Jacob S Paulsen's Blog, page 14

Execution IS The Strategy by Laura Stack

In July I read “

ROI Is An Equation Not A Theory

I like the ABC show Shark Tank. If you aren’t familiar with the concept, entrepreneurs walk into a room of venture capitalists and try to convince them to invest money into their idea/business. Most of these entrepreneurs seem to have never watched the show before coming on it as they consistently don’t have the answers to some of the more common questions. One of those… “What is your customer acquisition cost?”

As marketing channels become diverse and difficult to track, the business world is screaming for transparency, reporting, and return on investment. All to often us digital marketing folk have to go into meetings with top decision makers and tell them that while we can’t tell them what the bottom line value of a Facebook like or a Retweet really is; we are sure it is helping the business grow in consumer engagement, loyalty, and brand value. It sounds like a load of crap to be honest but sometimes its just the best we can do.

As marketers we have to remember that ROI is not a theory to be preached as an intangible. Its a formula. If I invest X dollars into a project or initiative how will it increase Gross revenue? The formula isn’t complicated and it always exists. As businesses grow and invest resources into multiple strategies and initiatives it becomes more difficult for them to track the return on any one of those programs. This is where some of those challenges exist.

As you move forward to grow the business stop and ask yourself, how am I going to measure this? How can I isolate the revenue growth I will achieve from this plan from other things I have in the works?

Oh, and in case you are curious, customer acquisition cost is exactly what it sounds like. If I have to spend $1000 on advertising to get 300 people to go to my website and I know that my standard conversion rate on that type of web traffic is 10%, than I will get 30 new customers. That is a customer acquisition cost of $33.33. If my average ticket size is $50 then my ROI is $1500 making for a net profit of $500. If this could be scaled it would be a profitable business model.

What is your formula?

Personalization – Coca Cola Increases Sales by 30%

The marketing gurus have been preaching personalization for years. Technology has allowed us as marketers to deliver more relevant and personalized messages and advertising to our consumers. Coca Cola recently took personalization in a different direction… thinking of it a little more literally. This year’s #ShareaCoke campaign started with printing 400 popular boy and girl names on Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

When you go to the freezer in the gas station to get a drink and you pull out a coke, you realize it has somebody else’s name on it. If you know someone with that name your first thought might be to buy it anyway and give it to that person you know. Your second thought is going to be to look back into the freezer and start looking through each row of drinks to see if they have your name. In the process you will likely see the names of a few more people you know and you just might buy those too so you too can #ShareaCoke.

Sound silly? I had a meeting last week with the local distributor of Coca Cola in my state and their marketing department told me sales are up 30%. WHAT???? Any brand would do darn near anything legal to get a 30% increase in sales but for a brand like Coca Cola to have that type of increase is crazy. To be clear I don’t know if they were referring to national growth or growth specific to the local marketing area of my state.

Oh, and in the meeting they handed me the Jacob bottle you see here

The key here; get creative and think about how to make it more personal.

Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet

This book is full of simple and clear insights that work together to help anyone create a “leader/leader” culture. The author tells the story of his own experience as a captain in the US Navy and uses his experience to illustrate how to transform an organization that is used to top down command type leadership into one he describes as “Leader/Leader” in which each individual is truly empowered and proactive.

I especially like the way the book is laid out into chapters will clear summaries at the end of each chapter with a review of the principle and how to put it into action.

My favorite quote from the book, “Move Authority to Where the Information Is.”

A few of the other golden nuggets I gleaned:

The true ability of leadership is only measured and known after the leader leaves the organization. It is his “clock-builder” skills and not time-keeping skills that prove the test of time. This puts a greater emphasis on moving authority down the ladder.

In order for the leader/leader model to work you must have competence and clarity. Competence requires a lot of training and finding the right people. Clarity requires making sure that everyone in the organization understand the WHY and has clear communication and expectations.

Read this book and you will learn and improve!

>>Find on Amazon<<

Value Is King – New Marketing Reality

In the online marketing conversation we have been using the phrase “Content Is King” for a very long time. Even 5 years ago most of the experts agreed that creating content for contents sake was central to any online strategy. New content, when formatted and syndicated correctly, drove both direct traffic and indirect traffic through increase search engine optimization. Today we live in a deluge of content where little if anything actually sticks out above the crowd. The search engines are constantly tweaking the algorithm to drive results based on useful and quality information and the SEO gurus are trying to embrace that reality while searching for tactics that can facilitate shortcuts.

After all the years of human existence we are finally getting to a climax in society that requires that people actually create real value for others in order to stand out. Marketing is no longer a shouting match that requires large ad budgets. It has instead become a match in utility. How can be the most valuable to the end consumer? The big brands have known this for some time and they are working hard to become integrated into lifestyles of their consumers by putting resources behind non-sales related utility and value. The most common examples include mobile apps that help solve a common problem without directly promoting the companies products.

The new marketing reality is (as it has always technically been) “Value is King.” He who creates the most value for the consumer wins. Value could still be content as we have been traditionally thinking about it as blog posts, eBooks, YouTube channels, etc but it could also go a different direction. Marketing still has the same formula of identifying the target consumer, determining what problem/pain you can solve for them, and then solving it. Now, particularly in the online world, we must stop creating content for the sake of content and work on a solution that creates value.

SEO Rank Reporter WordPress Plugin Review

One of the frustrating thing of any SEO strategy is trying to measure your progress. There are a large number of great services and products in the market that you can buy or subscribe to but some are cost prohibitive for the small online publisher. A solution I’ve recently stumbled upon for publishers with a WordPress site is a no cost plugin called SEO Rank Reporter.

SEO Rank Reporter allows the user to input as many phrases and keyword queries as desired to track how any given URL ranks on Google for that query. The plugin refreshes data every 3 hours which and shows if you are trending down or up. This is represented in a line graph and in a matrix style report that makes it easy to see how your site or page(s) is performing over time for specific phrases.

One of the awesome things about this plugin is that you can report on any phrase for any URL. So this allows you to track internal pages as they relate to keywords or phrases. You could also track external sites such as competitors to see how their own SEO is trending.

You can also use a configuration page to see what potential keywords or phrases that the plugin recommends you add and start tracking.

You can set email alert notifications to be sent when any given ranking changes by a certain number of positions. This is an especially powerful feature.

The Visits/rank report shows the actual amount of traffic that you are getting to your site for any given phrase you are tracking. This gives you greater clarity as to the value of a high or low ranking for any given search phrase or query.

I’ve been using this plugin for about 4 months now and I’m impressed all around at how effective it is considering its a no-cost WordPress plugin. Enjoy!

Compelling People by Matthew Kohut and John Neffinger

This book is a unique and powerful look at real science and research to determine the various factors that influence others. The book is broken into two parts. First is “The Hand You Were Dealt” and this section deals with some of the research based facts that surround being a certain gender, ethnicity, have certain facial features, etc.

The second part of the book deals with “Playing Your Hand” and talks about how you can work to become more influential.

I was fortunate to attend a live Q&A webinar with the authors as part of the 12 Books Group. I took a lot of key lessons from this material.

First is that you can’t fake it. You can pretend to like people or be interested in what they say. Your motives, feelings, and sentiments have to be genuine as a prerequisite to anything else the book suggests.

Second is that even if you are authentic and genuine your own bad habits or subconscious behavior can undermine you. This book gives the tips and research based ideas that can help us overcome some of those problems.

The book addresses the balance between Strength and Warmth as the keys to compelling people and the need to recognize and balance the two. Through this paradigm any discussion about influence, public speaking, sales, etc can be filtered and addressed.

–>Get the Book on Amazon

Utility Marketing Best in Show

In a marketplace where brands are starting to understand that the shouting match of traditional advertising isn’t really getting them anywhere, some brands are starting to embark on a noble cause of becoming more useful and relevant to their consumers. It is difficult for smaller brands and local businesses to discover how they can participate in this new age of utility marketing but its a worthy endeavor.

Here are some big brands that you know well that I think have something figured out.

Charmin Sit or Squat App: It would be really lame to put out a mobile app that allowed customers to learn about the different toilet paper products on the market. Charmin (P&G) decided it would be more valuable to align themselves with a popular “Public Restrooms Directory” app that helps people find and rate public bathrooms that meet their needs.
Nike Golf 360: This new program available from Nike helps golfers keep track of their game by inputting scores and other important information via the mobile app. The program then creates some customized feedback and makes available a lot of good training content and videos.
Betty Crocker YouTube Recipe Channel: Speaks for itself right? If you like to cook you would find these videos valuable and next time you go to do your shopping that value that Bettey Crocker just provided you is going to pay them back at the checkout.
Google Flights, Weddings, or Weather: Google’s business is built around utility marketing. Thier introduction of tools like Google Flu, Flights, or Weddings are great examples. Tell Google your wedding date and they will help you plan your wedding by making it easy to find all the local vendors of the various products and services you are going to need.
Asics Marathoner App: Training for a marathon is more complex than it sounds. Asics gives you the training schedule and input you need to make sure you don’t die on mile 18 of that 26.2 mile race.
Delta Bag Tracker: Fedex style tracking of your luggage is super cool and does come in handy.
Nestle – Pregnancy Guide App: Yes I’m serious. Nestle owns a large number of the household brands in your pantry beyond just the chocolate but it just seems to be the right brand to put in front of expectant mothers who need feedback about what they can expect in their pregnancy.



While none of these utility marketing initiatives directly put revenue in the company they all make the brand (and by extension the product or service) more valuable and more relevant. If you are one of those people who hates the term “Building a Relationship” when referring to the advertiser / consumer transaction then you haven’t fully understood Utility Marketing.

Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek

Well, I figured it would be near impossible to do better than his first book, “Start With Why” and this comes really close

I watched the introduction video of Simon’s on YouTube and was really surprised when he talked about good leadership being a “literal” part of human survival. I didn’t see how a leadership book was going to go there but it did.

The book sticks to science by discussing in part how our own physiology as humans plays a part of our own satisfaction in the work place. This breaks down the various chemicals in our body that are designed to help us survive but often reinforce a negative environment.

One of the key things I took from this is how leaders have to essentially care for the people in their ranks the same way a parent cares for their children. We would have a lot less turn over and decrease expenses if instead of dismissing people who don’t meet expectations we instead think of how we can help them grow into who we need them to be.

I also love his premise that we all have the responsibility to be leaders by keeping the circle of safety strong. When we feel safe, able to be vulnerable, we are able to work at our very best.

These are just a few of the many strong insights and powerful ideas in this book. I would strongly recommend this for anyone who works with other people.

–>Buy on Amazon

Everyone is a Publisher – 3 Tips to Stand Out

Today everyone is a publisher. Years ago before the internet, blogging, and social media there were a elite and select few people who were writers. With the massive increase in people publishing content to the world there is ever increasing competition for people’s limited and greatly broken attention.

To stand out among the clutter one has to produce content that is FAR more valuable to one’s audience than everyone else. That could be entertaining, educational, informative, or whatever your audience craves.

It’s time to ask yourself how you are going to break through the clutter? Let me make these 3 suggestions.

First, voice. When you right you have to be willing to become vulnerable to your audience. This means opening up so as to be honest, transparent, and human. Let readers feel like they are getting to know you as a friend.

Second, utility. All your content must be useful. Determine what your audience really needs and do your party to provide it.

Third, timely. Consider current topics in the media and politics around which to teach your message. If you can find examples around which the majority of people can relate or observe your message then the content will naturally become more viral and effective.