Do you bleed red?

I just returned from my first trip to Spring Training to see the St. Louis Cardinals…something every Cardinals fan should be lucky enough to experience. Combine the gorgeous weather of Florida (while St. Louis is experiencing another round of ‘wintery mix’) with the intimacy of a small stadium, palm trees in the background, accessible practice fields and a casual environment where the players sign lots of autographs and you have the ingredients for an amazing fan experience.

I saw two Cardinals games and one Marlins games. Both Cards games were sold out and it was a sea of red. The Marlins game was maybe 1/3 full and a sea of random colors. The gift shop inventory was probably 2/3 - 1/3 Cards-Marlins. Personally I bought three new Cardinals shirts for the trip and I am not the biggest fan out there! Everyone at the Cardinals game was wearing red or the logo. Women bedazzled flip flops and hats with Cards gems. Cardinals’ fans travel hundreds of miles…Marlins fans could drive.

Sports fans can be the most uber-loyal brand ambassadors. You see people paint their faces and bodies, shave the team logo in their back hair (ewww, I know, I saw this at a Rams game) or create their own costume and persona like the Towel Guy at Blues games. And how do some teams inspire infatuation and others barely fill the lower bowl of seats? And how can this translate to a regular consumer brand and inspire that kind of passion and enthusiasm in its customers?

5 Tips for Cold Calling

5 Tips for Cold Calling

I receive at least one daily cold call voice mail message. As the Director of Marketing I receive cold calls from people selling everything: printing, creative and design, trade show displays, logo’d premium items, meeting and event services, sales incentive and employee recognition, web/SEO/social media, marketing technology, and services unique to the direct selling industry.

Wow! Are people wasting their time! These voice mail messages can be so annoying. I hate voice mail. It slows me down, is cumbersome and a pain. So here are my 5 tips for cold calling...thoughts on how to improve your efforts, get me to call you back and even schedule a meeting.

1. Get my name and title correct. You can call my company’s main number and our receptionist will not only give you the correct spelling of my name and title, but she will transfer the call to me. But don’t move too fast, don’t waste this first shot to dazzle me.

2. Warm me up. My preference is to receive a compelling mail piece that I can quickly scan, get an idea of how you can help me be more successful and tee up the idea that you will be calling me in the coming days. It can be a simple postcard, an envelope with brochure, letter, white paper etc. Or a clever dimensional item that links your creativity to my presumed strategic need. If you are local and drop off candy or a tin of popcorn…you’ve got my attention. I know that’s dorky and maybe shallow, but I will at least give you a few minutes on the phone to thank you for the snacks.

If you address the piece to Marketing Director, it goes directly into the recycle bin. I’m the Director of Marketing. If you can’t get that detail correct, what makes you think I can trust you to execute a campaign without mistakes? The picture above is a piece I just received...Two qualities marketing communications must have? ...accuracy in personalization is a start.

If you address the piece to Mr. Chris Scherting, it goes directly into the recycle bin. Come on!

3. Have a story. Think this through. Your story begins with your warm up and continues with your voice mail message. Script it out. Link the mailing and the vm message. Practice and leave yourself the message you plan to leave me and see how annoying it is.

Remember, I get at least one cold call vm a day. How am I supposed to remember you and your company and why you are different or better? It might be a creative theme; it might be a specific value prop statement or tag line; something to link the warm up to your message. If you follow up with an e-mail, continue the ‘story’ in the subject line. Otherwise it will be quickly and easily deleted.

If your plan is to leave me a sequence of two or three voicemail messages over a period of time, weave the story through all three messages. Script all of them. Give me some value-added tip, intrigue me, be patient, polite and friendly.

4. Give me your name and number up front. I am ready to take transcription at this point. I pick up voice mail once a day and have a pen and paper handy. My preference is to get the name and number up front, listen to the blabbity blah blah, and then repeat the name and number at the end so I can double check my hearing.

5. Speak slowly. Again, I may be taking notes on your message so I know why I am calling you back. I hate-hate-hate it when people speed-talk and I have no idea what there name or company is and they ramble for several long, torturous minutes and then zip through their number so fast I can’t write quickly enough. At that point I hit delete. You just wasted my time. And yours.

In the past several months, I’ve met with several potential vendors who cold called me. One company outsourced the appointment setting. She was great, I thoroughly enjoyed her approach.

One time I actually picked up the phone even though I did not recognize the number and knew it was going to be a cold call. This guy did his homework. He knew my name. He immediately built a rapport based on details in my Linked-In profile. So simple.

I’m always reading business books, white papers, marketing newsletters etc. to stay up on new technology and strategies. You may offer valuable services that can help my company grow. Somehow you’ve got to stand out from all the other blabbity blah blah in my voicemail box and get my attention.

Idina Menzel Rocks Powell Hall!

So this past weekend I was lucky enough to have tickets to a sold out concert at Powell Hall featuring the amazing and stunning Idina Menzel performing with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. I’m sorry for everyone who missed this while watching the Bears and Packers.

She has a remarkable voice with unmatched power and range. She sings with every cell in her body. Plus she’s spunky, charming, funny and gorgeous.

You may have seen her in Glee, playing Rachel’s egg donor mom. She won the Tony Award for playing the green witch in Wicked. In her first big gig she originated the part of Maureen on Broadway in Rent. She was nominated for a Tony and then years later returned in the movie version. She also performed with Josh Groban in “Chess The Concert” in London. (I recommend all of these be added to your iTunes!)

She literally brought me to tears with “No Day but Today” from Rent and “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. The show stopper caused a standing ovation that easily lasted a minute. She told the audience how grateful she was for buying the tickets, selling out the show, all of us coming out in a snowstorm on football Sunday so she could live her dream of singing for a living. Then proceeded to sing “For Good” from Wicked with the line “But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.” Bawled again.

Clearly I am a huge fan of Idina Menzel and would have been devastated to miss this concert. This is a marketing case study for the value of social media, particularly Facebook.

To set the stage…I am on the SLSO’s mailing list. I’ve purchased individual tickets in the past, and I am a season ticket holder for the Maryville Speaker Series which is held at Powell. I seek out theater and live events. In the last four months I’ve seen Kathleen Turner in a play at the Rep (which is now headed to Broadway), seen Kathleen Madigan (the comedian from STL) at Ameristar, and my friend Lindsey Jones performed her own cabaret show at the Bistro Cabaret. In addition I was at Powell three times in Oct-Nov for the speaker series.

I have discretionary income that I actively seek to spend. I’m the perfect target audience for this kind of concert but I never noticed it promoted or advertised via traditional methods of signage at Powell, direct mail, print ads in the program books, online or e-mail. I have XM radio so missed any radio promo as well.

I had front row tickets to her concert at the Pageant a couple of years ago. Is it taboo for the SLSO to ask the Pageant for their mailing list? I’m sure there’s some way to cross promote. SLSO is running the Lord of the Rings movies with the orchestra playing the score live. I bet the Pageant has featured a band that appeals to the same LOTR fans, why not work together?

Luckily a friend posted in her Facebook status that she was so excited she just bought her tickets to the Idina Menzel concert. I immediately went online and bought my row E tickets. It was that simple. Who knows how much they spent advertising and promoting messages that I never saw! And a free FB post made the sale.

Before I started this blog entry I looked to see if SLSO or Powell had FB pages and immediately “Liked” them. In any of the mailings (e-mail or snail mail) I’ve received from the SLSO or the Speaker Series, I have never seen them ask to ‘follow’ them on FB! Every show includes a printed Play Bill or program. Nothing in there to ‘follow’ them either. (or if it’s there, I’ve never noticed!)

As a marketer, I am more and more fascinated by the power of social media and how we all connect. Personally I posted several times on Facebook about the concert and about the “Chess” CD I was listening to in anticipation of the concert. This triggered a friend to buy tix for the concert and buy the “Chess” DVD. I also found out, via my FB post, that another friend was going to the concert so we could meet up in person. I Tweeted about the concert and the SLSO began following me! And the photo above is from a FB post from this excited, nerdy girl!

Facebook, Twitter etc. only increases the thousands of distracting messages, ads and marketing we are exposed to so it’s even harder to ‘break through the clutter.” The power of word-of-mouth via social media can drive ticket sales, revenue or brand awareness. It’s a jackpot…if it gets through.

Schnucks kind of thinks I'm a shoplifter...Part 2

I apologize for being tardy for the blogging party on part 2 of the Jager/Schnucks debauchery.

So…I filled out a contact form on the Schnucks website with a link to my blog. The next day a guy from the home office leaves me a voice mail about my situation. I give him my credit card detail with the exact transaction amount so he can verify and send the store a note. I return to the store, they have his email so they remove the security cap. No one ever apologized for my inconvenience. The end.

Here’s the funny thing: I don’t think I would have bought it without the security cap. I thought it was a cool shot glass. Without it, it just looks like a beetle-juice, tiny head bottle.

Why I chose Kindle over iPad

The main reason is because I’m a bookworm and mainly just want to read. I have to say the decision making process and search for information as a consumer, not a marketer was very fun!

I had been one of those old school “I really like real books” people until I went on vacation. Everyone at my resort had either the Kindle or iPad. My intrigue quickly turned into envy. They all loved their device and were eager to show me why. I even found a few people who had both! As I lugged my backpack with my three books through customs and the airport I became more serious in my quest.

Once home I posted on Facebook “Kindle or iPad…discuss” and wow did everyone weigh in! It was hilarious and informative but I was still torn.

I mainly wanted the device for reading…and Kindle was the clear choice. The challenge was that the iPad was so cool and did so many other things for just a few hundred more. iPad lovers insist the Kindle Ap is good enough and not a big deal.

I researched online, read reviews and watched videos.

The decision was made in the East Terminal at Lambert Airport on the way to Vegas. My family (mom, dad, sister, bro-in-law) was standing in a circle at the gate discussing the Kindle. I was annoyed because the book I brought for the flight was a big, hardback book. I was half-way through and it was very likely I would finish on the flight out. So of course, I brought a back-up book for the flight home. Both were heavy in my backpack.

I was trying to explain the Kindle to my dad and all of a sudden a hand holding a Kindle appears in the middle of our circle! A man overheard our conversation and surprised us with a free preview. Amazon would be thrilled to hear his sales pitch and product presentation. He demo’d all the features and sold me on the 3G version right there in the airport.

I’m happy to say that Santa got my letter and my Kindle arrived on Christmas morning. I’m already 73% through my first book! (American Assassin by Vince Flynn, love ALL his books!)

Now as a marketer, reflecting back on the search process it was an interesting combination of the brand websites, SEO for user reviews and blogs, social media for my friends' opinions and ultimately, the most convincing was 'Word of Mouth' from the very happy, loyal and excited brand ambassadors.

Merry Christmas Eve Benton Park

It's hard to argue that having a White Christmas is totally awesome! I took a walk today in Benton Park to have a few moments of appreciation for the snow and for having the day off to appreciate the snow.

There's something about the quiet during a snow...it's more peaceful than a non-snow day. With all the hub-bub of shopping and Christmas music, it's nice to slow down and have a few quiet moments in the park. No schedule. No dogs. No people. No music. Just me and my breath. ahhhhh.

Schnucks thinks I'm a shoplifter...Part 1

So a few weeks ago I bought (key word bought) a bottle of Jagermeister at Schnucks. Now, I don’t drink the Jagermeister so when I saw this bottle I thought it would make a really cool gift since it had this cute zippered coozie thing and a giant shot glass on top. I spent over $150 in groceries that day.

Since January I’ve spent over $700 at Schnucks. I spread my grocery shopping over Trader Joe’s (out where I work), Shop’n Save, Save-A-lot (two blocks from my house) and Vincent’s in Soulard. After this incident, Schnucks may be off the rotation.

I took the bottle to my friend’s house to wish her ‘Happy Birthday!’ And we go to open the bottle and realize the thing I thought was a giant shot glass was really some security measure that should have been removed by the checker before I left the store. Now I feel like a total jack @$$...embarrassed that I didn’t notice it wasn’t a shot glass.

Of course I offer to take the bottle back to Schnucks to get the cap removed. Luckily I went on a Saturday after my yoga class so I was very calm and centered. I take the bottle back to customer service and explain that I bought it as a gift, thought it was a shot glass etc. She asked if I had my receipt. I said no, I don’t save my grocery receipts, I never plan to return food. She said she can’t remove the cap without the receipt.

Now I’m sure that the loss from shoplifting can be significant on a retail store. And clearly the cap is there to deter the stealing. The customer service rep defended the checkers and said they are trained to remove the caps…as if they are 100% perfec t and would never ever miss a bottle. In my mind I’m thinking that 1) she doesn’t believe that I bought this and thinks I’m a shoplifter and 2) she’s not empowered to make a judgment call, even if she did believe me and remove the cap.

What made matters worse, was a typed and laminated card taped next to the customer service window talking about how grateful Schnucks is for their customers, they exist to serve us, blah blah blah. It wasn't an official branded communication from the corporate office. It was typed on a note card, laminated and taped to the window...well-intentioned, but amateur. And I wasn't on the receiving end of that proposed level of customer appreciation.

I figure out that I made the purchase on October 30th and that I spent around $150. She runs the transactions for the day to see how many were approximately that amount. She calls someone and is on the phone for a few minutes. The longer I stand there, the more embarrassed I get.

Finally she comes back and says that IT does not have enough time to run all the detailed receipts. I either need to find the original receipt or bring in my credit card statement and she can find the transaction.

You know that nervous feeling of embarrassment where you feel like you’re going to cry? Well, that’s how I felt. I just bit my tongue and left.

I am confident they will remove the security cap when I bring in my credit card bill with the exact amount. I’m very curious to see if they will apologize for the embarrassment and inconvenience. Stay tuned…