VerticalResponse Email Marketing Blog for Small Business

Contests & Awards for Small Businesses

Following on my post Using Industry Awards to Grow Your Business, I found a list of great awards for small businesses. Check out Ramon Ray's SmallBizTechnology.com. Even though the list is not industry specific, there are some great awards in there for small businesses in general.

Your Competitive Advantage Could Double Your Sales

It's tough competition out there. You've got to rise above the noise to get the attention of any new prospective customers. You probably do a great job promoting your deals and your wonderful products in every way you can think of. But you might be missing something. Do you do something really well and really different that doesn't go head to head with your competition?

What got me thinking about this was watching the television ads that Southwest Airlines has been running recently. In these tough economic times when many of the airlines are nickel and diming travelers for things like blankets and bags, Southwest is promoting "Bags Fly Free". They're not going for "most on-time arrivals" or "most legroom". They're hitting a pain point that's giving them some real differentiation.

I started to think of a few other big names that have done a great job at this. Enterprise Rent-a-Car picks you up if you can't get to the car rental location. Westin Hotels markets their Heavenly Bed to weary guests. Red Envelope sends everything they sell in beautiful red packaging. Heck, Playtex is even marketing their see through packaging so you can see what's inside before you buy it.

What do you think that you have in your arsenal that will make you rise above it all in a crowded messaging arena? Here are a few ideas I kicked around.

Wineries - Promote something off the wall like your wine is great with a burger.  Promote that your screw caps are better for the environment than corks or that you don't need a wine opener for your wines. OR vice versa, your wine will age better with a cork.

Jewelry Designers - Talk about how your jewelry clasps never break.

Nail Spas - Promote that your nail polish lasts 14 days or that you've got the most comfortable chairs and the best magazines.

Hair Salons - Talk about how you give the best 10 minute scalp massage with any haircut and promote a free "clean up" or bang trim two weeks after your cut.

Hotels - Is your property dog-friendly? Talk about it! Promote the steamer in the rooms so that your guests can steam their wrinkled clothes.

Auto Shops - Promote your kid-friendly shop and your free coffee, bagels and muffins in the morning.

Restaurants - Open for Thanksgiving? Promote a take-home baggie of a turkey sandwich for every patron.

Software - Talk about how you are saving the environment because your user guide is online or on a CD, or that your SaaS company loves the environment because there is no packaging.

Once you have your competitive advantage down, test it in your next email marketing campaign and in your messaging. You might be surprised what resonates with new prospects.

What great competitive advantages do you have to use? Share them please, we'd love to hear them.

Have You Registered Misspellings Of Your Domain?

I'm taking an email marketing break to write about something different, your domains. Many businesses register .org, .biz, .gov, and they may even register their domains in other countries like Great Britain (.co.uk) or Argentina (.com.ar). However, have you thought about registering the misspellings of your domain?

For instance a common misspell happens if you have double letters in your domain where the last letter of the first word and first letter of the next word are the same for example www.verticallearnings.com. People might only type in one "L" so you might want to register the domain with one "L" as well as two and redirect them to your site.

As an exercise to see how many people are doing this for my company VerticalResponse, I headed over to the Google Adwords Keyword Tool and typed in "www.verticleresponse.com". To my surprise I saw there were over 700 visits to this page in a month, a clear opportunity for us to redirect these visitors to our home page. One note: If people type our misspelled domain into a Google search box they will ask people "Did you mean VerticalResponse?" with a link to our listing and list us in the top spot. But what about the people that hear about your business and type your misspelled URL directly into their browser? Those are the visitors you could potentially lose.

So try and think of the ways that people can misspell your domains and use the keyword tool to find out how much traffic in Google, at least, you could be missing out on. If it makes sense, register them and redirect those visitors to your website. It's a small cost ($10/month) and you could end up with new customers.

A Customer Experience Worth Talking About

I recently visited a neighborhood business, the Brickhouse, a great little restaurant here in the Bay Area. As I looked around this fun joint, I instantly got a sense of the personality of the owners and what it is that they care about. I started to think about all of the ways this particular business marketed themselves not through advertising, but through a great customer experience and word of mouth marketing. Let's look at a few things I noted and see if there are any ways to make use of them with your own business.

Do You Have a Story?

This business talks about the owner who makes a pilgrimage every year to Alaska to catch the salmon himself. The Wagyu beef is right off of his family's farm. The Bavarian beer was chosen by the owners while they were in Bavaria. They promote this story prominently on their large chalkboard menu.

Question: Do you have a story about your passion for running your business? Promote it in any materials you display and on your website. Telling your story to your customers can make them feel closer to your business and also spread some great word of mouth.

Is Your Place Fun?

This is definitely a laid back restaurant, with mismatched antique furniture, and very inviting with bizarre pictures and items on display. For instance, they have a bicycle hanging from the ceiling that has two seats and two sets of handlebars going in opposite directions. It's subtle but funny.

They have a "Question of the Day" chalkboard with fun and random questions that people can answer and get something free. Makes for some great conversations.

They promote their "Big Ass Burger" which won an award for Best Burger in the Bay Area which always gets people talking.

The people that work there are super nice, laid back and funny.

Question: Can your business be fun? Injecting some fun into your business can be easy and if you've got a physical location, and could get people in the door.

Do You Promote Green?

This business proudly displays a Green award they won, and tout on the menu that they only buy local and sustainable products. This makes the patrons feel like they're helping the community and the planet.

They use chalkboards for menus. It's great for making up-to-the-minute changes and great for the environment.

Question: What can you do in your business to go green? If you are a green company, make sure you tell the world. People like doing business with companies that help our environment.

Do You Promote Your Business?

This business has coffee punch cards at the register, and after 10 cups purchased they give you a free coffee.

They promote their website in their window.

They prominently display a sandwich board out front to let passers by know that the place is open and any specials or entertainment they're serving up that day.

They have free WiFi, except for their busy lunch hour when they ask that you either come back later, or better yet, buy lunch!

Question: Will your business allow you to monetize every inch of the space? Look around and find new areas where you can be displaying something new. Cross sell one product with another in your location or on your site. You might find that you could double your sales.

You don't need to have a physical location to do what this restaurant is doing. Look at your business and make sure that every time you can interact with a customer, you're making the most of it.

Have a Great Risk-Free Offer & Get Great Word of Mouth

Having an offer for your products or services that is truly risk-free might be just the ticket you need to really make a difference in your email marketing campaigns. To get a risk-free offer off the ground, you'll need to assess everything from your refund and return policy, your shipping policies, your customer service and how your policies are implemented. An awesome risk-free offer can really spark some great word-of-mouth.

If you sell a product that needs to be shipped to your customer, a really great risk-free offer encompasses free shipping, a generous time window your customers can return the product, a short turnaround in processing their refund and you picking up the tab for shipping the return back to you.

Here are a few companies that do it right and get positive word of mouth as a result.

Zappos - They have a 365 day return policy and they'll pay for the shipping back to them. They even have a handy way for you to print your UPS label from the Zappos site!

Nordstrom - You need to have your receipt, or your item tag but you can even return worn items without a problem. They make it easy to return items purchased on the web as well as in-store. But, they also monitor offenders.

Walgreen's - Walgreen's lets you return makeup you purchased within a month if it didn't suit you. I'm sure they got a lot more in sales then they ever would in returns.

However, do it wrong and you could really spark negative word of mouth like the Video Professor. On his TV ads he boasts a free trial of one of his eBay software program (pay $6.95 s&h) AND he'll give you $50 if you can show that you've successfully bought or sold something on eBay. Sounds too good to be true huh? Turns out there is a pretty big list of restrictions, a 30-day window which sounds impossible to make (they mail you a form to fill out which takes about 15 days to get). People sounded off.

And avoid adding tons of restrictions like restocking fees and different time limitations by the type of product customers buy like I saw at Best Buy. It could also spark some negativity and make people not want to purchase from you if they think they have to jump through hoops to return something.

If you have a great risk-free offer and you follow through on it, it really can generate good will and positive word of mouth. Do it wrong and it'll bite ya!

Back-To-School Specials That Any Business Can Offer

It's that time of year again, back-to-school emails and ads are beginning to flood in and every parent is out capitalizing on those summer back-to-school sales.

If you're selling dorm room furniture, electronics, supplies, or kid's clothes, you've got a pretty good message to start with. And you better be starting now, especially if you have to compete against the big guys.

But what if your business doesn't offer an obvious back-to-school promotion? Never fear! I went "shopping" around the web and found some pretty cool ideas you might be able to put to work for your business in your next email marketing campaign.

A dental office offered pre back-to-school cleaning specials touting tooth decay as the #1 disease in children.

An auto repair shop offered back-to-school student specials for repairs. Don't all students drive clunkers these days?

A few hair salons were offering discounts on haircuts for kids before the school year begins. Everyone wants the perfectly coiffed kid!

I found a winery that offered a back-to-school shopping night!

There are so many non profit organizations that do back-to-school fundraising events to help children with clothing and supplies for the new school year. Here are two, one that helps military families and one that is called Operation Backpack for those in need.

A popular nanny service offered a 15% discount off of their placement fees.

A hotel in NY offered a back-to-school shopping package with a bag of goodies, shopping discounts and breakfast for two.

A hotel in Chicago offered a great package: a $50 gift card to The Container Store® for supplies along with a special edition college catalog with tips on how to organize a new dorm room and a 15% discount off the next stay.

I found a restaurant offering this back-to-school special: kids eat free for the month of September (except Saturdays, bummer!).

Everyone can participate in back-to-school savings, what's your idea?

Guide to Sizzling Summer Success

We've got a great free guide that might give you some ideas to jumpstart your summer sales, it's called Guide to Sizzling Summer Marketing, Proven Ways to Grow Your Business this Summer.

It's packed with ideas for winning back customers who may have left or having a "Christmas in August" campaign are just a few things packed into this guide.

It's free, it's a PDF, so download it.

Pick Up the Phone & Get a Customer for Life

I just read a recent tweet about VerticalResponse and it inspired me to write about it. It read:

"Just love it when a company quickly answers the phone, I can understand them and they answer my question - Way to go VerticalResponse!!"

Don't get me wrong, I love the tweet, but are we so "Web 2.0" that we don't pick up the phone and talk anymore? Why are people so surprised when someone answers the phone at a business these days? Sure technologies like email marketing let you send mass emails to get the word out but what about the personal touch. Have we lost it?

I saw a TV commercial the other day, I think it was for an online trading company, and the first words the woman said is "Why do I use XXXX? A human being answers the phone...a human being!" Sounds so crazy they made a TV commercial out of it!

If you've got a 2-man shop and you're juggling a million things, it's OK to ask your callers to leave you a message. Just be clear how long they'll have to wait for a call back and that perhaps they'd like to leave their cell phone number. Just make sure you get back to them as soon as possible.

If you get a lot of daily calls, you may need an advanced system that enables you to have a waiting queue.  You may need to "branch" your calls to better serve your customers like "press 1 for customer support, press 2 for returns." And if your system allows for it, tell your customers how long they'll be waiting.

Here are a few tips for your business on answering the phone whether you've got 100 employees, or you're working at home in your slippers.

• Answer the calls as fast as you can. Don't let them ring past 4 rings if possible.
• On the wall right near your phone, put a big sign up on the wall that says "SMILE". You'd be amazed at how a call can turn in your favor when you smile over the phone.
• Greet your callers. "Hello, this is Jane from Widgets, how can I help you?"
• Ask for a number where you can reach your caller in the event the call gets dropped.
• Never leave a caller with the impression that you don't know something, simply put them on hold and find out the answer to their issue.
• At the end of the call ask if there is anything else you can help your caller with.
• Call your own line every month to ensure quality.

I know it seems like this information might be "so Web 1.0" but if you make a habit of picking up the phone, whether its an inbound call or an outbound call, you might just have a customer for life.

Your Brand is Everything You Do

I was thinking about how people perceive brands these days from the biggest brands like Sephora to the smaller brands like Birdy Botanicals. The word "brand" is usually used for BIG companies so I started thinking; what IS a brand and how do you know if you have one?

Well everyone has a brand, but the scary thing is, you don't own it! It is a harsh reality. So who does own your brand? Your prospects and customers that's who! Your brand is their perception of how they interact with you, your products and your services.

Your People Are Your Brand

Sounds scary right? But if you've got people working the front lines and they're interacting with your customers, your customers will have a perception of the type of persona your company has. They will form an opinion of your brand.

I was recently at a trade show and stopped by a booth to ask a question about the company. Nice enough guy, but didn't have a clue at what his company did, nor did he use the "I'm new" excuse. I thought wow, a company would spend all of this money to have someone here that clearly wasn't trained on the most basic question. My perception about their brand? Not so good.

What's your persona? Is it conveyed to your customers through the people that work at your company? What do they think of you? If they are face to face with prospects, what are they wearing? Are people tweeting about you on Twitter (using Tweetdeck it's easy to type in your company name in the search and follow what people might be saying about you) or Yelping about an experience they had? If it's negative, and hold onto your hats it could happen, you have the ability to change perceptions by changing the way people are interacting with you or your employees.

Your Products Are Your Brand

The products and services that you sell are also your brand. You may have a perception of a company like Apple as high-quality but they'll cost a bit more where a company like HP offers lower quality, lower cost items. Both still have positive "brands" and offer products that appeal to certain people. Apple has taken branding to a new level by not only having a brand for their products, but they've done a good job of attempting to brand their competitor's product line in their "Mac vs. PC" campaigns. The Mac being the cool kid and the PC being the older not-so-cool guy. This forced Microsoft to fire back with a great campaign "I'm a PC".

One more important thing to remember: set expectations up front about your products and make sure that any product or service you sell is what you say it is. When you start over-promising and under-delivering, that's where your brand might get into some real muddy waters.

Your Service is Your Brand

To this day when my husband orders a pair of shoes from Zappos on a Sunday night and they arrive on Monday morning he screams "I love Zappos, how do they DO that?". Service plays a huge role in any company. From the Dentist who calls her patients on the evening of their root canals to see how they're doing, to the person who gets answered in a live chat after only waiting one minute, it all makes a difference.

With everything going a mile a minute on the Internet, every business has to step up their game. So throw some lollipops into that next shipment to your customers with a hand-written thank you note and see how far that might actually go. Oh, don't forget, get the shipment there on time!

Your Marketing Is Your Brand

How you communicate to your customers is your brand. If you're advertising your law firm, your marketing better not be as edgy as a tattoo parlor. The way you write, the words you use, and your logo should say something about your brand. However you choose to advertise,  be as consistent as possible. If your email marketing campaigns start to look completely different from your website and any collateral you produce, people may get confused and think of you as a bit chaotic. An example of edgy and fun? Woot! Contrast that to Dell. You've got two very different and very good brands.

Do you have control of your brand? Kind of. If you care about these things that have an effect on how people think about you, your brand will follow.

8 Ways a Little Guy Can Compete Against a Big Guy

If you run a small business, you know how tough it can be to compete with your larger competitors especially when they're undercutting prices like crazy to get people in the door. Not to mention that a lot of them have huge advertising budgets for newspapers, TV commercials and radio spots. So how can you compete? You have to be tough like Rocky that's how! You have to be creative and you have to do some grass roots marketing.

Here are a few ideas you might be able to put to work for your business.

1. Give an extra discount just for getting an email address. Communicating via email marketing is far less costly than communicating in almost any other form of marketing and you need every penny you can save.

2. Give free parking. If you have a parking lot near you, find out if you can validate the parking fees for up to an hour. Making it as easy as possible for your customers to get to you and save could be paramount. They may just choose you for that reason alone over chaos at Walmart.

3. Give a $20 gift card for their next purchase. If your customers buy something over a certain amount give them more. A store here in the Bay Area was giving $20 gift cards for every $100 customers spent and they could only use them in the following month.

4. Serve snacks or coffee. You really can drive more business by giving your customers an excellent experience. I know of a car dealership that serves a full-on breakfast while you wait to have your car serviced. There's nothing worse than having to sit in a room waiting for an oil change, so they make it pleasant!

5. Have a kid-friendly shop or office. Keeping the kids busy while Mom or Dad does the shopping or the office visit could be the thing that gets them to your place. They've got a tough job as it is, if you can make it easier for them to come to you while giving the kids some fun, it just might get them to stop going to the big boys.

6. Buy your competitor's name as a Google keyword. If your larger competitor is spending big advertising dollars, you might be able to capitalize on people searching for their company name. Of course you can't make false claims in your ads and if it's a Fortune 500 player there's a chance Google won't let you, but if you type their company name into Google Search, and you see ads down the right-hand side, chances are you won't have a problem. One note on that, you can't use their company name IN your ad content.

7. Pick up the phone. When people are dealing with your larger competition and have to call them about something they usually expect a phone tree about an hour long and then another hour of wait time. You might have the luxury of picking up the phone when it rings or calling them back quickly if they leave a message. They might want to start dealing with that type of service rather than saving a few bucks to sit on hold.

8. Start Tweeting. It might sound silly to you but surely you've got customers and prospects that are following other businesses on Twitter, why not yours? VerticalResponse customer Due Maternity does a great job at this, and in no time they got 268 followers. It may not sound like much, but it's 268 people they can message at any given moment about their sales, content and site. The big guys are starting to do it, you may as well beat them to the punch!

Going the extra mile and being clever are the only ways to compete against a large company, but it's not impossible. A company like Due Maternity has a very successful website with many thousands of customers. They compete with a larger maternity brand with a website and 1000 stores but are still growing and successful. I know they use a lot of these techniques to help them keep growing!