I found it!!

I found great customer service yesterday at a place I did not expect to find it! Let me repeat that I found great customer service!! The place....drum roll please....Sea World San Antonio! Right out of the Walt Disney play book..well maybe not that great, but still outstanding. Checking in at the front entrance with our newly purchased season pass (bought easily on-line) was a very nice young lady who smiled at me and said "thank you Mr. Hale and enjoy your day at Sea World". Wow for the first time in my life I didn't know what to say. She must have thought she said something wrong because I think I gave her a look of astonishment. Continuing into the park we encountered more "random acts of kindness" a few more "thank yous" and an invitation to come back and to top it all off "thank you and have a safe drive home" from the associates at the exit.

Very nicely done Sea World..I will be back; and I will begin to spread the the good word. www.seaworld.com

DO I NEED A MARKETING PLAN

"I don't need a marketing plan..I am to small"

My response is you are just the right size..but you wont be if you don't get one. A marketing plan needs to be an actionable document not one written on a piece of paper and never followed through on. Having a marketing plan does not have to include spending a $100,000 on media and other mass media deals. Marketing from in-side-out will show you how to maximize your dollars and gain and retain clients.

The reason why so many brands are using social marketing is because it works..facebook, utube, MySpace and other blogs are taking over they way marketers think. Gone are the days of throwing money at ad/print campaigns. But you still need to have a marketing plan..this one may need to be called your "social marketing plan" and please do not fear change..times are changing and if you let it go by your brand will be left behind. If you do fear it...let me know and I will guide your brand through the change.

"Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."
— Mark Sanborn

Design you own Mega Brand.. soda can

Something fun for all of you designers out there..and if you are like me and designed-challenged this is an easy one. http://www.designourpepsican.com/

Have fun...if you win you must give props to Inside-Out Marketing blog.....

-RC

Your People..Your Brand

Ask your people. Would you like to find out what your customers think about your brand? Like to find out what your people think of your brand? Most executives are afraid to ask there people for fear they may tell them something they do not want to hear..that's a brand killer!

Your people are your brand and if you are in the service industry and 99% of us are...your people are the face of your brand and are the most important asset a brand has.

Here are some questions you need to ask your people...

-What do you think about our brand/products/service
-Make sure your people understand you are asking them as partners and that they should always feel they can speak there mind.

-What are the clients saying about our brand/product/service

-How many new people a day are coming in

-Have there been any unhappy clients..please go into detail on how problem was solved

As with any question/suggestion you need to make sure you have follow-up and a action plan. You have to show your people there in-put counts. Ask them to come up with a solution or a new program. And give them incentive to do so (money talks) Give them power and they will go the extra mile..show them there ideas are important and they will go the extra two miles..and show them you care they will go for miles and miles.

Taking care of your people...just another way the Inside-Out Marketing program will work for you and your brand.

Is your brand relevant everywhere?

Is your brand relevant everywhere...and to everybody? Does it need to be relevant to everyone? Is AstoTurf relevant to everyone? Is a brand that is only marketed in the East Coast relevant to someone in Austin TX?

Working as a senior brand manager for AstroTurf we had it easy as the AstroTurf brand name ranked in the top ten most recognizable brands in the world. But was it relevant to everyone..as we found out the answer is no and did we try to make it relevant to everyone..no!

Is your brand relevant to everyone or maybe the better question is does it need to be?

Can your brand stand out?

Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.

I wanted to share this story from the Washington Post written by Gene Weingarten

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

Its a fascinating account of how people only let in what they want to. This can come back full circle to building your brand. No matter how much money you spend on mass media telling consumers how great your product or service is...if people do not want it they will tune you out and you have wasted lots of money..ask Coke about "New Coke"

Interesting reading...please let me know what you think?

WOMMA

I wanted to share a web site with everyone, its a site I have to check everyday. The reason I have to check the site is because its something I believe in and its content is always changing. The site is http://www.womma.org/womnibus/

Let me know what you think...word of mouth marketing is a medium that is growing and will continue to grow and I and other Inside-Out Marketers will grow with it....will you and your brand?

Get out there...but only 8 miles out

Hands on the Street Marketing is the discipline of reaching out to your local business community (within a 8 mile radius of your business.) to build your brand. How do you go about doing Hands on the Street Marketing, its just how it sounds..getting out of your business and putting your hands to work. Visiting all of the businesses in an 8 mile area around your locations..those are the customers you do business with and need to reach out to. Extend your hand...introduce yourself...form a friendship...induce trail. Why would you try to reach out to a whole city of people when the clients you really want are in your backyard!
Training your staff to do Hands on the Street Marketing is a skill and one that takes patients and experience...but when they have it down and believe in the system your brand will grow and grow.

Opening Day is everyday for your brand

It's opening day for Major League Baseball, a time when every team believes it has a chance to win the pennant, is that realistic....no but on opening day it is!
For your brand everyday should be opening day, you have a chance to become a Coke, Dell or Starbucks. But what is it going to take to win the brand pennant? Time, patients, hard work...sure all are part of it but that alone will not insure your brand success. Your people are the most important part of your brand...you will not build it alone..Get them and Train them and Retain them.

GTR

1. Get: Recruiting is the hardest part of the 3 steps. Sure you can go it the easy way and bring someone in and attempt to train them to think like you, act like you and be you....but all people are different and trust me you do not want all your people thinking like you. No matter what stage your brand is in you have to pin point what kind of people you are looking for in certain positions.

2. Train: Most companies will say they have a great training program, but in reality a very thick training manual is not training. Hands on and on-going training is the only way to create your brand culture. And a culture is something that is from inside and not stated on a mission statement.

3. Retain: Do what ever it takes to make your people happy and successful. Reward the people inside your organization(just like you reward clients you already have) your people are your brand at heart and never let the go away mad...reward them and treat them like family.

GTR =Get...Train... Retain