On Words and Business

Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

Thoughts on marketing, branding, and communications from the folks at market research agency Millward Brown. Good stuff.

One thing I love about January–predicting trends.

The top three marketing trends from my perspective:

• Integration of marketing messages. There’s hardly anything more frustrating than getting different stories from different touchpoints. Like I did the other day: the website, the recorded telephone hold message, and the customer service agent all conveyed different information about the same service (and not a trivial aspect of the service, either). Which to believe?
• Social media. Judicious use of, that is. It is where a lot of consumers are. But it bears thinking about whether your customers are interested (or ready) to read your message there, or if it will come across as intrusive. The answer isn’t to shout louder or to bombard.
• Mobile marketing to consumers. This will take some skill to do well. Because ads and marketing come at us from everywhere (even the floor of the subway station) it’s getting easier to tune these messages out. Like with social media, the answer isn’t shouting. The leaders here will be those who figure out the subtleties.

A few other predictions to check out:

• Optimism, accountability, social media top trends (B2B)
• 13 signs the marketing industry is recovering (interactive)
• 12 digital marketing predictions for 2010 (digital)
• 10 marketing predictions for 2010 (general)

The teens are being touted as the decade of the mobile device and all the marketing and media that go along with them.

According to CTIA, 89% of the US population own cell phones.  Only about 16% (predicted to be 37% by 2014) of those are smartphones–ready for all this marketing and media to arrive. That number is predicted to be 37% by 2014, but even that will be only about a third of the population.

I don’t fundamentally disagree that things are going mobile; and I know other parts of the world are more mobile and have more smartphone than we do. I just worry about those who don’t have or can’t afford smartphones.

Will other forms of marketing and media suffer with the focus on mobility?

There are all sorts of things on my to-do list. Many of which I actively avoid. Sound familiar?

Here’s a great model from Robert Middleton’s More Clients Blog on prioritizing projects and time.

A couple items from my Don’t Like to Do and Avoid column:

• follow-up calls and email
• public relations
• creating and actually following a marketing plan

I’m looking forward to some rejiggering and delegating in the new year!

From the post Marketing Tip of the Day: Never Say “Very” by Dave Kellogg

• It makes your writing seem like puffery
• It transfers the meaning away from the very thing you are trying to highlight
• It may lead to unsupported or illogical claims
• It can overposition your product or service

That’s all very, very true, n’est-ce pas?

Me and my business?

It can be scary to ask people to share what they think about us or our business. But testimonials from clients are one of the best ways to help prospects understand how you can help them. And, if you ask the right questions, they can also help improve your business. It’s a win-win.

Some questions to ask your clients:

• What do you like about working with us?
• What don’t you like and wish we did better?
• What are the biggest benefits of working with us?
• What are the biggest drawbacks of working with us?
• What were your preconceived notions about working with us before we started?
• How has that changed since we’ve worked together?
• If you were to recommend us to a colleague, friend, or business associate, how would you describe the way I provide my service to you?