Want some FREE stuff ?

1 - Click on the FREE REPORT button the right sidebar to receive a FREE report on “7 Steps to Marketing Success” - couldn’t you use that? It’s a great report - not just a one-pager, either. This is meaty stuff.

2 - There’s a page on our company’s site that lets you download any of our 14 other reports - topics like how to be different, how to use email marketing, how to harness the power of the internet, how to use Facebook in churches, how to write great press releases, and a new one “193 Creative Ideas”! Surely out of the almost 200 ideas, there’ll be some useful stuff for you! - all those are FREE by the way, did I mention that?

3 - For you B2B folks - here’s a site that offers FREE whitepapers on a variety of B2B topics!

4 - A faith-based creative team offers every Tuesday at 2p a FREE teleseminar - log on to greaterthingscall.com to learn how they can help you create marketing solutions SO THAT YOU CAN DO GREATER THINGS!

5 - Click on the iContact logo on the right (just under our FREE report) and you can start your very own EMAIL MARKETING for FREE - that’s right, a FREE 15-day trial.  Check it out, try it out and I’m sure you’ll quickly start seeing the benefits. *** (if you don’t understand EMAIL MARKETING, click here) ***

6 - John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, co-hosts the Small Business Excellence Series with the Duct Tape Marketing Coaching Network (I’m in that network of licensed coaches - one of only 3 here in the DFW area and the only one in North Fort Worth!) John interviews great names like Guy Kawasaki (among many things, he is a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine), Michael Gerber (from the E-Myth books), Tim Ferris (author of the 4-Hour Workweek), Ivan Misner (founder of BNI), and others. There’s another interview on the 20th of May, so mark your calendars! You can listen to previous interviews for FREE!

Enjoy all your FREE stuff - need a bigger bag?

-Randy

Today the Marketing Twins offer another “DOUBLE TAKE” - here we offer a marketing review of a local restaurant or retail store. These are not compensated endorsements, but rather independent reviews intended to bring attention to the good efforts people are making and where we see room for opportunity and improvement. This is not a FOOD review, but rather a review of their marketing efforts (totally unsolicited by the way). We’ll take a look at various aspects of the marketing experience as it relates to this particular location. BUT, the point of these Double Takes is to inspire you to look at your own business, your restaurant, your retail store. We all learn from one another.

WARNING: Copycat marketing is the worst marketing - by copycat, this means you are only doing what you are doing because you saw someone else do it (aka, “if your friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?”) When you see what someone else is doing and you see it working, don’t simply replicate the tactic, but rather BE INSPIRED to come up with a unique technique that works JUST FOR YOU. To have the strongest foundation in your marketing efforts, build ALL your marketing efforts around a systematic and simple plan. At 1429, we consider Duct Tape Marketing to be a strong foundation for small business.

REVIEW: 05/08 - Italian Cafe, North Fort Worth, TX

Today we visited a relatively new casual Italian restaurant called the Italian Cafe. It is located near the corner of I-35W and Western Center in North Fort Worth. More on the location later on - but WOW!, what a great location! Now let’s review some marketing categories as it relates to this quaint but very impressive (and relatively new) Italian restaurant:

CUSTOMER SERVICE
One thing we noticed early on as we drove up at lunch was that this was a pretty busy place (not bad since they opened 6 months ago or so). Now, it doesn’t matter whether you are new or have been around a long time, your reception at the door can make that proverbial first impression so important! Even when you are busy, it’s important to look at each new patron as they walk in the door and if at all possible, shout (or appropriately speak) a hearty word of “Welcome!” Don’t ever get too busy to do that - no matter what your business. (see our review of Tolbert’s last month and read about the very impressionable reception we received there!) Marketing is seen at all levels of contact with the customer - especially the first one!

Our server, Darret, was very friendly and meticulous in his attention to various details at ours and neighboring tables. It’s not a given everywhere, so when we see good server etiquette, it’s worthy of recognition! We have both served tables at times in our lives, so we know you are trained to do things a certain way - but there’s always people who relax such standards because of busyness or laziness. Darret was nothing but excellent!

We wish we could have been greeted tableside by maybe the owner or head chef - that would have been cool and would have certainly made an impression! Just an idea to make you more memorable!

MENU DESIGN
This is a big deal for us when we look at restaurants. It’s amazing how many people seem to take lightly the presentation of their products. Again, FIRST impression is so crucial. Don’t think only about “I want to describe each dish so people will know what they are getting”. NO. Rather, when you are designing your menu, think:

“Does my menu reflect the WORTH of the products I am presenting - because I am wanting people to fork over alot of money - do they perceive a high value based on the way my menu looks?”

Think about the customer’s perception - you can mention all the adjectives you want about your classic entrees, but if we the customers look at the menu with visual frustration, we’re not going to give you as much of our money.

If you don’t understand visual frustration - get in touch with us and we an make sure your customer’s don’t experience it. Here’s a couple of hints: (1) on punctuation - you don’t need to clutter you menu with periods after each entree description - those are not complete sentences, so you don’t have to punctuate it them (we saw alot of periods today, yet there wasn’t even consistency with that! (2) on FONTS - there are visually appealing fonts and those that are outdated and must never be used. RULE: reserve complicated scripty fonts for large type headings, not for text or even menu categories - simple is best. The Broadway font has already seen its glory days - retire it! Even when you are “casual dining” - your menus (both in-store and take-away menus) reflect alot about the VALUE and WORTH of your products! *NOTE* : a menu redesign might be in order - we can help!

ATMOSPHERE
For a restaurant embedded in a strip shopping center, we were pleasantly surprised by the impressive decor, warm colors, and relaxing atmosphere. Great job on taking the patrons on an escape away from the monotonous mundane of work cubicles and take-out! When they enter the Italian Cafe, you can get away from the regular routine lunch joints and enjoy a casual, affordable and pleasant restaurant experience!

Again, atmosphere is a strong impression-maker, so that’s why we put alot of emphasis on it in our marketing reviews. The lobby/reception area seemed dark and a little cluttered with one small buffet table housing the menus, the cash register, and even other loose papers. Also there was not a “Welcome to the Italian Cafe” sign, nor any prints on the walls like you’ll find throughout the restaurant. The dining area is great, though! Certainly casual elegance - the entire time, we both kept saying, “bet this place is a even better at dinnertime!” Not sure why the lights were all off at lunch - even though sunlight provides natural light (but it was a cloudy day?), we thought softer lighting would add to that “escape” feeling you want when you dine out.

As far as the eating area, again, the decor was great - you have invested well in making your dining area an escape for your customers! One of the Marketing Twins (Randy) couldn’t quite understand KVIL playing a little loud - what happened to soft Italian music? Maybe that’s the dinner music. But even if lunch is more casual, try a CD of some appealing music - we both have kids and don’t need to hear Rascal Flatts belting out “Life is a Highway” - we’ve heard that plenty of time as our sons watch “Cars”. If you’re at Taco Hut or Pete’s Burgers, hearing radio commercials is fine while you eat - but it didn’t seem appropriate nor consistent with the atmosphere of the Italian Cafe.

The restrooms - again, think IMPRESSION - always should be a strong marketing consideration because just about every customer will go there - we were pleased they were spotless at the Italian Cafe! Some places miss that detail However, you might consider changing your restroom trash container to a step-on/hands-free opening container (or get a hand blow dryer on the wall) - call us picky, but when it comes to public restroom trashcans, TOUCHLESS is the only way to go!

LOCATION
The Italian Cafe is in a great location! Located right off I-35W and Western Center (just a mile north of 820), this is a restaurant that offers easy access on and off the freeway. This is a great location to do some co-marketing with Starbucks (if they’ll do any joint efforts with locals) or with the nearby Fossil Creek movie theaters (date night packages). Most people in this area are probably accustomed to entertainment options on the East side of I-35W, but the West side of the Western Center intersection is growing and construction is booming. Probably in a year, this whole area’s going to look a whole lot different! Capitalize now and enjoy the opportunity to feed the boom and draw people to your restaurant!! The Italian Cafe is literally across the street from one of North Fort Worth’s key corporate headquarters: BNSF. Marketing to them, especially for lunches, seems like an natural choice - but the Italian Cafe is also just minutes away (5 to be exact - we timed it) from Meacham Blvd south of 820 (where alot of major industrial/business parks are). We saw catering is offered on the website but didn’t see it mentioned in the store - but catering to these facilities could attract additional future clientele. The Italian Cafe is also located near numerous apartment complexes and several major residential neighborhoods, like D.R. Horton’s Alexandra Meadows, probably 2 blocks away. There are also numerous hotels in the area - these are prime target markets because they are likely looking to eat out and often times, travelers look for LOCAL restaurants because they can eat at chain restaurants at home.

SIGNAGE
We’re very curious about a phenomenon that seems to be sweeping this area - magnetsigns.com! They are admittedly attention grabbing - with their multi-color information on black background. They must be cheap or at least cost-effective because everyone is doing it! (or is it a bad case of copycat marketing!!?!!) But while they are hard to miss and thus attract attention to them (like advertising the lunch specials at the Italian Cafe), consider that at least another business or two in the same strip center also used them. So if there are 2-3 signs literally next to each other, the question begs to be answered, how are you different? Do you stand out?

We did recognize a fairly consistent use of the Italian Cafe logo (typeface). It wasn’t consistent on the take-away menu, but most other places (including the outside of the building) carried a consistent look. That’s good (again, we took Tolbert’s to task on this one).

PRODUCT/PRICE
The lunch specials, starting at $4.95 seem to offer a great value for all those professionals in the area looking for a good meal at a good price (and portions were good, too). We were not impressed with the price of the cheese sticks - they tasted amazing, but they cost more than our regularly-priced entree - and there were only 4! Oh well, we devoured them anyway! And the quality was superb even when the service was fast - this is a key marketing consideration for weekday lunch crowds.

Let’s talk some bread-n-butter. Maybe we know too much out there about restaurants and their bread. But most memorable restaurants offer some amazing bread experience (you hadn’t heard that term before, had you?!) There are some restaurants, that when someone mentions their name, everyone says, “ooohhh - the bread!!!” That didn’t happen for us at the Italian Cafe - pretty much homemade pre-sliced bread (we even missed getting to cut it ourselves like you do at other places) - and then one of the Marketing Twins (again, Randy) thought the butter packets seemed more like Mama’s Home Cookin’ than an Italian restaurant. Maybe a dish with nicely curled butter - ooh, here’s what we mean!

WEBSITE
Congratulations on having a website! With websites so essential to marketing and relatively inexpensive, we applaud you for having one - actually there are two (one for the restaurant and another for the menu - not sure why the need for 2?). The color scheme on the site corresponds with the dining area decor which is nice. But there are alot of inconsistent fonts and probably way too many font variations. And the way the 2 sites are linked may also have a negative impact on your SEO ranking. To help this, why not also start a blog!! You could share interesting food news, Italian-related information, or even tips for choosing a great Italian restaurant (why Italian Cafe is better than Little Joey’s Pizza Joint). A business blog is a way to show WHO is behind the Italian Cafe - the personality of the owner, the head chef, the wait staff and maybe even offer a guest blogging spot to some regular customers! There are so many uses of a business blog - and blogs positively enhance your search engage ranking!!

Also, on a related subject, you might strongly consider incorporating email marketing into your marketing strategy - we were never offered an opportunity to give our email addresses in exchange for a regular newsletter from the Italian Cafe telling me about special prices, coupons, reward club programs, etc….If you need to understand email marketing - join our HUDDLE starting next week (click above)! As more and more people make purchasing decisions based on the information they receive in their inbox (and if done through a nationally recognized email marketing program like we use, your messages will avoid the SPAM folders of your customers!) - every small business NEEDS to be using email marketing. Again, if you want to understand WHY and HOW to set up an affordable email marketing program yourself, enroll in our upcoming HUDDLE talking about EMAIL MARKETING!

So finally . . .

OVERALL RATING

In terms of marketing, we give Italian Cafe a 4 out of 5 DOUBLE TAKE rating!
NOW CLICK PLAY LISTEN TO THE REVIEW BY THE MARKETING TWINS!

NOW WHAT? If you are with the Italian Cafe (or if you’re just reading this review and curious), go here to learn your next steps to marketing success!

Join us for Tuesday at 2!

This is an opportunity each week (2p CT) to hear how you can get on a path to marketing success … so you can do GREATER THINGS!  We have a few already signed up for May 13th, so will you join them?

THIS IS A FREE TELESEMINAR - only 30 minutes, so invest in your marketing success and register online today!

- Small business and independent business owners and entrepreneurs who aim to succeed!

- Pastoral leadership at churches who want to proclaim a message with excellence!

- Non-profit organizations who need a sound and systematic marketing approach to achieve the results you desire!

-Randy

By the way, apparently Tuesdays are the most productive day of the week - so register today and make this coming Tuesday a productive day for YOU! Productive days lead to GREATER THINGS!

* Don’t forget the FREE small business marketing workshop this SATURDAY in Keller.

** Don’t miss the upcoming HUDDLE coaching group - we’re learning all about “Email Marketing” - a way for you to be in direct contact with previous customers (who you’d like to not only RETURN to do business with you, but also become referral partners for you as well) + you can learn how to reach those strong leads and prospects for less than $1 a day!

As an authorized Duct Tape Marketing coach, I enjoy getting to know other marketing Duct Tape Marketing coaches around the globe (currently there about 50 of us worldwide - I am one of 3 in the DFW area, and we are adding another DTM coach in Houston alongside another team in Austin). As Duct Tape Marketing coaches, we believe strongly in the foundation of Duct Tape Marketing for your small business. Defined by John Jantsch, creator & founder of Duct Tape Marketing, marketing is simply this:

GETTING PEOPLE WITH A PROBLEM OR NEED TO KNOW, LIKE AND TRUST YOU.

How’s that for a marketing definition?! It’s alot more practical than alot of marketing textbooks and it speaks the most about the buyer-seller relationship than any definition I’ve ever seen. Sure people shop increasingly online, but when it comes to most small businesses, you will only succeed if you develop a TRUST relationship with your customers. And that takes time and intention.

I like this guy Scott who is well-known for his NameTag.tv (go to his site to understand why anyone would do this - you can link to him under our “Marketing Blogs” in the right sidebar). This particular video is good because it talks about how customers make buying decisions - based on PEOPLE!

It is unlikely you will develop TRUST through one purchase, one sale. TRUST is bred over time and through intentionality. And it is primarily based on PEOPLE.

Is your marketing focused on PEOPLE?

Is it breeding TRUST between you and your favorite customers?

-Randy

* We offer a number of resources ideal for creating an exciting strategic referral program for your business. We are offering our marketing training HUDDLE on referral marketing later this summer (see right sidebar for details)! If you are a small business and do not have a systematic way to generate referrals, let us help you create one … or join our August HUDDLE and do it yourself!

One of the biggest myths in small business marketing is that you have to spend alot of money in advertising. While there should be room in your marketing budget for appropriate ad buys, probably the #1 key to small business marketing success is this:

Be Different Than Everyone Else!

One of my favorite workshop topics is the one that we offer on “Differentiate and Dominate.” This idea is adapted from the Duct Tape Marketing system for small business, one of America’s most popular small business marketing programs. John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, makes this pointed observation:

If your prospect can’t identify some specific way in which your firm is unique, they will default to the only thing they can measure - PRICE. Offering to simply exchange what you sell for a set price in return is one of the weakest marketing offers you can create. Price is a terrible place to compete. There will always be someone willing to go out of business faster than you.

Heard these before: “We have great customer service.” “We offer the best deals in town.” “We love our customers.” “Best product. Best price.” “We offer flexible financing.” “We have the best selection in town.” These are claims that just about every small business loves to make, yet what does it really tell about you? When your customer is skimming the weekend paper, combing through the various hits on their Google search, or (to a lessening degree) looking through the barrage of Yellow Page ads in your industry - what sets you apart?

Drawing from some of Jantsch’s ideas, here’s how you can differentiate and dominate:

Product - Can you offer a product that is so unique or even trendy that your business is associated with that offering? If you sell gardening tools, and competitors sell the same gardening tools, then customers will naturally goes to whoever sells it the cheapest. Can you create or offer a unique product? Could you be the only carrier for a certain brand? Be known for the only place to buy this product.

Market Niche - Carve out an industry or two and become the most dominant player serving that industry. A really nice bonus to this approach is you can usually raise your prices dramatically when you specialize in this manner. It’s natural to think that we must broaden our delivery to capture the most results (we often think in terms of ROI and percentages, “if we send out 1,000 flyers, we anticipate 2% return.”) There’s wisdom in narrowing your niche and sending out fewer flyers and actually increasing your return!

Offer - Can you become known by an outstanding offer you make? Be the accountant who offers his tax preparation clients a 100% refund on their preparation fee when they refer four new clients. Be known as the 100% refund tax guys.

Solve a Problem - Is there something that prospects in your market fear or seem to believe is universal for what you do? If so, focus on communicating how you have the answer. Wouldn’t you at least check out a dentist who offered “pain free dentistry”? Of course, this is a not a place for cheap gimmicks or lies just to get people in the door. Deliver on what you say.

Unique habit - I heard of a financial planner who has his clients car detailed right out in his parking lot when they come in for their annual review. They can’t help but rave to their friends about this unique touch.

Guarantee - Can you offer a guarantee so strong that no one else in your industry would dream of doing it. This one frightens some people but, you probably guarantee your work anyway, you just don’t say so. Come out and boldly announce that you guarantee results and watch what happens! It naturally raises your own accountability as well - makes you work harder for the customer.

Customer Service - Create your own over-the-top customer response system and word of mouth advertising will flow liberally. One of the greatest ways to kick this off is to over deliver on your first customer contact. Give them something more than you promised, give them a gift, give them a related service for free. Or do something no one else is doing. Or hark back to “the way things used to be” and delivery in service what people remember their parents talking about. I’m not sure there is a more powerful tool for creating natural referrals than to offer great customer service.

If you don’t already know what your points of differentiation are, then it’s time to STOP and discover them.

If you already know them, but suspect your customers may not, then focus much of your marketing around them.

If you need help in understanding how to stand out and compete on more than just price, the Marketing Twins are equipped to help you! We are the only faith-based creative team in Fort Worth affiliated with Duct Tape Marketing. We affordable affordable marketing coaching programs ideal for businesses wanting to differentiate and dominate! Contact us before another prospect compares your prices to the other guy!

UPDATE: Seth Godin: “The cheap guy, of course, never wins.”

-Randy

* Don’t forget your opportunity to attend either one of two FREE marketing workshops THIS WEEK !

These are educational in nature and there will be no products to purchase, so come learn and receive FREE innovative marketing training solutions for your small business!

MONDAY - Watauga Public Library SATURDAY - Keller Public Library

Today we launch “DOUBLE TAKE” where we offer a marketing review of local restaurants and retail stores. These are not compensated endorsements, but rather independent reviews intended to bring attention to the good efforts people are making and where we see room for opportunity and improvement. This is not a FOOD review, but rather a review of their marketing efforts (unsolicited). We’ll take a look at various aspects of the marketing experience as it relates to this particular location. BUT, the point of these double takes is to inspire you to look at your own business, your restaurant, your retail store. We all learn from one another.

WARNING: Copycat marketing is the worst marketing: this means you are only doing what you are doing because you saw someone else do it (aka, “if your friend jumped off a cliff, would you do it, too?”) When you see what someone else is doing and you see it working, don’t simply replicate the tactic, but rather BE INSPIRED to come up with a unique technique that works JUST FOR YOU. To have the strongest foundation in your marketing efforts, build ALL your marketing efforts around a systematic and simple plan. At 1429, we consider Duct Tape Marketing to be a strong foundation for small business.

REVIEW: 04/08 - Tolbert’s Restaurant, Grapevine, TX

Last week, the Marketing Twins went to Historic Grapevine to do some visiting with clients, do a little pre-Mother’s Day shopping, and we stopped to grab a bite to eat at Tolbert’s Restaurant in the heart of this very popular shopping district off Main Street near Hwy 114.

CUSTOMER SERVICE
Great service! We were energetically greeted by Janie (pardon any misspelling) who helped us with menus and immediately struck up a conversation. Robots make no personal interaction with you, people do. Sometimes it seems like receptionists are nothing more than robots (Welcome. How many in your party? Sit Down. Wait. Be patient. Your turn. Right this way.) Not at Tolbert’s - great upfront service! For those of you reading this review, think of your business: how do your customers feel when they walk in your doors? Are they greeted warmly? This is huge for restaurants - people make split-second decisions based on wait-time, ambiance, and friendly receptionists. At our table, our server Jim was an excellent server. He was very interactive and personable, but kept an appropriate distance. One thing that we both do (hey, we’re twins!) is that neither one of us likes to drink from straws. Now when you are at most restaurants, they will bring you a straw with your drink. Both of us immediately took it out and put it aside. When Jim saw we needed refills, he brought us new glasses and put them down and noted, “here’s you some more Diet Cokes … with no straws.” It’s a very small thing, but that showed us that he was paying attention to his customer. It’s a small thing to do, but when we paid out (and thought about tip), don’t think we didn’t remember that little added extra.

MENU DESIGN
I’m a big nut over menu design (Randy). If you are a local mom-n-pop shop and you have a take-away-menu, then even YOU should have one that looks nice - and is legible! If you are a nice restaurant like Tolbert’s, you, too, need to have a menu that is easy on the eyes, invigorating to your taste-buds, and appropriate to the style of restaurant you have. And when it comes to legibility, we would recommend a limited use of ALL CAPS or SMALL CAPS. On the Tolbert’s menu, way too much! If you don’t understand SMALL CAPS, see graphic below.

*NOTE* : a menu redesign might be in order - contact us, we can help!

SIGNAGE
We were immediately struck by how many different kinds of visual representations there are in this place. The use of your logo is so important! At least 5 different ways of saying “We’re Tolbert’s!” Unless you are sponsoring a contest where you are soliciting feedback from your clients on their favorite version, just pick ONE! McDonald’s didn’t get where they are in logo recognition (by 4-year-olds even) by using a variety of different fonts, arches and colors. Consistency builds brand recognition! Although in this age of affordable digitized artwork, we usually question why businesses continue to employ hand-drawn artwork in their logo. But the Tolbert’s logo that is most common uses hand-drawn artwork which actually can lend itself to the history of this great restaurant in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. If you are a shop just starting out trying to sell yourself as an established business, normally steer clear of your nephew’s keen eye for hand-drawn artwork in your logo. Let him do some murals on the hallway to the bathroom!

In addition to the logo, when you are a restaurant and want to employ the chalkboard out front (or prominently displayed on the wall inside the restaurant), make sure the artist who is drawing “TODAY’S SPECIAL” really is an artist. Chalk-in-hand does not an artist make! Surely there’s someone on staff at Tolbert’s that can write neatly and even add some fun graphics with colored chalk! I always read boards of this nature and you see them enough nowadays that if they are done right, you marvel at their keen ability to create magnificent rendering of chips and salsa with colored sidewalk chalk! But when done poorly, it looks sloppy and reminds me of my 5-year old on our front driveway. All I want to say is “Clean it up!” HINT: There’s some incredible talent in your organization! Perhaps there’s a dishwasher or cook in the back who is an amazing artist (don’t assume the chalk drawings and lettering to be done strictly by the reception staff). For some of you, the mechanic in the back may have not only great technical skills, but also the very best personality to deal with an angry customer. When you need him, don’t hesitate to send for him! When you engage your team in a variety of levels of the marketing experience, you make everyone keen to the reality that they ALL have a role to play in marketing your business. Also, when it comes to artwork of this kind, there are lots of starvin’ artists (young and old) who would love the opportunity to do some contract work for very little money (give them the opportunity to develop a great portfolio).

PRODUCT/PRICE
We thought the food and price were good and appropriate. Again, we’re not food critics. If you are in the restaurant business, your food and the cost of it is your PRODUCT and PRICE. Especially if you are not just selling $1 lollipops or 25 cent lemonade drinks, then make sure your product is WORTH what the customer is paying. Over-deliver. Maybe in some fancy restaurants in France “small portions means classy”, but in Texas, your portions should be reflected in how much you are dishing out for this. At Tolbert’s I think what we got was fair and affordable. Appropriate value.

WEBSITE
We both looked at your website when we returned to our office - it’s not bad. Content is good and you get a sense of what Tolbert’s has to offer. BUT considering the history of this place and it’s location is the popular Grapevine Historical District, then I think the website needs a makeover. In the competitive food and restaurant industry, you gotta stand out! We like the opportunity to become a CHILI-HEAD, but on the website, make it a bigger deal and make it a mini-logo. Text surrounding a pepper is not a logo. Plus, the text is so small that it looks like you are saying “chili-lead”. Just go with a larger font as part of a logo. The concept is good. I couldn’t ever get the submission form to work to actually become a CHILI-HEAD. Might want to check that if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your reward program. HINT: Tolbert’s is doing a couple of things right here. One, make sure you have a reward program for repeat customers. There’s too much competition out there not to reward people for coming back to you over and over. Two, by obtaining email addresses on signup forms, you can do alot with email marketing! If you are not currently doing email marketing, we can help you with setup and execution. It’s really pretty easy and very affordable! Most plans start at less than $10 a month!!

*NOTE*: at the restaurant itself, we were never presented with the option of becoming a chili-head … if you seek repeat business, don’t let a customer walk out the door without giving them a reason to come back.

OVERALL RATING

We give Tolbert’s a 4 out of 5 DOUBLE TAKE rating!

Listen to the Marketing Twins DOUBLE TAKE review!

NOW WHAT? If you are with Tolbert’s (or if you’re just reading this review), go here to learn your next steps to marketing success!

Jake Long, Vernon Gholston, Glenn Dorsey, Darren McFadden, Chris Long, Rashard Mendenhall …

These are not all household names to many Americans but to a growing number, these represent the best of the NFL … uh … in April!! These names will be some of the top college prospects selected in this year’s NFL Draft and probably signed to many endorsement deals by Tuesday of next week!

“But football season doesn’t start til the fall, right?” you might be saying. You are correct. The NFL football season does begin in the fall but the NFL has found a way through incredible marketing and branding that they can promote their league about 9 months out of the year. It starts in July when training camp opens up. Then pre-season begins in August which leads into the full NFL season starting in early September. This 16-week season goes through the holidays and culminates into the NFL Playoffs which occupy many 50” HD Plasmas and DLP flat screens in January. Then the Super Bowl is not until the first weekend in February. And so you get a break until July, right? Not so much.

This weekend, the NFL Draft will begin and many of those HD Plasmas and flat screens will be tuned in and watching parties will convene. So how does the NFL Marketing Machine do it? I found a good article on BrandWeek.com that I thought you’d enjoy regarding the answer to your question. In addition, our local Ft. Worth Star-Telegram has an article highlighting 10 things you need to know about this year’s draft. It’s a fascinating business and the NFL Marketing Machine has certainly managed to do a great job in promoting this event.

So, what does that mean for you in your small business, your church or your non-profit group? Well, you can’t call it the 5th & Vine Christian Church Marketing Machine or the Bob’s Toilet Repair Marketing Machine but what you can do is seek the help of some great marketing tools like Duct Tape Marketing. And we at 1429 Creative can certainly help you implement these tactics through incredible marketing coaching as well as practical solutions created with the small business owner in mind.

For now, Dallas … uh… you’re on the clock!

-Donny

My lovely wife has become a featured book reviewer on her blog (our family’s blog, but pretty much she writes all the content nowadays since I’m writing so much on this one). Last October, she wrote a book review (Part I, Part II, Part III, and finally Part IV) of Amy Grant’s book, MOSAIC (FYI: my wife’s a HUGE Amy Grant fan!!)

She was recently contacted to do another blog tour book review of another book. This one caught my attention for 2 reasons.

1 - TWINS

2 - MARKETING

Or I guess I should say

1 - MARKETING 2 - TWINS (that would reinforce our brand, huh?!)

In terms of their marketing, I applaud their marketing team. I believe these young men have a strong passion for communicating their challenge to as many as possible. Whoever it is that is responsible for their communication strategy, great job! I love the consistent design elements throughout all their marketing collateral (book, blog, site, conferences, etc.) It’s surprising to me how simple this is - but so many small businesses just put together different looks, designs, and even a variety of fonts when they are communicating their company’s name. From a marketing and communication standpoint, I applaud their team for a job well done!

There’s actually a 3rd reason the book attracted my attention. The name of their book so closely resembled a challenge we try and make to all our clients and prospective clients (perhaps you reading this post today!) At 1429, we say that we create marketing solutions … but that’s not all. We do so you can DO GREATER THINGS! I couldn’t believe there was this trifecta of a connection: Marketing, Twins, Greater Things (or Hard Things in their case).

Maybe someday we’ll have a chance to meet these twins in person - they are coming to the Fort Worth area in June. If anyone knows them and cares to help get us connected to them, let us know! We’d love to interview them in a podcast format for the MarketingTwins Radio Show (you didn’t know there was one, did you?! - it’s in development).

-Randy

Last Friday night, my wife and I hosted a great group of friends from our church. Since we moved into our new home just a few months ago, we were eager to have them see the place. Did we care what people thought about the place? YES! Did we do some extra cleaning in preparation? YES! Did we want to leave a good impression? OF COURSE!

When special guests are stopping by, you go all out to make the place look good. Bring out the best dishes. Set the table. Open the door with the warmest of greeting. Treat them like kings and queens!

So, on his recent visit:

if the Pope planned a stop by your place of business (see Seth Godin’s blog), how might you have prepared? How would you have treated him? If not the Pope, what about the President? The Mayor? The local journalist doing a review?

As Seth suggest’s, if we act in such a way for “important people” - how about treating “regular customers” in the same way! It’s a lot of work to keep that up day-after-day, but it is also energizing and contagious! (If it’s not to you, then you might consider shutting your doors now).

-Randy

*Are you coming to either the May 5th or May 10th FREE marketing workshops?

As an Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Coach, I enjoy coaching clients in their marketing strategy, creating marketing plans, and helping them take control of their marketing by following a simple, practical and effective systematic approach! At 1429, we consider the DTM system as a foundation for what we do, how we coach our clients - the tools, tips, innovations, and practical systems make the Duct Tape Marketing brand our choice for marketing.

As you’ll see on this blog, we love to make note when the Duct Tape Marketing national brand makes news - and it does pretty often. John Jantsch, DTM’s creator and founder, is a dynamic individual that has helped thousands of small business owners and works tirelessly to strengthen the network of Duct Tape Marketing coaches (I enjoy being a part of a great network of coaches worldwide). Duct Tape Marketing has been recognized by Harvard Business Review and by Forbes magazine. John Jantsch writes a periodic article for Entrepreneur magazine as well. Now, the NY Times goes to John Jantsch when they want to hear an industry expert talk about the power of referral marketing in small business. Thought you’d enjoy reading it this weekend!

-Randy

You’re stuck on how to recession-proof your business. You think “but I don’t have alot of money for real expensive advertising.”

You’ve got an idea of what might be good - but you realize you’re basing this decision on an invisible (non-existent) marketing plan.

You find yourself competing with the same competitors year after year for the same market - and you find yourself always being the one to lower your prices the lowest.  Where’s the profit?

You put alot of time in designing a website, but in the end, it sounds just like everybody else (“great quality” - “lowest prices in town” - “super customer service”) - what sets you apart from everyone else?

Along with the other Marketing Twin (Donny), I will be presenting a FREE workshop on Monday, May 5th, on simple and practical marketing strategies that will address all the above scenarios. It will be an informal, no-obligation, educational presentation (I won’t be selling anything - so just come for the networking and practical marketing advice). We’ll have a great time together and we’ll try and leave plenty of time for Q&A.

Watauga Public Library is located one block east of Hwy 377 (Denton Hwy), just north of the intersection of Hightower and Whitley Road (if you find the large HARVEST CHURCH and McDonalds intersection, you’re on Hightower. Hightower is called Basswood to the west of 377 - in case you want to come from I-35W).

CAN’T MAKE IT ON MAY 5th?

Join us for the same presentation in KELLER on SATURDAY, MAY 10th?

(This post is not from Randy, but rather the other MarketingTwin but I still approve this message! ~randy) 

Well, if you are a small business owner, today is a day that always sneaks up on you…. April 15th! Not only is it the deadline for most Americans to file their 2007 tax returns, but today is the deadline for all those small businesses owners to take a break from making money (having fun trying to turn a hobby into a profitable passion!) so they can time to make their first of 4 quarterly estimates for their 2008 return that is not due until in 2009! Yahooity!

So the Marketing Twins thought we could suspend some very professional talk about marketing to poke a little fun at the Tax Man that sneaks up on us each quarter. Hope you enjoyed this video and feel free to pass … it along to others who might enjoy a good laugh.  And as the pig says, “Cheese” everyone!  (pardon the “GodTube” watermark over the pigs face near the end)

(and don’t forget to visit our website for some great coaching and marketing programs to help your organization !!!)

-Donny - MarketingTwin #2

I was sitting with my oldest son Friday afternoon at our favorite ice cream shoppe in town for an after school treat.   We chose to eat our cones outside in the warm sun which presented the challenge.  I was constantly having to tell him to lick here and lick there, all the while watching him try to enjoy every bite.  It got me to thinking about how that’s kinda like having a small business.   You have to do the accounting and inventory at the end of the month.  Whew, we made it.  Let’s enjoy the success of our business.   Oh, wait, got to handle payroll because it’s the end of the pay period.  Whew, almost forgot while trying to enjoy our success.  Good, got payroll done, so let’s enjoy some time off this weekend.   Oh wait, forgot that client meeting was on Monday and I’m not prepared.  Whew, got that done.   You get the idea.    Sometimes it’s hard to eat an ice cream cone outside because you are so focused on making sure you lick all the way around to keep things from getting too messy that you forget to savor the enjoyment of the dessert.  In the end, the treat was well worth the effort but, whew, what a ride it was to get to the end.  So exhausting, so much to do… but I’d do it again because I have a passion for spending time with my son … and for a little ice cream too. 

Maybe your marketing is one of the “drips” off the ice cream cone that you just can never catch in time.  You have a lot of ideas but no time to develop or even think about implementation.  Wish you had someone to come along side to tell you when the “drip” is coming on the back side of the cone that you can’t see because you’re too busy with the front side?   With the Marketing Twins from 1429 Creative, you can get that help with programs like the Star program or the practical, On-Call MD program.   These are great resources you should consider or else you’ll have a lap full of marketing “drips” that get kind of messy!!

Got this tip sheet this morning … thought I would share it with you. If you are an advanced user of the web for your business, this is nothing new. But if you are starting out, these tips could really help you pick out the very best domain name.
If you REALLY want an excellent resource for understanding how to incorporate the internet into your small business marketing, I would strongly suggest this CD series by John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing. It only costs $129 (you can get about $30 off when you choose the digital download version). Great stuff! I’ve listened to it several times and get new ideas each time.

-Randy

For all you Foodies (is this really what they call food aficionados?), good news! No more driving to Arlington or to the many locations in Dallas … Fort Worth Business Press announces that WFM will begin construction on a new Fort Worth location … uh … in 2010 or beyond. Apparently road construction must be completed before the new store can begin in Southwest Fort Worth.

Here’s an article (several years old) that outlines 10 Winning Ways of WFM. As a spoiler, I’ll give you #5:

Through extraordinary customer service and exceptional customer experiences, WFM believes it can turn its shoppers into brand ambassadors who will voluntarily extol the virtues of WFM to their friends and family. So instead of using traditional advertising vehicles, WFM uses the influential power of customers as the advertising vehicle.

Brand ambassadors. Who is speaking on behalf of your brand, product or service?

QUESTION:

- What other brands out there have loyal brand ambassadors?

- Are you one for a product/service/brand?

If we heard from a few people, maybe we could examine the common characteristics in brand ambassadors - that could help everyone in small business, couldn’t it?!

-Randy

* WFM also makes #5 in this list. Maybe they’re doing some things right. Others often try to mimic WFM - but as Brand Autopsy’s John Moore points out,

Competitors can replicate products and programs but they can’t replicate people… .Products and programs do not create brands, people create brands. It’s the people that matter more in creating a brand than do products or programs.

Once again, in light of John’s statement, are people trying to replicate what you have to offer? If they are replicating your product, are you making it SO GOOD, SO UNIQUE, SO DIFFERENT that no one can? If not, then you must be confident that you have the best PEOPLE who deliver the product or perform the service. If you are not so sure about that one either, I’d consider shutting your doors now and saving the embarrassment of going under later. You’ll never make it in this market.

START HERE: Differentiate yourself!!

Does your marketing or advertising strategy assume a level of arrogance (“my strategy is good enough that the consumer should just feel compelled to stay with us”) - is your marketing strategy aimed at actually compelling consumers to approach you - not just assuming that you have just a great product/brand/business that people should just love you and no one else? The relationship with consumers is a delicate one … treat it with respect!

We offer strategic marketing coaching at less than $100 a week! And it can be done before the summer’s done! Contact us and we’ll get you started!

WATCH THIS!

The Break Up
by geertdesager

Our dear friend Pat Riddle writes in her Star-Telegram column about the Celebration Dinner for Fort Worth Christian School. My wife is the Alumna of the Year! I’m so proud of her! She was presented the award last Friday night - it was great to hear her speak (as most people do, I love to listen to my wife speak!) We were surrounded by family and friends. It was alot of fun.

Our 3rd child goes in for tubes tomorrow morning, so no blog post tomorrow. Maybe I’ll try and post something over the next day or so. This is Round 2 for him - his first set was put in when he was only 3 months old!

I had a fun day commiserating with the other Marketing Twin, Donny, who joined the team full-time this week! We’ll be working this next week on getting a press release out about his new appointment. After 15 years with Sprint-Nextel, Donny joins our faith-based creative team as Solutions Director (I’m Creative Director). He’ll be doing account management, administrative/organizational tasks (which I’m not so good at doing) and of course his fair share of marketing coaching (he’s a visionary marketer so he sees the big picture for clients!) It’s a dream to be working alongside my brother! We‘re having so much fun already. Maybe we’ll get some blog posts out of him now. (hint to MT#2).

I also had a fun day delivering a finished product to a client - and he was very happy! Yes, I got paid, but more fun (honestly) was watching his reaction to the marketing projects we completed for him. Love that. (Now even better to hope for is that his happiness turns into referrals for us!)

-Randy

In a challenging economic market, make your company stand out and be memorable. We talked before about being remarkable (also think: Seth Godin’s “PURPLE COW”), but the goal is to create the “HUH?” moment in the conversation - it stops the flow of the mundane - and in the end, you get noticed or at least remembered when the others all blend in.

John Jantsch, creator and founder of Duct Tape Marketing, calls this marketing technique “creating your Talking Logo”:

Like a traditional printed logo, a Talking Logo is a tool that allows your firm to communicate verbally the single greatest benefit of doing business with your firm. A Talking Logo is a short statement that quickly communicates your firm’s position and forces the listener to want to know more.”

When you are at a networking luncheon and someone says, “so, what do you do?” and your response is “I help people busy moms lose weight and find twice the energy they have now.” It’s hard to just say, “oh, OK.” You’re immediately drawn into “so tell me how you do that.” When you do you’re farther down the road than the other salesperson who responded, “I’m the area sales rep for Vitamins & Nutrition of Texas.” Stand out.

Maybe it’s in customer service where you do something your competitors would never think of doing! Maybe you’re the kitchen remodeling contractor who not only cleans up the job site every night, but also chooses to promote themselves to neighbors in the area with door hangers that say “Pardon Our Mess, We’re Putting in a New Kitchen over at Paul & Mary’s house and Achieving Great Style is Messy Sometimes”). Or if you are the online company who puts a hand-written note into your shipment (making a distinction by saying, “Sorry we can visit face-to-face about your new purchase, so we wanted you to know REAL PEOPLE put your order together - please call us if there’s any reason why you are not fully satisfied”).

One tax preparer I heard about invited people to a FREE seminar in January about “Finding Those Hard To Find Deductions” - he did this as a FREE educational seminar (in hopes of finding new leads) and while the 25 people were inside learning about tax stuff, the tax preparer had contracted with a mobile auto detail company and they washed every attendee’s car and then left a note that says, “Mr. ______ thanks you for attending his free seminar - enjoy your clean car!” When the attendees came out of the building with a mountain of stress about the pending tax preparation season ahead of them, they were greeted with a special treat: a clean car! Mr. Tax Guy became the tax man for several of those attendees (and their fees over the years far surpassed the small upfront fee of paying the auto detail firm - plus, he worked a deal with them so they could put their ad on the thank you note as well so they game him a discount on the services they performed for all those cars.

I like watching this guy who gives a 3 min video on “Point of Dissonance” (dissonance is the inconsistency between what someone’s belief is and what is actually experienced: surprising people with the unexpected influences their minds!)

Here’s one article that could be useful to small business owners facing hard times and a challenging economy (Preview: Ramp Up Your Marketing!!)Speaking of that gloomy economic outlook, if you are in the DFW area, Mitchell Schnurman’s article paints a different picture! Don’t swallow the doom and gloom that is often reported on the national news - the local economy seems strong!

-Randy

I vary my Talking Logo from time to time. Right now I might say (in some cases where I’m trying to gain leads, NOT in casual conversation with friends who might think it’s a little odd),

“I create marketing solutions so you can do GREATER THINGS.”

I am conducting a couple of FREE marketing workshops in May, so