Seriously ….whether it be holding a door, offering to carry someone’s bags, offering a coat, loading someone’s groceries (who could be your grandparents’) into their car, treating others with respect, or just addressing anyone with Sir or Ma’am, let’s be honest manors never go out of style.  My parents beat this relentlessly into me for years.  Although it may be second nature for some, it is painfully obvious when it is lacking in others. 

This became readily apparent this past week for me.

I was walking through downtown Vancouver and I found myself constantly holding doors for others coming and going out of the shops I was visiting.  There’s nothing special about it, it is just being polite however I was amazed how many people went out of their way to acknowledge how rare courtesy is today and say thank you.  Honestly I had not noticed and it wasn’t until I was about to leave a local grocery store that it became apparent when a mid-20′s man in a business suit walked out in front of an elderly woman carrying her groceries.  In his haste,  he just let the door swing behind himself about knocking her over as it slammed closed.  With the impact and commotion she dropped her groceries all over the floor.  I started to assist her and help pick everything up, both she and I noticed no one else was paying any attention and in fact they were going out of their way walking around us going about their lives.  She didn’t have to say anything but the look in her eyes, the smile on her face and the sincere thank you she said showed how grateful she was for the assistance. 

Next time you yell at an elderly driver (regardless of how bad they are driving), or fail to hold a door open for them, have someone go out of their way for you or you just complain that someone is going to slow, imagine they may be your mother or grandparent and ask yourself will they be proud in how you are reacting? Are you honoring what they taught you?

I never say it enough but thank you Mom and Dad…..I hope you’ll be proud of how your grandson is being raised.  He will be a better person than I ever have been.  This is the lesson you taught me.
 

1. Be Authentic and Be Yourself
   Share about yourself. Post photos. Have a profile picture and cover photo that shows who you are outside of work. Be someone you would want to communicate with, rather than a salesperson.
2. Be Conversational
   Listen more than you speak. What are people saying/posting on Facebook? Are you reading their posts and showing support for their problems or stories they are sharing? Knowing what is happening in your Friends lives and what is important, is a great way to begin a conversation and network.
3. Be Relevant
   Articles, community events and tips for buyers are great to share, but make sure what you are posting is relevant and are ideas you stand behind. If you wouldn’t feel comfortable discussing a certain topic in mixed company, don’t post it.
4. Be Consistent
   All gains made from initially posting and interacting with others are quickly lost when you disappear for weeks or months. Consistently having a presence on social media sites is key to being received as legitimate, a source of quality information, and someone they want to communicate with.
5. Be Accessible
   Share your personal and professional web site address. Share an e-mail address and a contact phone number. Encourage them to contact you.
6. Be Approachable
   Use the Milestone feature of Facebook to list major accomplishments personally and professionally. Share your experiences so that people can see you are just like them. What awards have you received and what conferences you have attended? Share personal life milestones as well, marathons you have completed, new children or grandchildren, etc. These Milestones allow you to share more of who you are.
7. Be Actionable
   Provide content that allows your audience to act e.g. participate in the conversation, visit a web site, read an article, view a video, make a phone call, share a photo, forward an e-mail or other.
8. Be Different (it’s okay)
   It is okay to express yourself and stand out, but steer clear of emotional topics.
9. Be Integrated
   Showcase your Facebook icon on all materials: e-blasts, e-mail signature, business cards and fliers, as well as other social platforms e.g. LinkedIn, twitter, Pinterest, blogs, etc. Let others know how to find you and make it easy.
10. Be Strategic
    What are you goals? How often will you post content or comment? What type of content do you want to share?  

This article contributed by Katherine Teets, Social Media Strategist for PriceWeber Marketing Communications

Let me say that again, "I agree, these should be regulated and advertising should be measured so that underage persons are properly informed of risks associated with them.".  With that being said, it seems brands are constantly challenged with the burden to communicate with their customers but isolate those who should not have visibility to their messaging.  The irony here is that many of the age-gate tools which are employed are subject to the honesty of the user to disclose their date of birth before accessing without any measure of review or accountability.

Enter hypocrisy…I am over 21 years old and like many of you have mislead others about my age and perhaps, had identification which may not been entirely accurate regarding my date of birth.  As a parent, I know what will happen if I ask a question of my child where they are faced with the decision of answering truthfully with no consequences or answering with a white lie to obtain something forbidden, again, with no consequences for answering less than truthful.

• How about marketing to parents how to better educate children about these products?
• How about marketing to everyone the risks and/or rewards surrounding usage of these regulated products?
• How about instead of creating age-gates and other ridiculous measures which have no real means to regulate, enact methods which educate those who need it the most?

It could be the solace of having to stop from the busy daily rat race and being forced to sit for extended periods of time or the miniature Jack Daniel’s that continue showing up for me but it is the perfect time to stop and ponder…this is my time, thank you Mr. Hand.  During this flight, I was able to catch up on some blog posts from the past month and stumbled across an interesting article about the common rules of online engagement.

While reading the contextual muse, it was yet another rendering of all that which has been summarized before but then with one word it got me thinking, a simple mention of "platform".  For the past several years I have focused on architecting digital environments for clients to engage their customers  and during that time my focus has been communicating with them exclusively through those, controlled portals or as we called them, platforms.  For regulated industries these portals can be a gold mine but for end consumers, forced communication through one restrictive channel can be detrimental and less than transparent. Throughout the course of the modern online history, or at least those over the past 10-15 years, this approach has shown results for these exclusive portals without social  integration to be marginal at best.

In the post, the author focused on communicating through social platforms and understanding where customers are within those and talking with them accordingly.  Respectively, how you market on Facebook is not the same as LinkedIn, twitter, Pintrest or any of the other tens of thousands of community networks available for online users. Based upon this post,  I would challenge marketers to think broader in today’s social age.  Yes, communication styles, mannerisms and voice must be representative and tailored to the respective social network but consumers exist, collaborate and engage on-line and more importantly off-line.  This means their desired platform may be Facebook, twitter, Pintrest, YouTube or LinkedIn but also could also be Email, SMS, direct mail, television, radio, trade shows and experiential events.

Advertising and marketing mediums are truly boundless but the lesson here is remembering to communicate where your customers want to be communicated with and the platforms which they want to be engaged within.

QR codes can:

• Open a web site on a phone
• Play a video on a phone
• Open the App Store or Marketplace to download an app
• Initial a phone call
• Open a new email to send a message to a predefined recipient
• Open a new text message to send a message to a predefined recipient

Of all these features, the most common is opening a web site, video or to download an app.

To create a QR code, any of these sites can easily help at no charge.

• www.bit.ly — This URL shortener will also create QR Codes for each shortened URL
• Kaywa — Offers a nice QR Code generator and offers a fee based QR code management and analytics tool
• QRStuff.com — This is one of the best options providing an easy to use interface for various types of QR code actions (email, web, SMS, etc.)

As you create and implement your QR codes, here are a few tips to remember:

1. Always send to mobile optimized content! When the code is scanned, the user is most likely using a mobile device (phone, iTouch, iPad, etc.), be sure the content they are accessing is optimized for screen size of the device.  If the user has to pinch/zoom to view your content they are more likely to be frustrated and have a negative experience.
2. Make sure the user receives value from their action.  Asking an individual to use their phone to scan a code is a large leap of faith and for users who do this, they are expecting a return on their investment, their time and energy.  Whether your content is educational, humorous, provides discounts and coupons, quick access to information or ordering a product, regardless, be sure to make the experience positive and limit your desire to include a lengthy form for them to complete.  Remember, they are using their phones so if you need to include a form, ask for the basics you need to follow-up.
3. Make sure the QR code is big enough. QR codes can be easily scanned from brochures, direct mail, print advertisements, Point of Sale, product packing, product documentation, instruction manuals, television advertising, and even etched into mechanical parts.  Although a little awkward, QR codes can be included on a web site or an email message.  If used on a web site or an email message, be sure to make the QR code also a hot link to your content.  Regardless of how you use the QR code, be sure to make the QR code large enough to easily scan.
   Here are a couple places where QR codes don’t make a lot of sense and should be avoided.
   1. Billboards – remember, people are driving and using their phones may not be safe.  Although passengers may be able to scan, they still may have trouble at different speeds and the drivers may still be inclined to try and scan.
   2. Top of buildings – I recently saw a QR code painted on the roof of a building while flying.  I thought it was odd because we could only see it at an altitude where electronic devices were prohibited and cell/wifi service was unavailable anyway…yes, I tried it.
4. Use a URL shortener for QR code hyperlinks. QR codes cannot be changes, if using a web site or video, use Bit.ly or some other URL shortener to add metrics to QR code; these services will provide analytics as to how many times the bit.ly URL was accessed which should be driven by the QR code.
5. Test, test and retest — make sure the QR code can properly scan on your materials which mean limited changes to the presentation or format of the code.  If possible, test with multiple types of phones, iPhone, Android, etc.
6. Have a strategy, build your QR code program for scale. For those with more technical resources, remember that QR codes cannot be changed as well as bit.ly URLs or other URL shorteners. If you have the means to create a redirection and tracking web site you can use the same QR code over time with different promotions and constantly link to different and new content as needed. Essentially, the QR code links to a bit.ly URL which in turn links to the tracking and redirection web page.  Once it hits this page, the redirection site determines what content to redirect the user towards based upon the current promotion or desired content.  This could be a web page, YouTube video, Facebook content or anything else.  These redirects all happen within a fraction of a second and are transparent to the user. This process allows you to easily track and measure the results of each QR code and update where the QR sends the user whenever desired.  These can usually be created in less than an hour with the help of a qualified programmer.
7. Study your metrics but don’t be surprised or upset if the numbers are not astronomical.  Currently, only 6% of consumers have scanned a QR code.  Scanning a QR code requires more effort and initiative by the user so even if the numbers are low, these are potential customers who are really interested in your content.
8. Print friendly uses of QR codes. I mentioned using QR codes on a web site, here’s a great idea for marketers, create QR codes for each page of your site and have your webmaster add the QR code to the print only style sheet for the page (they should know what this means).  The QR code will not be visible when browsing the web page but if the user prints the page, the QR code will be included and acts as a great reference for the user to get back to the site if needed.

If you are interested QR codes, metrics for them or a redirection or tracking web site, please contact me.

Now, this isn’t a political party list and there is no scientific, political or moral basis for this list.  There are democrats, republicans, independents and who knows what else in this list.  Why would I vote for them?  They are (fictional) strong leaders, spoke their minds, stood up for their convictions, kicked some serious butt and essentially didn’t really have to worry if they were not going to get re-elected because that’s how the scripts were written.  Could you imagine politicians without politics? Well, me neither but these are as good as it gets.  Who would you include?

10. Danny Glover, President Thomas Wilson – 2012 (2009)

9. Bruce Greenwood, The President – National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007)

8. John Goodman, Acting President Glen Allen Walken – The West Wing (NBC) (2003)

7. Harrison Ford, President James Marshall – Air Force One (1997)

6. Ben Kingsley, President Gary Nance – Dave (1993)

5. William Devane, President Henry Hayes – Stargate SG-1 (2004)

4. Kevin Kline, President William Harrison Mitchell – Dave (1993)

3. Bill Pullman, President Thomas J. Whitmore – Independence Day (1996)

2. Michael Douglas, President Andrew Shepherd – The American President (1995) (I’ve mentioned him before – American, fast becoming the land of mediocrity)

1. Martin Sheen, President Josiah Bartlet – The West Wing (NBC) (1999-2006)

Did I miss anyone?
 

Quite simply, a few tidbits of data about prospects can make marketers very, very dangerous.  Just because you know something about someone does not mean that you know them…or have the right to act like you do.

Direct mail marketers have learned that a little bit of knowledge can go a long way and using it properly can yield results.  The power and flexibility of digital marketing has made even the novice capable of connecting with consumers in a whole new way. However, nothing will turn consumers away faster than starting off the relationship under the pretext of a lie….acting like you know them.  Using the name, address, date of birth or some other obscure information they entered on a content form, free download form or a purchased database is clever but often backfires quickly.  In the words of Dr. Gregory House.."People lie" and if you think they are being honest on an entry form you’re kidding yourself.

Often you can use information obtained through various data sources to develop a reliable picture of prospects.  This information can be tailored over time to identify what consumers are and are not interested as well as what call to actions are they more likely to respond.  The key here is "over time".  By analyzing and comparing data inputs for the same prospects over time, it quickly becomes identifiable when they are just entering information for something free versus sincerely interested.  Properly using this information to connect with them often garners the best results however just using it without checking can show the prospect how little you pay attention to details.

< personal rant >
On a separate but similar note…extending digital data into the real world is dangerous, especially for telemarketing companies.  It seems like every day I receive a phone call from an overzealous sales person who starts the conversation with an over-the-top "Hey Jeremy, how’ve you been?".  Don’t act like you know me.  It is close to using my name in a personalized email or something similar however over the phone is much more personal.  Don’t pretend we went out and had a great conversation over beers a couple weeks ago and now you are reaching back out to me….if you know me, you would know I don’t drink beer.  Using this approach in email, direct mail or telemarketing will have the same measurable result, I will never do business with you, regardless of what you offer.
< personal rant over />

Again….Just because you know a little something about someone does not mean that you know or understanding them…or have the right to act like you do.

Have an example of marketers getting it right..or wrong, drop me an email as I’ll be sharing good and bad over the upcoming weeks.
 

It wasn’t until the current promotion from DIRECTV that I realized just how frustrating these incentive tactics could be to existing long-term customers.  I have been a DIRECTV customer since 1995 and despite the occasional weather related issue with reception, I am very happy with their service.  From time to time we’ve considered dropping the service and going to cable however their NFL Sunday Ticket offering continues to be the saving grace that keeps us staying with them instead of switching back to cable.

Now after 16 years of paying for service and the additional NFL Sunday Ticket costs what do I get for being a long-term, loyal customer….NOTHING.  Seriously however, I can’t complain too much because I still get quality service and the ability to watch every game, every Sunday.  I definitely get what I am paying for and am very happy with it.

So where’s the rub?  As a long-term, loyal customer, DIRECTV are you not happy with me? Do you not appreciate me as a customer, my loyalties, my referrals? Is a new customer truly more valuable than those existing customers? Here’s a good article on measuring the value of a customer. What will their perception be towards the company after those long-term, loyal customers realize they are not eligible for the incentive despite their length of stay with the company?  Ultimately, these are questions companies should ask themselves before promoting a new customer acquisition campaign.  How will this be perceived and how can they retain and provide incentives to long-term customers?  What would you do? What would you offer to existing customers so they are not feeling slighted?
 

OPTION 1 (this does not need the RewriteEngine module)

• Redirect permanent / http://YourNewDomainAddressHere.com/

Option 2 (this requires the use of the RewriteEngine module)

• Options +FollowSymLinks
  RewriteEngine On
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^oldwebsiteaddress.com$ [OR]
  RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.oldwebsiteaddress.com$
  RewriteRule (.*)$ http://www.YourNewDomainAddressHere.com/$1 [R=301,L]