I've been scribbling cartoons again.
I met this guy at a seminar who was so focused on his competitor that he forgot to be different. Fortunately the seminar helped him realise this, so I was there to witness that moment of epiphany. Or, as the great Homer said "doh!".
His next question was "how do I compete in a crowded market?". Hmm, tough one. If the product is similar and the price is about the same, there's not much left. Except perception.
Product features and price are rational considerations. But people bring emotions into buying decisions. Call it gut feeling if you like. Have you ever based a choice on something you couldn't put your finger on? That's the power of favorable perception.
Good news. You can manage perceptions through your communications. But, you need to know what your customers will favour. It could be something that you and your competitors all offer - but no-one else has made a selling point out of it. Do you have a service department? Tell your prospects how big it is - their perception will be that you care a lot about service.
Just one word of warning. Watch out for any gap between the perceptions you create and the experience your customers will get.
"I've tried everything"
You see this a lot on the business forums.
No explanation, just desperation. When you've poured your life savings and 60 odd hours a week into something you had absolute belief in, desperation is putting it mildly.
A bit of fishing reveals that yes, they have tried many forms of promotion, but not in a planned way. Mostly out of desperation. Funnily enough.
Here's the tip: Have a plan. For the love of lemmings, let planning be your guide. Plan.
Meeting the needs of customers profitably
That's how the Chartered Institute of Marketing define marketing. So, start with your customers.
1. Who are they?
2. What do you want them to know?
3. What do you want them to do?
and the really important one...
4. Why should they?
Alright, there's a teeny bit more to planning than this like, knowing your market, watching your competitors, predicting the future (seriously!), blah blah... buy a book, there's loads.
But, before you get bogged in detail, just keep those 4 questions in mind. Especially the first and last - they're the ones you might forget in desperation.
A Gaelic dish of fish giblets and turnips?Actually, no. This is Slogan Toss..."In the race for value, make sure you choose Citroen"
Saw this on the telly last night. The race for value? Is that like the queue in Poundland?Someone got paid to write that. Actual real money. Probably a lot. I blame the buyer.The Slogan Toss Top Ten of Shame - Call for entries...
You're already thinking of something you've seen that's worse. Go on, lets hear it.
Post a comment now, while it's still making you twitch.
Why Slogan Toss? Because they are thrown together with such careless abandon. And, because they're complete toss.
Don't you just hate paying tax?
Tax on earnings, tax on savings, tax on spending. It feels like they get a cut of everything. But they don't.
The government kindly lets us off on "essential" things like food, postage and the print and fulfilment of mail packs in certain formats. What?
Yep, don't ask me why, but there are ways of avoiding the VAT on direct mail. I'm not just talking about charities here, I've done VAT free direct mail packs selling mortgages.
It's like getting 17.5% of your print and fulfillment budget back!
All you need to know are the rules. Sounds too easy doesn't it?
Well, there are no rules as such - but if you know how to make a strong case, your money is safe.
How it works
You need to have more non-VATable content in your mail pack than VATable.
Whats VATable
All envelopes (including enclosed, reply paid envelopes), anything addressing the recipient by name (that's "Dear Mrs XXXX" but not the address), anything that is designed to be kept (tear offs, gifts, samples), reply forms.
Whats NOT VATable
Anything ephemeral (read it-chuck it) and without personal salutation. So, flyers, brochures and letters with "Dear Customer" (yuk!) or no salutation at all.
There are more ways to argue for VAT free than you think
Agencies without much DM expertise will suggest stuffing a couple of flyers in with a personalised letter (to outnumber it), whether they are relevant or not.
The trick is to remember that you need to have more non-VATable content in your mail pack. That means that you can measure the comparative significance of VATable and non-VATable items.
For example, you also have a strong case if
- you have a non-VATable brochure conveying the bulk of the necessary information and the personalised letter refers to it
or
- your your non-VATable items are more of the total cost of the pack.
You can even make a case for a VAT free follow up postcard as long as the copy refers to the previous mailing eg. "Don't forget your car insurance. I wrote to you last month and...".Just remember that these are strong cases, not rules. If in doubt, get your mailing house to check your pack design with their local Tax Office. A good mailing house will have a pretty good idea of what will fly and what won't.
One last thing, try to be consistent. Don't use one rule for the initial mailing and another for the follow up.
If anyone has had any different experience, or has some advice to add, please do leave a comment.
Good luck.
Following on from the last post, if you are ever in Dinan and the thought of another crepe makes your intestines quiver, there's a cracking alternative.Just off the Place des Cordeliers is a little place that looks like a sandwich shop called "Sur Le Pouce".Know this - They make THE BEST fish and chips!Fish and chips, in France, and yes, the best I've had for years. Not believable is it.Fear not, the secret of greasy British delicacies has not escaped our shores - the place is run by a Yorkshireman. This also means you get a nice cup of tea. Heaven.A recommendation well earned.
The dramatic story of this post starts in the pretty medieval town of Dinan, Northern France. It's a bit of a tourist trap, but the place still has a little bit of magic.
Especially in the morning, when it's still fairly quiet, and the cool air is warmed by the delicious odour of fresh bread. The smell oozes through the tangle of cobbled streets like a charm, and soaks the pores of the half timbered houses as it has for many lifetimes.
However, this is merely background to the event.
Besides, by lunchtime you can hardly move for kids on school trips and English tourists looking for something, anything, to eat other than crepes. Times change.
Lovely place though.
But it's only the setting.
Ground zero was where we stayed. A tiny haven of tranquility. A little town house snuggled in a side street. There it is in the photo, the one with the green shutters.
It was an old house with crooked walls and aged wooden floors, whose boards gently rubbed together, giving a satisfying percussion to even the softest step. And water would patter soothingly down the spiral staircase, whenever my wife's auntie or uncle used the shower in their room.
But this was little cause for alarm. You see, we could call Dennis, the ex-pat key holder and handyman. After leaving only three messages, Dennis was round in a flash, a couple of days later.
From our amateur description of the event, he was immediately able to deduce that the shower was was leaking. He went on to advise us, with every fibre of sincerity and reassurance that he could muster, that there was no-one staying in the house the week after we left, so he would fix it then.
"So what do we do until then?"
Dennis had clearly not anticipated this question. A little crestfallen, he thought for a moment and decided that the second shower in our bathroom was probably working fine, so we could all share that one.
OK, obvious solution, but it was an afterthought. He was thinking about it all from his point of view:
- Plumbing needs fixing.
- The owner will want it fixed before the next guests arrive.
- Need to leave quick (I wonder what's for tea?).
Pleased with the solution to his problem, Dennis had assumed that ours was much the same.And yet we have all smelt the pooey end of this stick at some time or other. I'll bet even Dennis has sucked such a lemon in his lifetime.
This is when we become most aware that we are a "customer" - when something goes wrong. What an opportunity! Ironic isn't it.
In the grand scheme of things, ours wasn't much of a problem at all. But see how easy a drama of poor communication develops. And that's what gets remembered.If only he had used the "so what?" rule. That is, if you think your audience is likely to say "so what?", your message might well be off target.
We had a lovely time though. If you get the chance you should go.
I've made some discoveries about blogs.
It took a few hours to find them out. Now I'd like to share them with you. Exciting or what!
You see, I keep getting told "...yeah, you need a blog. No-one looks at websites any more". Right then. I'd better get cracking.
I like to prepare, so I spent an evening googling away - bouncing from one blog to another.
This is what I found...
Many blogs share news with family and friends. Which is nice.
The remainder are put out there for the edification of all. And here's the thing - most are complete toss. Don't people realise that some things are best kept to ourselves?
Now don't get me wrong, there are some absolute gems.
The good ones, they communicate something useful, interesting or entertaining. The best ones do all three.
So, I hope you found those observations useful and interesting, and the cartoon entertaining. I'll settle for 2 out of 3. It gives me something to aspire to.
I've been scribbling cartoons again. 
