company wasn’t authorized by Xerox to work on the equipment.

For two years, they had been working on the printer, leading us to believe that they were Xerox-certified! We were getting substandard service, and the printer was declining, but they didn’t care. We sent the guy away and brought in a Xerox-certified technician; after 15 minutes of adjustments, the printer was as good as new.

I guess true customer service comes down to respect for your customers, which we were obviously not getting from the printer repair people. Verizon may think it respects its customers, but after those phone tree experiences, we sure feel disrespected.

They may think they’re saving money, but somebody should do the math. Between disrespected existing customers and lost potential customers, they’re probably losing money. (It’s said that it costs 7 times as much to get a new customer as to retain an existing one.)

I know that when I have a choice, I will always go with a company that I can get through to. They don’t have to pick up the phone right away, but they should give me a way to leave a message, and then get back to me. After all, that’s how we do it at Sullivan Creative.

Pam Sullivan

Announcing...the Color of the Year!

Mimosa is more than just a flower…it is the color for 2009, according to Pantone. Pantone is the worldwide color authority, providing color standards used by designers in the marketing, fashion, and interior design fields.

Color is a powerful design tool…adding emotion and impact to print and electronic communications. (See our newsletter article for more on color theory. Pantone describes Mimosa (PANTONE® #14-0848) as “a warm, engaging yellow” that expresses “hope and reassurance.”

So look for Mimosa in fashion and home accessories. Hey, we could all use some brightness and warmth in our lives!

Marketing During a Recession

A recent story on NPR’s “Marketplace” revealed that, for the first time, GM will not be buying any commercials during the Superbowl: “They can’t afford it.”

However, not everybody believes that this makes sense. In the same story, Peter DeLorenzo, publisher of an online automotive journal, says that car companies should “retain as much of their advertising and marketing presence as possible, because they are going to need all of the image enhancement that they can get their hands on.”

This same discussion has taken place in every recession. As it turns out, a number of people have believed for a long time that a recession is the time to increase marketing activity.

This time around, writing in the International Journal for Research in Marketing, business school professor Gary Lilien says that, in a recession, “firms with a strategic emphasis on marketing” and “an entrepreneurial culture” can sense an opportunity and mount “an aggressive response.” The most successful will be companies with “well-recognized brands and differentiated products,” such as Wal-Mart and Amazon.com. – but not limited to such big companies.

Marketing expert Jon Miller agrees. He focuses in on direct marketing. “The channels with the least ability to measure marketing ROI” (such as advertising) “are cut especially hard as companies shift spending to more measurable channels,” including direct marketing and online marketing. “Investment bank Cowen and Company looked at the last six recessions since 1950 and found that spending on direct marketing grew during the six recessions.”

Miller recommends using lead management to maximize the value of each lead, focusing on your house list, and appealing to the nervous buyer. “A recession can mean more risk-adverse buyers. ... It means that younger companies need to do more than ever to reassure and build trust. Tactically, this means including customer references, reviews, expert opinions, awards, and other validation as part of your marketing.”

Confirming Miller’s emphasis on measuring ROI, John Carroll on another NPR program pointed out that “direct marketing tells you exactly where the fishes are” and predicted that “direct marketing expenditures in the U.S. this year will increase.”

Award Judging: an Inside Look

I just returned from judging the John Caples International Awards in New York City. One thing I became aware of while I was there was how important it is to follow the directions when submitting an entry to an awards show – not just Caples, but any awards show. The judges have strict criteria that they follow. It’s up to you to carefully read the submission form, and make sure you satisfy the requirements for your category.

Caples is an interesting show. It’s named for an award-winning copywriter, John Caples. Unlike the DMA’s ECHO awards and the NEDMA awards, which place heavy emphasis on the results of a campaign, the Caples Awards honor creativity. That’s one of the reasons I like to judge the show. You see more creative work there, and I’m exposed to a great many really creative entries from all over the world.

The initial judging is by your creative peers, in groups of three. Entries go through two eliminating rounds. Then each Finalist is judged by two groups of International Creative Directors. Each Creative Director awards points for concept, copy and art. All the points are added up. An entry must reach a preset numerical score to win an award; if none does, no award is given.

This is pretty careful judging. If you’re considering submitting a piece to the Caples Awards, you should evaluate it carefully to make sure it’s innovative enough and creative enough. The judges are professionals in the field with a lot of experience, and there will be three different people looking at your work to see if it will advance to the next Round.

Another thing is to allow enough time to fill out the entry forms for this or any awards show. All of the competitions ask for a brief description of the piece, and it’s very important that your description be really, really clear.

Presentation is also important. When you send in your pieces, they should be neat, properly marked and nicely put together. It should be easy for the judges to handle and evaluate the work, but judges are also kind of impressed when a lot of care was given in putting the entry together.

Pam Sullivan

http://www.sullivancreative.com/