”Every contact with your customer is an opportunity to win or lose,” the ComCenter’s website reads. Based on the time this full-service shared office suite put into their collateral, they aren’t going to win too many.

A few simple pointers for businesses who are concerned about first impressions: Web, wall-art and otherwise.

1.— Website Design

Owner Angle:
Why should I pay $2,000 or $10,000 on a website when I can use a template from an online site and pay $79? My business doesn’t live or die on the web and I am not selling anything. It’s just a big digital business card.

Customer Angle:
A templated website tells customers your business isn’t any different from your competitors. The people who are most likely to research your company are already on the web and (see blog entry) and can spot a template from a million miles away. Sal’s Pizzeria in Brooklyn can’t keep a slice on the pizza tray despite having a take it or leave it attitude. An office building with a 50% vacancy rate probably can’t pull that off.

Take Away:
Don’ t use a template for your website—anyone with a modicum of taste can tell it is a template.

2a.— Bad Taste

Owner Angle:
Art in the lobby gives a sense of professionalism. But real art in the lobby is an investment I’m not willing to make.

Customer Angle:
Fair enough. Certainly, customers don’t expect Picassos to be hanging in the foyer, but there are corporate art firms for a reason. They know what colors, shapes and images work best in corporate settings—and that ten pieces of mismatched “art” on a single wall don’t add up to a peaceful work environment. They also know that chains hanging from the drop ceiling aren’t the best way to hang said “art.”

Take Away:
Hire a professional to select your art. Even those of us who have great taste realize our tastes aren’t everyone else’s taste. And remember that a blank wall has its place, too.

2b. — Bad Artists

Owner Angle:
An on-staff artist could generate some cache. Perhaps we cut him a break on rent, and he cuts us a deal on corporate art.

Customer Angle:
If I don’t smell fresh paint at the foot of the “artist’s” door, something’s fishy; and if I do smell paint when you are showing me a space across the hall, please don’t position it to me as a bonus that I am going to be close to the in-house talent.

Take Away:
Don’t hire an “on-staff artist” for your office building unless you have the cash to hire someone with a brand name or an amazing body of work.

2c. — Bad Art

Owner Angle:
Hey, I’m never here. Who cares what’s on the walls?

Customer Angle:
Good corporate art shouldn’t stand out. It should blend in and do all it can to not feel like a local group art show.

Take Away:
Don’t hire an artist whose art consists of digital prints on canvas with gesso smeared on them to look like brush strokes. This would be like piping Muzak through your office and saying that you had a composer hidden in a broom closet. Don’t do that, either.

3. — Content

Owner Angle:
Somebody internal can write all the copy. How hard could it be? Everyone has Word and spell-check on their computers. It’s just a brochure and some web copy.

Customer Angle:
The reason I am interested in your service is the appearance of professionalism. Why would I want you to answer the phone for me if your collateral is misleading, sloppy and downright incorrect?

Take Away:
Remove exclamation points from your toolset. Spend more time crafting your sentences and less time thinking that five of these!!!!! is going to hammer home your point. While you’re at it, don’ t use semi-colons. Try an em-dash instead. Finally, Don’t Capitalize words for no Reason just to make an Emphasis. OK? Professionalism has no boundaries and you never know what is going to turn off a potential customer. “Save thousands for a better purpose!” HUH?

4. — Construction

Owner Angle:
Business is business and the rent has to get paid.

Customer Angle:
Why would I want to move next door to a space that is going to have major renovation take place? The whole point for moving into your office suite is to enjoy a professional environment and not worry about interruptions during conference calls. A Sawzall buzzing away next door for three weeks kind of defeats the purpose.

Take Away:
Either offer your prospective tenants a break on rent through the construction phase or don’t rent the spaces out until the construction is complete.

5. — Blog to Nowhere

Owner Angle:
I have no idea what a blog is supposed to be used for, but can we put an advertisement on it?

Customer Angle:
When a customer visits a blog that is all marketing speak and sales pitch, they will most likely close the window and never visit again. A blog is for the customer to learn about you and your expertise or experience in the industry. If all you are going to give the customer is bluster, you may as well put pop-up ads on your site. “You’re the 1 millionth visitor – Click Here>” and revert to phishing scams.

Take Away:
New tools like blogs need to be implemented with a strategy. Simply tossing a blog button on your website doesn’t mean you have a blog. Also, blogs are not for hyping your services and acting as a storage space for your most recent ads.

6 — Overall Message

Owner Angle:
Rent out the units for as much money as I can. That’s my strategy, message and goal.

Customer Angle:
The concept of a ComCenter sounds great. Flexible terms, professional services and a low cost. The overall voice of the ComCenter, from website, to email, to in-person was abysmal. If you are going to deliver an all-in-one sales pitch, don’t tell customers that the lobbies, bathrooms and hallways are available to them at no additional cost. That’s your sales pitch? That’s what differentiates you from your competitors—free hallways?

The all-in-one aspect of the ComCenter feels like a nickel and dime outfit. The furniture that was advertised as included in the rent turned out to be an extra $140 a month, while faxes and printed pages were charged by the page. Internet access was an extra + $90, and the list went on and on. They were, however, going to give me a free email account, a perk that was printed bold red to let me know how important it was.

Take Away:

You are your message: In print, online and in-person.
Your customer transmits and repeats your message: In print, online and in-person, over and over and over.

Here’s an example of how to do the virtual office setup correctly: New York’s community workplace—In Good Company

After the wheel caught on and people realized they could get where they were going in a tenth of the time, they didn’t wake up and say, “Nahhh, let’s go back to walking.” The same can be said about content marketing.

Five years ago, a small number of people would have Googled your company before doing business with you. Today, anyone interested in your products or services is most likely going to see what’s been written about you on the web before, or after visiting your site. They are no longer interested in just your pitch.

What customers are really interested in is what additional information you bring to them. They want assurance that you, as a brand, are trustworthy and knowledgeable.

They want to know:

• What your customers say about you.
• If you’re up on the latest trends and news in your field.
• Where you stack up among your peers or in your industry.

Why is this important?

Here’s the big hammer (or the new wheel): Content marketing is not a trend. In another year, customers are not going to say, “No, I didn’t Google them. Who does that anymore?”

Instead, the companies focused on content marketing will be racking up sales while you are left wondering what the heck happened. Earlier this week during an Author Teleseminars, teleseminar, Seth Godin revealed, “Content marketing is the only marketing left.”

That’s it folks, that’s your new office—when people type your company’s name into a search engine, your bottom line is dependent on what returns, period. Wake up tomorrow, take half your marketing budget and spend it amping up your product, take the other half and dive into content marketing. It’s either that, shut down Google, or find a big wad of investment capital and pray for the best.

Here’s a few upcoming events to get you up to speed on Content Marketing:

CUSTOM CONTENT CONFERENCE

When:
March 9-11, 2008

Where:
Marriott New Orleans
555 Canal Street in the French Quarter

What:
The conference will bring together marketers, advertisers, and custom publishers. Attend and network while debating and exchanging ideas for leveraging custom content in today’s digital marketplace.

Register:

Register here

ONLINE MARKETING SUMMIT 2008

When:
February 21-23

Where:
Sheraton’s Harbor Bay International Flagship hotel in San Diego

What:
Session will Feature Speakers from Microsoft, LinkedIn, Cisco,
SEMPO, and National Public Radio

Register:

Register here

Dear Hosting Service not only are you are killing me. You are killing your own business and I am moooving on. Last Monday we got to the office early to prepare for an afternoon pitch. Around 9am, I got this email from our designer.

“Have you been having problems with the site lately? I’m not able to connect via ftp or view the site online.

Kristine”

I went to our site. Nothing. Blank. I tried to login to my FTP – error #mysiteisntworkingandIhaveademoinafewhours. In other words, no login possible.

I hopped over to our hosting provider Fatcow and looked around for a contact email. Nothing. I clicked on “Need Help” and got an FAQ. There was an option for LiveChat, but I’ve done that in the past and have found it to be like the self-checkout line at Lowes—a great concept lacking execution. My last option was to contact the “Moo Crew” (their term)—I prayed that this was going to lead me to an email address, but instead I got stuck staring at a form.

The form in this instance was acting partially as form of squeeze marketing, a device used when you have something I want (say a whitepaper or an e-book) and I have something you want (an email address and/or phone number), and partially as a filter. But what I wanted was my site to be up and running, and Fatcow already had my email address, phone number, and credit card number, so there wasn’t much more I could give them. At that moment, a form was the most inappropriate thing a company could have possibly offered me.

My last option was a call to Fatcow’s 800 number, where I sat on hold for 30 minutes. The only blessing of the hold was knowing they were going to take forever. With the speakerphone on full volume I greeted the UPS guy, took a call on another line, and stepped outside for some air. I even had a little time to search for a new hosting provider on Google. The whole time, the same terrible Muzak Jazz blared on and on. Finally, a gentleman answered and gave me the third degree about my URL, my favorite dog, and mother’s maiden name. After all that, I got:

“How can I help you today?”

“Well, my site is down and I have a demo in a couple of hours.”

“What is your URL?”

“www.eatmedia.net. (The same one I gave you 19 seconds ago.)

“Yep, she’s down.”

“Yep, that’s why were talking. The question is…when will it be up.”

“Not sure. We had some servers go down. Could be awhile but it shouldn’t be too long.”

After hanging up I sent this email to Fatcow:

As a longtime customer, your outage last week is indicative of a downward spiral from your good old days The India tech support (LiveChat) was a terrible idea, the Canadian service (phone) is better. But overall, I am very disappointed. I used to recommend you to everyone and sing your praises, but I think I will be “moooooving” on.

And this is what I got back the next day:

“Thank you for getting back to us.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. I’m glad you shared this because it gives us a chance to improve our quality, and this is what we intend to do. I again apologize and assure you that we’ll provide you with the stable hosting and support you are looking for.

If you have any further questions, you can e-mail us seven days a week, 24 hours a day.”

A huge opportunity for Fatcow to make things right zipped by like a Nolan Ryan fastball circa 1973. After telling them I was thinking of leaving, they chose to share with me that they are happy I shared. The problem is, my sharing with them doesn’t make me happy.

The lesson here is every single contact with your customers is important. There is too much competition today to tick them off. If you outsource any functions of your business, be it customer service, tech support or even sales and marketing, make sure those who represent you and your business understand that your brand is in their hands. And for god’s sake, if you built your business based on great customer service and support, don’t let it slide into mediocrity. Servers are cheap these days. But finding new customers? Not so cheap.

*I have been using FatCow for upwards of 10 years now. When I first starting using them, it was known as a nerdy, tech friendly hosting provider. Over the past two years, I have seen a noticeable decline in services. If you know a reliable, customer friendly hosting provider, please drop me a comment.

The content below got us thinking, helped us help our customers and kept the office lively (especially on Fridays with the volume up).

Books:
The 4-Hour Work Week
by Tim Ferriss
(Crown Publishing)

The New Rules of PR and Marketing
by David Meerman Scott
(John Wiley and Sons)

Websites/Blogs:
Hubspot
The Web Strategist

Widgets:
Swicki
Twitter

Magazines:
Dwell Magazine
Good Magazine

Music:
Band of Horses
Juana Molina

The shower is one of the few moments during the day when you aren’t bombarded by sales pitches, logos and zippy one-liners. I call it “in the shower marketing”—messaging and brand building that pops up where you least expect it. After 15 years of using Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap, I still occasionally read the label in the shower and pick up a little gem of advice before I start the day. And though no action can be taken then and there, I like the soap and I like the message so I continue to buy it.

At the end of the day, your customers have to not only like your product but your message, content and delivery—it’s just the way things are. If they like your soap and dislike your message/content they will more than likely try another brand. And if they like the message/content but hate your soap, then you have a problem of another fragrance to tackle.

When your customers are nearing a buying decision (or even after they have made a purchase), you can do one of four things:

Tell them how awesome you are and how much it will cost them to do business with you.

“Finally you have a choice. Switch to FiOS TV Premier for $42.99 a month.”

Entertain them and hope they remember you for it.

“Paparazzi not included.” (On a billboard US 41. Company name, forgotten. What they sell, unknown.)

Give them more information (content) about the product or service they are interested in, and let your customers speak for you.

The most obvious example for this would be Amazon.com, which shows you similar products/customer reviews/product discussions on the way to the checkout.

Another example would be the use of case studies used by companies such as Shipwire. The concept is simple—let your customer tell your story (with a little help from an experienced writer, of course).

Give them more information (content) and entertain them a bit (more content).

Spin the bottle around on a Revive Vitamin Water and you get this:

“If you woke up tired. You probably need more sleep. If you woke up drooling at your desk, you probably need a new job.”

Go to the Vitamin Water website and the same tone continues:

“Everybody loves a comeback story. The over-the-hill athlete. The long irrelevant rock band…Try Revive.”

Vitamin Water also has a little widget called “TryitCreator.” This little program gives customers the ability (albeit using Flash) to create their own Vitamin Water message and post it to a blog or MySpace. Is every customer going to use this? Probably not. Is it quirky, fun and does it reinforce the Vitamin Water brand? Sure does.

You never really know what you are going to end up with on a remodeling project. Once you open up the walls and ceilings (can of worms), a completely new set of problems have a way of presenting themselves. And once that ordeal is over, one of the most difficult decisions is envisioning the paint on the walls. Is the light going to reflect or absorb? Flat, satin or gloss?

Almost everyone I know has re-re-painted because the color “looked perfect on the chip and all wrong on the walls.” The paint manufacturer’s solution—provide an online color tool to assist consumers with a decision.

This may be one of the most obvious examples of content driving a sale. Even general contractors use Pantone swatches on the job, but at home while drawing up estimates they use online color tools. Homeowners still collect swatches like baseball cards, but more and more decisions are made with online color tools. Content that helps customers make a choice between product x or y, or in this case yellow narcissus vs. cozy cottage, is what the new content revolution is all about.

The Pro Tool:

Pantone.com - Since 1963, Pantone has established itself as the standard for innovative system of identifying, matching, and communicating colors to solve the problems associated with producing accurate color matches. This is a grid-based tool fashioned for the graphic design crowd who know need to calibrate printers, compare cotton swatches and determine paint colors down to specific Pantone numbers.

Homeowner Tool:

Behr.com – The Behr Color Smart tool allows homeowners to start their color tour by Pantone number, browsing all colors or through use of pre-selected inspiration images. This tool assists the color-overwhelmed with custom color pairings selected by designers. The Color Smart tool also allows users to upload their own home photos to view their actual rooms in various colors. Very cool.

Asides:

Once you decide on your colors, keep in mind that Home Depot utilizes a four-color paint system and will have more colors available than Lowe’s, where a three-color system is used.

Whether your company sells calculators or mattresses, there are just as effective opportunities to present content drivers en route to a sale as a color matching tool. Success stories, video podcasts, micro-sites, and other customer reference collateral all serve the same purpose. Keep your customers engaged and informed, and they will come back with your favorite color—green.

Being in the content creation business means the Fed-Ex and UPS trucks pull up every other day with an armload of books. Three months ago, with our shelves at the breaking point, we delivered an entire pickup truck of mostly new books to The Salvation Army. Last week we found our office shelves full again, so we took inventory and then we took action.

With all the books, magazines, and catalogs that arrive, we have trained ourselves to be expert snapshot readers, page glancers, and generally proficient at “judging a book by it’s cover.” With so many different types of media and so much information available, we have to filter our time, and our eyes, in order to focus on information that is relevant, informative, and well written. Sometimes that’s a decision based on experience, and sometimes on just a first glance.

The Design Makes a Difference

On the web, an article printed in Helvetica Light 10 does not make for good reading, doesn’t alias well and is going to stop me from getting any further than sentence four. On the other hand, a poorly designed book cover can be the difference between 50 sales and 50,000—or a book review vs. a last minute dusting and gifting.

There are books like Made to Stick with bold cover art that draws you into the content. And then there’s the other by a so-called marketing whiz that lacks a visually engaging cover and sports uber-cramped chapters printed on a bright-white stock. Great content that goes unread sadly becomes kindling, or hopefully new paper. I read Made to Stick cover to cover, while the other marketing book (featured on many content marketing sites) went unread. Time will tell if I pick it back up.

With all the talk about content driving sales and corporations being more cognizant of the role of content, content producers, managers, and marketers should put more emphasis on the relationship between the writer and the graphic designer.

A Few Tips for Filtering Your Media

Catalogs—you get too many; we do, too. Find a good article here about Catalog Choice.

Magazines—hook up with a business or friend to exchange magazine subscriptions. Put an ad listing on Craigslist in the arts section—many artists use glossy magazines for collage.

Books—Donate to your local library.

There are only a few magazines that keep my interest from cover to cover: Esquire, Dwell , the New York Times Magazine and a bunch of indies we can discuss another day. The reason I am engaged from page 1 to page whatever is the content and the manner in which the content presented— Esquire especially. For those of you involved in print and the web, here is an interesting article in the New York Times about Business Week becoming more “weblike”…more

In business, over-committing is like driving an Ferrari with the parking brake on. You feel and sound like you are humming along, but in reality you are dragging the proverbial ass. Don’t let your marketing copy, success stories, case studies, and other corporate collateral be something you do in between meetings. Instead, make a smaller list. Prioritize. Delegate. Outsource.

In a recent interview we conducted with bestselling author Timothy Ferriss (of fourhourworkweek fame), he gave us this gem:

“One of the most important things is determining this: which activity is the one activity, if completed, would leave you satisfied with your output for the day?” …more

More great advice from David Scott Meerman, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly:

“A journalist skillfully creates interesting stories about how an organization solves customer problems and then delivers those stories in the form of ebooks, white papers, content rich web pages, podcasts, and video…more

I had to endure a week of translating eight hours of Marketing Speak into a coherent article this week and just about lost my mind in the process. It got me thinking about how the success of many organizations has relied on the daring, and sometimes eccentric, saying or doing what flew in the face of convention and how most just try not to ripple the water.

There is certainly the time and place to be innocuous and blend in, but not with content. Being brainwashed by terms like “best of breed” and “Best practices,” I wanted to share some (so called) “best” sites.

Best Stuff—speaks to a young audience but presents content in an unusual manner. I found myself clicking through a dozen or so “best stuffs” before getting bored. It struck me as a more visual version of tags but it does have corporate communication potential.

Best Buy—a primo electronics retailer (with the exception of their music department), but their website is all about product. SALE, 30% OFF, GIFT, all smacked me in the face when I reach the home plate, and not being a big fan of gradients, I got little antsy browsing. There is some UGC but it is buried and doesn’t have many reviewers.

Best Western—having stayed a few Best Western hotels in my day, I can say the following things: there was a bed, they had coffee in morning, and not any major problems to report. The majority of their website is marketing copy, but about 10 clicks in is a little section called “The Travel Mom” featuring Emily Kaufman. In this section, attractions local to Best Western locations are highlighted, and I began to feel like Best Western was showing me around town.

Next we will focus on the content brave.