• Are you interesting?
• Are your customers on Twitter?

That is my basic litmus test to answer if a business or person should be on Twitter. More specifically, personalities, speakers, authors, thought leaders, news organizations, technology companies and similar groups should make room in the marketing budget for Twitter.

Who shouldn’t be on Twitter?

To effectively market with Twitter requires quite a time commitment– you have to develop a community of followers by engaging in conversation and keeping them interested. If your customers don’t use Twitter, don’t bother including it in your marketing activities. It’s OK to just say “No!” to any marketing activity that won’t help you reach your business goals.

What should I say?

Marketing on Twitter is less about what you say and more about how you participate. People use Twitter for news, stories, conversations, and to learn what others are thinking right this moment about important (and not-so-important) issues in their lives. No one uses Twitter to receive deals or special offers from businesses. Be friendly and join conversations. Consider Twitter the cocktail party of marketing more than a megaphone.

What about that Twitter vocab?

Here’s some Twitter vocabulary to get you started.

• Tweep – a Twitter user
• Tweet – What tweeps post
• # – This little guy is called a hashtag, and it allows tweeps to add categories to their tweets. For instance, #marketing would be a tweet about marketing. Usually, event organizers specify a hashtag to use when attendees are tweeting from the event, so people the world over can follow the happenings.
• RT – Retweet. Give credit where credit is due. If you repost someone’s tweet, credit them with RT @username.

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• Affiliate Marketing
• B2B Marketing
• B2C Marketing
• Buzz Marketing
• Cross-Marketing
• Door-to-Door Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Grassroots Marketing
• Guerilla Marketing
• Internal Marketing
• Long-Tail Marketing
• Loyalty Marketing
• Niche Marketing
• Permission Marketing
• Viral Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Telemarketing
• Traditional Marketing
• Viral Marketing
• Web Marketing
• Word-of-mouth Marketing

The problem is that marketing doesn’t really work when it’s so highly segmented. Customers don’t care about the differences between a business’s loyalty marketing efforts and social media marketing strategy. And a customer doesn’t know when they’re being targeted by the web marketing team or the traditional marketing team.

To the customer, it’s all just marketing… even the activities that the marketing team aren’t responsible for, like billing.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter what you call your marketing, as long as it all works together to help you customer have a great experience.

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Here are three ways marketing is easy when you’re awesome:

1. PR and social media are easy

For many businesses, developing a compelling PR and social media strategy is hard– what do we say? who will care? who will spread the message? But for businesses that are awesome, PR is easy.

Grady Veterinary Hospital in Cincinnati, OH accepts animals in need from the SPCA. Right now, they are caring for a kitten that had been set on fire and loosed on a city street. Each day, they provide updates on the little guy’s progress. Because they do awesome things, their public relations and social media strategy is easy: Tell stories about the wonderful animals we help.

2. Word of mouth marketing is easy

It’s pretty obvious that if your business is awesome, your customers will want to talk about you. That’s the essence of word of mouth marketing. Give your customers something to talk about– a charitable initiative, an innovative application of your product or service that goes above and beyond what they could have imagined.

The BonBonerie is an extremely successful confectioner here in Cincinnati. Customer demand is so strong that they have an entire cafe dedicated to wedding cake tastings. Their business has been built mostly on word-of-mouth marketing because their business is amazing. The beautiful cakes, delicious flavors and careful service give customers plenty to rave about. Crafting this business wasn’t easy, but the word of mouth marketing is creating itself.

3. Employee satisfaction is easy

Happy employees make happy customers. When an employee believes in what she does, she wants to help each customer as much as she can. And, no surprise, employees find it easiest to believe in awesome employers.

When I worked at Apple, my fellow employees were 100% dedicated to the company’s way of doing business. Apple has a great employee training program and customer service methodology, and the employees already believe wholeheartedly in the products they sell. Because employees believe the company is awesome, they are able to provide customers with awesome experiences.

Marketing is easy when you’re awesome. “But my business isn’t awesome,” you might reply. So what are you going to do about it?

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A year later, the roofer broke my deck.

Does this look "right" to you?

They both told me, “I want to make this right.” Then, they did everything in their power to avoid paying. (With limited success. I’m pretty tenacious.)

In the age of word-of-mouth marketing, with Angie’s List, Yelp and girlfriends getting together for coffee, how could any business person be so short-sighted to think shirking a responsibility today would result in profit tomorrow?

Honesty and virtue are key ingredients to long-term success. It sounds old-fashioned, because there’s nothing new about being a good business with good people.

Dishonesty can lead to short-term gains–remember Enron?–but ultimately ends in business disaster. For the plumber, I wrote a reasonable yet scathing review of his business and chose one of his dozen competitors to be my go-to plumber. As for the roofer, I related my story to friends and neighbors, so they can make informed decisions in the future. I’m just one home-owner, but my influence extends beyond my own purchasing needs.

And the same is true of your customers. Each day, your customers are evaluating your dependability and trustworthiness. They are sharing their opinions with friends and family. Their opinions carry more weight than the most perfectly-designed marketing campaign.

So, be good. Do the right thing.

Your business will profit from it, and so will your conscience.

P.S. Bonus: The effects of unethical business decisions extend further than word-of-mouth. If you have customers who won’t pay anything until the last jot and tittle of the contract are fulfilled, they’ve likely been treated badly in the past. They feel the need to protect themselves. And who can blame them? We’ve all heard the lie at sometime or other, “I want to make this right.”

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Listen or download below:

Download the Word of Mouth Marketing MP3 file here. (6.1 MB)

This segment first aired during “Getting Down to Business” on Alaska’s Fox News Talk 1020.

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But most businesses take a haphazard approach to referrals. They just hope they happen. In fact, you need to develop strategies for word of mouth marketing. It’s not enough to provide a great product and service, while hoping for the best. Fortunately, word of mouth marketing is not that difficult or costly.

Why is word of mouth marketing important?

People trust their friends and believe their advice about 1000 times more than they believe your advertisements or marketing messagaes. If you are looking for a plumber, who do you trust more for a recommendation, your brother or your phone book? (For the purpose of this article, please assume your brother is reliable.)

Because your potential customers trust referrals, and you have lots of happy customers who can refer you, word of mouth marketing is a profitable proposition. Imagine if half of your customers sent you one referral each year. What would that do for your bottom line?

How do I improve my word of mouth marketing?

Ask your customers for referrals. If they like you, and you ask in a personalized way, your customers will be eager to help you succeed and share helpful advice with their friends, family or colleagues. This seemingly simple step is overlooked by almost every business I’ve been in contact with. It’s easy and effective, so you should start asking your customers for referrals today.

When asking customers for referrals, it is common to reward those customers, but you should reward the referral for buying from you as well. Some customers might feel awkward about recommending something to a friend that they are getting “paid” for – and their friends might be suspicious as well. If everyone involved receives benefit, that concern is lessened.

Besides offering rewards, you can provide your customers with a referral marketing piece that they can use to refer you. For instance, your could give them sample products or supply postcards they can hand out. This approach is effective because it helps them to remember to refer you, gives them something tangible to pass on, and your marketing message will have a better chance to be clearly communicated.

Sometimes, customers don’t have the opportunity to refer you right away, but they might in the future. Think of the plumber example- your brother might not have called a plumber for years. How will he remember which plumber was the best? To get your customers to remember you in crucial referral moments, develop a way to stay top-of-mind with your customers. Offer an informative, interesting or entertaining newsletter; ask them to ‘like’ your frequently-updated Facebook page, or get old-fashioned and mail them something. Madison Tree Care & Landscaping mails me a quarterly newsletter with tree care advice and cute company updates. It’s informative, but more importantly, it helps me remember them. Because I remember them, I refer them. (An added bonus to staying in touch with your customers is that they might just give you more business as well!)

Word of mouth marketing extends beyond the circle of people your customers know. If they write online reviews of your business on a site like Yelp.com, their referrals will live on for years and shape the opinions of people searching online for businesses like yours. So how do get customers to write online reviews? The same way you get them to refer you. Ask them; reward them; give them suggestions.

Small businesses are especially apt to benefit from word of mouth marketing because people feel good about buying from small businesses and referring them, especially if the business is local; knowing about it provides a level of exclusivity, or the owner has a likable personality. You just have to ask!

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For many years, I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal‘s “Best of the Web Today” emails, but in the last few months they changed the emails to excerpts, requiring subscribers to visit a web page to read the whole digest. Upset about the change, I sent a curt email, writing:

I really don’t like how you no longer include the full article in the email. I subscribe by email because I want to read the whole thing in my email inbox.

James Taranto, the editor for Best of the Web Today, emailed me back:

I’m afraid this was a business decision. There was hardly any demand for ads in the BOTWT email, so we decided to direct readers to the website. However, you can still get the full text–but without formatting and links–if you switch your subscription to the text format. Cheers, James

Four Elements of Good Customer Service

This email response took me aback. It was perfect, even though he was effectively telling me, “No.” Here’s why:

1. The response came from someone I respect. James Taranto, the editor, wrote this email. Someone with decision-making power thought my complaint important enough to respond to himself.
2. The explanation was honest. I can’t argue that the Wall Street Journal needs to make a profit. Taranto respected me enough to just tell me the truth.
3. The email was personalized. Clearly, this email was not a form letter. It was written in direct response to my complaint.
4. Taranto presented a remedy and specified its drawbacks. To get the full text,  I can subscribe to the plain text version of the mailing. But thanks to his explanation, I won’t be surprised when there aren’t any links in it. Taranto prevented a further customer service problem by telling me the drawbacks up front.

If you incorporate these four elements into your customer service interactions, you will not only satisfy customers, but you will make them more loyal and raving fans of your products and company as well. How’s that for turning a negative into a positive? Take my example. Instead of remaining angry with the Wall Street Journal, I wrote a glowing article about their great customer service.

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The show was fun and educational, so I think you’ll enjoy it.

Download the startup marketing MP3 file here. (4.7 MB)

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The idea for Sugar came late in 2008 when Krista and her family were in Delaware for Thanksgiving. They stopped by a cupcakery in Washington D.C., and she thought, “This would be a really fun business to have.” From there, the plan was set into action. She credits Karla for the creative energy behind Sugar Cupcakery’s design.

Karla, a photo stylist, develops the recipes and designed the trendy, colorful interior of Sugar. She explains that one of the challenges to effective design is creating a good plan and sticking with it, even in the face of contrary opinions. “Don’t listen to naysayers if you know your plan will work,” she advises.

Small business marketing focuses on relationships

Krista knows the importance customer relationships play in small businesses. She says,

“People who have never been here before are surprised by what they get. We deliver an experience with our cupcakes. It’s more than a take out place where you get a cupcake on a napkin. Our menu is very vague because we want to talk to people, and we want people to ask questions. We have a relationship with our clientele.”

Because they get to know their customers, Krista and Karla are able to help people with special dietary needs. They’ve worked with parents to create special recipes for children who’ve never had cupcakes—letting them share in the same birthday fun other children enjoy. They also offer special-order vegan and gluten-free cupcakes. Krista notes, “We only need a day’s notice for special orders. Just call us, and we’ll work with you.”

Social networking is a key marketing strategy

In an environment where many small business marketing departments can’t make heads or tails of social networking, Karla attributes Sugar’s success to two factors: location and social networking. She elaborates,

“Everyday, I post on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr. I try to link them all together. We get a lot of feedback. Social networking enables our customers to tell us what they think. It’s so rewarding because customers come in and say, ‘I follow you on Facebook! I know what your specials are!’ We try to get people to share their pictures. You just have to know how to tag everything, so that it links back to who you are. Always make sure to include the city, state and name of the business.”

Developing social networking and local relationships together have allowed Sugar to expand its influence to other opportunities. They have several corporate accounts, including with PNC Bank. Recently, Sidewinder Coffee in Northside starting carrying their cupcakes.

Among their cupcake and tea offerings, they also have a private room for parties or meetings. It holds between 20-40 people, has a patio and a flatscreen television for presentations or slide shows.

As with all small business endeavors, it hasn’t been easy to achieve success. In the beginning, obtaining cost-effective, fresh and organic ingredients was a challenge—sometimes they had to settle for what they could get. But through much research, networking and negotiating, they finally have suppliers that meet their demanding standards and still leave room for profit.

In their final comments, Krista and Karla leave us with advice for entrepreneurs just starting out:

“Save your money and be patient. It’s a lot of work. You have to do all the work yourself at first. You have to make sure you’re really organized, motivated and know what your business plan is. You really have to plan and outline. It’s less overwhelming if you plan.”

Sugar Cupcakery is a great example of a small business that understands marketing, customer relationships and how to use technology to get closer to their customers (instead of further away from them). They realize that having a great product isn’t enough to ensure success– although I can attest that their product is amazing.

Contact Details:

Sugar Cupcakery
32 Main Street
Milford, Oh 45150
sugarcupcakery.com
513-340-4166
sugarcupcakery@gmail.com

Hours:

Tuesday – Thursday 11am – 7pm
Friday and Saturday 11am – 10pm

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Let’s hope that company is selling something that has a margin of more than $80, or they won’t see any profit. If only they knew that keeping existing customers happy naturally creates new customers. And it costs very little.

More often, companies treat existing customers like chopped liver. They forget about—or worse, punish– someone as soon as he buys something from them.

If you are a satellite television customer, the cable company will be glad to give you three months of free cable to become their new customer. If you are an existing cable customer, you know to expect the onerous contracts with rate raises and dread calling the dismal customer service when your signal goes out.

Companies focus on acquiring new customers at the expense of maintaining existing customers for mainly two reasons:

1. That’s what they’ve always done. When a product or company is brand new, there are no existing customers. All marketing efforts have to be focused on gaining new customers. This marketing inertia carries through well after a company has become established.
2. Those evil competitors! We must act now to steal market share away from them! What companies don’t think about is that it costs more to steal a customer from a competitor than to keep an existing customer.

An existing customer who is loyal to your company will buy more products more often and will rave about you to their friends. We all nod appreciatively when we are told that word-of-mouth and referrals are the most powerful motivators to encourage customers to try a new product, but then we go on with our e-mail blasts and Val-Pak coupons. Instead, we should be creating that word-of-mouth by inspiring our existing customers to rave about us!

But how do you create raving customers? Anticipate what would delight them. Then, deliver it! Netflix recently sent me an email that because of their increased operational efficiencies, they would be lowering my monthly subscription fee. Oh, and by the way, now I can watch thousands more movies instantly, and they created a movie player that works on my Mac. All without me having to ask. I’m delighted! I’m loyal! And here I am telling you about Netflix.

But what if you don’t know what would delight your customers? Ask them. A part of my consulting work is finding out what a company’s favorite customers love about them and to help them do that for every customer.

Remember, if we have existing customers, that means prospective customers don’t even exist yet. Companies should only spend a proportionate amount of their marketing budget on customers who don’t exist yet. Don’t invest yourself too heavily in imaginary friends.

Instead, we should focus a higher proportion of our efforts on relationships with existing customers. If we delight them, they will reward us by buying more from us with higher frequency. And, as a benefit, they will create our new customers for us.

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