It’s a New Year and time for a new season of Thirsty Thursday! Thirsty Thursday is the award-winning piece of content from Hasseman Marketing where we take a mystery drink out of a piece of branded drinkware! It’s funny. It’s irreverent. And we show you some really cool merch as well! This week we feature the Highland 3-in-1 Copper Vacuum Bottle Kit 32oz Watch the latest episode below!
The Highland 3-in-1 Copper Vacuum Insulated Bottle Kit 32oz is perfect for an active lifestyle. Kit includes three types of lids, a screw-on straw lid, a screw-on chug lid, and a screw-on flip closure lid. Durable, double-wall stainless steel vacuum construction with copper insulation, allows your beverage to stay cold for up to 48 hours and hot for at least 12 hours. The construction also prevents condensation on the outside of the bottle. On-trend, durable powder coating. FSC-certified premium gift box is included. 32oz. Note: Drinking hot beverages with a straw is not recommended. Remove the lid to allow the beverage to cool.
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It’s hard to believe that we are in the final month of 2022…but here we are! So how will you use the time wisely in order to get ready for 2023? We all want to start the year on the right foot. So we at Hasseman Marketing intend to help!
New Webinar: 5 Marketing Tactics to Thrive in 2023
We have created a new FREE webinar called 5 Marketing Tactics to Thrive in 2023 and it will be Friday December 16th at 2pm. There is no cost and no obligation. This is just a new piece of content created to get your wheels turning so you can plan to up your marketing game in 2023.
The webinar will be only 30 minutes and we will cover some tactics you can get started on right away.
So please join us! Just head here to register now. And please feel free to invite other team members that you think might get value from the training!
It’s FREE. It’s ACTIONABLE. And it’s Friday December 16th at 2pm. Please register here.
Hasseman Marketing is your one-stop marketing shop. We work hard to “Deliver #MarketingJoy to you. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, now is a great time to become a VIP. Sign up to be “on the list” here.
Video is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. If you want to tell your organization’s story, using video is one of the best ways to do it. And yet, most organizations don’t use video to its full potential. When I visit websites, I am often surprised to find no video…at all! And even when there is a video on the website, there is almost never a clear strategy to use video to match the brand and tell the whole story.
The reason, I think, is that most organizations look at video as a one-time project. They create one video about their company, try to fit everything in, check the box and move on. This, of course, creates a boring video for the viewer, and less than exciting results for the marketer. What you need is a full video strategy. The most effective organizations use video to touch all areas of their company…so that customers and prospects can go on a journey…and arrive exactly where they need to be.
So what videos do you need? We have you covered. Here are the 10 videos we believe every growing organization needs.
Mission Video
What are you and your organization all about? This video explains that to potential customers and employees. Picture your CEO or leader looking into the camera and talking about your “why.” As Simon Sinek said in his best-selling book “Start with Why,” most organizations tell you “what” they do. But most customers and prospects resonate with “why” they do it. This video gets to the heart of that topic.
Marketing Video
This video is your front-facing message to your prospects. It is fast-paced with upbeat music and graphics. This is the video that tells your story and sells your story. It needs to be quick and to the point, but is not handcuffed by broadcast timelines. And while you will share this on social media (and you should), this will be hosted on your website to tell your story when visitors come to do their research.
Interview Series with Leaders
When customers are doing their research, they like to know who they are doing business with. Who is leading the ship? This series of videos humanize your company and the leadership team. The goal is to not only show that the team is competent and smart…but also fun to do business with.
Testimonial Series with Customers
While you can do a good job of telling the organization’s story, there is nothing more powerful than a great testimonial. These interview-style videos can show prospects what the real customer experience is like.
Facility Tour
If you are proud of your facility (and the people that work in it), a video showcasing your location can be awesome. This might include some beautiful drone shots and artsy shots set to music, it might be guided with narration, or it might be a fun one like we did when we moved into our current location (we were so excited that we were “walking on sunshine”).
Commercial (or series of commercials) For Broadcast
While the marketing video is perfect for social media and on your website, the broadcast video needs to fit into a 30-second or 60-second window. Some organizations use a shorter version of their marketing video, and then drive people to their website to see the full version. And other companies create an entirely new set of creative to even further ramp up the results.
Employee Interviews
Much like the concept with the leadership interviews (from above) interviews with your team are powerful. People still buy from people they like, know, and trust, and these videos show your customers and prospects who will be doing their work. When people connect like this, they are more likely to stay longer, forgive mistakes and pay (a little) more. Oh…and if you are looking for employees, these videos can be a powerful look into your company culture.
Quarterly Update To Employees
While marketing videos and outward-facing communication is important, using video to communicate with employees is under-utilized. What is going on at the company? Are there goals you are moving toward? What initiatives are you implementing? Regular communication with employees can help your team not only work better with customers but also feel more engaged and appreciated.
What Problem Does Your Organization Solve?
It seems so simple…but so many organizations don’t answer this vital question. What problem do you solve for your ideal customer? Creating a video that gets to the core of your organization can really lead the right people into your funnel.
Those are 10 videos that we believe that every growing organization needs. And while there are plenty more videos (and variations of these) that can be done, this is a great jumping-off point for companies that want to better communicate and market. Oh…and a bonus video if you want to highlight a fun company culture…a fun video. We have created a few “fun videos” (including this one) that are not only fun to produce but they help us really stand out in the marketplace.
Hasseman Marketing is your one-stop marketing shop. We work hard to “Deliver #MarketingJoy to you. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, now is a great time to become a VIP. Sign up to be “on the list” here.
Regardless of the game, you are playing, it’s vital to know the rules if you want to succeed. Without the rules as a guidepost, you will be inefficient, make mistakes and frustrate the other players. That is certainly true of marketing your organization. You need to know the rules of the marketing game if you want to flourish.
And while some people might tell you that they want to be a “rule-breaker” and “think outside of the box,” it’s important to understand the rules before you try to break them.
3 Simple Rules of Successful Marketing…that many organizations miss.
While there are tons of tactics and rules around marketing, we are going to start with these basics. Like building a house, if you don’t have the foundation right…the whole structure will ultimately crumble. Many organizations sprint from fad to fad to game the attention of their audience. And it’s great to stay up on marketing trends! But when you can combine that with a solid foundation, you really have something to build on.
Know Your Customer
Let me just state it plainly, if everyone is your customer then no one is your customer. We all have limited budgets. No organization that I know has unlimited time and resources to reach “everyone.” And yet so many businesses today act as if they are trying to reach everyone. It’s great if you have a product or service that you think can help everyone. But you can’t reach everyone. So it’s incredibly important (and valuable) to spend the time to segment your market into smaller groups.
Once you really have a handle on who your ideal customer is, you have the ability to really create a marketing message (and a product for that matter) that serves them. Sometimes the perfect customer of your organization is you. But so often it’s not. So it’s important to dig in and do the research. This will allow you to understand what they read, what social media they consume, the conferences they attend…and more.
When you really know your customer you can create marketing that reaches them right where they are.
Make the Customer the Hero
I love this concept from Donald Miller’s amazing book “Building Your StoryBrand.” As Miller points out, so many of us make ourselves the hero of the story. Our marketing message is all about us. “We have been in business for XYZ years”. Or “we have won this and that awards.” But our customers really don’t care about that…we do. Our customers care about whether we can solve their problem. They have come looking for a solution.
The best marketing messages invite our customers into a story where they are the hero. We are the guide. We want to show them that our service, product, and message are all about helping them succeed. Our organization will simply help them do it.
By making the customer the hero of the story, we invite them into a story they want to participate in.
If You Confuse You Lose
Simplicity is incredibly important in our marketing message. Bill Petrie and I discussed this on a recent Promo UpFront podcast. Consumers are willing to pay more for brands that make their choices (and their lives) easier.
But maybe more important, if your customers and prospects don’t understand your offering, they will just move on. There are plenty of other fish in the sea! When a customer or prospect lands on your webpage (or other marketing messages) and they are not sure that you solve their problem, they will leave. It’s that simple.
As Miller talks about in the book, your marketing needs to explain what you do so that a caveman can understand it…immediately. If there is any confusion (or other sources of friction) the prospect is very likely to move on. You never get the chance to tell them your story. You don’t get a chance to explain. They are gone.
Now make no mistake, creating a simple marketing message is hard. Every organization is complex. Boiling it down to a few words can be really difficult. But it’s worth your time to do the work. What do you do? What problem do you solve for the customer?
If you can answer that question simply, you have a better chance of breaking through the noise…and inviting them into your story.
These are 3 simple rules of successful marketing. And if you are able to master them, you not only have a great foundation for your marketing. You are also likely well ahead of most other organizations in your space.
Hasseman Marketing is your one-stop marketing shop. We work hard to “Deliver #MarketingJoy to you. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, now is a great time to become a VIP. Sign up to be “on the list” here.
“If you build it, they will come.” This is a line from an iconic Hollywood movie called “Field of Dreams,” with Kevin Costner. It’s also one of the biggest lies we believe in business when it comes to creating a new website.
Building a new (or improved) website for your organization can be exciting. It takes a lot of planning and hard work. And hopefully, when you are done, you are incredibly excited about the outcome! The problem that many organizations run into is they think that when the website is built, the work is done. They believe the line from the movie. They have built it…now the traffic will come!
Unfortunately, that’s not how website traffic works.
I hate the be the bearer of bad news, but once the site is functional, now the work of driving traffic to the website begins. This is one of the ways that websites are just like a retail establishment. You can’t just put up the “open” sign and have a steady flow of traffic. You have to do the work. So here are 7 ways to drive traffic to your new website.
Paid Traffic
You have likely heard of Google Adwords and Facebook ads. These are incredibly effective ways to drive traffic to your site. The best part about this traffic is that it tends to be very targeted. When it comes to Google Adwords, they have likely searched for the very solution you provide. For all its faults, Facebook is incredibly good at creating traffic as well. This is a great way to get your website on the map. The downside, of course, is that if your entire strategy is built on paid traffic, the cost will just continue to rise.
Press Releases
This is such an often overlooked strategy. When well-written and well-targeted, this can be extremely effective. We recently launched a website called JobsInCoshocton.com. The idea is to educate 17-24-year-olds in Coshocton County about the opportunities in their hometown. While sending this press release out nationally would make no sense, the local media is very interested. If you pick the right target, the audience might be hungry for your news.
Content Marketing
There are a LOT of ways to use content marketing to promote your new website. The first is to create a blog on the new site or to have other interested bloggers write about it to drive traffic. You can also create videos or podcasts that can talk about the importance and features of the new site. You can also request to be a guest on other podcasts or videos. These content providers may already have an audience that speaks to your target, so you can help them (by providing interesting content) while they help you!
In the example of JobsInCoshocton.com, we will likely feature that team on the Coshocton Conversations podcast soon. That podcast already speaks to people who are interested in the area, so they would be a perfect fit!
Direct Mail
We have said it before here, direct mail is not dead. And with the pandemic, its effectiveness has increased. When you want to drive traffic to your new site, a targeted direct mail piece can be powerful. A few tips to help increase the effectiveness include:
Make it clear what you want the audience to do. Put a QR code on the piece to show people to scan it so they can head straight to the site.
Do a postcard so they don’t have to open anything to see the information.
Add an extra feature (like a magnet) so there is added long-term value to promote the site.
Make it bumpy. Add a piece of branded merchandise to improve open rates and the long-term success of the mailer.
Branded Merchandise
Using Branded Merchandise is a great way to build a tribe. These brand advocates can become the best source of “word of mouth” for your new website. The best brands have a tribe of people excited to tell the story. And if you are smart, you can make that even easier. You can certainly add your website to items that have a large enough imprint area. And just like your direct mail piece, you can create an amazing piece of merch with a QR code as well.
Branded merchandise is (by its nature) very targeted and also longer lasting. So by incorporating a quality piece of branded merchandise into your campaign, you can not only give the website a boost in the short term but give it a longer-lasting impact as well.
Email and Text
We have talked about the difference between brand marketing and direct marketing here before. Branded merchandise can serve both purposes. Email and text messages are hardcore direct marketing! Your own list of contacts in email and text can be one of the most valuable assets you have in your marketing toolbox. You own that list. By letting these “VIPs” know that you have a new website, you can create direct traffic to the site…right away!
Event Marketing
When you know exactly who you are marketing to, you know what events they attend. Whether that is going to a trade show, a community event, or an educational conference, getting face to face with that audience can be powerful. At these events, you can create a buzz around the website and even show people how to use the new site. This “hand to hand combat” can be a great way to tell the story of your organization…and why the new website can be a great tool!
These are 7 ways to drive traffic to your new website. As you can see, I talk quite a bit about targeting the right audience. Traffic only really matters if it’s the right traffic. By using these strategies, you can not only increase traffic…but the right kind of traffic to the website!
Hasseman Marketing is your one-stop marketing shop. We work hard to “Deliver #MarketingJoy to you. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, now is a great time to become a VIP. Sign up to be “on the list” here.
When it comes to marketing our organization, everyone wants to make sure they are up on the latest tips and tactics. And we are here for it. Our goal is to keep you up to date on the latest that is happening in the marketing world. But if you (or your organization) are only jumping from thing to thing to try and catch lightning in a bottle, you will often never create long-term success (especially that you can replicate).
So we wanted to create some foundational rules for marketing. These are 7 Rules for Marketing…from Hasseman Marketing. If you follow these, you will create a marketing foundation that can help you tell your story in a way that lasts.
Give Value Upfront
We believe that we live in a Give First Economy. I even wrote a book about it! This means that entrepreneurs, salespeople, and organizations that provide value upfront will win long-term. They will create trust and build integrity and that will create sales. This value might come in the form of branded merchandise, entertaining video, or an informational blog post. But by focusing on the needs of your customers, and then meeting them joyfully, you can create a relationship that will last for years.
Know Your Customer
I mean REALLY know your customer. The best businesses I know are fanatical about this. They create avatars of their perfect customer. Who are they? What do they care about? Where do they hang out? Really dig deep. When you really know your customer, then you can create marketing that reaches them right where they are. So many organizations create marketing “for everyone.” That is a huge mistake. Most businesses I know don’t have a marketing budget that will allow them to reach everyone. So dig deep into your perfect customer and create marketing that reaches them.
Ask For The Action You Want
While creating value for our customers and prospects is incredibly valuable, you still need to ask them to take the action that you want. Do you know why I loved the Coinbase ad from the Super Bowl? It was very straightforward. Scan the QR code. So many Super Bowl ads focus so much on the creative that they forget the point of the exercise. And many small businesses don’t want to seem overly aggressive by saying “buy now.” You don’t have to ask for the sale with every interaction. But when it’s time to ask your audience to do something…just ask.
You Can’t Over-Communicate
This has never been more true than it is today. With the world, the economy, and the supply chain changing so quickly, we need to use every tool in the toolbox to keep in contact with our prospects and customers. Whether that is through video, social media, blogs, email blasts, or a simple phone call, you need to keep your audience up to date. Often, we feel like we have said something so many times that we are tired of hearing it, but it is just breaking through to many of our audience. As Donald Miller says “marketing is an exercise in memorization.” When your customers start to say your message back to you…you are on the right track.
Brand Marketing Versus Direct Marketing (Do Both)
Both Brand Marketing and Direct Marketing are important…but they are different. I talk about this here. Brand Marketing is about raising awareness. You are not asking your audience to buy (right then). Direct Marketing is when you send an email and make an offer (click here to buy now). Both of these are effective and important. But we get in trouble when we try to measure brand marketing using direct marketing metrics. They are not the same. But it’s important to have both of these in your arsenal.
Reach Your Customer When They Need you
We have already discussed why it’s important to know your perfect customer. This digs just a bit deeper by asking this specific question. Where is your perfect customer when they realize they need your product or service? Now…how cool would it be to meet them there? They might be in their car, or in their kitchen. Either way, creating your marketing strategy about reaching them in this moment of need can be a game-changer.
When In Doubt Keep Going
Don’t get me wrong. This does not mean you should keep throwing good money after bad on an ineffective marketing strategy. But so many organizations are incredibly impatient with their campaigns. They don’t commit at the beginning of a strategy about how long they will stick with it. This is especially true with content. An organization decides to start creating content (more brand marketing than direct marketing by the way), but then they want results in 3 weeks. Often the answer is just to keep going…and do it again tomorrow.
While this is not an exhaustive list, it’s a good foundation. If you (and your organization) can follow these 7 Rules for Marketing from Hasseman Marketing, you will be off to a great start. If you want to make sure you never miss an update, now is a great time to become a VIP. Sign up to be “on the list” here.
