19 Comments

1. 

   simoncmason on October 22, 2009 at 9:43 am

   Hi Chris and John,

   If you were to sweep my floor for five years hopefully you would learn to think about the customer. The habit I’ve got into (which seems very obvious to me) is to write a short description of the customer I’m writing to and then write one to one. This is particularly true in e-mail, but also in ad copy, press releases, web copy etc. And if you haven’t got five years to sweep the floor at least search You Tube for one of David Meerman Scotts brilliant presentations on buyer personas. It’s very obvious and it’s fairly easy but looking at my inbox a lot of people don’t seem to do it very much.

   Thanks for the show as always – and if I win the book please mail it to a start up business of your choice, I’ll buy my copy at the airport.

   Cheers

   Simon

   • 

     John Wall on October 26, 2009 at 1:17 am

     Thanks Simon, yes it is surprising how little work goes into copy writing in many organizations. We’ll pass your book on!

2. 

   dianeg_boston on October 22, 2009 at 8:15 am

   Wondered about your survey questions. You originally said that survey questions have to be carefully worded to get what you need to know. I didn't get your survey… as I had not yet signed up for your e-mail. But did you qualify how many of those respondents were on facebook? While the down and dirty 4-5 questions is great, there is a good reason behind response trees etc. Just curious.

   Previous Questions of the Week: What one thing about marketing is extremely important that you did not learn at school? And – Are you an educator? What do most marketers get wrong?
   Graphics training. I agreed with your comment that a photography class would be a great requirement. It is fine to have the strategy and tactics, but if you can't think creatively, you will become limited in how far you can go.

   Question of the Week: What are the not-so-obvious skills you use in Marketing that should be taught? Best answer gets a copy of Six Pixels of Separation!
   Negotiation. It is all about negotiation… Which project gets done (budget)? Which project gets priority? What resources will be allocated to your team? Which department's project gets accomplished in IT? How do you get the call center/sales team, etc. deliver the customer information you need for your database? And of course the regular vendor negotiation.

3. 

   Anonymous on October 22, 2009 at 3:15 pm

   Wondered about your survey questions. You originally said that survey questions have to be carefully worded to get what you need to know. I didn’t get your survey… as I had not yet signed up for your e-mail. But did you qualify how many of those respondents were on facebook? While the down and dirty 4-5 questions is great, there is a good reason behind response trees etc. Just curious.

   Previous Questions of the Week: What one thing about marketing is extremely important that you did not learn at school? And – Are you an educator? What do most marketers get wrong?
   Graphics training. I agreed with your comment that a photography class would be a great requirement. It is fine to have the strategy and tactics, but if you can’t think creatively, you will become limited in how far you can go.

   Question of the Week: What are the not-so-obvious skills you use in Marketing that should be taught? Best answer gets a copy of Six Pixels of Separation!
   Negotiation. It is all about negotiation… Which project gets done (budget)? Which project gets priority? What resources will be allocated to your team? Which department’s project gets accomplished in IT? How do you get the call center/sales team, etc. deliver the customer information you need for your database? And of course the regular vendor negotiation.

4. 

   ericATala on October 23, 2009 at 12:51 pm

   Question of the Week (to win Mitch's book!)

   I think a really important (and frequently overlooked) marketing rule of thumb is to respond to communications promptly. Whether it's an email, phone call, tweet, etc. – respond as soon as you can…even if it you don't have the answer right away, respond with an “I'll check and get back to you”.

   It may be a minor OCD thing with me, but I literally respond to everything within minutes of me seeing it, and it almost always leads to positive results. Nothing is more annoying that getting a response that starts with “I'm sorry I took so long to respond to this”…and it can frequently be a deal breaker.

5. 

   eric@austinlehman on October 23, 2009 at 7:51 pm

   Question of the Week (to win Mitch’s book!)

   I think a really important (and frequently overlooked) marketing rule of thumb is to respond to communications promptly. Whether it’s an email, phone call, tweet, etc. – respond as soon as you can…even if it you don’t have the answer right away, respond with an “I’ll check and get back to you”.

   It may be a minor OCD thing with me, but I literally respond to everything within minutes of me seeing it, and it almost always leads to positive results. Nothing is more annoying that getting a response that starts with “I’m sorry I took so long to respond to this”…and it can frequently be a deal breaker.

   • 

     John Wall on October 26, 2009 at 1:23 am

     Thanks for the comment Eric, that’s a good point. Dealing with the time crunch is a major challenge.

6. 

   tombonner on October 24, 2009 at 8:38 am

   Good morning;

   I am a faithful listener to your show. I found an article I thought might interest you in (ironically) the dead tree edition of the Charlotte Observer newspaper. This article ties in nicely to the concept of established marketers helping non-profits pro-bono, although, I didn't see any mention of social media.

   With the emphasis you are placing on helping non-profits, this article (which I found online after reading in the paper) should appeal to you.

   http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/1017…

   Thanks for the great marketing insights, I'm looking forward to participating in the MOC non-profit assistance program!

   Tom

7. 

   Tom Bonner on October 24, 2009 at 3:38 pm

   Good morning;

   I am a faithful listener to your show. I found an article I thought might interest you in (ironically) the dead tree edition of the Charlotte Observer newspaper. This article ties in nicely to the concept of established marketers helping non-profits pro-bono, although, I didn’t see any mention of social media.

   With the emphasis you are placing on helping non-profits, this article (which I found online after reading in the paper) should appeal to you.

   http://www.charlotteobserver.com/408/story/1017157.html

   Thanks for the great marketing insights, I’m looking forward to participating in the MOC non-profit assistance program!

   Tom

   • 

     John Wall on October 26, 2009 at 1:27 am

     Thanks Tom, that is a good story. I’d really be interested in the results, that’s the make or break…

8. 

   jeffcutler on October 24, 2009 at 11:58 am

   Once you've established business practices, it's amazing the number of things you do without thinking about them.

   To Chris' point, these learned activities might actually be contributing to your success in business, in marketing, in the universe.

   So, to answer that question from the perspective of a business owner who has bridged the gap from MCI Mail to AOL to Yahoo Mail to Gmail to Wave, I'd have to say the activity is responding to correspondence.

   These day's it's email or Twitter or even texts. But in the past it was a fax coming in and curling up on the floor. It was a letter from a prospective partner or client.

   What I TRY to do is treat those missives with respect and speed. There's nothing worse than being on the other end of a note waiting for a response.

   While I can't subscribe completely to the Inbox Zero philosophy…

   Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There's never a letup, It's relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it's Publisher's Clearinghouse day.

   …I can say that I try to keep up. I respond as quickly as I can without distrupting my other business operations and I go on with my life.

   That's what I do.

   Excited to hear what others have injected into their daily operations.

   Love the show.

9. 

   Anonymous on October 24, 2009 at 6:58 pm

   Once you’ve established business practices, it’s amazing the number of things you do without thinking about them.

   To Chris’ point, these learned activities might actually be contributing to your success in business, in marketing, in the universe.

   So, to answer that question from the perspective of a business owner who has bridged the gap from MCI Mail to AOL to Yahoo Mail to Gmail to Wave, I’d have to say the activity is responding to correspondence.

   These day’s it’s email or Twitter or even texts. But in the past it was a fax coming in and curling up on the floor. It was a letter from a prospective partner or client.

   What I TRY to do is treat those missives with respect and speed. There’s nothing worse than being on the other end of a note waiting for a response.

   While I can’t subscribe completely to the Inbox Zero philosophy…

   Because the mail never stops. It just keeps coming and coming and coming. There’s never a letup, It’s relentless. Every day it piles up more and more, but the more you get out, the more it keeps coming. And then the bar code reader breaks. And then it’s Publisher’s Clearinghouse day.

   …I can say that I try to keep up. I respond as quickly as I can without distrupting my other business operations and I go on with my life.

   That’s what I do.

   Excited to hear what others have injected into their daily operations.

   Love the show.

10. 

    themshow on October 25, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Thanks Simon, yes it is surprising how little work goes into copy writing in many organizations. We'll pass your book on!

11. 

    themshow on October 25, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    Thanks for the comment Eric, that's a good point. Dealing with the time crunch is a major challenge.

12. 

    themshow on October 25, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    Thanks Tom, that is a good story. I'd really be interested in the results, that's the make or break…

13. 

    matt haines on October 27, 2009 at 9:54 am

    Funny I didn't get the survey either, and I *am* subscribed. Must check the 'direct mail' bin in my email client.

    Did you structure your survey as a 'soft' marketing piece as well? On the podcast you asked about referrals, and then got more specific about facebook etc. Was there a two-fold purpose there? Find out info about the client AND subtly suggest to them that they in fact go blog/Fb/twit about MoC?

14. 

    matt haines on October 27, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    Funny I didn’t get the survey either, and I *am* subscribed. Must check the ‘direct mail’ bin in my email client.

    Did you structure your survey as a ‘soft’ marketing piece as well? On the podcast you asked about referrals, and then got more specific about facebook etc. Was there a two-fold purpose there? Find out info about the client AND subtly suggest to them that they in fact go blog/Fb/twit about MoC?

15. 

    andylynch44 on October 28, 2009 at 7:15 am

    Hi guys… I'm on the treadmill this morning and heard my name about the question for the 8-week marketing course.
    How timely, we are developing a graduate concentration (9-hours | three courses) and we are having an ongoing debate on what is the most valuable content a student needs to be a productive contributor regarding social media marketing – either for their own business or current employer.
    Not going to drag this topic through the mud again but enjoyed hearing your comments and I'll keep you posted on the “academic front” on any progress we make.

16. 

    Anonymous on October 28, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    Hi guys… I’m on the treadmill this morning and heard my name about the question for the 8-week marketing course.
    How timely, we are developing a graduate concentration (9-hours | three courses) and we are having an ongoing debate on what is the most valuable content a student needs to be a productive contributor regarding social media marketing – either for their own business or current employer.
    Not going to drag this topic through the mud again but enjoyed hearing your comments and I’ll keep you posted on the “academic front” on any progress we make.