5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Giving up on Marketing
July 25, 2010
Here’s a conversation I have all the time:
Business Owner: “Almost all of my business comes from referrals. So I don’t need to do any other marketing.” Me: “Great, then you have all the business you need!” Business Owner: “Well, no. I’m pretty slow right now. ”
100% of Zero is Zero!
Does anyone else see how illogical this argument is? So, let’s pretend for a minute that this business owner did other forms of (effective) marketing and instead of getting one new customer/job/sale a week, she got 3? All of a sudden only 30% of her customers are coming from referrals and 70% from other marketing. Referral marketing doesn’t look quite as omnipotent in that light, does it?
I’ve said it before – 100% of not enough is still not enough. Why put all your eggs in one basket? Why?
I know lots of business owners who do their due diligence; going to their weekly networking groups, asking customers for referrals, and working hard to be referable but what about the rest of the time? What are you doing to attract customers when you aren’t actively networking? That all takes a lot of time; what is the real cost of those referrals?
I’m not discounting referral marketing – it is the best marketing there is; when you have a system in place to harness its power. The problem is, most small businesses don’t have a system – they just show up and hope…
Marketing Doesn’t Work for My Business
My point is this- if you aren’t getting all the business you need then how can you say you don’t need any other form of marketing? “Well, marketing doesn’t work for my business.” – Another excuse I hear all the time. Is that your experience too? If so then here are 5 questions you need to ask yourself before declaring that your business is immune to the practice of Marketing.
- Was I doing the right type of marketing? Did you attempt to communicate with your customers and potential customers on their terms – or on yours? How do they prefer to be contacted? Direct Mail, telephone, email? It’s your job to find out and communicate with them accordingly.
- Did I stay with it long enough? Sending out one postcard, email or letter does not a marketing effort make. The key to effective marketing is repetition.
- Did I target the right people? If you can’t list at least 5 attributes of who you wanted to reach in your last campaign then you missed the mark. Your business serves a section of the population better than any other. It’s your job to learn what that section is and go and find them! Mass marketing to anyone and everyone is a waste of time and money.
- Did I follow up? Follow up an email or post card with a phone call or a phone call with an email or postcard…. The more we can “touch” our prospective customers the better our chances of converting them!
- What was my goal? What were you trying to achieve with your marketing campaign? Were you trying to build your email list? Make the phones ring? Get foot traffic? Without knowing what you were trying to achieve (and measuring it) how can you know if it worked or not?
Usually this is where I start to uncover the ugly truth: it’s not that “marketing” doesn’t work it’s that most small business owners don’t have the tools and the experience to market their companies effectively. If you want to get more customers, grow your business and not just “get by”, an effective marketing plan is the only way to get there.
I’d love to read your thoughts….
Perfection is the Best Marketing
July 18, 2010
How One Local Business Does it Right….
Walking through the dusty gravel parking lot lugging my 2 heavy canvas bags chock full of fresh cucumbers, green leaf lettuce, Napa cabbage, string beans, nectarines, apricots and lots of other summer garden delights I pondered how Larry’s Produce, my favorite local summer institution, has built a business breaking one of the biggest rules of Marketing: making it easy to do business with you. 
About a year ago I wrote a blog about choosing Starbucks over Peet’s- not because of the coffee (I prefer Peet’s coffee) but because of internet access and the ease getting what I want from the experience. The point of the blog was making it really easy to do business with you so as not to give would-be customers a reason not to do business with you. During this visit to Larry’s I realized, not every business has to eliminate every single obstacle. And then I wondered why.
Larry’s is a small, somewhat out-of-the-way shack-like open structure produce stand that draws what seems like every single person within a 30 mile radius 6 months a year.
Easy Parking…. ? Not!
Larry’s doesn’t have easy parking – in fact on weekends you have to park quite a ways down the road because the small gravel parking lot is too small to handle the magnitude of cars. Larry’s doesn’t furnish fancy shopping carts – just old wheelbarrows or maybe a dirty white pail; you’re better off bringing your own canvas bags to tote your stuff around in. No they don’t take credit or debit cards – it’s cash or check only. And the summer-job high school students who ring you up aren’t trained to be overly-peppy and ask (and pretend to care) what you’re making for dinner (ala Raley’s), they just politely ring you up and wish you a nice day… most of the time.
Lots of Advertising and Promotions… ? Not!
I’ve never seen Larry’s advertise. I’ve never seen their name on the local little league park fence or on an “adopt a highway” sign. And yet, year after year, I’ve watched the crowds get larger and larger, the parking lot overflow, cars spilling out onto the sides of the country road and neighboring homes’ driveways (some have even had to barricade the driveways to keep Larry’s customers out).
Breaking the Rules…? Maybe, Maybe Not.
So what is it about Larry’s that allows them to break the rules of Marketing and still be such a huge success? It’s simple really. Larry’s does one thing and they do it perfectly: they provide a huge variety of the freshest, most delicious, mostly local, summer and fall produce at amazing prices. There are other produce shops around that try to compete, but there is just no comparison. Larry’s has never – in 10 years – failed to deliver exactly what I go there for; fresh and delicious local produce, great prices, great variety and a very local and off-the-beaten-path experience .
Worth the Extra Steps… ? Always!
So is Larry’s totally easy to do business with? Not really. I have to remember to grab some cash or my checkbook before heading out there – and I never carry either, so it’s an extra trip to the ATM. I have to remember to grab my canvas bags so I have something to carry my goods in as I shop. And I have to fight crowds and long lines in 90+ degree heat; and yet for more than 10 years, I’ve shopped there religiously, at least once per week every month they’re open. I’m sad to see them close and anxious for them to open again in spring. Every year, around late May I start making the extra trip out there to see if they’ve put out their sign telling us – their anxious and eager public – when they’re opening for the season.
So, this little farm produce stand on a 2 lane country road has built a booming business by very simply understanding their niche and by being the very best at what they do. They have created an institution, and an insanely loyal following based on a product and an exprience that is true and 100% Larry’s. They are a testimonial to the core of marketing and business success: offering a superior product or service at a great value can be a differentiator – if you do it perfectly.
What is the one thing you do absolutely flawlessly that keeps customers coming back? Will your customers go out of their way to do business with you? How can we all get the kind of loyalty and following that Larry’s has gotten? I’d love to read your thoughts….
5 Ways to Fit Marketing into Your Schedule.
June 22, 2010
Oh I’m guilty of it too. We get caught up in the day-to-day of our work; answering phone calls, putting out fires, payroll, inventory, life…. But the fact is, the long-term success of any business is dependent upon finding
the time to invest in the future. And one of the surest ways to insure your business will be around for the long-haul and continue to grow and flourish is to implement and use a marketing plan (and a system).
Here are 5 tips to help you manage your time and fit marketing into your regular routine
- Tackle one thing at a time. You don’t have to accomplish everything in one day. Choose monthly themes: make June website optimization month and July list building month and focus on that one task for the entire month. This makes marketing less overwhelming and gets you started in the right direction.
- Set marketing appointments with yourself. I can’t stress how important this is. I do this and every successful business owner I know does this. Write it down, put it on your calendar, block it out and don’t book anything during those times. If it’s not on your calendar, it’s too easy to forget about it and become so overbooked you never get to it. This is your time to work on your business – take it and use it.
- Hire someone. It doesn’t have to be a full time person and it doesn’t even have to be a marketing expert. Hire an intern or a student to make follow up calls to customers or write introductory letters to prospects or potential strategic partners. You can even hire someone on a commission basis to make outbound sales and appointment setting calls, or a writer to write your blogs. With so many un- and under- employed people out there, it’s not hard to find people who are willing to do some hourly or commission based work for you and this will free up hours of your time that you can devote to more productive endeavors.
- Plan your activities out for a year. Yup, a whole year. Create a marketing calendar for an entire year and plan your weekly and monthly marketing activities. For example: every Monday, blog, update Facebook; Wednesdays, call 5 customers and 10 prospects; once per month, review website, do a postcard mailing. Once you have everything laid out in front of you it makes it so much easier to manage and actually get it done. I like a printed calendar and I hang it in my office right in front of me so I can visualize it. I also set reminders in outlook as a double-reminder that my business must not be neglected!
- Take baby steps. This kind of goes with #1- but in addition to taking things one at a time, baby steps is about finding what it takes to get over a hurdle and take that first step. Does a task seem overwhelming and insurmountable? Then don’t think about the big ole scary task – break it into smaller parts and tackle the little parts instead. Don’t think “Oh my god, I need 20 sales this month. How am I going to do that?” Instead think, “Ok, to get 20 sales, I need to get 5 this week – or one per day. What can I do to make 1 sale today?” Isn’t one sale a whole lot easier and manageable than 20? I love to think of things in terms of baby steps. I’ve never accomplished anything in life by tackling the entire task all at once. That just leaves me overwhelmed and paralyzed in fear. Instead, I tell myself, “take baby-steps, one small step at a time…”. I know that soon I’ll be taking bigger and bigger steps and before you know it I’ll be off and running. It works every time.
Managing your time and fitting marketing into your schedule are critical to the future success and sustainability of your business. Marketing is a vital component to building a business, getting and converting leads, satisfying customers, making sales, increasing profits and achieving your goals. With the proper marketing strategy and time investment the possibilities are endless!
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