See if you can use the least amount of words in communicating who you are and what makes you unique.

Clarity yields success.

The App Store has only been open for 30 days and has already averaged $1,000,000 per day in sales. Not bad for Apple since they've leveraged their existing iTunes distribution system, increased the positioning of the iPhone and iPod Touch, and made 30% on other peoples work! It's not all fun and games as there are many applications that can be used for business (i.e. OmniFocus, WordPress, Sales Force, etc). Not only did Apple create the most innovative phone of the decade but they also created an open field for innovation and mobile software development. The iPhone will drive app sales and innovative apps will cause additional people to buy an iPhone. At Elevation, the iPhone is becoming standard equipment. We may even develop custom iPhone apps for our clients in the future. No matter what we do the market has spoken ... it is possible to launch a successful new products and services in a period of economic distress. Obviously, there was a need for both the iPhone and the niche applications that have been developed for the platform.

The top ten active domains right now at the .me auctions are:

• insure.me ($34,535)
• hug.me ($15,005) 
• style.me ($9,580)
• dna.me ($9,054)
• brand.me ($8,605)
• surprise.me ($8,505)
• entertain.me ($7,610)
• ride.me ($7,085)
• coach.me ($7,060) 
• match.me ($7,005)

At these prices, I doubt if it is just a land rush. The people who are bidding on these domains must have some sort of business plan or strategy behind it. Some of the business opportunities are obvious. But how is hug.me going to be exploited?

Self-Employed Individuals and Small Business Owners have the responsibility of ensuring that there is enough working capital available for the operations of the business. Many startups or expanding businesses find that they need an ever growing supply. The preferred method is to have enough corporate credit to maintain operations. However, it is often necessary to tap personal credit lines because they are already established or offer better rates and terms. One method that has been utilized recently is the use of a HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit). The problem is that with the turmoil in the housing and financial markets, lenders such as Countrywide are freezing credit lines for borrowers, even those borrowers who have never missed a payment. Declining home values in certain markets have made these loans more risky for the banks and the sad thing is that they close the easy ones first (the ones that don’t have any balances).

So what does this mean for you? If you have a HELOC that you depend on for your business it may be a good idea to pull from it while the line is still active. But before doing so, be sure to confirm that they wouldn’t have the ability to request full payment unless you go into default. Another thing to look into is an actual business line of credit. The rates will likely be above prime. However, the fact that most of these lines aren’t tied to the value of any collateral will enable you to still have the fuel to operate your business even if the economy slows down.

Recently I was asked, ”...If you were to create an entirely new business model, what would be your take on some of the basic components of structure, purpose, methodology, etc.?” I hate this question because it’s a fools errand. If you want to be successful in your business or with your non-profit organization, then focus on the fundamentals…if you don’t know them, learn or hire outside help.

Why, you might ask…well, “Entirely Different” generally doesn’t work. When most business ventures fail within the first five years…and most of those that survive don’t last past the 10 year mark…it means that it doesn’t pay to be too far outside of the box.

If you look at the internet boom of a few years ago…there were a lot of companies trying “entirely different” business models. These companies were based on the notion that “the traditional rules of business don’t apply”. When people stop believing the lies then there has to be something of tangible value behind the business.

If you want to be “entirely different”, then chose a simple business model that has been proven and execute it extremely well! Innovate on the technique, not the model. Be creative in how you do something, not why.

Even some of the how has to stay standard (i.e. use of corporations, importance of branding, accounting using GAAP, complying with employment laws, etc)

Like movies some of the best businesses are remakes.

Take a few minutes to consider your client touch points today. Every interaction with your client, whether in person, in print, or via the web, creates a touch point that leaves a lasting impression. Consider, in detail, all possible points of contact, so that you can intentionally build the client experience that you’re hoping to accomplish. Remember, every contact you, your staff, or your brand makes with the customer, is a touch that has the ability to enhance or destroy your brand’s ability to grow. Don’t just manage your products or services, make sure to also manage your touch points for building unequaled brand equity and loyalty.

What touch points have you found to be the most important in your business cycle? Leave a comment below..

So, it appears that Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks reads our blog. Not sure if you’ve noticed lately, but Starbucks has been actively seeking to regain “the experience” that once made them the preferred 3rd place in the lives of many. We discussed this idea in ‘Losing your soul for another cup sold’ back in November of last year and it appears that Howard was reading. For some time now, Starbucks has been going in a dangerous direction that strays from their original vision and I must say it’s encouraging to see their efforts in refocusing and correcting what’s been limiting their effectiveness.

Growth is a tricky thing and can easily steer you away from your core vision if not careful. Rather than just selling another cup of coffee, Starbucks is shifting back to the client experience. Stores have been closed for extended training on making good espresso and inspiring the staff. Breakfast sandwiches will be discontinued due to the smells that infiltrated the stores and will be substituted with the fresh smell of coffee once again ground in-store. In-store grinding has an even greater effect than just better smells; it means fresher espresso and a better tasting cup of coffee. Also, the current automatic machines will soon be replaced with state of the art machines for an even better shot of espresso. Personally, I’d prefer a move back to the hand packed old school espresso machines, but it certainly is a move in the right direction. While there is still much work to be done, I must say that I’m pleased with the approach. It’s nice to see Howard focusing the company on the things that matter and as I’m sure he knows, the things that improve the experience will improve the bottom line.

And Howard, if you really do read our blog, I’d love to talk with you more about your ideas and efforts for improving your positioning. Let’s meet over an espresso and kick around some strategy.

PS: check out My Starbucks Idea – another great move in this effort by gathering the feedback from many of Starbucks’ greatest fans. What are your thoughts or ideas for continued improvement? Leave a comment below…we’d love to hear what you come up with and I’ll share it with Howard when we get a chance to meet!

Jeffrey Gitomer wrote a well thought out article about the over-use of the email auto-reply by most individuals (& businesses). To summarize his point…

NOBODY CARES WHERE YOU ARE OR WHAT YOU ARE DOING…THEY ONLY CARE ABOUT THEIR OWN NEEDS

Actually, that isn’t entirely true…your competition cares because they become the ones who benefit. I really enjoyed the article and agree that good marketing as well as good customer service requires that you think from your customer’s perspective. What is or will be important to them? How can your organization meet those needs? To forget this, is to lose focus for the reason you’re in business…to serve your customer! This requires you to be creative and use things like the auto-reply only when it would make the customer experience better (not just when it improves your work experience). But on the positive side … killing the auto-reply is a good excuse to go out and buy an iPhone.

So, last week it was revealed that Starbucks will be launching its first ever national TV ad campaign. This is quite a shift in focus being that there was a time when Starbucks felt television advertising was not in line with the experience they provided. They were dependent on customer satisfaction and referral based advertising for growth and profitability. As you can imagine, they were VERY successful with this strategy. They were the cool, hip “third place” that everyone wanted to be a part of regardless of whether you liked their coffee (I’ll be honest, Starbucks’ coffee in my opinion is only average). But that aside, this is a perfect example of a company loosing sight of their vision and drifting away from a previously air tight brand experience. The article identifies the purpose of these ads being to get “customers to buy another cup”. It used to be that Starbucks sold their experience, but unfortunately it looks like they’ve moved into the retail drip market instead.

Honestly, it’s sad for me because I have fond memories of Starbucks being my third place at one point. The experience was great and the people were even better. Unfortunately, with popularity comes challenges and my experience with Starbucks has since changed. As I’m sure many of you will agree, Starbucks has become more of a coffee factory; getting you in and out as quickly as possible with your cup o’ joe. From a marketing perspective, I think they are going in a dangerous direction that will not return the results they desire. If Elevation was their agency of record, we would direct them back to their original vision and bring back the experience that is at the essence of what made Starbucks the third place. Until then, anyone want to meet at Peet’s?

Well not really…but wouldn’t it be nice if we could tell you what was going to happen before anyone else could. I bet you’d do a few things differently in both life and business with that kind of foresight. As Henry R. Luce once said, “Business, more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in foresight.” To be successful in business you have to be good at making educated guesses. You won’t always be right, but if you learn from the past, develop good practices, increase your skills for making better decisions, and plan well…you might be able to “know” more of the future than your competition and take the appropriate actions today.

From time to time we have clients who ask us to “optimize their site”. If we didn’t have ethics, it would be easy to add a line item to the estimate, make a few extra bucks, and call it a day. Don’t get me wrong, there was a time when SEO was not only important, but imperative. However, searching practices on the web are no longer the same. With so many options now available, people no longer search the web like a phone book. Instead, people mostly know who or what they’re looking for and just need to navigate there for further information. Nonetheless, it is nice to get to the top when possible or appropriate…

So what’s the secret to being found? The best way to be at the top of the list for a particular search on Google or Yahoo is to be relevant. One of the factors which determines the ranking on these systems is the use of the word or phrase compared to the total amount of source code that generates the page. Therefore, if the site is built well using XML tags and CSS your page will rank higher than a page with identical copy and sloppy code. If you don’t know what XML or CSS is don’t worry…we do! Instead of wasting your money on “optimization” we suggest that you invest more resources into a quality site that fits your brand experience and will meet your specific marketing goals.

Another secret of the search engine game is that sometimes you need to “pay-to-play”. Instead of wasting hundreds of dollars trying to “optimize” your site…it’s often better to develop a marketing plan based on specific keywords, phrases, products, or trademarked names, and pay Google or Yahoo to feature those listings. This allows you to reach markets which the search engine system doesn’t find on its own. One of the coolest things about this approach is that you can limit the field to various regions and by doing so increase the probability that this unknown lead will turn into an actual customer. For example, if you own a property management company it would be very difficult to optimize your site to be the highest ranking result on Google. Instead you could focus on driving traffic from people in your geographic area who are interested in “Apartment Managers” in New York or “HOA Management” in California. The chances for an actual sale, or new client, increase significantly when someone in your specific area of influence is able to locate the specific types of services or products you provide.

Remember, the best way to drive traffic to your website is to provide customers, prospects, and leads with clear, consistent communication of your web address and a reason to go there. This can be accomplished in many different ways through print materials, promotional merchandise, marketing campaigns, frequent site updates, educational opportunities and/or customer focused resources, to name a few. Whatever you do…make sure it accomplishes a specific goal which will both improve your business and provide the user with value.

To summarize:
- Build websites that are relevant and well developed
- Focus on your target market (both by niche and geographically)
- Invest in things that accomplish your business goals not the current fad

Even with great sales…if you don’t have good cash flow then your business is going to come to a screeching halt. At Elevation we’ve found that using American Express has been a very effective method for us to manage expenses. One of the really nice things is that you can get additional cards at no cost for your employees and set limits for each cardholder. So employees can make the occasional purchase without you worrying that they’re going to run up a huge bill. Those who need greater purchasing power can take advantage of not having a pre-set spending limit. Another good perk is the Membership Rewards program which is most likely the best credit card rewards program available. If you’re an entrepreneur then you need all the tools available to you to be successful. This is one tool that we highly recommend.

While helping a client define their niche, in the development of a new business venture, I remembered this quote from Seth Godin. He makes a great point about the need to tell your own story. There are many things that set you apart from everyone else...so why are you trying to mimic them in order to accomplish your goals? Be who you are...not a knock off of someone else.

"Marketers (and all human beings) are well trained to follow the leader. The natural instinct is to figure out what’s working for the competition and then try to outdo it – to be cheaper than your competitor who competes on price, or faster than the competitor who competes on speed. The problem is that once a consumer has bought someone else’s story and believes that lie, persuading the consumer to switch is the same as persuading him to admit he was wrong. And people hate admitting that they’re wrong. Instead, you must tell a different story and persuade listeners that your story is more important than the story they currently believe. If your competition is faster, you must be cheaper. If they sell the story of health, you must sell the story of convenience. Not just the positioning x/y axis sort of “We are cheaper” claim, but a real story that is completely different from the story that’s already being told."

–Seth Godin, author/entrepreneur
(from Be a Better Liar)

In the book All Customers are Not Created Equal, Garth Hallberg proposes a change to traditional marketing strategies. Instead of judging marketing efforts by “how many” and “how frequently” he suggests changing the mindset towards “who” and “how impactfully”. In my opinion, the key to successful brand development is to be relevant. This means having significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand. Instead of trying to be all things to all people…it is far better to be a relevant voice speaking to the people who are interested in what you have to say. It is easy to justify a marketing effort by counting the number of impressions. However, it is much more beneficial when efforts are focused on providing your unique brand experience to the people who value what you offer and desire your products or services.

At Elevation we help our clients have a greater impact in their market and in the world. This is accomplished by tailoring communications and overall experience to fit the target market instead of being distracted with trying to clothe the entire market. An impression can quickly fade away but the impact of your strategic and targeted marketing efforts make you much more relevant.

~ Paul