“Last Thanksgiving, it looked as if a hard year was coming and it was and it did. The holiday was shadowed by a sense of economic foreboding-Wall Street failing, companies falling and layoffs coming. It isn’t over-no one thinks it’s over. But the mood this Thanksgiving looks to be different,” writes Peggy Noonan in a recent Wall Street Journal opinion. She goes on to write about “a new gratitude we’re serving up this Thanksgiving and while I don’t often agree with her remarks, this particular piece is worth a few moments of your time to reflect on this holiday, 2009 style. Have an enjoyable day.
Thanksgiving is normally quite a busy time for travelers. I don’t know about you but things like baggage fees and energy surcharges on restaurant bills really seem to annoy me. Often times I wonder why these folks don’t just adjust their prices in order to avoid further “duck nibbling” customers. The following blog further amplifies that point.
Baggage fees have become nearly ubiquitous in the airline industry, and Southwest has capitalized on passenger hostility to the dreaded surcharge with its playful Bags Fly Free campaign.
“Some airlines charge your bag up to $20 to ride in the bottom of the plane,” says the narrator of one commercial. “In the dark! No peanuts or nothin’. And then if your bag wants to bring one of its little bag friends, for company, they can charge up to another $30. That’s up to $100 roundtrip! Why do they hate your bags?”
Southwest has an excellent point—and one that resonates with its customers, Jackie Huba says. She even suggests that baggage fees might explain why Southwest and JetBlue (another no-fee carrier) continue to record an uptick in passenger miles and filled seats while rivals undergo significant declines.
“Those nickle [sic] and dime fees add up, the airlines will say, but really, they do little more than penalize customers with complexity and disguise the end price,” she says.
“It’s no different when a phone or cable company charges activation fees. May as well call them aggravation fees, as in ‘It’s aggravating to have a new customer.'”
The Po!nt: No matter how you position or justify a fee, many customers will consider it a penalty. As Kevin Krone, vice-president of marketing for Southwest, told BusinessWeek, “If we’re trying to get people to travel, we should probably let people take their suitcase.”
I personally have been blogging for eight (8) months now. Needless to say it has been quite the adventure, challenge and yes, a passion.
Today’s interesting post comes from Darren Rowse at ProBlogger. Rowse’s video… “asks you ‘what is your blogging vice?’ and challenges us all to focus upon one of the most important aspects of blogging – creating content.” There are a ton of reasons why bloggers procrastinate and I certainly agree with Darren’s notion that there are many distractions that come with wanting to over analyze and tweak your blog which can easily get in the way of your content production. Take a look and let me know if you have experienced any of these inhibitors. What’s getting in the way of your blogging?
Here’s an inspirational piece that I came across at Sprouter.com.
“Sometimes it’s hard to see the impact that one person can have on the world. With a population of six billion, how can one person make a difference? This is especially true for entrepreneurs – it’s hard to see the larger impact you can have when you’re struggling to get your business off the ground. That’s why the video below is one of our favourites, and we watch it whenever we need some inspiration. The video is called “Entrepreneurs can change the world†and it was made by the folks at Grasshopper. The video focuses on the thinkers, innovators & doers who built our countries: otherwise known as entrepreneurs. As it says in the video, entrepreneurs have a clear vision of how life can be better for all of us, even when times are tough. Entrepreneurs are fueling the economy, helping people stay connected, and creating jobs – changing the world one idea at a time. The most powerful message is that an entrepreneur can be anyone – even you. You probably have that single brilliant idea – so what are you waiting for? Act on it – and see how the rewards are almost always worth the risk.”
Ask 100 people for their opinion of social-media tools like Twitter and you’ll likely get 100 different responses—ranging from extreme enthusiasm to extreme derision. However you feel about social media, here is one simple fact: Even if you’re a naysayer who considers these tools inane and a waste of time, a large number of your most influential customers do not. And that means you must at least monitor the conversation for possible signs of trouble.
In a Premium article at MarketingProfs, Mack Collier outlines five such tools you simply cannot ignore. They include Google Sidewiki, a new add-on for Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers. Once installed, it can open a side panel where visitors are able to read other visitors’ feedback—and leave their own—on any page at any website.
“Every webpage now can be commented on,” explains Collier. “Every. Single. One. Potentially, your competitor could comment on your company’s website criticizing your products and services. So can your customers. Did you launch a blog and turn off comments? Now your readers can still comment ‘on’ your blog.”
In other words, you can no longer control the conversation, even on your own homepage—because for those with the Sidewiki tool, every site is a social-media site.
The Po!nt: “You need to familiarize your company with what this tool can do,” says Collier, “so that you can react to feedback left for your company and, hopefully, become proactive in using Sidewiki to connect with current and potential customers.”
As more and more customers use the Internet to research purchases, you might assume that any online marketing strategy requires a significant level of search engine optimization (SEO). But if your target market is local, argues Kenton Newby in an article at MarketingProfs, that assumption may not necessarily apply.
“[A]lthough SEO has proven to be a profitable marketing channel for many businesses,” he says, “you should ask yourself a few questions before investing in a full-blown SEO campaign.”
Newby suggests several questions, including these:
Are there enough people in your local area looking online for what you offer? He points to resources such as the Google AdWords Keyword Tool to determine how many people search for particular keywords each month.
Does your page do a good job of converting visitors to sales? “No matter how much traffic you get or what your website rankings are,” he says, “you can’t cover the bills unless people are actually buying. So you need to know how well your site converts your visitors into taking action.”
What is the lifetime value of your customer? Knowing how much the typical customer will spend over the course of the relationship helps to determine whether a major SEO campaign makes sense for your company.
The Po!nt: As effective as SEO can be for many businesses, it might not deliver the ROI you need to justify its expense.
“I was going to hire a company today to do something fairly simple that would have cost [an advertised] $45,” begins a post at the Service Untitled blog. But there was a catch. “I called them to schedule an appointment and was told there was [an] $85 minimum service charge. The fact that I was a first time customer didn’t matter. Essentially, I would have to pay $85 for a $45 service.”
Here are some things to consider before you implement minimum service charges:
They have the potential to scare off customers, in no small part because they blatantly favor the interests of a vendor. “For the company,” says the blog, “it’s upselling disguised as a policy.”
No one who plans to take action appreciates learning that information contained in the fine print nearly doubles an advertised price. “If you’re going to have a minimum service fee,” says Service Untitled, “at least be forthcoming about it and tell your customers exactly how much it is and what they can get for that amount in the very beginning.”
The Po!nt: Over the relatively paltry sum of $40, this company lost twice: It sent a potential customer running and earned negative word-of-mouth in the process. “The most important thing to do,” says Service Untitled, “is to think of the long-term value of your average customer.”
Not long ago, Elaine Fogel used a post at the MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog. blog to discuss her case of “Social Media Rejection Syndrome.” It all began when someone not only rejected her LinkedIn invitation but also sent a note explaining why: “I only make connections with people I’ve met personally or have worked with, but perhaps our paths will cross in person one day.”
At the same time, Fogel received a warning from LinkedIn. “Please note,” it read. “This message is a notice that you are nearing the threshold of ‘I don’t know’ responses you can receive before you will be required to enter an email address when sending invitations. Please remember to only invite people you know.”
Fogel was confused by the rejection—even though it was friendly—and by the severity of LinkedIn’s note. This was the first time anyone had declined her invitation with the “I don’t know” response. And why all the drama? Don’t social-networking sites like LinkedIn exist so professionals can connect with each other?
Her post generated a lively discussion in which she discovered just how differently many people use social networks. In the case of LinkedIn, she discovered, users are encouraged to make connections only with people they know well. The user who rejected her was simply following an explicit guideline that Fogel was unaware of.
Now enlightened, she has reported on her findings in a new post, and even gathered many of the responses—along with some of her conclusions—in a downloadable whitepaper.
The Po!nt: Don’t assume everyone will treat each social network in the same way—that customer or colleague who gladly interacts on Facebook or Twitter might be less obliging in a less casual space like LinkedIn.
Source: MarketingProfs Daily Fix Blog. Click here for the full post.
As more and more customers use the Internet to research purchases, you might assume that any online marketing strategy requires a significant level of search engine optimization (SEO). But if your target market is local, argues Kenton Newby in an article at 
would have cost [an advertised] $45,” begins a post at the 
At the same time, Fogel received a warning from LinkedIn. “Please note,” it read. “This message is a notice that you are nearing the threshold of ‘I don’t know’ responses you can receive before you will be required to enter an email address when sending invitations. Please remember to only invite people you know.”
