There are a few cases I’d like to discuss that show off the power of a Cult Brand, and how it got that way.

Apple Computers – Apple was there in the hayday of technology when everything was coming to a head. IBM was the big name in hardware. Microsoft bought DOS and was starting to market it. Steve Jobs and Woz were tinkering in their garages. Apple built up a reputation as an innovator of easy to use products. The Apple IIc quickly filled schools everywhere because they were so simple, reliable and easy to work with. The Apple brand faded from the mainstream for many years as aMicrosoft continued to expand. Then Apple had a breakthrough with the iPod. Here was an old concept, music on the go, embracing controversial technology (mp3s), at a price point that made it a sub-luxury item (the first ipods going for $300-500) and it had sex appeal. It was sleek, stylish, easy to use and practical, in as practical a hand held music player can be. Apple pushed the concept of “iLife”, a collaboration of music, movie, internet and computing and began the iRevolution. That is the cinderella story of Cult Brands, and the best example of how the power of people’s perception can drive sales.

Harley Davidson – The wide open road and the thunderous roar of a V-Twin engine make Harley Davidson stand out as the ultimate motorcycle cult brand. Like a man who smokes Marlboro, a man was defined by his Harley. The Harley spoke to the freedom of the open road, the defiance against society and the need to belong, but not belong. Harley continued producing great bikes through the last several decades, each year building on the same idea that quality construction is worth the premium price, and the sense of belonging with your fellow Harley owning brothers-of-the-road is worth every penny. Customers, and wanna-be customers, of the brand defend it wholeheartedly, making this cult brand a staple in our lexicon.

Star Trek - How many trekkers do you know? or Trekkies? Or Treksters? Whatever they are calling themselves these days, this cult brand is actually more like a cult than anything else. Fusing the space fantasy world of Buck Rogers with real science, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry spoke to a generation of technology-spirited fantasy-driven fans who spend their money on Trek-toys, go to conventions, dress as their favorite characters and continue to innovate real technology after things once dreamed of in Star Trek. With the original series, the charisma of William Shatner and his well-known verbal delivery brought pioneering spirit to the series that carried over several decades into multiple movies, several spin off shows and an entire lifestyle built around Star Trek.

Knowing what it takes to make a cult brand, what is your company doing to get into the hearts and minds of your customers? How many of your audience chant your company or product’s name and defend it to those who look down on it? How many people mention your company’s name and fond memories flood to them about a product they could live without but choose not to? Getting to that point will solidify you in the halls of Cult Brand Status.

Offer a new model, or an upgraded model - If you’re retiring the CoolThing2000 for the new and improved CoolThing2500, most people won’t be upset as long as the new CoolThing did the same thing the old CoolThing did, only better. There are ways this can go very wrong (New Coke, for instance), but as long as the base is the same and you’re making small revisions for marketing sake, end of life can be an advantage.

Steer customers to another, different idea – Let’s say the item is coming to End of Life and you don’t have something to replace it as a direct upgrade. Perhaps there’s something else in your line that they may be interested in? Even if it doesn’t do the same thing or even a similar thing, they may be comfortable with your brand and still want to do business. This can go sideways quickly if not done properly, as people are creatures of habit.

Give a good reason for the end of life – Some products end because they simply don’t sell well. In this case, the consumer can feel some ownership for this problem as their fellow consumers haven’t consumed enough. Other times, it’s for a safety issue or a product defect. This will usually only sit well if your reason accompanies a “but we’re gonna put out a new one soon.”. Other times, the company simply decided to not make it anymore because they are shifting focus. This one is probably most likely to lose customers.

Either way your product becomes end of life, be prepared to lose a lot of customers. Be prepared for the fallout. Know that you’ll have to act quickly to encourage spending on other products, or End of Life could be End of your Business.

Some advantages of offering Paypal on your website include:

• Very quick for the customer. No digging for credit cards. No putting in your address or security codes. No hassle, no trouble. The customer makes a purchase in your cart, chooses, paypal, logs into paypal, presses “PAY” and it’s done.
• Links to either a credit card or a bank account, or both. Because Paypal acts as a payment gateway, they connect to the customers payment devices (both checking/savings accounts and also credit cards) and make the transfer into your account automatically. No need for a third party processor (like Authorize.net)
• A Trusted Name online. Paypal has been around for many years now, doing what it does. eBay purchased it a few years back and is making it even better. For the customer, there’s protection against fraud. For the seller, there’s guaranteed money transfer. Everyone wins with double protection.

Paypal setup will cost you per transaction. You can expect 2.9% on purchases plus $0.35 for each transaction. If you already have a credit card processor, leave that processor up to run all of your cards and other transactions and allow paypal to process for those who choose to use it.

For those who use paypal often (as I do for dozens of transactions a month), I’ll often choose a vendor simply because they use Paypal. If the price and features and service are similar there to another vendor without paypal, I’ll always choose paypal first. There’s no match for it’s convenience, especially when I’m moving quickly through the web and trying to finish a number of projects.

When looking for a tech support specialist, you have to first understand the scope of your issues.

About You:

• Are you technically capable of fixing most small issues yourself?
• Are you competent with hardware and software to fix issues between tech visits?
• Do you have time, or want to take time from other business activities, to work on tech issues?

About Your Technology:

• How many computers do you have?
• Are they networked?
• Are they on the internet?
• Is there other equipment you have to deal with?
• Mac or PC? Linux? Other operating systems?

About Your Expectations:

• Are your computer systems critical for your company to function?
• How long are you willing to wait for something to be fixed?
• Do you believe you’ll have enough work for a full time tech person or just on-call?
• How much have you budgeted for tech services?
• Will you be working new rollouts into your tech plan or simply repairing what you have?

Answering these questions will put you into a better place to make a decision on your technical needs. Once you have these answers, you can decide what kind of support you’ll need, how many technicians and what to pay them.

Some general rules about the type of support available:

• On call/emergency technician – These are for people who rarely have issues, or simply don’t have the budget for a tech support professional. When things break, these people are available. They generally come at a premium (often $100-250/hour or more) and may be highly specialized. If they are specialized, you may keep one or two of these in your file for when something specific goes wrong with a specialized piece of equipment or software. Because these techs don’t know your network or your situation, they may be overall less effective than someone who deals with it every day, but they’re less expensive in the long run if you have few issues.
• A part time technician – A choice of small businesses everywhere. A part time tech generally comes in a few hours/week to do maintenance, check backups, fix minor issues, do hardware upgrades, etc.etc. You can expect these guys on a set schedule of 5-20 hours/week and you can usually get one for $15-30/hour, depending on their skill set.
• Full time technician(s) – For medium to large companies with lots of hardware, a full time technician is a valuable asset. Some companies have many of these people working in coalition as an I.T. Team.

Once you have an idea what your support needs are and what kind of support professional you will need, you can hire one. The best way to do this is to ask for referrals from your peers. As a small business owner, you likely have others in similar situations who can make recommendations. When I was a support guy, I received a dozen calls a month as referrals because I did work at a reasonable ($60-125/hour, depending on the job) rate. Up until the time I abandoned that life for my current (and more satisfying life) as a marketing manager, I had nearly 30 customers on rotation and I received almost all of these jobs from referrals.

That said, don’t be afraid to ask hard questions of potential techs either. You want someone who is dedicated, knowledgeable and willing to work odd hours. There’s plenty of techs out there, especially in this down market, so be sure to ask lots of questions and try out a few techs until you find the right fit.

I hear these cries of concern from business owners quite often, and with good reason. You have to ask yourself one fundamental question about your website, and thus your cart, before you can expect sales to roll in. Do customers trust your online store?

Trust, online anyway, is a funny thing. It takes years of building credibility to gain with your customer base and only one minor thing to shatter that trust. Trust-related issues tend to fit into a few categories.

Credit Card Safety – Is your credit card entered into a secure site? Does it have the little lock in the corner of your browser? What level of encryption? Will it be saving my card details for future orders? Will anyone be able to see the whole number or is it processed by an online processor like Authorize.net?

Hacker Safety – What are the chances that a hacker could be watching? Is the website already compromised?

Privacy – Will they sell or give away my information? Can this vendor be trusted to keep my information safe and secure? What if there is an internal breach? What business partners do they have that can access my information? Will they spam me?

Worm/Virus Safety – Could my computer be in danger by being on this site? Could there by a work or virus somewhere in the cart, or in emails I’ll receive from this site? Are there potential malware issues?

Knowing all of these questions, you can understand why online trust is such a huge concern. There are a few things you can do to install trust.

1. Make sure you have a reputable cart vendor. We use Volusion, and I can’t recommend them enough. Great software, and their security team takes their design very seriously. Because it’s a shared platform and it’s monitored constantly, chances of malware issues or hacker issues are minimized.
2. Make sure you use a well known processor with a SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Certificate. We use Verisign (SSL) and Authorize.net (CC Processor) and they’ve been exceptional.
3. Put symbols for the companies you use on your website. These build trust by association.
4. Test your cart often. Does the lock come up? Is the process of ordering simple, lacking convolusion and obvious? If not, you need to make some changes. If so, you’re on the right track.

Take these steps and you will be back on the road to building online trust. Just be sure to keep up on it. One bad experience online can sour an entire industry on your website.

A Media Kit doesn’t have to be large or expensive. Something as simple as a 5 or 6 page kit in a clear-cover folder can do wonders for your marketing mix. Those pages should be as follows:

1. A one-color binder with a clear cover. The one color is because you don’t want to detract or clash with the contents inside, but you do what to draw people in. If you have specialized colors in your logo or your brand is recognized, you can use the colors from your logo or even repeat your logo all around the folder. The clear cover makes your next page easy to see.
2. An intro page, with a large logo. This puts your brand first and foremost, and gives you a moment to review important information like address, phone number and web address with your prospect.
3. An about us/what we do/company overview page. This should include an introduction letter, why the customer wants to do business with you, what you have to offer, why you exist, company history, etc. Put information in here that your customer would need to make a buying decision, such as your experience level compared to the competition or what you do that is different and better, or unique.
4. Your Products/Services Page. This can be one page, or two pages. I’d try not to push it past 2 pages if possible. The purpose of this page is not to overwhelm the reader with every product you sell. For that, you have a catalog. This is just to show the highlights. The products you are known for, or want to be known for, and make them spectacular. Color photos where possible, easy to read and well organized copy everywhere else.
5. Page of testimonials and additional information. This page should “Seal the deal”. Drive home confidence to your customers about your products and services, show off what others have said about your work and give them the contact information one more time. This way, they’ll have no reason not to have a way to take the next step.

If you follow these steps, you will have a media kit you can be proud of.

Although we may not welcome the closure of businesses, tough economic times are a form of business Darwinism. The weak one dies and the remaining get stronger. Why not position your business to not only split the remnants of your weaker competitors, but to get the lion’s share?

NOW is the time to be bold and aggressive. Tough times don’t last forever. NOW is the time to position your company to emerge from these times stronger and more profitable than ever.

A first step is making sure that prospects know you. They can’t use you if they can’t find you. Get your message out to them now so that at their time of need, they can turn to you. There are many ways to do this. Here’s one: If your business is in a service industry you might consider a custom business card magnet. People put them on their refrigerators or file cabinets and become accustomed to seeing your name and number, so calling you becomes easier than ever.

Make 2009 your best year ever!

If you’re like me, you’re not just looking around, but you’re looking within. You’re tightening processes. You’re removing dead weight. You’re looking for new ways to overturn opportunities previously in limbo. You’re making the best of your situation.

Now look around. Is your competition doing the same thing? Those giants in your industry, no matter what industry you are in, are no doubt staggering these days. Remember the saying about the bigger you are, the harder you fall? That’s no truer than in times of economic quagmire. Is it any wonder that the american auto industry, with it’s bloated promises and empty pockets, is having such a tough time? While all auto sales are down, why are they fairing far worse than their import competition? Could it be because they haven’t innovated enough to stay ahead of the curve? Could it be because they keep on employees that don’t put the same effort into quality? Could it be because they have costs that overrun profits? These are all big questions, and I’m not qualified enough to answer them. But if you apply the same problems they are having to the industry you are in, do you see the similarities?

There are things you can do to keep yourself from walking in their shoes. Look at what isn’t working for your competition and steer clear of it. Look at the biggest in your industry and how they struggle, and find ways to make yourself shine in their darkest days. You’ll soon see that being small, agile, innovative and logical will help you pull through. Have faith, and perhaps one day your failed, bloated, broken competition will fall to the wayside, offering you a moment to bask in the glare of new opportunity. For every void, there is someone waiting to fill it. Why not let it be you?

• WHEN YOU USE ALL CAPS YOU ARE SHOUTING.
• WHEN YOU USE LOTS OF PUNCTUATION, YOU ARE SHOUTING!!!!!!!
• Do not assume that just because someone makes one comment, one place, on a bulletin board or in a blog about a topic that they are your target audience. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve made a witty remark about something I know little about only to be blasted with emails for months afterwords about something, somewhat related to the post, that I might want to buy.
• Don’t Spam! There’s a thin line between marketing effectively and outright spamming. Follow common sense, make sure the person opts-in to your content in some form, make sure they have an easy way to opt out and be polite. I can’t stress the last one enough. Infact, it gets it’s own bullet point.
• Be Polite! I mean it. Be polite, courteous, informative, respectful, interesting, provocative and… well, be polite. Slamming someone with emails, blog replies, comments on their social networks or constant unsolicited communications will, at best, get you ignored.
• Understand that the best selling message is most often the one you say once and let the customers come to you. If your product is sound, your marketing messages well written and your tactics pure, you will prevail.
• Understand that not everyone needs you, or your product. It’s a true fact of life, and of marketing. Your product services a niche, be that niche one person or one million. Don’t try to be something you are not.
• Proof read your message. Then let someone else proof read it. Then proof read it again. There are those who will never forgive you for a misspelling just as those who will never forgive you for using ALL CAPS.
• Buying a list of names and emails does not give you the right to use that list inappropriately. Understand who’s on the list, how they like to be communicated with and what they want to see. This may take a bit of testing of the waters, but make your first move with a new list softly and respectfully.
• Be clear in what your purpose is when you communicate online. Bait and switch on the internet is likely to get you banned, booed and possibly slandered/libeled for your deceitful practices. If you’re there to sell a product, sell it. If you’re there to be part of a community, do so. Don’t come in with one and sneak the other one in. If you’ve been an active member of a community where you’re bringing support to the table and you occasionally bring up your professional side, that’s one thing. Don’t lead with it, and don’t be deceitful. The internet is smarter than anything you’re cooking up, so don’t try it.
• If someone asks to be opted out or removed from your marketing efforts, respect their wishes. I’m to the point now with a few vendors and online sites I’m involved in that I’m going to start pursuing legal action if they don’t remove me from their databases. If I’m this frustrated, imagine how angry others must be!
• Have fun! If you’re having fun and keeping positive, you’ll be generally more accepted than someone who is not. Thus, keep your messages positive and always spin them so you’re the helpful support specialist, not the seedy sales person.

Like I said in the first sentence, I could write a book on this subject. For now, take these quick tips to heart the next time you’re doing online marketing. Not only are you more likely to catch new customers with honey, but you’ll do so without being stung by the bees you stole it from.

The same can be said for business. Having a company march along carrying the fruit of it’s successes is all well and good. But what happens when the seasons change? If a business only has one core competency and it puts it’s eggs in that basket, what happens when the tides of the market change and that primary product or service is obsolete? What if suddenly produced cheaper or higher quality elsewhere? What if your product suddenly is replaced in the market place by a competing product? What happens to a business that counted on that one product for the bulk of it’s sales? It sinks, and quickly.

Here’s a few ways to diversify your business in a controllable (And most likely profitable) way:

• Go with what you know. While this statement might seem counterproductive to this post as a whole, consider it from another angle. You were profitable with your niche to this point. Are there similar products or services you could be offering to compliment your existing product or give it more value?
• Test the waters with other products made from the same materials or similar processes. Perhaps the same plastics you use or the same molds you use or the same accessories you purchase can be reconfigured into a whole new product. The idea of offering many products from the same base materials gives you diversity without changing inventory.
• Look at what doesn’t work about your product and make something new from those flaws. If you look at any software company, auto maker or, well, pretty much any company that has been around a while, you will see this trend. By using consumer test groups, customer feedback and good old product testing, you’ll see what does and doesn’t work about
• Knock out the competition with special features. Find something about your product line that the competition doesn’t have and make a push to market this feature. Play it up as if this feature is the greatest thing since sliced bread and your customers get the first chance at it.
• Consider buying up a failing business. It can be said with confidence that many failing businesses are not the fault of a bad idea or an unnecessary product, but rather of poor management or bad allocation of resources. Just as large companies often swallow up competitors and companion companies to bolster their product offerings, even a small company can do so on a micro level. If you see a business that somehow compliments yours that is in dire straights, consider the benefits of adding their services, products and possibly staff to your organization. If the chips or down, you may be able to scoop up these troubled companies at a bargain price.
• If you can’t buy it, better it. If you like what another company is doing and they won’t sell the product or the company to you, find ways to improve on their idea. Be respectful of patents and copyrights, but move swiftly in finding ways to better something they have done. Many copyrights are written about specific parts or specific functions, not a general idea. Perhaps you can improve on something they were doing or take their idea a different direction.

If you feel like you can’t diversify your product line, consider what you can do to diversify your risk. I’ll be making a post in the coming days about strategies to diversify your risk as a business owner and having an exit strategy in case you find yourself in a situation without an upside.