Know your competition. Whether you are playing a baseball game, building a business or trying to please your clients, knowing your competition is an essential key to success. In the spa industry, many owners, managers and professionals are spending too much time competing against each other. Instead, it’s time to join hands and marketing brains while banding together to take on the true competition—big-box stores selling over-the-counter skin care. Too many people in the industry are letting the mainstream media and marketing executives tell the story of professional skin care, and they are sending a misleading message that consumers can achieve the same or better results from an over-the-counter skin care product compared to a spa product.

Case in point, one over-the-counter line has recently introduced an expensive, high-end product to be sold in big-box stores, positioning it as an alternative to dermatologist-prescribed product offerings. However, it forgot to include one important value in the pricing: the guidance of a licensed, trained professional. This is where the spa industry can soar.

The opportunity is immense for spas to develop brand loyalty by fulfilling clients’ desires for long-lasting results through professional guidance. Spas already have a viable and loyal audience at their doorsteps. Statistics from the International SPA Association (ISPA) show one in four Americans have been to a spa, and there are more than 32 million active spa-goers. They are coming through your doors regularly. You are touching them, and yet allowing them to walk out the door empty-handed, leaving your clients to buy products elsewhere.

How do you educate and instill in clients’ minds that every time you touch them you are there as a professional to guide them through their important lifestyle and skin care choices? It’s all in the training. Give your staff a new vernacular, one unified message to send. And teach them to listen.
Share the knowledge

Spa owners, managers and estheticians have to tell the story and share the knowledge—it’s absolutely your responsibility as a spa professional. You are the people with the essential licenses, training and expertise. When consumers are provided with good information, they will make wise choices. This means, as a spa industry leader, you have the awesome responsibility of keeping your staff up to speed on the latest developments, products and their benefits, and in turn, the best ways to communicate this knowledge consistently and accurately to clients.

Nearly every spa professional educates on what products they use. For example, an esthetician may explain to a client why vitamin C is great for the skin, then simply let them leave without purchasing a vitamin Cproduct. The client then goes to her neighbor-hood drug or big-box store, reads a few labels and buys something with vitamin C in it. Most likely, the product—as well as the money and time spent—will disappoint her. This was the spa’s mistake. The esthetician educated the client, but she didn’t take that education to the next step by leading the client toward an effective product purchase.

Think of it this way: Treatments, products and guidance should be viewed as one seamless education experience for your clients. In one visit, this one-stop shopping mentality enables clients to receive the proper service, products, education and guidance to keep their skin maintenance and care going at home.
Putting the big-box theory to the test

With every dollar counting right now, you need to help your clients make educated decisions. Understand it is more cost-effective for clients to buy a product they can use for six months with great results than spending a little less, using the product for two weeks and then throwing it away because they don’t know how to use it.

Spa professionals owe it to their clients to share this knowledge and empower them to make the right decisions. When they end up at a big-box store, who’s there to prescribe the best products for their skin type? Who’s telling them what they do and don’t need? Honestly, besides the kid who’s standing behind the checkout counter, do customers even have the opportunity to talk with another human being during this process, which can directly affect their health and self-esteem?

Think of how cost-effective it is to have a professional recommendation with each product. When you help a client, consider that the coaching and professional recommendation is essentially free, and your client has the opportunity to better understand professional products are not more expensive than those found at drugstores and big-box stores.

Again, those outlets are your real competition—not other spa professionals. Focus your energy on figuring out how to educate clients on the benefit of a professional recommendation.
Learning to listen

Almost all spa professionals have likely witnessed firsthand the value of listening to clients. The power of the professional recommendation in the eyes of the client is enormous. These women and men look to personal trainers, life coaches, supervised weight loss programs and various support groups to master lifestyle changes that would lead to long-lasting, visible results. They value the training, tips, techniques, product suggestions and, most importantly, the consistent moral support they received from these professionals, and they credit these experts with encouraging them to stick with a program long enough to see results. With all of the knowledge and wonderful advice you share, it’s also important to take time to listen. Your clients are your best source of knowledge.

Spa professionals have many gifts for clients. These gifts are built by using education to help people achieve amazing skin, improved self-esteem and a healthier lifestyle. Only the spa community has the knowledge and personal connections to create these life-changing gifts and priceless. Embrace that responsibility and share your wealth of knowledge with clients today.

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Woman Claims She Was Sexually Assaulted At Spa
S. Fla. Spa On Probation For Unlicensed Workers

PLANTATION, Fla. — A popular South Florida day spa was put on probation for a year for having unlicensed workers, and a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted at the spa.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. Contour Day Spa didn’t do anything wrong,” said David Schottenfeld, an attorney for the spa.

Contour’s lawyer might feel that way. But members of the State Board of Massage therapy disagree.

The posh day spa and its owner are now on probation. Contour’s owner, Fanit Panofsky, would not talk  about her hiring practices, about the disciplinary action taken by the state or about hiring Ivson Brazil.

Panofsky hired Brazil to perform Turkish baths at Contour. Brazil allegedly fled the country after being accused of sexually assaulting a Contour client while performing a Turkish bath.

When questioned by police, Brazil called it an “accident,” saying that he slipped on wet tile, causing his mouth to make contact with a client’s “vaginal area.”

Brazil was not licensed as the state said he should have been. His prior job was working at a carwash.

When a state massage board attorney questioned Panofsky about the hiring, she said she hired him to “clean up.” As far as performing the Turkish bath, she said she told him, “She had no one else at the time, and that she trained him, had someone train him on the premises,” according to Sam Diconcilio, an attorney for the Board of Massage Therapy.

As part of the probation, the state will make four unannounced inspections at Contour within the next year to make sure everyone inside is properly licensed.

The massage board’s attorney had to convince the spa owner that the Turkish bath was a form of massage and needed to be done by a licensed, well-trained professional. Diconcilio said, “You can’t have somebody on a table with no clothes on, and nobody can touch them without a license.”

The Contour Day Spa was also fined. Their probationary period lasts until the middle of 2009.

The alleged victim in the case filed a civil suit against Contour for negligence, but a jury found Contour was not liable for Brazil’s actions.

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Core Dimension Training and Corporate Realty Advisors announced an agreement centered on providing national real estate consulting services to physicians offering medical aesthetic services in their respective markets.

 announced an agreement centered on providing national real estate consulting services to physicians offering medical aesthetic services in their respective markets.

Core Dimension Training is one of the nation’s leading aesthetic practice management companies. James Finnegan, Bruce Vermeulen and Paul Herchman are the Managing Partners and have extensive experience in the med-spa industry as owners, investors, managers, financiers, vender’s and consultants. They have been involved in hundreds of aesthetic businesses in the US and have an in-depth understanding of the economics and key business drivers of aesthetic businesses. Corporate Realty Advisors’ unique expertise and consulting platform in working with physicians in the development of aesthetic centers located in multi or single tenant real estate developments has enabled Corporate Realty Advisors to become one of the nation’s most respected commercial real estate consulting services company.

Paul Herchman said, “Today’s economic and aesthetic environment is changing. Now more than ever physicians must understand the details of revenue enhancement programs and the legal/operational aspects of their business. We have worked with Corporate Realty Advisors on numerous occasions in the past and we are confident that they will continue to provide our customers with the most accurate market knowledge, generating the best real estate course of action, facilitating the most favorable terms, and mitigating the physician’s exposure.”

Jay Rigelsky and Clint Dansby stated, “Corporate Realty Advisors is extremely excited to be working with Paul and Core Dimension Training.

Like Core Dimension Training, Corporate Realty Advisors strives to continually place client’s immediate needs at the forefront, while providing forward thinking strategies facilitating the client’s long term objectives. Our Medical Services Consulting Group has developed an individual services platform that generates unmatched negotiating leverage while successfully reducing exposure for the individual doctor or physician group. We are dedicated to exceeding the needs of the Core Dimension Training customer.”

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Teaching Managers How to Give Critical Feedback to Staff

Most managers and supervisors would rather run a mile… But senior management are tired of managers who don’t handle simple discipline. And because a supervisor won’t deal with incompetence, you may lose yet another good worker who says ‘enough!’ The ability to give honest, critical feedback is a key skill for good leaders.
How to make giving criticism less difficult and more effective:

Don’t start with an apology. When it’s time for the ‘big talk’, don’t hide your nerves by saying sorry. If you were really sorry, you wouldn’t be having the conversation! The offender usually knows there’s a problem, and a wishy-washy start will lose you respect.

Create a productive conversation. Ask the staff member to listen, then when they speak, make sure you really listen. Take turns speaking and listening with arms unfolded, concentration, and privacy. It may not come easily…and silences are OK.

It’s what they did, not who they are. Better to say ‘you used the wrong margarita recipe, which caused us to lose $400 worth of product’ than say ‘you’re a stupid idiot and a loser – don’t you ever do anything right?’ But we know which expression is the most commonly used! The first one shows you’re in control, and the second statement shows that both people have a problem.

Make use of Checklists: compare performance against a Job Description, the Code of Conduct, an operating procedure, logbook records, the POS printout or a profit statement. Shades of grey become black and white when there are words and numbers describing the issue.

Be specific about what needs to change. Telling me to ‘lose the bad attitude’ is just a rant. Explaining I need to greet fellow workers on arrival, smile at customers even when it hurts and be 5 minutes early every shift gives me a clear roadmap of how to make the team and the boss happy.

What’s not done is also important. Sometimes the ’sins of omission’ (things that aren’t done) are harder to criticize than things done badly. A safety induction is forgotten and there’s an injury. A salary review was repeatedly delayed and the worker is poached by a competitor. Dinner service is fast and efficient but the atmosphere is unfriendly.

Separate praise from criticism. When praise comes first, everyone’s waiting for a giant BUT, and then they forget any good points that have been made. Offer positive feedback after the tough stuff has been dealt with. Sometimes the withdrawal of praise may be a strong rebuke: a teacher colleague says it’s one of her most effective weapons. Her young students receive a lot of praise, and if the tap’s turned off, they feel it acutely. If your work culture revolves around criticism, staff will be deaf to most of what you say and concentrate on survival. For some managers, giving praise is quite difficult.

The conversation may sound like parents and children. You know many of the responses: ‘it’s not fair’, false promises, lies, blaming, denial, stony faces and tears. Some nervous managers even use a version of ‘I’ll tell your father when he gets home’! When you raise the conversation to ‘adult-with-adult’, there’s the possibility of breakthough and a fresh start. At school, young people are taught about their rights, and their outspokenness may surprise you – it’s not an attack, just how it is now.

They may think they are doing it right. Or that there way is better – sometimes the misconduct or errors is quite logical to the offender – check where they’re coming from.

Have the conversation in private. Never in front of others, or you can expect a walk-out or a no-show at the next shift. Rarely useful.

Some issues will need senior management. Cases of harassment, suspicion about stealing and questions of honesty need guidance and action from the top. These ones can’t be delegated.

Practice handling tough situations: a young supervisor giving feedback to an older worker, a female manager disciplining a male worker, a non-native speaker correcting a local, or a new manager dealing with staff who’ve been around for years. Practice and rehearse the right responses with the managers – chances are you’ve heard every excuse and justification.

As senior management, your responsibility is to ensure managers have the confidence and skills to give criticism promptly, fairly and accurately. It’s character-forming for everyone!
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Everyone knows that those who care for others often place themselves last.

If you leave the office most nights feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and behind on everything you’ve got to get done at work—even though you just spent 10 hours there—you’re letting your workday get away from you. It’s too easy to let the hours you spend at the office get stolen by meetings, email, interruptions, and impromptu co-worker chats that leave you saddled with busywork and too distracted to get the important stuff done. But with a little thought, you can leave work feeling accomplished and complete instead. When it’s time to take back your workday, there are a few dead easy strategies that can help you focus on your tasks, firewall your attention, and reduce your workload so you can get out the door feeling light, free, and done.

10. Make a lunch or dinner date (to create a deadline).

Ever wonder why your co-workers who are parents get out of the door on time every day like clockwork? It’s because they’ve got to pick up the kids at daycare by a certain time. If you feel like you’ve got all day to get things done, you’re more likely to get sucked into stuff that’s not that important. But a deadline will light a fire under your butt and keep your eye on the clock. If you know you’ve got a spouse at home expecting to see you by 6:30, or a buddy waiting for you at the gym, you’re more likely to stay focused, get your stuff done, and get out of your chair on time.

If you can take lunch on your own schedule, this same strategy works midday, too: make a date with your co-worker or friend to have lunch at a set time, and use it as a deadline for getting your morning tasks done.

9. Write down the first thing you have to do tomorrow morning and put it on your keyboard before you leave the office.

The sad reality is that if you let it, your workday will get away from you without one single task getting checked off your to-do list: unless you make it your personal mission. The best time of the day to GTD is first thing in the morning, so make it easy on yourself. Every evening, before you leave the office, write down the single most important task you’ve got to get done the next day. Leave it on your desk, with any support material you need to work on it, so you can get rolling first thing. The best way to start your day is accomplishing something instead of fiddling around with email. (See more about how to set yourself up with a small, doable task here.)

8. Don’t check email for the first hour of the day.

Author of Never Check Email in the Morning Julie Morgenstern suggests waiting for one hour before you open up your email inbox in the morning. Instead of thoughtlessly reading email first thing, work on that task you laid out for yourself in #9. Accomplishing something out of the gate sets the tone for the rest of your day, Morgenstern says, and once you’ve launched your email client, you’re “open for business” and paying attention to incoming requests.

Note: If you do business with folks in different time zones, this guideline can be very difficult to follow, especially if you know you’ve got new messages over night. But let’s be realistic: a one hour email delay won’t kill anyone. You can do it.

7. Decide NOT to do one task on your to-do list and cross it off.

It’s not always the boss who’s putting pressure on us to get things done and assigning us tasks: sometimes we take on little projects and to-do’s because they seem like a good idea for one reason or another. If you’ve got a to-do list a mile long with items that have been sitting there for weeks? Chances are there are a few you can cross off right this moment because they’re not worth doing after all. A “good idea at the time” isn’t always a good idea. If you’ve assigned yourself busywork that isn’t that important, simply opt not to do it—that’s the fastest and lowest-effort way to get it off your plate.

6. Edit that email you’re writing down to less than five sentences.

No one likes to get long-winded email, and email’s not the appropriate place to have extended conversations. The shorter your email is, the more likely you are to get a response. Designer Mike Davidson instituted a personal email policy that no message he sends is more than five sentences, which saves himself and the recipient time. Give it a try. If your message has to be longer, pick up the phone and call instead.

5. Cut someone off.

When chatty Cathy’s yapping your head off, or that passive meeting leader is letting things go off the rails in the conference room for too long, speak up. Don’t be rude, of course. A polite but business-like, “Can we get back to the agenda?” or “I hate to cut this short, but I’ve got an appointment” or “This seems off-topic for this meeting–can we move on?” can save you hours of wasted time at the office.

4. Book a meeting with yourself.

If your head is spinning with all the stuff you’ve got to get done and the interruptions keep coming, you need some alone time. If the hours of your day keep getting stolen by meeting requests and drive-by interruptions, box out an hour or so every few days specifically to regroup and get organized. Literally enter the meeting with yourself on your calendar, and if you need to get away from your desk, book a conference room as well. Take your project list, to-do list, and calendar with you to the room and spend that time deciding what, when, and how you’re going to tackle all the stuff in your work life, as if you’re a boss meeting with your assistant. (GTD’ers know this technique as the weekly review.)

3. Master the art of the qualified yes.

Don’t be a yes-man or woman by default. When you have a choice (and most times you do), instead of automatically saying yes unconditionally to incoming requests, qualify it. Ask for more information like the deadline or requirements. See if it’s something that can be put off till a later date or done by someone more available or better-suited. Merlin Mann’s recent talk at Macworld, Time Sinks and Attention Burglars, has a fabulous section on negotiating incoming requests and qualifying your yes’es so you don’t give away your time so easily.

2. Block out distractions and set a timer.

When your brain is frozen in a solid block of paralyzed procrastination around a task and you’re letting yourself get carried away by distractions like email and instant messenger, it’s time to take out the big guns. Turn off your email and IM client, grab a kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes, and work until the beep. Then, take a break. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I swear by this technique, which got me through writing 400 pages of the Lifehacker book when all I wanted to do was crawl under the bed and hide. If you give yourself an easy deadline (it’s only 10 minutes!) and make it a race with the clock, you’ll unfreeze your brain and break through your blocks.

1. Do a free jot brain dump.

When you’re so stuck in a rut that your brain can’t even grok the concept of a to-do list and you have no idea where you are or where you should be, it’s time to do a serious regroup (while going easy on yourself). Take a piece of paper and a pen, go to a quiet place, and free jot for 10 minutes. Make lists. Mind map. Free associate ideas. Rant. Write down whatever comes to mind to get your juices flowing. When we get hung up on busywork and crushed by overwhelm, our brains can’t take it any more. A last-resort, free-jot brain dump can re-focus the big picture: what’s important to you, what your biggest problem is right now, and what your next step is.

Regular brain dumps and mind maps are a great way to boost creativity and get started on projects, but they’re also an effective last resort strategy for those really bad days that have reduced you to a twitching mess of dysfunctional information anxiety.

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The Secret of Knowledge Transfer is no secret, it has been known for thousands of years.

Next time you catch yourself grumbling that “I could do it faster myself”.. Remember that you can pay for training up front or in the long run.

We talked about it in our Spa Audio Video Web Presentation, Studies show that we remember:

10% of what we read…

20% of what we hear…

30% of what we see…

50% of what we hear AND see simultaneously…

70% of what we hear, see AND say

90% of what we hear, see, say AND do.

Confucius, that wise Chinese philosopher, first offered this insight around 2,000 years ago, when he said:

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I know.”

Here’s what this means in business terms:

Reading a written document on how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – the employee will only recall about 10% of it. Explain to them how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – the employee will retain about 20%. Demonstrate them how to schedule a new guest for an appointment – 50%. Using a “Explain & Demonstrate” approach – and then having them repeat the process while you observe and provide feedback – gets you to 90%.

Use the five steps of training otherwise known as the “Confucius Checklist” to successfully transfer your knowledge to an employee:

1) Explain

Using both written and verbal guidance, tell the person what you want them to know. It may be a business process that you want employees to follow. Or it may be healthy living information for clients.

2) Demonstrate

Let’s say you’re training a new staffer on how to close up every night. Perform the steps yourself, as you normally would – and have the new employee shadow you with a copy of the written instructions. Have her read each step to you out loud as you both complete the process together. (You may find you’ve been skipping some steps yourself!) Prompt them to turn their copy of the instructions into a living document by adding their own notes, clarifications and reminders.

3) Observe

The next step in the process of transferring knowledge to someone else is to observe them apply the new information by performing the task or using the new skill themselves.

This time, your staffer takes the lead on closing up for the night. You shadow her, making notes for later feedback on what she’s doing right and where she’s missing something.

4) Follow Up

Feedback works best when it’s fresh. On the other hand, “death by a thousand nicks” – pinging your staffer with lots of little tweaks and critiques at every step along the way – is incredibly demoralizing to employees. Catch your staff doing things right this will build their confidence and motivate them.

So accumulate feedback while you’re observing the employee perform the process. Then provide it at well-timed intervals. For example, if your close process has four steps – reconcile cash register, clean restroom, straighten stock, and set alarm – perhaps you can mainly provide comments at the end of each major step.

Base the timing and frequency of your feedback on the employee’s learning style, the urgency of the correction, and its impact on the rest of the process.

For example, a critical mistake made early in the cash reconciliation process probably should be corrected instantly, since it will affect all of the subsequent steps. On the other hand, if your staffer is learning to lead a client session, it may be more appropriate and useful to provide comments after the session is complete.

Remember to ask for her observations as well – what went smoothly and where she feels it could have gone better.

5) Repeat

We call this the “lather, rinse, repeat” step! You’ve explained the process verbally and in writing. You’ve demonstrated the process. You’ve observed them perform the process. You’ve given feedback on their performance of the process. Now, watch them perform the process again.

Continue this cycle until the employee or client demonstrates mastery of the material.

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Top Ten Best Spa Managements Practices

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1. Monitor Your Top Three Priorities

Employee Staffing: Maintain a pool of talent with on-going recruitment, current employee

Evaluations , training and development.

Budget: Compare service and retail projections to actual weekly,

monthly, and annual budgets and projections.

Client Retention and Attention: Chart your seasonal promotions; always plan two

Months in advance of slow times; For Example include the January and February specials

In the December Holiday brochure. Hold Staff accountable for retention and record referrals.

2. Involve and Evolve Staff

Keep the staff informed on all issues positive and negative

Train the staff on all promotions and introductions

Have the staff involved: write their own job descriptions; what they need to be successful and how to measure success; provide them with the tools they need.

3. Be Proactive with Clients

Evaluate, and refresh services to keep them current and up to date with client’s expectations.

Pre-book the next visit for your client

Establish VIP’s to receive new treatments first and spread the word.

Promote “programmed” skin care for your clients, set goals

Schedule Client information Parties.

4. Watch the Spa Trends

Stay progressive by understanding globalization, current technological, economic changes, environmental concerns, customer priorities, and staff demands. Stay in touch with vendors to stay on top of what is new and what works.

5. Know your Competition

Modify Business Plan to keep it current

Know the competitions 4 P’s: Pricing, Product, Promotions, and Placement. Learn to work with them.

6. Manage the Money

Promote high margin services

Promote services that generate retail

Incentives for staff Pay staff based on performance of up-sell service add-ons

Use perceived value to increase prices

Use Portion control to insure accurate staff usage

Use inventory and ordering procedures to reduce waste and overstocks

7. Be a Leader with Presence

Maintain a management presence, walk the floor

Stay involved

Provide on-one attention

Catch people doing things right. Recognize accomplishments reward good behaviors.

8. Think it, Ink it, and Get it Signed

Show you mean business by having your staff sign an Offer of Employment,

Probationary Agreement, Spa Policies, Behavioral Conducts, Service

Procedures, Job Descriptions, Evaluations, Compensation Packages, Privacy,

and Non-Compete Agreements.

9. Get On-line

The visit, or phone call, to your Spa earlier, may prompt an online purchase,

or booking, later; Spa-goers visiting your city find out about you; e-mailing

programs and campaigns takes almost no time or money; show you are on the

fast track, not the extinction list!

10. Take care of yourself

Be self-ish, not selfish. Your ability to shed a positive light will be the single most important thing you do.

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Few marketing programs completely fulfill one’s hopes. In the new year, marketers should avoid over-hyped opportunities to focus on measuring success by one satisfied customer at a time. Here are the key ideas you should consider.

 

Time to Green

A “green” plan is no longer a luxury. Every day, another venerable brand commits to a sustainable future. While there is much “green washing,” rating services like B Corporation will set standards that will have major corporations fighting to prove their green. As GE announces billions in green-related sales, and BP fends off bad eco-press, you may find a new seat in the boardroom, the CGO (Chief Green Officer).

 

“Narrowcasting” video networks continue to sprout, enabling marketers to put their messages in front of selective targets – from health clubbers and deli shoppers (Captive Audience), to moviegoers (IdeaCast), pet owners (SeeSaw Networks), and elevator riders (Captivate Network). Innovations like these will drive out-of-home to new heights.

 

Mobile – I Can Hear You Now

This may be the year mobile deserves a closer look and listen as tech improvements create new opportunities. Bluetooth-enabled phones have made it easier for marketers to provide contextually relevant information. For example, the Air Force set up Bluetooth transmitters at racetracks to reach potential recruits. Apple’s iPhone partnered with Google and Yahoo to enable ad-supported programming. Cellfire enlisted a million people to receive coupons for everything from burgers to videos. Mobile marketing can deliver highly personalized, and useful information when and where needed. As long as marketers don’t spam, mobile marketing may be the missing link in personalized communications.

 

Join the Club

Wise marketers will capitalize on the growing appeal of social networks. Besides the Goliaths MySpace and Facebook, social networks exist in niches from teens (Pizco and Tagged) to seniors (Eons) to photographers (Flickr) to do-gooders (AllDayBuffet) to B-to-B (LinkedIn & Plaxo) to gamblers (BetsGoWild) to local clubs (MeetUp). Chase’s partnership with Facebook has helped make their “+1″ credit card the card of choice among college students. Marketers will be smart to create a social network, or take an existing one and make it physical. (Second Life held its first offline convention in 2007.)

 

Rise of the Widgets

Mini-software applications, “widgets,” provide unprecedented access to hard-to-reach targets, as Facebook and MySpace can attest. According to ComScore, 220+ million folks used widgets last May. iLike, which allows Facebook users to share iTunes playlists, grew to over 10 million users in 10 months. Slide, which creates slideshows and embeds them in social network homepages, claims to be the largest personal media network in the world, reaching 120 million viewers monthly. That’s but the beginning of the widget avalanche.

 

Roll Video

With 70+% broadband penetration, streaming video is a must marketing tool. eMarketer reports 123 million Americans watch a video monthly; three-quarters tell a friend. Whether a B-to-B or B-to-C marketer, video is an enormous opportunity to engage, educate and entertain, the three new “Es” of successful marketing. Lots of brands are producing instructional videos to help customers install or use their product or service. Others create pure entertainment, hoping to build brand affinity or drive traffic. But the ubiquity of video is not without challenges. With over 7 million hours of video online, cutting through requires quality storytelling and judicious editing.

 

From Behavioral to Contextual

Marketers will add behavioral targeting to contextual “search” efforts. AOL believes in the future of behavioral targeting, having spent $275 million for Tacoda Systems, which claims to reach 120 million people in 31 discrete audience segments monthly. eMarketer predicted behavioral targeting will increase ten-fold over the next five years, growing from a $350 million to $3.8 billion ad spend. A test we ran for Panasonic yielded 50% more imminent buyers of a particular consumer electronics product, making it far and away better than a simple search buy.

 

Focus on the Experience

The need to focus on integrated marketing approaches isn’t news. But what will be news is how brand experiences will move to the top of the integration food chain, becoming the driving force of communications. Once upon a time, events and online initiatives were treated as “below the line” after-thoughts. Increasingly marketers realize that interactive brand experiences can be far more effective than advertising and should be the starting point of a customer conversation.

 

Marketing as Service

For years, marketers were more concerned with what they said, rather than what their target heard, resulting in endless monologues. Marketers who continually support their customers through the course of life, providing value in each communication, will score big in 2008. The value exchange can take many forms, but only if the marketer understands the needs and aspirations of its target and commits to a genuine dialogue at every point of contact. The HSBC BankCab, which provides free rides to HSBC customers in New York City, is one example of marketing as service, transforming customers into brand evangelists with every ride. Marketers who treat marketing as a service and deliver real value to customers and prospects alike will undoubtedly triumph in 2008.

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