Archives for April 2015

5 Things You Can Learn From Taylor Swift to Improve Your Business

April 19, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

So tonight Taylor Swift won another award.

Now that’s nothing new. She’s been winning awards for a long time.

Tonight she won the Academy of Country Music Milestone Award and had it presented to her by her mom.

It was a touching presentation by a Mom who’s seen the good and the bad, the highs and the lows in her daughter’s struggles to make it to the top of Country Music and Pop Music.

Now you may love Taylor, or be like, enough already. But you can’t doubt the connection she has with music and her fans.

So what can you learn from Taylor Swift that can apply to your business?

1) She tells great stories.

Taylor is a great storyteller. Her songs talk about experiences she’s had. Crushes. Being in Love. Breakups. Fairy tales.

And these songs connect with her key demographic of pre-teen and teenage girls who are discovering boys and dealing with teenage craziness.

What stories could you be telling in your business marketing? Are your stories getting into your sales letters, advertising and home page? If they’re not you should consider that. Test it and see what happens.

2) She keeps it simple and memorable.

On the guitar she generally plays simple 3 and 4-chord melodies. I have played her songs on guitar often for my daughter. And I can learn them quickly.

They’re catchy. Easy to remember and easy for her fans to sing. Something also that Gene Simmons of Kiss promoted (but that’s another story).

The stories themselves are memorable and her fans can relate to them and will listen to them over and over again (just ask my niece and daughter).

Simplicity makes your business easier for customers to figure out. And having a few choices helps them to buy instead of leave in frustration. Consider no more than 3 options in a buying decision.

3) She shows you her flaws.

She’s not perfect and she’s not afraid to show that.

Your customers don’t expect you to be perfect either. And letting them in once in a while helps solidify that personal connection.

4) She appreciates and rewards her fans.

Whether Taylor is sending or personally delivering Christmas presents to some of her fans going through tough times. Or connecting with them in a variety of ways, she gives fully to her fans.

What are you doing to keep your best customers connected with you? How are you rewarding their repeated patronage of your business? What else could you be doing? Special event? Rewards Card? Referral bonus?

5) She doesn’t coast.

Like any great business person Taylor Swift is continually challenging herself, growing, changing, creating, and working hard to hone her craft and produce the songs that her fans crave.

Are you constantly creating product and service offerings and making your company more attractive to do business with every year? Are you reinventing yourself and evolving?

Now you aren’t Taylor Swift. But you do contribute to your community through your business. And you can learn from Taylor Swift to improve your business.

I challenge you to do it today!

Napa Valley, Wine Barrels, and a Unique Small Business Marketing Twist

April 19, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Today I was walking around Lafayette, California (I know, not Napa…but wait). It was a beautiful day with temps in the 70’s.

And I came upon a coffee shop that had some chairs out on the sidewalk. So I sat down. And ohhh how nice that chair felt. Could have fallen asleep in the chair. It was that comfortable. And had a nice rich look too.

So here I am sitting and enjoying the fresh air, smell of coffee, and this rocking chair.

So that’s the chair…but where does Napa and marketing come in?

Well if you check out the placard on the front of the chair, what do you see?

Ok, this one’s a little bigger…

A Clear company plug with the web address in a place anyone who likes the chair can easily see. You can check out their website below.

http://www.winebarrelproducts.biz/

They make these chairs out of Napa Valley wine barrels – an interesting idea with a great anchor to Napa Valley wines. The chairs would take you back to that wine tasting you did with friends. A time when you’re feeling good, having fun, tasting great wines, and enjoying the luxurious scenery and architecture that Napa Valley wineries are known for. What a great tie in.

And another great element to this as an advertising method is that you get to physically test out the chairs. Also in a nice setting while you’re having coffee with a friend and enjoying the good life.

As I was sitting in this chair I was imagining how great it would feel to be sitting in the chair in the sun on my back porch. Having it take my away from the bustle of work and home chores…and transporting me away to the Napa Valley…where life seems simple and fun.

Now go grab your wine glass, sit back, and enjoy!

What Jay Abraham Says About Using Bonuses in Your Marketing

April 17, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

I spent a year working through a program with Jay Abraham several years ago. Jay is a wealth of information about marketing, joint ventures, and out-of-the-box thinking that can literally transform businesses.

In this short video Jay gets your brainstorming juices flowing around using bonuses in your business marketing. Take a look.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DAQW1G8364[/youtube]

You may have noticed that in addition to discussing the benefits of bonuses, Jay also touched on some concepts you may not be familiar with – lifetime value and marginal net worth.

Let me fill in the blanks for you so the bonus concept will have a more powerful anchor for you in your mind.

When we talk about lifetime value we’re talking the lifetime value that a customer brings to your business. More specifically it is the profit an average customer brings to your business from the first time they buy, including what they buy each year, for as many years as they remain a customer.

So for instance if a you earn a $100 profit on each sale and the customer buys 5 times a year for 3 years, you’d have a lifetime value of $1,500 ($100 X 5 X 3).

So, all else being equal, you can spend up to the $1,500 in lifetime profit to get a customer (that has that lifetime value profile) before you lose money on the proposition.

So if you decided to work out a deal with a local restaurant to buy a $50 gift certificate for $25 (enough to cover their hard costs – and they’d be looking to convert that potential customer that comes into their restaurant into a regular customer) and add that $50 face value gift certificate as a bonus/incentive to purchase a certain product or as an upsell incentive, wouldn’t that make sense?

You’d be spending another $25 to generate a portion of that $1,500 lifetime value. Who knows – you might even want to make that offer to generate more value from an existing customer who might have a larger than average purchasing appetite but just needs that nudge a bonus would provide.

I find that people will often spend large amounts of money on advertising that goes no where or isn’t tracked. Or they spend a boatload of money creating a website or trying to do social media. Or relying on the economy to pick back up.

But often it is the simplest of things, like this, that can get you the biggest bang for your buck.

So why don’t you consider the power of bonuses in your business. Go ahead and brainstorm some ideas. You’ll be amazed how many ways you may come up with to implement this bonus marketing strategy.

Got the Tax Deadline Blues?

April 15, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

Have taxes got you down?

Are you still working on your taxes and trying to hit that midnight deadline?

Or maybe you’ve already filed your extension and are just trying to buy a little time.

As a business owner, your taxes are always more complicated, more time consuming, and a more palpable reminder of how much your government really does steal from your life’s energy.

You work long hours. You keep up with all the governmental regulations. Obamacare. OSHA. Licensing. You name it…you pay it, fill out the forms in triplicate, and do all this so the 50% not paying income taxes each year can enjoy their cushy lives.

And you’re the one creating, marketing, selling – the products, services, and experiences that we all get to enjoy because you took the risk, had a dream, and made that dream a reality.

I salute you. You’re the entrepreneur. A member of a very elite community of doers.

So as you complete your final page of your 1040 Tax Form. And take it to the Post Office to make sure it has that April 15th postmark. Know that your efforts make a huge difference.

And coupled with other entrepreneurs like you, we’ll stem the tide of a smothering, controlling government, and release freedom and free enterprise to reign supreme!

What the Definition of Insanity, A Clothes Dryer, and Your Business May Have In Common

April 13, 2015 by Mike McRitchie Leave a Comment

So at the end of the day I’m catching up on some domestic duties around the apartment. And one that I must do is the laundry (running out of work clothes).

So this time I happen to be waiting for the washer to finish the rinse cycle and prepping the dryer (throwing in the dryer sheet and waiting for the washer to finish).

Now in my apartment is a small washer dryer combo. And I’d been frustrated with how long it had been taking to dry my clothes. It used to take one cycle of 50 minutes. But lately it has been taking 2-3 hours to do one load.

So I assumed that it was just because I was packing the dryer too full and not getting enough air through things. And that would be reasonable…and would be wrong.

And why was that wrong? And what does it have to do with insanity and your business?

We’ll as I’m staring thoughtfully into the dryer I notice the air holes in a section at the back of the dryer.

Now in the past there has always been a lint trap in front of the dryer that I religiously empty each time. But with this dryer I couldn’t find a lint trap. So I just assumed it had some kind of internal lint trap that didn’t require user maintenance. Another reasonable but stupid assumption. I thought maybe they’d dummy-proof the dryer since apartment dwellers are notoriously bad about maintenance and they didn’t want dryer caused fires.

Wrong again.

So for a year I’ve been running the dryer and dryer times are getting slower and slower.

So what happened?

I reached into the back of the dryer at the vent hole area and…low and behold…there is a lint trap at the back…and a whole boatload of lint.

And after pulling that gob of heat dampening lint out of the lint trap, my next load is dry in…50 minutes again…it’s a miracle!

So after smacking myself upside my head and thinking how much money I’ve wasted running a dryer for hours and hours more than was needed I thought…there’s a lesson to be learned here for everyone.

Including business owners like you.

So what’s the definition of insanity???

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. – Albert Einstein

Now I’m no Einstein (obviously) but how many times are you putting your head down, following a script or procedure or routine that made sense at one time but after things have changed (like lint filling a lint trap…or the internet driving business marketing) have you not noticed the change and wondered why you’re not getting the results your efforts deserve?

So in this instance, a simple change (emptying the lint trap) resulted in reducing drying time by 66%.

What if a similar small change in your business could generate a similar boost in cost savings, increased sales, or profit?

It is very possible…IF…you step back from the routine and get a new perspective.

Now go clean your lint trap!