About Jodi Kaplan

How to Educate Your Clients and Reduce Your Stress

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Jodi Kaplan

Are you tired of having the same “fights” with your clients? You know, the conversations where they keep asking you to make the logo bigger? Or the ones where they insist that you must code for IE6?

Here are some tips on how to educate them, reduce your stress, and get more done.

Speak their language

Explaining that IE6 is outdated and has security flaws might get through, but telling them “it has a poor rendering engine” will go in one ear and out the other. It may be as foreign to them as the words on the book in the picture (unless you speak German).

Instead, describe how their carefully crafted web site (and logo) won’t display properly. The images may overlap. Or, there may be big white spaces or missing text. Even better, show them how IE6 wrecks someone else’s site.

Listen carefully

There may be a good reason behind a seemingly bone-headed insistence on IE6. It could be that their own customers have cash terminals that use it. Or, many of their clients are still using Windows XP and don’t want (or know how) to upgrade to IE7.

Logos, logos, logos

The logo isn’t big enough. Can you make the logo bigger?

First, understand why they want it bigger. It’s not logical, it’s emotional. If you argue, frame it in business terms, not design considerations.

The purpose of their web site is to engage visitors, encourage them to return, to remember them, to get information, to build trust, and to buy things. If the logo is too big, it will overshadow everything else.

Amazon’s logo is small. Apple’s is tiny. They want you to shop. The logo is important, but it’s not the goal of the site.

Choose your battles

If they insist on making the logo bigger than you’d like, give in. I know. But, they are the client. They’re paying the bills.

You can tell them that no, you can’t use Photoshop to turn a sitting cat’s picture around so you can see her tail. And, you don’t have to wait for payment until after their new product makes millions.

Share your thoughts

Have you had situations like this? How did you solve them? Are there any design wins you are particularly proud of? Share them in the comments (with a link).

Are you a Eierlegendewollmilchsau?

Posted on April 22, 2010 by Jodi Kaplan

Many thanks to cocoate for this image

What in the world is an Eierlegendewollmilchsau?

I just learned this word today, from Carmen, who was kind enough to let me share it with you.

It means an egg-laying wool milk pig.

Something that doesn’t make sense. An animal that is trying to do too many things at once.

Are you an Eierlegendewollmilchsau?

But, sometimes, in the rush to get new business, or grow our influence, we forget that companies cannot be Eierlegendewollmilchsaus. As Carmen said, “You can’t be everything to everyone and neither can your organization. Segment, compartmentalize, create a spin-off, do whatever you have to do resist the temptation to become an Eierlegendewollmilchsau.”

What that means is that you need to concentrate your marketing efforts in one place. Don’t try to lay eggs, produce wool, give milk, and become bacon.

If you want to pursue different passions, such as life coaching and opera singing, separate them.

Pick your “people”

Don’t try to sell to the US military, your local dry cleaners, and stay-at-home moms at the same time. Choose your “fish.”

Build your expertise and your reputation

If you’re a web designer, be a great web designer. Don’t try to design, develop databases, write copy, and streamline packing and shipping all at once.

That’s a Eierlegendewollmilchsau. If you regularly get projects that require multiple skills, form partnerships.

I’m good with words, for instance, but nobody in their right mind wants me to code SQL databases. I leave that to other people.

Share your thoughts

What do you think? Do you know of any companies that are Eierlegendewollmilchsaus? And, did you think I’d be able to find a picture of one?

Is your Website a Marketing Fail?

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Jodi Kaplan

Yesterday, Rex wanted to know my opinion of Mission Control. You can see the site in a separate window here. It’s not NASA (luckily), it’s a corporate web site.

So, I went off to take a look.

Web design, graphics, and navigation OK

Not too bad, though I would prefer a “real” photo, rather than a stock image, and I think the blurry image is distracting (I keep trying to focus on something that’s impossible to see clearly, and it makes my eyes hurt). A few other nits about type color (headings could be darker, and not enough contrast on some navigation buttons), but otherwise, fairly clean design, with lots of white space.

Marketing message failure

The benefits and results they claim to get are so vague they’re useless. What does “Translating broad initiatives and objectives into those exact actions that will fulfill those initiatives and objectives” mean? It’s completely circular.

How about:

cut product development time by 42%
reduced employee turnover by 27%, saving $500,000 in recruitment costs

Poor customer focus

I ran it through the we-we calculator. It came up with a customer focus score of 10% (out of 100).

That means they talk about themselves nine times as much as they talk about the customer. There’s quite a bit about what they do, but very little about what I would get if I hired them. What headache do they stop ? What sort of aspirin do they have?

They seem to provide some sort of services to improve teamwork and productivity, but it’s hard to tell. Do they save me money? How? Do they reduce employee turnover?

Gobbledygook test failure

The first sentence on the home page says, ” Are the things you’re doing the most effective ‘doings’ to accomplish what’s of critical importance to the organization?”

They’ve made up words (doings?) for no reason. Why not say tasks instead?

Further along it says, “Mission control provides actionable access to determining and doing the most effective ‘doings’ that impact and elevate organizational performance.”

Seems they’ve fallen straight down the gobbledygook rabbit hole.

They’re not really telling me what they do. What’s actionable access anyway?

Then it says they create “Precision instruments..acting in alignment to produce their part of the mission critical results” Sounds more like machines in a factory than people.

The grammar is poor, and the writing is clunky, “An executive is left asking themself.”

And, the press releases haven’t been updated since 2003.

What the???

I noticed a copyright notice on their site. It says that their copyrighted terms include “Agenda”, “Now”, and “Transparent.” Huh?

If I wasn’t looking at the site for this post, I would have run away screaming after a few seconds.

If they were my client, I would recommend that they tweak the design slightly, and completely rewrite the text to make it clearer what their services are, focus more on the customer, and emphasize real benefits. No HR person alive wakes up in the morning and says, “I want my staff to be precision instruments acting in alignment.” They might think, “I wish my staff cooperated more.” That’s a real concern, which a company such as Mission Control might be able to solve.

What do you think? And, Rex, why and how did you pick this company in the first place?

Is Your Offer Any Good?

Posted on April 20, 2010 by Jodi Kaplan

Image thanks to cosmickitty

There’s a lot of misunderstanding about “marketing offers.” When many people hear the word, they think it means a sale or a promotion of some kind, such as “two for one” or “30% off.”

Both are offers, but here’s the confusing part, an offer doesn’t have to be a sale. It’s just whatever you’re giving in return for something else.

A free book in return for an email address is an offer. So is a mens dress shirt for $30.

What’s an offer?

It’s a combination of:

how many are included
the price
any personalization (like monogramming)
payment terms (all at once, in installments)
any bonuses (free cufflinks, or free monogramming)
a guarantee
a deadline to respond
number available (if limited)
shipping charges
future obligations (the shirt-a-month club, or must buy three more shirts in six months)

(thanks to Dean Rieck for this comprehensive list)

Free starter kit

For instance, yesterday I passed a truck that had a web site address along the top, with an offer of a free starter kit. Further down, it said, “dry cleaning services.”

Without knowing anything more about the company, I can’t tell if this is a good offer or a bad one. And, who is the kit for? Are they trying to reach would-be owners of dry cleaning stores (with a starter package to set up shop)? Or consumers with dirty clothes?

What are the terms?

If they’re offering dry cleaning services to consumers, why do I need a starter kit? What’s in it? Why would I want one? Don’t I just bring in my clothes? Or, do they pick up and deliver, and offer a starter set of forms or labels of some kind? It didn’t say.

An offer is no good, particularly one on the side of a truck, if its terms are unclear, the audience is fuzzy, and the benefits are unknown.

What’s your offer? Have you tested it? Tried 20% off versus $10 discount? Is everything spelled out clearly? Go take look. I’ll wait. Come back later and let me know what you found.

Or, ask a question. I’ll answer it. Free. How’s that for an offer?

What Do You Really Sell?

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Jodi Kaplan

Image thanks to: gravityx9

What are you selling your clients? Holes? or drills?

You may think this is an odd question. Hardware? This is a marketing blog, why in the world is she talking about home improvement projects? What’s gotten into Jodi today? Has she forgotten to drink her morning tea?

Nope. I had the tea (Russian Caravan).

The reason for the hole is there’s an old marketing saying which says, “sell the hole, not the drill.” In other words, the solution, not the means of getting it.

What you really sell

“Why, I’m in the design business!” Or, “I’m a writer, I sell words.”

Well, you are. But, you’re also in the solution business. A writer isn’t really selling words. Nobody buys a vowel in everyday life. What writers are really selling is products, or magazines, or web site visits. A graphic designer is selling visual and emotional appeal (which helps sell more products).

What people really buy

Is a dentist selling teeth whitening? Not really. White teeth don’t work better than yellow teeth. But they do look better. What the dentist is actually doing is selling patients on the idea that they’ll feel better and attract more positive attention from men/women if they have nicer looking teeth. It’s not health they’re selling, it’s sex appeal.

A tour company that specializes in trips to the South Pole isn’t selling a vacation. They’re selling a rugged adventure that appeals to people who want unusual experiences.

Likewise, teachers aren’t selling education or memorizing facts and dates. If she’s a good teacher, she’s selling problem-solving, leadership, and the ability to think for yourself.

When you talk to potential clients or customers what do you tell them? What’s the problem you solve? Do you think this is important? Or, do I need another cup of tea?