Smart Marketing

A Recession-Busting Marketing Offer for Small Business

If your small business is looking for a small business marketing offer, you needn't look any further than recent headlines. In today's headlines, I read that Hyundai has just announced its "Hyundai Assurance" offer which allows any Hyundai new car owner the opportunity to return their brand new Hyundai car if they suffer "life-altering circumstances", which include involuntary unemployment, self-employed personal bankruptcy and several others.

Brilliant.

In one fell swoop, the company has distinguished itself from all other car manufacturers and engendered the trust of car customers.

Let's face it, in today's teetering economy consumers want assurances; in short they are risk averse. They want manufacturers to offer them risk-minimizing offers, rather than "money-saving" ones. Hyundai has capitalized on the market's sour mood and given itself a point of difference in its marketing plan.

See if your small business can't take a hint from Hyundai and craft a risk-free offer to give your buyers the assurance they need to do business with you.

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10 Commandments of Successful Marketing Management

Here are my 10 Commandments of Successful Marketing Management:

I. Thou shalt learn from mistakes - If you're not taking risks, and making mistakes, you'll never progress past the point of what you already know.

II. Thou shalt apply every worker to the task - Each marketing team member (and quite a few members who aren't on the team) brings a unique skill set to the marketing team. It's your job as marketing manager to discover each worker's value, then apply that to the overall marketing task.

III. Thou shalt commit to generating momentum and activity - Without either, your effort will grind to a halt. Activity, with logic behind it, generates momentum, and a sense of confidence around the office.

IV. Thou shalt back up all arguments with evidence-based rationale - Arguments, made without facts or proof to back them up, are just opinions.

V. Thou shalt hire people smarter than you - To truly innovate in your marketing efforts, you'll need a fresh batch of new ideas. These can't come from a website or a book. Find people who think differently than you, then put them in charge of new initiatives. Then, leave them alone.

VI. Thou shalt lead through strong convictions - The true definition of a leader is someone who leads others to a new place, despite the grumblings and disagreements of the majority. I was never very good at this. But I'm now convinced that it is essential to excellence in marketing management.

VII. Thou shalt ask a LOT of questions - Someone one said "Asking questions is a sign of intelligence, views to the contrary notwithstanding". I don't think I can put it any better than that. The best marketers in the world have an insatiable curiosity about them, and that curiosity manifests itself in them through them asking tons of questions.

VIII. Honor thine failure- Yep, you read that right. According to one study I've seen, top managers at 3M recognize that 3/5's of the new ideas suggested each year fail in the marketplace. But the other 2/5's is their bread and butter.

IX. Thou shalt surround yourself with positive people - There's an attitude you need in every marketer who comes aboard on our team. It's a positive, uplifting and optimistic attitude. Remember that it only takes a drop of poison to spoil a gallon of water.

X. Thine market holds the final answer - As much as we marketing managers would like to believe we know what the market wants, we don't. Never make the critical mistake of assuming you know what your market needs.

OK gang, what have I missed here?

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SMART Objectives: A Cornerstone of your Small Business Marketing Plan

A lot of my small business clients have asked me about developing SMART Objectives for their marketing plan. But few know what the acronym stands for. Small business marketing plans that use SMART Objectives reflect goals that are:

Specific - If you say "We'd like to have more customers", that's too vague. But if you say "We will have 10 new customers by year's end", now that's specific.

Measurable - One key to using SMART Objectives is to make them measurable. For you and your small business to know if your marketing efforts are successful, you must be able to quantify any SMART Objective.

Attainable - Goals should be challenging....and streeeeeeeeeeeetch you and your small business. But if the SMART Objectives are too much of a stretch, noone will try, and morale will suffer.

Results-oriented - Every SMART Objective should start with an action verb. Start each objective phrase with words like "complete", "increase" or "decrease".

Targeted - Let's face it, most of us are motivated by deadlines. Why else would marketers use expiration dates so often? Attach a due date or deadline to every SMART Objective you set.

If you want to go deeper in understanding goals and SMART Objectives, The Marketing Toolkit for
Growing Businesses or Stand Out from the Crowd might help.

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A Tip for Your Small Business Marketing Plan

In The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses, I cover the process of developing a small business marketing plan in great detail.

But here's just one tip from that book that can help your small business marketing plan be even better...

Nothing is more forceful than committing your ideas to paper. If you say to yourself “Gee, I’d really like to upgrade our website this year”, that’s an idea. It’s nice, but it hasn’t committed you to any course of action.
However, if you write on a piece of paper the:
• Objective (“We will upgrade our website”)
• Rationale (“because our site looks outdated vs. our competitors”)
• Project leader—that is who’s responsible for the quality and completion of a project.
• Timeline—including the launch date and all intermediate due dates
and
• Budget—for the entire project.

Now you’ve committed time, people and dollars to this project, and its likelihood of success has grown exponentially.

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Small Business Marketing; Some Tips on Internal Marketing within your Company

I recently received this question from a reader of Marketing Tips and Tools:
“…one of the issues I struggle with is getting my entire company to market (my company). Most feel it’s just MY job. I have never believed in that notion. How can I get others within my company to understand that they play a role in marketing too?”

Here are some suggestions:
1. Identify all prospect touchpoints – Conduct an interview of several of your most recent clients. In these interviews, establish all the touchpoints (and I mean ALL), they had with your company before becoming a client. For example, you may hear “Well, I talked with one of your sales reps at a trade show, then I called to receive a brochure, then I submitted our credit references”. In this simple example, you’ll have identified 3 key personnel; a sales rep, the sales receptionist (who took the call for the brochure) and the credit clerk (who played a role in receiving the credit references). Once you show these employees that their contact played a pivotal role in landing the new client, they’ll better appreciate their marketing role.

2. Now, identify all retention touchpoints – Ok, after doing this for the process of communicating with prospects, now repeat the process for the retention of your current clients. Retention, as we all know, is extremely important in a marketing effort because, on average, it costs 5-7 times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep one. Through this research, you may find that an accounts receivable clerk, a purchasing assistant, a customer service rep, or the president’s administrative assistant play a critical role. Research by asking your current clients “Who are the 3 people within our company that you have the most contact with on a weekly basis?”

3. Educate all employees at your next company meeting – Once you’ve conducted this research, it’s important that you share it with all employees. The more you can highlight exact quotes from your interviewees (e.g. “…I talk with Jane in accounts receivable almost every week”), the more lasting an impression you’ll make on those employees. After sharing this with all employees, most of them will appreciate their pivotal role in your firm’s marketing, and will never again perceive marketing to be just a department.

This is just a start, but does anyone have another idea they’d like to share here?

Small Business Marketing Tip - How to use R&D to Boost your Marketing

Most small business marketing folks see R&D (research and development) as a time intensive, costly process. I don't. That's because this small business marketing person uses R&D as as an abbreviation for "rip off and duplicate".

We small business marketing types have limited budgets and all-too-limited time, so we can't start all our marketing efforts from scratch. That's why when I first heard R&D refer to rip-off and duplicate, I was hooked.

Rip off and duplicate simply means to keep your eyes open in the market. Then, when you see some marketing program that grabs your attention, adapt it to your business. You'll save time and energy and be faster to market with a new marketing initiative.

R&D really works for small businesses, but only when it stands for rip-off and duplicate.

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Debunking the 24 hour small business marketing plan

There’s a popular trend in small business marketing today to tell people it will take a ridiculously short amount of time to complete something. For example, if I say you can have rippling abs in 24 hours, now I’ve got your attention, right?

Well, the sad fact is claims like these are false and misleading. I know this approach appeals to our time-starved society’s lifestyle, but when it comes to small business marketing plans, it’s all wrong.

Look, I’ve consulted directly with hundreds of small businesses and worked with thousands more solo entrepreneurs, and I’m here to tell you that developing a realistic and practical small business marketing plan WILL take more than 24 hours. The myth of the 24 hour marketing plan is spreading like wildfire, but what it really deserves is a thorough dousing. Remember that nothing in this world that is worth having, ends up taking only 24 hours.

If you want to reach conclusions about 1) who you should market to 2) what you should say to them and 3) where you should say it, then you’re going to require time to reflect.

If this makes sense to you, you might want to check out my brand new e-book How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows your Business.

How to decide on the right marketing tools for your small business marketing plan

In my brand new e-book, How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business I define a successful marketing plan tool as one that satisfies 3 criteria:
* Comfort
* Effectiveness
* Sustainability

Let me explain....

After working with hundreds of small business leaders to develop marketing plans, I've learned that a successful marketing tool for that business is one that the leader 1) enjoys doing 2) generates a favorable response and 3) is consistently pursued. Hence, one that is 1) comfortable 2) effective and 3) sustainable.

If you struggle with finding marketing tools that you enjoy and are effective, then you owe it to yourself to check out How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business.

I guarantee it will help you identify the marketing tools that will gorw your business and gain new clients...or your money back.

Brand New Small Business Marketing Plan Tool

Does your small business lack a marketing plan? Are you frustrated that your small business marketing efforts aren't generating enough new clients?

The small business world is divided into two distinct camps: the "haves" and the "have nots". I've found after working with hundreds of small businesses over the last 20 years that small business owners who have all the clients they need, also have a marketing plan.

But the have nots…well they haven't a clue about their marketing. They are frustrated every single day because their small business isn't growing, yet they don't know why. And the biggest reason is because they don't have a marketing plan.

I've just spent the last 6 months writing, polishing and perfecting a new e-book called How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business and if you're struggling right now in your small business marketing efforts, give this a try.

It's only $49.95 and once you purchase How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business you get 3 bonus reports absolutely free: "10 Things you can Do Right Now to Improve your Marketing", "The 10 Commandments of Successful Marketing" and my "PowerPack of Marketing Tips & Tools".

If you're interested in growing your small business this year, in fact right now, then check out my new e-book How to Write a Marketing Plan that Wins New Clients and Grows Your Business.

Small business marketing tip - Differentiate your small business for more memorable marketing

If your small business marketing challenge is to stand out from a crowded competitive field, differentiation might be the way. Most small businesses are stuck in what I call the "muddle in the middle". That is the netherworld of sameness.

They offer the same products and services as their competitors, they go to the same trade shows, they attend the same networking events, and (most importantly) they use the same key messages as their competitors in their brochures and websites (e.g. "service is our number one goal").

To break out of this small business marketing rut, use differentiation as a marketing weapon. Differentiation is the art of finding something utterly unique about your business and then hammering it home so it makes your small business unique from its competitors.

Here are some examples of unique differentiators:

• The size of your clients—working exclusively with businesses of less than 100 employees.

• The industry your clients are in—specializing in lumber businesses.

• Clients seeking a specific benefit—working with CFOs who want to improve profitability.

• A product line focused on a niche market—specializing in commercial appraisals.

• Your unique approach or methodology—"our proprietary 6-step marketing plan approach".

There are hundreds of ways to differentiate your small business, so these are just a start. If you'd like to learn more about differentiating your firm so it stands out in a crowded competitive field, subscribe to my free email newsletter Marketing Tips and Tools.