"Yes, we did that."
And that. And that.
And a whole lot more.
The very best way to see what we've done for others is to call us (816) 753-7272 or send us an email: roar@fasonepartners.com
That's also the best way to see what we can do for you.
Thanks to email, Nigerian princes, loud announcers, Facebook, 50-years of "urgent" TV ads and telemarketers... it's no longer enough to just have an incredible idea/product/service/business. Today you have to prove yourself worthy of attention BEFORE your idea even gets a glance.
In a recent post Seth Godin puts it this way:
"Before your link gets clicked or your proposal gets read, a busy person (and who isn't these days?) is going to triage it to find out if it's even worth glancing at. Since everyone is now connected, the new permeability has created a deluge of noise, and just about everyone worth contacting is taking defensive measures."
Your message and marketing is getting pre-screened:
Do I know this person?
Did someone I trust send them over to me?
Where does this person work?
Is she famous? Award-winning?
Are there typos? Is the design sloppy?
Do I already follow this person online?
Who else is referencing or working with this person?
Is it too good to be true?
It's not enough to be brilliant. Today more than ever, you have to also be connected. As marketeers our job is help you make the connections between you and your contacts, that will push your brilliance out of the noise.
How does an agency continue to thrive, 37 years after opening its door? Why do we have the lowest employee turn-over in the industry? Why do our clients keep coming back year after year after year?
Michael Fasone wrote this memo years ago. It not only answers these questions, but also defines who we are as an ad agency. It's a great reminder of why we come to work on Mondays, why vendors want to work for us and why businesses like to partner with us.
"We are family. Each of us plays an integral role in the agency. We are supportive. We work together for the welfare of the group. We are connected, untied in our effort, a family. This is the key reason for our long-term success: 35 years and counting (now 37 years and counting).
This is not the case at most advertising agencies. Ask the people who have worked at other agenies, especially the big ones, and you will hear stories that are shocking. They are not family, but more like Wall Street traders looking out for their own because they know they will only be there until the next door opens. So the big agency fortunes rise and fall as do their people.
It takes a village. It takes a family. It takes all of us to secure the success of our agency. We are not striving for that quick dollar or the pot of elusive gold. We want more than that. Something better. We want to preserve the lifestyle we have created at the agency.
We work at an advertising agency that provides us a sense of freedom and self-respect. We treat each other like responsible professionals that deserve and give each other something really valuable – consideration.
We work hard because we want to be really good at what we do. The best of the best. We want recognition from our peers and from those who really matter – our own family. And we want to succeed and grow to keep our agency from the evils other people live with – long hours, bad managers, a loss of human spirit and most of all a loss of self.
It's nice to have a coworker ask about your weekend because they really care about you, your home life and the significant others in your life.
It's a luxury to work with people that you know will be there year after year.
It's amazing to see so many people, who have worked here and moved away, come back to visit and reconnect with the agency family that gave them roots and a knowledge of the business.
It's wonderful to be part of a family that is supportive, productive, working to be part of the solution, and gives me a sense of belonging because they know and I know it takes all of us, a village, a family."
Forget the dog and pony shows. Scrap the RFPs (Request for Proposals). Instead, take your agency candidates to lunch. Seriously. The reality is, no matter how big or small the agency, three or four people are going to be doing the work on your account. Take them to lunch.
Pitching multiple agencies against each other in a conference room only shows who's the best showman. Sending out questionaires and RFPs doesn't do much more than waste everyone's time and kill trees. Great, smart, impactful advertising happens because there's a personal connection between you, your company, your product and your agency team.
So, take the three or four people who will be working on your account to lunch. Find out if you like them. Do they talk more than they listen? What do they know about your business? What questions do they ask? And be sure to leave the agency principal at the office (unless she's going to be working your account on a daily basis). Leave the agency "pitch team" too.
If you have a website and a marketing budget, you need a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign. It's just that simple. PPC is the holy-grail for local retailers.
It's measurable. You'll know exactly how many people acted on your advertisement.
It's cost-efficient. You set the amount you're willing to pay, per click, per day, per campaign. Then you ONLY pay when your ad works. Nothing is better at moving people quickly and directly to your web site or Facebook page.
There is no other medium like PPC:
Reach customers who are ready to buy.
Drive traffic to your door (both your online and physical doors).
It's a cost-efficient way to compete with the the guy down the street as well as the big, national boys.
Increase online orders.
Warm up sales calls.
Grow your list of contacts.
Invite action on your web site.
Coordinates easily and smartly with your other marketing efforts.
Nimble. You can literally turn off the campaign, tweak your ads, and turn them on again at a moment's notice.
PPC ads are the quickest way to get your website on the first page of Google, Yahoo! and Bing's search pages (PPC ads show up on the top and right column of search engine pages).
Improve your organic search results (the "free" listings Google generates based on your search keywords). PPC ads direct traffic to your site which help improve your desirability to the search engines.
As a local, one store business every penny counts. And every advertising penny needs to count toward moving the needle – motivating sales, getting customers in the doors, making the registers ring. So, can you really afford to buy unmeasurable media like TV, radio and billboards?
Seth Godin offers a quick rule-of-thumb in a recent blog:
Most businesses (including your competitors) are afraid of big investments in unmeasurable media. Therefore, if you have the resources and the guts, it's a home run waiting to be hit.
There are two things you should never do:
Try to measure unmeasurable media and use that to make decisions. You'll get it wrong. It's still an art, not a science.
Compromise on your investment. Small investments in unmeasurable media almost always fail.Go big or stay home.
I'd add a third point: Going big isn't out of your budget.
A smart, concentrated buy in an unmeasurable media acts like a bigger buy and is not a compromise. It's one of the pillars Fasone & Partners was founded on -- "Be someone, somewhere." Even a small, local business can own something in their market: a daypart, a station, a day of the week, an exit ramp, etc.
It takes an artist buying your media, but teamed with a smart creative message... you're ready to hit one out of the park.
The way to the medias' hearts is through their stomaches. It's got to be one of the biggest (only?) perks for a radio DJ these days -- free food. But to launch Wendy's new breakfast line up in KC, we wanted to go bigger than the morning show crew. So we hosted a VIP media event at one of the stores.
Set the tone.
Yes, this is a fast-food restaurant but Wendy's new breakfast really breaks taste with other QSR menus. Using fresh linens and even an ice sculpture, the moment you walked in the door you knew this was going to be something unexpected.
Use competitive peer pressure.
Business is competitive, especially news and sales. One of the keys to success is making sure everyone knows that if they won't be at the event, their competitors will. The result, more than 50 representatives from all of the major television and radio stations, Food Business News, the Kansas City Star, and our outdoor advertising partners got a first hand taste of Wendy's new fare.
The feedback was immediate and extremely positive: • "Everything is phenomenal." • "Delicious with a capital 'D.'" • "My favorite of all the items we tasted is the Good-to-Go Bar. It's great." • "The fruit is very fresh and good." • "I love all of the fruit included." • "The potatoes are to die for." • "The coffee tastes great." • "The food looks very pretty and has a great presentation." • "This was a great way to demo breakfast. We'll take this experience back to our stations."
The event even made Wendy's news around the company:
Sell from the inside/out.
No matter how successful any media event (or advertising campaign) is, it will never be all that it can be without the buy-in from the people on the front line. We brought that philosophy to a second Wendy's breakfast launch event, this one for crew members. Hosted in a hotel rally room we helped celebrate the launch with new breakfast information kits, new product samples, new marketing programs, key tips for execution of breakfast, and “crewpons” for breakfast discounts.
It's official. I've seen the business cards. The Little Agency That Roars! is now roaring on the left coast. Headed by Anthony Fasone, our California office opened on December 1st and has had us running good-crazy for a month now.
Long time client partners and friends might remember Anthony from his producing days at the agency in the late 80's and early 90's. After spending 12+ years at an automotive/after-market agency in Sacramento, Anthony officially has become a Fasone partner once again.
Joining Anthony at Fasone WEST are a group of blue chip accounts:
• BMW of San Francisco - just named the #1 BMW dealership in northern California.
• MINI of San Francisco - the #1 MINI center in northern California for the last five years.
• Quality Tune Up - 20+ shops in the Central Valley and South Bay areas.
Fasone WEST is offering clients a full-service advertising/marketing/online/pr resources at Kansas City prices. Considering the media rates we're seeing out of San Francisco, that's one roaring good deal.
So, if you're looking to get out of the cold, you're always welcome in sunny California.
Fasone & Partners WEST 2321 P Street Sacramento, CA 95816 916-235-9293
It doesn't matter if you're using social media tools or not, your customers (and potential customers) are talking about you. They always have (around the water cooler at work or at the kids' soccer practice) and always will. The difference now is that their conversations are being spread far and wide thanks to the internet and social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Customer-service oriented businesses are using these tools to listen into these conversations, to lead the discussion and turn negative customer experiences around. Case in point, our partners at The KCATA Metro.
Using Twitter we came across a rider who had a bad experience using The Metro's online trip planner (Google Transit).
Turning our find over to The Metro's customer service pros, they were able to reply directly to his post and get him talking off-line.
After a series of emails, The Metro was able to not only help him find his bus stop, but also correct an error in their trip planner.
The result was a new fan for The Metro and a great example of the power of social media.
If you want a shot at making a money in 2010, you've got to establish a realistic marketing budget in the next couple months. It's that simple.
Your advertising budget is the only item on your overhead sheet that is designated to make you money.
Businesses that have an ad budget are going to save money, make money and do better next year than those that don't. What many business owners struggle with is determining how much they should be budgeting?
Rule 1. Your advertising budget needs to be a reflection on past sales and present sales goals.
True, 2009 was an "off the chart" year for just about everyone. So look at your gross sales from both last year and 2008. You may want to average the two. If you feel 2010 will be more like 2008, use that number. If you can look further into your sales history, go back three or four years and look for trends. What you want is to come up with is a realistic gross sales number heading into next year. This will be your starting point.
Rule 2. Set your sales goals for 2010.
Are they aggressive? Conservative? What is your market share? Are you leading the pack, falling behind or somewhere in the middle? Your goals and ambitions for next year help determine how much you should budget.
Using your gross sales number, set your budget accordingly:
-- Budget 10% of gross sales for aggressive growth or to be the market leader.
-- Budget 5-7% of gross sales for steady growth
-- Budget 2-3% of gross sales if you're looking to just hang on.
Rule 3. Adjust your budget for your industry and market.
In some industries 3% of gross sales is very aggressive. In markets where your competition is heavy or where media costs are high, 10% may just keep the status quo. If your business is based on getting phone calls and people through your doors, you'll want to be closer to 10%.
Look back at your gross sales and what you actually spent on marketing. Figuring out what percentage of gross sales you placed in marketing in 2009 or 2008 will give you an idea of your market and industry conditions.
If you're still at a loss and feel like you're just throwing darts, then error on the side of overspending. Set your budget at 7% minimum, but no more than 10%.
If you end up overspending, at least you will know your message had a chance to be seen and you'll know what return you got for next year.
Rule 4. Make your marketing accountable for sales.
Golf club memberships and lunches and all the other stuff businesses write off are not marketing expenses. Your ad budget is for advertising and for generating revenue. No matter how big (or small) your budget, make sure that your marketing is returning at least $4 for every $1 you spend. If it’s not, change it NOW.
Rule 5. Establish a budget EVERY year based on gross sales.
You're shooting at a moving target. For the next few years you'll need to know if you're spending more or less on marketing. Your market is going to shift every year, so will your sales and your spending. But each year you're going to get better at budgeting because you'll be measuring results along the way to becoming profitable.
Before you read any further, take four minutes and watch the embedded video. It will definitely open your eyes (and in a few instances drop your jaw).
Good. Now while the statistics in the video are unverified, the big picture message is startling – social media isn't just something the kids are doing any more.
Social media is nothing new. It’s the same conversations we’ve been having around the dinner table, at the water cooler, during customer service calls, after work, in classrooms, conference rooms and in private for years. What is different is that the internet now allows these conversations to have a much wider reach. The internet allows others to search out our conversations and gives us the ability to organize our conversations.
Social media is not a fad. It will evolve, the tools will change, but it’s not going away.
Currently there are hundreds of social media tools, but the four main players are: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blogs (like this one). Each is established and mainstream. Each serves a unique position in the users' communication.
If you're not familiar with them, here's a quick summary of the big four...
-- Facebook: Longer format gathering place where friends share thoughts, photos, experiences, and games with each other. Because it is a gathering place where so many people spend their online time, companies are also joining Facebook to interact with their fans. Originally developed for college students, today Facebook’s growth is with women.
-- Twitter: Is a quick hit tool, like text messaging. Your conversations are limited to 140 characters. Timely. Quick. Easy to update, easy to check, easy to respond to, Twitter is like the scrolling updates television news networks use. Twitter is being used by companies to rapidly disseminate information, handle customer service questions and to promote events.
-- LinkedIn: Is the business oriented tool. More of an online resume, LinkedIn is similar to Facebook, but for business networking.
-- Blogs: Longer format. Blogs are the original social media tools. Similar to newspaper editorials, blogs are really the democratization of information. Companies are using blogs to help build, establish and demonstrate their expertise.
So, do you Twitter? Have a Facebook page? Read blogs? If you don't then who does? The answers may surprise you (just check out the next post -- "Social media for business: Who's using it?")
