I’m very excited that today I’ve officially launched FounderBuzz, my new site for short interviews of startup founders and executives. I’m looking to connect with startup leaders and talk to them about key issues that startups face in getting off the ground and becoming a success. If you know someone I should interview or have a question you would like me to ask, be sure to pass it along!
It’s hard to believe that I have the first year under my belt at MindLink Marketing. It’s been a year that has far exceeded my expectations and I wanted to say a special thank you to all of the people who have helped make MindLink a success and who make me so excited about the future:
I am proud to look back at what we have accomplished this year and look forward to the year to come.
I was on a business trip yesterday and one thing kept bugging me throughout the trip. My rental car keys. As a guy, I keep the keys in my front pocket and the fact that they had put two copies of the car key on the keychain, along with a valet key made it an uncomfortable lump I had to deal with every time I got out of the car.
I know why they made this choice. It was one of convenience. It keeps all the keys together for the time that they might resell the car. It saves them the administration and storage of the additional keys. These are all conveniences for the business. It certainly did me no good having a valet key that I couldn’t even remove from the key chain. I would be curious to know if they even thought about the fact that a bulky key chain is a less optimal customer experience before they made that choice. Businesses far too often side on their own convenience rather than focusing like a laser on what the customer experience will be with their product or service.
I have personally been on the wrong side of some of these decisions. Whether a company should sell an appliance or software. Whether a company should deliver a web based interface. How should customers upgrade and migrate from older versions of software. There are many difficult decisions to be made in technology companies and many of them involve the tradeoff of customer experience with business conveniences.
Try something next time. Focus on the optimal customer experience and find a way to make it work for your business. This is the way that great companies are made and fanatical customers are nurtured. Would I have noticed if Hertz had only had one key on the key chain? Probably not. But, would I notice now if one of their competitors only had one key? Most definitely.
In a world of too many features, gadgets, and competitors, a relentless focus on the customer experience is still the great differentiator because so few companies really do it.
Last week, a number of online articles highlighted how important relevant content is to a lead nurturing program. I’m compiled the top 5 stories I found that discuss the importance of regularly supplying prospective customers with engaging, value-added information they can use, and how this can keep you top of mind throughout those lengthy sales cycles. On a weekly basis, I will provide similar roundups on related marketing topics. I hope you find these articles helpful in your marketing efforts and please feel free to stop by anytime.
1. How to gather content that speaks to your customers’ problems.
2. How to stay top of mind with customers through the sales process.
3. Marketers need to think like editors.
4. Mixing up content key to keeping sales prospects engaged.
5. Build lasting relationships through relevant information.
I had the pleasure of interviewing the new Board Chair, Bob DeKoning, for the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network (OEN) the other day and asked him about his vision for OEN and how it can impact business growth and startup success in Oregon. Bob first and foremost made it clear that he is passionate and committed to creating a supportive atmosphere where startups can get the resources they need to thrive.
Bob is a long time Oregonian and a successful repeat CEO at four different companies over the past 16 years. I asked Bob why he got involved in OEN and what led to him ultimately becoming the Board Chair.
Bob explained:
“The reason I considered this opportunity was the fact that in this recessionary time, and with the state of the economy, I felt that there was a chance to make a difference. If we were looking for additional job growth in an environment of high unemployment, that job growth most likely would come from growth in small companies.
I couldn’t think of a better way to give back and help this economy, than to come in and help keep OEN growing, and stimulating this economy, in support of small company management. ”
When Scott Olson first approached me about joining MindLink Marketing, I couldn’t wait to re-team with such a innovative thinker. Scott’s vision for MindLink — and embracing lead nurturing — pushes the barriers of corporate marketing and communications as we know it. It brings together the most innovative online tools and applications to deliver relevant web content that helps our clients regularly communicate, educate and connect with their customers. While most organizations get this, many still lack the resources or expertise to do it effectively.
One of the biggest challenges for organizations today is understanding what tools to invest in that will give them the best return on their marketing investment. Even with more efficient communications and social networking applications popping up overnight, many organizations continue to stick with what worked for them in the past. Unfortunately, the ROI for a lot of traditional marketing programs continues to dwindle from 2% to 0.001% to nil. That’s a lot of time, energy and capital spent for very little return.
Today, too many marketing and sales dollars continue to be thrown into programs that result in large databases of unqualified leads and lost opportunities due to a lack of effective outreach or inadequate follow up, which brings me back to MindLink’s lead nurturing strategy. I look forward to bringing my web content and corporate communications experience on board to help our clients deliver more engaging and informational content that provides value, industry insight, a better return on their marketing investment, and ultimately creates more successful, long-term relationships with their customers. I can’t wait to get started.
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