Cause Marketing is Good... But....

It's become more and more common to hear of a large corporation creating a relationship with a charity. Usually the company agrees to give some money to the charity based on the sale of a particular product.
While I applaud any support of charity, this concept, called, cause marketing is not as altruistic as you might think.

For the next month, Starbucks will give 5 cents from each sale of three special RED drinks – Peppermint Mocha Twist, Gingersnap Latte and Espresso Truffle – to the global fund to fight Aids, tuberculosis and malaria. These are seasonal drinks from the coffee company. It's worth noting that the selected items are not the chain's top sellers.

I have no idea how much money the program will generate. Let's say 100,000,00 cups are sold, which would produce $5,000,000. While it's a great donation, keep in mind that the promotion has given the company a ton of free advertising in newspapers as well as on radio and TV stations. And even with the recent closure of 600 stores, Starbucks still has more than 7,000 stores in the US alone. So if you divide my projected yield from the charity promotion, then it's costing the company about $715 a store. For a mega company, that's not a huge amount of money. (My figures may be low but I think you get the idea.)

Again, any kind of giving is good but often corporate charity is more about marketing than giving.

Mystery Marketing from Apple

It's almost time for the start of the busiest shopping season of the year. I've been seeing lots of ads on TV as well as catalogues appearing in my mailbox.

Today I noticed a slightly different approach from electronics maker, Apple. The company sent me an email that told me that this Friday it's having a special one day shopping event. This for both the online and the physical stores. There is no mention of any specific sales prices or hot merchandise like computers or iPods. It's as if the company is saying, "We've got good stuff that you'll like. Come shop with us and the prices will be good."

This is in contrast to the heavily promoted loss leaders you see with many stores. I'm not sure if this is because Apple customers know what they want before they shop or if the company doesn't want people coming with the idea of buying one heavily promoted sale item.

At a time when some fear electronic sales may be sluggish due to the economy, this may be a strategy worth watching.

Beyond Annoying Cuss-tomer Service

I'm on hold right now for with my health insurance company. I understand that it's part of the process to sometimes have a wait to be connected to an operator. Indeed, when my call goes through, I want to have the attendant's full attention and have him or her give me as much time as I need.

But I have a problem with the way I'm on hold with Blue Cross & Shield of Florida. You have the background music playing, which is interesting as the song has no beginning or end. But worse is the fact that every 27 seconds I'm told that all operators are busy assisting other customers and I need to continue to hold. I picked up on that fact the first five times I heard the message. Every time I've since heard this message, I'm reminded that I'm having to waste my time with the call. Maybe after 4 minutes we can just hear that message every 60 seconds?

I've since been connected and at the end of the call, I asked if the employee knew about what it's like to be on hold with her company. I was told she didn't. That's a problem for employees to not understand an internal process that impacts customers. It's good to know what they've had to go through before they reach you.

This concept can apply to just about any process that involves customers. It's important to walk in their shoes so you can understand a grumpy mood by the time they reach you.

Public Bathroom Lesson in Marketing

Okay, I don't usually take pictures in public bathrooms but I couldn't resist taking a snapshot of this message at a Disney theme park.

In case you can't see the image, the picture is of some hand washing instructions from paper towel maker, Brawny. It reads: Wash hands and apply soap. Scrub hands and rinse. Dry hands throughly using paper towels.

This isn't a very strong branding message for Brawny as it tells you something that pretty much everyone knows. Would it make you wash your hands better or more? Or would it make you want to reach for Brawny the next time you're buying paper towels?

A lot of people go to amusement parks and I'm sure there's a ton of germ exchange. Wouldn't it be better for the sign to say something like, "Because you're not the only one here today...." with a bunch of animated germs in the background. This kind of appeal focuses on why you'd want to wash your hands, a much better motivator than a list of instructions. The principle can apply to just about any product. Don't give me a list of features. Instead tell me how it can help me or change my life.

Management By Marine

I recently enjoyed a dinner with a retired member of the U.S. Marine Corps. His 30 years of service reached a peak when he was Chief of Operations for Marine Corps Air, Western United States. As I found out, this was a very big job, with a lot of responsibility.

It was interesting to learn that when he first arrived as this assignment, much of his day was filled with meetings. Soon he realized that he wasn't getting anything done. Slowly he started pulling back on his meetings and later said he would go to about one a week and then only if it was less than 30 minutes.

For those who worked below him, his orders were clear: If you're doing your job right, you won't see me hardly at all. If you're doing something wrong, I'll be all over you.

What a great lesson in time and people management.

Attention is a Hot Commodity in Communication

In the past, getting time with someone has been seen as a path to success. You want five minutes with the boss or a prospective customer. You'd have the person's full attention and hopefully achieve your objective.

In today's world, you have a lot of factors competing for your target's attention. Sure, you may have a five minute meeting with the boss but is he or she looking at their email, answering cell phone calls, or typing on their Blackberry? Multi-tasking can become an addiction and you need to keep in mind that you may only have a slice of someone's focus. This can be especially bad when you're having a phone conversation. And how many companies have lost money because of a misunderstanding, especially those that can be traced back to poor communication?

When making your pitch, you need to make it shorter and more powerful to hold your prospect's attention. State what you want and why it is important. Do this right away. Ask questions to keep the other person engaged in the conversation. And above all, do not just talk and talk and talk. The more you speak, the easier it is for your subject to have their attention wander. If you have a history of getting to the point, then it's more likely that you'll be heard.

Communication: The Power of Silence

Portfolio.com media blogger Jeff Bercovici recently attended a closed door panel which featured several TV News personalities, including Katie Couric. Couric's interview with then Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, has often been called a major moment in the campaign in that it changed people's perception of the Republican.

During the session (I would include the link to Bercovici's blog post but it has been removed as the session was supposed to have had no media coverage.) Couric revealed that before the interview, she asked former senator Sam Nunn and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haas for advice. Among their suggestions was to let the governor speak at length without interrupting her.

This is a very good interview technique that plays upon our need to please people. When you answer a question and the interviewer doesn't say anything, you feel like you need to talk some more. It seems like the polite thing to do. But it can lead to you putting your foot in your mouth. Sure enough, in several cases, the more Palin tried to answer a question, the more she seemed to weaken herself.

What do you do if you're the interviewee and don't want to make a verbal goof? Don't say anything after you've made your remarks. Two people not talking doesn't make for dazzling news. Wait and you'll force the questioner to say something.

If you like this kind of verbal judo, you'll enjoy my free report on 7 Communication Mistakes that are Costing You Money.

Let Picasso Inspire Your Business & Life

While recently in Paris, I had a chance to see an exhibition called, Picasso and the Masters. This is a four month exclusive event that is being shown at three museums.

The exhibit follows Pablo Picasso's work and the artists who inspired him. Picasso, while perhaps best known for his abstract style, could paint very well in a variety of methods. For instance, he might see a painting by an impressionist and then do his own take on the work. Picasso wasn't copying the art but rather used it as a source of inspiration. The results are on display and you get to see Picasso's work and the ones that got his creativity flowing.

Today we have so much information at our fingertips but do we use it to inspire ourselves? Think of successful companies, find out what they are doing right, and see if you can build upon their ideas. Reward yourself with five to ten minutes a day where your sole purpose is to learn something new and think how it can apply to your life. Even if it doesn't yield any immediate benefits, it may come in handy later on.

For more on the Picasso exhibit, watch this video:

If you can't see the video, click here.

Selling: Watch Your Words

Imagine ordering a delicious dessert only to see it come with a fly on top of it. That's how some feel when they see their language improperly translated.

Recently I saw a sign that made me do a double take while touring Versailles in France. The historic palace is breathtaking and recent restorations have been painstakingly undertaken. And yet, on a stairway I saw a sign that warned of, "sliding steps."

It was nice that the warning sign was in French, English, and Spanish. Obviously, it was meant to warn people that the stairs could be slippery. Somehow "slippery" became "sliding" in the translation to English.

In this case the goof was amusing but imagine if the mistake had been in a business contract or even in an important display at the monument. For all the care and detail at Versailles, the English proofreading wasn't very good in this case. The lesson here is that little communication detail could say a lot about you and the quality of your products. You may spend hours designing the perfect products and services only to see your work appear second class because of little more than a typo.

Good Book to Check Out

If you've ever wondered why people behave the way they do, even when their actions seem to be highly erratic, then you'll enjoy the book, "Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior." Ori and Rom Brafman do a great job of looking at why people behave the way they do.

Chapters include a safety conscious airline pilot who makes a sudden decision that leads to a terrible accident, why some football coaches play "not to lose," and why stockholders won't sell even when a stock is plummeting.

The book is easy to read and is especially good if you work in sales. You'll learn more about your customer's motivation and how you can push people toward a certain outcome. As a professional speaker, it gave me a lot of insight into ways I can better connect with my audience. For a business book, this is a pager turner.

France Watches US Election

I had the pleasure of being in Paris on Election Day and I was really surprised at how the French people were very interested in our Presidential race. Countless newspaper headlines ran profiles of McCain and Obama, French TV had live coverage of the results, and you'd even see kids wearing t-shirts with the candidates faces.

It's significant that the French watched the returns as due to the time difference, they came in past midnight. As my brother and I were leaving his apartment early the next morning, a neighbor came out and congratulated us on the results and said that he had stayed up to watch them.

The French people have never been a fan of President Bush and some have mistaken that cold shoulder for an attitude about America. Instead, I've found the French to be very enthusiastic about the U.S. and hopeful for stronger relations.