Photo (CC 2.0) blullana_miranda, on Flickr

“I need help in marketing my product. “

That short sentence is the one I hear often as I work with small-business owners.

Most often, when asked to clarify what they want, the owner talks about increasing his or her sales. They want to see more goods and services go out the door.

While sales certainly are a key part of an ongoing business, sales alone is not marketing. Using tools to products and services would be most often defined as advertising.

Marketing is more. Marketing can be defined as seeing goods and services going out of the door with that customer, and his or her friends, returning again and again. Marketing, in by my definition, is “everything you do.”

Marketing is knowing your customers. It is providing them the solutions to the problems they face. Take a simple need of fastening two things together. At such a broad level, there are lots of ways we might suggest getting the job done. But by asking questions, we learn that he or she is building the drawers for a wood cabinet. So maybe a wood glue would be best. And by asking even more questions, we more accurately can meet the customer’s needs.

Knowing your customers helps you understand what to stock and what new items might be of interest to your audience. Knowing the audience helps you in letting the customer know you exist, what you offer, and how you can help.

Marketing goes beyond the individual customer though. It includes being engaged in the community.

Marketing begins with two important facts. The first fact is that it is an investment in the future of your business. It is not a cost. And the second fact is that marketing takes a long-term view.

So the next time you ask someone for help in marketing, is your need simply to move the inventory you have on hand or are you looking to build a sustainable business into the future?

Photo (CC) by LeeHansen.com, on Flickr

If you have followed this blog, my colleague, Becky McCray, has provided lots of ideas for building communities and the small businesses in those areas. Her blogs have suggested things such as

• Pop-ups – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2014/03/what-is-a-pop-up-business.html
• Shared spaces – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2017/04/small-town-retail-trend-shared-spaces.html
• Tiny businesses – https://smallbizsurvival.com/2017/03/tiny-businesses-in-storage-sheds-a-rural-economic-development-tool.html

I am adding another thought to this list by suggesting that a business or a community can start your own holiday.

Businesses and communities already celebrate events such as anniversaries, grand openings, founder’s day, etc. But maybe you have a quirky idea like bacon day or ball point pen day you would like to celebrate. Go ahead. Just look at Ground Hogs Day as a developed event. Several towns have made it a major event.

And just as certain events have already spread into other communities, there may be no reason you can’t bring an existing idea to your business and community as well (you may want to check on any intellectual property rights).

From Day 1, as you start making plans, think about the possibility of making it a yearly event. Where will you start this year and how might you expand in the future.

If you can’t think of an event, perhaps you just want to grab one of the special days, weeks or months already acknowledged. Some examples include:

• National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday in July).
• National Cheer Up the Lonely Day (July 11^th).
• National Sneak Some Zucchini Into Your Neighbor’s Porch Day (August 8^th). Think of the contests and fun you could have with that.

And if nothing else excites you – National No Rhyme (Nor Reason) Day (September 1^st). (Check out National Day Calendar (http://nationaldaycalendar.com/) for more ideas.)

Companies such as Amazon and Alibaba did this with their Amazon Prime Day (July 10^th) and National Singles Day. They didn’t even have an event but simply highlight a single day devoted to spending money in their system for some great deals. (http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-day-vs-alibaba-singles-day-2017-7). You may say you don’t have the resources for such an event but start small. You aren’t looking to do an international event the first year.

So as you plan your marketing, don’t be limited to what exists. Feel free to create new opportunities.

Photo (CC 2.0) blullana_miranda, on Flickr

I regularly hear these words from small, rural business owners. How marketing was not something that took so much time and effort. They talk about putting an ad in the paper and they were done for the week.

Marketing was advertising and it was done in the local paper, on the local radio and, if you had one, the local television station. Some would do a flyer and a few might even do a brochure.

Today, as you well know, all of this has changed. On average, small-business owners are using 5.8 channels, or tools, to do their marketing. This has more than doubled in less than 10 years.

And marketing is more than just advertising today. Included today are items such as branding, service, and engagement. People want online access and mobile access. They want to be social, entertained, educated and engaged.

Yet, as I discuss these ideas with rural business owners, the stories I hear often show a picture where the marketing changes have been quite often more use of traditional media, still effective but losing some of its luster as the consumer base changes. When online marketing is mentioned, quite often it comes from a static webpage and a social media page with postings every month or every quarter.

Today much of the market requires something more. The competition is reaching out more and more. Not only do rural residents drive to larger communities, but many of the big stores are offering online shopping with free delivery. That’s a challenge.

It’s a challenge but it is not insurmountable. Being a local business gives you an initial advantage. Ask your key customers what they would like from your business in terms of service and marketing. Find ways to stay in touch with your customer base.

Marketing is not the same nor will it go back to what it was. Grab hold of the opportunity that marketing brings. 

Photo (CC 2.0) blullana_miranda, on Flickr

“You have to be odd to be Number 1” – Dr. Seuss.

What makes your business different from the competition? This question is one to constantly think about.

Being different, or being odd as Dr. Seuss writes, is just another way of reminding you to help your customers identify your business and your business niche. What you sell may be the exact items as a business down the street, but how you do it can be your winning attribute.

So how can you be different? Many owners try to be the lowest price. The problem with that approach is it doesn’t take long before someone else meets or beats your price. Then you are into a price war that neither of you can win.

Some businesses distinguish themselves with service. Others build on having the friendliest staff. Wall Drug, located in Wall, SD, did it by offering free ice water and putting up advertising signs all over the United States (http://www.walldrug.com/history/since-1931). Today, you can find them all over the world.

The more unique your advantage and the harder to duplicate means the longer you can rely on it to distinguish your business. There is, however, no advantage what will remain in place forever. In this competitive world, getting ahead of your competition is just temporary. Staying ahead requires continuous effort.

In trying to stand out from the competition, you must make sure thought that your effort does not eat up all your time and money.

You also need to consider how this element is part of your entire marketing effort. How can you build it into the other marketing you do. A great effort that does not fit in with the rest of your plan goes back to the consumption of resources. You now spread yourself thin and may not do justice to any of your marketing efforts.

So, remember the words of Dr. Seuss. Maybe you don’t need to be odd, but your business does need a way to be different from your competitors. It’s one way for you to “build your business.”

Photo shared by Megan Myrdal

There are lots of ways to market your small business, personal contacts, business cards, advertising, social media, or storytelling just to name a few.

All of these and much more are done to create awareness, bring customers in the door and build your brand.

One element of that effort needs to be your tagline. A tagline is the 5 to 7 words that says what makes your business unique.

For those of us older than we may care to admit, we can remember “Let your fingers to the walking” (The Yellow Pages for the younger reader). Or what about “Can you hear me now?” brought to us by Verizon. Then there was Nike, “Just do it.”

Each of these taglines became an embedded part of the company. It identifies them, it tells you what they stand for, and what they offer or makes them unique.

So how do you come up with a great tagline?

Trial and error can get you there. However, these seven steps can get you there quicker without some of the guess work. There still may be some trial and error but it’s now done in a purposeful manner. So here are the steps:

• Step 1. Make lists. Identify words that answer what you do and what makes you unique. Have some fun. Get crazy. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box in this step.
• Step 2. Start building some combinations of your words. Nothing is tossed away at this step or the previous one. Have your goal in mind, a functional, value-driven, memorable, short intro to your small business. Cute and clever are nice but not required.
• Step 3. Put them away and come back in a week or two.
• Step 4. The weeding process begins. Pull out the lists. What jumps out? What doesn’t make the cut? Think of changes or ways to shorten.
• Step 5. Take a short list to a sounding board. This can be family, friends, business advisers, and your board (or the group you have coffee with each morning). You don’t want just people who agree. Ask them what connects with them.  Ask them what each tagline might mean to them. Does the tagline connect to your business?
• Step 6. Try it out. Don’t print anything yet. Just try it with your suppliers and customers. Ask them if the tagline represents the company they are doing business with.
• Step 7. Get it out. Make it a part of all your marketing. Once you select a tagline, don’t change it without serious thought.  People are associating it with your company. It will take a tremendous amount of marketing to make it part of your business. Any change will take at least twice that amount of effort.

A tagline is part of your marketing. It’s your value-statement to the public. Get one and use it constantly, or using a tagline as a summary, “Don’t leave home without it.”