Shock Marketing Blog

Entrepreneur / Small Business

Marketing Your Small Business In The “Age Of Targeted Information”

by ScottOrsulich on Apr.21, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

Think about the last time you saw or heard something about any business that made you look up their website. The usage of keywords are essential in person, over the phone and online.
Pretend you just walked onto an elevator and meet a prospective customer. Can you tell them what you do in 1 second? We would suggest mentioning your business name. If your business name does not give them some indication about what you do, you may want to rethink your business name, especially if you plan to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Now let’s say you have 10 seconds to talk about your business. We suggest describing your business’ products and services and identifying your target customer. If you have 30 seconds or 1 minute to speak with your prospective customer, what would you add to your 1 second or 10 second elevator pitch? We would suggest adding information about your unique customer process and how you differentiate yourself from the competition.
Every prospective customer is looking for keywords. If you don’t grab a prospective customer’s attention with the right keywords (in person, over the phone or online) in the first second, you may never get to explain more about your business for 10 seconds, 30 seconds or 1 minute.
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Connecting With Small Business Customers During The Recession

by ScottOrsulich on Mar.31, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

The face of marketing has changed for the small business owner during the recession.  The way you market yourself needs to change to accommodate the evolving needs of your target customer audience during uncertain economic times.  Does your marketing messaging still relate to your existing customer base?  Your prospective customers?  For example, now that customers are carefully evaluating where to spend their money, does your marketing messaging platform still resonate well with these customer groups?  Does your value proposition for the products and services you offer still make sense now that we have entered the recession?

The answers to these questions should be thoroughly evaluated by your small business’ management team to ensure success during the recession.  Your business may only have one chance, maybe a few seconds to influence a new prospective customer.  Does your brand stand out during the recession?  Is your marketing messaging targeted enough to get to the point for a prospective new customer?  If the answer is no, I would suggest redeveloping your business’ identity before it’s too late.  Now that businesses are doing anything it takes to keep existing customers and get new customers - the competition in your industry niche is about to get even more competitive.  

Small business owners are operating in the “Targeted Age Of Information,” along with the recession.  So how can you make your business stand out among competitors that offer similar products and services?  The answer includes the following steps:

1.  Make sure your brand stands out to prospective customers during the recession.  Create or enhance your small business’ brand to immediately attract and identify with your target audience.  For example, if a prospective customer heard your business name, would they know what you do?  If not, you may want to consider changing your business’ name.  This may sound harsh, but if you plan to use Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to promote your business, this will help tremendously.  Consider this as well - if you have only 1 second to tell a customer prospect about your business, you may be able to influence them to choose your business, if they happen to be looking for the products and services you offer.  One example of this could be telling a customer prospect of ours “Shock Marketing.”  Then if the person is considering a marketing vendor, we would have a chance to tell them more about what we do.  If our name was “Shock Strategies” instead of Shock Marketing, we may never get the opportunity to further develop that business lead.  Does your business have a tagline that explains how you do business or add to the customer experience?  Does your visual identity grab your customer’s attention and stand out from your competition?  If they answers are no, you may want to reposition your marketing plan and visual business identity.  Does your business have a website that offers a user-friendly way to interact with your business?  

All of these questions and answers will determine if a customer prospect will first consider, and then later choose your business for their product or service needs.  Think about your ideal target customer comparing all our your business’ brand elements (marketing, design, web) in great detail against nine of your competitors.  Will you win the business?  If you are uncertain, it’s best to go back to the drawing board now before it’s too late.

2.  Provide added value at every customer interaction.  There should be a certain amount of value included as part of the products and services you offer your existing customers and new customer prospects.  Do you provide free white papers about your industry to your customers?  Do you educate them about your industry expertise and how it relates to their unique situation.  We recommend providing as much value as possible at every interaction.  Again, if you were compared to nine of your closest competitors, who would be providing the most customer value?

3.  Provide stellar customer service.  I can’t say this enough - irregardless of what the small business market and economy looks like.  If a business can’t provide great customer service in a good economy, then in my opinion, they should not be in business to begin with.  Now that we are in a recession, customer service has become one of many crucial differentiating factors that will determine if an existing customer will stay with your small business, and if a new prospective will choose your business.

Bottom line - stand out to your customers at all costs during the recession.  Give your existing customers a long list of sub-conscious reasons why they should never leave you and choose a competitor.  Show your prospective customers why you are the best choice for them during uncertain times, while offering added value and best-in-class customer service.

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Improve Small Business Sales With A Marketing Plan

by ScottOrsulich on Mar.10, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

It’s all about reducing uncertainty when making decisions that pertain to your business - and a solid marketing plan is the way to do this.  In the article listed below from entrepreneur.com there are some good tactics and and a general outline that can be followed.  Shock Marketing offers business planning and marketing plan development for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Improve Sales With a Marketing Plan

Need to step up your sales? Create an easy-to-follow marketing plan that’ll help you along. 

By Kim T. Gordon   |   August 31, 2006

Are you serious about growing your business? Then it’s time to ditch your old “catch as catch can” marketing approach and put together a plan that you can manage along with the daily operations of your business. Too many entrepreneurs focus on marketing only during the slow times and, as a result, put their businesses on an economic roller coaster where it’s always feast or famine. A well-planned marketing program helps you build sales year-round and is easier to manage because it removes the stress and anxiety of having to play catch-up every few months to jump-start sales.

Choose Your Tactics
The best marketing programs reach prospects with a smart mix of tactics. When it comes to marketing, being a Johnny-one-note is a bad idea because a single tactic is rarely sufficient to move prospects through the sales cycle.

Most every small business has three types of prospects: cold, warm and hot. Cold prospects know little or nothing about your business. Warmer prospects are familiar with your company and are about midway through the sales cycle. Your company’s hottest prospects are those closest to closing or who’ve purchased from you in the past. Either you’ve successfully moved them through the sales cycle by exposing them to multiple marketing messages and sales contacts, or they’ve come to you by way of referral and simply need a bit more information or personal selling to make a purchase or sign a contract.

When creating your marketing program, it’s essential to include at least one marketing tactic to reach each of these types of prospects. Cold prospects, for example, might be reached through newspaper ads or direct mail, warm prospects via an e-mail marketing campaign, and hot prospects might respond best to PowerPoint presentations along with face-to-face selling to add the final heat to close sales.

Choose a mix of tactics that’ll reach and motivate your prospects–and fit your company’s marketing budget. Whether you’re bootstrapping or flush with funds, there’s a group of tactics that’ll work for you. Tighter budgets sometimes require tactics that take a bit more hands-on execution. For example, a cable TV campaign will reach cold prospects, but so will home parties—and for considerably less cash.

Put It on Paper
The trick to successfully balancing all your marketing tactics is to have a written plan with a manageable timeline. That way you can create your campaigns and materials well in advance of your deadlines and have them ready to go when you need them. You can also save money on design and copywriting fees by having many of your marketing tools–from ads and brochures to website copy–created at the same time. And you can lower your printing costs by having all your new marketing materials printed together.

Unless you’re creating a marketing plan to help win funding (in which case you’ll need a more elaborate, in-depth document), your company’s marketing plan can be simple to create and easy to follow. There should be five principal parts:

1. Situation Analysis: Generally only about a page in length, this section provides a brief overview of your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This is a helpful benchmarking tool because when you review your plan a few months from now, you’ll be able to see how your situation has changed.

2. Target Audience: If you’re marketing to consumers, write a target audience profile based on demographics, such as age, gender and household income. If your target audience consists of other businesses, include a one paragraph or less description of those businesses here. This target audience description is absolutely invaluable when evaluating whether a particular publication or media opportunity will help you reach your best prospects.

3. Goals: Write a short, bulleted list of your company’s marketing goals. Be sure to make them measurable, such as “increase new accounts by 10 percent by March 31,” so you can evaluate the performance of your campaign.

4. Strategies and Tactics: Outline your company’s overall marketing strategy and the list of tactics you’ll use to reach prospects as they move through your sales cycle. Create a timeline or use software with a calendar function to note important production deadlines.

5. Budget: Price out the execution of the mix of marketing activities you’ve chosen. If they appear to take you over budget, don’t get discouraged. Remember, there’s a tactic to fit every budget. Rethink your plan until you have a mix of strategies you can afford and that’ll reach out and motivate your prospects year-round.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/marketing/marketingcolumnistkimtgordon/article165872.html

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Small Business Marketing Strategy During A Rough Economy

by ScottOrsulich on Mar.09, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

Here’s a great article that outlines how small businesses can best focus their priorities during a recession.  Overall, it says that small businesses cannot afford to cut marketing and advertising, even during tough times.  However, the article recommends how to cut costs elsewhere. 

Saturday Reader: Steering small business through rough economy

By Richard Pachter
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.07.2009
Author Steven D. Strauss is a small-business maven. This USA Today small-business columnist and author of “The Business Start-Up Kit” and “The Big Idea” recently released a new edition of his “The Small Business Bible.” His Web site, MrAllBiz, www.mrallbiz.com, is a one-stop resource.
We e-mailed a few questions to Strauss. His responses:
Q. How should small businesses deal with the current economic state of affairs in terms of marketing, advertising, personnel, customers, vendors, financing, expansion, insurance?
A. The biggest and most common mistake small businesses make during times like these is that they cut back in the areas that are actually needed the most right now — marketing and advertising. Here’s why: Customers are volatile; loyalty is something that most people abandon when what they really want are discounts and value for their dollar. The result of that is twofold: First, you will lose customers; we all will. Second, there are plenty of new customers out there to be had as habits change. But, the only way they will find their way to your door is through your advertising and marketing.
That said, belt-tightening is smart. For example, if you can legally turn an employee into an independent contractor, do so. That can save plenty on costly labor expenses. Keeping overhead low in ways that don’t hurt customer acquisition is key.
The other smart thing to do is to focus on customer service. Use the 80-20 rule to figure out who your most vital 20 percent is and lavish those valuable customers with added value. That is the name of the game right now — added value.
Q. Can the Internet help companies survive the downturn?
A. The Internet is critical to survival. Search-engine optimization is important. More and more people are abandoning Yellow Pages and other traditional ad forms in favor of Google searches. You have to make it easy for them to find you.
Q. What do most companies neglect when things get rough, but shouldn’t?
A. Too many companies fail to see opportunities during rough times because they are so focused on survival. And while it’s important to keep your eye on the ball, it is a mistake to lose sight of other possibilities.
For example, recessions are great times to innovate. The cost of goods and labor is less, and you or your staff probably have some extra time to come up with new ideas and try them out.
Recessions are also good times to see what fat can be trimmed. Find a cheaper supplier, or less expensive insurance.
But it’s also important not to think the only way to increase demand is to cut price. Price cuts aren’t the only way to stimulate demand, and they aren’t the best approach for entrepreneurs. On average, entrepreneurs are more successful when they compete on service, quality or something other than price.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/business/283214.php
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When To Market Your Business

by ScottOrsulich on Feb.27, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

Here’s a good article for all the new Entrepreneurs out there (listed at Entrepreneur.com) on when and how to diligently market your business.

 

A Time To Market

A time to market your to-do list isn’t complete without this key practice–and neither is your business. 

By John Jantsch   |   Entrepreneur Magazine - November 2008

Marketing is such an important part of your business that it must be practiced daily, much like a habit, in order to really get the attention and momentum it deserves. That can be a tall order for a lot of startup entrepreneurs because so many other things call out for your attention.

The surest way to keep your focus on the important task of marketing is to schedule it as you would appointments with your best customers. When you have an appointment marked on your calendar, you’ll most likely keep it.

Making appointments for and creating a systematic approach to marketing is a great way to ensure you take a short- and long-term approach to building marketing momentum in your business.

Here’s how to schedule marketing into your busy life:

Annually: Create a wall-size annual marketing calendar that allows you to look pretty far forward and schedule bigger tasks, such as redesigning the website, hiring a marketing assistant and so on. Consider this an annual strategic planning exercise that combines nicely with a compelling set of marketing goals for the year.

In addition, use this strategy session to create a marketing score card–a list of simple tactical actions that, if performed routinely, will move you in the direction of your goals. If your goal is to obtain five referrals each month, a score-card item might be to attend a networking event or send a handwritten note to a customer.

Monthly: When you start big-picture planning, things can get, well, big, and you can get overwhelmed. So each month you should assign a theme or focus. For example, make December your PR month and develop a strategy to get your marketing humming along. Then you can make January blog month, and so on.

Weekly: If you plan to accomplish your assigned theme goals each month, you’ll need a weekly plan of action with steps and responsibilities. Going back to our PR theme example, in the first week of December, you’ll focus on building a killer media list for your industry and community; the second week, your goal might be to create a media kit. The key to making this work is scheduling marketing appointments throughout the week with your staff or an outside resource to make sure the action steps move forward.

Daily: For your daily marketing plan, you’ve got two tasks. One is to prepare for and keep your marketing appointments on your daily to-do list. The second is to consult your score card and see how many items can be done today. To make it even more fun, you can assign a score to each item and set a daily point goal.

If you can keep marketing front and center as you go about your day, you’ll be amazed at how easily it becomes a part of the air you breathe.

 

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, an award-winning blogger and the author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. Find out more at ducttapemarketing.com.

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Add Value To Your Sales Process

by ScottOrsulich on Feb.26, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

Here’s a great article on how to add value to your sales process by John Jantsch, listed in Entrepreneur Magazine.  It’s all about the added value to separate your business from the competition.  If you have a similar product/service and price from your competitor, how do you stand out?  

In our opinion it’s through your brand’s message and how it speaks to your target customer audience, the customer service level you can provide and the added customer relationship value you can bring to the client experience.

 

Do the Two-Step

Forget cold calling–now, getting leads is as simple as counting to two. 

By John Jantsch   |   Entrepreneur Magazine - August 2008

Every business needs leads; they’re the lifeblood of your marketing machine. The trick is to set up a marketing system that lets you create a steady flow of leads without having to subject yourself to the torture of cold calling.

Create a two-step lead machine, and you can say goodbye to cold calling while still generating all the qualified, permission-based leads you can handle.

The basic idea behind the two-step approach is to create a free information product that your target market will see as a valuable read or listen, such as a workshop, evaluation, checklist, newsletter, course or tipsheet. It should have a catchy title that’s related to your business, like, “How to Tell if Your Roofing Contractor Is Lying,” or “101 Things You Can Do With Your iPod.” This is sometimes referred to as bait.

Now that you have your value-packed information product, every bit of your advertising–Yellow Pages, magazine ads, direct mail, business cards, letterhead, e-mail signature, website–should focus on getting people to request, pick up or download that report. Don’t try to do anything else with your advertising; let the report sell for you. That’s Step One. For startups, this approach is so much more effective than traditional advertising for several reasons. First, this tactic allows you to draw interest without having to tell your entire story–something that’s tough to do in a small ad. Second, it allows you to demonstrate your exper-tise in a nonthreatening way: on the pros-pect’s terms. Nobody likes to be sold to, but if they take the time to read your report and understand that what you do has value, the relationship can begin. 

A prospect who has requested your free information is officially a hot lead. When prospects visit your website, they’re effectively raising their hand and identifying themselves as being interested in what you do. When that happens, the hardest part of your sales job is done. Capture all the names and e-mails of those who request the report. Then your sales efforts can focus on taking that group–and only that group–to the next step in the process. That may mean following up with an appointment or simply a series of more advanced mailings. That’s Step Two.

If you take this advice to heart, everything about how you market your business will change. And finding new business will become a much more rewarding and valuable experience.

You’ll probably find other uses for your free report as well, including:

  • Referrals: Ask your sources to introduce your business to others by way of your free report, web page or newsletter. This makes referrals easy for them and assures that your story is told.
  • Cold calling: I know, I know. You should never need to cold call. But if you do, do it this way: Call those prospects on your list and, instead of trying to convince them to give you five minutes of their time next Tuesday, offer them the address for your power-packed free info, then shut up. Your prospecting time will be much more productive.

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, an award-winning blogger and the author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. Find out more at ducttapemarketing.com.


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The Rise Of The Entrepreneur In 2009

by ScottOrsulich on Feb.02, 2009, under Entrepreneur / Small Business

It’s clear that entrepreneurs will be coming out in force in 2009.  With all the mass layoffs that have taken place, and still continue to take place, it seems clear that job seekers are not left with many options when no one is hiring.  My thought is that those who always wanted to try the entrepreneurial route who lost their jobs, may give it a try if they can land paying customers quickly, and not eat up too much of their savings.  On the other hand there are those “less decided” entrepreneurs that perhaps did not know they would start down the entrepreneurial path.  If some of these masses of job seekers cannot find a job, I think they will look to creating their own source of income, by turning to their experience and backrounds.  The question is, what industries will they choose to start businesses in?  If they followed the trends, you would see a lot of activity in the financial sector.  However, I think a lot of brand new entrepreneurs will instead choose something they are passionate about, which can make them money.  If they didn’t love the job they just got laid off from after working for 5 years, chances are they will chose a different entrepreneurial facet.

Just yesterday, millions of viewers saw an Avon ad during the Super Bowl.  Avon seems an unlikely company to pony up the cost to advertise during the Super Bowl, but I think it’s definitely a sign up the times.  Avon is reaching out to all the prospective entrepreneurs that may still be looking for a job, but need to make some extra income right now.  

Shock Marketing is founded by entrepreneurs that have run the gamut when it comes to startup experience.  Shock is getting ready to launch its new Entrepreneur Startup Product.  This packaged product will give a new entrepreneur all the tools he or she needs to be successful and get started approaching prospective customers right away!  Contact Shock Marketing today to set up your free consultation.  www.ShockMarketing.com

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