8. Signage. RANDYE: A while ago I saw a very expensive four-color standalone sign for a Mexican restaurant at a bus stop. The sign said how great their burritos were and posted a phone number, but there was no location mentioned. Now, if you're hungry and you drive by the sign, or you're on the bus, are you going to call them and order a burrito? No! You want to know where the wonderful burritos are!
9. Your Website. RANDYE: Success in Internet advertising depends entirely on how the search engines see you. You want your Web copy to be easily readable by humans, of course, but if you want to be found online you have to write for the search engines. A good search engine optimization (SEO) professional will charge around $500 - $750 for strategy and specific recommendations on how to do that. CLIFF: Also, you should look at your website statistics now and again to see where visitors are coming from, how they're searching for you, and how many page views are translating into actual sales (what Web professionals refer to as your "analytics"). Three excellent (and free) resources I use frequently are:
• Google Analytics (www.google.com/analytics);
• www.moz.com (which tells you if your website is showing up on the top search engines, not just Google); and
• www.whois.sc (which "scores" your website's visibility -if your score is below 90 you're likely not using the correct key words/phrases for the search engines to pick up).
10. Social Media Postings. RANDYE: The jury is out on how effective social media advertising is for small businesses, but if you're going to do it, then DO it. Update your postings every day. Set aside 10 minutes first thing in the morning or before you go to bed at night. You don't have to use all the available social media platforms. Choose venues that are appropriate for your business. For example, an accountant has no business wasting time with Instagram® or Pinterest®; he or she should be on LinkedIn®. Just the opposite, however, would be true for an interior designer or hair salon whose work needs to be seen visually.Once you have established a social media presence for your business, you need to link your website to your postings and tell people to "follow you" (on Twitter®) or "like you" (on Facebook®).Finally, you need to reach out to your clients to tell them you're on social media and make it easy for them to find you. If you have a retail outlet, put up a sign by the cash register, or have front line employees talk about it during the checkout process. CLIFF: One of the dirtiest secrets of Internet marketing is that most people learn about new Websites from offline sources such as newspaper articles and recommendations from fellow humans.
11. E-Mail Newsletters. RANDYE: Don't try to do this yourself. Use an e-mail marketing service, such as ConstantContact®, that looks professional and guarantees that your newsletters comply with federal and state anti-spam laws.If you do use your own e-mail account to send "blanket" e-mail messages, make sure that:
• you use ONLY the "bcc" function when you send your newsletter, so that individual recipients do not see other recipients' e-mail addresses; and
• you include opt-out instructions at the bottom of each transmission (with a link that works!).
12. Web Video. RANDYE: Video on your website should be on the home page. Why? Because Google® indexes home pages with video higher in its search engine rankings than it does sites that have no video, or where the video is buried on an interior page. A home page with video has a 54% higher chance of landing on "page one" of customer searches. CLIFF: A link to a YouTube® page is great, but won't have the same clout with search engines.
13. Live Appearances. CLIFF: When people are looking for contractors or professional help, they don't buy your services. They buy you. Getting yourself in front of prospective customers and letting them know you are easy to deal with and affordable can be a great way to build brand recognition and "buzz" in your community. But your personal appearances won't generate results if your audience comes away thinking they are glorified sales pitches. I personally find that talking as little about myself and my law practice works wonders when I give a talk to a local business group. I focus on the information my audience came to hear. RANDYE: Remember to make your talks both entertaining and informative: you can't teach anyone anything if you can't keep them awake. Be sure to give your audience lots of takeaway handouts with your contact information on them. And always - always - close your talk by offering a free consultation or other benefit to your attendees.
14. Advertising Specialty Items. RANDYE: Better known as tchotchkes these are a great way to stay in a prospect's memory long after an event such as a trade show or a speaking engagement. But, they're easy to get wrong. I recently worked with a client who had spent several hundred dollars on give aways that had only their company name. No URL, no phone number - no way to get in touch with them after, and to make matters worse, these were expensive items (calculators). So, for their upcoming trade show, I ordered labels with the logo, URL and phone number and we stuck them on the back of the item. And, we also inserted business cards in the box along with the item. Now, you're talkin'! CLIFF: Your promotional item should be cute, clever and eye catching -- think "conversation piece" -- so the customer or prospect has an incentive to put it in a highly visible place. I agree that contact info should appear on the item somewhere, but don't include any information -- such as a street address -- that is likely to change down the road. Remember these objects will be around for a long time. And don't forget to put a couple of items up for sale on eBay as 'collectibles.' eBay's search engine processes 250 million searches a day, and lots of people collect promotional items.
Now that you know these tips, go get 'em!
Remember...get started marketing TODAY so that TOMORROW your business will still exist.
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Copyright 2014 Affordable Marketing Solutions LLC
Showing posts with label sales promotion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sales promotion. Show all posts
Friday, September 5, 2014
Thursday, April 10, 2008
But I took out an ad......
The other day I had a phone conversation with a potential new client who desperately needed help building his failing business and finding a new direction to take it to.
As we talked, I asked him how he is currently marketing his business, what has he done in the past, etc. His answers were almost painful to hear.
He had fallen into the trap of “I’m too busy to take care of marketing” when he had business and the revenue to support a marketing effort, and now that business is at a dead halt, he has no pipeline, no marketing experiences to fall back on and worst of all, no budget to do anything with.
His reasoning for not doing any marketing was that he took out an ad several years ago; it didn’t work, so he never did it again.
Sadly, I see this happen to so many small business owners. The idea that marketing and advertising is the same thing is an incorrect assumption.
Let’s start with some basics:
Think of marketing as an umbrella and each spoke is a slice of the marketing pie that all fits together to form a marketing strategy. Those spokes may include advertising, website, acquisition, public relations, packaging, distribution, slogans, sales promotion, pricing, sales, retention, customer service, logo, uniforms, follow ups, even how you answer your phone and the associations you belong to. The most accepted definition of marketing is soup to nuts – everything it takes to get a product or service into the hands of the end user when they are ready to buy.
Confusing marketing with advertising can be fatal and very expensive. To begin advertising without having a solid platform of what your company represents to the consumer, what your competitive benefits are, and EXACTLY who your target market is will always result in a failed advertising effort and therefore wasted dollars. Advertising is a mass form of communication used to sell your product. But it is not the only form and may not be the right platform for your business, especially if it is a specialized product or service.
Because of the high cost of advertising, it should be left to companies who have a proven business and marketing model. Why? Taking out a one time ad at a cost of $1000 is not effective. On average, it takes 3-5 touches for a consumer to make a purchase decision (if you are selling to other businesses it may take even more). If you have a $1000 budget, you are much better off running a smaller $250 ad four times. This accomplishes what is known as frequency which is the proven way to move consumers to a purchase decision.
In addition, because most small business owners do not have a marketing background, they almost always fall prey to selling features instead of benefits. Think of this example, if you told me the ingredients in a new shampoo, would I care? Most likely I couldn’t even pronounce many of them. Instead, if you told me it would make my hair healthier, shinier, cleaner, curlier, softer, etc. THEN I would be more likely to buy it because I now know what it will do for me. In other words, I know the BENEFITS.
Often I review existing or prior ads that have been used by my clients and 99% of the time I see this malady. Because they are so close to their product they know what goes into it, but not why people buy it. This is why their ads didn’t work, especially if they did just a one time placement.
Here’s a fun but powerful exercise to try for yourself:
Turn 3 features of your product or service into benefits. For example, “weights less than a pound” would be stated in all marketing and advertising as “lightweight and portable”.
Once you have the benefits down and know the right way to implement marketing and advertising, you are well on your way to creating an impactful, successful campaign that will drive revenue to your bottom line.
As we talked, I asked him how he is currently marketing his business, what has he done in the past, etc. His answers were almost painful to hear.
He had fallen into the trap of “I’m too busy to take care of marketing” when he had business and the revenue to support a marketing effort, and now that business is at a dead halt, he has no pipeline, no marketing experiences to fall back on and worst of all, no budget to do anything with.
His reasoning for not doing any marketing was that he took out an ad several years ago; it didn’t work, so he never did it again.
Sadly, I see this happen to so many small business owners. The idea that marketing and advertising is the same thing is an incorrect assumption.
Let’s start with some basics:
Think of marketing as an umbrella and each spoke is a slice of the marketing pie that all fits together to form a marketing strategy. Those spokes may include advertising, website, acquisition, public relations, packaging, distribution, slogans, sales promotion, pricing, sales, retention, customer service, logo, uniforms, follow ups, even how you answer your phone and the associations you belong to. The most accepted definition of marketing is soup to nuts – everything it takes to get a product or service into the hands of the end user when they are ready to buy.
Confusing marketing with advertising can be fatal and very expensive. To begin advertising without having a solid platform of what your company represents to the consumer, what your competitive benefits are, and EXACTLY who your target market is will always result in a failed advertising effort and therefore wasted dollars. Advertising is a mass form of communication used to sell your product. But it is not the only form and may not be the right platform for your business, especially if it is a specialized product or service.
Because of the high cost of advertising, it should be left to companies who have a proven business and marketing model. Why? Taking out a one time ad at a cost of $1000 is not effective. On average, it takes 3-5 touches for a consumer to make a purchase decision (if you are selling to other businesses it may take even more). If you have a $1000 budget, you are much better off running a smaller $250 ad four times. This accomplishes what is known as frequency which is the proven way to move consumers to a purchase decision.
In addition, because most small business owners do not have a marketing background, they almost always fall prey to selling features instead of benefits. Think of this example, if you told me the ingredients in a new shampoo, would I care? Most likely I couldn’t even pronounce many of them. Instead, if you told me it would make my hair healthier, shinier, cleaner, curlier, softer, etc. THEN I would be more likely to buy it because I now know what it will do for me. In other words, I know the BENEFITS.
Often I review existing or prior ads that have been used by my clients and 99% of the time I see this malady. Because they are so close to their product they know what goes into it, but not why people buy it. This is why their ads didn’t work, especially if they did just a one time placement.
Here’s a fun but powerful exercise to try for yourself:
Turn 3 features of your product or service into benefits. For example, “weights less than a pound” would be stated in all marketing and advertising as “lightweight and portable”.
Once you have the benefits down and know the right way to implement marketing and advertising, you are well on your way to creating an impactful, successful campaign that will drive revenue to your bottom line.
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