Atlanta's Marketing Center

License to Promote!

When speaking with business owners about promoting their business, I tend to run into the same obstacle. It's not the budget. It's not the time that needs to be spent on marketing activities. It's not even a disagreement with how a marketing plan is written. No, the biggest issue is a false sense of humility.

Some owners by nature tend to go with the flow.  They tend to do what the next guy is doing (also known as copycat marketing). Or they tend to avoid the topic altogether.  Deep down, they consider promotions and marketing to be a bit vain.  Why stick out when business has been coming in from years based almost totally on a job well done?  But what happens when a large part of the market dries up?  What happens when the old stream of referrals isn't there anymore?

What happens is that because a large portion of contractors are humble, they don't proactively promote their business.  And when business is harder to come by, owners suddenly find themselves in a tough place. 

But it's never too late to promote one's business...even on a shoestring budget.  I find that when owners make the conscious decision to promote rather than sit back...it's truly a watershed moment.  So what I want to do is officially give you a license to promote.  The truth of the matter is that the public wants you to promote yourself.  They want an easy way to find you.  They want to see all the good work you've done.  So allow yourself the ability to promote your business.  You'll make some mistakes along the way...but to the degree that you promote, business will come in again.

Numbers Game

As a marketing advocate, we're consistently offering advice on better ways of reaching prospects and customers.  Fortunately, there are a plethora of options...from email marketing to television ads.  There is a marketing mix out there for your business that is ideal.

However, that said, any marketing tactic is predicated on the idea that just a (small) portion will be interested and buy.  A marketing tactic that yields a 7% response is, frankly, sublime.  That means that generally speaking, 93% of the time you won't be successful in closing business.  The truth of the matter is that even with even the fanciest, most effective marketing tactics in the world, business development is still a numbers game.  And that never changes.

I have yet to find a business where prospects just naturally approach them in droves (save a monopoly).  Nearly all businesses have to take on a proactive approach and persist through lots of prospects saying 'no thanks'.  So the bottom line is that in order to be successful, give yourself a break and realize that successful marketing and sales means weeding through all the 'no's' to get to the 'yesses'. 

Remember that Babe Ruth only hit safely (base hit) 1/3rd of his career...which means he was making outs a lot of the time.  You'll experience the same kind of dynamic when prospecting.  Realizing it's going to happen generally takes the sting out.  Get out there and swing...a lot.

Art of Networking

If you think being sold to is a chore, how about going to networking events?  It's seems like a huge round-robin sales tournament, each volleying what they do back and forth.

Now I used to think that was a problem, but as my network increases, I've learned to accept an "abundant" mentality over a "scarcity" mentality.  This means that now I want a lot of good contacts that I can refer business to.  There are myriads of professions that I know nothing about that a prospect or contact of yours could use.  And this makes me more valuable.  Plus the fact that hey, I really enjoy helping others.

Instead of launching into what you do and boring the other person to death, ask them some questions about their business...ask them what they enjoy about what they do and what makes it different from what they might have done years ago.  Ask them where else they like to network.  These types of questions really help a conversation along and it positions you better with a fellow networker.

Perhaps the most powerful thing though is the follow-up.  Make sure you contact them a couple of days later and offer to meet them for coffee. 

Do you have some good ideas that work at networking events?

Switching between Applications on your Computer - Alt-tab

This post isn't in the vein of marketing or promotions, but hey, you can't always eat steak, right?

When I visit prospects and clients and we need to get on the computer to look at something, I'm amazed by how dumbfounded many are when I use the "alt-tab" combination to switch between applications. Some literally stop me in my tracks (seemingly more interested in this than the marketing task at hand) to ask me how I'm switching between programs so fast.  So the purpose of this post is to show you how so you can become more efficient...so that you can have more time to invest back into marketing (ha).

A quick definition is that Windows (from version 3.1 on) and Mac OS give you the ability to switch between open applications using the alt-tab keys together (Mac uses command-tab) without having to use the mouse.  It's a cool little trick that can save you time.  As an aside, to become really efficient on any computer, I suggest you generally learn and use keystrokes as opposed to the mouse...I can do just about anything I need using keystrokes (including editing, saving, typing, emailing, etc).  The things I have to use a mouse for include positioning and graphics work.

Anyway, below is a short video on the alt-tab trick from my friends at CompTechTutor.  Enjoy-

Marketing Dashboard

We're all familiar with what a business plan looks like.  What makes a marketing plan different is the emphasis on the 5 P's along with the competitive analysis and positioning.  The development of the marketing plan is critically important as you align resources correctly.

A tool that I've found is critical as a benchmark or tracking mechanism that shows how you're doing against the goals of your marketing plan is called the "marketing dashboard".  The marketing dashboard is a set of four key indicators that shows the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.  So many owners and executives believe that marketing solely has to do with making the phone ring.  This couldn't be further from the truth.

The four key indicators are--
-number of leads in a particular time period
-number and percentage of leads converted to sales
-number of sales to customers
-average transaction amount

As we learn to think of marketing in this way, it refocuses efforts onto all the areas of revenue enhancement rather than just the one.

Do you use a similar tool? 

The Printed Endangered Species List

Don't know if this has occurred to you lately or not, but this digital thing is really making its mark on our lives more and more every day.  From websites than can convey just about any information you're looking for (wiki) to fancy phones to new (daily) jaw-dropping technology designed to make our lives easier...we are truly in a new age now.

Along with these advances though comes the public's re-evaluation of older ways...particularly those things in print that have quickly migrated to the digital world. 

The first is the telephone book. I don't know about you, but the internet (as well as my GPS system) can not only show me vendors nearby but share with me consumer opinions...plus a LOT more information than can be conveyed in a display ad.  The telephone book has been shrinking at our business for years and now I just refuse it to send a message back to the telephone company not to waste the paper.

The second are newspapers.  The migration of people to the internet for news has been staggering...so much so that major newspapers across the country are scrambling to go online and keep a percentage of their readership.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently cut their print publication down significantly...it looks like about half the size it used to be.

Next is snail-mail (aka regular mail).  The USPS lost $2 billion dollars last year and is being forced to re-tool its operations.  There's strong talk of holding delivery on Saturday as well as a weekday.  Email can send most messages...and bills are being paid more and more over payment systems such as e-banking.  Look for the USPS to shrink pretty significantly in the future.

Finally, the digital revolution is even taking on the oldest most effective communication technology known to man up to this point...the book.  Tools like Kindle, which can download and deliver the printed word to a device, may soon replace magazines and books...at least to some degree.  (My hunch is that people will still want to hold books for some time...out of habit alone).

Let's be happy for all the nervous trees out there...and instead of being defensive of the Digital Revolution, I encourage you to welcome the new ways that lie ahead.  I see great things in front of us!

Deluged!

I'm always intrigued about the number of ad messages an average American is exposed to per day--everything from copy-laden radio commercials to newspaper ads to billboards to the side of a business.  Since everyone is different in terms of what they consciously think about, I'll define it as what they're exposed to whether they conscious are aware or not.  These are the claims that I discovered-

Business Journal (Phoenix) - 600 messages
Consumer Reports - 247
Texas A&M Study - 850
Newspaper Asso of America - 3000
Book DataSmog - 3000
UCS (Union of Concerned Scientists) Study - 3000
University of Washington study - 1000
Nielsen report - 1600

There's study after study seeking the right information but it's not really important, is it?  The most conservative figure is by Consumer Reports with 247 messages every day.  Now that's a LOT of advertising to digest.  (I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I even believe that, but we'll go with it.) 

The bottom line is that we're pounded with promotional information every day...even during an economic downturn.  In order to retain a level of sanity, we block out 95% of it (if not more!).

That dynamic poses a problem for us marketers, doesn't it?  We must keep up the exposure...but if the prospects that we're pursuing are blocking out most of the ad messages, how are we getting noticed?  What must we do to stick out in their mind (the 1-5%)?  Copycat marketing isn't the answer..

The Secret to Customer Service

The Golden Rule states that you should "treat others as you want to be treated". I'm sure that it's been suggested to you that the Golden Rule is the best approach to take in dealing with others. And it’s been the basis of customer service training since ancient Rome. While the concept is obviously better than ‘thinking of yourself’, I submit that there's an even better model than the Golden Rule. I call it the Platinum Rule and I believe that if you follow it, people will always follow you around buying whatever you have to offer.

The Platinum Rule is to "treat others as they want to be treated". Semantics? No. This concept is the basis of something called “rapport”, which in behavioral science translates to ‘people like people who are like themselves’. That is, we all tend to gravitate to things which are like ourselves, not others.  It's about what we're comfortable with. And to me, it's taking the Golden Rule further.

The theory of rapport encourages people to be like others (physiologically, emotionally, psychologically) in order to quickly build trust with them. I can tell you that the concept when put into practice works better than any other that I have tested. And we use it as a foundation for the customer service and sales training modules.

Have you ever used ‘rapport’ in customer service situations?  How about other situations?  Have you ever heard of it?  What are your thoughts about the Platinum Rule?

Take the Road Less Travelled

Small businesses don't have the deep pockets that the larger companies have.  The larger companies typically have pretty sizable marketing budgets to play with.  They can afford to run "image advertising".  This kind of advertising is when a company promotes its brand and creates a mood. 

Small businesses must be a lot more aggressive and direct with their advertising dollar.  The problem is that owners typically do what the big guys do and run advertising like their neighbors or the big guys.  That formula is this--the name of the company, a few benefits, perhaps a picture or two, and a phone number.  The message is "ok, here I am...I'm not much different than the next guy but please call so that I can sell you something".

You must make the decision when you go into business that you will differentiate yourself from your competitors and be creative when advertising.  Taking the 'road less travelled' means no matter what the communication, you have an attention-grabbing headline, sub-headlines, description, a call to action, a guarantee and a couple ways to contact you.

The problem is that the approach is out of the comfort zone...fewer small business owners go this way because they consider it to be a risk. I can tell you from practical, real-world experience that following the crowd in this case is the biggest risk of all.  What's been your experience?

Good Time to Hunt for Bargains - in Advertising

If there's a silver lining in an economic downturn, it's that prices sometimes fall.  That's been the case in this one as I've noticed everything from goods to services dropping in price.  Small business owners have cut back a great deal in advertising...but I'm not sure if that's a good thing.  What they may not realize is that marketing and advertising prices have dropped along with everything else, making it more affordable.

I've noticed print ad space practically plummet.  The same goes for sharp ad cost drops for radio and television.  They're offering billboard and yellow page ad space at levels not seen since the 70's.  Internet advertising was already pretty inexpensive to begin with.  The bottom line is that it's still pretty affordable to run a quality marketing mix for the business.  If you've been holding back, it may be in your business's best interest to take a look at the "new landscape" and get back into the promotion posture.