articles

02.01.12

A Word From Ann

Drop What's Not Working in Your Organization and Move On

"Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become." –Gandhi

Okay, I get that change is good but why is it so damn hard? For me, as well as many other business owners, I struggle with making those tough decisions. Why? Because no one likes uncertainty – When we change, we are swimming in untested waters and that can feel unnerving.

This past January I brought my team together to reflect on our previous year’s strategies and goals. Giant pads, post-it notes, and markers will surround us (and hopefully some pizza and beer). We discussed our successes, failures, and what we can learn from them as we move forward. I tried to share the ‘behind the scenes’ facts; the good, the bad, and the ugly! I feel strongly that everyone from administrators to designers brings their own unique perspectives and solutions to the table.

The idea, together we’ll create a road map for the year ahead. According to Jocelyn K. Glei, Editor-in-Chief of the 99%, “ Select 1-3 meaningful goals that will make an impact. When it comes to resolutions, research and experience show that you're much more likely to be successful if you: (1) lay out a small list of very specific goals, and (2) outline a clear plan of action to achieve them.” To that list I add my own (3) Drop what's not working and move on!

Read my newest blog: Perfection is Not Attainable

01.25.12

A Word From Ann

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” - Vince Lombardi

This year I am embracing excellence and rejecting the concept of perfection. The most interesting people I know have imperfections, and I never thought I wanted to be perfect. Now ask me if I try to be perfect anyway? Like many people there is a dichotomy between theory and practice. When I make a mistake or fail at something, I do a first rate job of berating myself (just ask my husband who’s been woken at 3 am to hear my tales of woe!).

That’s why I love this Vince Lombardi quote and plan to take it to heart.

What is the difference between excellence and perfection? According to Christine Casey, a leadership coach and blogger:

Excellence is willing to be wrong. Perfection is being right.
Excellence is spontaneous. Perfection is control.
Excellence is accepting. Perfection is judgment.
Excellence is flowing. Perfection is pressure.

To sum it up, excellence is an attainable and healthy goal for each of us to pursue.

08.17.11

Marketing to Women – PBNY Connections Magazine

View the Article on PBNY Connect HERE

View the Video Podcast HERE

Download a PDF of this Article

Listen up guys. She’s your mother…wife…girlfriend…sister. She works in a competitive and demanding field, or stays home to care for her family. She’s smart, successful and makes 85% of the buying decisions for her household, 100% if she’s single. Do you really understand how to market to women?

The last thing women want is to be stereotyped, but yes, we can be elusive. Today’s woman is modern and confident, yet can still have traditional values. We might be a VP of a corporation but still love the satisfaction of cooking a gourmet meal for friends.

“Over the next decade, women will control two thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion.” Claire Behar, Senior Partner, Business Development, Fleishman-Hillard NY

So who is Today’s Woman?

Marketers must move away from the status quo and toward a fresh approach that mirrors women’s true attitudes and way of thinking.

3 things to remember:

1. Women never forget, (I guess that’s not really news). According to a book by Mary Lou Quinlan titled, What She’s Not Telling You “Women will share the story of a bad experience with four to seven others, but they’ve been known to repeat a really hurtful incident for as long as 23 years.” And remember social media matters, the largest growth in facebook is women and we have a lot of opinions!

Takeaway: Women trust each other’s judgment, learn to respect it.

2. Women are used to interpreting language. What might seem like an emphatic, sincere pitch can come across as patronizing. We might nod and look interested but remember we were trained to be polite. Real works for us, tell us how it is, we can handle it.

Takeaway: Don’t talk down to women, we see through fake sincerity.

3. Women live comfortably with half-truths. Mary Lou Quinlan’s research shows a glimpse into how women hide the whole truth. “Half- truth: Women really like and support other women. Full-truth: Women really like women who are like themselves. Half-truth: I’m so busy that I have no time for anything else. Whole-truth: I make time for the things I really want to do. Half-truth: I want to be as green as I can be. Full-Truth: I’ll go green as long as it still tastes good and doesn’t cost more”.

Takeaway: Really listen, just behind the half-truths are whole-truth insights.

So who hit it out of the park? Ask many 40+ women and I think they’ll agree that Olay has been a real winner. In a very crowded anti-aging skin care marketplace they’re product ProX is flying off the shelves even at $60 bucks a pop. Why? They didn’t talk down to us. The TV spot featuring a dermatologist is information-based, giving us substantiated proof not just another celebrity’s pretty face and ok, hope does sell. They also get that women trust each other’s judgment. Online they have a Club Olay with women’s ratings and reviews and a facebook fan base with over 330,000 followers.

For additional information and to view Ann's Podcast, click HERE or contact Ann Byne at 845.369.0945 EXT 202

08.02.11

If You Build It, Will They Come? : Making The Social Media Connection

Originally published in the Hudson Valley Business Journal:

One of my all time favorite movies is “Field of Dreams,” a drama-sports-fantasy based on W.P. Kinsella's novel “Shoeless Joe."

Even if you never saw the film I bet you’ve heard the sentence Kevin Costner keeps hearing in his head, “If you build it, he will come.”

For me the film is about connecting: connecting with family, connecting with the future and the past, connecting with the larger community. Hey isn’t that what social media is all about?

Wading into the fast-moving flow of social media and building a presence is daunting to businesses with very little time on their hands. Here are some tips to help you build it and get them to come.

1. Do what you are already doing, just better. Create specific branded materials to send to your email lists inviting them to your new presence online. Build well-designed eblasts, enewsletters, and banner ads with links to your “company” Facebook page. Just make sure when they get there it’s worth their click. That means agenda free content guys. And please don’t buy lists, why? Just think about how you feel when you receive unsolicited messages from a company in your inbox? Do you want your customers to feel the same way about you?

2. Branch Out. With increasing options for online networking, the very definition of social media is shifting daily; consider something more than Facebook and LinkedIn.

• Post photos of your products on Flickr and invite comments from customers.

• Have a store-front business and sell stuff? Look into Foursquare, which has the potential to draw customers to your door. How? Go to foursquare.com/business/venues and learn more.

• Create a blog for your business and become a thought leader. Giving readers the scoop on your company blog is an easy way to keep the lines of communication open and you can attract subscribers and readers by posting valuable content and build your online community.

• Consider creating a video and put it on YouTube for no cost. (Interestingly, Field of Dreams, which was created over 20 years ago, has over 730,000 hits on YouTube and 210,307 fans on Facebook as of today.)

• And look out for the next big contender to Facebook from Google called Google +, although still in beta, reviews have been glowing. (Google is banking that search and social will be the perfect couple.)

3. Use all real estate wisely. Add your social media links on the bottom of all employee’s email signatures stating simply “Join us on Facebook, twitter, youtube, foursquare, etc.” (So obvious but you’d be surprised how many companies don’t do this.) And don’t forget to add the icons you use on all of your outbound marketing materials reminding people to check you out. Some companies are even adding it to their business cards.

4. Look into QR codes. Because the whole world is moving towards smart phones, create your very own quick response (QR code). These are the little graphic squares you are beginning to see on ads from national companies likes Home Depot, to more local companies. It’s easy and yes it’s free, and so are some of the apps to read them. Put it on all of your print ads. You can have it link to your social media outlets, a video, a landing page or your website. The best part, with the up to the date analytics available you know how well it’s working.

5. Speaking of websites. In the brave new world of social media your site has quickly become the most important anchor for all your marketing. Once static, new sites are now interactive. So if your site has no way to link directly to all of these new outlets you could be losing a great opportunity to connect. All of the recent sites we have designed include the Facebook social plug-in, why? With the plugin your viewers can keep up with what’s happening on your Facebook page without leaving your site.

Although each industry has its own unique set of challenges and solutions these tips will help you start the conversation and make new connections. We often remind our clients that activity is not necessarily productivity and the quality of your followers is more important than the quantity. With that being said do you know what the second most famous line from “Fields of Dreams” was? “Go The Distance.”

Any thoughts on the subject, please share.

Link to Hudson Valley Business Journal original article: http://www.hvbizjournal.com/archives.php?id=215

02.14.11

Make the Complex Simple –Hudson Valley Business Journal

Unless you live under a rock you have probably seen the Darth Vader Volkswagen ad from the Super Bowl. It’s gone viral with (as of this writing) 23,896,467 hits on u-tube. Why is it so popular? It’s undeniably clever and touching yet very simple, not one word is spoken.

In a media cluttered world, delivering communications with simplicity and clarity is more essential than ever. We are all living in fast paced times and as the world gets more complex we all crave a little simplicity.

During the past few years, many large brands have realized that and simplified their messages. Just think of Charles Schwab and the “Talk to Chuck” campaign. Or Staples with their popular “Easy” Button spots. And one of my favorites the popular UPS “Whiteboard” campaign showing a guy drawing and talking to us about how UPS works. These ads are captivating. I think it’s because of the select amount of words they use and all that beautiful white space.

Consider one of the most famous speeches in American history, the Gettysburg Address. It’s emotional language delivered big ideas with purpose and power and in just 278 words!

So how do small businesses get on the bandwagon? After all, who of us has the same kind of marketing budgets as the big guys?

According to the book 27 Powers of Persuasion by Chris St. Hilaire (a well known message strategist) “It’s about persuading people without browbeating them”….whether it’s persuading a group or selling a product, it’s easiest to accomplish a goal if your story is simple.” Why? I believe its because we are all inundated with messages that shout at us; online, offline, mobile and we crave simplicity and sincerity.

So how can you find the “one” story from “many? Think about situations in which people experience their own relationships between your brand or service and the lives they lead and depict it. It’s easy if you’re a non-profit, they’re always great stories about one person you helped. But what if you’re selling bricks? Try to remember there is always an end user. Those bricks build homes and “many” people live in those homes, and in just “one” of those homes is one family just like you. Just ask yourself what’s going to relate to my specific audience and find the right way to communicate it. Or as Chris puts it in his book “recognize your audiences reality… So if you sell water don’t ask how do we sell more water ask yourself why do people like water.”

Now back to why the Darth Vader Volkswagen ad from the Super Bowl is so popular? Yes, it leverages humor and the mystique of star wars but there was so much more. It successfully created an emotional connection. How? By getting into the audiences reality with a simple story. As a baby boomer I sat through all of those movies with my son and spent a small fortune on all the merchandising. My son, who begged for all those toys (and still hasn’t forgiven me for giving all of them away) felt nostalgic for his own childhood while watching it. Our realities are different but the ad spoke to both of us.

This “keep it simple” philosophy works across all mediums, from ad messages to web sites to social media. To be successful we should always respect how busy people are and not waste their time. You have only a few moments to make an impression, make sure you make it one that potential customers can feel good about.

Ann Mendelsohn Byne is the founder and Principal of the The Byne Group. Ann is involved in all aspects of her advertising business, from leading an active client list from around the tri-state area and beyond to mentoring her creative staff and speaking at various engagements. Her honest and creative approach has allowed her to create strong bonds with her clients. To learn more about her firm or to speak with Ann contact info@thebynegroup.com or call her at (845) 369-0945 x 202.

articles

Upcoming classes given by Ann Byne

happenings + tidbits

Awards

The Team

Freshly Squeezed E-News

blog

social