By Janelle, on April 8th, 2010
I’m not a huge fan of Subway sub sandwiches. They’re just OK in my culinary book. (In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll take a bag of greasy McDonalds’ french fries over a healthy sub any day.)
 But don’t listen to me. According to Advertising Age, Subway will soon surpass McDonalds as the most prolific fast food purveyor in the world. By end of year, Subway outlets will outnumber McDonald’s in worldwide locations with over 32,000 shops.Who would have thought anyone, let alone a sandwich with processed American cheese and shredded iceburg, would overtake the king of french fries for #1 spot in the bellies of the world? Then again, we’re talking about fast food replacing fast food.
On another front, in a truly tall marketing coup, Subway has landed the contract to build a skytop restaurant for thousands of steel workers high atop the soon to be tallest office building in the US – Freedom Tower. Subway at the top of the work site, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, will keep workers from wasting valuable work time riding up and down three elevators to get to ground floor services.
This is a company thinking and acting out of the box, literally. Subway welded together 36 shipping containers and painted them yellow to create the new restaurant. Lifted atop the structure with a crane, Freedom Tower Subway will rise with the structure and provide countless meals in the process. Both Subway workers and steel workers believe they are a part of something historic. Subway has gone right to the heart of tribe building by creating an experience for workers every time they unwrap a sandwich.
By Janelle, on March 10th, 2010
Word of mouth is the best advertiser, right? Yes, of course. But not only yes.  Yesterday, I met Larry Wilcox, a web developer who wants to grow his business. Larry said word of mouth has been his best advertiser so far.
Larry works with not for profits and churches mostly, creating WordPress and Joomla web sites. He has a great idea for a simple template that gets organizations started at a relatively low cost, then lets them customize as their budget allows. Simple.
Then I asked Larry how he targets new customers. His face glazed-over.
Small business owners rely on former customers to keep their business going. But new customers have to be found. Targeting a niche audience (do you say ‘nitch’ or do you say ‘neesh’?) to market to keeps the revenue river flowing. It doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. In Larry’s case, we talked about a simple postcard campaign. Something like this -
1. Choose a geographic area.
2. Create a list of 50-150 organizations you’d like to do business with. Find them on the web.
3. Create a card with a friendly introductory message and offer.
4. Print and mail the card.
5. Make follow up phone calls to encourage action.
It’s pretty simple. But doing things differently isn’t always easy to see.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” replied Larry. “Great idea. I think I’ll try it.”
Very little cost is involved, and just a bit of effort make this a standard part of marketing plans for any small business owner. If you’re a B2C business, you might have to seek out a neighborhood or community based mailing list. Just do something. You’ll be glad you did.
By Janelle, on March 4th, 2010
Tracy Higginbotham, of Five Star Events and WomenTIES, is a champion of women entrepreneurs in the most personal way. She reaches out to individuals with opportunities and encouragement that speak volumes to her core philosophy of supporting women at all stages of business development.
WomenTIES counts among its members million dollar performers and fledgling start ups. Mine was was one of those baby businesses just over 2 years ago. I was a scared, accidental entrepreneur with little more than a smile and good intentions when I met Tracy and plugged into WomenTIES. With Tracy’s easy going style and friendly, no pressure way of including everyone, I found myself attending all the WomenTIES events I could get to. Before long, I was encouraging other women entrepreneurs who had that same deer-in-the-headlights look I once had to join.
 Tracy is celebrating WomenTIES 5th anniversary this month, and in true Tracy-style, she is rolling out special events and offers to extend the benefits of joining WomenTIES to others. So, today I say ‘ Thanks’ and ‘Kudos’ to Tracy and WomenTIES. If you haven’t been to a WomenTIES event – now is a great time to join us. Let the party begin!
By Janelle, on February 21st, 2010
In the past two weeks, I’ve encountered two local business owners who don’t advertise at all. Nada. Not even yellow pages (though that’s not surprising). Bill Krauss of Krauss’ Auto Body and Chris Dougherty of  American Service Company, (plumbing and heating) are living, breathing examples of how to run a business right. They have so much word of mouth business they don’t need to advertise or hire a marketing person like me. While I should be annoyed at that, the truth is, I’m happy to tell the story even if it means putting folks like me out of business.
So, what’s their magic? There isn’t any, of course. It’s just these few things -
1. Call people back – right away (within 24 hours but preferably the same day)
2. Show up, or be there, when you say you will
3. Ask questions, then shut up and listen
4. Do the work right the first time
5. Fix your mistakes.
At Krauss Auto Body, my friend Wendy brought her in Toyota Camry after a parking lot fiasco smashed the drivers’ side door in. When she picked up her car 2 days later, the door looked brand new. Unfortunately, glass from the shattered window was still all over the front seat of the car. Wendy wasn’t happy. She called Bill, he listened, apologized and told her to bring it back in. That afternoon, the car was vacuumed clean and returned to my friend clean as a whistle. Bill took responsibility and corrected his error. Though she didn’t like having to drive back over to Krauss for the second time, she felt heard and her concerns were answered promptly. She was happy enough, despite the oversight, to tell me about Krauss Auto Body. I called Krauss on her recommendation and had them fix my car the next day. So simple.
At American Home Services, it’s the same story. Chris and his dad, Chris, have been fixing furnaces and air conditioners for more than 2 decades. Chris says, “It’s pretty simple. We just listen to people and then do the work they need us to do. Everyone seems pretty happy.” Chris says he can’t remember the last time they ordered business cards, though he thinks maybe they should. I guess that doesn’t keep him awake at night.
It’s pretty simple. Are you getting word of mouth advertising? If not, why not? That’s a good question to answer.
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