Marketing, Media and Message
In the last year I have written several hundred posts about marketing, with a real emphasis on strategy. Why? Because I believe effective marketing is not just a slick campaign, but a well thought out strategy which brings together the 3M’s
- Market
- Message
- Media
For marketing to be effective these three elements must be in alignment.
Market: No matter how big you are, you can not afford try to sell to everyone. And even if you did have a large enough budget, the reality is some people are more likely then others to buy your product. So begin by focusing on a segment of the market. Select a profitable niche, and exceed their expectations.
Message: Now that you have identified your customer, what do you say to get their attention? Think about what is important to your customer, what keeps them up at night. Craft a message which addresses their concerns, not what you want to sell. I once had a finanial planner tell me what his customer wanted choices. I had a hard time imaging many consumers laying awake at night worrying about not having enough choices. … This was an important element to him, but not his clients. What keeps them awake? Worries about retirement and college tuition! My advice to him, stop talking about choices till you have their attention!
Media: In marketing, it is not just what you say, but where you say it. Ask yourself, where are your customers going for information? Select your media, based on the ability to reach a large concentration of your target. To do this, you have to really understand your target.
So what about your marketing? Do you have your 3M’s in alignment?
Need some help lining up your 3M’s? Join Matt Nettleton of Sandler Training Trustpointe and me for a conversation about how to transform Random Strangers to Raving Fans.
March 25, 8:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Sandler Training Trustpointe Offices, 6666 East 75th Street, Indianapolis
Fee: $29.99 Seating is limited, so be sure to register soon. Click here
LifeTime Value of a Customer
I recently taught a workshop with Howard Cox of Sommerset CPA’s. The central theme of the class was building an ROI based marketing budget. To do that, you must begin with a look at the numbers behind your business. Why? Because when it comes to marketing, it is all about the numbers.
- How much does your average customer spend?
- How many years does a client stay with you?
- How larger is your referral base?
- How good is your closing ratio?
Use this worksheet to help you analyze the “numbers” which should drive your marketing decisions! Click here to download the Lifetime Value of a Customer Worksheet to begin analyzing your marketing budget foundation today!
If you need help completing the form, give us a call. We would love to talk to you about your marketing budget!
Great Web Copy Begins with a Word
Everyone wants the key to success. The one right way to do something. Unfortunately when it comes to web design, like many other marketing strategies, there is no one right answer. Especially when you are working to please multiple audiences.
One of the great challenges of web design is creating a site which serves the needs of the search engines and the real people who visit your site, and hopefully buy something along the way. How do you find a balance between the needs of these two very different audiences?
Your task is to develop content which is interesting and eye catching to your visitors, and informative for search engines.
Search engines like lots of copy, containing key words, repeatedly if possible. Your readers, with serious attention deficit want you to get to the point quickly. One strategy is to start with the very best phrases.
I use the keyword tool from Google Ad Words as a starting point for word selection in my copy. I simply type a phrase I believe clients will use when looking for a particular type of business and the tool generates a list of alternative phrases. It will also rank how often these phrases have been used in recent searches.
Example:
I tested ”small business marketing” and found the term ”marketing strategy” was searched significantly more often. I found it was used an average 201,000 times a month. I also noticed ”small business ideas”, a phrase I have never deliberately used, is searched more than 20,000 times a month. This is not the most popular phrase, but it has a steady following. I am going to try to adjust my copy to add it to the mix!
The Lesson
Researching key words will give you a great foundation for your copy. Be sure you don’t create copy which overuses the terms like this: Small business marketing strategy should include novel ideas for small business owners, which expand their current small business marketing activities. Search engines will love it, but your readers ( the people who buy from you) won’t!
Creating a productive website does not require more flash or more pictures. A great website requires simple navigation and great content.
What do You Say When a Client Makes a Bad Choice?
I am a marketing consultant. Sometimes I am hired to design websites, create brochures or distribute PR. Sometimes, I am just paid to give advice.
Now I love to share my opinions when people ask and even sometimes when they don’t… But sometimes it can be awkward. For example, what do you say to a client who has selected a vendor to provide a service, who you don’t believe is capable of doing the work or doing it well?
If they are already involved in the project, what do you do?
I had some time after a meeting with a client in which this occurred, so I asked the Twitterverse what they would do. Opinions varied widely. Here are just a few of the comments
@joshbrammer: “We don’t recommend this because of X, but let us know how it goes. We’d love to help if we can
@sandlerindy: “it is never too late to tell them that you have a problem and need their help”
@colinclark: “I would say yes, but tell them gently. Letting bad decisions go unspoken only leads to more bad decisions in the future”
The conversation was interesting, and gave me a few ideas. At the end of the day, I called the client, and gave him some specific suggestions he can use to guide the process with the vendor.
In the same situation, what would you do?
Episode # 10 – Marketing in a Down Economy
About a year ago, Ingrid Cummings invited me to be a guest on her radio program Rubicon Salon. In the course of the hour, we talked about marketing, social media and staying ahead of your competition in an economic downturn.
While the entire program is too long for More Than a Few Words, I thought it would be fun to share a few excerpts over the next few weeks.
In this first segment, we talk some of the strategies small business owners can employ when the economy slows down.
From the interview: “When everyone is pulling back it is a wonderful time to invest. It is easier to look bigger then you are”
And now, as the economy is starting to pick up, those same strategies will work. Don’t wait for a full blown recovery, it will be too late. Start investing now!
Click here to listen to the interview
Street Marketing
Growing up in NY the highest compliment you could pay someone, was to say they were “Street Smart.” This indicated the individual knew how to get things done, with a commons sense no nonsense approach to life. This same common sense approach makes Street Marketing ideal for the small business owners looking to create a big impression on a limited budget.
Street Marketing is built on the same foundation as traditional marketing; clear goals, concise description of a target customer, and a well thought out plan.
The Difference is a Matter of Focus!
Unless you have the marketing budget of Coca Cola or McDonalds, you don’t really have sufficient funds to support a true mass market campaign, one that reaches all consumers.
Savvy Street Marketers narrow down their audience to people who are most likely to buy. They spend marketing dollars reaching a concentrated group several times, rather than trying to touch everyone once
Street Marketing Takes Leg Work!
How do you decide where to invest your money? Take time to do some analysis and planning on the front end. Study your past sales, where does most of your business come from?
Take time to hit the streets. Look at census data, and local real estate and business publications to find uncover neighborhood trends. The local chamber of commerce or other business association may have some additional insight into where the “action” is.
If you join an association, show up for meetings on a regular basis. You won’t necessarily get referrals the first time you attend a networking meeting. But hang in there, as you become part of the “regular” crowd opportunities will drift your way.
And finally, look for sub-groups and niche populations ignored by your competitors. Become an expert or a big fish in one of these ponds instead of a small fish in the larger community
Start Planning with Analysis
Whenever I want to use my GPS or Google map to find a location, I have to figure our where I am first. The same is true in business, before you can develop a comprehensive marketing plan to take your business forward; you have to have a starting point.
When we work with clients to develop their marketing plan, we often use a two part assessment to help them evaluate where they are and where they want to be. This gives them a starting point for the general direction, and emphasis of their marketing plan.
Part One: Where are You?
- What do your clients think of you and why.
- Who are your most profitable clients?
- What are the purchase factors which motivate clients and drive their decision
- What are your barriers to selling?
- What are the characteristics of your typical client
- What are the characteristics of prospect who rarely become clients?
- What do your clients think about you?
Part Two: Where Do You Want to Be?
- Who is you ideal customer?
- What are their problems which you solve?
- What are the benefits of buying from your company?
- Define solutions to eliminate buying frustrations.
- Identify buying objections and define solutions to overcome them.
If you are ready to start working on your 2010 marketing plan download our free marketing assessment to frame your thinking!
Are You Using Social Media?
Written by Melinda Cooper
According to this survey, you aren’t.
The article states that:
The study found 76 percent of small-business owners polled were not using social media or finding it helpful in generating business leads during the last year, and 86 percent said the did not use such sites to get advice or information.
It seems the reason for this is business owners feel they didn’t have the resources (time or money) to learn to use it properly.
Is this true? Shouldn’t businesses make time for new technology seminars or attending them to fully use all resources. Twitter and Facebook are FREE. There should be no reason to pass up a FREE opportunity to get your business across.
In November, Rainmakers University is leading two popular seminars on how to use Twitter and LinkedIN and one on general marketing, visit rainuniversity.com to sign up.
[side note: The journalist in me - who also took an Economics course featuring "How to Lie with Statistics" - noticed that only 500 small businesses were contacted. Perhaps, they were all in Appalachia where businesses with access to the Internet was few and far between.]
Start Somewhere!
Everyone is talking about moving busienss on line, but for may small business owners it seems overwhelming. Chris Brogran has written a great post with 5 things small business owenrs should do today. And you can read his entire post here:
I want talk to about his first point: Start a Blog. He says
Start a blog – I can’t think of any simpler website technology to start and master, and there are cheap and free platforms readily available. Why a blog? Because they’re easy to create, because they’re easy to update, because they encourage repeat visits, and because you can use them in many flexible ways.
Setting up your blog is easy. The hard part is often finding things to write about. Here are just a few ideas to get you started.
- Industry trends – Share what you are reading to stay ahead of the curve Even a simple link to industry statistics, new research and product announcements or reviews will be valuable to your readers
- Company news – Are you changing, growing or down sizing. Write about new employees, new products, and new services, or use the blog to say goodbye to employees.
- Community news – Ultimately social media is most effective when you are social. If your business is locally based, occasionally p0st information about what is going on locally and what you are doing in the community.
- Projects you are working on, have just completed, or just started. Remember to include relevant key words so other clients can find you.
And finally, don’t feel like a blog has to have just one voice. Encourage employees to write posts, and invite peers and strategic partners to “stop by and share what they know as well” The multiple voices will make the blog more interesting for everyone.
Social Media for Business: It Has To Be Fun
Guest Post by Michael Reynolds of Spin Web
I meet a lot of business owners and department heads who are curious about social media. Some embrace online tools and immediately see the value. They enjoy using social media to promote their businesses and make connections. Others approach it from a different perspective: it looks like work to them.
As I educate others and evangelize social media, it occurs to me that there is a missing element in most people’s approach to social media for business: fun!
Yes, social media for business must be fun or it’s not going to work. If you approach it with an attitude of “I don’t have time for this,” or “this sounds like one more thing to take up time in my busy day,” then it’s going to be a chore. However, if you approach it with an intention to integrate social media into your habits and lifestyle and make it an enjoyable experience, you will achieve much greater success.
Remember when you first started your business? Think back to the excitement of getting your first customer, building your first website, setting up your first office, and bursting to tell the world about it. Or maybe it was that shiny new job as marketing director of a great company. Think of the passion you had for promoting your product or service and how you could barely keep from bringing it up in every conversation. That’s the kind of passion you need to succeed in social media. You have to genuinely enjoy what you do. If you are having fun at your job, then social media will only amplify that passion.
It should not feel like work. You should want to look for opportunities to talk about your business on social networks. You should enjoy telling people what you do and how it helps others. Telling stories about the value you bring to your customers should make you happy.
Marketing your business using social media is fun. Does it take time? Yes. Can it lead to increased business? Definitely. When approached correctly, it is a remarkably scalable extension of the passion that you should already have about your business. Let it come naturally. Don’t work so hard at it. Don’t over-analyze it. “Play around” on Facebook. Have random conversations on Twitter and see what happens. Make connections on LinkedIn simply because you want to learn more about someone. Let your social instincts take over and the business benefits will come more naturally over time.
If it feels like work, there is something wrong
