What Does Johnny Rockets Know that You Don’t Know?

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What Does Johnny Rockets Know that You Don’t Know?

Well, for one thing, Johnny Rockets knows how to cook much better hamburgers than I do. I confess that I miss eating a JR hamburger across on Pacific Coast HIghway in Laguna Beach.

But what JR knows goes much deeper than their hamburgers.

It was announced today in Mobile Commerce Daily by Chantel Tode that Johnny Rockets is the latest national brand to embrace mobile media marketing. Soon, JR will be using opt-in text messaging to communicate with its customers. This will give JR a huge advantage over other restaurants in their niche and I’m betting that their competitors will soon follow JRs lead.

Johnny Rockets knows that their biggest asset is their customer base. Advertising is great to get new customers. Coupon deals may bring in new folks. But the question is: “Once they are here, how do we bring them back?”

In the olden days you could get repeat business just by doing a good job and delivering a good product and/or service. But those days are gone forever. Consumers have too many options that they want to try. So, the business owner must be proactive in getting customers to chose them instead of another option.

Good News

The good news is that virtually any business can use opt-in text messaging to drive traffic through their doors. Text messaging is not reserved for the large, rich corporations like Johnny Rockets. And any business can enjoy the benefits of text messaging just like Johnny Rockets will.

There was a day that Johnny Rockets did not use email. But email caught on and Johnny Rockets and the rest of us got with the email program. And email became a major marketing tool.

Text marketing will have the same story, except that text messaging will become a major marketing tool much faster than email did.

Thoughts?

The Truth about SMS Text Marketing Exposed

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The truth of SMS text marketing needs to be exposed over and over again. Why? Because fewer than 2% of the businesses in America actively use text marketing. How can that be if SMS text marketing is all it’s cracked up to be?

Easy!

The business guys and gals that need SMS marketing all already up to their eyeballs in things to do. And they don’t need another item on their “to do” list.

On top of that, they don’t give a flying fig about SMS marketing. They care about one thing: How to make more money. And if they believe that flying to the moon might help them achieve that goal, they’ll look at it.

But flying to the moon won’t help. Will SMS text marketing? Let’s expose the truth of SMS text marketing.

Truth #1 Exposed – SMS text marketing is the ONLY app that is already on over 90% of the mobiles in America. Facebook can’t say that. Neither can email. Or Twitter. The truth is that ONLY SMS text marketing is available today on the vast majority of mobile phones.

Truth #2 Exposed – SMS text marketing is easiest marketing tool to activate on the planet. Here’s an example: Earlier this week I sat with a restaurant owner and showed him the ROI he could reasonably expect from an SMS text marketing campaign. When he saw the numbers he said, “do it!” Immediately he was called away by a server to solve a problem and, by the time he returned, I had his campaign account set up, his keyword selected and his first text message written. He looked it over, approved it, paid me and went about his work.

Today I sent a table tent design to him for approval and, as soon as he signs off, I’ll send it to his printer. Next week his SMS text marketing campaign will operational and it took about 20 minutes of his time.

The bottom line is that a SMS text marketing campaign is easy to set up.

Truth #3 Exposed – SMS text marketing is 100% permission based. A client never has to give one second of thought to getting push back from customers who don’t want to be involved in the campaign. Getting out of the campaign database is even easier than getting into the database.

Truth #4 Exposed – SMS text marketing is the only marketing strategy that will generate significant customer response during the same week that the promotion is executed. What other tool can you use at 11 am on Tuesday morning to drive traffic into your store at 4:30 pm that same day?

The answer is: NONE! SMS text marketing gives a business owner a tool unlike any other on the planet.

There are more SMS marketing truths to be exposed. By that’s my time for now…thanks for yours.

Is a Text Marketing Message Better than a Tweet?

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Is a text marketing message better than a Tweet? I’d never thought about it until last Friday. On Friday I had an experience that causes me to say, YES, there are times when a text marketing message is better than a Tweet.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m a a big fan of Twitter. In fact, I start every weekday connecting with my Twitter. And that’s exactly how I came to understand that there are times when Twitter is inferior to a text marketing message.

On Friday morning, I got my coffee, climbed back into bed and fired up Twitter. It was about 7:30 am. The first Tweet I saw was from a gal writer that I follow on Twitter and Facebook and, if truth be known, if I knew where she lived, I’d follow her there, too. Unless, of course, that looks like stalking. Suffice it to say, I think she’s bright, an excellent writer and extremely attractive.

I was rather frustrated by her Tweet: “I’ll be on the Today Show at 7:12 am this morning.” Unfortunately for me, I was reading this Tweet at 7:35 am and I missed her on the Today Show.

It was at that moment that I realized that, as cool as Twitter is, it is totally useless when it comes to communicating an important message that is time-sensitive. How much more useful it would have been if I had gotten a text message at 6:55 am that said, “Name of my Writer Goddess, I’ll b on Today Show at 7:12 this morning.”

At 6:55 am my phone would have given me that familiar “ding” letting me know that I’ve got a text message. And when I look at my phone, all I see is her message. It’s not in a Twitter feed that runs from the top to the bottom of my phone screen. And it’s not in my email inbox dark hole. It’s right there on my phone and it’s all I see.

And I catch “writer goddess” at 7:12 am on the Today Show.

Is a text marketing message better than Twitter? Yes, if the message is time-sensitive. Twitter is the only option for conversation. But texting is the only option for delivering a time-sensitive message.

Thoughts?

Is Text Communications a Legitimate Tool for Churches?

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Let’s face it! Texting in church happens. And no one is more aware of that fact than the minister. After all, he/she has to stand in front of their congregation and say something meaningful, knowing full well that he/she is competing with all sorts of distractions. Dealing with distractions has always been an issue for ministers. Just add texting to the list.

Some ministers are “out of the box” thinkers. So, when they bump up against texting, the first thing they ask is, “How can I use texting to move the mission of the church forward?”

Imagine that you are a minister. I know that’s hard for some of you and that I have an advantage over many of you. I was once a minister…not necessarily a good 0ne, but a minister none the less.

OK, you’re a minister…and a good one! Each week you stand in front of a group of people who have taken the time and made the effort to sit in front of your for about an hour. When that hour is up, those folks will shake your hand and walk out of church and get on with the rest of their lives. And they won’t think about you or your message again until next week.

Would you like for that to be different? Would you like to connect with them on a more profound level, a more personal level than the sixty minutes on Sunday?

Text communications enables you to do that. In fact, text communications is the ONLY medium that enables you to reach out and touch your congregation in real time with something valuable.

Here’s how that works: Let’s assume you are one of those “out of the box” ministers and that you’ve embraced texting as one more communications tool. You announce to your congregation that you are inviting them to join the XYZ Church Rapid Motivation Group. This group will be made up of people in the church who want to go further in their spiritual lives and know more about whats’ going on in the community and in the church.

“Joining the group is easy. Just take our your mobile phone…right now…and text XYX to 90210.”

Twenty seconds after a church member presses “Send” on their phone, they get back a text message that says something like, “Welcome to XYZ Church Rapid Motivation Group. You’re now connected to valuable sources for personal growth! Welcome!”

(Of course, you realize that the text can say ANYTHING you want it to say, don’t you? Of course you do!)

Every church member that sends the text is now in the church text database. This means that, on Monday morning, you, the minister, can send a text message to everyone that says, “It’s Monday! Another opportunity for great things! Remember…God Loves You Right This Minute!  See you Sunday.”

On Thursday, you can send a text that says, “This Sunday I’ll be talking about my favorite subject – Why Love Changes Everything! I hope you’ll join me at church.”

Two short texts to the congregation. And you’ve used the most powerful, personal tool on the planet to share the most powerful, personal message on the planet.

Is text communications a legitimate tool for churches?

What do you think?

 

Where There is No Vision…

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I believe that things are in the Bible because they are true rather than those things being true because they are in the Bible. One of the biblical truths that gets played out in business is Proverbs 29:18: “Where there is no vision the people perish.” How cool it would be if we all had 20/20 vision 24/7. But we don’t. And when we don’t…when we exhibit poor vision, a little something take a step toward perishing.

This entry was stimulated by an event that happened this evening. I spent the afternoon shooting video at an event. When I got into my car, I realized that it was almost dinner time and that I’d missed lunch. All of a sudden, I was HUNGRY!

I decided I’d run by my favorite bar-b-que joint which was on the way to the house. I was eagerly on my way when I noticed, on my left, the Piccadilly Cafeteria. Now, I haven’t been to a Piccadilly in years and my memories were good. Great food with a nice selection of vegetables. Reasonable prices. I think I just changed my mind!

I got into the cafeteria line and picked up my tray. And just as I approached the food line, a member of the cooking staff walked out with a food line worker in what was obviously a difference of opinion on how cafeteria work should be done. While I waited to be served my food, they argued.

It took me five seconds to realize I was in the wrong place. I walked away from the line and made a beeline for the manager who was at the end of the line.

“Please ask your line and kitchen staff to argue backstage rather than on stage.” He looked at me as if I was speaking French. “This is the performance stage!”, I said, indicating the public area. “Back there, in the kitchen, that’s back stage.” Now he got it.

I turned and walked out.

Here’s my point: I saw the Piccadilly sign, remembered my past positive experiences and actually changed my buying plans. But a needless negative experience caused me to choose to walk out of the store. And now, my positive memories have been replaced by this negative experience. And I’m even writing about it. I never wrote about the positive experiences at Piccadilly.

The moral of this story is this: It takes a long time to build a brand. It takes a second to tear it down.

Newsletters! Who Reads Them???

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Nitin Chhoda, a small business marketing consultant, says…“For those who believe newsletters are passé, think again. In an impersonal society where patients are often nothing more than a billing number, clients are demanding a personal touch from their service providers.”*

Nitin is right on when talking about the client demand for a more personal touch from their service providers. And I guess any port in a storm is better than no port at all.

But a newsletter? Really? Sent via email? Seriously?

When was the last time you felt better and “more than a number” because you got a newsletter from your doctor, dentist or auto mechanic?

OK, newsletters might be a good way to deliver valuable content. But here’s the problem: They don’t get read.  They just don’t get read. If they are delivered as an email, they don’t even get opened. If they are delivered by snail mail, they might sit on the kitchen counter for a day or two and then, off to the trash.

Let me say it straight out: Newsletters content can be valuable. Newsletter distribution is the problem!

Since I’m not the kind of guy that plops problems down in your lap without at least one possible solution, here goes.

Suppose you put your newsletter content on your website as a stand alone page. It’s got its on little tab and is easily found when people visit your website. Then, put the newsletter content on your mobile site so that it reads well on a mobile device.

Now, every time you post a newsletter to your main and mobile websites and send them via email, send an SMS Text Message to your client subscribers telling them that valuable information is now available and here’s the link that will take you to it.

Here’s what will happen: More people will click on the link when they get the text and actually read the newsletter content on their mobile device. And, over time, they will think better of you because you are the person that delivers valuable information where they are looking – on their mobile devices. And that will be good for your clients and your business.

Ah, I can hear you now: “But I don’t have a mobile website and I sure don’t have the ability to send a text message to my clients!

Those may sound like problems but they aren’t. Those two issues are easily solved. In fact, that’s what I do: I make mobile media marketing problems just go away!

*Read more from Nitin Chhoda: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/01/13/prweb9090068.DTL#ixzz1jT14eVgf

 

SMS Text Marketing for Bars Exposed

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SMS Text Marketing can turn a good bar into a great bar!

What’s a great bar? A great bar is a bar where there are a lot of “regulars” that the other “regulars” can count on being there. And, more important, the owner can count on being there. Because regulars at a bar are like money in the bank.

Confession time:  I love bars. I’ve got a favorite bar in Southern California (BJ’s in Laguna Hills). I’ve even got a gal (Jill) that I call “my bartender” even though she serves beer to a hundred other people each weekday. It’s a good bar. In fact, for me, it’s a great bar. But SMS Text Marketing would make it a GREAT bar for the owners.

Like all bars, BJs has a rhythm. There are times when it’s packed and other times – not so much. The problem with a bar is that there has never been a way to stimulate traffic NOW! What I mean is: How does a bar owner get customers who had other plans to change their plans and come into the bar this afternoon?

Until SMS text marketing came along, there really was no way. But SMS Text Marketing allows a bar owner to do the IMPOSSIBLE – to stimulate a change in customer behavior NOW!

Let’s say that it’s Tuesday morning and the owner is rolling out of bed at 8 am to be at the bar to handle paperwork before an 11:30 am open. He normally hates Tuesday because it’s his slowest day. But today is different. Last month he executed an SMS Text Marketing strategy. During the last 30 days he’s built a pretty hefty database of customers who opted into his VIP Club and have given him permission to send them periodic text messages of value.

At 10 am he sends this SMS Text Marketing message to his most valuable asset – his customers: “Good Tuesday morning! Drop in between 4 pm and 6 pm TODAY for a beer and get an appetizer FREE. Show this text to the bartender for your FREE appetizer.”

Twenty seconds after he hits SEND, his entire customer database hears a DING on their mobile phone. They pick up their phone and see his SMS Text Marketing message. A valuable percentage of them will say, “Hey! Cool. I think I’ll tell Wanda and get over there this afternoon!”

Now, thanks to SMS Text Marketing, this bar owner has customers coming in at a time he determines. Yes, some of them would have come into the bar anyway. But some wouldn’t. Some had other plans or no plans at all. His SMS Text Marketing message did the one thing marketers desire to do and have never been able to do: Influence buyer behavior in real time!

SMS Text Marketing is the ONLY marketing tool on the planet that will do that. That’s why I say that SMS Text Marketing is the most powerful marketing tool since the Internet.