The way business works has been slowly changing. Business use to be just about selling your product or service. Today business is becoming more about delivering your customers experiences. You should start to consider your target market and work on developing memorable experiences that you can deliver to your customer.

I recently purchased an iPhone. The packaging for it was high quality and visually appealing like most Apple products. When I opened the package the experience was like getting an expensive new toy. The total experience from purchase to now use has been seamless.

To create experiences for your customers look at other industries for inspiration. Apple does the following…

• Always think your selling an experience and not a product or service.
• Make your web site a tool and not a brochure.
• Ensure your business is transparent to customers.
• Think about the end goal of what it is your selling and design experiences around it.

Another good example of creating experiences locally is the Running Room. They sell running shoes. There are tons of stores that sell running shoes. The Running Room created an experience for after purchase which allows you to join their community of local runners.

What company do you feel does the best job at selling experiences and not products or services?

Sometimes old school is the way to go. When we talk about advertising on this blog, the first thought that pops in the minds of many readers is online advertising. They think of Google AdSense, banner ads, and other marketing materials that show up on the various websites on the Internet. Maybe you think about newspaper spots and television commercials too.

Along the way, many companies neglect one of the oldest styles of advertising: direct mail. To many people, direct mail campaigns are no different than junk mail. We’ve all received countless pamphlets and other piece of mail that are meant solely to advertise a product or service to us. Perhaps you’ve received a direct mailing around election time from a particular candidate.

There has to be something about direct mail that has allowed it to survive all these years. Before you consider adding direct mail to your overall marketing plan, you will want to make some preparations. First, it is important to hire a good copywriter to produce the most effective text possible. Next, you will want to look toward a good typesetter or graphic designer to assist you with the layout. Good words won’t go far if the format is not appealing.

The most important element of all is distribution. Blanketing the entire city with your pamphlet is not going to be cost-effective. Instead, look into targeted mailing lists from customers that are more likely to convert. This is why so many retailers ask for your postal code at time of purchase. By compiling the demographics of their clientele, they are better able to understand which neighborhoods they should be targeting. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of money.

Shout out to Etienne Teo for the inspiration for this post.

One of the best ways to advertise your business is to emphasize the positive differences that you have with your closest competitors. For example, Apple tends to emphasize that its products are both aesthetically-appealing and easy-to-use. This is supposed to contrast the stereotypical experience that someone would have with a Windows product, for example, which is portrayed as convoluted and buggy by comparison.

There’s nothing wrong with taking this kind of strategy for your company, but you have to go about it in the right way. You may have noticed a Wendy’s commercial recently that emphasizes the fact that Wendy’s burgers are made from fresh meat. The burger patties are never frozen, offering you fresher taste and quality. That’s all well and good, but they try to appeal to our logic as well and that’s where the argument falls apart.

In the ad (and I’m paraphrasing), the voice-over asks, “If burgers were meant to be frozen, wouldn’t cows come from Antarctica?” This argument doesn’t make any sense, because couldn’t you use the same logic and ask questions like:

- If burgers were meant to be made of ground beef, wouldn’t cows come pre-ground?
- If burgers were meant to be cooked, wouldn’t cows contain only cooked meat?
- If burgers were meant to have garnishes, wouldn’t cows have lettuce growing out of their heads?

The list can go on and on. If you’re going to use logic in your marketing materials and advertising, at least make sure that it’s logical.

We have talked in length before about not creating average products but creating exceptional products. When was the last time you bought toothpaste? I was shocked by the number of choices and there was no clear choice as the best one to choose.

What are these companies doing wrong and how could they fix it?

There are many decisions that you will want to make when you are first building your company. If you are starting a brick-and-mortar store, for example, you may need to scout out an appropriate location, decide on interior decor, work out agreements with the local utility companies, and so on. If you are going with the online route, you have to choose a place to register your domain, decide on a web hosting company, pick out the right shopping cart software… the list goes on.

When it comes to branding, one of the most important decisions that you will make will be in the design of your company logo. While the logo will be something of personal significance to you, it is best to leave the actual design of the logo to a professional. There are tons of graphic artists and logo specialists out there who can help you make the best logo for your company. Do you want a logo that will reproduce well in black and white? Do you want one that is highly detailed or relatively simple?

What about having your company name in the logo? There appear to be differing schools of thought on this matter. For example, Nike’s swoosh logo does not have the word “Nike” in it anywhere. The same can be said about Apple. Alternatively, there are companies that have it a point to include the company name in the logo. This would be the case with Microsoft, Nintendo, and others.

Integrating your company name in the logo is probably a good idea, at least when you are first starting out. This will help with branding and brand recognition, because if no one has seen your logo before, they won’t know who you are. Even with Nike, many of their shoes used to have the word “Nike” sitting on top of the swoosh. This isn’t necessary for them anymore. The same can hold true for your company. Design a logo that initially includes your company name, but design it in such a way that the name can be phased out at a future date.

When you run a business that is primarily online, it’s obvious enough that your website should be utterly fantastic. It is, after all, the face of your company and it will largely be how most of your customers will interact with you. If you an e-commerce store, for example, you’ll want to make sure that the shopping cart software is up to snuff and that the checkout process is easy enough that even grandma can complete the purchase.

For owners of brick-and-mortar stores, however, it is not uncommon to see a website thrown together by an amateur designer over a weekend and then it is completely forgotten about by the business owner. This is not how you should be running your company website. In this day and age, it doesn’t matter if you are just a greasy spoon diner on the corner or a high-end boutique hotel in Manhattan. It is very important to have a well-designed and comprehensive website for both existing and prospective customers.

A lot of people do their research online before completing a purchase or going out for any kind of excursion. Vacation planning is a very big deal and people want to be able to gather as much information as possible before heading out on their trips. If the destination is a fair distance away from home, it may prove to be very expensive calling each location for information. It’s much, much more affordable to do the research online. It’s also cheaper for the company, because you don’t need to hire as many employees to answer the phones.

At the very minimum, your company website should be well-designed, prominently feature your branding, and contain all the pertinent information that a potential customer would want to know. Among the pages that you will want to include are an about page, a contact page, a list of services and products (as well as pricing), map and directions, FAQ, and if it is appropriate for your kind of business, an extensive photo gallery. Pictures and videos are particularly useful for companies that cater to tourists.

Don’t let your company website be an afterthought that goes without updates for months at a time. A good website can mean all the difference.