The Financial Post had an interesting article recently that talked about the ‘brand image’ of countries.

Canada ranked 3rd. The UK 1st, Germany 2nd and Iran last.

I’m not going to go in to the details of the article (if you’re interested you can find it in the Saturday Sept. 22, 2007 issue)…what I do want to do is explore the underlying problem with ‘Brand Canada’.

That is…the majority of Canadian marketing stinks.

Before you fire me off an email and declare me a traitor…let me explain why this is the case.

In short…we’re too nice. Is that possible, you ask? Is there such a thing as being too nice?

When it comes to marketing, you bet. Author Andrea Mandel-Campbell hits the mark when writing “Canadians are not aggressive enough.”

Somewhere along the way…Canadians were taught that being aggressive is plain rude and wrong. Well, in some situations it definitely is…and I’m not recommending you walk around making demands right, left and center until you get what you want…even if you don’t deserve it.

While I agree with Mandel-Campbell’s notion of Canadians being ‘too nice’ in business I think the choice of vocabulary is off.

What most Canadian marketing lacks isn’t aggression…it’s persistence.

When it comes to getting your customers attention and having them take action…persistence is the key that unlocks all doors.

The article goes on to give a great example: Most Canadian marketers will call on their prospect once or twice (and if they are told No will give up), American marketers will call again and again until they get what they want.

And it’s not just with calls…but with direct mail, advertisements and other marketing communications.

Does the American approach seem too aggressive? Some will surely say, YES.

But in business if the wrong approach works…it becomes the right approach — the money-making and profitable approach. Hey, as long as it is ethical who can argue with that.

So what should Canadians do to achieve the same results…to stay competitive yet feel comfortable being persistent? The answer is value.

If what you have to offer provides value to your prospect or customer…if they would benefit from what you have to offer…then it is your right, no, your duty, to make sure your prospect fully understands what you are offering them and why they should care.

Each and everyone of your marketing messages needs to communicate what makes your product unique and how your prospect will value from it.

If your case is strong and you’re confident that your product is packed with value…then don’t give up after one or two communications. It can take up to 7 or 8 communications before you turn a prospect into a customer.

It’s sad to see Canadian marketers giving up, packing it in, and proclaiming failure after only a couple of tries.

Your marketing doesn’t need to be a hyped up pitch — and it really shouldn’t be. No one wants to read that, right?

Use your marketing to educate and provide value…and your prospects and customers won’t find it offensive and aggressive..they will invite it and come to trust it.

So while they may not by from you right away…they will see you as an authority (through your constant communication) and when they become ready to buy…you’ll be at the top of their list.

Regardless of what you are doing…and regardless of your industry…don’t give up. Be persistent, educate and provide value.

It not only is the right approach - it works!

To your success,

Michael

Tracking and Testing. They are different…but it amazes me how many people don’t know.

I’m not talking about the average person walking down the street…but men and women working in marketing and advertising.

Here’s what’s going on: Since I’ve come back to Vancouver I’ve been meeting with several business owners and a handful of the top advertising agencies in the city.

It’s a habit to take each conversation into talking about their business development and sales efforts and what their doing with

In part I’m happy. Why? Because many companies and agencies are tracking their results.

The internet has made finding out how many people come to your website, where they come from and how long they stayed on your website a breeze.

That’s good news.

It’s great to hear that agencies are having to become more accountable and that companies are interested to know ‘how well’ a campaign did.

Statistics like these are extremely valuable. Not looking at them would be a tragedy, an injustice to your marketing.

But folks, tracking statistics is just the start.

Tracking the results of a single ad or website page is great…but without testing…oy vey, you’re missing what it’s all about.

You see, having all that valuable data is fine but it doesn’t mean much if you don’t have anything to compare it to…to know its potential.

This isn’t information I’ve just invented.

$100 million plus financial service and publishing companies that really understand marketing will never send out just one sales letter or ad. They will, without a doubt test sending out two variations or more of a sales letter.

Or send out a new letter to compete with an old letter.

Often times two ads with the exact same body copy, the exact same offer, but with a different headline…can increase your response by 50%, 100% or more.

Putting together a mailing or ad campaign with no variations is such a waste. You roll it out…tally up the results and then what…it was poor, so so, great.

You can’t really know how well it did or more importantly could have done if you didn’t test it.

Tracking is a given. But if you’re not testing your marketing…you have no idea how well you could do…you might be sitting on a potential gold mine.

So how do you test your marketing?

• You can try different headlines on ads.
• You can split-test web pages that your customers first see.
• You can try different images, layouts, offers and much more.

Here’s An Example
Let’s say you sending out a sales letter. You send out 3 sales letters. 500 of the Version A. 500 of Version B with a different headline. And 500 of Version C with a new offer.

You track the results as they come in. Guess what? You find out that Version B’s headline got 15% more responses than Version A’s. Even more important you find that Version C’s new offer pulled 50% more orders than the offer in Version A and B.

So what do you do now? You merge the offer from Version C with the headline from Version B….send out the letter to the remaining customers on your list.

You’ll be getting a higher response rate and many times the sales.

Knowing this you’d be silly to send out the Version A letter only and track its results.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t just track. Track and test.

You’ll thank me for it and so will your bank.

To your success,

Michael

Last week RK’s father (YK) went into hospital for surgery in Japan. The operation was successful and he is recovering well…though he is still in hospital as I write this.

But I had an amazing experience I wanted to share with you.

It’s not my first time to have such an experience…but they are rare.

Here’s what happened…

I wanted to send YK a fruit or flower basket wishing him a speedy recovery. Nice, right? But there were some big logistics to work out.

I’m in Vancouver and the hospital is in Nagoya, Japan. First you should know that I spent almost 5 years living and running a business in Japan. My Japanese is fluent.

So while this process would have been difficult for some…it wasn’t for me.

Enough boasting and back to the lesson in this story.

I scoured the web using both English and Japanese search engines to find the right basket….one full of this particular seasons best crop of melon, grapes, apples, peaches and other delicous fruits.

It took a while but finally I found a company that would deliver this perfect fruit basket to YK in hospital.

I picked up the phone and called the company. I guess they don’t get many calls from overseas because when they answered the phone and I told them I was calling from overseas…the phone got passed right away to the president of the company.

We talked and I explained I needed to get this fruit basket to the hospital right away.

Okay, no problem he said. I told him I’d give him my credit card number….well, that’s a problem he said.

This company, like many still in Japan doesn’t yet except credit cards…they take bank transfers or accept payment upon delivery.

Well, I’m not going to get someone to pay when this basket is delivered…and my Japanese bank account isn’t active unless I’m in Japan…

…I’m out of luck I thought, too bad, that basket was perfect.

The president said to call him back in 15 minutes. He’d call the credit card company and see if they could process this…as they are only 2 or 3 days from being set up (they were planning to start accepting credit cards soon).

20 minutes later I called back. The president said, “I’m sorry the credit card company said it will take 3 more days to have everything set up.” I wasn’t completely surprised…actually I was kind of expecting that answer. But he continued “Listen, I trust you. Give me your order and I’ll send it off today. When we can take credit cards in a few days from now, I’ll send you the invoice and just pay me then.”

Wow! Really? Thanks man!

So I placed my order and the beautiful basket of fruits arrived a day later.

What’s the lesson here you say? It’s trust. This business owner took a chance. He could have lost his cost on the basket…maybe $60. Of course I paid him right away. But what he did was get a client for life.

He made me feel special. He trusted me…I feel I can trust him now.

The next time I have to send someone a gift for a special occasion or to send wishes for someone’s recovery…I will, without hesitation order from this company again. And, I’ll tell everyone about them.

Put trust in your clients and they will trust you. They will rave about you. They will become your sales team…and your profits will soar.

The company I ordered from is www.ikado.co.jp

To your success,

Michael
Relagy Marketing

This week I have something special for you…

 Access to free videos of some of the greatest advertising legends of all time.

Watch Lester Wunderman, Bill Bernbach, David Ogilvy and others talk about their businesses, advertising and life.

This is an amazing collection of footage. No need for me to go on…click the link below to start watching…

Advertising Legends on Video

To your success,

Michael
Relagy Marketing