Category: Marketing Management

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Branding Marketing Management Social Media

Convert Your Blog Posts Into White Papers And E-Books

'epub ebooks img' photo (c) 2009, Cristian Eslava - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/Create content once and utilize it many times. That is the advice I provide to clients.  The appetite for content seems to be insatiable. Many of us do not have the time to create new content at will. And, you do not need to do so. Here are ideas for you to repurpose and repackage content.

Convert A Multi-Part Blog Post Into A White Paper

A psychologist writing about how to be a better parent may spread the ideas over 3 or 4 posts. Consolidate them together.

  • Post the white paper on your website to download.
  • Include the white paper as part of a media package.
  • Hand out the white paper to prospective or current clients.

Convert A White Paper Into An E-Book

  • Post the e-book on your website to download.
  • Include a link to the e-book in a press release.
  • List the e-book on iTunes. It can be free or you might even make a few dollars selling it.

Convert Multiple Posts On A Similar Topic Into A White Paper

A lawyer with 5 or 7 posts all on wills can create a larger document. Such as  a white paper or e-book.

The Takeaway

There are many more ways to repurpose and repackage your content. Start with your blog and see how it progresses.

Over to you.  What are your thoughts?  Please comment below.

  1. How have your re-used your blog posts?
  2. How successful were your efforts to reuse the blog posts?
  3. What other repackaging ideas do you utilize?

If you would like to contact me, you may do so by visiting my LinkedIn page, following me on Twitter,  or e-mailing me at rcberman2 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Categories
Business Development Marketing Management Strategy

6 More Techniques to Repurpose Customer Success Stories

'Customers are the key to everything' photo (c) 2011, Dave Gray - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/ Prospective clients want to conduct business with successful companies. How do you prove your worth? CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORIES.

My prior post on this subject 6 Techniques to Repurpose Customer Success Stories generated requests for more techniques. Here are another half-dozen for you.

  1. Direct Marketing: Highlight a customer’s success in a mailer to prospects and customers.
  2. Webinars: Feature a successful customer on a webinar for prospects or customers.
  3. Live events: Invite customers to tell their stories at industry conferences or other events.
  4. Training sales reps: Integrate customer successes into sales training to educate reps. That way you are demonstrating the value that your company’s products and services deliver for customers.
  5. Sales conversations: Engage prospects with a relevant example of a successful customer.
  6. New-employee orientation:  Educate new employees about the organization’s value to its customers.

Bonus Techniques

I have written 4 other posts on Customer Success Stories. Click below to read them.

The Takeaway

Your best advocates are satisfied customers. Utilize their excellent results to obtain new clients.

Over to you.  What are your thoughts? Please comment below

  1. Have you successfully utilized any of these techniques?
  2. What other techniques would you add to the list?
  3. Are your customers interested in success stories as part of your sales process?

If you would like to contact me, you may do so by visiting my LinkedIn page, following me on Twitter,  or e-mailing me at rcberman2 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Categories
Branding Marketing Management Strategy

Failing Customer Expectations

'Spoon Me - Green Tea Frozen Yogurt with Coconut and Chocolate chips' photo (c) 2011, Calgary Reviews - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ Folks in business like to talk about exceeding customer expectations.  Enter the search  term, “exceeding customer expectations”  into Bing or Google and you will receive thousands of hits.

So why would businesses want to set customer expectations  and then fail them?  Let’s look at an example.

Kiwiburst Frozen Yogurt

I stopped into this Yogurt Shop before a client meeting.  I never had heard of them before.  The particular location was only open a couple of weeks.  The name sounded enticing to me.  Coincidentally, I had just finished listening to a book that featured a kiwi character –a New Zealander.  So, I went in.

What did I expect to find?

  • Signs with “G’Day mate” on them.
  • New Zealand flags or at least the colors of the flag.
  • A cute story about the origins of the name.

What did I actually find?

  • No New Zealand anything
  • No “Kiwi” flavor yogurt
  • A rather sad looking bin of cut up kiwi fruit in a back corner of the toppings section.

Vive La Difference!

The yogurt was no different than anywhere else.  I was disappointed in the interior.  With so many yogurt and ice cream stores around, why would I patronize the chain or this location in particular?

The Takeaway

If your company is setting customer expectations, then you must meet and hopefully, exceed them.

Over to you.  What do you think?  Please comment below.

  1. How often do you exceed customer expectations?
  2. How do you measure customer satisfaction?
  3. Does your company mission statement address meeting or exceeding customer expectations?

If you would like to contact me, you may do so by visiting my LinkedIn page, following me on Twitter,  or e-mailing me at rcberman2 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Categories
Marketing Management Strategy

Marketing Plans: Plan the Plan and Work the Plan

IT man versus salesmanphoto © 2009 Frits Ahlefeldt-Laurvig | more info (via: Wylio)
I was once asked by a business owner, “What do I need to do to move my company from a loss position to one of profits?”  I told her the answer was easy: increase revenues and decrease expenses.  I explained that the implementation was the hard part.

There were a few key steps along the journey to creating a marketing plan to elevate the firm to the next level. The points below are mainly focused only on the revenue side of the equation.  Equal care and analysis are needed to manage expenses.

Vision: We started with the owner’s vision for the business.  Then, we compared and contrasted the owner’s vision with what the employees described.  We identified and explored mismatches, overlaps and gaps.  The outcome was a vision everyone shared and agreed was correct for moving the business forward.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT): I met with the owner and staff to assess the firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that would need to be dealt with to achieve the vision.  Aside from enumerating and measuring many factors, we created an action plan list by responding to these two queries:

1.      To shore up major weaknesses and avoid major threats, we will take the following actions …

2.      To build on our strengths and opportunities, we will take the following actions…

Value Propositions: Informed by the vision, the SWOT helped identify today’s customers as well as tomorrow’s customers. These two groups are not always the same.  A value proposition was created for each type of target customer.  Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) were created for each group to guide the sales effort.

Marketing Plans: The Vision, SWOT action steps and Value Propositions including USPs all feed into a Marketing Plan.  The plan encapsulates the best thinking about where the company is today and where it is going over the next 1-3 years.  The plans help you establish the actual tactics and marketing tools you will use to acquire and retain customers.

Implementation/Management: The owner and employees MUST agree on what the tactics are, who owns them, what is to be delivered and by when.  The owner or key employee must manage the process and the deliverables. The oversight ensures timely completion of the necessary work to implement the entire Marketing Plan.

The Takeaway:

A thorough planning process will result in actionable ideas to keep the firm moving profitably toward its goals.  Plan the plan and work the plan.

That is what we discussed.  How about you?  Please comment below.

1.      Are there other steps to the process that you would add?

2.      Do you feel one of the steps is the most critical?

3.      Do you plan the plan and work the plan?

If you would like to contact me, you may do so by visiting my LinkedIn page, following me on Twitter,  or e-mailing me at rcberman2 (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Categories
Customer Service Marketing Management

Using Customer Success Stories With The Media

Successphoto © 2007 Alosh Bennett | more info (via: Wylio)
Customer Success Stories are a great tool to use in Communications Vehicles, the Sales Process and with the Media.

Four ways that the success stories can be utilized in the Media are:

Continue reading “Using Customer Success Stories With The Media”