Thinking about Email marketing?

I detest lazy email marketing campaigns. I am even more disdainful of things that sort of look like a direct mail campaign but without any real point.

Check out THIS articleabout email marketing. Thinking about it?

Email me first! We have better ideas!

tobin@brain-bucket.com

Useless Marketing ... The hope strategy

Seth Godin points out a reference to useless marketing.

Useless Marketing

I was in a meeting last week where the potential customer said to me, "We really don't want to focus on any of that branding or marketing, we just want a website that shows our work."

Now, anyone and everyone in marketing has heard this refrain before. I politely reminded my potential customer that yesterday when we chatted in the hallway, he had mentioned that they were busy, but not with the kind of work they wished they had.

Who was it that said that hope is not a strategy?

I am about to go back to this client with a proposal that would dramatically reshape what they do. But, because of the previous comment, I am not at all sure of my ability to convince them that indeed, what they need is some of that branding and useless marketing.

Make Your Company Remark-able

Again with the Seth Godin reference! Shame on me.

Seth posts all the time about how marketing is about making something (could be anything!) remarkable...worth remarking about.

So here it is: What would it take for you to get onto Fast Company's "Companies That Care" list?

Fast Company - Companies That Care


What would you do to your company, (the one you run, not the other one that runs you), in order to make it a place that people sent their resumes to unsolicited?

How would you do that?

Hint: it has nothing to do with ping-pong tables, beer at lunch, or massages on Fridays.

Managing Marketing Expectations

I just had a great illustration of managed expectations and what that does in different situations.

A year ago I had a huge city project tear up my street for a total of 10 months. There was not one single piece of communication from the city about what this was, how long it would last, the sequence of events, what to expect...nothing.

The only thing we got in our mail box in 10 months was two notes from the construction crew about when the massive earth diggers and movers were going to be making getting into or out of my driveway impossible. Nice enough, but there was very little actual info in there. We lived each day for 10 months inside of a construction site that we know nothing about...even asking the crew wasn't helpful. Big surprise.

The entire neighborhood was hacked off. Our City council member got replaced this past year...largely because of that experience.

Now, one year later the same construction company is doing the same type of project adjacent to a condominium development that my family is a part of. The difference is that this project is much larger and more time consuming to complete.

The other difference is the level of communication from the city as well as the construction company. They have communicated well with everyone in the building, the surrounding neighborhood, the nearby shops, etc. We know what is going on, what is going to happen, when it is going to happen, and how long it is going to take, (18 months!).

The people aren't happy about the timeline, but it is an important project and everyone is approaching it with a sense of humor and understanding.

Same project...same company...different approach.

Seth Godin talks and posts and writes a lot about what little tiny things you need to do to make an experience move from bad to great.

I know this isn't a new idea. I know this is a simple idea. I know this is not a ground breaking concept.

But if it is so basic...how come so few companies actually do the little extra work to make it happen?