I Ordered a Turtle-neck and got Capris and a Explanation, Thanks.

There are a variety of things that I buy via the internet, clothes and soccer equipment are the majority.

Recently I ordered a variety fresh new gear from a company that shipped the wrong item and the item that they did ship was broken. I sent it back and was told it will take three or four weeks to process my return. Cue summer fading to fall and the time-lapse photography bringing beautiful foliage into my life.

I wrote an email back, asking my favorite question of questions, why? They responded, and explained that they were  NOT (capitals are a huge put off, strike one), a big company but small and may take us a little longer than others.

Which of course caused me to pose again, why?

Do smaller companies operate in an alternate slow motion universe in which a John Madden voiceover describes everything that happens, because then yea I’d expect it to take a little longer.

 Though in this case the more important issue than my knee jerk why, is something that this size conscious company and all companies of a similar size should realize when operating online. I, a nameless consumer that doesn’t want to travel to a mall and therefore could give a shrimp platter about how small they are, just want good easy service. I wanted to be able to open the package, give a wash, and fold the purchase into the ranks of my wardrobe. Instead I’m forced into correspondence with a business member that I can only think to describe as a whiner.

Am I being to harsh on the in-general little guy? I already gave my business, I purchased and wanted to support the grassroots. I simply felt the reward of making the right choice was the only part left in the equation, alas.

If your small company can’t deliver ‘better’ in things people care about like service, why should I support you? I’m not saying you must be expected to do everything better, but at least do not expect me to listen to the way the ripped edges of the world haven’t left any room for you.

The internet has allowed small businesses to prosper and expand and essentially rule; they can have a better website, better customer support, write a better newsletter than the big guys. The passionate alternative buyer, i.e. those who’ve embraced the internet and its buying prowess, are happy to embrace the small company, unless…

 

 

 

 

They’ve Gone Plaid

Roadtrip is not just a neo-collegiate-classic film featuring Tom Green and others; it is in fact what Plaid Branding of Danbury is up to in t-minus 2 days with their very own Plaid Nation Tour 2008.

This time those fresh faces of fresh facers are headed west. As John Wayne said, “The Western Plains are rough but the east needs meat.” Though that’s a whole different kind of branding that involves a lot more pain for the great-American-bovine.

The street pounding Plaid crew will be visiting Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Redding, San Fran, San Luis Obispo, San Diego and Vegas. They will be headed out on the trail in a van equipped with a camera, twitter (@plaid), blog, and instant messaging to show various companies throughout the tour how different social media tools can work for a brand. 

The life of traveling brand man.

Last year Darryl, creator of Plaid, and co. did an east coast oriented excursion. Through trips like these businesses have a chance to meet their clients and potential clients and re-excite them about a service they receive or could receive.

It’s interesting to note that the Plaid folks are creating a paradox in that they are using a technologies, while on this epic journey, that allow for people far away from one another to correspond. It’s a way of proving that with energy and enthusiasm the world of face-to-face is not obsolete but coexistent with that of social and online media.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Godin the Guru vs. Forces of Mediocrity

“Remarkable visions and genuine insight are always met with resistance. And when you start to make progress, your efforts are met with even more resistance. Products, services, career paths… whatever it is, the forces for mediocrity will align to stop you, forgiving no errors and never backing down until it’s over.

If it were any other way, it would be easy. And if it were any other way, everyone would do it and your work would ultimately be devalued. The yin and yang are clear: without people pushing against your quest to do something worth talking about, it’s unlikely it would be worth the journey. Persist.” (via his blog)

 

I’m having trouble treating you like a person but still want business.

It with no end bothers me when people who are busy need to remind you that they are busy and not happy about it.

This is an occurrence that has caused me to change my five favorite restaurants in Westchester multiple times in the past few years and even caused me to say, and mean, “I will never shop there again.”

When I fling on my customer hat I generally enjoy going into a small business to find that it is busy. It makes me think that this is a place where people go to find the good stuff, and that I’m one of those people. It also makes me more likely to buy something, the green is practically spent.

Though the same business can easily turn off these customers by being overly busy, that is too busy to say, “We’re busy isn’t it great, sorry I can’t talk for longer.” McDonalds thinks it’s good enough to tell us on their menu board that ‘smiles are free,’ well it’s not; if they’re free then that must be why they’re usually all out. Welcome to contraire station where good personalities are actually as important to customers as packaging, taste, style and how easy a return policy is.

Forget the Soup Nazi, and his Stalin-esque approach to the local eatery game. He knew naught of the ways of creating an environment in which the brand is something people are comfortable with, majorly because part of that brand are the people who work there.

Remember the definition of a maitre d is not a greeter but someone who is paid to be busy and make an establishment busy.  When a line is out the door “over there against the wall,” and pointing can be replaced by “Welcome, we’ll be ready for you in just a second. Would you mind waiting over there please?”

A perfect example, though fresh out of the gates and still in the exciting stating phase of business, is the Iron Tomato in White Plains. I’ve seen all the food before but the people who work there are excited about it and excite people about their products. This is the difference between a customer using the cash in their wallet or needing to swipe the card.

Just because you’re a professional doesn’t mean that you can’t be an enjoyable professional. Strained workers strain work and relations with the customers. It is better to revel and encourage your staffers to revel in your hectic days; more profit for you.  

I think I see Mary in that water mark; she’s saying don’t buy.

I recently walked into a few shops along the Mamaroneck end of Mamaroneck Avenue and 4 out of the 6 stores I strolled into left me riddled with a single question about their floor presentation. Well more the opposite of their floor presentation;

Why do businesses, retail in particular, have beautiful interiors but still use cheap paneled ceilings?

If I were to play a free association game and these upward eyesores were given I’m positive I’d immediately blurt out one of two things, hidden water damage or snow (for those of you who’ve been lucky enough never to have to move one of these bad boys they almost always molt as if you were ripping up papier-mâché).

I am not concerning myself with thrift shops and nickel and dime bodegas that could care less what their ceiling tiles look like; what I’m talking about are boutiques and shops with brilliant and professionally designed aesthetics that continue to use these panels.

I feel the thought may have been that the ceiling was a place where cheap was easy and better because it’s not as immediate to the eye. I can tell these proprietors that that is true, at first. I have been to a shop multiple times and even considered myself a regular without noting the ceiling, until of course I do. The thing is I always eventually do, and once I have the store’s atmosphere takes a step down and even becomes tainted in my mind.

I don’t mean to say this with a vain implication but a ceiling is a constant presentation of your brand and your business; it’s not a dusty floor or a light bulb that just went. Also it implies that the owner was willing to give you this atmosphere, only as far as the eye could stretch. It adds a sense of deceptiveness, something anyone selling anything should avoid at any cost. Don’t become a car salesman in your customers mind.

The stores I’m talking about are where people buy their styles for home and wear, you want them to feel as if they’re headed to a fountain of youth that also knows their name and how they like their coffee.

As for the companies that are not retail based, these same concerns should exist. People judge, and clients are people. You do not want to be the business that hides the spot from a dripping pipe with a hibiscus. It presumes the questions, ‘what else are they hiding?’ Every HR guru preaches that environment is everything. Wii game systems and punching bags are being put into lounge/break areas and cubicles are being hashed, revised and evolved.

Options for cheap yet eye responsive ceilings? They exist, and companies like USG have interesting and even artistic answers to the concerns of your bookkeeper.

 

Checking al mode

In an interesting ploy, Webster Banks across Westchester and Fairfield are serving FREE ice-cream from a Webster Bank ice-cream truck, a few days at a time. This Wednesday through Sunday Webster’s truck has/is spending their time on Atlantic St.

I can’t help but attempt to dissect the marketing rationale being used here. I’m fairly sure that a dollop of softserve would get me to mow a lawn, or for the right person drive them to Westchester Airport, but switch banks? I’m not sure I’d be willing to make that kind of commitment on the basis of a dairy snack, no matter how delicious.

Though I could see this kind of marketing working for the down-the-road/possible customer.

I can imagine them walking into their banks branch, finding yet again the lack of a pen or even worse deposit slip, and being pissed enough to think about becoming a free agent. At which time of course the thought bubble of the bank that masqueraded as Mr. Softie that hot Thursday in July pops up onto your screen, and then they’ve got you hook, line and sinker. It’s like a ticking advertorial bomb waiting until your consciousness decides it’s your time to become a customer. I would think that this would work best in industries whose need is constant. You’re always going to need a bank. Unless you want to be the old coot on the block who hides money in cookie jars and in the freezer, banks have your whole life to corral you into their stock. 
Though in that case I would think it would be just as advantageous to drive around downtown, and cover some ground. Without doubt the corporate animals, lucky enough to be outside and hear the tell tale music, would set aside all professionalism to run down the street for the glory of a King Cone.

A complete schedule of the trucks tour can be found here, for those of you ice-cream crazy enough to map out the route in advance: http://www.websteronline.com/images/barker/0805brand_news.html .

Payed Tripper

David Horvitz of the Hudson Valley has made a business around himself by mailing you pictures or trinkets from, well anywhere.
Not sure what I mean? Dave is literally travel for you to exotic destinations and mail you the things you may have bought had you taken the trip.  Think people who have their own personal shoppers but with a more Carmen Sandiego feel to it.

For example a mere $1,335 will allow you to have Dave go to the tip of South America and take a photograph of the ocean for you.
On a budget? If you give him $1, he’ll sit in silence and think about you for one minute.
It’s almost insanely brilliant, offering a service that does what somemany of us have no time to do, take a vacation.

 

Did that VP just wink at me?

This is a weekly segment that I’m going to be doing that gives some insights, discussions and ponder-extract about issues that may need to be considered before sending out that next email.

My father is a man who sees email as a positive in many ways except in what it is doing to the English language. He even cites word terrorists as the culprits. And I to a degree agree with him. I think there is a place for formality and a place in which the casual-nation is the ruling body. For example here in my blog I write with a completely different syntax than I do when writing for the Business Journal.

Emails are no different, surely the email you write to your friend will be different from the one that you’re writing to your newest client.

One group of people I’d like to confront are those, especially the ones I have not met, who shoot me a business email and end it with a emoticon.

People need to remember that they are representing themselves when they send a message and may be having the only marketing interaction their company will have with this individual.

If you want them to know you’re a charming artist, you might want to save it for somewhere more conversational and appropriate, like a gala or a speed-dating session.

All I’m saying is that if there are any on a business email you may want to reconsider. Do you really want that lawyer you never met thinking, ‘this person must have 30 small stuffed animals scattered across the back window of their car.’

The Skinny on Reskinning

If you’re like me you’ve looked past the advertising of the high resolution artwork that is the vinyl car wrapping/advertising industry and have posed the question, ’can that guy in the 287 passing lane see me, or should I be worried about how much periph he’s sacrificed?’

It seems all around Westchester, re-skinned cars are corporate brander’s and modern marketer’s new favorite space for ads.

Often it’s small businesses keen to individualize and advertise while on a house call or making a delivery.

The skins sell for between $1500 and $3000 depending on, of course, how wide your load is.

The new edition to the dealerships along Route 119 in White Plains, Smart, is ahead of the ‘curb’ on these mobile billboards because of their interchangeable panel system that enables rapid re-skinning with as much down time as my aunt needs for her new set of tips at the nail salon.

The Smarts have booked marketers from McDonalds to Nokia.

The skin which is bonded to the car also has the dual advantage of forming a protective coating which can be stripped off to reveal the original, as-new-as unblemished paint the car came with.

This newer age marketing dream and driving diversion is made of vinyl and can come in surprisingly high resolution.

Though to ease the reservation’s of those of you shaking in your driving gloves, the decals that span the windows of these cars are typically perforated so that it is still possible for passengers to look outside and avoid reevaluating your paint job.

 

People have begun to recognize that the company car is more than a way to keep the mileage down on the family sedan, but allows their stores to have a face beyond the person behind the counter.

We make generalizations about the cars these businesses drive that are represented by each company. There’s little surprise that Best Buy choose the VW Bugs to be their Geek Squads wheels.

Some of the first people on board were area radio stations, florists and the less innate dog groomers.

It’s a way to show the market that you’re out there and you want their business by exciting the eye. Businesses that have to rely on drive-by recognition are now able to be the drivers in the situation. 

There’s a huge market out there for skins on mobile phones and pizzas with extra toppings.

Niche marketing has literally taken to the roads and the value of being different has gone up.

 

 

 

Hello world!

Test post, holla.