Marketing is NOT Letters, Emails and Postcards!
September 19, 2010
If I were to ask 100 people to define “Marketing” I’d probably get 100 different answers. The problem is “Marketing” has become a nice little euphemism for dirty words like “advertising”, “sales”, and “di
rect mail”.
I’ve also noticed that all a sudden everyone is a Marketer: I met a guy the other day who makes signs – he introduced himself as a “Marketer”. Then I met a woman who sells online ads, she also identified as a “Marketer”. Everywhere I go I run into people who at first- glance do what I do, but when I dig a little deeper I learn they’re really selling some marketing tool; not actually engaging in the bigger picture – or the process and planning of Marketing.
I’ve been able to forgive sellers of marketing tools for calling themselves Marketers – I mean, everyone is doing it. But then I read an article by the CEO of a very well-known company that is a provider of Marketing tools (they call themselves “Marketers” too). In his article he addressed the question, “Isn’t Marketing and Advertising the same thing?” His response was, “Well, not really. Let me explain the differences. Advertising includes: commercials, billboards, radio, and newspapers. Marketing includes: emails, letters, postcards, and fax.” WHAT??? (Ok, in all fairness, he wrote Marketing “includes” not marketing “is”, but still, he used this example to answer the question, “how are Marketing and Advertising different?”, which leads me to believe that’s the basis on which he differentiates them.)
OK – clearly there is a lot of confusion out there. Marketing and Advertising are NOT the same. Advertising is NOT Marketing. Post cards are NOT Marketing. Signs are NOT Marketing. Emails are NOT Marketing. These are tools used in the process of Marketing. They are NOT, in of themselves “Marketing”.
So then, what is Marketing?
Wikipedia - Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in goods or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development.[1] It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.[1]
American Marketing Association (AMA) – Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Notice that neither of these definitions includes the words “email”, “advertising”, or “post cards”? That’s because those things are merely the tools used to create customer interest, engage them and get them to want to buy from us. Take a look at the AMA definition, they state that Marketing is more than the activity of marketing (i.e.: emailing) – it is the set of institutions and the processes for generating interest.
Education is Your Key to Success
I want you to be aware. We all know we need Marketing, but be smart; learn what that really means and don’t just trust any salesperson who calls themselves a marketer and walks into your shop selling the marketing idea of the week. Marketing is a process – it’s not a one-time deal. Buying an ad or a sign or an email campaign without an overall strategy or plan is simply a waste of time and money. Educate yourself – take the time to learn and invest in your business wisely.
Bottom line: Marketing is strategy. It’s an all-encompassing, planning, scheduling, studying, figuring-stuff-out, researching, testing, and practicing strategy. And I don’t mean a strategy for getting a 20% response rate on an email campaign, 100 coupons from a print ad, or 20 referrals from your referral group. Marketing is bigger than that – much bigger. And when done right it will give you bigger results than you’ve ever imagined!
For more information about Marketing and how to make it most effective visit: http://FortuneMarketingCompany.com
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August 24, 2010
Take Control of Your Yelp Presence!!!
Facts about Yelp for Small Business
Whether you know it or not, your small business may already have a presence on Yelp. The question is – are you in control of it? Yelp is a social networking site that all
ows consumers to learn about – and rate – their favorite (and not-so-favorite) places to eat, shop, play, and spend their hard-earned dollars.
Ignoring social sites like Yelp isn’t going to make them go away or prevent negative reviews. Remember the golden rule of Social Media Marketing? SOCIAL MEDIA IS AT LEAST 51% LISTENING. And if you haven’t set up your listening station to be notified when people are talking about you (using Google Alerts, for example) on the web, you are missing a huge opportunity – and you could be responsible for sabotaging your own business.
Some Yelp Basics:
- You don’t have to claim your page or set up an account for people to be able to post reviews- That’s right- anyone can add your business and review it. You may already be there and not even know it. This could be extremely damaging to your business.
- Claim/unlock your business page- go to yelp.com to claim your business page and unlock all the tools that are available to business owners. Like tracking number of visitors, demographic info of reviewers so you can learn more about your target market and how they found you, you can post hours, specials, photos, or anything else you want your potential customers to know about your business – and of course the ability to respond to reviews.
- Respond to negative reviews – either publicly or privately – what a great way to turn a negative into a positive! We all make mistakes and most consumers will forgive a mistake if it’s handled appropriately.
How to handle a negative review:
Respond privately: If someone leaves a bad review you now have the option of communicating with them privately to work it out. I recommend doing so – immediately. Do what you can to resolve the issue- this is an awesome opportunity to create goodwill, save a customer, and perhaps generate awesome word-of-mouth marketing.
Once the customer is happy ask them, “Have we satisfactorily resolved your complaint?” “Would you recommend us to a friend?” If the answer is yes, ask them if they would either revise or amend their Yelp review to let people know how your resolved the issue. If the customer doesn’t do it- you can then go to a public response – see below.
Respond publicly: You can also respond publicly and I’ve seen this done extremely well. You can tactfully state your case. Did you try unsuccessfully to resolve the issue? Tell people! Did you go out of your way to try to make it right? Tell people! Did you respond to the customer privately and rectify the situation? Talk about it! Also keep in mind – there will always be complainers- and the Yelp community can spot one a mile away (anyone can access all of a person’s reviews and if they’re chronic complainers their opinion will most likely be ignored by potential customers).
Quiz: What Takes More Planning – a Wedding or a Business?
August 2, 2010
Your daughter announces she’s engaged. What’s the first thing you do? Plan the wedding. There are wedding venues to visit, flowers to order and cakes to taste…
You’ve just booked your next vacation. What do you do? You start planning what you’ll wear, what you’ll pack, where you’ll go, what you’ll see…
You’re a small business owner. You’re out of leads. Business is slow. You need more revenue. What do you do? Start planning? (Or turn to your marketing plan for direction?). Nope. If you’re like many business owners, you panic. Like a sailor overboard you latch on to the first advertising salesperson who walks into your business like a life preserver and spend hundreds or thousands on advertising. Thinking, “This one will be different”. The ads hit. You wait. The phones don’t ring. And you wonder why. Just more proof that marketing doesn’t work.
The problem is: there’s no cohesive, well thought out strategy. No plan. It would be like waiting until the day before your daughter’s wedding to order flowers, book a caterer and find a venue. Instead of getting the flowers your daughter would love, a caterer that serves the type of food the bride and groom like, and a venue that reflects the taste and values of the family, you’d end up settling for whatever is left and then wondering why your daughter didn’t have that fairy tale wedding she always dreamed of.
Here is what a marketing plan will help you with.
1. Uncover your Core Marketing Message. Answers the question: “Who are you and what are you going to do for me?”
2. Discover how you’re different. Answers: “Why should I choose you over the other 50 companies that do what you do?”
3. Who buys what you sell and why. Potential Customer???: “I hate widgets and I’ll never buy your widgets, why are you wasting your money advertising to me?”
4. Where the heck do we find them? Potential Customer: “Hey, over here!!!! Hello…. I’m your best prospect. I love widgets, I need widgets, I’ve made the decision to buy widgets and I have tons of money to buy widgets. But I don’t know about your widgets because you spend all your money advertising to the guy who hates widgets.”
5. And, what prompts them to buy? Potential Customer: “10% Off? Ha, that’s not worth my drive all the way across town. I’ll just wait. “
Don’t know where to start? Well, you can check out the free report on the home page of this site. Or call us to schedule your FREE marketing audit!
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+Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company
- Carolyn Higgins, President of Fortune Marketing Company specializes in helping small to medium sized businesses get the customers they need to sell more, increase profits and achieve all of their business and personal goals. We do this by implementing and managing marketing systems based on data and strategy - there is no guess work. For more information visit us at: FortuneMarketingCompany.com. We'd be glad to help!
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