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Why Facebook isn’t the magic marketing bullet for your business

February 11, 2012 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

In small communities like Norfolk County, Ontario, it’s common for many businesses to rely only on a Facebook page for online marketing. (In fact, Facebook is often used as a substitute to having a website. The latter is a flawed move. Period.)

Several recent studies have looked at the use of Facebook as a business marketing tool. The results point to Facebook not being the magic marketing bullet many businesses hope for. Unfortunately, too many businesses are focused on number of Likes as being evidence of marketing success. These same businesses rarely compile any data to show whether those Likes are translating into dollars and cents.

The most important but forgotten question in marketing

February 7, 2012 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

A marketing or communications plan can be like an octopus. There can be lots of tentacles going in many different directions. You jot down notes. You hash out ideas. And you go around and around in meetings that never seem to end.

Almost everyone talks about the first necessary component of marketing anything, be it a product, service or event. That component, of course, would be: Who is the intended target audience?

But here’s the question that is often forgotten when developing any marketing or communication plan: “For us to call this a success, what results are needed?”

Ad design: 5 reasons not to put your design in the hands of newspapers

November 20, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

Many businesses today continue to let newspapers handle the design of their ads. It’s seen as the easy way. Buy ad space. Have the newspaper design the ad.

But the results often speak for themselves today, especially in small to medium markets.

You can easily tell which businesses and organizations have put their ad design in the hands of professional designers, rather than letting a newspaper take care of the design. The difference in quality is noticeable.

Building a mailing list is an often overlooked small business marketing tool

November 7, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan 1 Comment

In November, I entered my dog in a national contest run by a cellular phone company. I knew exactly what the purpose of the contest was all about. Oh sure, it was about about selecting a new dog to appear in the company’s advertising. But it was really about marketing. By entering my pooch, the company obtained all kinds of information to soon target me with their product advertising. (I’ll be able to opt out when those mailings start arriving.)

Seeing companies use contests to build mailing lists is not new. You definitely see it being done by large companies in urban centres. Where you don’t see it happening often enough is in smaller communities. Business associations, companies, agencies, etc., often rely on old lists or lists that develop at a snail’s pace by other regular office means.

What email scam ‘letters’ can teach us about communications

October 3, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

Those darn email scams just keep coming in our inboxes. Day after day. Yes, they are annoying.

Sadly, some people do fall victim. However, from a strictly communications standpoint, these pitch ‘letters’ are fascinating. They are also horrendously bad. And that’s why they are worth dissecting.

Let’s take a look at a current email scam ‘letter’ now making the rounds. My comments are in italics:

Are daily deal sites right for rural businesses?

September 21, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan 1 Comment

Group buying sites are everywhere today. Groupon. WagJag. Steal the Deal. Heck, I even subscribe to one, just to be curious about who is taking advantage. In the rural community where I live, the answer is almost no stores are using them. That’s not surprising.

Why are group buying sites not ideal for rural communities?

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When a ‘sales’ pitch comes across as insincere to your potential audience

July 21, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

I’ve seen a roadside sign many, many times that advertises ‘Special Sale Today’. It’s a sign that’s placed curbside every single day. I cringe every time I see it. The reality is there are no ‘special sales’ particular to a certain day. This sign reminds me of being on vacation. You know, the vacations where you are the tourist. Shop vendors stand outside the doorway and try to woo you into their businesses with verbal pitches like “almost free today, c’mon in!”

What’s your curb appeal? Today, you need to think beyond the usual

June 21, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

I popped into a little restaurant the other day. Actually, I’ve driven past this place many, many times over the years. And I always kept on going. It had no curb appeal. It looked more like a dive. But on this day, I was in a hurry and it was convenient.

The exterior paint was peeling and faded. There were weeds growing tall around the gravel parking lot. The crudely painted sign looked like it was handpainted with a quick swipe of a polyester brush.

Is your ’10% Off Sale’ really about consumers, or your business?

June 13, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan Leave a Comment

What’s motivating your latest sales campaign? Is it to genuinely build an audience of new long-term customers by serving them a deal that introduces your products or services? Or is it more about an attempt to increase your sales by a small margin over a very short span?

Have you noticed any advertisements for 10% OFF SALES lately. You can usually spot these ‘deals’ in newspaper ads. Or sometimes they are in coupon books. It doesn’t matter where you see them. They all tend to create the same perception from many consumers. Ten per cent off? Big deal. Actually, it’s a small deal. Unless you’re selling widgets that are $5,000. Then 10% off is a savings. About $500 worth. But if you’re offering a deal of 10% off a $9.99 restaurant meal, that’s a savings of 99 cents.

Bad design: Oh, these really stink

June 3, 2011 By Gregg McLachlan 5 Comments

One of my pet peeves is bad design.

I cringe when I see a web design company forget to change a default favicon to the client’s custom favicon. (A favicon is that little symbol that shows up next to the url in your web browser.) Companies, organizations and people like to create and use their own favicons. But many open source web software systems, like WordPress and Joomla, come with their own default favicon.

I cringe when I see amateurish newspaper ads that recycle the same cartoonish clipart characters through many different client ads.

And I cringe when I see websites that are dreadful, because in this age of the Internet, a website does create the first impression in many, many instances.

Here are three sources to view bad design. Enjoy! Or, should I say, weep?

25 worst alternate jerseys in hockey history (via Bleacher Report)
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/707810-nhl-fashion-faux-pas-the-25-worst-alternate-jerseys-in-hockey-history

Worst websites of 2010 (via Web Pages That Suck)
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/worst-websites-of-2010.html

Really, really bad logo designs (via the How Low Can Your Logo Go contest website)
http://howlowcanyourlogo.com/gallery/