Photo (CC 2.0) blullana_miranda, on Flickr

As you review articles for help with your small-business marketing, you may notice that many of them focus on a single strategy or method. The reality is that a good marketing plan has balance.

Often today the strategy is online marketing or, getting more specific, social media marketing. Video marketing is also quite popular.

These articles offer useful information but, in my view, they fail to take into account the consumer audience that many small-businesses, especially those in retail, face. Your audience is not comprised of one single demographic. It is probably spread across various demographics – old/young; techy/traditional; mix of income levels; leaders/followers; etc., etc.

And even if you have a well-defined audience, they are exposed to a multitude of marketing messages coming from a multitude of sources with few methods going completely out of style. Millennials still read the paper and “the greatest generation” goes online. Television and radio still play a part of everyone’s life. Everyone is listening to their neighbor and friend for where they shop and what they like. Most consumers also like a good deal and good service.

Not only should your advertising be a mix, but so should your community support efforts. (These are as much a part of your marketing as a sale flyer in the paper). While it is important, in my view, to be a champion of one or two causes that are important to you or are strongly connected to your business, you need to support a range of local causes.

Yes, it is crucial that you are doing some online marketing. A basic website is crucial. Consumers use search tools regularly, even for places they know and for things they buy on a regular basis. This means your site must have a good list of key words so that you come up in a search. Also, social media has a great reach and you might be surprised at the diversity of people who are using it.

Unless your business is highly dependent on one specific audience, a balanced marketing plan increases your chances of remaining visible in the marketplace. Take some time and consider what you might be missing and how to add it to your mix. This may mean having to let something go. If that is the case, use your data from previous marketing efforts to determine where you are getting the biggest bang.

Good luck and happy marketing.

Just for the record, this Forbes article, Small Business Marketing 101, was the inspiration for my comments. You may enjoy it as well. I like the fact they showed a balance in developing a small-business marketing plan.

Tools (CC) by Spinster Carrdigan, on Flickr

Let’s begin with a story. It’s a story about a man who was upset with the way things were done.

The man decided to compile his issues and then post this for people to see and comment. Because of a new technology, his message was not only read by the community but reached far and wide. It went viral.

So who was this man? It was Martin Luther who outlined his thoughts 500 years ago. And the “new” technology was the printing press. It isn’t clear how many people he reached but multiple printings of his comments have been found. For more on this story, check out NPR at: http://www.npr.org/2016/11/20/502437123/how-technology-helped-martin-luther-change-christianity

I suspect that as you read the story you probably thought I was going to mention a social media tool. Instead I want to bring out what I think are two lessons for small-business owners. 

The first lesson, and probably obvious, is the need to be aware of and willing to consider adopting something new in your marketing.

Yes, it is difficult today to know what will be around tomorrow so I am not saying you need to be the first one to try something. But if you see something making in-roads, consider it, as an early adopter, in your marketing plans. Not doing so gives the advantage to your competitors.

Second, and not so obvious, is to not forget about existing marketing tools already available to you. I heard about this story on the radio. The radio has been around a long time but people are still listening to it. And some of the story was found in print. People still respond to the printed word through advertisements, coupons, brochures, business cards, etc.. Keep these tools handy and use them as appropriate.

A good marketing plan uses the best tools for the task. The best tool often depends on who the audience is and what you are selling. And the way you find out what tool is best is through testing and analytics. Don’t make assumptions about what tool will be best. Test and re-test. Check with your audience.

So as 2017 begins, it’s time to plan your marketing for the year. When you open your toolbox, look at the newest and brightest tool but don’t overlook the tried-and-true as well.

Good marketing.

Photo (CC 2.0) by Alex Wellerstein, on Flickr

Is your business the “best-kept secret?”

While that question should make you smile, it also should raise a concern. Reaching your full potential will not happen if people don’t know your business exists.

How do you know if you are the best-kept secret? If you finish a sale and your customer comments she wishes she had known about your store before, you may be in the running.

How can you avoid this? You have a plan to get your business in front of people and you routinely check to see if it is working.

You want the name of your business and what it does on the mind of your entire target audience and more. You want them to have a positive view of your reputation and the service you offer.

However, building a customer base doesn’t just happen. It takes a great deal of work. In this example, you could have asked the customer how he learned of your business. You also might ask more about his experience and what would have made it even better.

Finally, tell the customer you are trying to build your audience and ask for his help by:

• Telling his friends
• Letting you use him as a reference
• Completing online reviews. This means knowing which sites – Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Places, etc. – list reviews for your business. If you don’t have any reviews, now is the time to change that.

Those are some steps you can take with that customer. Now think about how you can work some of these same requests into your conversation with every customer you see today, tomorrow and next week.

Keep track of the answers you get. Compile them. Then look at these comments to update your marketing plan. What efforts are working? Where are you getting a return for your investment?

Marketing is not a “one and done” effort. You need to get your name in front of someone three to four times before he or she will remember it. And getting people to come in your door may take five to seven exposures. Furthermore, customers don’t remember. More than 50 percent of customers will forget your business within 30 days if you stop marketing.

We haven’t even talked yet about what media to use, traditional or online/social. You will need both, but the level and type of each need to be customer-driven. Build these decisions into your marketing plan along with how future trends may influence what you do. One of those trends right now is the growth in mobile use.

So what’s the goal? It’s to never hear a customer say your business is the best-kept secret!

Photo (CC) Becky McCray, on Flickr

When working with customers, do you use your language or their language?

No, the question isn’t about whether you use English or German or Spanish. The question actually is whether you talk about your product or service in terms of features instead of what the customer wants from the product or service.

A simple question – “Why do people buy ¼-inch drill bits?” – can help small-business owners understand the importance of using the right “language.”

If you ask a group of people that question, you will get a variety of answers, but several people will answer correctly: “Because the buyer wants to make a ¼-inch hole.”

The issue isn’t that the drill bit keeps its cutting edge longer than others or it is made from a certain grade of steel. The buyer just wants a hole.

Marketing language is talking about the benefits of a product as opposed to the features.

Many of the benefits customers desire are personal, such as comfort, safety, ease of use and affordability. These characteristics answer the question, “What do I get from this purchase?”

So do you focus solely on the benefits in your marketing?

The answer is “probably not.” If products or services provide the same benefits, then features become a way to identify yourself in the marketplace. But even then, the product with the most features or most-desired features will portray itself as something elite or in a category by itself, again a benefit for those looking for self-expression.

To fully speak the language of your customers, you need to understand your customers and what motivates or drives them. Market demographics are part of the answer. This means that your customers will be divided into segments, each focused on a different desired set of benefits.

Talking about a product’s features is easy because this is a language we understand. Talking about the benefits the customer wants is a language we may not know. Yet it is the one that best gets our message across.

So what language will you use?

Photo by Becky McCray.

What a great day. Your business is open. The wait is over. Instead of costs, costs, costs, you can now make some sales.

Some time passes and someone walks into your business. It’s the business owner from next door and she just wants to wish you good luck.

Some more time passes and some friends and neighbors drop by. Some of them bought something but you don’t really count that as a sale. No, they were just being polite.

Some more time passes and a stranger walks in, looks around some and leaves.

Some more time passes and a group of people walk in. They look around and then begin to ask questions about one of your products. They ask about a discount if they buy several of the same item. As they make the offer, you are mentally wondering just how to respond. You tell them you will get back to them on their offer.

Some more time passes. Another person comes in. He comments he didn’t know that your store was even here. He is from out of town. He had researched his opportunities, didn’t see what he wanted but had another reason to come over to your town and just happened to see your sign.  You have several items he wants and makes a purchase. YOUR FIRST SALE! You feel like your business is officially open.

The day continues. Sales are slow. At the end of the day, you look at what you sold and get a little discouraged.This isn’t what you expected.

Is this your story? I have certainly heard it from several owners.

What happened?

One answer might come from the small business myth, build it and they will come.” Successful business rarely, though, happen this way.

As the owner, long before ever opening the doors and not long after just getting the idea, you need to develop your marketing program. What do I mean?

1. Start with the basics. Who might buy this product or service? What do they want from it? What will they pay? Where do they live? How do they shop?
2. Develop some prototypes and have people test them. Then move on to some test batches and see how people respond.
3. Opening the doors are great but make an effort well before to let people know who you are, where you will be located, and what you have to offer. Line up a ribbon cutting and one or more articles for your local paper. Is your opening something that the media might cover? Get your signs out. Prepare your business cards and brochures. Now is the time to get your website up and operating. Getting the word out is key.
4. All of these efforts should be part of your marketing plan. The time to build that is also before the doors are open. Yes, it will change based on your results but unless you have it spelled out what will be done when and by whom, time will quickly pass and your marketing effort may be less than you want and later than planned. Think about the fact that for something like a yellow page ad, it might be nearly two years from when you place an ad to when it appears in print.
5. In your market plan, make sure you include traditional marketing as well as social media marketing. Mark your location and claim your bubble on services such as Google, Yelp, Yahoo, and others.

These are just a few reasons why marketing must happen from day one or before.

And this is just part of marketing.  A larger list might include pricing, packaging, store location, branding, community support, social media efforts, image, visual efforts, etc.

Remember also that marketing must be on-going. People forget. New products and services come out. The competition changes and changes tactics. The audience changes. Today we are thinking more and more about millennials. And the list goes on and on. Marketing must be consistent and focused on building and growing your brand.

So while sales are the lifeblood of a business, marketing is the heart that keeps things flowing.

Bottom line – The day you think of a business idea is the day you start your marketing efforts.