Drooling Into the Keyboard

This weekend I whipped up a poster for Matthew Lewis, chef and owner of the Where Ya At, Matt? Cajun/Creole food truck, for his upcoming crawfish boil.



I think the crawfish Matthew will be serving won't be quite as difficult to eat as the one in this poster appears it'd be!

Click here to download the PDF, if you'd like to see the whole thing. Or, if you're just concerned about the crawfish boil itself and could care less about the poster (and I can't blame you): it's Sunday, March 27, 3 pm til they run out (get there early!) at Le Bon Ton Roulé* on Leary Way.

Matthew points out: "Yes, there will be beer!"

*Le Bon Ton is named for a New Orleans bar and is not actually a misspelling of "les bon temps."

The Importance of Specificity

The world is full of people; it's full of businesses, too. It's full of web designers and communications consultants. It's full of attorneys, spas, kitchenware stores, and landscapers.

Don't just be another business in the vast sea of businesses; don't make just another product in the wide world of stuff. Be specific about who you are, what you do, what you make, and how you do it. Consumers have a lot of choices: give them specific information about who you are and allow them to make an informed decision based on their needs.

I wanted to buy a bottle of white wine the other day and didn't recognize any of my choices, so I started reading labels. I read a lot about the winemakers, about the wineries, and even some drivel comparing a Riesling to a romantic evening. But there was nothing on any of the labels that actually described the wine. Was that Riesling dry, off-dry, or downright sweet? How was I to know?

Most consumers know what they want: it's our job to tell them what we provide. What harm would it have done the maker of the Riesling to tell us whether it was sweet or dry? If I'd been making Thai food, I would have been pleased to pick up a sweet wine and know with certainty that it would pair with my meal. If I'd been making pork cutlets with sauerkraut, I would have been happy with a dry wine. But instead of being allowed to make an informed decision, I had to leave it to chance whether the wine would pair with the food.

There's nothing wrong with trying to appeal to a large audience, but you can't appeal to everyone. Wines are sweet or dry, or somewhere in between, but they can't be both. Trying to be everything to everyone is what I call Generic Grasping. It might work with big business--they have enough potential customers that it doesn't matter--but for small businesses, it's flat-out dumb.

By telling customers about your services or your product, by removing the guesswork from their decisions, you greatly decrease the potential for dissatisfied customers. The maker of that Riesling left open a 50% chance that I would be unhappy with the product. If they'd given me more information about what I was buying, that percentage would be greatly reduced and would have been based solely on the quality of the product.

How can we use specific language and descriptions to allow your potential customers to make an informed decision? What other examples of Generic Grasping can you think of, and how could the businesses involved change their approach to provide the customer with better information?

Got My First Guinea Pig!

My friend Rhonda is an attorney and mediator, and to help launch my free web site evaluation service, I asked whether I could use her site as an example; she kindly agreed! Rhonda and I will be working together over the next few days to evaluate her current web site: her needs for it and how it's performing for her.

Rhonda has already answered the evaluation questions I posed in my last post, and I've developed a list of areas that I'll address in my assessment of the site:

1. Function: Does the web site perform its function / fulfill its purpose?
2. Emotion: Does the web site inspire the appropriate emotions in viewers?
3. Clarity of Design: Is it easy to read, easy to navigate, and intuitive to use?
4. Brand: Does the site maintain and promote the business’ brand and is that brand consistent throughout?
5. Content: Is the content clearly written, concise, and appropriate?
6. Attractiveness: Is the web site attractive? Is its theme and style suited to the brand of the business?
7. Uniqueness: Does the web site offer something that can’t be found elsewhere?
8. Search Engine Friendliness: Is the web site easy to find with appropriate search terms? Is it seeded with the right keywords; does it contain the right meta data and titles?

This is the process I'll go through with any client for the Free Web Site Evaluation. Then I'll take it a step further and give Rhonda's web site a makeover to show how a site can be improved based on the evaluation.

Check back soon! Ideas are percolating already.

Free Web Site Evaluation

You have a web site for a reason. Creating it required effort and expense. Is it doing what it’s supposed to do?

Limoncello is currently offering a free web site evaluation for existing sites. This is a brief process in which I’ll ask you a couple of questions about your web site’s function and purpose and how you think it’s performing for you; then I’ll evaluate it based on your responses and on the criteria listed below.

I’ll give you ideas on how your web site could better do its job and let you know what would be involved in getting the site to that point. Then we’re done!

You come away with a better understanding of how you’re using a key marketing tool, and possibly how you could use it better, as well as some insights as to what potential customers are seeing (or not seeing) when they visit your web site.

Evaluation Questions for You

What do you want your web site to do for you?

• inform customers about your business?
• drive customers to your store or restaurant?
• drive customers to contact you about your services?
• promote and/or sell books?
• create and/or promote your professional persona?
• something else?

How well do you feel your current site is meeting this/these objectives? Why?

Who is your target demographic? Put yourself in their shoes. Does your web site work for them? Does it appeal to them?


Why Am I Doing This for Free?

The obvious answer is that I hope you’ll find a few things about your web site that you want to change, and that you’ll select Limoncello to make those changes. But this process is also extremely educational for me. Small business owners and individuals are my target demographic, and this process will help me to understand some of their needs and perceptions regarding web design. So it’s educational on both ends—I should be thanking you!

So, thank you. Now, give me a call: 206.551.1980.

Back to Work

After a long hiatus dealing with my personal life and a 9-to-5, pay-the-bills job, I'm back to work full force on Limoncello. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be updating the web site, launching some special deals, and working on partnerships. Watch for free web site help coming soon!

Remember Your Social Media Mission

It's called social media, and what we do on it is called networking, but don't believe that for a second. If you are using social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to market your business, you can't get caught up in the social nature of the platforms or you risk losing sight of your mission.

Declare Your Mission

When you first begin using Twitter and Facebook as marketing tools for your business, sit down and write out a mission statement: just a sentence or two describing your ultimate goal.

Your mission is probably similar to that of most other businesses: to eventually increase sales through the increase of positive perception of your brand.

One of my clients is a specialty retail food shop with a strong philosophy and practice of sustainability. I do their Twittering for them, although the owner occasionally logs on to watch the conversation.

Dig the Dialogue

Recently I saw a controversial statement about sustainability tweeted by a peer in my client's industry, and I replied from an oppositional standpoint but in such a way as to open a dialogue.

My purpose was to create an interesting conversation, increasing both of our followers and showing my client's followers what my client truly stands for and believes.

The other guy didn't take the bait in the way I wanted, though. He responded, but via direct message, with a barrage of "you don't know what you're talking about" -type posts and worse.

I salvaged this, bringing it back to the public forum where it would have value to us, by continuing to reply in regular tweets and making comments like "re: your DM" and "let's keep this public so people can learn." He eventually began responding via reply instead of direct message, and I watched our follower count rise.

Don't Be Baited

The damage was done, however. In his direct messages, this Twerp was inflammatory, rude, and condescending. He stooped to name-calling, and this was where my client lost it.

"What's the Twitter code? How do I tweet?" he demanded on the phone.

"Why?" I asked cautiously.

"That guy called me a tool in front of the whole world! I can't let that stand! And besides, he doesn't know the actual issue at all!"
I asked what he wanted to say and wasn't surprised to hear that it was a response to the personal attack. He had been hooked.

"No way," I told him firmly. "We are not actually talking to him."

Take the High Road

My client, of course, wanted to know just what I meant by that. I explained that the purpose of the dialogue I'd begun with the Twerp was solely a means of speaking indirectly to our followers, both customers and potential customers.

"It doesn't matter a bit what he said in private. What matters is what we say in public. We're having this conversation so people can listen, like talking a bit too loudly in a restaurant."

Slowly my client began to cool down as he understood what I was saying. "He's not the point, then," he submitted.

"Exactly," I said. "Now, what is our mission here? We want to talk about the issues. Let's go back to what he said and challenge him there. Let's show your knowledge of the situation in a way that fosters debate but doesn't set him off personally, so we can sustain the dialogue."

"OK, you're right."

Stick To Your Skill Set

"Do you want to write the next post?" I asked.

I could practically see him shrink back through the phone. "No way. You know what you're doing. You do it."

Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The Declaration of Independence; Pissarro's "Conversation"; Line art drawing of a fish hook and its barb, Pearson Scott Foresman; Fechtende adelige Studenten.

Social Media Success Story

You never know who's reading your tweets!

About two weeks ago I was tweeting for my sustainable butcher / charcuterie client, @SwineryMeats, about the bacon chocolate chip cookie dough they were testing. Unbeknownst to me at the time, New York Times columnist Charlotte Druckman was just then scanning The Swinery's Twitter feed.

Ms. Druckman had just found The Swinery through an online search for merguez (lamb sausage) with the thought of writing a column about the stuff. Some initial poking around on The Swinery's site led her to their Twitter feed, whereupon she saw my post about the mouthwateringly delicious, above-mentioned cookies.

The next day, The Swinery's owner got a call from Ms. Druckman. She explained that she'd been intruiged with the company upon reading about their merguez, but simply had to know more when she learned they were making such things as those cookies. Naturally, the Head Swine Guy immediately sent her some samples, including the merguez which had originally piqued her interest, some cookies, and also a taste of something new he was working on: smoked bresaola.

The bresaola was the undisputed show-stopper, and Ms. Druckman called to say she'd like to write about it. After the interview, the piece was ready to go, with one hold-up the evening before press time: there was no photo to accompany it. The author had some bresaola left to shoot, but couldn't find her camera. The Swinery had a camera on hand, but over the weekend had completely sold out of bresaola, which takes about two months to make.

The deadline was that day, and The Swinery really wanted the story to run that week because they were just about to reopen from a two-month remodeling closure. So the Swine Guy got on the phone to his marketing consultant--me.

"Can you help?" he begged.

"I don't know what I can do...I don't have any bresaola either!" I said. "Are you sure you sold it all?"

"It flew out the door over the weekend. People loved it."

"I'll try to think of something," I promised. It was already nearly 5 pm on the East Coast; I assumed that it was a lost cause.

But something struck me in what he had said. The entire batch had sold out over the past weekend? It was only Tuesday. Maybe someone who'd bought it still had some. Maybe they'd be willing to take a picture for us.

So I went into the Swinery's Facebook page and posted an emergency call to action. "HELP! If you bought any of our smoked bresaola recently, and still have any, and you could take a high-res photo of it today, please let us know ASAP! The NYT wants to run a story on it but they want a pic... and meanwhile we've sold it all!"

I admit I did not expect this to work. But I underestimated the power of social media. In one hour I got a response from a loyal customer who said she still had some bresaola and would be happy to photograph it for us. But we had to wait until she got off work... in a couple of hours.

Unbelievably, though, it happened. I received the photos and sent them on to Ms. Druckman and, miraculously, she was still up. The next morning, thanks to not one but two miracles of social media, The Swinery was in The New York Times.

Next time, I've gotta get my name in there!