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Dave’s Answer:

Last week I talked about different ways you can track what people are saying about your company, products, service or even you in the online world (see How to keep track of company buzz and reputation online). We primarily looked at Google Alerts, but also mentioned Boulder, Colorado-based companies Filtrbox.com and UmbriaListens.com, both of which also offer sophisticated discussion tracking services, and I threw in a mention of TrackUR.com because, well, my friend Andy owns the company.

Just as importantly, we talked about how you can track discussion in the fast-moving mobile-friendly world of Twitter by using the Twitter search feature and then subscribing to the results. Nice, neat, and very interactive. An example of a company that does just that to stay involved with the conversation is Colorado local restaurant Spud Bros, which you can find in Twitter by simply mentioning @spudbros therein.

The real question, however, is what’s the best way to deal with the discussion you find about your company, product, etc? That is, if I had a search for “Dave Taylor” + “Daily Camera” and found a lot of people saying either how wonderful (hopefully!) or terrible my weekly column is in the Boulder Daily Camera, our local newspaper, what should I do next?

I thought it would be interesting to ask that question of two local experts in online reputation management, so I asked Ari Newman, Founder and President of Filtrbox, and Doyle Albe, President and New Media Director at Metzger Associates what they recommend to clients.

Focusing primarily on critical online comments, Ari suggests “When I see negative feedback, I first assess the nature of the complaint and then engage by responding in the same context with some constructive advice or acknowledgment of the issue. My goals are 1. to let the person know we are listening, 2. let them know we care, and 3. instill confidence that there is either a solution, we are working on it, or we are willing to help. We try to respond to all feedback quickly, but by looking at reach and influence we are able prioritize our responses when necessary.

What I’ll highlight from his answer is “in the same context”. This is key to managing your online reputation because wherever you encounter the comment, you must respond in that same medium. If they’re using Blogger, you need to add a comment. If their comment is in MySpace, you need to be in MySpace, and so on. Otherwise the disconnect means that people who find their commentary won’t ever see your response.

I asked Doyle to break down his advice into the two possible scenarios of critical comments that are or aren’t true. Both appear online, of course, and criticism that’s untrue is perhaps one of the great fears of any business person when contemplating the Internet. What if your competitor simply starts spreading false digital rumors to
discredit your company? What do you do? Sue them??

Doyle starts with the easy one, when the complaints are accurate and legitimate, like someone complaining that Spud Brothers doesn’t have a large and varied menu:

“Rule #1: DON’T start a flame war. You can’t win. In the end, you must take a high road, even if it hurts a little. If a customer is upset with you — LISTEN and show empathy. How you would like to appear to others reading the posts? Your choice is “I’m sorry for the problem. What can I do to help?” or “Are you kidding? We don’t even want business from jerks like you.” The choice is pretty clear. A company that listens to criticism and offers to remedy the situation almost can’t look bad.”

The greater challenge, as I said, is how to deal with the worst-case scenario of false rumors and malicious slander spreading online. Doyle has this to share:

“This is tough. There are sites out there that specialize in this and can be a real thorn in the side. They’re simply a forum for comments that are often untraceable and, in our experience, not even true. RipoffReport.com is a great example. Even if a company wants to help solve a problem on some of these sites, it’s hard to identify a customer signed only as “Bob K. in California” for example.

“If the rant is a one-off on a small blog with limited readership, it’s often best to simply let it go. If the problem persists, arguing is not the answer, but a gentle “we’ve been tracking your comments, and are quite surprised. How can we help you get to the bottom of this” might work. We’ve seen people stop posting as soon as they realize that someone is watching.

“Clearly, if it gets bad enough (or if someone is threatening your company or employees), legal remedies can be considered, but typically only as a last resort.”

My thanks to both Ari Newman of Filtrbox.com and Doyle Albe of Metzger Associates for their assistance in wrestling with this complex topic.

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Everyone already knows who they are. They have an established, iconic presence. They have mega-bucks to spend. They hire very expensive people to make very expensive noises in every market-place in the world.

But what do you do if you’re a web entrepreneur trying to build a brand, from scratch, from your couch?

I’ve put together a list of brand building ideas, strategies and resources that can help you enhance and establish your brand on a limited budget.

1. Own Your Keyword Name

An obvious example of this strategy is SEOBook.com.

I recall Aaron describing how there was no search volume for “seo book” when he started, although there was a market for books on SEO. By building up that brand name, Aaron sparked brand searches, and forever owns the search term.

SEOs will be aware of the power of incorporating keywords into your brand name itself. The trick is not to be too generic, else you’ll forever compete with everyone else who targets generic keyword terms.

2. Tell A Consistent Story

You walk into a luxury hotel. The street frontage and reception and first class, but as you explore, you notice the hallways are shabby. The rooms are top notch, but the bathrooms are dated and there are cracks in the bath.

The brand is not telling a consistent story - well, not a story that says “luxury” - and will suffer as a result.

Everything you do on your site must tell a consistent story. Everything you do is your brand. Great design is of little use if the copy writing is sub-standard, and vice-versa. Get all those little, but important, details right. Broken links, 404s, slow load times, confusing navigation, unexpected surprises - they all part of your brand experience.

3. Tell A Great Story

You’ll hear this a lot in modern marketing. Businesses often say “we have a great story to tell”.

Stories can be very powerful brand building exercises because people like being told stories. Stories are easy to remember, they capture the imagination, and they engage people.

Learn how stories are constructed. In a nutshell, stories move from a point of equilibrium, into chaos. The central character faces a series of challenges, which s/he overcomes. A new status quo is established.

How could this be used for a brand?

Apple started in a garage. Two misfit teens overcame the might of the corporate world to produce one of the worlds most successful, technology brands.

That’s a David vs Goliath story.

But what if you don’t have such a glorious story yet?

Tell a series of small stories.

“I was always getting frustrated because I often had to yell over a crowd when there was no PA available. So I started using and selling cheap, mobile PA systems. Now everyone can hear me, whether they like it or not!”

Not a great story, but it illustrates a benefit.

What is your story?

4. User Experience Is Your Brand

Site structure and usability are as much part of branding as site design. Learn the lessons of Google. The user experience is the brand i.e. fast, simple, uncluttered. Brand recognition is largely created by the accumulation of experiences and associations the user makes with your company.

There is often no need to hit people over the head with convoluted mission statements. People don’t care about you. They care about them. If you make their experience a good one, they’ll reward you.

5. Brand Partnership

Partner with someone who has an existing brand.

An example of this strategy was mentioned on CopyBlogger.com recently. Approach authors of well-known how-to books and provide an online learning resource. The author puts his/her name to it, and receives a share of the revenue. You run the online learning resource. You have the benefit of starting with a pre-established brand and audience.

Also consider licensing brands and product marks.

6. Let Your Customers Tell You What Your Brand Is

In the 4-Hour Work Week, Timothy Ferris outlined a strategy using Adwords to decide the title of his book. He placed Adwords text ads, varied the titles, and chose the title with the highest click-thru rate. His potential audience decided his title, which is also his brand: “The Four Hour Work Week”.

This strategy is useful in that it can help identify untapped niches in markets.

7. Clarity

Why is your product better than the others?

Answer that question, and you have a brand.

8. Reputation

Without it, you don’t have a brand.

Move heaven and earth to maintain your good standing.

9. Become The Brand

Be your brand. Live your brand. Tell everyone, and tell them often.

It seems obvious, but I’ve seen many a presentation where I couldn’t recall the names of most of the companies by the end of the day, mostly because people didn’t do the simple thing of repeating their brand name often enough. Chances are that you need to repeat this information five times before most people will remember it.

As an aside, Jason Calacanis had a piece of advice in one of his recent newsletters. “If you don’t *really* believe in your product on a deep, intrinsic level, it’s going to come across *immediately* to the bloggers and press you’re pitching”.

The simple, most powerful thing you can do is to believe in your brand. Everything else flows from there.

10. Viral Baby

If you’re reading this site, chances are you’re already ahead of the curve when it comes to the huge potential the Internet offers the little guy. Multi-national businesses can now be run from a bedroom.

Look at Digg. YouTube. Facebook. Flickr. They all started from relatively humble beginnings, then went supernova very quickly. Why? There are many reasons, but they all have one thing in common.

They built viral into the brand.

They rely on one person telling another person. They facilitate it. They encourage it. They make it almost impossible not to do it.
Can your brand be made viral? Can you twist it so that people will engage with it and pass it on to their friends?

11. Time To Advertise

Once you’ve got your messages down, then it is time to advertise. You’d be surprised how many people do this the other way around!

Some corporates are especially bad at this, possibly because the marketing department isn’t talking to the sales department, but therein lies the opportunity for the nimble entrepreneur.

One tip is to use banner ads, where you pay per click. Click-thru rates on banner ads are notoriously low, whereas they do generate brand awareness. Also seek out sites that aren’t in direct competition with you, but have a similar, established audience. You can leverage off their brand by association.

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While Comcast’s 250 GB cap seems ample, it’s not the only cap talk around. While Comcast is the only notable ISP to set a system-wide cap, Time-Warner is running an experiment in Beaumont, Texas that allows only 5 GB a month at the low $30 a month rate, charging $55 to get as much as 40 GB a month. In addition, AT&T calls a bandwidth cap “inevitable.”

Let’s look more closely on what the caps mean. Comcast’s cap has little practical effect on anyone’s Internet usage. Unless you are downloading dozens of HD movies, you won’t get anywhere near the cap, but Time-Warner’s cap is very different. Now, it’s only a test, so we must wait and see what Time-Warner and AT&T (and other ISPs) eventually roll out system-wide, but a 5 GB cap could affect many heavy users. A 40 GB cap would affect few users today, but might affect many down the road.

Here’s why: Surfing Web pages and sending e-mail uses precious little bandwidth. Even uploading and downloading images doesn’t spike the bandwidth meter. But once you start looking at video, all best are off. If you begin using your Internet connection to download standard definition movies, at 1.5 GB a pop, or high-definition movies at 6-8 GB each, you can run out of capped bandwidth in a hurry. In addition, other services, such as Internet storage that is used for backing up your computer can chew up bandwidth if consumers are making full image copies of their 200GB hard drives a few times a month. Are you a heavy Slingbox user? Perhaps you won’t be if it bangs into your bandwidth cap.

So, we’ll see what the ISPs do, but a Time-Warner-style cap will have big impact now, while a Comcast-like cap will not have much impact on usage today. It seems that any kind of cap will likely slow adoption of new bandwidth-intensive services.

But we need to think beyond the practical impact of a cap to the more subtle behavior changes that it might cause. Few people will take the time to become savvy about how much data 250 GB is. Instead, I expect consumer behavior to polarize around two easy-to-understand models: all-you-can-eat or a la carte. Consumers have learned to use the Internet as an all-you-can-eat service. They’ve learned to use television the same way. But they don’t acquire consumer electronics the same way. They don’t download songs to their iPods the same way. Why? Because most things in life are not all-you-can-eat. You pay based on how much you use.

Don’t you think that Internet usage would be far different if we paid for how much we used? Well, you don’t have to guess, because our cell phones already tell us the answer. Web usage is far lower on mobile devices, which is no surpise, because wireless phone providers in most countries charge for what is used. This is gradually starting to change, but consumers have been taught to be careful how much they use, so they use very little.

If consumers begin to get the idea that their computer-based Internet usage is capped by their ISP, they can easily change their behavior to their other model—watch how much you use. What is unlikely is that they’ll take the time to understand how big their cap is and to monitor their usage each month. Cell phones are again instructive. Most people are careful about how much they use their cell phones even though they rarely exceed the minutes in their monthly plans. In fact, most people will try to buy more monthly minutes than they will really need, so that they won’t exceed them. Because it’s too complicated to monitor, they’d prefer to make the complicated decision of how many minutes to buy once, so they can think about their everday cell phone usage as all-you-can-eat (and therefore not think about it at all).

I believe that people gravitate toward all-you-can-eat models when affordable, while minimizing usage when all-you-can-eat is unaffordable. So, how people perceive these Internet bandwidth caps are critical to deciding whether they will affect Internet marketing. If people believe that they’ll never reach the cap (which might be true for a while with Comcast’s) or they believe that they can afford to pay for whatever tier of service is all they can eat, then the caps will have no effect on Internet marketing at all. If, however, people believe that their usage is really affected, they might start prioritizing how they want to use their bandwidth.

Obviously, priorities will include anything we do now and exclude anything we don’t. So, if you’re not downloading movies today, you won’t start. If you don’t currently back up your computer into the cloud, you aren’t about to make the switch. But if people start actually hitting the caps (highly possible in the Time-Warner test), they might be forced to prioritize many more Internet tasks.

The biggest effect on Internet marketing might be with YouTube. As many Internet marketers are thinking about how to get their video messages to “go viral,” what would happen if watching videos is the first casualty of bandwidth caps? It’s clear to me that watching video is one of the least-entrenched online behaviors at the moment, and it is bandwidth intensive. Regardless of whether it’s reasonable or not, those folks on that $30 a month Time-Warner plan in Beaumont might hit those caps a few times and suddenly decide that they need a simple rule that ensures they don’t end up hitting their cap again. “No videos” seems like a simple rule that would be guaranteed to work.

Just at the point where we were all hoping that wireless providers would be relaxing their caps so that the average cell phone user might start using the mobile Web, now the specter of caps on computer Internet bandwidth makes us wonder whether video’s time has not yet come. Watch the stories over the next few months to see what the impact of bandwidth caps might be on Internet marketing.

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Our analysis, taken from surveys given at the eMetrics Marking Optimization Summit, found that 52% of online marketing managers are currently engaged in A/B or Multivariate testing and that an even greater percentage plan to begin testing within the next year.

A high-level overview of the findings:

• A variety of testing platforms are considered before making a final decision
• Experiments vary in frequency, page type and page element
• Practitioners often use more than one platform to meet their needs
• Pretest hypothesis often fail
• Lack of Budget was cited as the main reason by those who currently do not do any testing
• Complexity of Tools and lack of best practices were two top challenges faced by those engaged in Testing
• A/B and Multivariate testing is “worth it”
• Behavioral targeting is a small but growing practice

Surprisingly lack of budget was one of the top reasons why companies were not involved in A/B or Multivariate Testing. But if you look at the chart below you will see that companies that do conduct A/B and Multivariate testing find it that it’s worth it. Majority of the respondents who engage in testing said that either it is worth it or can’t live without it. So if you are one of those who think because of lack of budget you can’t do A/B MVT, think again? Your Return will make it worthwhile to do testing. You will be able to move budget from other areas such as Ad spend to A/B testing. Do your ROI calculations. You will be surprised with the positive results you will get with developing a culture of continuous testing.

You can download the whitepaper from ZeroDash1 website.

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People like Eric Ward pioneerd the practice of promoting web sites editorially resulting in links from these sorts of resources. Links had to come from relevant sources otherwise the traffic was irrelevant.

Google came on the scene with PageRank and boosted the value of bot detected links. Search engine quality improved substantially but opportunistic webmasters and eventually SEOs, identified and took advantage of as many methods of link acquisition as possible. Many of those links being topically relevant and many completely out of context. Think “link farm”.

The ongoing back and forth between search engine efforts at improving quality and website marketers finding shortcuts or even ways to spam links for competitive advantage isn’t going away any time soon. As long as links are important for search engine visibility, web site owners will hire firms and consultants to acquire them.

However, there’s a big difference between link building to content & content promotion that attracts links. Long term, promotion of content that attracts relevant links from those empowered to publish will win. The act of linking is performed, unsolicited, by individual publishers. There is no risk, no tricks or loopholes being exploited and links are contextually relevant.

The rub is, it requires content of value that others are keen on linking to and willing to share with others. Most web sites do not see themselves as content publishers.

The model for unsolicited link acquisition based on content is pretty basic:

Promotion > Awareness > Links > Direct Traffic & Search Engine Traffic

The challenge comes from a combination of:

• The need to create new content that travels and that others are motivated to link to
• Convincing web site owners that they need to create and promote content on an ongoing basis outside of their brochureware corporate site or online product catalog

What it boils down to is marketing. The SEO most consultants practice today isn’t really search engine optimization, it’s marketing web sites online. SEO marketing efforts that focus solely on keyword lists, meta tags and directory submissions are just one small slice of web site marketing.

The technical aspect of SEO will always be important thanks to web developers/designers and content management systems that ignore search engines as an important audience. Search engines may be getting better at indexing complex URLs, Flash and finding content behind forms and JavaScript, but there are plenty of issues that still hinder search engines from finding content and crawling links.

For content promotion, the good news is that many web site owners are wising up to the idea that they need to provide more value, in the form of information, to their customers. That informational content can be leveraged for promotion to attract links. The most common example would be blogs used as platforms to publish and promote content via RSS, RSS to Email, Twitter and social networks.

Distribution channels are important for creating awareness of content to link to plus they can attract traffic on their own. As a content distribution network matures, it builds traffic simply through publishing new information for recipients to consume and link to.

Does it still make sense to build links through directory submissions, back link analysis link requests, article submissions, etc? A certain amount of traditional link building is appropriate for just about any web site marketing effort. Realizing the advantage of a quantity of quality links takes clever content and clever promotion. Clever like Link Moses.

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I talk to many website owners who are unable to put to words what it is that distinguishes them from their competitors. They don’t know what makes them unique or have a reason why someone should buy from them rather than somebody else. This is a shame.

Running a business online is really no different than anywhere else. Just because it’s easier to “build your store” doesn’t mean that you’ll be successful. You still need to create a solid business plan and develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP) if you really want to succeed online. In fact, this is where building a business online may actually be more difficult than offline.

When building a business off-line, location is everything. In fact, you see business after business after business that are really no different from each other, just in different parts of town. Due to each businesses location, each can survive and even be successful. But generally, that’s only until another similar business sets itself up in close proximity that has established it’s UVP.

You soon find that because this new business has given themselves a unique advantage over the other, they begin to draw business away from the one that’s been around a while. The same thing happens online, but it’s only magnified.

See, where offline businesses can succeed simply by filling a need in a unique location, even in a town with dozens or hundreds of other similar businesses, online there really is no similar geographical limitations. Your business is not just competing with businesses in your area, but quite possibly you’re competing with businesses all over the world. And if you’re not unique or remarkable in any way, if nothing that sets you apart, then you’re just another one of a million other businesses doing the same thing.

No business being in business

On- or offline, if you don’t have a UVP then you really don’t have any business being in business. Your business may be valid, it may be genuine, it may be profitable, it may meet a need, but if there are others out there doing the same as you, you need to find something that sets you apart. Something that gives people a reason to buy from you rather than from “them.”

A UVP answerers the question, “why you?” Every shopper asks this question, whether consciously or unconsciously, before they make a purchase. If they have shopped with you before then it’s easier to answer that question and purchase again. But it’s not an automatic lock. If they find another store that can answer that question more precisely then it’s still possible to lose your customers to that other store. If attracting new customers, this “why you?” question has to be satisfied before they’ll continue through the purchase process.

That question can be answered in many ways, and usually includes many different answers of varying degree of importance. But one of the easiest ways to answer that question is to give your visitors something unique to focus on. Make sure they know what it is about you that makes you different from the next shop.

Before we go any further, let’s take note of what unique doesn’t mean. Two things come to mind off the top of my head: low prices and customer service. Sorry, there just isn’t anything unique about these things unless you can definitively show that you do have the absolute lowest prices and/or the best customer service. And most likely you can’t. Which explains why these points don’t constitute a UVP: almost anybody can claim them for themselves… and most do.

I talked to one business owner that believed that he truly had the best customer service in his industry. He hadn’t really sold anything yet as he was just getting off the ground, but that’s what he wanted to build his business on. That’s certainly a great goal, the problem with this approach as a UVP is that when dealing with transactions online, customer service is almost synonymous with problems that need to be fixed, not necessarily problem avoidance.

In a brick and mortar store, an associate can walk up to a person and help them find what they are looking for. Online, you have to wait to be contacted before you can help someone. And getting contacted usually only occurs when something has gone wrong. Of course there is nothing wrong with fixing people’s problems and helping them find solutions, but you don’t necessarily want to build a business model on that unless you expect there to be a lot of problems.

Online, good customer service is necessary, but it’s not unique. It certainly can help you stand out if and when problems arise, but you want something that will help you stand out long before things get to that point.

What makes you remarkable?

So ask yourself, what is it that makes you truly remarkable? What are you doing that you can claim all for yourself? The possibilities here are virtually limitless. And to find something that you can claim as your own can be as simple as looking at your competitors to find an area where they are either week or absent.

Below are a few examples of some generic UVPs. You can use these to help get your creative juices flowing. As far as Unique Value Propositions go, these are not all that unique, but they can help you start moving in the right direction.

Unlimited customer support: This is one that’s good for industries where customer support is going to be expected or needed, such as computer software or hardware. Buying from you means that I know I can call anytime, for the life of the product, to get assistance. This provides great comfort knowing that I’ll be able to resolve problems without incurring any additional fees.

Similar UVPs: free upgrades, 24/7 customers support, free technical support, free installation assistance, free tutorial DVDs with purchase, etc.

Hassle-free returns: There are some products that are more prone to be returned than others. Making a point to let people know that they can return a product simply and easily for a full refund or store credit can be a great unique selling point.

Similar UVPs: Free-exchanges up to a year, trade the old for discount on the new, etc.

Offer proprietary products: Offering products that are proprietary is a great way to be unique among your competition. Especially if you can keep those products from being duplicated or knocked off, or if your products are demonstratively superior to the competition.

Similar UVPs: Products personally tested for durability, hand selected from the manufacturer, unique designs not offered to other re-sellers, etc.

Free shipping: Many companies offer free shipping so make sure you are truly unique in this… and that another competitor can’t jump in and offer this too. To make this work, not only do you have to ship for free, but your prices must still be as low as the next guys.

Similar UVPs: free re-download of digital products, receive a free hardcopy with your digital version, free overnight shipping, free shipping with x amount purchase, etc.

Every industry has its own possibilities so it will be up to you to find something in your industry that’s not already being done, or a need that’s going unmet. The best UVPs are those that your competitors are unwilling to duplicate or finding a niche that you can be the first to dominate. There will be others that come in to steal your thunder, but you have the advantage having been first.

If you already have an established business but you haven’t given much thought to your UVP, now is the time. You simply need to find a unique way of doing what you are already doing. It’s can be easy for established businesses to find a UVP because you already have a customer base. Now you just need to do something that will surprise them and get them talking. Establishing a UVP can be a great way to get some fresh word of mouth going about your business.

But whether you’re just starting or have been in business for years, building and growing your business online takes a little something special. Find out what it is that you can do to be special. Find a way to stand out from your competitors. Look for gaps that can be filled or ways to do what you do differently. Unless you’re doing something wrong, standing head and shoulders above the competition is never a bad thing.

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But, without further ado, here are some major pains for web analytics in a corporate culture:

• Web Analytics is the last thing on people’s minds. A massive email campaign is about to be released and right after the send button is pushed, someone asks how each link in the campaign will be tracked.
• Web Analytics is a part time role for a Jr. team member. You think you have all of your bases covered because the new guy, who has 6 months of marketing experience attended a Google Analytics webinar last week.
• Lack of understanding of what metrics are important to your business: If people on your team are more concerned with rankings and impressions than conversions and ROI, then you’ve got issues.
• Who needs an analyst when you’ve got a $100,000 product: A product with all the bells and whistles is fantastic but without someone who knows how to implement it and pull the right data, it can become useless very quick.
• More Excitement then Execution: Everyone is pumped about web analytics and can’t wait to see the results but one of two things happens: The excitement shortly dies down OR you have no ownership for the excitement so that strategies get built around it.

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This new survey was commissioned by LinkShare and was conducted by JupiterResearch. The study found that four out of five consumers surveyed believe that the US is in an economic recession, but the internet is offering relief to some shoppers.

This survey distinguished two major segments of buyers, the influencers and the engaged shopper. The influencers are considered a key shopping segment because they influence their friends when it comes to making buying decisions. They spend more money online than the average consumer and plan to increase their online spending as compared to all online shoppers. The engaged shopper generally is comprised of fifty percent of all online shoppers. The engaged shoppers tend to stick with their current online brands and online stores, and fifty percent of them are still willing to experiment with buying at stores they haven’t bought from before.

This new June 2008 Linkshare survey conducted by JupiterResearch said the following about online shoppers in the US:

1. On average, online consumers predict that their offline spending will decrease more than their online spending.
2. Offline spending is predicted to drop 6.3% versus a smaller drop of 4.2% online.
3. Most online consumers (81%) believe they are facing an economic recession.
4. 56% of the online “Influencers” plan to do more product and price research online. They want to make sure that they get the best price as a result of the struggling economy.

If you’re an online advertiser, this means that you should start consider getting listed on the major price comparison shopping networks. These include shopping.com, pricegrabber.com, bizrate.com, mysimon.com, and nextag.com.

I recently wrote about the shopping search engines in a Practical Ecommerce article where I talked about six comparison shopping search engines to consider.

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Another opportunity to dedicate a couple of hours of my day into tailoring a proposal for Web design and Internet marketing that I will then deposit into a black hole. (Oops…I let my snarkiness show.)

The company that sent me the RFP? Never heard of them. We have no previous relationship. They got our address wrong.

I don’t know if they got my name and hundreds of others from a phone book or if they carefully culled vendors down to three based on word of mouth and previous experience.

I don’t know if they’ve already made their decision–say, for the brother-in-law of the marketing manager–and just need two other proposals to keep up appearances.

The fact that the date on the cover letter is June 13th, 2008 and the submission deadline is May 16th, 2008 doesn’t give me the warm fuzzies. In fact, nothing about an RFP gives me the warm fuzzies.

Why Your RFP is Bad for Your Business

Imagine you sent out RFPs to a few dozen prospective dates, like you were running your own reality TV show. Do you think you’d get responses from the best looking? The smartest? Your soul mate? Or just the most desperate, with lots of time on his or her hands?

RFPs are a filter that turn away good vendors and let in desperate ones who will jump through any hoop to get business. Vendors who have more free time than business acumen.

Good, busy vendors don’t have time for faceless RFPs unless there’s something SERIOUSLY sexy about them. (Angelina Jolie: feel free to send me an RFP.)

The purpose of the RFP (I assume) is so that you can compare apples to apples. However, when you’re talking about the service industry, that’s impossible. There are a lot of great vendors out there who I might compete with, but their proposals will look nothing like mine.

Good Web sites (and many other things) require a partnership between vendor and client. It’s a relationship. Good relationships start with a conversation, not an RFP. Asking for staff bios won’t get you a better Web site. Asking a vendor how they can drive more qualified leads to the site and how they can help you convert them might.

There’s a time and a place for RFPs, but they come after a conversation with perspective vendors, not before. Yesterday I received an RFP from a associate who I do know, and we’ve had a number of positive conversations in the past.

You can be sure I’ll respond to hers.

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