The most powerful tool business has at its disposal are the track record and trends of its customers. There is no better way to predict the future than to understand past successes and missed opportunities. Applying smart analytical insights to that information feeds the sales and marketing efforts required to maximize the ROI of any campaign.

Whether it’s transactional data, point of sale data, data gathered through the use of technology, or just simply historical data, leveraging technology to better understand customers pays dividends. Planning sales initiatives must start with a granular understanding of what and why your customers are buying. Your data or data we help you gather can accomplish more than you may know and answers the critical questions surrounding any launch.

1. The “what” and “why” question: Companies often have success with product launches and sales initiatives but don’t know exactly why. Understanding those specific reasons allows that success to be duplicated. Similarly, the development of new products and services should be based on consumer/customer demand. Data analytics defines that demand with specificity; both in terms of what customers will buy and in how to best position products and services. Doing so dramatically increases market penetration by gaining insight into the buying triggers and the “wants” of a given market.
2. The “who” question: There is an old saying in the car collector business that goes, “There is a butt for every seat”.  In other words, tastes vary from person to person and the key is to get the right product in front of the right people. Different customer segments require a different message to create the desire to take action. Even with the same product or service, different customers require a different set of reasons or positioning to take action. Your data can define those segments. New data can define those segments. The combination reveals opportunities not seen in the past and facilitates a much deeper understanding of your customers.
3. The “offer” question: With every sales initiative, the offer has a substantial impact on the customer’s willingness to act. Through data analytics, we can find the “sweet spot” for each offer you make. The level at which a discount meets maximum take rate offers the highest ROI and data can pinpoint that level. Too often, companies give away more than is necessary or not enough to get customers to act. Data can pinpoint that specific level wherein the discount is at the lowest level while still maximizing the take rate. The difference in ROI can be substantial.

4. The “channel” question: Let me tell you something you likely already know; the delivery vehicle for your message or offer can be just as important as the message itself. Certain groups prefer certain channels and will act on messages in a higher percentage when their preferred channel is leveraged. Selecting a single channel for delivery is not only counter-productive; its cost prohibitive as well. Direct mail works great for certain customer segments but is costly. Text messaging is very inexpensive AND is the most effective method of delivery with certain segments. Therefore, using direct mail for an entire data set makes little sense given the expense and ineffectiveness with specific segments.  Data can tell us, with specificity, which segments require which delivery channels.
5. The “relevancy” question: This question matters more than many marketers understand. The presentment of an offer or marketing message that has little or no relevancy to a customer damages the prospect of selling that customer. Customers may not even remember getting that message but the data shows they remember “no”. The life cycle of “no” varies from industry to industry but it is substantial. Leveraging transactional data or newly acquired “point of sale” data provides the insights necessary to create relevant offers. That relevancy not only avoids the ‘no” response, it also creates deeper level of connectivity and engagement. Why create customers when you can create loyal, engaged customers. Referrals spawn from these types of customers and data creates more of them.

While you can’t please all of the people all of the time, you can please more of them more of the time! Data has that power. The failure to leverage your most powerful tool costs you and your company money. Adding actionable insights to your methodology and adding Busson to your team drives revenue; it’s that simple.  It’s time to add a level of competency to your marketing campaigns and sales initiatives that adds ROI and drives much deeper customer engagement.

It’s time to flex your data!

Article written by: Jason Wood

The world of target marketing has evolved more rapidly than perhaps any other technology space. It encompasses everything marketers do and have an eye towards doing in the future. Middle market and small business find themselves at a distinct disadvantage given the virtually unlimited resources larger competitors have. So how can they compete?

Many have attempted to target through Google ad words and software solutions like HubSpot. But there are distinct challenges with both. With Google ad-words, you enter a David vs. Goliath situation. Competing for the click-thru traffic requires resources and larger companies will always win that battle. You simply cannot outspend the big players and frankly, why would you want to? If you think about the situational dynamic ad-words create, it simply does not make fiscal sense. Here is the process by which people find you through Google:

1. The prospect must decide to use Google.
2. The prospect must type in one of the words you are paying for.
3. You must rank high organically or outbid everyone for the top spot.
4. Once presented with a dozen options, the prospect must click your link.
5. If they click your link, they must be so compelled to do business with you they do not return to the list and look at other options. (Not a small feat given they likely used Google specifically to look at multiple options)

In each of these steps, the prospect has to take all of the right actions. They must follow a very specific trail of crumbs to get to you and then be so compelled to do business with you, they stop looking at all of the other options.

Sound legit?

Now let’s look at content aggregators like HubSpot. They offer phenomenal back end analysis. They tell you everything you need to know about the flow of traffic, the interest levels of each piece of content you put out and they will even offer suggestions as to how to improve the results. Sounds great!  One problem; they don’t create the content. You do. Your company does. If you are already creating content, using an aggregator or “automated marketing” tool makes little sense. Instead, build your own. It’s far less expensive and you will never be beholden (at least financially) to anyone else for disseminating your content.

After all, it makes little sense to give these automated marketing companies the SEO credit for your content.

So what is the solution? Simple- Do two things differently.

1. Be proactive- We have better access to more granular level data than ever before. Harness it. Don’t wait for customers to come to you- Get to them first! Building a list of people most likely to want and need your products/services is more cost effective than ever before. Ready, aim, fire not Ready, fire, aim! Buying Google ad-words is akin to placing an online billboard and hoping the right people stumble by it. Today’s consumers and buyers simply do not respond to that type of marketing anymore. Be aggressive and be relevant. There is no better way than discovering those most likely to do business with you and then putting a very relevant offer/message in front of them. That’s how you win. Be there first and be relevant.
2. Own your customer outreach- Content aggregators and marketing automation companies have some real advantages. But the disadvantages don’t make them a smart investment. There are hundreds of very inexpensive reporting tools that offer the same insights and they don’t come at the cost of losing control.By owning your own path to prospects, you keep yourself nimble and maintain the ability to slice and dice messaging in real time. Relevancy is king and automation is a hindrance to seizing the “right now” opportunities presented by a reactionary consumer.

Get them to react… To you!

Article written by: Jason Wood

Marketing is an expense undertaking for any company. Measuring the return on marketing dollars can be a tenuous and tricky business. The best way to get a real sense of success or failure is to simply look at how many customer contacts turned into sales. Technology can make that task more challenging but here are 3 ways to simplify the process.

1. Advertise a strong offer- People love to save and love to feel like they are getting a deal. Leveraging a strong offer always drives volume. When deciding whether an offer is strong enough, simply ask yourself what the life value of each customer acquisition really is. Usually you will find that the life value more than makes up for the short term hit you take for a deep initial discount.
2. Allow customers to communicate with you the way they want to- By offering multiple ways for customers to order, ask questions or inquire about pricing, more customers will do just that. Put simply, some people prefer email, some prefer calling while others prefer social media or other online tools. Make sure you offer many ways for people to get to you. The easier you make it for customers, the more likely they are to engage.
3. Capture customer information- The ability to follow up with potential customers is critical to increasing conversion rates. Without knowing how to reach them, this task is impossible. There are dozens of ways to encourage potential customers to share their contact information without forcing them to choose between giving you their info or leaving. Every company should have a strategy in place to accomplish this.

Customer engagement should always be the goal. By engaging shoppers and online followers we find drastically higher conversion rates. Creating a conduit to your company and putting strategy in place to capture information is a simple and effective way to engage and follow up with anyone showing interest in your products and services. The next step is quantifying the results to improve every step of the process. Your customers will thank you for it and your bottom line will improve.

Article written by: Jason Wood

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water,
or do you want a chance to change the world?”

– Steve Jobs

Fifty years ago, graphic artists didn’t have the amazing tools and software that we are lucky enough to have now. I can only imagine how things will be fifty more years from now. It is so important to keep up with the times when it comes to design. People don’t want to see the same design techniques over and over. It may be nice at first, but after a while, it becomes boring. Monotonous. Cliché. (Think of how many times you have seen that poor Papyrus font splayed across a billboard or magazine ad. If you haven’t noticed it before, I’m sure you will now. That sucker is everywhere.) We are creatures that are in constant motion, always changing. You don’t want to eat a banana for every meal do you? We love things to be new and fresh. It’s imperative in the design world to keep this in mind.

We are so technologically based in this day and age. We’ve got constant access to phones and computers. People are so used to using technology to our advantage, it’s inevitable that it should be reflected in our art. Design is a combination of Art and Science, and the understanding of how to blend the two into an aesthetically appealing piece of work. Busson understands this, and has come a long way as we get ahead of the curve by utilizing the technology world with mobile platforms, websites, videos and more.

In this industry, if you don’t move forward, you will fall behind. We have to know our competition. Stay on top of what’s going on in the world. Find out what is trending and what is getting stale. We have to continue to educate ourselves, and learn the newest software when it comes along.

This world never stops changing. We are constantly moving on to bigger and better things. I remember holding my first iPod and thinking, “This is the most amazing thing I have ever purchased!” Two months later there was a new version. And then another a year after that. Pretty soon there was this thing called an iPhone. “There can not be anything better than this!” I thought. Now, Apple has released the iPhone 5. The point? Don’t get stuck in a world of comfortable and familiar. There are always new, edgy and exciting things on the horizon!

Article written by: Mary Steele

“I think everybody can agree that you can hear a certain song and it will put you in a certain mood, and that’s just the beauty of music and I am so inspired by that.”

–Shaun White

“I am inspired by life, past experiences, what’s to come, women around me, art, colors, paintings, and emotions.”

–Rachel Roy

You’ve probably heard the saying, “There’s nothing new under the Sun.”  And you’ve probably experienced that awkward moment when you are staring blankly into the soul-sucking time vortex – better known to humans as The Blank Canvas. Sometimes finding inspiration can be a tough feat to overcome. Today, I thought I’d share a few of my own tricks.

1. Listen to your granny – Draw from what you know. It’s a simple concept that has been handed down through the ages. And it works. The better you know a subject – the more you’ll be able to work with it, whether it’s writing, designing, painting, or what have you. Your granny’s a smart lady.
2. Don’t be a thief – Taking someone else’s idea is not only lazy and pathetic – it’s illegal. BUT there’s no harm in being inspired by their work. Put your own spin on an old idea. Jazz it up a little. See what happens.
3. Shaun White is right – (See the quote at the top) I’m glad to see that underneath all of that crazy red hair, and sweet snowboarding skills, Shaun’s got some brains. Sometimes silence is deafening. Put on some music to fit your mood and see what inspiration comes your way. You should be able to find inspiration in a good tune (As long as it’s not Justin Bieber…). Many times I find it best to listen to something new. You can do that easily on Pandora or through Spotify.
4. Go out on a limb – I’m not gonna lie, I have used some silly stuff for inspiration before. I’m exposing my inner geek here, but I’m a huge Doctor Who fan (If you’re a fellow Whovian, you probably caught my time vortex reference!) I’ll admit I’ve let that work its way into some of my designs. Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t smack a T.A.R.D.I.S. onto a business card or anything (Although… No, no! Too geeky! Focus, Mary!). But I did draw some inspiration from colors and sounds and ideas from the show. And I came up with a pretty sweet tri-fold design from it, if I do say so myself.
5. Quotables – If you have read my other posts, you might have noticed a motif. I like to start my blogs with a quote (or two in this case) that goes along with whatever topic I’m approaching. Looking up inspirational quotes is quite (wait for it…) INSPIRATIONAL. I know, shocking, right?
6. Pinterest – If you’re not on the site already, I would highly recommend it. Pinterest is a great place to store loads of inspiration. There are tons of ideas, pictures, and quotes to browse through. You can create your inspiration boards and collect whatever pins you like. (Fair warning: Prepare to become fully obsessed.)

These are just some of my silly little ideas. I’d love to hear some more! Leave a comment with some of your ideas below!

Article written by: Mary Steele

Well I have made it half way through this experience.  With 8 days until my wife returns, I have become acutely aware of my incompetence around the house as relates to the things she handles.  It is interesting to note that while I have managed to not burn the house down, it is not nearly the same dwelling it was just 8 days ago.  There are major and minor challenges I have admittedly created and I feel as though I am powerless to prevent them.  Instead, I am left to deal with them.  Here are a few of the lessons learned thus far:

• The scuff marks pans leave in the sink are building up.  I have never noticed them before and I have no clue how to get rid of them.  Surely she uses a product that eliminates them because simply scrubbing them doesn’t get it done!
• Every piece of casual clothing I own that was once white is now some shade of pink.  I was informed just yesterday that had I simply used a product we already have, I could have prevented this.  Color catcher?  What?
• Dog hair really builds up if not handled frequently.  My plan was to vacuum just before she returned.  Even I cannot live with this much dog hair floating around!
• The lack of diligent coaster use under drinks is a problem.  This seems to create more work than I had anticipated.
• The better the meal I prepare the more mess it creates.  Health vs. convenience is tough decision.  Left to my own devices for a prolonged period of time, I would weigh 400 pounds and be an excellent candidate for open heart surgery!

I am left to wonder why my wife knows how to prevent or solve all of these challenges and I don’t.  Clearly, some things are passed down from mother to daughter but many of the products she uses are relatively new.  So how does she know about them and I remain clueless?

I suspect the answer lies in marketing.  Manufacturers of these products have targeted my wife.  Both in terms of the channel they select to deliver messaging and in the way they package their products.  On its face, that seems smart given the fact that my wife handles these issues around our house but I think these companies are missing something.  The divorce rate is sky high in this country leaving many men my age newly single, right?  Many of them are raising kids.  Does it still make sense to target the same audience they did 25 years ago?  Have things changed enough to justify a new approach?  I think the answer is obvious.

Many companies employ the “ready, fire, aim” strategy in their marketing endeavors.  I think “ready, aim, fire” makes more sense.  Emphasis on the placement of “aim” makes all the difference in the world.  Additionally, taking into account paradigm shifts seems to be the easiest thing to do given they occur so slowly.  Plus (and this is important), it would be nice to have white clothing in my wardrobe still!

*Side note- If individuals in business made the same assumptions companies do about gender, they would be litigated out of business, right?

Article written by: Jason Wood

Yeah, right!  I wouldn’t know what to do with a woman like that but I can tell you, it would be extremely creepy for me.  Extremely!

I have a wife; a partner.  At 36 years old, my mom spent a career in business and I just wasn’t raised to have that expectation.  I suspect most men my age have a similar perspective on this.  The only similarity between the TV wives of the 50’s and the current paradigm within which most of us live is the division of duties.  They have drastically changed over the years but most married couples have settled on specific set of tasks each is responsible for around the house.

You don’t really realize it until your spouse goes out of town.  Then, you become immediately and acutely aware of exactly what your spouse does within that division.  Either I am a much better negotiator or she made the decision early on that I was not to be trusted to accomplish certain tasks.  I suspect it is the latter of the two.  I wonder if her behavior changes as much as mine when I am travelling for business.

Clearly, with my wife out of town, I have reverted back to my bachelor days.  Not nearly to the same extreme, though.  After 11 years of marriage, I like living in a clean home.  I like not looking at a pile of dishes in the sink.  I prefer clean sheets and clean…. Well you see where I am going.  That level of conditioning makes me think to myself that she holds me back quite a bit.  She holds me back from my worse and less competent self.  There is real learning here.  The ability to affect this kind of shift in my thinking, my preferences and more to the point, my willingness to change my behavior to have the household I enjoy when she is home, is nothing short of miraculous.  My parents spent the first 18 years of my life attempting to accomplish the same but with little success.  Why is that?

However, there are still very different behaviors on display.  I didn’t watch the Monday night game at home.  Oh no…  With my wife gone, it provides an excellent opportunity to hang out with the guys, tip a few cold ones and enjoy the game in a public setting with my buddies.  A rare treat for a married guy.  Not that I couldn’t do that with my wife in town, but I likely wouldn’t.  Why is that?  And more to the point, what does that say about me, my wife and the marital dynamic as it relates the marketing challenge BW3’s (for example) has in attracting my demo?  How do they get me off the couch and out with my buddies on a Monday night?  Clearly, we are the ideal demographic.  We have a few bucks, we don’t get into fights, we tip well (most of us), we don’t drink until we fall off the bar stool yet we drink enough to pad the bottom line and we are far more likely to be a loyal customer because we simply don’t bar hop.

How can my experience with my wife’s absence benefit a place like BW3’s?  More to the point, why don’t businesses take their successes and endeavor to better understand them.  Doing so allows them to better engage customers by delivering more relevancy for the customer, right?

Over the next couple of weeks, I am going to post articles chronicling these very different behaviors, how companies should leverage the understanding they provide and why it all matters.  Stay tuned, this could be very interesting…

Article written by: Jason Wood

It’s time to face facts. If you aren’t already leveraging technology in your marketing approach, you are behind the curve. Chances are your competitors are and every day you don’t, you allow them to adopt the actionable insights that come with technology. The excuses are running out given the necessity to engage customers. The days of pretty marketing and brand awareness driving customer contact and opportunity are gone. Don’t believe me? Consider this:

• Dish Network comes out with the Hopper; a device capable of eliminating commercials from TV altogether. Why would they come out with such a device?  It’s simple; consumers want it. 
• Satellite radio has grown in leaps and bounds over the last 5 years partly due to deals with car manufacturers but in large part due to largely commercial free radio. Consumers love it. Consumers demand it. 
• Readership of the nation’s largest newspapers have fallen dramatically. Even local papers have taken hits in their readership. Why? People are getting news online more than at any other time in history. We have smart phones, tablets and internet access virtually everywhere we go. 
• As recently as 3 years ago, email campaigns generated responses and delivered a cost effective means of communicating with customers. Today?  Email garners a whopping 4% open rate and an even smaller take rate. Slightly higher with opt-in lists. In that case, we see an anemic 5-7% open rate with a smaller take rate. 

I sat in the office of the director of marketing for a local firm recently and she was explaining to me how traditional marketing was still the best way to communicate their value proposition. We were interrupted by a text message she received from her local ad rep. The commercial they had cut earlier that week was ready for viewing. She stopped, read the message and replied. Oh, the irony. A smile crept across her face and she got it. Right there on the spot, without another word from me, she got it.

Not every technology driven platform available is a good idea. Your customer demographic should dictate the channel. But that’s the whole point, isn’t it? Delivering relevancy to your customers with both the message and the communication channel is king.

At Busson, we are not a mobile marketing company, a social media company, a data analytics firm, a video production company, a market positioning firm, a design and layout firm, a website developer firm or even a printer. We are a customer engagement firm helping our clients leverage the technology their customers demand!

Article written by: Jason Wood

“I am not young enough to know everything.”

–Oscar Wilde

Yup. ^ That would be me.

When you’re young you think you know it all. Then you graduate from college and join the real world. That’s when it hits you. You really don’t. There is a whole world of knowledge yet to be discovered.  But you have the degree. You have the diploma. You are expected to be a virtuoso!

Thank God for internships, yeah? Those few months I spent interning at Vision Marketing in Virginia taught me more about the real world of design than I thought it would. I remember clearly the moment that reality hit me. My internship supervisor asked me: “What is the number for that pantone?” I had no idea how to answer him. I racked my brain trying to remember what in the world a pantone was. I honestly didn’t remember learning much about that in school. Was I sick that day? Was it just too long ago?

As my supervisor said: “That’s why you’re here. To learn these little things.” I felt like an idiot. I should have already known how to answer his question! As soon as he walked away I pulled up Google (thank God for Google too, right?) and searched the word ‘pantone.’ Duh. It finally came back to me. But it had been a good two or three years since I’d heard the word used in any of my classes.

So, are our schools flaking out when it comes to teaching us everything? Or are there some things you just NEED to experience and use to actually understand? I’ve always been more of a hands-on learner, so being thrown into the real-world atmosphere helped me learn a lot, fast.  And I’m still learning. Everyday, I learn something new.

I guess we just need a combination of the two. The technical, book training is important. But getting that hands-on experience, even being thrown in with the wolves can make all of the difference.

Article written by: Mary Steele

“Nothing’s a better cure for writer’s block than to eat ice cream right out of the carton.”  – Don Roff

It’s half past one in the morning and you’re on your way home from a friend’s house. You stayed much later than you had intended and that little red needle is indicating that you’re about out of gas. Do you stop to refuel? Or do you just keep trying to chug along, hoping you’ll make it there on fumes?

Only an idiot would say the latter is a better idea. Yet, most times, that’s just what we end up doing. “It’s so late, and I’m not that far from home. I’m sure I will make it.” You’ve just made your night an even later one. In a few moments, your car will make that hollow noise, you will lose all power and you will have to coast to a stop and call a friend with a gas can for help. (What? Speaking from experience? Me? Noooo…okay, yes.)

We live in a culture that says to keep going. Don’t stop. If you stop now, you will get behind. But we obviously need to stop and refuel now and then. It’s so easy to get caught up in the fast pace of our society, but it is so important to stop and take a second to breathe.  If you push yourself past empty, you will break down.

Every artist has experienced the creative block. Staring at the impossibly bright white of the blank canvas, that extremely empty Illustrator file, that horrid little flashing cursor of a Word document… And it has driven many to the point of giving up.

I know I run out of steam now and then. More than I’d like to admit, quite frankly. So, when my brain is screaming “let me catch up!” I like to pause, take a couple of deep breaths, put on a good song, and close my eyes for a moment. Or if I’m looking for a muse of some sort, I’ll hop onto www.moodstream.gettyimages.com for a little brainstorming. It’s always good to step away from your own work for a few minutes, and sometimes that’s when your best ideas will just come to you!

What if Mozart had said, “Forget it! I quit!” What if Van Gogh threw down the paint brush? What if Shakespeare never fought through the creative block? I, for one, would find this a very depressing world.

So, fight through it. Take a minute to refuel. Sitting at a computer all day can take its toll on one’s eyes. And brain. And soul…  So, take care of your mentality. Push yourself, but don’t push too hard. No one else is going to create that masterpiece, you know…

Article written by: Mary Steele