Searles Graphics - Business & Management http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/category/36/Business-Management en-US http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3768/Effective-and-Affordable-Logo-Design-Tips-The-Messengers-Podcast Effective and Affordable Logo Design Tips - The Messengers Podcast Many entrepreneurs and businesses spend far too much time, effort, and money on logo design.


While your logo holds some importance, it’s not the make-or-break endeavor that many make it out to be.


Whether it’s spending too much on logo design, or agonizing over details that won’t matter at all to your business, mistakes happen in the logo design process all the time.


On the other hand, there are a number of important elements when it comes to choosing a logo designer that need to be considered, but don’t need to cost a fortune.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss some of the common logo design pitfalls they see entrepreneurs and marketers fall into, as well as the misconceptions many hold when it comes to understanding what a logo is actually supposed to do.


They provide important information you should be sure to discuss with your logo designer to make sure your logo will work across all mediums, and get into everything from digital vs. print color-palettes to whether or not your logo should be updated and at what frequency.


Visit https://messengers.blog to find links to your favorite podcast or streaming service, or click here to subscribe to The Messengers on YouTube.

 

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3759/How-to-Use-Google-Analytics-The-Messengers-Podcast How to Use Google Analytics - The Messengers Podcast Far too many small businesses are guilty of deploying a website and then failing to measure how people are actually using it. Many people, even those who consider themselves technologically competent, spend time and money on a website and then don’t even bother to evaluate what’s working and what’s not.


Modern analytics tools– the most common and accessible being Google Analytics– make measuring how effective your website is simple. 


Unfortunately, even for many who see the value in analyzing their analytics data, they’re often left overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information that’s presented to them and end up either never looking at the platform, or only looking at the simplest (and sometimes least important) data points.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert did an overview on the features of Google Analytics to help demystify the platform. They provide examples of how they use Google Analytics to improve the performance of their websites, and share some of the concerns and mistakes they see clients make using the platform for their own business.


They discuss everything from finding out how people are getting to your website, using Google Analytics to identify which pages of your website are serving user’s needs and which ones aren’t, how to use Google Analytics to see what parts of your website are the most engaging and, most importantly, how to use Google Analytics to drive sales.


Visit https://messengers.blog to find links to your favorite podcast or streaming service, or click here to subscribe to The Messengers on YouTube.

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3751/The-Right-Way-to-Redesign-Your-Website-The-Messengers-Podcast The Right Way to Redesign Your Website - The Messengers Podcast It’s always going to be difficult for a small business to keep their website up to date. Whether it’s ever-changing product and service descriptions, content marketing initiatives, or the ever-changing technology landscape requiring your site to function and perform across a myriad of new devices and standards, it can be a daunting task.


Without a dedicated team for online marketing, finding the time, budget or knowledge to keep your internet presence updated and optimized can seem nearly impossible.


Which means that, unfortunately, many businesses make the mistake of thinking that nothing on their website is worth salvaging and opt to build a brand new website from scratch, instead of identifying and optimizing the aspects of it that aren’t working.


The truth of the matter is that no matter how old your website is, the history alone provides a base from which to try to improve rather than throwing it away and taking a shot in the dark with a complete rebuild based solely on your intuition.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss the correct approach to a website redesign - one based on data and facts rather than subjective opinion.


They discuss some of the technical aspects behind rebuilding a website for a business, how to identify when a website needs a full redesign, how to use the data that your current website provides to optimize rather than rebuild, and most importantly, what you should be doing to turn views and clicks into revenue for your company.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3750/Making-SEO-Work-for-You-The-Messengers-Podcast Making SEO Work for You - The Messengers Podcast Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a tricky beast to master, even in writing this blog post we’re constantly considering what words to use to boost our own Google ranking for when business owners are searching for ways to improve their own SEO.


Google’s (and other, lesser-used search engine’s) algorithm that determines what results will show for a given web search is constantly changing and many of the specifics of that algorithm are closely held trade secrets.


Modern SEO is built upon decades of learning and iterative advancements in serving the optimal result for any given user search.


Throw in Google’s new focus on prioritizing paid advertising over organic results, it gets even trickier to figure out what works best.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss what SEO is really all about, debunk some of the myths that seem to permeate small businesses about search engine optimization, and provide best practices that they implement for their own clients.


They discuss balancing search advertising and organic search results, what you can do to boost your own rankings, understanding what your potential customers are actually searching for and how to beat the competition. They also explain how a consistent content stream, relevant to your searchers’ interests is the most important way to set yourself apart from everybody else.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3739/Designing-Websites-That-Actually-Work-The-Messengers-Podcast Designing Websites That Actually Work - The Messengers Podcast No matter the particular marketing piece, the objective is to get the person on the other side to take the action you want them to take. 


Your design might be a masterpiece, but won’t actually drive revenue to your business if it just looks nice instead of effectively delivering your message.


Real marketing is designed based off real data. When designing an interactive piece like a website, using heat maps or tracking click-through rates can help determine what parts of the initial design are working best, even if you’re not personally thrilled with the way that it looks.


Design is subjective, data isn’t.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert talk about the differences between designs that just look nice, and designs that actually deliver results.


They discuss why it’s difficult to separate yourself from your design biases and understand why data is such an important factor in the layout of websites and other marketing materials. They also identify some common data-gathering techniques you can use for your own website to identify what’s appealing to users and what’s missing the mark.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3738/Making-the-Most-Out-of-Your-Facebook-Ads-The-Messengers Making the Most Out of Your Facebook Ads - The Messengers To beginning businesses, digital advertising might seem like the greatest blessing marketing has ever seen. The ability to advertise on a platform populated by billions of users is the marketing pitch of the century from Facebook’s end.


Unfortunately, nearly everybody who hasn’t already experienced it underestimates just how difficult getting people to see and engage with your Facebook advertising can be, or what they will need to spend to get the results they really want.


It’s never as simple as “post and you’re done.” Marketing on Facebook is a tricky mix of targeting the right people, growing your online audience, determining and managing the budget dedicated for your campaign, and curating your content so that users actually engage with it.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert talk about the common issues that they’ve seen many first time Facebook marketers have to work through and how to optimize your Facebook ads to deliver real results.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3735/Promotional-Materials-That-Work-The-Messengers-Podcast Promotional Materials That Work - The Messengers Podcast Promotional items can be largely hit-or-miss.


On one hand, your t-shirts, pens, and notepads could do a great job at keeping your company name in your customers’ minds, hitting the most important marketing element there is: Frequency.


But on the other hand, you might just end up wasting your money on stuff that nobody actually wants. You could end up spending thousands just to have these items go right into the garbage.


While giving a free t-shirt with your logo on it to every customer might seem like cheap and easy advertising, it doesn’t mean anything if that customer never wears it.


In this episode of The Messengers Podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert explore different promotional materials to give away and why different items work better for different businesses.


They discuss what giveaways they’ve seen work and what they’ve seen that’s just fallen flat. They also break down how cost factors in, and give advice on why cutting corners and why cutting corners and going cheap is just a waste of money.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3729/Maintaining-Your-Professional-Relationships-The-Messengers-Podcast Maintaining Your Professional Relationships - The Messengers Podcast All business transactions are just interactions between two people. Even B2B purchases are conducted between two people.


There are countless books and LinkedIn webinars boasting the “key” to crafting a successful business. But the real business “key” isn’t a specific investment, technology or product. It’s just being nice.


Maintaining positive and caring relationships with everybody that your business interacts with is the best way to ensure your business will have the support it needs from customers, vendors, and employees.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert talk about their experience building these relationships in their own business and explain how accepting short-term losses can lead to long-term success.


The duo explains why people you work with are more inclined to help you out when you create and maintain a relationship based on mutual respect and empathy. They also discuss how being demanding or just plain rude can negatively affect you and your business when working with your vendors and suppliers.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3719/Does-Your-Business-Need-a-Mobile-App-The-Messengers-Podcast Does Your Business Need a Mobile App? - The Messengers Podcast It seems like every business has an app these days. You use social media exclusively through apps, consume all media (music, television, movies, news) through apps and order services all through apps on your phone.


So it would make sense if you’re asking yourself, “does my business need an app?”


This often leads to a moment of surprise when people realize just how much it costs to build a mobile app. Not to mention, building an app isn’t just a one time purchase. It comes with constant maintenance to keep up with upgrading mobile devices and platforms, as well as bug fixes, which never come for free.


The only metric to consider when looking at getting an individualized app for your company is whether it’s going to have worthwhile ROI to justify the cost. A large volume of downloads doesn’t actually mean anything if it doesn’t translate into additional revenue for your business.


In this episode of the Messengers Podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert talk about their experience working with companies looking for app design, some of the misconceptions that a lot of people have about the cost of app development, and the process for evaluating whether your business actually needs a custom mobile app at all.


The duo explains why you can’t cut corners on app development costs, the constant upkeep it takes to make an app user-friendly and boost profits, some of the app design process that a prospective business owner might never have considered before, and provides some viable alternatives to building a custom mobile app for your business.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3711/Should-You-Invest-in-Content-Marketing-The-Messengers Should You Invest in Content Marketing? - The Messengers Modern marketing is all about effective storytelling.


Fortunately, the tools to tell those stories have never been more accessible. This means that it’s easier than ever for your business to have an up-to-date, modern, and attractive website with valuable SEO content that allows anybody looking for your services or products to find you quickly and easily.


For many this comes in the form of the website copy that describes what a business does and what they are like. But others choose to enhance that tools like blogs or video content on their website, which can be used to boost search rankings and increase interaction.


Of course, content marketing also means sticking to a regular publishing schedule. Without investing in quality content and active and consistent promotion, putting something like a blog on your website can be more of a hindrance than a help.


In this episode of the Messengers Podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert talk about their experience working on content for their own business and share some of the misconceptions about content and promotion they regularly come across.


The duo explains why these tools can be invaluable if used properly, but can occasionally do more harm than good and why many people underestimate the amount of time that’s needed for both creating and also promoting their original content.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3709/You-Cant-Out-Walmart-Walmart-The-Messengers You Can’t Out-Walmart Walmart - The Messengers Many small businesses feel that their biggest threat is competition.

While competition can be a huge factor in the success or failure of many businesses, as the mega-corporations can always beat you on price, it’s not actually the biggest threat most businesses will face.

The true greatest threat to a business is time. Many businesses fail to innovate, change with the times, and keep up with advancements in technology and consumer preferences. They end up having to call it quits even without a Walmart moving into town.

A lack of foresight into the developments that can make a small business obsolete is a greater threat than any competitor could ever be.

In this episode, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert share their thoughts on why many businesses are either in the wrong business to begin with, or fail to change with the times and end up with a failing long-term strategy.

The duo shares some of the experiences that they’ve seen in their own business as well as in the businesses that their clients run. They also look at some local businesses who were looking at the wrong factors as threats and ultimately ended up having the close down, even without that threat actually manifesting itself.

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3704/Darrah-Brustein-Designing-Your-Life-The-Messengers Darrah Brustein: Designing Your Life - The Messengers The Messengers are back, this time with special guest Darrah Brustein.


Darrah is the founder of Network Under 40, an Atlanta Georgia based business meant to help young professionals with networking and relationship building as they enter the workforce.


She’s also a partner at Equitable Payments and a contributor at Forbes and Entrepreneur.com.


In this episode, Chris and Rob speak with Darrah about the paths they took to get where they are, entrepreneurship, and how to reevaluate your career by first deciding what you want your life to look like, and then designing what you do based on what you want to get out of your life.


Topics discussed include:

  • The college experience
  • Starting your own career path and doing what you love
  • Meditation
  • The difficulties and challenges of forming your own career path

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3701/The-Messengers-Biggest-Business-Mistake-The-Messengers The Messengers’ Biggest Business Mistake - The Messengers Nobody is perfect.


It’s inevitable that every entrepreneur, business owner, and professional is going to experience failure.


But a real professional won’t let that keep them down. They learn from that failure, analyze where they went wrong, and make sure to never make those same mistakes again.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles shares his biggest professional failure (to date) and does a post-mortem with Rob Seifert to look at where they went wrong and how it should have been handled in hindsight.


By delving into what they should have done differently, The Messengers hope to help others avoid the same mistakes in their own businesses.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3699/Balancing-Creativity-and-Clarity-in-Your-Marketing-Advertising-The-Messengers Balancing Creativity and Clarity in Your Marketing & Advertising - The Messengers The modern consumer has never been more bombarded by constant advertising at any point in history. So when crafting your company’s messaging, it’s more important than ever to carefully design your marketing and advertising to stand out in a consumer’s mind.

The perfect advertising campaign is a well-balanced mix of creativity and clarity, making sure the viewer doesn’t have to think too hard to get the message, while also being funny or clever enough to leave a lasting impression.

Often, marketers or businesses lean too far to one side of that formula, which means that their advertising is too dull or crowded to grab attention, or too complex to understand exactly what they’re trying to sell.

In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss some of the problems and obstacles that they’ve seen and faced in crafting advertising campaigns for themselves and their clients.

The hosts go over their own struggles to balance memorable advertising with a clear message and discuss some world-class examples of great ad design coming from companies like Geico and Absolut Vodka.

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3696/Should-You-Hire-a-Professional-Photographer-The-Messengers Should You Hire a Professional Photographer? - The Messengers In today’s digital landscape, photo and video are the two main driving forces behind modern marketing practices. No matter how good the copy is, supplemental photos and video will always have a huge role to play.

Many business owners believe they can cut costs by doing their own photography, either by investing in a nice DSLR camera or just using the HD cameras that come equipped with every smartphone.

Unfortunately, this might not always be the best idea for their businesses.

In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss whether a business should do their photography internally or hire a professional in regards to the many types of specialized photo professionals that are currently out there.

While anybody can take a decent photo with the automatic settings on an expensive DSLR camera, a pro could likely get a better shot with a stock iPhone camera. It’s up to you to decide whether the increase in quality will offset the costs.

The hosts go over different scenarios where a business might consider hiring a professional photographer and what pros can do that an amateur with a nice camera might never have thought of when planning their shots.

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3686/Your-Marketing-Is-For-Your-Customers-Not-Yourself-The-Messengers Your Marketing Is For Your Customers, Not Yourself - The Messengers One of the biggest mistakes business owners make with their marketing material is worrying too much about what they like and not enough about what their customers or prospects will like or respond to.


When creating a marketing strategy, it’s imperative to put yourself in the head of the client, and realize that what looks best in your head won’t necessarily translate to the most sales.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss the ways that companies often fail by crafting a marketing strategy based more around what they want instead of what the customer needs.


Sometimes the ego will take over and businesses will end up focusing more on something like the size of their logo instead of making sure potential customers can quickly and easily identify the services that they offer.


The hosts go over some tips and best practices for designing a marketing strategy that will help engage customers, even if it’s not the vision that the business owner had in mind.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3679/Text-Marketing-Delivers-Big-Results-The-Messengers Text Marketing Delivers Big Results - The Messengers The hardest challenge any business can have is making sure their message reaches all of their customers who would be interested in what they offer, as well as reaches any potential new customers. Whether it’s an event, a sale, a new product or an inventory restock, it’s impossible to reach 100 percent of the audience that would be interested in what you have to say.


But you can certainly get close with text message marketing. Boasting open rates that approach 100% and action rates nearly 20x higher than email, texting your base is a much more efficient way to communicate with highly engaged customers and prospects. And since customers have to sign up, with the option to opt-out at any time, it never feels like spam the way email often does.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss the success they’ve seen implementing text message marketing for their own clients. They go over what makes this service so much more successful than a traditional email list, some of the initial skepticism their clients had and how the service ended up exceeding their expectations.


Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3677/Customer-Service-is-an-Investment-Not-an-Expense-The-Messengers Customer Service is an Investment, Not an Expense! - The Messengers Customer service goes way beyond the way you handle customer complaints; it encompasses every part of the way customers interact with your business.


By making potential customers go through a minefield of automated phone systems or refusing to meet reasonable customer demands, a business only comes off as the enemy instead of the role it should play as a valued vendor or trusted service provider.


To make the most of your resources, customer service should always be your primary focus.


In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles [http://www.christophersearles.com] and Rob Seifert discuss how important customer service really is. They go over some of the do’s and don’ts of customer service from their experience both dealing with clients and as customers themselves.


This episode covers topics like:


- Customer service as an investment instead of an expense
- The value of retaining long term customers with excellent customer service
- Making your team directly accessible to clients
- Building a company culture that encourages everybody to get involved in customer service

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/66dmUPfI1DiJrUM0xuwrVB

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Apple Podcasts - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-messengers/id1315145712?mt=2

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3674/Should-You-Outsource-Your-Social-Media-Management-The-Messengers Should You Outsource Your Social Media Management? - The Messengers In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert take on social media. The discussion looks at how small businesses in particular approach their social media efforts, along with some of the problems with the most common approach and how to make it better.


In today’s marketing landscape, a huge follower count doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t translate into revenue for your business. Neither does creating social media platforms just to have a presence there. The trick is to gear your content so it appeals to the people most likely to be interested in your business.


Rob and Chris discuss the most important things you need to know when setting up your social media strategy and how to make sure you’re getting maximum value out of your investment. This episode covers topics like:

- The pros, cons and risks of outsourcing your social media management
- Measuring social media returns
- Assigning goals to your internet presence
- Content quality

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.christophersearles.com/3670/Why-Do-Car-Companies-Make-Concept-Cars Why Do Car Companies Make Concept Cars? I was reading some Seth Godin lately and a couple of comments he made about the car industry struck a chord with me.

I've never been able to understand how Tesla was allowed to exist. How did these industry giants seemingly miss the boat entirely with electric cars?

For that matter, how was it that a search engine pioneered the vision of a driverless future?

Seth's contention (I'm sure my simplification is a disgrace to his eloquence) is essentially that these companies live in the world where their customers dont want revolutionary ideas. They serve the masses, not the early adopters.

In other words, they (and we) are happy to let Tesla and its first customers be pioneers and work out all the kinks while we buy the same old cars. Then, once enough of us decide there's sufficient momentum to board the train (and the bugs have been mostly eradicated), Detroit will follow suit and off we all will be with our electric cars 10 years from now.

I believe Seth is 100% on the money in his assessment. So why then does an organization that is mediocre by design waste millions upon millions of dollars every year just to prove that they could be extraordinary if only they really wanted to?

I understand the business philosophy of these companies to do what works and sell to the masses. (I dont agree with it, but I understand it.)

Most companies eventually hit an inflection point where it's simply easier to make money doing the same old thing. Then they wait and watch as a startup revolutionizes what they do, wait for a horse to start leading the race for the early adopters, and then acquire them right before what they did goes mainstream.

Rinse and repeat.

But if that's your plan, why waste time and money pretending to be something you're not to an audience that, by design, isnt your target market anyway?

Instead, why not follow through on that promise or dont make it in the first place. If you think what you're making is so revolutionary that it's 5 or 10 years ahead of it's time, just go ahead and start the revolution!

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3669/Marketing-is-Meaningless-if-Youre-Not-Measuring-Your-Results-The-Messengers Marketing is Meaningless if You’re Not Measuring Your Results - The Messengers In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert address the issue of measuring whether or not you’re getting a return out of the investment you’re making in your marketing.


Setting up a marketing plan is only half of the battle. Without a detailed method for measuring the results of your efforts, it’s impossible to make the appropriate adjustments necessary for long-term success..


Chris and Rob discuss the most important things you need to know when setting up your marketing strategy and how to make sure you’re getting maximum value out of your marketing investment. This episode covers topics like:


- Testing multiple marketing techniques
- The differences between brand marketing and direct marketing
- Understanding the many sources of your leads
- Matching your marketing budget against your profit derived from new customers
- Methods to test direct marketing

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3661/A-New-Marketers-Guide-to-Buying-Print-The-Messengers A New Marketer’s Guide to Buying Print - The Messengers In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss the basics of buying printing. For many people, even the basics of printing can be a foreign concept, which can leave business owners either overpaying for what they need or with a lower-quality final product than they had originally envisioned.


Chris and Rob discuss the most important things you need to know when going to buy printing for your company to help you end up with a piece that’s right for your business. This episode covers items like:


- What is “stock” and how can you select the right one?
- How a number of factors affect your “price-per-piece”
- Bleed and trim safety
- Working with designers that are familiar with print production

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3657/Turning-Away-Work-The-Power-of-Saying-No-The-Messengers Turning Away Work: The Power of Saying No - The Messengers In this episode of The Messengers podcast, Chris Searles and Rob Seifert discuss screening clients for your business and understanding your market. The most successful companies aren’t the ones that take any business that walks through the door, but ones that know their ideal customer and have the courage to say no to customers that aren’t right for them.


For companies of all sizes, it’s imperative to know your minimums and maximums. Taking a job too small is a waste of resources and biting off more than you can chew will leave you overwhelmed. Efficiency is key.


Chris and Rob discuss jobs that they now turn down that they said yes to early on or struggled with not being able to produce before they learned this lesson the hard way. In particular, they discuss jobs like:


Technical advising
Jobs that are too time-intensive
Jobs that are too big for your equipment
Clients shopping only based on price

Use the links below to watch or listen, and don’t forget to subscribe to get more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


- YouTube

- iTunes

- Google Play

- Anchor

- Stitcher

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http://www.searlesgraphics.com/blog/3653/Identifying-Under-served-Markets-The-Messengers Identifying Under-served Markets - The Messengers The Messengers podcast is back! Chris Searles is now joined by Searles Graphics creative director, Rob Seifert. In this episode, they discuss thinking differently with your marketing and trying to reach out to audiences that are underrepresented – ones that you might not typically think of reaching out to.


Some of the examples discussed in the episode include dinners for singles and families on Valentine’s Day, gifts for single mothers on Fathers’ Day, and offering alternatives to the beer-loving crowd on St. Patrick’s Day.


Other topics touched on include:


- New Year’s Eve and Super Bowl takeout specials
- The revival of direct mail with the saturation of online marketing
- Marketing atypical products around the holidays
- Eating healthy on Halloween
- Timing your marketing opportunities

Use the links below to subscribe to watch or listen to more from The Messengers on your favorite device or streaming service!


YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_q1Z9BVf0HnSIcGUXs_jqA

iTunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-messengers/id1315145712?mt=2

Google Play - https://play.google.com/music/m/Iozr3noltqlwlo65fbm4pljg6hu?t=The_Messengers

Anchor - https://anchor.fm/messengers

 

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http://www.christophersearles.com/3402/A-Tale-of-Two-Customer-Service-Stories A Tale of Two Customer Service Stories I have a 15 month old son.

As anybody with small children can attest, the market for "innovative" baby products is a bit overwhelming.

I put the word innovative in quotes because, while some are truly fantastic inventions that make the lives of parents much easier, others are - to be blunt - gimmicky pieces of crap.

Baby umbrella

Recently, I had experiences with two different baby-product companies that got ;me thinking about customer service and customer experiences in the social media age.

Quality customer service has never so critical to your company's success; customers have never had a megaphone like they have with social media.

Through social media, a single happy or unhappy customer can have a massive positive or negative affect on a brand.

From a brand’s perspective, it's also never been this easy to show customers how much or how little you care about them.

Which brings me to my two stories. (Yes, links are affiliate links.)

Tale #1: It’s My Fault

Meet the Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup, maybe one of the best baby products on the market today.

Munchkin Miracle 360 Trainer Cup on Amazon

My wife and I were introduced to this cup through my sister-in-law.

It’s not completely spill-proof (anybody with a one-year old can tell you that’s a dream that may never be fulfilled), but it’s definitely the best we’ve found by far.

The cup has one serious flaw, however, and it’s sole cause of every negative review I’ve seen.

The seal between the body of the cup and the removable top is created with a small rubber o-ring.

The o-ring retains some water between itself and the cap, and after a week or two’s worth of use some mold begins to grow behind the ring.

Mold problem with the Miracle 360 sippy cup

Apparently, Munchkin distributes cleaning instructions with these cups now to help prevent this problem.

We never saw those instructions, and according to online reviews, neither did a lot of people.

That being said, we eventually just pulled the o-ring off to clean both it and the space it covers on the cap.

The worry was that pulling it off my break or stretch the o-ring to the point where it wouldn’t seal the cup anymore.

As it turns out, this is exactly what you’re supposed to do every week or so to avoid this problem in the first place.

Miracle 360 cleaning instructions

During one of these routine cleanings while we were away visiting family, we lost the o-ring.

Unfortunately, Munchkin doesn’t sell just the o-ring, so it looked like we were out of luck with 98% of a cup we loved but could no longer use.

So I turned to social media and reached out to Munchkin on Facebook to see if I could purchase just an o-ring somewhere or directly through them.

It was about 7:30 pm when I sent them my first Facebook message.

It took them until the following day to respond around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Munchkin Facebook response

Once they did, they apologized that they didn’t sell just the o-ring, and offered to send me an entirely new top instead, at no cost, not even shipping, all within 10 minutes.

Not only was it completely our fault that we lost the o-ring, I had also offered to pay for a replacement.

Instead, in minutes I was offered a free replacement (they actually sent two).

Not missing an opportunity to capitalize, they also requested that I share my experience on social media.

Facebook conversation with Munchkin customer service

And why not! Well done on all parts.

(Guys, I hope this article will suffice in place of the social media share I promised. Thank you for the great experience and for making a great product.)

Tale #2: It’s Your Fault

My second story has to do with a plate we bought from Tommee Tippee.

We bought these because of the ability to suction cup the bowls and plates to the table.

Tommee Tippee section plates on Amazon

In general, it’s a good product. We have a few of them, and they work mostly as advertised.

I say mostly because anybody that’s ever had a one year old knows they’ll find a way to throw food on the floor in large quantities.

My son has of course found ways to separate the plate from the suction cup or just pulled the entire matt off the table.

But, just as the Miracle 360 still spills when thrown to the floor from a highchair, even the best baby products are never foolproof.

The point is, overall we’re happy with the product and the purchase decision we made.

That is, even in spite of the fact that one of the plates caught fire in our microwave a few weeks back.

Now, I’m not an alarmist by any means, but that seems like kind of a big deal to me.

We didn’t freak out or overreact, but I did reach out to Tommee Tippee to let them know what happened, and this time I was actually hoping for some sort of restitution in the form of a replacement for the plate we had to (obviously) throw out.

I also wanted to alert them to the situation as I certainly would want to know if one of the products I sold caught on fire.

Galaxy Note 7 fire recall

My expectation was that the customer service reps at Tommee Tippee would be shocked and horrified that this happened, would immediately send me a replacement, and that replacement would include a return slip in the box to send them the defective plate so they could investigate further.

Instead, what I received was a lesson in how to use a microwave, and a week-long back and forth that had me waiting at times up to three days just to get a response.

Here are the most important excerpts from that conversation:

Tommee Tippee customer service conversation

Grill function? To this day, I didn’t even know that was a thing, and my microwave absolutely does not have a “grill function” (and confirmed that with them by sending a picture of my standard LG microwave with no grill function or any other strange features).

My final response was this:

"So this is not the first time this has been reported? Do we have to worry about this new one or our existing ones doing the same thing or has the problem been fixed?"

To which I received the following response:

Tommee Tippee Grill Feature response

I’m not a reporter that heard something second-hand from a source and was looking for comment.

I literally just told you mine caught on fire without a grill setting in the span of about 10 seconds.

This back and forth took a grand total of a week to get to this point so I didn’t push it further (although, looking back, I probably should have).

(As a side note, I wanted to put the plate back in the microwave to get it on video to send to them but my wife had already thrown the plate away at that point, so no luck there.)

Either way, this should have been a 10 minute back-and-forth, and their contribution to the conversation should have been this:

"Hi Chris, we’re very sorry to hear you had an experience like that with one of our products. We take great pride in ensuring the health and safety of everyone involved in using our products and I’m hoping to get some more information from you so we can ensure everything we sell is safe to use. Can you please provide the make and model of your microwave, as well as the conditions surrounding the issue (what was on the plate, what (if anything) else was in the microwave at the time, how long was it in the microwave before the issue occurred)? Also, we’ll absolutely send you a replacement but we’d appreciate it if you could save the defective plate and return it in the box we send your replacement in with the return slip we’ll provide so we can investigate this issue further and ensure no other units are affected. We’ll also be sure to follow up with you once we do to let you know what happened and what we’re doing to prevent it from happening again in the future."

However, looking at some of the other issues they’ve had in the past, it’s not hard to see why I had the experience I had.

Earlier this year, they also issued a recall for a their Electric Bottle & Food Warmer (because some of them were catching on fire).

Tommee Tippee Warmer recall

The beginning of the recall statement reads, “This is an electrical issue caused by our external supplier failing to follow our instructions, which could stop safety features from working properly.”

If that’s not a “pass the buck” statement, I don’t know what is.

Sorry guys, but it’s your product, and you’re responsible for product quality and safety regardless of where you source the individual parts.


Two completely different issues, one my fault, one theirs.

In the first instance, not only did they not do anything wrong (granted, the mold behind the o-ring issue isn’t pleasant but it is avoidable with a little extra time cleaning) but they took care of my problem in a day and I left with an awesome feeling about the company.

In the second, they were absolutely in the wrong, took a week to deal with the issue, and not once ever admitted fault, all while telling me that the only way this could happen is that I was so stupid I didn’t even know how to reheat food in a microwave.

It seemed as if the only concern was avoiding the blame, rather than trying to identify and fix a real problem.

I blame you GIF

In both cases, the company replaced the product at no charge, yet, I left the experience with Munchkin feeling great, and left Tommee Tippee certain I’d never buy from them again.

There’s more to customer service than sending a free replacement of a defective product.

These days, speed is a huge factor given how easy it is for customers and brands to communicate with each other.

Speed shows you care and that your customers matter as much to you as they should.

Tone matters too. I’ve dealt with my share of customer issues that were absolutely due to “user error” so-to-speak.

[Read: Debunking the myth that the customer is always right]

As a quick corollary, I once spent an hour on the phone with a client who’s computer wasn’t working only to find out that the first thing I told them to check ("Are all the cables in the back plugged in and secure?") was actually the problem.

Slamming head into desk

Yes, an hour because when I first asked them to check that the computer was plugged in they thought it was such a silly question that they didn’t even bother to check.

You also wouldn’t believe the way some people speak to you when they’re using a service you provide for free and it doesn’t quite perform as expected.

It’s very difficult to remain calm and supportive in those instances. It’s also critical to the success of your company in the social media era.

And while those customers will never take to social media to tell everyone how patient you were with them after they did something so silly like not checking that their computer was plugged in, they would absolutely share how rude or impatient you were.

Please learn from these stories and remember that every customer interaction is a chance at positive press.

Munchkin customer service opportunity

We spend so much time in our businesses trying to get press coverage, sometimes we forget that every single one of our customers has as big of a voice as your local news outlet.

Give them a reason to rave about you, and don’t give them a reason to share a bad experience.

I’ve even seen some companies go so far as to ask for five star reviews and request that if you won’t rate their product or company with five stars, that you email the CEO immediately to let them know why so they can fix the problem.

There’s no reason you can’t do the same.

When you care about your customers, it shows in everything you do. The opposite is also true.

Be the company that cares and lets it show.

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