Atlanta's Marketing Center

Small Business Growth--Like a Weed

I met with the owner of a services company in Atlanta the other day. Like so many small businesses, he was from that industry and decided to strike out on his own by finding some capital, finding a couple of clients and growing through referrals. And, like some other businesses, he’s done ok.

But growing solely through word-of-mouth early on is a blessing and curse. The blessing is that it’s a cheap way of marketing, the leads are stronger than an advertising lead due to the relationship nature, and that you can grow into a pretty sizable business depending upon how much time you put into it. But the curse is more often than not that all kinds of business comes in (some not-so-good), the business coming in is not predictable, and the business tends to grow to a certain point then levels off due to the time that owners have to continually invest.

For these businesses, the learning curve on becoming a more effective, efficient marketing operation is steep. How do you get leads into your business? How has it changed over the years?

Meatball Marketing

I generally run into two types of organizations. The first type tends to focus on the operations and the sales part of the business. They'll make an effort on the marketing side but the activity tends to be sporadic and very far in between. So they don't get much marketing traction. The second type focuses heavily on marketing (which is good) but tend to overdo it then burn themselves out. Since marketing is a high activity function, it's easy to get caught in the cycle of perfection...and I can tell you that at the small business level, there's just not enough room for perfection in marketing.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not talking about letting misspellings on advertising literature go or missing milestones on a promotional event. No, what I'm talking about is taking care of the important things and sometimes looking pass the details. I call this meatball marketing. Meatball marketing is making sure that the most important elements of your marketing program move forward consistently...from planning, to improvements to you brand, and (perhaps most importantly) that the basic marketing tactics are completed.

Is it vitally important what card stock you send literature out on? or is it more important that you got it out at all? I vote for the latter. Of course, being precise is paramount, but not at the expense of the activity not happening. I see organizations get bogged down with the minor details at times...then something else springs up in the organization to push the momentum off the tracks. The next thing you know, the organization is resurrecting the marketing program a quarter later. And that's not a good recipe...even for meatballs.

Marketing is Writing

There's really no getting around it. The truth is that people rarely buy anything without having read something about it. Whether it's product/service descriptions, advertisements, press releases, website, articles, blog posts, or even the product packaging...people like to learn more about what you offer in their own way and time, and there's no better way than through the written word. This is why you need to get into the habit of writing...or find someone who can do it for you.

When I communicate this to a client, I tend to get one of two responses... either that they can't write or that they don't have time. Both are understandable...however, I still believe it's important for the owner or management team to be involved in shaping the communication with the outside world. So even if they're not doing all the writing, they're setting the right tone and direction. I find that once a business owner starts to write again, like a bike, they pick it up pretty quickly. 

The benefits of this activity are numerous. In addition to validating the sale in the buyers' minds, writing creates ideas. It's rarely the other way around. There are many times that I have no idea what I am going to write, but once I start, ideas develop. And what comes about is often far greater than anything I could have simply thought and then transferred to paper or screen.  I also find that writing organizes the thoughts and makes you a better communicator...such as in your ability to sell.  So get out the pen and start writing again...for your business's sake.

Sales or Marketing Mind?

In my interactions with small business owners, I typically find that they have either a sales or a marketing mind.  The sales-minded owner generally has a crew of sales reps and they churn out calls or have lunch and tee times with prospects set up well in advance.  This approach is all about networking.  Their brand (if they have one) typically consists of the name of the company without a graphic.  The problem with this approach is that they get very little long-term momentum.  The contact they have is always around communicating the value one-on-one.

I'm not saying that the sales-minded operations aren't successful, because they can be (many are).  But they could only help shorten the sales cycle and long-term brand (what happens if the sales people exit?) through effective marketing.

The opposite is true with marketing-minded owners.  The brand is developed and the value is fed to prospects in a continuous, targeted, volume motion.  A lot of the selling involves the prospect reading the value proposition on a website or a direct mail piece.  For the marketing-minded owners, I recommend finding and keeping quality sales reps who can convert and manage the accounts right.

Now when you find an owner that has both a marketing and sales mind, you're talking to someone who's leading their industry and is no doubt making a lot of money.  Keep working on becoming one of these people.

Going It Alone

A business goes through different phases of growth.  Initially it's a matter of finding capital and customers.  And typically the marketing of a business consists of doing good work for someone and having them tell someone else and so on.

And growth can occur like that for a while.  But in order to grow effectively beyond a certain point, the owner needs to partner with others he/she trusts.  After all, one party cannot run everything all the time...no man is an island.

My point is this...surround yourself with people you trust who bring value within a specialization such as accounting, legal, operations, marketing, human resources, etc.  Before you get to the point of hiring specialists around you, lean on the SBDC or SCORE or perhaps a management peer group.  Wisdom is a multitude of perspectives.

Shake it Up in 2010

About a month ago there was a car ahead of me with a bumper sticker that read “The Only Difference Between a Rut and a Grave is the Depth”. That couldn’t be further from the truth. We have to be careful about getting into comfortable patterns that don’t serve us, particularly when times are tighter.

How do you know whether your business is in a rut? One way to recognize is when you’re comfortable with results when those results don’t match up to the loftier goals you've set.

Another way to recognize that you're in a rut is that you're not making any mistakes. That is, you’re not playing to win…you’re playing not to lose. Revenues might be ok and you might rather just settle with what you’re getting than to try new things. But the hard truth is that you must continue to take chances to grow. Champions fail all the time in order to improve and it’s no different for your business.

So try a different route to work, a new brand of detergent, and shake up your marketing mix to try new things! Learn from the mistakes and you might find a good new avenue.

Giving to Get...Even in Tough Times

This is the time during the year when I think we understand the concept of giving the best. And never has this been put to the test than this last year!

Thomas Stanley (The Millionaire Next Door) as well as Charles Dickens both characterize an affluent person as having a scarcity, penny-pinching, cheap mentality. While it's been shown that this miserly approach can be the way to wealth, there are plenty of examples around us of people who are generous and do very well too. And I think this has to be a more robust way to go.

In order to be an effective marketer you must adopt an "abundant" mentality all the time. The abundant mentality is the habit of frequently giving with the faith that you'll get it back in spades. In marketing your business, you don't have to give money or tangible gifts. In fact, I am suggesting giving your time, effort, and insight. Whether you're aware of it or not, you probably have a wealth of expertise about what you do. By drawing from just small areas of your expertise, you can package that information in a compelling way which would be valuable to your market.

More specifically, I suggest that you start writing articles that can be put on your website, provide free reports on techniques you use, and give talks to small groups of people where available. It might take some time for your efforts to be noticed, but when they are, you'll be amazed at not only the appreciation , but the returns of these efforts. 

And this is true in all areas of life as well. I think as we get older we understand and appreciate this a lot more. I just didn't get it very well earlier in life.

Do you a success story where you've given yourself and got back a lot more than you expected?

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?

What Exactly is Marketing?

The idea behind marketing (and a good definition) is that you’re attempting to get a targeted group to know, like, and trust you…in that order.

There are a couple of marketing tactics that can speed the process along quite a bit. For instance, in terms public relations and getting a mention by a newspaper about your products or services, you hit all the ‘know, like, and trust’ criteria in one fell swoop because a reporter (instead of you) is singing your praises.

Further, with an organized referral process, your ally (a trusted source…again, not you) is getting the word out about your offering. Since it’s not you, prospects feel as though the information is coming from an independent source and is more likely to

Direct mail, advertising, and a website presence are another story. You can get them to know you, but getting them to like and trust may take repetition and time. There are a couple of techniques to speed up the process here but it still may take some time.

Focus on the process of ‘know, like, and trust’ and you’ll be on the right track.

Are you Going the Wrong Way?

In a recent post I wrote about the difference between the marketing function and the advertising function.  As a small business owner, you must keep both things in mind if you want to be and stay effective.

The $5000 website you paid for that has little traffic is, to a large degree, worthless.  It's similar to a fancy store at the back of a strip center that no one ever walks into. 

On the other hand, a cheap looking website that gets a lot of traffic can damage your reputation and be of little value as well.  The solution is to have a presentable website that takes advantage of search engine optimization techniques.

You can solve this dilemna by always asking yourself what you're trying to accomplish and whether a piece accomplishes it.  Too many owners are stuck sold on things that are "pretty" or "cool" while the piece does little to attract business.  Have you fallen into this trap?