Small Business Marketing tips to Profit in a Recession – Advice from a Friend at the Small Business Development Center

I’m going a bit off topic with this post. My past few were about the importance of leverage and systems. I’ll be going back to the topic but I had a conversation with a Joint Venture partner today that I wanted to pass along.

He and I are both small business marketing and growth experts and are giving a Growth Strategy Seminar for our local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) clients. The SBDC is an organization funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA) that has a mission to help Americans start, build and grow businesses.

The Director of the local SBDC is a friend of mine who used to be president of a fairly large, worldwide insurance company. He’s working with the SBDC now because of his passion to help the small business owner succeed and prosper. In preparation for the seminar, we asked him what are the most important messages we need to communicate to seminar attendees (particularly in light of the tough economy).

Here is what he said is the most important marketing messages that business owners need to know:

1. Keep on marketing. This is no time to cut back on the life-blood of attracting and keeping clients.
2. Know your customers, their needs and why they are buying your product or service.
3. Have all clients and prospects in a database so you can regularly communicate with them and give them reasons to purchase from you. Use your database to build demographic and psychographic profiles of your target market.
4. Market to your target market. It is a huge waste of resources to be marketing to people who are not prospects. Unfortunately, most businesses spend the majority of marketing resources on people who will never buy from them.
5. Give clients a consistent experience. Remember that your product and service are elements of your marketing mix. For years, the buzz word has been “exceed expectations,” which is great but the first part is to provide a consistent client experience. Most people expect, and are satisfied if you do this.
6. Track and measure what marketing is working. If you don’t track, you don’t know if it is working. If it isn’t working, you are wasting resources. If it is working, you want to build on and improve it to maximize results.
7. Don’t try to find the magic bullet. Small improvements in different areas can yield exponential increases in sales.

There you have it. If you find yourself swimming against the tide or so overwhelmed with what you should be doing next, you want to give me a call. If you want to see how you can achieve dramatic increases in sales (or to just stop the bleeding!), you want to give me a call. I look forward to hearing from you.

Small Business Marketing to Up Your Profits in a Down Economy

The most powerful, simplest and inexpensive marketing strategies to bring your business a flood of sales and waves of profits is the joint venture (JV) or strategic alliance. Essentially, you are leveraging the relationships another business has with their customers to build your own business. They work as well in both online and off line and can be very simple or very complex, multi-million dollar deals.

Your starting point is to identify non-competing businesses that have a client profile similar to yours. Approach the owner with a letter or phone call and let them you have a unique idea that can generate a lot of new clients. There are a couple of things you can try.

One is to offer to pay for a mailing to their clients recommending your service or product. Include a special offer, with a deadline for redeeming, that is unique to their clients. I’ve found that creating a coupon on which the offer is printed improves response.

Some businesses you approach will express concern about the confidentiality of their list. If so, offer to have them send it directly to their list themselves. You will want to write the sales letter or coupon yourself but allow them final approval on the copy.

Another tactic is to create a mailer on which you both print an offer and mail it to your combined client lists and share all expenses equally.

I believe it is very important to conduct due diligence and to take the time to get to know your potential business partner as well as the quality of their products and services. If you plan on recommending somebody to your valued clients, be sure they will meet your standards and expectations.

Typically, only about three of ten business owners will wish to pursue a joint venture so you’ll need to make several calls but it will be well worth the effort. In my opinion, the JV is about the most powerful marketing strategy any business, large or or small can implement.

Can you hear me now?

As a hobby, I am a woodworker.  I have learned to build fine furniture, jewelry boxes and a wide variety of other wood projects. I’ve even done some custom commission work and made decent money for doing so.  Someday I’ll get some pictures of my work on my site so you can take a look at my work.

Yesterday, I was down in my shop working on a shelf for the patio and took a look at my tools and other things in the shop and wondered which were the most valuable.  I actually have several thousand dollars worth of woodworking machinery and hand tools.  I’m pretty proud of my collection.  I couldn’t decide between the top two so it ended up being a tie for first place.

What would you guess I chose?  Was it my cabinet saw, router, planer, workbench or any of my hand tools?    My cabinet saw is definitely what I use them most and if you were to survey woodworkers about the most valuable tool, the cabinet saw would win, hands down.   What But that’s not the case for me.
The two items have a combined value of $30.  One is my safety glasses and the other are my hearing protectors.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I believe the two most important selling and marketing tools are closely related to my choice of shop tools.  In sales and marketing, your eyes and ears are the most important tools.

A 1972 UCLA study concluded that the words we say account for 7% of our overall communication!  The other 93% of our communication is non-verbal and consist of body language and voice quality.  Now you can see why I chose the tools that protect my eyes and ears!

Your eyes allow you to read the body language and emotions of your customer.  You can see if you are connecting with them or if you are boring them.  Are they engaged with you or just being polite?   Your ears allow you to hear voice inflection and tone.

Can you read or have you ever studied body language?  Crossed arms and legs reveal the other person is closed to your comments or you.  A person leaning back with arms behind the head is saying “Oh really, prove it!” Someone leaning forward is engaged and interested in what you are saying.

Entire books have been written about the topic and can help you, not only in sales and marketing, but also in personal relationships.

Understanding body language can mean a huge difference in your sales.  The scope of this issue goes way beyond this newsletter but if you would like to know about some of my recommended resources, give me a call or send me an email.

We’ve all heard the cliche that God gave us one mouth and two ears so we can listen twice as much as we talk.  Well, there’s a reason it’s a cliche – it’s true, particularly in sales. You will only know what benefits to stress when you understand your client’s needs.  How can you propose a solution if you’ve done all of the talking?

Listening is an art.  A key listening skill is to avoid formulating a response until you finish listening to what your client is saying.  Notice I said listening, not hearing.  Ask your client or prospect to clarify and elaborate be sure you are answering the question they asked.  Avoid interrupting, unless it enhances or clarifies the topic.

Think of how frustrating it is for you when someone interrupts you in the middle of a sentence or answers your question with an irrelevant answer.

Remember the E.F. Hutton commercial years ago?  Their USP was that when E.F. Hutton talks, people listen, inferring their advice was more valuable than you could get elsewhere.  Just think about that, their sales soared because they said YOU should listen to THEM!

Dean Whitter countered with Dean Whitter grows one client at a time, meaning they took the time to listen and take care of you before they moved on to the next client.

As you look to improve your selling skills and learn new methodologies or new concepts, remember that the things that can make the biggest difference is how effectively you read the body language of your client, how effectively you use your own body language and finally, how well you listen.

You are in the Marketing Business

1. You are in the marketing business.  Everything you do ultimately affects your marketing.

2. Your business or industry is not different.

3. You must build a marketing system using several different
marketing strategies.

Understand the business that you are in.  Regardless of the product or service that you sell, you are in the business of marketing that product or service.  Marketing brings you clients and until you have clients you don’t have a business.  You may have a store, a profession, a practice, a factory or whatever else your product it but without clients, you are still in the idea phase.

Management guru Peter Drucker tells us Marketing and Innovation make money, everything else is a cost.  When you understand you are in the marketing business, you realize everything about your business is part of your marketing.  They are either taking you closer to more sales and profits or moving you away from them.

One of the biggest business marketing mistakes that prevents businesses from succeeding in the marketing business is to think their business is “different” and that they are somehow “special.”

They think their profession or industry is different and that the marketing rules don’t apply to them.  If you happen to have this mindset, let me ask you these questions:  Are your customers people?  Do they have emotions?  Do they make emotional decisions? Do they want to be taken care of and get quality products and services?  Do they want a better life for themselves, their families and businesses?   Do they want to be happy and have fulfilling lives?

If your clients are people and have the above traits, guess what?  Your business is not “different.”  What if your clients are businesses?  Well, the client may be a business but the the buying decisions are made by people who are making them based on their emotions and feelings about the products.

I have personally been involved in and made buying decisions from as small as the ad specialty pens to give to clients to multi-million dollar shipments manufactured overseas and shipped in on containers.  I made those buying decisions as a person, not as a business.

These business owners also think their industry is different and they have standards to adhere to.  I am not referring to professional standards, codes of conduct and behavior or ethics.  These, of course are valuable  standards that may protect the public and the integrity of your industry.  I’m talking about marketing standards.  These are not official but have become the norm.

After many years of experience, I am still astounded by the number of times an owner shows me a web site, ad or brochure of their competitors and tell me they want their materials to look the same.  I ask if they are different or better than the competition and the answer is always a resounding, “Of course!”  I then ask, “If you are so much better, why do you want to look the same and have the same message?”  What I really want to say is “What the hell are you thinking?”

The lesson is this:  Everything you do that potentially impacts your clients and prospects is part of your marketing.  Your products, your staff, your policies, your building, your restrooms and the list is nearly endless.

You must have a marketing system built on multiple pillars (or strategies).    The exact strategies vary but the key is to use several.  At the top of the list are strategies to maximize the value of a client (which we will address in a later chapter) and to build a long-term relationship with them.

Direct mail, media advertising, sales representatives, email, fax, a web site, telemarketing, referrals, joint ventures and alliances networking are all examples.   The key is to never rely on any specific one strategy because if it fails for any reason, you have problems.

Can meat loaf spoil your advertising?

As I watch the Olympics, I love watching the ads because my brain never leaves the marketing mode. I am constantly amazed at the technology used, the creativity and the frequent waste of money by many advertisers. How often do you watch an ad and have no idea what product or company is being sold?

Advertising is always a gamble. You can never be sure an ad will work until it runs. However, you can increase likelihood of good results by learning a marketing lesson from one of the largest companies in the world. It’s a great lesson what not to do for small business owners who are thinking about using media advertising.

Meat Loaf in Advertising

I have some observations on an ad that I really enjoyed watching. It features rock icon Meat Loaf (born Michael Lee Aday)? His album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, has sold close to 40,000,000 copies and was on the charts for over 9 years. He is the guy playing the dad in this commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MG-FU43a4.

You see Meat Loaf as a dad whose son is singing a ballad to him to get him a cell phone and promising that he won’t run up the minutes. I personally like Meat Loaf and his music a real lot and I think the commercial is pretty cool with a very catchy tune that pulls some great lyrics and riffs from Meat Loaf’s song Paradise By The Dashboard Light.

What the heck is this commercial about?

The other afternoon, I heard the commercial and started singing the tune in my head and realized I had seen it several times and could not think of the company or brand of the phone! I know this was a pretty pricey production because in addition to Meat Loaf, Tiffany is in the commercial and they are definitely fairly expensive talent to hire.

I did an informal survey of friends and also asked subscribers to my Marketing Moments e-zine if they recalled the ad, which they did, and if they recalled the product, which they didn’t. People recalled the chorus of the song “I’ll love you to the end of time” but not Go Phone.

After all of the effort and money that went into the commercial, I couldn’t relate a brand or a product to the ad! I kept an eye out for the next airing and saw it was for the AT&T Go Phone. Think of all the resources that went into creating the spot. That doesn’t even include the price of prime time airings of the spots.

Why did they waste so much money?

They got a lot of things right like using celebrity endorsements, a good tune and an entertaining production. But it really made me wonder, why couldn’t I think of the company or the product? What was the point of the ad? We can probably assume it was to “build the brand” of the phone but it failed miserably in building anything I would even remember. That is the core message for you, brands don’t make you money, customers do.

What could they have done differently? What would you have done, particularly if you had some real creative ad folks in front of you doing a big sell job? Would you select this type of ad or an ad that has less glitz but does a better job of selling your product.

How could this ad be improved?

To improve the ad, you would focus more on the product instead of the production. For another, you would want to add a special offer with a deadline to buy the phone or direct consumers to a Web site to download the video and a special offer coupon.

What if they included a toll free number, 1-800-MeatLoaf, to call and get a special offer and find out how to download the song to iTunes or even the ring-tone? What about a contest where the winner wins a dinner with Meat Loaf? The marketing folks could track response and the ROI on the ad. Other winners could get the phone and a Bat Out of Hell CD.

Creativity was more important than response

But instead, the focus was all on creativity and entertainment. I’d bet the ad will even win an award but I still think an ad should be written to sell your products now, not build a brand or win awards. My guess is that you can’t afford Meat Loaf in your ads but remember, when you do advertise, remember it’s about making money, not building your brand.

Brands don’t put food on the table, sales do. When you spend money on marketing, you should work with someone who’s goal is to make you money, not just earn a commission by selling you creativity and air time.

Your marketing should do three things
1. Get clients
2. Retain clients
3. Service clients

Go ahead and think about branding but in the context of the above three rules. However, make the strength of your brand be a result of your reputation of providing phenomenal products and services. Build your brand using marketing that creates sales, leads, referrals and testimonials. It is just as costly to get your name out there with a compelling offer and reason for a client to buy from you now as it is to only focus on getting your name out there with no results for your investment.

The bottom line difference is the ROI. The Meat Loaf commercial offers no way to measure the ROI. Your small businesses can’t afford to throw scarce marketing dollars up against the wall and guess at the ROI. It may seem obvious but the essence of this marketing tip is that your ads should deliver sales or leads. Any benefits beyond those (like branding) are icing on the cake.

Change the way you look at advertising

Here is a powerful tip when it comes to a brand-building: Change the way you view your ads. See them as an investment instead of as an expense. If your financial planner came to you with an idea to spend $10,000 on an investment, you’d think, “What’s the potential return?” because she is your financial planner.

Use the same standards when you are talking to marketing, advertising and media reps. Ask the question: “What is my projected return and how does it compare to other marketing investments?” If they tell you your return is x-thousands of impressions, ask them which impression will put money in your pocket? How much of your target market are they reaching. In the case of the Meat Loaf ad, there’s an impression, but of what and to whom?

If they have to explain what it means to you, your prospect won’t get it either!
If an agency or media rep gives you an advertising concept and has to explain what it means, then your prospects won’t get it either. If they tell you it will get your name out there, lock your checkbook in the safe.

Are media ads one of your small business marketing tools? If so, make sure they make you money and that you can measure results. If the results are good, build on your success. If they are poor, then make changes but don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking it was a success because you got your name out there! Your name doesn’t generate buying emotions or desires, your benefits do (Speaking of buying emotions, I strongly recommend the book Motivational Marketing by Robert Imbraile as a resource on buying emotions).

Now, back to the headline – Meat Loaf can be a great way to advertise!

How would you use Meat Loaf in your marketing? What do you think about the ad? Am I off base with my analysis? Should it have run like it was? Whichever way you feel, I hope I got you thinking a bit differently about the purpose of media marketing.

Marketing has changed from one-to-many to One-to-One

Over the last several years, there’s been a fundamental shift in marketing and advertising.  The growth of
advertising has come to a stop as the mass-market has splintered into hundreds, and thousands of smaller niche  markets.

Mass-market advertising has lost impact as savvy business owners have implemented better strategies for communicating to their prospects, instead of the entire market.

In the 60’s and 70’s, Budweiser was the King of Beers, Alka-Seltzer was the cure-all for stomach ailments and the  Pepsi Generation chose Pepsi as their soft-drink of choice.  Maxwell House coffee was good to last drop and if you wanted, McDonald’s was your main choice.  While these brands still exist,each of the mass-markets they appealed to became a myriad of sub-markets.

The micro-brews appeal to the different tastes of beer drinkers.  There are dozens of cures for stomach ailments,  depending on your symptoms.  There are soft-drinks for every taste, diet and activity level.  The coffee options changed from regular or decaf to a taste for every palate and fast food has gone from burgers and fries to healthy sandwiches and a myriad of ethnic choices.

Society, our economy and consumer preferences have changed dramatically.  Cable TV,the internet and other technologies seem to give us limitless choices and they are forever expanding.
The list of changes is endless and growing daily.  Unfortunately, many small (and large) businesses follow the old model of marketing to the masses, paying to communicate to everybody, rather than their niche clientele.   They are frustrated with wasting their dollars on marketing that doesn’t deliver profits.

What does this mean to you and your business?  In a word – OPPORTUNITY!  Countless businesses and entrepreneurs are making incredible profits by adopting the marketing strategies we implement for our clients.

They look at their businesses, their clients and themselves in a new way.  Their clients aren’t a single
transaction.  They see a lifetime relationship that’s worth thousands, even tens of thousands in profits  and referrals.

In this Small Business Marketing Guide we will divulge the insider secrets and strategies our clients pay us handsomely to teach them and implement in their businesses.  As you read through these posts, I’m pretty sure a light bulb will flash in your head as you realize the incredible power of mymarketing system and how it can easily work in your business.

Start with a Plan

Where to start?  With an ad in the Yellow Pages, a newspaper, a magazine or on a billboard?  Do you join a
networking group and get your name out there?  The media and ad reps and web firms will find you and all have the greatest stories about exposure, market penetration and all other wonderful phrases that will have you dreaming of clients beating down the door.

They all have compelling stories and each has great potential.  But before you start running ads, you need to
start with a marketing plan.  Don’t worry and start working up a sweat.

You’re not going to be preparing a plan to present to Donald Trump on the Apprentice.  You re laying out a plan for yourself (if you are going to use it for financing, you will need to be a bit more formal and detailed).

I’m going to approach this as if you are doing this for yourself and layout the basics in a series of blog posts.  The summary is available to subscribers to Paul Flood’s Marketing  Moments e-zine, which you can subscribe to by clicking here or by filling in the brief form in the upper right-hand corner.

I’ll break this down in a series of steps and exercises you can follow to create a marketing plan that is just
right for your business.