The Lost Art of Listening

by | Mar 6, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest

In this business, we all want to keep our clients happy.  Yet in this busy, fast paced go go go world, one key component is lacking – listening!

Instead of hearing what our clients are saying, we are so eager to “sell” our latest idea, fix a problem or answer a question, that we interrupt, ramble on and miss important knowledge and insights.

Listening is THE only way to provide a client with great ideas and plans. Yet instead of hearing what our clients are saying, our brain is busy rushing ahead preparing answers and plans.

Here are a few tips to help listen to clients.

Keep an open mind
Don’t go into a meeting with pre-conceived ideas about what is going to happen. Yes,  prepare an agenda. Yes, do the necessary research. And then, let the meeting happen.

Listen with intent
Actively listen to what your client is saying. Don’t jump in, or worse, interrupt. Provide answers when necessary. Remember, the goal is to keep the conversation going and lead to a plan of action.

Talk Less Than You Listen
Be present and be quiet. Yes, ask questions. Yes, provide answers. But let your clients speak, without interruptions.

Ask open ended questions
When asking questions, the aim is to get your client to share. Avoid simple yes and no questions. Instead, ask questions that will get you client to open up and share important insights.

It’s not personal
The client is always first… even when they are wrong!  Understand that this is part of business…any business not only the advertising business. It’s hard to sit in a meeting and have your latest ad torn apart after hours of work.

As tough as it can be, remember it’s not personal – this is business. Don’t get upset, interrupt, or get defensive. Hear what the client is saying and let them get it out.

Get off email
When a client sends an email expressing a concern, get it off email – quickly. Pick up the phone, or set up a meeting to talk it out. Then listen. This will lead to a solution quicker than having multiple emails going back and forth.  It’s so easy today to “duck” facing issues personally… but just because you can, doesn’t mean it’s the right approach to use.

Communication with clients is a two-way street. We do need to be persuasive “sales” people. But in order to achieve success, to obtain the “go ahead”  or buy in that we want, we need to listen first.

Business Success: 25 Years in the Changing

by | Feb 25, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Latest

There’s been a lot of changes in the last 25 years, not only  in the agency business but in business in general. I will be predictable and say it has all come about because of the computer. That would be right to a certain extent. However, I believe it’s the way in which business and people have embraced the computer and its technology that is responsible for the majority of the business shifts.

Here’s my  list of what has changed at 3H over the last 25 years:

The space a designer needs: It really seems like yesterday I was trying to fit one more large drafting table in the studio… let alone purchasing one more Art Director Marker set and art pads and sketch pads to bring in a new designer. Gone are those days!

Our inspiration tools: Gone are the days of flipping through Creative Source or Illustration Guild books to get inspired for the next big idea. At 3H, we use to have a library of creative and resource books… now we have half a shelf…and that’s going too! Image banks are the tools of inspirations nowadays and there’s nothing wrong with that… until those images become the concept!

How concepts are presented: With the advent of the computer and printers, now mock ups seem complete and already done.  Clients have a difficult time in processing that what is in front of them is “conceptual”… not complete. That even if we could purchase the image on our mock ups, artwork has to be created, images have to be prepped, copy has to be finalized… etc… At times, I lament over marker renderings where it was obvious the person in an ad was a place holder for an image of a person that was yet to be casted, chosen and photographed!

Time to develop: If the speed of business is fast and faster… the agency business is at warp speed! There’s a belief by business in general that since everything is computer driven, it should take less time. That is very rarely the case, if ever. Computers in the creative world have provided creative types and agencies with the ability to expand on the possibilities and to show them in more concise ways. It still takes the time it takes to come up with an idea and to develop it!

The definition of a designer: What really is a designer? In my way of thinking, designers need to be conceptual thinkers in the visual medium. This is just my opinion… but  find, many designers today know technology and yet have no conceptual vibe. They rely on image to create a concept rather than using the image as a resource too. More and more the designers out of school today think inside the screen and not inside their minds! Again… my opinion.

Relationship building: Time is at a premium. With the speed of business coupled with, restructuring, right-sizing, down-sizing or whatever  hip term is currently out there… clients don’t have the time nor the inclination to go for lunch. But for those of us who do have a relationship with our business partners (yes, I mean clients!), the relationship is stronger… texting, emailing and yes even face timing. It has allowed us to reach out in snippets…by the sentence, being integrated in the day to day fabric.

Cold calling: Cold zinging you mean! Getting someone on the phone to talk to you when they don’t even know you is more difficult. How we get leads… and follow up on them is totally different. On line lead generation, web site lead generation and e-zines are now the “in” thing to do in cold calling. That means efforts can be more streamlined both in time and money. A warm lead is much better than a cold one…so rather than spend your efforts and money on cold and warm alike, you can double your efforts on the ones that have expressed an interest…or following.

Brand reaching capabilities: The ways in reach we reach our target markets… and how niche we can go is astounding and becoming more so each and everyday. Through social media (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, tumblr, Youtube, Linkedin), online properties, blogs, blogging, traditional media the options available to local, small, big and global advertisers are numerous and very exciting! Some of these channels don’t require design, but all require time and know how…that hasn’t changed a bit!

3H launched in 1988 with its corporate logo in Purple and Mustard. We had become synonymous with Purple because of our Mustard accents… and then we changed our accent to Titanium to speak to the digital and technology…to change our clients’ perception of what it is we do… but still remaining in the Purple so to speak. I am not sure what the next 5 to 10 years will hold, but I have often been heard saying “Complacency in business means death”… and I believe it.

Over the last 25 years, the ability to change has changed. Businesses are constantly looking for the new opportunity and are more than ever, open to the next best thing… even though embracing it still takes a little time.

 

5 Marketing Activities You May Want To Outsource

by | Feb 11, 2013 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Design, Latest, Social Media

Marketing is essential for any business, and it’s a field that’s constantly researched, analyzed, and developed by professionals. In general, there are lots of marketing activities you can do on your own to save money, such as posting flyers around town or designing business cards. There are others, however, that are best left to the experts, and here are five of them.

Review Tracking
Because so many people rely on online reviews to make their purchase decisions, it’s incredibly important that you keep track of what people are saying about your business online. Review tracking can help you stay ahead of the curve in managing your online reputation, but it’s also a time-consuming and tedious process. For the most efficient review tracking, it’s best to outsource the job to a company who has the necessary tools and experience to do it for you.

Mass Mailing
Direct, mass mailings are incredibly effective when compared to other forms of offline marketing, and it’s still an approach that many businesses take and profit from. Mass mailing, however, is just that – massive. When mailing out thousands and thousands of flyers – as you need to do to achieve sufficient results – it is a job best left to another company who specializes in it. They have the printers, machinery, and hands needed so that you don’t have to waste time and suffer from papercuts as you address and stuff every envelope by hand.

Review Moderation
Another job that’s best left to outsourcing is review moderation. Not only do you need a company to track your online reviews and reputation, but you also need a company who can moderate those reviews. For example, they can be on the lookout for damaging, fraudulent reviews, and they can take the necessary steps on your behalf to remove fraudulent reviews from the web. A company who specializes in review moderation can help you maintain a good online reputation.

Television Commercials
Unless you run a video production company, it’s best to leave your television commercials to other professionals. When you run an ad on TV, the quality is highly important. If you run a poorly filmed and poorly edited commercial, it will make your business look of lesser quality. It’s also time-consuming and difficult to create a good commercial if you don’t know what you’re doing – if not impossible. Outsource your TV commercials to a video production company that specializes in creating marketing videos and commercials for businesses like yours

PPC Management
A pay-per-click campaign is an excellent way to boost traffic to your website. It’s quick and efficient, but it also requires a lot of monitoring, maintenance, and strategic planning. An online marketing company that can help run your PPC campaign is a good investment to make. They can help you analyze its effectiveness, do tedious keyword research, make sure your ads look and read as well as they should to earn clicks, and make sure you’re getting the best value.

Garrett Payne is an online review management professional with a special interest in review tracking. Garrett suggests those involved in review management; which tasks are best left to the experts.

Re-branding – Top 5 Mistakes to Avoid

by | Jan 23, 2013 | Branding, Design, Latest, Marketing

So your business made it off the ground, you’re generating revenue, but you’ve hit a roadblock with your growth and revenue. Perhaps it’s too niche or misleading, or tied to a geographic location – what to do? Re-branding your company requires careful consideration and planning in order to achieve a successful outcome and take your business to the next level. But this also involves a lot of risks.

Be aware of all the risks of re-branding before you start the process. As a marketer I know how quickly you can get caught up in design and other issues, just don’t let it get you! Re-branding is more than changing a logo or adding bolder images. It is also about researching and understanding the consumer, analyzing changes in target markets when exploring opportunities for brand expansion and repositioning.

Yet, even when forewarned, many still make some common mistakes. Here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid:

  1. Re-branding without research
    Put money and time into researching the consumer’s perspective on the product or service. What do (don’t) they like, what attracts them etc.
  2. Wrong assumption “A brand is just a logo”
    Your brand is more that just a logo. A brand integrates all aspects of your business; everything from look,  feel, culture, tone, voice, product quality, customer care…  leading to consumer perception.
  3. Getting started without a plan
    Make sure you have a plan from start to finish. From research and analysis to setting up time frames,  to identifying metrics for assessing results (ROI).
  4. Not leveraging existing brand equity
    A company with high brand equity may not need to undergo a big transformation… or rather, shouldn’t need to go through a huge transformation. When you have a strong brand equity… tread softly and lightly. However you do it, make sure the current brand equity stays strong!
  5. Getting buy in internally prior to external.
    Getting employees to understand the reason and goal of re-branding is very important because they will have to sell it to the consumers. This is equally more important in lieu of social media. Internal branding is increasingly important as each employee is a brand ambassador. In short, if they don’t believe it, neither will the consumer.

Going through a re-branding is and can be very challenging. It’s not so much setting the goal, but reaching it successfully. Having gone through a major re-branding I can only say that walking the talk is monumentally important. The re-branding that I was involved in failed miserably on convincing internal people that the change was necessary. The bigger the company, the more time is needed to make sure everyone is informed and all understand why there needs to be a change.  If they understand, they will be able to explain it to the consumer. If you believe it, you will show it!

A successful re-branding requires a vision that inspires consumers, investors and others to see the company in a new light. We can learn from other companies who have gone through re-branding. This could be a successful re-brand or even a failure, if we learn from them we will not make the same mistake. Check out the 10 most successful re-branding campaigns ever. This article not only shows how they did it, it also let us know the lesson to be learned. Very interesting!