February 4, 2012

Soundbites: Fire Fast, Hire Slow

This is age old advice in management circles.

Kinda funny how hard it is to do in practice. And it’s one of those topics where you look at business owners and managers and you think, “They really should take this advice.” I really want to talk about the “fire fast” but I’ll just touch briefly on the hire slow, because there are loads and loads of resources on how to hire people. Just remember that the worst thing you can do is hire the first person through the door that you think could probably learn to do the job. [Read more...]

BrandingBlog Radio: Michele Miller on Sports, Politics and F.A.R.E.

Recording this Podcast was a blast. I’ve been working with Michele Miller for 10 years now and being able to share conversations like this is exactly why I started podcasting.

What really made this one fun is that we were face-to-face instead of on Skype. We were both in Palm Springs to have an annual meeting with a client that we’ve worked with almost as long as we’ve been Wizard of Ads partners. This past year our retail client grew 28% over the previous year. That’s a big deal any way you look at it.

In this rambling conversation, we discuss trends in societal change, sports (was it baseball or football?), politics and New Year’s Resolutions, or the lack thereof. You’ll learn about Michele’s F.A.R.E. mantra and my own twist on it.

I hope you enjoy it. I think I managed to maintain my family friendly rating on iTunes. Somehow, turning on the recorder kept us both from flinging f-bombs around the room.

This picture was from her Wonderbranding Class at Wizard Academy on Halloween, 2007. Yes, she taught the class dressed like this.

Business Problem Topology Mapping: Using Kinect in Merchandising

Business Problem Topology Mapping is taking a technique or a technology that has been used or developed for a specific purpose in one field or business category and applying it in an unrelated category to solve a similar problem.

In the video game world, the Kinect was invented to allow the game console to “see” what the player is doing in order to provide a richer and more realistic game experience. They use a device with cameras and spatial sensing to capture this movement.

A company called Agile Route is taking the Kinect and placing it atop a store shelf so that shoppers can be tracked. They are using the captured data to help design better ways to display merchandise for increased sales and a better customer experience. Brilliant!

With thanks to Jeff Sexton for sending me a link.

Using Kinect to build real world Google Analytics from Administrator Agile Route on Vimeo.

BrandingBlog Radio: Magical Thinking with Jeff Sexton

Sometimes I’m a bit intimidated to talk to Jeff Sexton. It’s kind of like going back to high school and having an intellectual chat with your old English teacher…or in this case, an Olde English teacher.

He’s been doing an awful lot of Magical Thinking lately. One of the more interesting examples involves tiger penis. Yep.

In addition to discussing feline phalluses (phalli?) I also got him to talk about how a business owner can use Magical Thinking to improve marketing, merchandising and the customer experience. That’s the practical application of Magical Thinking. Of course, if it’s phalli you want, go check out this guy.

One more thing….if you enjoy this podcast and get it on iTunes, it would be so cool if you could give it a rating and a comment. Thanks!

Soundbites: Personal Experience Factor and The Approach

 

Adam: Welcome once again to BrandingBlog SoundBites with Wizard of Ads Partner, Dave Young from BrandingBlog.com. I’m Adam Lefler. Hello, Dave.

Dave: Hi, Adam.

Adam: Today, we’re talking about Personal Experience Factor: the Approach. What do you mean?

Dave: Well, Personal Experience Factor, Adam, is the term that we use in the Advertising Performance Equation that relates to the actual experience that you’re delivering to a customer if you’re a brick and mortar retailer. If you don’t understand the advertising performance equation, you might not be familiar with this concept. [Read more...]

BrandingBlog Radio: Wizard of Ads Partner, Tom Wanek

Tom Wanek is the author of Currencies That Buy Credibility. A great little book for finding some unique ways to give your business sound credibility in the eyes of your customers.

On the podcast this week, we discuss the chicken and egg scenario of customer experience vs strategy and core values. Which should you focus on first?

Tom is one of those guys who I’m always having interesting conversations with about marketing, branding and strategy. This time, I had the recorder running and you get to listen in.

Soundbites: Personal Experience Factor

Chris: Welcome to BrandingBlog SoundBites. I’m Chris Loghry along with Dave Young from BrandingBlog.com and a Wizard of Ads Partner. We’ve talked about several things. We’ve included the Ad Budget Calculator in a couple of the podcasts. You can always go back to that and check that out online. There’s a link to that on the podcast. Today we want to touch on the topic of the power of personal experience. Hello Dave.

Dave: Hi Chris. Personal experience, it’s a big deal in any retail store.

Chris: Now are we talking about the customer? Are you talking about the retailer themselves? Which angle are we taking here? [Read more...]

BrandingBlog Radio: CJ Romberger on Connecting

An interview with CJ Romberger is a tough thing to nail down. I finally got her to sit still long enough to have a recording session on a day when she is monitoring half-a-dozen wildfires near her Austin home, AND trying to work, AND keep track of a whole bunch of other people. I think that’s kind of funny, and if you know CJ, you’ll find the humor in it.

We talked mainly about the rules of engagement in online communication for businesses (and people who work at businesses.)

I’m sure you’ll be hearing more from CJ as the podcasting continues…

Contact info for CJ Romberger:

Her personal blog

CJ on Facebook

Wildwood Interactive

BrandingBlog Radio: The Future of Marketing IS Sarah Ripley

I have seen the Future of Marketing and her name is Sarah Ripley.

Craig Arthur brought her on board our Australia group because Sarah is a natural-born networker and a talented and intuitive marketing professional.

I got up early in the morning and she stayed up late at night so that we could talk about her experiences at “Uni” in marketing courses and how the real world isn’t much like the picture they paint in college classrooms.

I had one of my goofy quips all lined up and then forgot to use it. I was going to tell her that I’m a big fan of her museums. Maybe next time…because I’m sure she’s never heard that one before.

BrandingBlog Radio: On-Hold Messages with Chester Hull of ProsoundUSA

How do you treat your callers? Do you know what it’s like to be a customer calling in to your own business?

Chester Hull has been working in the on-hold message business since 1998 and he’s the expert that I send my clients to when they need a shot of phone magic. (disclaimer…I also helped build his web site AND Chester is a Wizard Academy graduate, so we tend to see eye-to-eye)

In this episode, Chester and I talk about a bunch of ways that business owners screw up good customer relationships by not providing a good phone experience. Some of the problems can be solved by training, some with good systems, but the key is to approach it the same way you would if you were designing your showroom, waiting room or office.

He’s got some great resources on his site…some paid, some free.

Here are a few ways that Prosound could help you:

Podcast note: I think the audio quality is getting better each time. Pretty good sound for an interview over Skype, eh?