A Quick Self-Assessment Tool to Grow Your Business!
July 11, 2010
I read a great article on Biznik this week by Kaya Singer, a Business Coach in Eugene, Oregon. It’s about one of my favorite marketing topics – Target Market – and it’s entitled, “Now that you have a niche, how do you grow your business from this place?” 
In the article she offers a niche-assessment tool that is extremely helpful for growing any business.
Anyone who has spent more than 5 minutes with me knows I’m a fanatic about identifying a target market for your business. I probably told you, “You simply can’t be all things to all people- or at least you can’t do all things for all people well. You need a target market!!!” In my blog, “Anyone Who is NOT a Target Market” I wrote about how much this concept scares most small business owners. When I say, “target market” they hear, “There are a zillion potential customers out there she’s telling me to ignore… this woman is crazy!” The fact is whether you know it or not, and whether you choose to believe it or not, your business serves a niche, one tiny little segment of the market, better than any other. And you, your business and your customers will be better served if you recognize and focus on it.
I love Kaya’s article because she clearly understands the challenge of trying to help small business owners understand the importance of defining a target market. I felt an immediate kinship; I know her ears have ached from the same fearful cries of the “my- target-market-is-Anyone-Who-“small business owner. I immediately recognized a sister, comrade and fellow marketing crusader, on the same journey to save the planet one small business at a time.
But alas- my fellow marketing crusader and compatriot has a solution! (A brilliant one by the way, and I’m quite PO’d I think of it myself!).
So check this out, Kaya developed a really quick 3 minute “niche assessment” that you can take to determine whether you’ve whittled down your target market enough or need t go back to the drawing board and do some more whittling. I encourage you to check out her article, take the assessment and use it to make sure you really do have a target market.
3 Tips on How to Avoid that Disastrous Customer
May 2, 2010
I just turned down an opportunity to work on a start-up project. The project’s creator thinks the idea is brilliant and it’s going to bring me a ton of business. Yes the idea is great, however the model and the plan for getting it off the ground goes against the very core of what I practice and coach. Yet, I still considered it – for a minute (ok,, maybe a few minutes…).
I bet you’ve been there too.
I’ve seen it over and over again throughout my career with tiny solopreneurships and larger multi- million dollar companies: a prospect comes along with either deep pockets or the promise of more future business and we bend over backwards to try to make our business model fit their needs. And time and time again I’ve seen these jobs completely fall apart. It’s a bad fit from Day One and the relationship is doomed from Day One: nothing works as it should, mistakes abound, resources are stretched and margins dismal. We’ve all been there.
3 Signs You Should Say “No”:
1. It goes against your business model. Your business model “describes the rationale of how your company creates, delivers and captures value. This model captures the core of your business, including purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, trading practices, and operational processes and policies” (definition from Wikipedia). If a prospect comes along with a project or job that compromises any of these things; run in the opposite direction.
2. It’s outside your core area of expertise. You do one thing better than anything else – whether it’s delivering a product, service, or a combination of the two. You market it, promote it and talk about it wherever you go. But it never fails; someone will always come along and ask you to do something outside your area of expertise because to them, it all looks like the same type of work. “Well if you can fix my plumbing you can fix my electrical too – it’s still a part of my house”. Think of it this way: Would you ask a Baseball Coach to Coach a Football team? Of course you wouldn’t so why would you try to do something you are not absolutely 100% professionally skilled and qualified to do? It’s a recipe for disaster. Don’t do it.
3. You don’t feel right about it. Bottom line; trust your gut. If the idea of working with this new client is keeping you up at night or gnawing away at you, there’s a reason. Walk away.
As business owners – especially during these tough economic times – we can be tempted to take any job that comes our way. But the fact is we serve one niche, or deliver one product, service or a combination of the two better than any other. In order to serve our customers, our company and ourselves best we need to stay true to that. Keep this in mind: never compromise and your business, your brand, and your reputation will be stronger for it.
What do you think?! Please click here to leave your comments. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
Why Direct Mail Doesn’t Work for Small Business
March 14, 2010
Here is a paraphrased summary of three different conversations I had with business owners this week:
Business Owner (B.O.): “Marketing doesn’t work, I tried it.”
Me: “Really? Tell me more about that.”
B.O.: “I sent out a bunch of post cards and didn’t get a single response!”
Me: “Hmmm.. A ‘bunch’ you say? How many is a bunch?”
B.O.: “Two hundred and fifty!”
Me: “Ok… and how many times did you mail this group of two hundred and fifty?”
B.O.: “Well, just once, why would I do it again if it doesn’t work?” (Silly me…)
Nothing comes Easy: Especially Success in Business
Nothing in life is easy. You’ve heard that right? Everything worth having requires a lot of hard work, a ton of persistence and loads of patience: Everything from our educatio
n to our careers and even our relationships. Did you expect to just go to a single class to earn your degree? Of course you didn’t- it took years of going to classes and studying! Did you expect to just show up at work for one day and earn a paycheck for the rest of your life? Sure that would be nice, but no. Did you woo your spouse, shower him or her with loads of attention and compliments while you were dating and then completely ignore him or her afterwards? Ummm, I certainly hope not!
So then why do you expect marketing your business to be any different? Why do so many small business owners expect marketing to be single quick-and-easy event? Place an ad and get rich! Yay!!!! Send out a postcard and make the phones ring off the hook! Wahoo! One ad, one postcard, one networking group and I’m set for life!!! It Does Not Work That Way! I’m sorry.
A Little About Advertising and Response Rates
I guess for someone who hasn’t been in sales and marketing as long as I have, mailing out 250 cards to anyone and everyone with a “10% OFF” offer and not getting a single call may seem like an earth shattering failure… but trust me, it isn’t. Now, if you sent out 250 post cards to your target market with an extremely amazing and compelling offer using a 2 step approach and didn’t get a single response, then I might be a bit more surprised.
The chances of getting any response from a single ad, postcard, email, etc are going to be pretty slim. Factor in the quality of your content/message (was it compelling?), your audience (did you target?) and your tracking methods (how do you know if you got a response or not?) and it can be nearly nonexistent.
Think about it: you are presumptuously putting your company/brand/message in front of the faces of anyone who might at some point in their lives buy your products or services; assuming they are 1) your target market, 2) they have made the decision to buy, 3) they have allocated the resources to buy, 4) there are no obstacles to them making the move to buy, and 5) they know like and trust YOU enough to want to buy from you. Holy cow with all of those variables it’s amazing we ever sell anything at all from an ad, isn’t it?
Marketing is about Consistency and Repetition
That is why a consistent and repetitive approach is key to effective marketing. For one thing- studies show that consumers don’t even “see” an ad until they’ve been exposed to it like seven or ten times or something… You are never going to build a business by sending out one postcard or email or placing one ad serendipitously here and there. That just isn’t how it works- it isn’t how we humans work. It takes time to build trust; it takes time for us to make decisions to move forward.
But besides the whole “does advertising work or not” argument: Do you even know who your best prospect is? What their buying cycle is? What their triggers are? If not don’t even waste your time and money on another post card or magazine ad. Really.
I have an idea: the next time you want to spend some money on a postcard, an ad or an email blast without knowing the 3 things I outlined above, go to the nearest casino instead- you’ll have a better chance of getting a return on your money…. Or better yet, hire a Duct Tape Marketing Coach!
Please click here to leave your comments. (And then scroll down to the comments section on the bottom of the page)
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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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