Atlanta's Marketing Center

Marketing Tactic Mainstays

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As a drought empties waterways of water leaving things underneath clearly visible, an economic slowdown also tends to remove excess and provides a better perspective of things.  This is certainly true in the world of marketing.  Some industries are straining to determine the marketing tactics that even work.  Print advertising?  It's taking a beating, no matter what your rep is saying.  Yellowpages?  My copy at home is shrinking every time I get one.  Direct mail has been a mainstay for decades...an old, reliable direct marketing tactic.  But even that has taken a beating lately as response rates have fallen.  These will all come back because over the long-haul, they are how people receive information.

 

But what's working now?  Two things mainly.  The first includes things internet.  The very nature of the internet (other than access, it's free) lends itself to an inexpensive, information-rich way to shop.  And it's only getting better.  Mass email campaigns (if you have the addresses) are reasonable.  Search engine optimization, and moving up in the search engine ranking for prospect visibility is still 'relatively' inexpensive.  Pay-per-click programs either through the search engines or a private resource (like Superpages.com) is pretty reasonable...and is the most controllable of the tactics.  And the popularity of social media (sites like LinkedIn and Facebook) has really taken off.  I would suggest that if you haven't already invested in this medium, to start.  That's because you can get pretty quick returns if you utilized correctly...and because it's only going to grow in importance.

 

The other tactic is referral marketing.  This is working with companies that serve the same target market as you but don't compete directly.  We're all connected, no matter how bad things get.  And as long as there is demand, then your connections can work for you.  But you have to put time and attention into this too.  This is a relationship-oriented tactic where you target like-minded people to exchange business.  The problem with this is that it's rarely immediate.  But in terms of building business, there's really nothing better.  And the nice thing is that you can work with internet social media tools here too. 

 

I'm interested in hearing other things that may be working for you right now?  How about tv/radio?  Print ads?  Billboards?

No Matter the Technology...Word of Mouth Continues to be King

We all know how important word-of-mouth is to our business.  I mean, if you needed a good plumber tomorrow, would you really go through the yellow pages first or call a friend who had some work done? Advertising takes a back seat because of the risk of not knowing whether the other person is capable or not.

This point is really brought home through a recent global study by Nielsen that polled users in 47 international markets, including Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and the Middle East. The survey examined respondents' attitudes toward 13 advertising categories, such as television, branded Web sites, and consumer-generated content. The major takeaway?  An overwhelming majority of consumers state that consumer recommendations is the form of advertising that they trust the most.

"Advertisers around the world are able to reach consumers across an increasingly diverse range of media platforms," said David McCallum, the global managing director for Nielsen's Research Services, in a statement. "Even so, the simple recommendation of someone else remains the most trusted source of information when consumers decide which products and services to buy. And even though new media technologies are playing a role in 'globalizing' society, many purchasing decisions are still based on firmly held national and cultural attitudes. Furthermore, given that nothing travels faster than bad news - with estimates that reports of bad experiences outnumber good service reports by as many as 5:1 - the importance of responsive, high quality customer service is yet again highlighted."

So what does this mean?  It means that referral marketing should be a big part of your marketing plan.  It means that you need to join groups and associations, engage in networking activities, and join and contribute to social internet sites like Facebook and LinkedIn (where the power of technology intersects with referral marketing).

The bottom line is that you've been officially informed about something you already knew and probably needed to hear again. Most of your business is probably going to be through your networking and word-of-mouth effort.  Put most of your marketing efforts and money here and automate the process as much as you can.

Introducing the Referral Engine

The art and science of referral marketing is a fascinating topic. For centuries, commerce has happened naturally through using this approach. But in the the last 30 years or so, experts have sought to define and teach it to others.

Such is the case with the latest effort by John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing. Few people know small business marketing like John, who has been helping owners build referral business through his "Referral Flood" series. But Referral Engine is a deeper dive into the activity needed to create a predictable stream of referrals to a business. The rewards of a successful system are tremendous as within referral marketing, success builds upon itself.

The book will be released on May 13th, but the publisher is offer a sneak peek of Chapter 1 through a free download. Feel free to peruse through this download link- Referral Engine Excerpt

It looks great and I can't wait to get a copy. Here are some pre-order sites- Barnes & Noble, Amazon, 800-CEO-READ or Indie Bound.

Great Small Business Stimulus Idea - "Make a Referral Week"

What a great idea to stimulate the economy!  Duct Tape Marketing is sponsoring "Make a Referral Week" that will take place March 9-13.  This is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time.

The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business.  Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and deserves the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.

But its success depends on everyone's (mine, yours, our colleagues) input.  With everyone pledging to make a referral to a business we want to help, the event will be a success. That's not too difficult, particularly since we all share referrals pretty naturally. 
Here's the website with more information and to make a pledge - http://www.makeareferralweek.com/pledge. The week long event also features a killer list of referral experts providing valuable marketing advice.

Join us and do your part to stimulate the economy by telling your world about making referrals and "Make a Referral Week" - you’ll be in good company.