The F7 Blog
Figureseven, Inc. has been helping businesses maximize their offline and online marketing efforts for over a decade. This blog provides insight, tips and advice from our experts to help you achieve your marketing goals.
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Figureseven, Inc.
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Fitchburg, MA 01420
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Thank You Leonard Kleinrock
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
October 30, 2009 in Web Marketing, Social Media, Marketing
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Del.icio.usNews that the Internet turned 40 this week reminded me (and other marketing professionals who spent years plying their trade without it) how much harder our jobs used to be before it existed. Where to begin the list:
- Let’s start with “Doing research” – learning about potential client companies and their competition; developing media plans by investigating potential media outlets that would be appropriate for ads and releases;
- Next, “Getting client approval for created pieces” – instead of driving to clients and showing them iteration after iteration of a brochure or ad, we now simply send over a PDF for immediate approval – massively consolidating the timeline and enabling us to get a lot more done in a lot less time;
- Next, “Material submission” – getting ads and release to the appropriate outlets went from days to minutes thanks to the internet;
- Finally, “Interactive Marketing” – used to be that only print or broadcast media were the only ways to get a client message out; now, Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc. make information distribution a snap.
I’m sure that I’m leaving out some obvious inclusions, but the bottom line, marketing to today’s world is a lot easier thanks to Leonard Kleinrock and his intrepid band of computer experts who developed the concept for the Internet way back in 1969.
Why Isn't My Email Marketing Working?
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
October 29, 2009 in Email Marketing
Many companies are now taking advantage of the ease of email marketing. Most people are doing it themselves using tools like Constant Contact or Emma. So what’s the problem with that? The problem is that they typically result in poor performance and unhappy customers!
Many of these online marketing tools make putting together mass emails a snap. But from someone that has been running mass email marketing campaigns for quite some time, I can tell you that there are way too many nuances that the average person misses and these services overlook. For instance, starting with Microsoft Outlook 2007, background images in emails no longer load. So for about half of our customers, we had to redesign their email templates so that Outlook users could have a visually appealing email and not a mishmash of unreadable text. Do you know how your emails look on different email clients?
The True Value of Promotional Items
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
October 26, 2009 in Branding, Marketing
I just returned from a local trade show. In my possession were countless pens, some magnets, three different shapes and sizes of Patriots' schedules and a combination compass-key chain (which I guess I am supposed to use when I’m lost in the forest looking for where I parked my car). Too many of the booths were unmanned with promotional items just lying there for the taking (which I am proud to say I did very little of).
My point is that far too many of the participating companies threw their promotional budgets away on items that were not going to get them remembered nor drive business to them. I wish companies would stop for a moment and try to figure out the best way to generate business from attendees at a trade show. Unless you’re a pen manufacturer, pens don’t do you a bit of good. The only time that I really look at a promotional pen is when I am going to throw it out because it’s run out of ink. On the other hand, an unusual giveaway item does draw my attention to the company that took the time to put some thought into the process. I received a pen-sized anti-bacterial spray dispenser from the James Devaney fuel company – it intrigued me and I read the message on it. Good for them (and my hands will be purified once I finished writing this blog).
Are You Sure Your Web Site Is in English?
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
October 21, 2009 in Web Marketing, Usability, Branding, Marketing
Did you ever notice how stilted the language seems to be on the web sites of certain European, Indian and Asian companies. It never ceases to amaze me that companies located in foreign countries have people from those countries create the "English" version of their web site. For anyone for whom English is a second language, grasping the nuances and verbal flow of our language can at times be a tricky proposition. Sometimes it involves punctuation errors, others times it is simply a misunderstanding and misapplication of the language. But too often, the result is content that is harder to read than it should be. If they care about the quality of the message they are delivering (and the subsequent sales that they hope to generate), then these companies should invest in having "a native" rewrite their web site in "English."
More Than Just a Name or a Symbol
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
October 12, 2009 in Branding, Marketing
Your corporate brand should always be more than simply a corporate logo. To be effective, it must compellingly convey what your company stands for, be it high quality, exceptional reliability, or some other distinguishing characteristic. It should by some manner or means reflect both your corporate strategy and your corporate vision.
Developing a strong brand demands an unwavering focus on what sets your company apart from its competitors. Whether accomplishing this objective either visually or verbally (or both), you must position yourself both away from the competition and into the minds of prospective customers. It requires a close examination of your product and service offerings to determine what you do for customers that no one else does as well. It might be price, it might be time of delivery, it might be product reliability – whatever it is, it must offer a unique “value-add” to the customer that is simply unavailable anywhere else. Get this message across, and your customers will appreciate what you offer to them while providing you with the revenue growth and profitability you are seeking.
Another Observation From the Back Cubicle
By Greg Czarnowski, Principal, Figureseven, Inc.
October 6, 2009 in Web Marketing, Marketing, Email Marketing
While I rarely enjoy receiving a telemarketing call (no matter what time of day I receive them), I get even more annoyed by telemarketers who brutally mispronounce my name and then try to carry on a conversation with me like everything is fine. This is where outsourcing these services to some foreign country where English is a second language (or simply using callers for whom English is a second language) really hurts whomever is using the company to make calls on their behalf. While my name certainly isn't easy to pronounce, the treatment that it sometimes gets amazes even me. Here's a statement that should be part of every telemarketers script - if you think that you're mispronouncing a name, let the person whom you're calling know with a simple statement like "I hope that I am pronouncing your name correctly, if I'm not, please forgive me."
Brutalizing of names is also a good reason to use e-mail outreach as your means of customer contact - simply spelling a name correctly is a lot less challenging than attempting to speak it - and it avoids that inherent annoyance that will keep the recipient from hearing the message that you are trying to deliver.
Don't Let Your Web Site be the Bluetooth Guy
By Jeremy Daly, President, Figureseven, Inc.
October 1, 2009 in Web Site Design, Usability
We’ve all seen him. There have been countless blog entries, tweets and Facebook post about him. Larry David even made fun of him on ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm.’ Yup, he’s the Bluetooth Guy! He’s the guy waiting in line at the sandwich shop who looks like he suffers from dissociative identity disorder. The guy that seems to be carrying on a full conversation with himself until you notice that he may have already been assimilated by the Borg. You might, at first, even think that he’s important since he has a 24/7 communication device seemingly wired into his skull. Then you can’t help but overhear his dissatisfaction of his fantasy football draft picks. There’s simply no getting around it. The Bluetooth guy is distracting, annoying and even with his flashy display of technology, is off-putting.
But wait a minute! I love my Bluetooth earpiece! As a matter of fact, I use it all the time in my car when I’m on my way to meetings or driving back and forth from the office. It’s hands-free! It’s a great technology. It makes my life easier and my driving safer! So how come such an amazing technology like Bluetooth can be so annoying to most of us? The answer is simple: too many people overuse it and, more importantly, they use it in the wrong place!
