Atomic Penny

Look in your desk drawers and count how many miscellaneous items you have from various business associates that were given as a reminder of the business relationship you have or wish to build with that person. Now look how many “sales aids” you have in your possession that you give out on a regular basis.  And consider if they aided in a sale in any way, shape or form.

I was going through my desk today and found 7 hand sanitizer bottles from 5 different contacts, several pens, at least 4 hats and more post-it notes and highlighters than I wished to count. Not to mention the carabiners, paper clip holders, magnetic business card holders little mint tins and a couple of empty candy jars. Each of these items have  a logo from a business relation. Along with these items I have grab bags of various marketing promo items I have picked up at conferences and expos sitting ignored or unused, finally thrown out.

I am sure that at some point I needed or thought I needed each of these items, or accepted them as a gift from someone I do business with on a regular basis. The problem is, I don’t really need or want most of the items.

Now, think back to when you gave or received one or more of these items, did you get any business? Did you enhance your relationship because of the item you gave out? What were you or your business associates hoping to gain by handing these items out? Now think of what you could have done differently, for less money and more effectively.

I am a huge proponent of handwritten notes, real handwritten notes, not the kind you can order with your handwriting imprinted on on a basic card. Notes can cement or create a customer.  Be sincere about thanking the people that matter most, remember the customers and relationships that helped you start, grow and prosper. If you think you have too many customers to thank, focus on the opinion leaders who can drive more customers to you based on your actions and sincerity. Appreciate those who keep you in business. Stamps, cards and ink are going to pay off more than another pen or post-it note pad.

The guys over at carrots.com, are champions of appreciation. While they focus on employee relationships, the same principle can be used for business relations. More importantly, a handwritten note carries more weight than a case of hand sanitizer bottles.

E-Myth also has a post on some great gifts for an entrepreneur. Their suggestions can really help someone who needs a little direction.

All in all, giving gifts is a conventional way of sales and marketing, and there is nothing wrong with the occasional small promotional item. But think in an unconventional manner, think what you can do to set yourself apart with the customers you have, and those you want.

Most of the time, you can be like everyone else, or you can go your own way and get better results. Try something new! It won’t hurt to be different, but it will pay off.

POWER ON–Mark

Amplitude: 1) the state or quality of being ample, esp. as to breadth or width; largeness; greatness of extent. (Source: www.Dictionary.com)

Recently I was reading “What The Dog Saw” by Malcolm Gladwell, and there was an article on ketchup. What caught me was the description of how the taste of a food is measured, it is amplitude. Amplitude measures the balance of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami and how each of these related to the complete taste of the food. Take a minute to read this article, I found it fascinating.

I started thinking of how this can apply to marketing with a big M. Marketing can be a wide assortment of differing activities focused on getting customers to buy your service or product, measuring the results and modifying your processes. This helps to insure a better marketing result and hopefully better sales. Unconventional marketing can become your amplitude if done correctly, or it can become your downfall if you leave the consumer with a bad experience. The depth and breadth of your marketing can increase your amplitude with your customers, prospects and suspects. Make your marketing a savory experience.

Here’s how:

• Create anticipation for your product. Remember the Apple commercial for the IPOD? A silhouette of a person wearing/holding an iPod, dancing to the music, no product, no pricing, just a visceral experience. You can do the same with a well thought out marketing program. Create anticipation and excitement for the product; get the customer in your business to experience more.

• Be exclusive. Work with your distributors to create a product or service that no else has. While that may sound expensive, it can be as simple as packaging two like products into a single package. Combine cocoa with marshmallows or milk with cookies.

• Don’t hesitate. If there is a hot new product or service, be sure the public know you have it in stock. If you have a unique service, trumpet your differences to the public. Make them aware, sometimes it can be done by word of mouth.

• Ask for assistance. Don’t be shy to ask your customers to tell others about you. Be sure to also let your customers know how much you appreciate your customers, a smile and thank you is more than most businesses do these days.

By doing some of these things, you can create a higher amplitude for your business. The experience is the thing. Whether it is visual, tasty, aromatic, and aural or touch, you can raise your amplitude by doing it better.

What is your amplitude?

POWER ON–Mark

A very deserving winner with Dave Adams (Adams G3) and myself

Saturday was Atomic Penny’s First Annual Community Share Day at Utah Valley University. During the basketball game I along with the participating partners were able to give away a car to a very deserving single mother.

As you know I am a proponent of spending less and getting more when marketing.

Free luncheon for sponsor and community organizations-Texas Roadhouse

Car Donation to be repaired and given to a deserving recipient-American Family Insurance

Car Repair for donation- Adams G3 Collision and Repair

Certificate for room rental-Noahs

All marketing and prizes, with the exception of $45 for stamps was donated or provided.

Participating Community Organizations:

Boys and Girls Club of Utah County

Second Chance Foundation of Utah

Habitat for Humanity

Turning Point

In Our Own Quiet Way

Little Heroes Foundation

All of these organizations gave away a donated iPod and raised funds and awareness during the basketball game.

All it took was asking, implementing and following up. Ask and you will be surprised at what develops!

Personally, this was one of the most rewarding events I have ever participated in or organized.

POWER ON–Mark

The holidays are a time when we all find ourselves getting together with friends, family, and colleagues. Since I’ve recently been doing some international traveling, it came to my attention that keeping in touch doesn’t always have to be in person. It can also be pretty darn expensive!  So, here are some free programs that you can use anywhere in the world to stay connected both personally and professionally.

FreeConferenceCall.com

This site provides exactly what its title says and more. Simply set the date and time for your conference call. Notify up to 96 of your closest pals by providing them with the conference dial-in number and participant access code. Then, at the scheduled time, everyone dials in. Done!

There are no advertisements to listen to, no quality issues, no hidden fees, no sales pitches, no contracts, no purchases required, no privacy problems, no limitations or restrictions, and no surprises. Furthermore, you can record your calls for playback purposes. These recordings are also downloadable so that they are yours forever.

Yugma.com

Similar to FreeConferenceCall.com, an account with Yugma.com allows you to invite a group to a conference call for free (up to 20 people). A distinctive feature with Yugma.com is that you will be able to share your computer’s desktop with attendees and use the built-in instant message feature. One screen is better than two, right?!

Skype.com

For my atomic penny, face-to-face beats voice-to-voice any day. With Skype.com, all you need is a webcam (cheap ones go for about $20) and you can get free video calls anywhere in the world. The quality depends on your internet connection, but for the most part it is pretty great. Video calls are only one-to-one for now, but the site predicts that this should be remedied in the near future. Skype.com also provides conference call and instant message services for free.

Bonus! For those whose communications are trumped by foreign language:

http://education-portal.com/articles/Free_Foreign_Language_Courses_Online.html

POWER ON

Mark

Visually stimulating target buyers has always been one of the most effective methods to promote a product or producer. Billions of dollars are spent annually on branding companies with pictures, but that doesn’t mean you have to break the piggy bank to successfully capture your message for buyers. Here are some budget-minded ideas for branding that won’t cost you crazy cash!

-Take the pictures yourself. Photographers can be extremely expensive, and for good reason. They are professionals that have talent and experience. But if you have an artistic eye and a quality camera, why not cut out the middleman? At the very least, I recommend first taking some snapshots on your own as a means to save time by directing a photographer who charges by the hour.

-Flip out! The newest gadget on the market is the Flip Cam (www.theflip.com). For a little more than $100 you can have your very own HD video camera. It is extremely user friendly and produces outstanding video.

-Stock up with stock photos. The web is full of sites that offer royalty-free,professional-grade images. A few to check out include: www.freedigitalphotos.net, www.freefoto.com, www.sxc.hu, and www.freephotos.com.

Please feel free to share any of your imaginative ideas for images below!

POWER ON

Mark

As a small business, you want to create exposure for yourself in the community you are hoping to tap into. There is one way to create a buzz about yourself or your business. Charity! When I say charity, I don’t mean writing a check, I mean finding a charity and being a champion for its mission. You can do this simply and easily, but make sure you are willing to put them first, ahead of your own marketing and business desires.

I discussed this in my September 29, 2009 post regarding the NFL and the support for breast cancer awareness. This time instead of a national sports league, I want you to consider it in the context of what you as a small business owner  or marketing professional can do.

An example of this can be as easy as having a donation station for drop offs for the charity. Have the charity advertise your location(s) as drop offs. This gives donors the opportunity to visit your location and gives you the opportunity to capture new customers.

Imagine the exposure you will receive if you become the largest collector and contributer to the ongoing success of the charity. Everyone wins!

Cost becomes irrelevant as you support a local cause and help those in need. Find a cause you can support here. www.liveunited.org.

POWER ON–Mark

Atomic Penny, in conjunction with Adams G3 Collision Repair and UVU Athletics, is pleased to announce the First Annual Community Share Night on December 5, 2009. Community Share Night is being held to recognize the efforts of community organizations in the Utah Valley area. This event will be held at the UVU vs. San Jose State basketball game in the McKay Events Center.

The featured community organization will be Turning Point, and the Womens Resource Center a resource for non-traditional students who have faced hurdles in returning to school and rejoining the business community.

Additionally, local community organizations will be present to provide information pertaining to the services that are provided to the citizens of Utah County. Your partnership dollars will provide valuable assistance to these organizations.

As a local business, we are offering you the opportunity to be a part of this special event. Partnerships are being offered for a pre game dinner, 2 media timeouts (6 total partnerships) and halftime festivities. Partnership levels are:

• Time-out Sponsor  : $250 plus a  prize to be given away ($50 minimum value) 6 Available. Recognition during the time out, partnership information on handouts, opportunity to nominate community organizations.
• Pregame Dinner for Spotlight Organization and Sponsors: $500 (2 Available) Recognition at pre-game dinner, partnership information on handouts, opportunity to nominate community organizations.
• Halftime Sponsor $400 plus a prize to be given away ($50 minimum value) 2 Available. Recognition of Partnership during halftime festivities, partnership information on handouts, opportunity to nominate community organizations.

As partners, tickets to the game will be made available and you are encouraged to invite family, friends, and clients to this exciting event.

At halftime, there will be a special presentation courtesy of Adams G3 Collision Repair to a very deserving individual. Halftime sponsorships will assist us in bringing this presentation to reality.

All monies collected (with the exception of supply costs) will be distributed to participating community organizations.

Plan now to be a part of this exciting event. For more information and to sign up as a partner, please contact Atomic Penny at 801-995-5550 or via email at atomicpenny@gmail.com. Response requested by October 28, 2009.

I have a good friend who started sweeping floors at a Kimberly-Clark. He tells the story of pushing the broom from one end of the floor to the other and back, all shift long. Dave went on to hold several jobs before his current venture, he owns a car repair shop. While on the surface that may not seem like much, I can guarantee if you met Dave, you would want to work for and with him, and buy him a drink (or two).

If you walked by him on the street, he would probably smile at you or give you a nod. He has no really distinguishing characteristics other than his thick black and gray hair. He drives a regular car, lives in a nice house and has a great wife and great kids. However there is one thing about Dave that will get you every time. His simplicity.

He has a simple belief that if you stray off course, get back to your center. He believes that if someone needs help, you help them. If you need an ear, he has one.If the state shoots a moose and it  damages your car, Dave fixes it.  No questions, no request for payment, just Dave. No need to reciprocate, just pay it forward.

Now earlier I said Dave was simple. He actually has a simple belief. Treat people like they deserve to be treated, then do it better than anyone else.

Dave is simple–SIMPLY THE BEST

POWER ON–Mark

Recently I  posted about the basics of email and what you should and should not do to make it a success. Today I want to talk about old school mail, you know the kind most of us grew up with? Remember looking forward to what was in the mail, a postcard, a birthday card with possibly a check in it, or even a past due notice?  The thing about mail is that is it targeted, and while it is considered junk and unnecessary by some, mail is still an adventure.

Yes, it does cost money to print the sales material or brochure, stuff the envelope, write an address, affix the stamp and go to a mailbox, mail does have its benefits. It is the way you send the mail that makes the difference.

• Hand write the address on the envelope, it shows the recipient that you took the time to personally address the envelope.
• Use a real stamp, once again it shows that you care when sending something.
• Make the message stand out! A red, green, pink or purple envelope grabs more attention than a white one.
• Create a call to action, it can be as simple as a “freebie” inside the envelope, or an offer that is different than all the other junk the recipient is getting.
• Target your audience, if you look at this recent posting by Seth Godin , you will see that choosing the right audience is essential to your mailing or emailing success
• Follow-up, if at all possible, call recipients (after checking the do not call list) to ask if they received the information. Do not assume that the customer will see your mail and rush to buy.
• Follow-up with an additional mailing at some point within 3 weeks. Consistency is key!
• For residential customers mail on Thursday evening, so receipt is on Saturday, when the prospect has more time to peruse the mail.
• For business and commercial customers mail on Saturday or Monday to insure delivery on Tuesday or Wednesday. That way your message is not lost in the Monday rush.

Snail mail can be an effective sales and marketing channel. The issue is that there tends to be a shotgun approach just like email. If you do it correctly and consistently, it will pay off. Do not assume the mail piece will do the work all by itself.

POWER ON–Mark

Last week, I wrote about some effective email practices to promote your product or service. To recap, email marketing is one of the most cost-effective tools at a small-business owner’s disposal. 

That actually reminds me, I ought to provide readers with a shameless plug! If you haven’t signed up for Atomic Penny’s mailing list, stop expanding your mind with this article immediately and go do it! You’ll find sign-up boxes all over my website. Now back to our regularly scheduled post…

Below are additional tips and techniques to assure you a formidable email campaign:

-The body of your email should only contain 3-5 topics. Too many subjects can be overwhelming for readers.

-Whitespace in an email is a good thing. Cramming too much into your email is not pleasing to the eye, and can turn your readers off.

-Avoid long paragraphs. Highlight, italicize, and bold key words/phrases so readers can easily scan and acquire the general message you wish to convey.

-The top third of your email is the most important. The first portion of your email is what people will see without scrolling down. Be sure to place some important information in that area. 

-Personalize your email. If at all possible, include the recipient’s name and any details that make your email less like generic spam.

-Include actionable links. Your email should include hyperlinks to your website. They should also be presented with a sense of urgency. For instance, “Sale ends soon! Click here.”

POWER ON

Mark