Kendall PRess @ Work

Coming in from North Station this morning, I heard a voice shouting 'free lunch today.' Locating the source I focused on a physically small man bundled up appropriately for the cold air trying to PUSH 'free' lunch cards on passerbys. He wasn't giving away that many. "Free lunch, hey grand opening, wanta free lunch?"  I think that was the PITCH that had me and everyone else walking away head down, looking elsewhere.

Hit a red light at the corner and surreptitiously watched this #fail performance. I made eye contact, smiled and he offered me one......"want one for your wife, also?" he quietly asked.
The deal: Free Lunch, new food truck.
The caveat: first 50 people starting at 11am.

Were they hoping for a line up, some publicity, curiosity factor? Just pitching cards at the wind and hoping for the best?

Looked like the makings of #fail to me:
business card sized PITCH, printed on cheap paper, cut unevenly, delivered by an unknown entity to a knowing population (there is no such thing as a free lunch.  There is a catch. There is always a catch.

I don't know who you are, I don't know what you're pushing.  I am so unlikely to trust you or your handout proffered tentatively toward me.

Today's catch?....'first 50 customers'

THE TAKEAWAYS:
Inbound Marketing works better than Pushing. Having what your prospects need and being available when they need you is everything. Trust is built over time and through others.

CAN YOU THINK OF A BETTER WAY?
We can.

So can @PamSahota whose blog this morning for @oneforty included the following very powerful statement: "COMMUNICATION TODAY IS ABOUT BEING AT YOUR CUSTOMER'S FINGERTIPS"

The paragraph I pulled that quote from is here Nowadays communication is about being at the fingertips of your consumers. Consumers want to find how they can reach you at the click of a mouse button. Whether it’s via email communication, social media, and/or both. Your place of business should make it as easy as possible for your consumers, so why not connect both together? Combine your mechanism for direct response with your organic communities. Therefore consumers can find, communicate, and engage with you how and when they want to. Thus, you’re not “pushing” yourself on them, you’re “pulling” them in. Awesome."
You can read her full blog post about integrating social media with emails here:
http://oneforty.com/blog/how-to-connect-email-marketing-and-social-media

Awesome, indeed... and no, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Your time alone has a greater value than if you wait on line, are lucky enough to be one of the first fifty and are lucky enough to get a meal you enjoy.
Keith

Labels: free lunch, print, social media

One Forty Inc. founder Laura Fitton @Pistachio, shifts her company away from consumer apps and toward business apps as she is quoted saying "We’re not really confining ourselves to Twitter any more."  Why, we might ask? (because) "Increasing budgets are being assigned to this area (social media and business apps). Excellent communicators are being thrust into the limelight and told to ‘go figure out social.’

Labels: Pistachio, social media

Creating and Maintaining a great Business identity. What does that mean? It used to mean Business and marketing collaterals. Letterhead, Stationary, Business cards and the like. A quick call to your local printshop and whip up something consistent and useful.

Social Media - TWITTER, FACEBOOK, YELP, etc. has changed all that. A great business identity today requires these three considerations:

• WHAT DO OTHERS (outside the company) THINK AND SAY ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS?
• ARE YOUR PRINTED MATERIALS CONSISTENT WITH YOUR ON-LINE PRESENCE?
  
• WILL YOUR MARKETING DEPARTMENT CONSULT WITH YOUR IT DEPARTMENT AND IF NOT, WHO TAKES THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR INSURING A CLEAR AND CONSISTENT VOICE (AND PAIR OF EARS)

You may have not noticed, but Massachusetts has become a hotbed of development for Mobile applications - think iPhone and Androids. QR codes (for quick read and delivery of information) are showing up more frequently and have greater value as the apps become available.

If you're not sure what this all means to your advertising, marketing and sales efforts, call us, we can help. We firmly believe that the FUTURE OF PRINTING is here.

For more information on Mass Mobile go to http://massmobile.com
and see --Gregory Bialecki, leading Governor Patrick's Innovation Agenda as Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. It IS that important.

See the amount of activity taking place around us. Consider the implications to your business. We have.

Labels: Future of Printing, Mass Mobile month, QR codes, social media

I should more correctly identify this blog entry as "marketing your business or yourself in this new social media world."

With Twitter, Facebook, blogs and a myriad of other forms of electronic communication, why would anyone use paper? There is a simple answer. It is a personal connection. A Tactile Trigger; and very tactical these days.

Proof - Go to any networking event, local watering hole gathering or random/chance encounter during your day. You might remember a name or scribble down a website or have your PDA contact my PDA but more than likely, and more professionally, you'd like to hand over your business card and say "give me a call sometime."

Holiday cards - Thank you cards? Not many people take the on-line version and print them out to tape onto their office bulletin boards unless it's a very special message from a very special person, very far away.

Finally there's the persistence factor- Thank you notes in particular and holiday cards this time of year, both lend themselves readily to being touched, opened and touched again. It's the nature of the beast. So, if you always text message and email - surprise your contact and send paper. If you don't have a website, facebook, email, or on-line presence, time to get one and broadcast regularly.

Variety is the spice of life and varying your tools keeps you sharp, your connections vibrant, and your message personal.

Keith

Labels: blogs, business cards, marketing, note cards, reinventing paper, social media, twitter