Perry Design & Advertising

Endangered List: Good Customer Service

Perry Design & Advertising — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:11:27 +0000

Have you ever felt like a nuisance when walking into a store rather than a paying customer? Call me crazy, but this experience has become commonplace in about every aspect of my life, and really great customer service is so rare that I’m surprised when it occurs. I brag to friends when I get truly good customer service. I think in today’s business climate, retail or business to business, customer service can make or break a company’s survival rate.

In my community we have an outstanding Radio Shack – for one reason; the staff. They are very friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. They greet me with a hello when I walk into the door and say “can I help you?”, and they continue to listen and always come up with a solution.

The new norm for customer service is more like walking into the door of a business and not seeing anyone there to help, then when an employee is found they are involved in a personal conversation with another employee or worse on their cell phone. Their eyes glaze over when you explain what you are looking for, and they ultimately send you away with a comment like “whatever is there is all we have”

I’m really shocked at how some people stay in business at all! Have you made a call out for a lawyer, accountant or even a caterer, and never heard back from them?

Every employee is your company’s face – and each one should have a basic understanding of their representation and lasting influence on a customer’s experience.

If managers teach some basic rules to their employees, excellent customer service skills can be achieved:

Listen to your customer, don’t interrupt with defending yourself or the company. Truly find out what the customer is asking for.

Don’t take complaints personally, avoid becoming angry or defensive. There may be something you don’t know and can be improved by taking a complaint seriously.

Have compassion, put yourself in the customer’s shoes to figure out what you can do, and offer an apology if necessary.

Offer a solution, never let the customer end the conversation without finding a solution, even if it might not be in your job description. You can always lead the customer to someone who might help out, take an extra step if you need to.

Answer the phone! Or at least return the call for goodness sake, it might be a paying customer!

Bootcamp without breaking a sweat?

Perry Design & Advertising — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 20:31:56 +0000

There are many bootcamps in the Inland Empire where you won’t break a sweat, unless of course you’re having internet connection issues…

More and more social media “bootcamps” are springing up everywhere in the IE, most are free or low-cost and a great investment in your time and energy. Myself, at Perry Design and Advertising attended one today! Continuing education, or beginning an education for business professional is a great idea, really diving into learning these resources inside and out for:

Facebook, WordPress, LinkedIn, Twitter – think Charlie Sheen, or maybe not…

Don’t be intimidated about it, look into social or internet marketing bootcamps in your area. There are many regional events happening now, one worth-while is called “8-hour Blogging Bootcamp” by Eydie’s Office, offered at the IEWBC. Clubs, like AMA or AAF and some colleges offer these so do some research, check your datebook and get busy.

Remember to “Fan” me once you’re up and running!

PSA success for non-profits

Perry Design & Advertising — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 20:09:38 +0000

Tips for non-profits…get your message across to the community

It’s not too often we get the chance to write public service announcement (PSA) for clients or charity projects, but recently we helped local non-profit West End Animal Shelter get the word out. Our goal was to write and submit more informational PSA’s for them, on a wide range of services the shelter offers such as importance of spay and neuter, low-cost vaccination extended clinic dates, importance of micro-chips among others.

PSA’s are generally a “commercial” for worthwhile causes for strictly non-profit organizations that broadcaster’s air free of charge. They run different lengths and are usually read by an announcer or personality which keeps radio production costs at a minimum. For television, a professionally produced spot is something that is required, so there is a budget and production costs to consider, but well worth it for a chance at free exposure and community outreach for your non-profit.

Consider these word-count tips when writing:

10 second spot = approximately 20 words
20 second spot = approximately 50 words
30 second spot = approximately 75 words
60 second spot = approximately 150 words

Make every word count, so write, edit, re-write, re-edit until you’ve created interest in your message or story and will motivate listeners or viewers to respond to your message, or to gain insight, empathy, and understanding. Be clear on what your objectives are and make sure to list all the pertinent facts in order of importance, and do so with a friendly, natural flow.

PSA’s have lead time, so plan ahead and make sure it’s directed to the appropriate public service director. Visit the website of the networks or stations you want to approach, and find out their policies, procedures and requirements and follow very carefully.

Most likely you’ll need to provide:

proof of your nonprofit status
A script of the PSA you want the announcer to read Tape: (for radio): 7-1/2 inches per second
Film: 16mm sound on film, optical track
Video Tape: 1″ or 2″ high band color
Letter outlining the mission of your non-profit

For more information visit the Southern California Broadcaster’s Association

Common Sense Brand Integrity

Perry Design & Advertising — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 18:00:54 +0000

by Angelique Strahan

Finding the right message for your product or service and then making sure your audience hears that message, can be a series of tricky tasks. Some small businesses can start with their brand in ways that are really quite simple. The new economic climate finds businesses downsizing and finding themselves with new competition – bringing new challenges. Before diving into a marketing plan or an ad campaign, these tips are crucial to make sure your brand is represented well.

1. Keep your website updated with new information – and make sure the design doesn’t look 10 years behind the times.
2. Blog- you are an authority in your business, otherwise you wouldn’t be in business right? Besides it helps with SEO for search engines.
3. Use your domain name for your business email addresses. You wouldn’t expect to reach John at Coca Cola by emailing him at BeerMeJohn@aol.com, you would hope to find him at JohnL@cocacola.com. You would be amazed how many companies use their personal emails on their business cards.
4. If you are a home based business, you don’t have to prove it by having a screaming baby or other distractions in the background – you know, you’ve been on the phone with them before…
5. Find the time to make sure all of your correspondence matches – website, business cards, letterhead, email signatures from each employee. Resist using old stock with old logos or information.

Ultimately the way your brand’s integrity will have staying power will be the quality you deliver, where it be the quality of your product or service. But if you forget the above points of customer communication, it will reflect on your overall branding.

Keep it Simple with Taglines and Slogans

Perry Design & Advertising — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:26:06 +0000

Janine Perry, Partner, Perry Design & Advertising

Creating or re-creating your business identity through consistent use of taglines and marketing slogans are important steps to success.

A tagline should serve to compliment your business name, be unique but easy to remember and most importantly, relevant to your company’s name and mission statement. A tagline is a word or phrase that will help people readily identify with what you offer. Use simple everyday words that people will easily connect to and will help them visualize or “feel the brand.” With taglines, less is more – such as LG “Life’s Good”, Subway’s “Eat Fresh” or Nike’s “Just Do It”. A solid tagline is a part of your brand identity and should be used for a long-time – incorporated into your marketing collateral, alongside your logo, on your website, email signature, etc.

Some local taglines we’ve created include: SunWest Engineering Constructors, Inc. – Your Reliable Source for Fuel Systems Innovation, MJK Construction, Inc. – From Design to Construction – Delivering Diversity, Quakes – Always a Big Hit, Kessler Alair Insurance – For a Range of Reasons, Perry Roofing – On top of it all

Listed are a few tips to developing a tagline:

Determine a particular aspect that you want to promote – such as; reliability, uniqueness, affordability, service, trust etc. Example: “You’re in good hands with Allstate.”
Define your target audience –Mazda uses the tagline “Zoom! Zoom!” which doesn’t necessarily say anything about the product, but rather grabs attention of its target audience.
Keep the words short, simple and relevant.
Test your tagline with colleagues, customers, friends and peers and listen to feedback, adjust as necessary.
Avoid using a tagline in use, infringing on another trademark or service mark. While you don’t register a tagline, you should consider using a trademark or service mark early on. To learn more, check with California’s Secretary of State’s office, or consult with an attorney.

A slogan differs from a tagline in that it often shorter-lived and campaign and audience specific. A good slogan will capture and retain attention of its audience. Two examples of famous slogans that clearly state the benefit to consumers are:

“You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less — or it’s free.” Domino’s Pizza

“When your package absolutely, positively has to get there overnight” Fedex

An effective slogan is part of an advertising campaign as a whole and:

states the main benefits of the product or brand for the potential user or buyer
implies a distinction between it and other firms’ products – within the usual legal constraints
makes a simple, direct, concise statement
is often witty
adopts a distinct “personality” of its own
gives a credible impression of a brand or product
makes the consumer feel “good”
makes the consumer feel a desire or need
is hard to forget – it adheres to one’s memory (whether one likes it or not), especially if it is accompanied by a jingle or pictures.

With all of this information, are you keeping it simple?

(Perry Design & Advertising is located in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. For more information, please visit PerryAdvertising.com)

Hair Phases Re Grand Opening Event

Perry Design & Advertising — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:30:18 +0000

Last Wednesday’s event went pretty well! Patti Banner from KOLA 99.9FM volunteered to receive a makeover on the air!

Patti got what’s now called The Patti Doo!

Below is the video recapping the event. This video can also be viewed on our new YouTube channel where you will be able to find all the new stuff going on with our clients.

http://www.youtube.com/PerryAdvertising

Visit Perry Design & Advertising at

www.PerryAdvertising.com

Marketing Plan Tips

Perry Design & Advertising — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:19:26 +0000

Developing a marketing plan is an important step for anyone writing a business plan. This is just one element of that overall project, but it will jump start the process of getting important questions answered. The first step in writing a marketing plan is to determine your company’s unique selling proposition, or USP. To do so, you’ll need to be able to answer the following questions in a paragraph or two:

What purpose does your company and its products/services serve? What need is it filling?
What makes your company and its product/services unique, or different from any other business?
How does this uniqueness benefit the consumer?

Don’t forget when writing this portion of your marketing plan that you’ll need to list both the tangible and the intangible benefits to the consumer. As an example, an intangible benefit of using a copywriter would be that it saves the client time and energy, but a tangible is that they get copy that sells. Both are equally important, and cannot be left out.

Pricing Strategy

To determining your company’s pricing strategy, you’ll first need to know how much you’ll be charging your clients, which means creating a break even analysis. In other words, what amount of profit will you require to keep the business running smoothly, and how many sales will you need to make to do that? For a review of a real-world scenario using a copywriting services company, check out this break even analysis for how-to.

Sales and Distribution

There are three aspects to the sales and distribution strategy portion of a marketing plan that require discussing, but not all three will apply to all businesses. They are:

How will your customer receive the product? This includes explaining such things as shipping, brick and mortar vs. online distribution, delivery terms, packaging, labeling, minimum inventory levels and costs associated with distribution.
Explain how a customer will receive your product in their hands from start to finish. This includes explaining policies and procedures related to shipping times, order processing, billing, payment methods and terms (such as credit), return policies, warranties, support, feedback mechanisms and complaints.
How will you sell your product? Will there be salespeople who require training and support, or will the entire sales process be performed through sales copy? Either way the process needs to be explained in full.

Advertising and Promotions

There are many different ways to get your business name in front of the right customers. This is the part of the marketing plan which describes how you are going to do that. Make sure to include plans for:

Advertising, such as classified ads, the Internet or radio;
Marketing materials, like business cards, websites and brochures;
Publicity, such as testimonials, press releases and/or
Promotions, like coupons and demonstrations.

Don’t forget to include in this last section not only what you plan on doing, but a timeline as well as estimated costs for the advertising and promotions.

www.perryadvertising.com

Book Recommendations for the Summer!

Perry Design & Advertising — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:37:06 +0000

Check out the books we’ve been reading!

Debt Cures ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About
by Kevin Trudeau

Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution–and How It Can Renew America
by Thomas L. Friedman

Go Put Your Strengths to Work: Six Powerful Steps to Achieve Outstanding Performance
by Marcus Buckingham
Back to top

Share With Us

If you’ve read a great book, email the book title and author to us at: info@perryadvertising.com

For more information, please call 909-945-9500 or visit www.perryadvertising.com

Win Win Solutions

Perry Design & Advertising — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:44:37 +0000

Locally, Perry Design & Advertising client Terra Vista Town Center in Rancho Cucamonga decided to invest in new LED lighting for their holiday décor. The initial investment seemed expensive at first, but when the cost was compared with replacing 1,000 incandescent bulbs annually, coupled with the energy use of the old bulbs each year, it was a no-brainer! The new lights are “green friendly” and use 2% of the energy of the old lights. The timing of this decision was great as the global warming movement reached the tipping point in 2007. A press release was published in the local media about the green friendly decision and the center lit up with a good message – holiday wishes for a greener tomorrow.

Internationally, IKEA had recently conducted an advertising campaign on their direct mail pieces and email advertising that every toy purchased in their store is strictly tested for safety. This is a big issue in 2007 with Chinese made toys found to have lead in them, among other safety hazards. IKEA doesn’t stop at stating they are committed to the safety of their toys, they list all the safety standards they follow, listed by country and law number. Then they follow that up with a paragraph describing characteristics of a safe toy. Smart business, smart marketing, great advertising.

Visit Perry Design & Advertising at

www.PerryAdvertising.com

What is Facebook?

Perry Design & Advertising — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 21:38:59 +0000

Facebook is a social networking website, very popular among college students. It was originally developed for university students, faculty and staff, but has since expanded to include everyone, even corporate communities. According to 23 year old founder Mark Zuckerberg, there are 30 million subscribers on Facebook. TheFacebook name is based on the paper facebooks that colleges give to incoming students, faculty, and staff depicting members of the campus community.

The site was founded as the facebook in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard University. With help from some of his friends, within a few weeks of launching the site over half the Harvard undergraduate population had registered. Within two months, Facebook expanded to the rest of the Ivy League and a few other schools. By December 2005, the number of registered users exceeded one million.

Charlene Li, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research says “don’t write off social networking sites as merely social playgrounds for the young. Your customers, prospects, and employees are exploring and extending their relationships there. Some of you will be bolder in creating business value in these networks while others will wait for the pioneers to carve out the paths. But ignore these new communities only if you believe your customers are not there – and there are few instances where this will be the case.”

Visit Perry Design & Advertising at

www.PerryAdvertising.com