For example only… “Dental WebDesign Inc.” They only present their pitch to Dentists and Orthodontists, showing them a few examples of the designs they have performed in the past and expressing their ability to better understand and deliver. For Dental WebDesign Inc. the presentation is super easy because Dentists don’t have to get clued into what their site looks like based on the Independent’s work on a Furniture store or Bob the Plumber website… They get to see exactly what will be delivered.

Good or Bad?

While the marketing material and the website demonstrations are all niche focused, the company is probably also doing the same for their Lawyer, Furniture and Plumbing clients. It’s a significant benefit to DentalWebDesign Inc. to obscure the rest of their business. But what happens if it all unravels? What if the Dentist clicks on their URL and takes them back to the “mothership” company? Do they feel like they were lied-to or taken advantage of?

I am curious as to how you feel about this situation.

Goals for 135 E. Main St. location (6 months – Complete)

Our strategic goal for our office at 135 E.Main St was to get in front of the downtown business community while educating merchants in the use of internet marketing and advertising to grow their business.  We have succeeded in our quest by developing web sites for 8 downtown merchants and providing numerous training sessions on blogging, social media and digital advertising. We have built a strong network of clients who now actively refer us and each other and are more proud of the downtown merchant community to which they belong. We are so blessed to have them as clients and friends.

Goals for 211 S. 1st St. location (starting)

Bigger is better and as our vision has grown, so will our opportunities. Beginning February 26th, our new location will be 211 S. 1st St. Tipp City in the old corporate headquarters of Tipp Machine and Tool.

The office will sport a private canopied entrance with spiral staircase, plentiful onstreet parking, several well lit offices, a smoke-free environment, FREE Wi-Fi (of course) and enough room to host our weekly webcast Get Social! Radio.

Our extended goal is to carve out “incubation space” where other small businesses in Tipp City can affordably operate. This would include some of our very talented creative staff made up of local photographers, artists, web/print and graphic designers, and software development. In an economy that demands an impressive marketing campaign at a low cost, Bash Foo sits to capitalize on its ability to deliver quality results at a pricepoint that is attractive to small businesses.

Future Goals – Long Term

We would like to see Bash Foo serve as Miami County’s premiere creative agency that includes writers, designers, artists, photographers and their supportive IT and technical staff. 

We would like to thank our wonderful new landlords who own and operate Case Crafters Inc. and are our neighbors in the building. We will have more to share about their good work in the coming months, but suffice to say Dan and Steve are amazing. We will be having an open house in the spring, so keep your eyes peeled for the announcement.

Getting Sexy

Consider 2011 is a year where you work your hardest to get found by those who know the least about you. From a geo-spatial look, if your customers are in Troy, Ohio.. put all of your advertising efforts into getting recognized in Tipp City or Piqua. Now, I didn’t say getting SALES from those ‘burbs, just GETTING RECOGNIZED. Put on your best attire, clean up that shop, throw a party and let those who know you the least, learn about you a little. You are using this down time in sales to build your downstream.

Getting Found

Your other concerted effort should be in getting found. I have to tell you, there are a number of electronic gates that are being setup by our friends at Google, Facebook and Bing that will make it EXCEPTIONALLY HARD for those businesses who don’t actively create, preen and update their online LOCAL pages. Take my word.. If you are not aware of these things, your business name, your location and more importantly your online directory listing can be easily poached. My advice. Find it, Claim It, Update It and then Lock it Down. You don’t want to be in the position of Googling yourself in 2011 and finding that your location, phone number and state has been changed or even worse does not exist. That can temporarily or permanently crater your sales depending on when you figure it out.

Bottom Line

Don’t you like it when I get to the point?? Get Sexy and Get Found in 2011. If you need some help, give me a call.

–Mike McDermott
President, Bash Foo
mike@bashfoo.org
478-227-4366

Reputation

Signs haven’t really changed their marketing importance in the past 2,000 years. They still are the keystone for any brick-and-mortar business that wants to gain foot traffic to their location. Our use of a sign is a bit different however, our sign demonstrates a presence in the downtown and it also acts as a guidepost for our clients that come in from all parts of Ohio to visit. Just consider it our RL (Real Life) Avatar. Our sign just like many others communicate a form of reputation. The key element is the Logo, by which others will recognize you. The secondary elements are a description of what we do (since ‘Bash Foo’ isn’t exactly chock-full of information) and then a way to contact us (phone and website) when we are away from the office.

It’s What We Do

In the past month, we have had 5 new small businesses turn over their electronic reputations to Bash Foo. That responsibility is taken VERY seriously while our execution of the management of that reputation may occur in some very untraditional means. Geo-tagging, deal marking and shortened URL tracking is added to electronic testimonials to further spread the good word of our clients. We call the result – Bash Foo (of course) but what it really is a randomly seeded accounting of reputation within Google, Buzz, Yelp, Facebook and Twitter. Our analyst then feeds various other engines to further syndicate the reputation messaging. That adage that your name has to be seen 6 times before a customer makes a buy decision is accelerated by reputation scores. Cutting the time to conversion is just as important for the local hardware store as it is for a restaurant or doctor’s office.

If you want a new sign, contact Mike at Insignia and let him know that Bash Foo sent you. If you need your RL reputation to get seeded online, just call us. (478) BASHFOO (227-4366)

Kings of Delivery

Kings of Delivery

Those that are able to identify the medium from which their products or services will be best sold from, inherently win the day regardless of their marketing budget. These entrepreneurs my friends are called Kings of Delivery. YOU want to be a King of Delivery too. These sultans of selectivity have determined which medium to advertise in, whether it be a particular newspaper, TV commercial, radio or Internet advertisement. They have also ensured that their medium is not compromised by the competition. They do this by going hyper-local. If you decide that you get your best return on investment from newspaper advertising for instance, and your competition is also advertising there, you should move your ads from the large market metro publication to the small market publications in the City or Township. While the royal advertising net may be smaller, these rulers of the rational find a greater return on their marketing investment here. This move to hyper-local advertising is not something new, just something protected by those who wield it’s power.

Awesome Results

Have you ever tried to figure out how wide-market advertising works? Spending large sums of cash to reach tens of thousands of consumers and then returning fractional results many times not equaling the initial advertising  investment. The pain you feel comes from two things folks. Not Knowing.. and Cash Investment. Smaller market advertising allows you to take the pain from your advertising efforts providing you with measurable results (that allow you to KNOW) and smaller marketing budgets (reducing the size of your cash investments) You’ll be able to then sleep soundly at night knowing that your advertisements are working, and that you can make payroll next month. So how do you accomplish Awesome Results? Well you have to play the field. Catering to smaller networks of consumers allows you to recognize the results of your advertising efforts however your business may rely on quantity of sales to move the needle forward. That’s when you start to involve “multi-modal” advertising. **Yes, another new word from Bash Foo.

Multi-modal Advertising

Consider what the demographic of your key customer is.

Are they wealthy or poor? Where do they live? Where do they worship? Where are they buying groceries? Where do they go for fun? From there you need to extrapolate all of the various niche advertising opportunities are. The church bulletin? Pee-wee baseball jerseys? Sidewalk art? Bus stop billboards? Books of matches? The opportunities are endless and advertising in multiple modes (print, direct mail, lit, signs, etc.) focused on your key customer demographic helps to ensure that those you want seeing your advertising.. Do.

You also accomplish something else with this technique, you stop wasting your time, effort and resources on advertising to those who WON’T buy your product or service.

Consternation Free Advertising

Bash Foo really works to provide small businesses with “consternation free” advertising. We don’t want our clients investing in things that don’t have a remote chance of success. We even waive off those who request that sort of advertising tomfoolery. Only you know what is best for your company, while we know what sorts of marketing efforts will benefit your company. If you are advertising with us, and have anxiety or fear about the dollars you are investing in your marketing campaign, we are doing something wrong. Again, you are either not receiving measurable results, or your campaign expenses are larger than you desire. If you find  yourself in this scenario, give us a call to find out how you can invest in “consternation free” advertising and lose that worried look on your face. Call: 937-573-8535 for a free analysis.

Some owners would like to summon more customers into their store, others would like to close more lucrative deals, still others hope that their web site would convert more visitors into buyers.

All of these wants are completely valid. The selfish motivation of these business owners is the energy that drives the gears of  our economy. But what about the grease?

Earlier today a friend of mine mentioned the age-old adage “it is the squeaky wheel – that gets the grease”. While he was busily running past his analogy and on to another subject, in my mind I was constructing some thoughts that were entirely different. So what is this grease that you speak of? Well.. let’s check the Bash Foo Dictionary::

Grease: n [griːs] is the set of decisions, procedures and actions (or non-actions) that we take to make our business more available and more attractive in order to increase the volume or velocity of cash flow.

- from the Unabridged Dictionary of Bash Foo

While you might contend that this is not the true definition of the word, you probably are nodding that it makes sense. Often company owners are left clueless as to why their sales or marketing people take any of the actions they do as they all seem tangential to cash flow. So, why can’t marketing folks just work on projects that involve grease? If I knew that, I’d have to kill you. No really… I would have to kill you.

Successful businesses in the 1950′s and even today have one single thing in common.

They have identified the action or combination of actions to take that increase the volume or velocity of cash flow. For instance, WalMart is successful thanks to being ever present, always having what you need in stock and ensuring that they receive the lowest price from their suppliers. WalMart’s financial statements bear out that WalMart does a terrible job of increasing the volume of their cash flow, however their velocity of cash flow (items of small margin but with large quantity) is unmatched. Nike on the other hand does a fantastic job of taking a shoe that costs maybe $8US to produce and selling it to us for $129US. They are masters of cash flow volume however they are not even sold where cash flow velocity (WalMart) is king.

Those businesses that have identified what the “grease” is for their product or service won’t ever share with you what the formula is for their success. They may hint at it or provide a shotgun description of their process but they will never reveal it. The great thing about grease, is that it is very simple to manufacture, is available from a variety of sources and only requires someone with a relentless desire to succeed to find it.

Help! This sounds interesting but..

Back to the definition… The actionable items in the definition of grease is “making our business more available and more attractive”. Consider the first adjective.. Available. WalMart is a good example of a company that makes their goods readily available to consumers.. everywhere. If you recall, they are the masters of Velocity. Now.. Consider those businesses that make their products most attractive. Ethan Allen Furniture, Gucci Handbags, Diamond Jewelry. All of these items, while magnificent to look at, come at a high price (and large margin) and these companies all are kings of cash flow Volume.

Take Action!

What if your company is currently struggling with cash flow? While I cannot provide you with the formula for success of your business, I can suggest that you take steps to modify your cash flow Volume or Velocity through changes to how you market the Availability and Attractiveness of your products or services.

HIGH MARGIN, LOW VELOCITY

If your margins per sale are high, but your # of sales each day are low.. consider increasing the Availability of your products. Are they catalog-only sales? Do you have enough on hand to meet every request? Can you demonstrate that better to the consumer? If it is a catalog sale, can you deliver it in 7 days or does it have to take 14 days? (I love seeing a single handbag on a pedestal at Coach.. It may be the only one they have in the store!) The last change that I suggest would be to lower your prices to make your products and services more Available to a larger group of consumers. While it is one way to do it, it may be unsustainable in the long haul as it could cause your brand leadership to fail. If else all fails however… reductions in price will increase Availability.

LOW MARGIN, HIGH VELOCITY

If your products and services are flying off the shelf because you found a way to make them available to every possible consumer out there, you are raking the cash in.. one penny at a time. If you struggle with a situation like this, consider making the products and services you sell more Attractive. Watch how Proctor and Gamble deal with the hundreds of toothpastes on the market. They have saturated the market with brand after brand and have shot themselves in the foot by doing so. Now, their marketing tactic to combat the $1.75 tube of toothpaste that works just fine is to come out with an ELITE toothpaste, one that 11 out of 10 dentists recommend. One that will make your teeth whiter just by bringing the tube in close proximity to your mouth. For this.. they can charge $14.99 a tube. Now every $1.75 tube will have to compete with their new premium pasty elixir for the mouth. You too can help out your measly margins by making your product more attractive, strategically highlighting its advantages or demonstrating it in a unique way that makes people take pause. (a construction worker super-gluing his hardhat to a steel beam is one good example)

Good luck with it. And if you find your grease.. Drop me a line and share your story.

OK, I thought I would never do it.. In fact I have taught those in my marketing classes that you shouldn’t have to separate your business and personal persona’s online. This evening I created a business Twitter account @bashfoo separate from my personal twitter account @Delta40 (which has over 3,500 followers)

After some recent conversations with peers and some detailed analysis of online conversations (particularly ones on Twitter) I have identified a couple of reasons why separating your personal and business personas may be a good thing. (and they are not the reasons you would think)

1. Number and Frequency of Messages. A funny thing occurs for people with 100 followers that does not occur for those that have many thousands. If you are a frequent tweeter, you may add updates to a followers queue faster than they are willing to accept them. While I usually tweet 20-25 messages a day, they cover a myriad of themes and topics. Even if the topics are varied, all of my low count followers get inundated with updates from … well mainly from me. Separating personal from business messaging theoretically cuts my number and frequency in half. A smart choice.

2. High Expectations. Those that expect to hear my funny quips and business conversation have also had to endure my political rants, family goofing-around and local sports and entertainment news. While these conversations are all 100% genuine, they do not serve to baseline expectations for an audience. And unlike #1, this is not an issue about “Too Much Information”, this is all about “Staying on Target”.

3. Conversational Depth. I have always been hesitant to dip too deeply into complex marketing topics, business strategies or client profiling with my wide array of personal followers. Really, they don’t care and could very easily start tuning me out and then blocking my stream.

Therefore, learning from these shortcomings, I have decided to crack open another Twitter account to converse on business topics and retain my primary account to handle all my “eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich” updates. Fans of @Delta40 will continue to receive my frequent and fun conversations. Fans of my company, Bash Foo Social Media will get treated to a much deeper conversation to help progress their business or their “social life”.

This is the first of a series of new blog posts covering the Get Social! Radio Show topic and guests.

Our guest for the next Get Social! Radio Show will be Dan Harris, founder of Taste Casting. Our radio show listeners have been learning all kinds of new vocabulary thanks to our guests and this show will be no exception.

Taste Casting involves the invitation of socially networked individuals by independent restaurateurs to a complimentary food tasting. In exchange, this Taste Casting team broadcasts to their collective network of friends, followers and linked connections via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, WordPress, Flickr, etc. Their cameras, flip video, camcorders, and smartphones tell the story of their experience at the restaurant. They communicate the story of the menu, smells, tastes, specials and overall ambiance that makes up the venue.

I am fascinated by Taste Casting not necessarily for the opportunity to glom onto some free eats, but rather to gauge for myself the interest of small business owners in participating in this new social form of marketing and advertising. The concept for me is interesting because it teams up the act of what is natural and understandable about public socialization (eating food and then chatting with others) with the new social media tools that can share opinions, photos and video in a lightning fast manner with hundreds or thousands of others.

Restaurant owners that invite a “Taste Casting” team to their establishment have already stepped out of the box because if they had any concern about the food quality or cleanliness of the establishment these are exactly the WRONG folks you would want to have in your restaurant. Their voices of the Taste Casters are loud and resonate in all sorts of social media platforms. This adds a level of credibility to not only the Taste Casting team, but it also demonstrates for consumers that the restaurant is prepared for a critical review. Unlike a major metropolis, cities like Dayton, Tipp City, Vandalia, Centerville don’t have culinary reviewers or critics coming in to check out the establishments.

A bit about Dan Harris

Dan is an Idea Guy. He is full of energy, ideas and resolves to make those ideas happen. This critical trio of skills makes him a force to be reckoned with. Dan is also a serious marketer who likes to say “We are not making mistakes fast enough” Yep, mistakes. Dan believes that you should make them, learn from them and then do not repeat them. “That’s how you become the best.”

So now you know why a guy like Dan gets on the Get Social! Radio Show, Wednesday August 26th at 9PM. He fascinates me and I know he will do the same for you!

Bash Foo Social Media constructs strong business strategies.

Our uncompromising and unconventional analysis of a clients business needs maximizes the returns of even a small social media campaign through the gratuitous use of “Foo”.

Foo (foo) -verb

The amazing ability of human action in all of its forms to excite, engage, enrage, amuse, disgust, align and create a passionate response in others.

Foo is the action taken every day by our strategists to build viral blog articles, build and then engage fans, earn and then maintain community influence and finally to stand at the top of the highest mountain and announce brand dominance to the market.

If you are looking for Foo, you came to the right place.

Fallen tree

We are challenged with this riddle with staggering regularity in life. The traditional marketing theory has been if you could yell loud enough, in order for every man, woman and child to hear you; that you would them be able to ”sell” your wares to a percentage of those people. This is best demonstrated today with Super Bowl advertising, New York Times Square and other massively loud (and expensive) ad campaigns. We also see this in our Inbox when someone wants to wire us $1 million in cash if we only wire back $10,000 to them from our checking account. Those Nigerian marketers are not dumb at all. They are not targeting the 99% of the people that delete the obvious scam email; they are targeting the 1% of folks who actually think they will become rich if they follow those instructions. If the email is sent to 400,000 people, 4,000 people will respond x $10,000 or $4 million dollars profit to the Nigerian crime syndicate. 

Many Social Media specialists will tell you that it is not the number of fans/followers you have, it is your ability to share relevant information with them, providing them with a reason to follow.

But isn’t relevance a subjective thing for each one of us? For instance, if there is a twitter stream that only blasts-out discount coupon codes for Longaberger baskets, most folks without any affinity for baskets will not follow that twitter account. They will consider that channel as “spammy” and of no importance to them.

Now, if you DO happen to have an affinity to these particular baskets, it may be one of the most important and valuable twitter accounts you follow.

It is the challenge of the digital marketer to identify those that have an existing affinity for their product, and market to them. Additionally, there is opportunity to provide broad, direct marketing to a wide audience of followers who as of yet do not have such affinity.

So the next time you are in a forest and you hear a tree falling, ask yourself if you were actually paying attention to that tree, or did it only become relevant to you when you heard it crack above you head!

*This post was penned only after I pledged my undying gratitude and support to Mike Driehorst @mikedriehorst for providing the topic to me on a day where a socially relevant tree was not readily available. “Esse est percipi”