The quality of the online experiences you deliver to your prospects and customers (from the very first touchpoint onward) has become more important to building your brand and gaining your market share than ever.

What’s that first touchpoint? Odds are, it’s your website.

The first generation of web pages were essentially a brochure stuck up on a website. They were basic, flat, cookie-cutter. There were some improvements but many small businesses relied on expensive pay-per-click ads to drive eyeballs to their sites. Which is expensive.

Now, your customer is raising the bar for customer experiences online.

This group of customers has been influenced by content marketing (articles that are informational), social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, marketing automation that drips information to their inbox and more. Sure it can be fun to play on Twitter and Facebook but until you get you into your website, you will let your competitors clean your clock.

If you are up for a whirlwind tour of state-of-the-art web strategies and tactics, updating your Web marketing repertoire with a new set of best practices that you can put into action, I’ll be sharing how you can leap over your competition with what I’ve seen work.

For just $39, it’s a steal.

Here is a bit of what you’ll learn:

• What to include on your website to reflect your most important asset – and what to avoid.
• Why a FAQ is so important and what to put in one.
• What’s so great about you…and how to say it to bring customers in your doors like a magnet.
• Supercharge your email so it gets opened and the six mistakes that get people to delete.
• Talk to your customers with actual examples of what to do…and not do online.

Can’t make it that night? No worries, you’ll get a link you can replay the webinar for 72 hrs afterwards.

You’ll logoff from this webinar with fresh marketing ideas and inspiration to make your small business pages stand out—and outperform.

Whether you’re frustrated with the results of your current website, a novice or pro, if you want to grow your sales, you don’t want to miss this! Register before noon on May 10 below.

This is limited to 100 participants so act now!

In fact, I often raise their prices to help them become profitable.

Before you read on, if you are one of the extreme couponers or use them religiously, this site, this blog and this post are not for you.

Untrained marketers who say we need to do something always go the easy let’s discount way. It takes very little imagination and since everybody else does it, they assume it must work.

As I’ve said in speeches around the country, anyone can be a discount whore; it takes no brains or skill.  And once you do it, you’re often condemned to repeating it as a lifestyle.

Here are 7 Reasons Coupons Shouldn’t Be Used For Your Marketing:

• Coupons are looked at as an ongoing effort. In effect, they become the whole marketing plan.
• By the time you factor in your time in creating them, printing them, distributing them and factoring in the actual discounting itself, you have a very expensive promotion.
• You have taught the customer that your product is not worth what you priced it at. In fact, you may have given the illusion you are raking in the big bucks on their backs.
• The people who found you through coupons will wait for your next one.
• You are rewarding people who have no relationship to the success of your business.
• Your sales staff will keep a copy of the coupon to offer to their own customers or friends.
• If your regular customers who have supported you find out someone who’s never been there is getting a better deal than they are, they just might not return.

That’s precisely what happened at a local restaurant in Long Beach, California where a group of us went for a birthday celebration. Located in an old craftsman house with antiques and a wood-burning fireplace, this was a great place to enjoy a great meal. We had ordered wine before dinner, enjoyed fabulous entrees and saved room for their signature desserts.

When the couple at the table next to us paid their check with a 50 percent off coupon, the owner must have been tipped off. He went to their table and sat down. We overheard him talk about his participation in the 50 percent off Entertainment Book.

He said that he valued the Entertainment Book because it brought in customers who had never tried him before. He told them the story of his business, how he and his wife built it and how many years he’d been there.

The coupon bearers told him they were from Pacoima, about an hour’s drive from the restaurant and that they would never have come without the coupon. He smiled, wished them well and said he looked forward to seeing them again.

Our table was incensed!

We lived in the neighborhood. We’d gone there for years, paid top dollar and received no special recognition. How did we feel? Who was more important? Here we had paid full price as usual and the people next to us who had no relationship paid half-price.

We never went back….

What to do instead

Reward those who buy from you 24/7 365 days a week. Those who shop with you regardless of the coupon, the “deal,” or the “steal.”  Getting them on your best customer list pays them back for their loyalty.

Getting the coupon users on your preferred list misses the point…

Now I’m not talking about giving people who don’t know you 50% off to come in the door with the online deal sites and then, as some have suggested, getting them on to your preferred customer list.

Why?

Because you just gave them 50% off, unless you are going to offer that regularly, they’ll feel your subsequent offers are not enough incentive and they’ll go elsewhere to someone else offering extreme coupons. Which means you took all the hit for giving them the deal with none of the promised rewards.

If you repeatedly market your business with coupons to people who don’t know you, you’d better cut your staff.  That’s because profit is what suffers.

And once your best customers find out others else get a better deal than the regulars they’ll be like me and never return. No one likes to feel they are being taken advantage of..

Two final thoughts on coupon marketing

1) The media are filled with how redemptions are way up on coupons and free-standing inserts like you find in the Sunday papers are at an all-time high.

Don’t be fooled. In the past two years coupon-hunting sites have proliferated, from mommy bloggers to individual business models that only exist to showcase the latest deals with tips and tricks.  Never has it been easier to find a coupon from anyone, anywhere.

2) Price isn’t everything – you have to make a profit. You can’t compete on price, you have to build your brand or you won’t be around for long.

If you’d like help meeting the challenges of 2012, especially in regards to your retail sales training or marketing efforts so you can be profitable please contact me.

Are you kidding me?

In a market that is as whipsawed and whiplashed as retail has been the past three years business owners are willingly choosing to not-engage with potential customers?!

The number one thing I get from new clients is, “How can we get more customers in the door?” It’s what business has asked for hundreds of years.

And no, I do not receive any money from American Express to write this, I just know a good thing when I see it.

AMEX is promoting the heck out of this day, sure as a marketing program but so what? You can checkout some of my reasons for supporting them from last year as well.

This year, I want to take aim at the “onerous fees” of American Express but first an astonishing fact:

Based on American Express spending data as of December 2, 2010, small retailers that accepted American Express Cards including those that sold apparel, bikes, books, electronics and flowers, saw an estimated 27% increase in sales on American Express Cards 2010 compared to the same day after Thanksgiving in 2009.

+27%!

Now, let’s take a look at the numbers.

Let’s say you have a store doing 50,000 a month.

Let’s say 2% of your customers pay with an American Express card. That would be about $1000 in sales.

At a 3% discount rate that would be about $30 for the month.

Have you given discounts worth more than $30 for the month? I’m sure you have.

It’s not a matter of losing business because a customer doesn’t have another card, it’s that the customer profile of AMEX customers is much higher than any other.  Jewelry stores have known this for a long time.

Additionally each quarter, American Express provides five reports showing cardmember spending at your business, including:

• Who your customers are.
• Where they’re from.
• How they spend at your business and in your competitive marketplace.

Maybe you already take their card but haven’t participated in signage, your own press release or rallying your local merchants to publicize the day. That’s like having a new car in the driveway and not giving it gas.

Local businesses, Main Street organizations and Chambers of Commerce could look at:

• Providing maps to participating merchants
• Creating a QR code to post in the window linking to participating businesses
• Putting out red welcome mats to show their participation and build on the buzz.

American Express Small Business Saturday isn’t a panacea, it won’t fix that surly customer you always get in looking for a deal. It won’t make your employees show up on time or give you free shipping from a supplier.  But it will definately expose your store to more customers.

Which could give you a larger bank balance at the end of the month. How are you planning to participate?

Please enter your comments below:

Could be my Driver personality.

Could be I had to wait as a kid.

Could be I am just full of myself at times.

Doesn’t matter.

Today I’m talking about how we sell ourselves – ie marketing.

In the old days if sales were off, you were brand new or looking for additional clients, you’d cold call companies.  It was always a shotgun approach hoping to be there at that magic moment they were looking for what you had.

Or maybe we’d purchase a list of businesses that we thought could use our services and do a direct mail piece.  Or maybe, we’d court the secretary (the gatekeeper) to help us connect with those clients – but it was still strangers pitching strangers. No surprise, few bites.

That is why being an entrepreneur in 2011 can be a challenge; because we expect immediate results from marketing.

But nowadays, no one’s taking a cold call, the gatekeepers have locked the doors, the purchased lists are dead-ends and in spite of all the “top 10 ways to grow your business with Twitter,” sales just don’t tend to happen quickly.

Why? Because you are trying to grasp at people.  To make them do something on your timeline. Push your way in.

It doesn’t work that way anymore. If it ever really did. And it is something entrepreneurs, salespeople and retailers are still trying to do.

I wrote about this regarding websites in my book, The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business (Wiley) but it is true for everyone.

Here’s the secret: you have to find multiple ways for people, customers, clients to discover you. It’s not enough to have a website full of products and hope they’ll click you over Amazon.

In my case, as a speaker, I write. A lot; articles, tweets, blog posts, and status updates. I also make videos.

That’s because the only way to market  is to provide content customers are interested in. The same for you – its about what you say, not to who.

And it sure isn’t coming up with contests for people to “Like” you on Facebook involving discounts.

Call it leaving breadcrumbs across the Net as I did in the book. Call it content marketing. Call it planting seeds.

Whatever…

It allows people searching for solutions and your products to discover you. Then you don’t have to grasp, just welcome them and provide other ways to deepen their interest in you. For example, if you were a toy store, before you post a status update, create a newsletter or tweet, think of your customers in the throes of parenthood and what they need to know. Its not all about your toys – its about being valuable.

No, its not as immediate as a hoped-for cold call that would say, “I’ll take it” or a lookie-lou selecting your most expensive widget, but that never happened on a first call or in real life either. The bigger the ticket, often the longer the customer will have to consider the purchase and that’s OK – they’re human.

Again, don’t kid yourself that marketing is about numbers of Facebook fans, Twitter followers or other social media groupies. It only means something if customers want what you have to sell.

And let’s face it, many of us are not breathlessly wondering what our spa, butcher, grocer or a brand like Preparation H are posting on their Facebook walls. What we care about are experiences with people.

So your job as a salesperson, business owner, consultant, entrepreneur, brand, is to find ways to get more awesome seeds out there so they grow into something your target audience will want to pick-up, download, read, then visit or call you about.

But all of that takes patience.

And as I stated, I hate patience….

Please comment below:

They include website tips, being remarkable, building your list and tracking your numbers.

Succeeding in Holiday Sales

To try to make this more realistic, he had a warming plate in the back with a skillet and a few strips of bacon inside.

From the control booth, he’d flip the switch to the hot plate at the start of the scene before.

When the set changed and the curtain arose on the camp scene, he switched on a small fan the blew the smell over the actors.  People said it felt as though they were really at the campfire with the smell of bacon.

The play was a hit because of the smell of bacon.

A regional grocery chain is getting attention because they are piping in the scent of smoky bacon, rosemarry focaccia and chocolate.  They attribute their 8-9% sales rise to this in-store marketing.

Smell is one of the least marketed senses and several companies are rushing to something Walt Disney pioneered with Disneyland – pumping scented air in front of stores.

Who can deny being taken aback by the smell of a coffee roaster or even unsealing a bag of ground coffee?

Wouldn’t you expect a store selling leather to smell like leather?

According to the Scent Marketing Institute, “Scent, in particular, has the power to strongly influence people because the olfactory input bypasses the logical center of the brain and goes directly to the emotional seat and memory center of the brain. For companies looking to attract customers and develop a long-lasting relationship with them, emotion and memory are critical connections and should be among the top goals of their marketing campaigns and branding efforts.”

Notice we are not talking about incense or perfume – things people can be allergic to, we’re talking natural scents. Several hotels have followed suit with their own subtley scented air which makes their lobbies a recognizable brand worldwide.

As the Boomer generation ages, our eyesight is bound to get worse. Scented air may draw our attention in ways a sign may not be able to.

Why wouldn’t a baker enhance his offerings when most of his baking is done by 7am ? I’d do it.

Would you?

Oh yeah back to my dad, that bacon smell stayed in the auditorium for years, long after he had graduated. I can only imagine people left productions and  concerts hungry for breakfast without ever knowing why.

That’s because people buy from people they trust. 

With all the news about Facebook fans, Twitter, LinkedIn and the rest of the social media outlets, we often can become enamored with followers; when we should be enamored with engagers. Here’s how to help them market your business.

“Like” or “Recommend” buttons are important because they are a way of highlighting the virtual trust people have with your brand.

That’s why I have added these buttons (at right) on my 5000+ blog posts but more importantly to every page of my site.

Now when someone comes to www.retaildoc.com and “likes” a speech, blog, video or product, it shows up on all of their social media showing they trust my content.

THAT’S HUGE! (and why you’ve probably noticed the “Like” or “Recommend” buttons across the internet at other sites as well.)

WHAT TO DO:

It’s simple, just add these share buttons across your website pages – now. You may have to ask your webmaster or if you’re comfortable doing it yourself, add-in the plug-in to your blog or visit http://www.addthis.com/

People are trusting other people’s reviews of your brand or product on hundreds of sites. People they don’t even know!

Imagine the potential from people who virtually trust you to be valuable.

And while we’re talking about social media and web marketing strategies here’s…

ANOTHER QUICK TIP FOR SOCIAL MEDIA:

1. Gather all your old comment cards, letters, you name it.
2. Contact the people who wrote them and request permission to use.
3. Post on your Facebook fan page, home page, blog, Google Local, Tweet about it, etc.

Why do you want to do this?

Those comments can show up as reviews of your product. The more recommendations, the more virtual trust people will have with your brand.

And if you are a professional – make sure to ask clients for recommendations on LinkedIn regularly in order to keep your account current.

If you haven’t started following me on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter, you can at the top of this page.

How have you nurtured your virtual trust?

Marketing In a Nutshell

For one thing, a product that is different from the rest either in what it does or how it is marketed.

For the first, think iPad, for the second, think Old Spice.

One new product I thought was clever was Bagster. Not familiar with them? I wasn’t either; probably because I haven’t watched HGTV since most of the renovation of the house was done.

But for those of you in the midst of it, you probably helped them make this list. You buy a Bagster at your local home improvement center, fill it with up to 3000 pounds of drywall, tile, you name it then go online and schedule a pickup for half the cost of a dumpster. And you can get going immediately rather than have to wait for a drop off container.

I was on MSNBC yesterday with host Richard Lui discussing why some of these forty brands that Ad Age did a special report on were included. You can read their list here (registration required.)

What would it take to make your brand hot?

Money to market – certainly. Verizon spent north of $100 million to make their Droid a hot smartphone brand.

But don’t forget, before you have money to get the word out, you have to have something someone else doesn’t.

And then deliver on that promise of new or exceptional. In short, you have to be word-of-mouth-worthy.

What would that look like for your community?

Sure it might be nice if Sarah Jessica Parker shopped your store but what would it take for her to visit?

And more importantly to return?

Your brand. Every business has one rather they realize it or not.

A quick search of Google, Yelp or Foursquare and you’ll find out if you are branded exceptional or lacking. But that doesn’t happen in a vacuum, you are either working to brand your store, your experience, your sales reps as something different – in a good way – or you’re not.  That’s a common thread in this list.

Groupon made the list for their buzz, because their customers are telling others about their brand.

What are your customers saying about you?

Hottest

or

Nonplussed?

The choice is yours…

For your store:
By registering for their promotion on their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/SmallBusinessSaturday you will be receiving $100 credit for taking out a Facebook ad (for the first 100,000 merchants who sign up.)

Yes you need to have a Facebook account but this is free money. They also give you two videos and a pdf of how to use social media. And it doesn’t cost you a thing for the privilege or require you to discount your merch.

American Express as much as acknowledges Black Friday you’ll checkout the big chains for the generic items and big discounts but hopes with this promotion that customers visit their local independent stores and restaurants on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

Customers cannot use the card for online purchases, at national chains or franchised businesses – it is truly a bricks and mortar promotion for local small businesses.

You can also download a nifty window sign that shows you are participating.

For the American Express customer:
You get $25 credit to your registered account as long as you register your eligible American Express Card at www.smallbusinesssaturday.com prior to November 27, 2010 and use your registered AMEX card to spend $25 or more at participating small business merchants on Saturday, November 27.

Eligible merchants include any independently owned small businesses that accept the American Express Card. Check their site for details.

For Facebook users:
Even if you don’t own the card, if you “Like” Small Business Saturday,  American Express will donate $1 —up to $500,000— to Girls Inc. to teach young women to be the entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

For American Express:
For years American Express has been shunned by some independent businesses due to the discount rate; their handling charge is higher than Visa or MasterCard.

When I was working in a retail store,  the owner witnessed a customer about to buy nearly a grand of merch with an American Express card and we had to say, “Sorry, we don’t take AMEX.” The customer left without his purchase. We had American Express the next day.  That owner saw the value of welcoming their affluent card carriers.

Do you?

It doesn’t take much time to get accepted to take the American Express card and they are putting a lot of effort behind this buy local campaign to help you stand out.  Their excellent AmericanExpress Open Forum has been popular for many years, it is a natural extension of their efforts to attract and keep small business owners as cardholders.

For you too:
American Express is also asking people who visit the site to give a shoutout to their favorite local business via Twitter #SmallBizSat or their own Facebook page exposing their friends to your brand – provided you are their favorite.

Wrap-Up
This is a great example of how to connect with your customers using social media. American Express gets more merchants as a benefit and provides value to their cardholders sure but their message is it is all about you and how they will help you grow your business.

That’s the same message you want to have with your own customers: its all about how you can help them do more, get more, be more with your help – not constantly looking at your customers with dollar $ign$ in their eyes.

So are you going to participate as a merchant or cardholder? Why or why not?

*Note: I wasn’t paid to write this or have any affiliate relationship with American Express, while all details were checked, if any questions arise about the  program, please contact American Express directly.