In the bloghouse

In Dan Kennedy’s NO BS Sales Success, he says “What others say about you and your product, service or business is at least 1,000 times more convincing than what you say, even if you are 2,000 times more eloquent.”

So true. A great testimonial is worth its weight in…well, new customers.

People love to hear about what others think of a product. Read about their experiences as well as a product’s attributes and shortcomings. Well-done testimonials can help resolve concerns and get customers excited about their purchase.

So what makes for good testimonials?

They’re short. No marathon testimonials, please. Seriously, who really wants to read sentences that spill on endlessly? A line or two that’s impactful wins the race.

They’re to the point. Ahhh, the overly generalized testimonial. It goes something like this:

“ABC Widget is the bestest product ever.”

This type of testimonial is empty. It gives no specifics or details. Why is this a great product? How is the product to use? How has it made a difference in your life? Is there a particular feature that makes it outstanding? Compare the above testimonial with this one from Muttpuppet, a company that makes stuffing-free dog toys:

“[My dog] loves it! She still carries it everywhere with her and it is still intact. It has lasted longer than any other toy she has had before.”

The testimonial zeroes right in on one of the product’s attributes: the toy’s toughness.

They’ve got meat. In other words: they pop and show some sizzle. There’s no reason a testimonial has to be dull. A few artfully written phrases can help turn the heads of browser

They’re believable. We’ve all seen ‘em on Amazon.com: those testimonials that make the product sound too good to be true. Almost makes you wonder if they’re even real. How to combat that? Include some info on your testimonial writers: a name, a job title, a location. Anything that can lend credibility. Can you get a video testimonial? All the better.

So how do you get great testimonials? Tune in to part 2.

Whether you’re working for a soup company, a sugar candy brand or a sneaker manufacturer, it’s essential that you, as the brand steward, really understand the end-user experience.

Look at your product. Really look at it. Concentrate on the sensory experience. What do you see? How does it feel in your hand? Does it make a sound when opened or poured into a bowl?

Let’s talk wrappers. Find yourself folding Starburst wrappers into cute little geographic shapes? Been busy turning those Hershey’s Kisses flags into works of art?

Eat the product, but take notice of how you do it. Do you break the Hershey’s bar into tablets or just chomp right in? Eat your M&M’S in a specific color sequence?

It’s all about looking inward to determine what you can leverage outward to your consumer base.

Kit Kat does a great job of embracing and maximizing its brand essence. The brand effectively harnesses the power of advertising to reinforce the ritual of enjoying a Kit Kat:

• Remove the wrapper
• Trace your finger along the finger bar
• Break the bar
• Eat (crunch!)

Check out Kit Kat in action:

Kit Kat Commercial

Not only does this commercial playfully emphasize the ritual-eating aspect of Kit Kat, it also highlights the brand’s value proposition: taking a break from the stress of the day to notice and connect with the world around you. Yes, this commercial is in a different language. Doesn’t matter, though. The message is communicated to the consumer…loud and clear.

By Doug Belknap

Sure, QVC’s reach is wide. Offering about 1,150 items each week, QVC can give your pet product true national exposure. And there’s also the very enticing possibility of a large order from the online retail giant.

Is your product a good fit for the “Q”? Here are just a few questions to ask:

• Is your product demonstrable? (This is live TV, remember!)
• Does your product fall into one of QVC’s existing categories?
• Does your product have widespread appeal?
• Does your product offer unique features and benefits?
• Is your product topical or timely?
• Does your product solve a problem or make life easier?
• Is your price point at least $20? (There’s been some flexibility on this point in recent years; but if your product sells for less than $20, you might want to consider bundling it with another product to enhance the perception of value – and justify the shipping/handling costs).

If the answers are right, then QVC might represent opportunity for your product. But with opportunity also comes risk.

QVC pays on consignment. If it does place that large initial order, you’ll be expected to have the product shipped to QVC’s facility months in advance. As you may know, QVC is very concerned about satisfying market demand. So you should be in a position to manufacture and ship enough inventory to meet that demand – all prior to your appearance on the show. There’s also the chance that QVC may inventory your product but not air it for months. Stories of the “Q” sitting on products for up to a year are not uncommon.

QVC only pays for what it sells. That means you need to be solvent enough to absorb any returns of unsold product. Let’s say QVC orders $30,000 in product, but only sells $2,000. You are going to get $28,000 in product back. And that’s not all. You’ll also pay the freight to have it all shipped back to you.

QVC works on fairly low gross margins (around 40%). So your product will potentially be airing on TV at a retail price point that regular pet stores can’t match – since they’re working on 50%+ margin. That means there’s a legitimate risk of undermining pet-store sales – and alienating the store owners.

Yes, the idea of national TV exposure is exciting. But before doing the “Q”, crunch the numbers and look at the demographics to ensure everything’s a good fit.

About the Author:

Doug Belknap heads up Sales Growth U.S., a marketing & sales company that specializes in helping pet products businesses build their brand and boost revenue and profit growth. Doug brings more than 20 years experience in the consumer products industry and has helped many companies within the pet products category, including Multivet International, OurPets, Pet Zone and Pet King. Visit http://www.salesgrowthus.com to learn more.

Well, you know you haven’t found your writer if…

1. The hyper-aggressive sales guy who keeps Tweeting at you assures you that he can also write your brochure. Salespeople are salespeople (and make no mistake, the good ones are great at what they do), and creatives are creatives. Any pro salesperson will tell you right off the bat that he’s not a creative; and any creative worth hiring will tell you she’s no saleswoman.

2. Your prospective writer tells you she can also design your website, print ads and logo. Writing and design are separate disciplines, and 99.9% of the time, a person who excels in one isn’t a superstar in the other. Look at it this way: one-stop-shopping is good for some things, bad for others. You wouldn’t hire the same person to cut your hair, tune up your car and tile your bathroom, would you? The same principle applies here. (Now if you’re hiring a full-service agency, that’s a different story; all these different disciplines are represented. But they’re represented by different people – and that diversity is also reflected in the price tag.)

3. The writer’s samples all look like Word docs or blobs of unformatted text on a white background. If a writing sample says “copy for Acme Treat Company’s landing page”…run away as fast as you can. The writer who really wrote that copy should be able to show you a screenshot of the actual website.

4.  The writer loves words a little too much and likes to use all the words in his enormous vocabulary to create an excruciatingly long, supersized sentence that is beyond painful to read and goes on blathering and babbling away line after line until the reader falls into a mind-numbing stupor. (See what I mean?) Do some subjects require longer sentences? Of course…especially when it comes to more complex subjects (pharma writing is one example). But if you find yourself begging to see a period to mark the end of a sentence, perhaps that writer is too longwinded. Short and succinct is, in most cases, the way to go.

5. The writer’s writing just doesn’t move you, or engage you, or cause you to act. That may sound simplistic, but it’s critically important. Remember: this is the person who wants the job of speaking to the world on behalf of your brand. If you don’t find her work emotionally engaging or compelling…odds are your consumers will feel the same way.

What if there was a promotion so powerful, so far-reaching that it could help feed hundreds of thousands of shelter pets – while building a social media program of enormous proportions?

Well, there is – courtesy of the folks at Halo Purely for Pets. In fact, you could say they put their own personal “stamp” on the promotion.

Stamps To The Rescue goes “live” today, Friday April 30^th. And if you haven’t heard of the program, you must be living under a rock, because Halo has done an outstanding job of promoting it.

The United States Postal Service came up with the idea about three years ago: create a 2010 social awareness stamp to encourage everyone everywhere to consider adopting a shelter pet. The stamps feature shelter pets (5 cats and 5 dogs) shot by renowned photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce.

The shelter pets starring on the stamps (left to right): Teddy, Willow, Bianca, Trevor, Buddy, Peaches, Frankie, Bindi Su, Jake and Lucas.

The stamp program was a great idea. But a great promotion is more than a great idea. It starts there, but it takes a dynamic partnership to build it, to extend it, to turn it into a “win-win” for everybody concerned. And when the USPS approached Halo this past fall about partnering up, it couldn’t have been a better fit.

Halo Marketing VP David Yaskulka agrees. “We’re extraordinarily excited,” he said. “We at Halo have such a passion for pets and it shows in our human-grade ingredient-based foods.” And it’s this passion that makes the Stamps To The Rescue program such a natural tie-in.

Halo and its co-owner, Ellen DeGeneres, plan to donate 1 million meals to shelter pets nationwide…but they need our help.

Here is the breakdown from the Halo Web site:

• Sign up for free newsletter (Halo donates 1 meal)
• Follow @freekibble on Twitter (Halo donates 1 meal)
• Follow @halopets on Twitter (Halo donates 1 meal)
• Become a Halopets fan on Facebook (Halo donates 1 meal)
• Redeem $1 Halo coupon (Halo donates 2 meals)
• Buy Halo intro kit (Halo donates 5 meals)

These simple “opt-ins” are what make this promotion so remarkable. With a simple click, consumers can help feed shelter pets and help Halo build its social media platform.

Brilliant.

Pet product businesses: please take notice. Because this Halo promotion is history in the making. It’s sure to be used as a case study for years to come – and rightly so. There are lessons to be learned here for every pet business, big and small alike. For the pet product industry, this promotion really raises the bar.

According to Yaskulka, Halo has received over 100 media placements – and that was even before the stamps were available for sale to the public.

Add to that the thousands of followers and fans who “like” them. And imagine if all those people retweeted and reposted – talk about a “Halo” effect.

Authors note: It’s not often that I’ll break out of “impartiality mode”, but on this one occasion I will – without an apology. Follow Halo, like ‘em, sign up for the newsletter – it’s a good company with an outstanding mission. While you’re at it, follow @freekibble – answer a trivia question (doesn’t matter if you’re right or wrong) and they’ll donate 10 pieces of kibble to animal shelters. Oh, and buy the stamps…you know your momma wants you to write more anyway.

I was at the H.H. Backer show in Baltimore this past weekend. It was slow while I was there, so I wondered into the media room.

I was surprised by what I saw. Some companies did a kickin’ job at their press kits. Others looked more like a messy arts and crafts project.

Some good examples:

Poochie Bells has a polished look.

Thundershirt doing it right.

And the inside of the Thundershirt kit.

Why did they succeed? First, the presentation is clean, tidy and professional. Visually, Poochie Bells and Thundershirt catch your eye on the table. The inside is organized and full of compelling information. (The branded whistle giveaway was a nice touch – thanks Poochie Bells!)

Obviously, both were professionally printed. Do you have to? Well, no (though it’s ideal).

Up Country is a DYI and still looks great!

Take Up Country, for example.

Up Country got thick glossy folders to hold sales materials. The company printed out branding and nicely glued it to the front of the folder. The kit was finished with a colorful tattoo-inspired fabric bow. Inside: info and a beautiful product catalog (really great photography, by the way). A well-done DIY press kit.

On-demand printing has made it easier than ever to create short-run, professional-looking sales materials. That’s why it’s so hard to excuse some of the misses found at Backer. One company used 8-1/2” x 11” paper cut into smaller strips to distribute contact information. Another tried to make its own folder like Up Country – except the printed branding was cut haphazardly.

Does it really matter what your press kit looks like? Absolutely. Every communication vehicle you utilize should receive the same care: whether it’s packaging, online…or the “face” you present to the media. And each of those vehicles should convey your brand voice. That’s how you build consistency, cohesiveness and messaging that’s memorable.

When does 95 + 5 equal more than 100?

When you divide up your social media communications according to the 95/5 rule.

The 95/5 rule, created by Biznik, was developed to give guidance for live networking events. But it works well for the social media world, too. It states that 95% of the content you put out there should be helpful, useful information; 5% can consist of self-promotion. The idea is that if you’re doing a great job of providing useful content, your followership will not mind a little bit of self-promotion along with it.

It’s the law of diminishing returns in action. The law states that as we invest more in a specific area, the rate of return on that investment decreases (presuming other variables stay the same).

Definitely no soft sell here. In 5 minutes, this company posted 6 back-to-back self-serving plugs.

This law applies to online self-promotion, as well. The more you shout about how fantastic you are on Facebook, the more you yell about your awesomeness on Twitter, the more you boast about being “The Man” on LinkedIn – the less return you get.

Why is that? Well, think about it.  What fan wants to read every day about a sale on a certain product? What follower wants to read constantly about your self-declared expert status? Besides being dreadfully boring, you start sounding like an informercial. You’re one step up from being a spammer. Instead of being heard, your messages are tossed out like junk email.

So what to do? Provide the content your followership craves. Useful content. Actionable content. If you’re a dog treat company, chat it up about pet nutrition. Make grooming products? Provide tips on hygiene and nail clipping. Yes, it requires some thought, but the possibilities are endless.

Embrace Pet Insurance has the right idea – mixing valuable content with company success stories.

Establish yourself as an authority in your area and your followers will, well…follow. And what about the self-promotion part? The 95% useful content you publish acts as a multiplier. As a result, that 5% self-promotion will work harder and go much farther.

So you thought of a really cool name or tagline for your new product. Congratulations! Now what?

You need to find out if it’s available – or if somebody else is already using it. And the government has a free handy-dandy Web tool to help you do just that.

By using the Trademark Electronic Search System (TESS), you’ll be given limited access to see if anyone has already registered your intended mark.

How to use TESS (the shortened version):

• Go to http://www.uspto.gov/
• Under Trademarks click “Search Marks”
• Now you can select what kind of search you want to do. Choose “New User Form Search (Basic)”
• Enter the word or words you want to search and then hit submit.

Depending on what you search, you can end up with no results (yea!) or thousands.

If you get a hit, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to worry. For example, say you want to name your new dog treats Hula Dog, but your search tells you that same mark has been registered by another company. Check out the Goods and Services line (the second line under the Word Mark) for that particular hit. If it’s in a totally unrelated industry from yours, you still may be able to use it – but that’s up to the higher powers at the trademark office.

This Hula Dog is for clothing and hats – you’re probably safe.

Now here’s the tricky part. You need to be creative and think of other variations of your product name to search. Let’s say you have an upscale doggie clothing line called EZ Pup Coature. To do a more complete investigation, you would also need to search:

• Easy Pup Coature
• E-Z Pup Coature
• EZ Pup Couture
• E-Z Pup Couture
• Easy Pup Couture
• EZ Dog Couture
• E-Z Dog Couture
• Easy Dog Couture
• EZ Dog Coature
• E-Z Dog Coature
• Easy Dog Coature

…and so forth. Why is this important? Words that are spelled differently – but sound the same as a product already in use – will most likely be rejected by the trademark office. Otherwise, some new car company could be out there selling Kadillaks and Inphinitis.

Other hints:

• Leave plural and singular checked in your search – you want to know if your mark exists in both forms

• “Live” marks are ones that are currently registered; “Dead” marks are those that have been cancelled or abandoned. Whether you choose to search Live and Dead at the same time is up to you. Typically, I search Live first since this is what I care about the most (marks that are currently in use). Then, I’ll go on to search for Dead ones. Even if the mark is Dead, you’d certainly want to know if Purina used the same name a few years back.

• After you’ve completed your TESS search, do a Google search. Your mark may look free and clear according to the USPTO site. However, it’s a good practice to run a double-check. Why? Because only registered trademarks appear in the USPTO database; and under U.S. law, you don’t have to register your mark to establish your right to it. If you’re the first to use it in commerce (even without any federal registration) you can still retain the rights to that mark. So you’ll want to find out whether your proposed mark is in use, even if the owner hasn’t bothered to register it.

The trademark process is a long and exhausting process. But by doing some of the legwork yourself, you can save time and money. In practice, the benefit of doing your own search is often a negative one: it can keep you from pursuing a mark that’s clearly not available. Please remember though: none of this is a replacement for consulting with a qualified trademark attorney. All of these are simply preliminary searches. I advise all my clients to seek the help of a trademark attorney even if their mark appears free and clear.

Social media is great when used appropriately. You can attract new audiences through means other than traditional marketing. You can turn the spotlight on your brand and build greater loyalty. You can gain instant access into the insights and needs of your demographic. And to top it off, it’s super cost-efficient – even if you outsource to a dedicated team.

But let’s not forget what social media is all about: being social.

You set up your Twitter or Facebook account for your business. Nice…but the work’s just beginning. Your social media accounts need to be monitored, updated and routinely maintained.

Why can’t you be a passive poster? Well, you can. Just don’t expect your social media experience to be successful. The point of social media is to initiate a dialogue and deepen your relationship with your readers, in this case your consumers. So go ahead and blog once every three years. But don’t be surprised if your followers don’t hang around to hear what you have to say next.

More than ever, social media has become a way to address customer service issues.

But if you’re not Tweeting or posting regularly, how would you ever know if a customer service issue arises?

Case in point:

Almost a month passed before this pet insurance company responded.

Something like this could be detrimental to a company. This pet insurance business took about a month to respond back to a customer complaint. Meanwhile, for that entire month, current and prospective customers are reading about how this poor dog suffered. Not a good selling feature – regardless of who is in the right.

To Tweet or not to Tweet…that is NOT the question. If you’re going to play in the social media arena, don’t dabble – commit. Commit to post. Commit to interact. Commit to engage.

I’ll be totally honest. Until about 2 months ago, I didn’t know MuttPuppet Dog Toys existed.

How did I find ‘em?

Their logo. Seriously. I saw their logo online and it immediately drew me in. It was funky, offbeat…with just a touch of quirk. I needed to learn more about this wackadoo cross-eyed, buck-toothed fuzzy head staring back at me. So I clicked through. Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of an awesome logo.

The logo is perfect, actually. It’s the spitting image of the toy – anytime you see the MuttPuppet logo, you’ll think of the product. Pretty smart.

Having two toy-crazed Kerry Blues, I promptly ordered a couple of MuttPuppets.

The toys arrived a few days later. And the branding story continued. MuttPuppet doesn’t have a custom-designed box, so what they did do? Instead of leaving the generic Priority Mail box unbranded, they stickered it with their logo and tagline. Cool. I knew exactly what was inside and that the MuttPuppet fun was about to begin.

Consistent brand messaging throughout the consumer experience.

They carried their branding straight through to the folded product card. And when space was at a premium, they knew how to isolate graphic elements to maximize their MuttPuppet-ness. Even the itty bitty tag attached directly to the toys has branding.

What MuttPuppet gets (which I wish other brands would get) is that you need to embrace your brand essence EVERYWHERE. If your product is fun, cool or whimsical, then be fun, cool or whimsical at all touchpoints…from the logo, to online, to packaging, to print and so forth. A good brand voice isn’t selective about when to share its personality. A good brand voice is always out there for the world to see, enjoy…and remember. (Works wonders for building consistent messaging, too.)

Finnegan spent the afternoon with his new MuttPuppet friends.

Okay…so on to more important things. What’s the verdict on MuttPuppets?

Well, the Kerries give ‘em an enthusiastic four paws up.

Another product attribute: the Original MuttPuppet can be separated into two toys (the head is attached to the body via Velcro®). Fiona especially liked this. She’s been carrying the head everywhere she goes. Perfectly sized for fetch, too.

And Finnegan? Well, he has a product suggestion: create the Mac Daddy of MuttPuppets – the Mega Mutt. A MuttPuppet of ginormous proportions.

Until then, Finn will continue to be his toy-greedy self, trying to scoop up and carry all the MuttPuppets at once.