MARKETING MUST DO’S FOR EVERY SMALL BUSINESS SMALL BUSINESS STRATEGIES THAT WORK
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
Having experience with starting up small businesses and internet marketing companies for the last 15 years, I have come to this conclussion: There are in business, as in life, a set of guidelines to follow. You can either choose to ignore them and figure it out by yourself, possibly time consuming and most often costly, or you could use these guidelines to your absolute positive advantage and learn from those that has made it in life. Below we start with a few pointers to the Do's and Dont's of the Small Business World.
MARKETING ON THE CHEAP
Most small businesses are operating on limited funds, at least in the beginning. Slender budgets combine with unforeseen expenses. Keeping the doors open at all (whether those doors are attached to a storefront or purely virtual in nature) can be tough enough. Affording a great marketing plan at the same time might seem impossible. We have created an brilliant e-book which focuses on affordable marketing methods. Not all of them are free, but most of them are not bank-busters. The goal is to get your name out there, to promote your produce effectively, and to develop a customer base without spending yourself into bankruptcy. Some of the costs are unavoidable. If you are lousy with words, you will eventually need to purchase the services of a copywriter or get on a training program. There are some great online advise available, to pay for and for free, and learning to write good sales copy is just another skill-set that can and should be learned. I should know, coming from a computer techie background, what did I know about selling, a few months later it's truly second nature. I had a great tutor and cost me nothing, the web.
The old adage says that you “have to spend money to make money” for a reason. It’s true. The trick, of course, is not spending too much of it. That’s why you need to develop a “filter question” that you will apply to every marketing decision you make. That question will help remind you to seek out the most efficient possible means by which to effectuate a successful marketing strategy. The question? “Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?” You need to ask yourself that every single step of the way as you promote your business.
The question embodies two important elements.
First, it will help you maintain your focus on the immediate bottom line and will discourage overspending. You will always be thinking in terms of price tags as you market your product.
Second, it reminds you that although keeping limited red ink on the ledger is important, you cannot sacrifice quality or effectiveness to save a nickel here and there.
Most marketing experts will tell you that you that a big advertising spend is pure investment and that if you can adequately predict a net profit as a result of the effort you should go for it. That makes sense. If spending ten grand will make you twenty, you’d be a sucker not to do that. However, the decision calculus is never that simple. You can never be sure that an action will result in a profitable reaction. It may look like spending that money will be a sure thing, but when the marketing’s over and there are fewer customers than anticipated, things start to look ugly. Taking calculated risks is essential, but the amount of risk one can bear is always directly related to their overall financial stability.
This ebook assumes that the small business owners reading it have a little money to invest in their marketing but that they are not yet in a position where they can make a significant gamble on any one move. If you want to learn how to spend a fortune to make a fortune, you need a different eBook. However, if you want to learn how to responsibly pursue your marketing goals while limited your exposure and risk, you are in the right place. Which brings us right back to the question that’s going to get the job done. “Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?” Rehearse it. Memorize it. Use it. Every time you are reaching for that checkbook, logging into PayPal or pulling out that piece of plastic, ask yourself, “Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?”
That might seem a little too simple. It’s nothing more than what you would intuitively be wondering anyway, right? Perhaps. However, by making a point of framing your decisions in this manner you will be certain to keep costs low while still protecting the effectiveness of the effort. It’s easy to say you are going to hunt for a bargain, but many people end up talking themselves into expenses that exceed the predetermined budget. By filtering your decisions through the low cost/high quality filter question lens, you can protect yourself against that mistake.
BARGAIN! BARGAIN! BARGAIN!
So, are you the kind of person who never seems to get a great deal? Some folks just seem to have a knack for finding great ales and low prices. Those bargain hunters always have a smile on their face, too. Even if you haven’t been a member of the El Cheapo Club before, as a small business owner, you will learn to fall into the group quickly. Finding a good deal is one of the best ways to save money. And, as we all know, saving money is a great way to make even more of it. Okay, so you should keep your eyes open for Sunday specials at the office supply store. “What in the world does this have to do with marketing?” you may be asking. Well, there are places other than paper clips for you to save money and one of them is on marketing. Consider this chapter a mini boot camp in learning not to be rack price for advertising or marketing services. That’s right, it’s time for you to start haggling, negotiating, bargaining, and seeking discounts. You will be shocked at the results. With a little good bargaining, you can cut your marketing expenses in half. The most important thing about this to remember is that the people with whom you are dealing are, in large measure, going the through what you going through. They want more income. They need to make more sales. They are motivated. They are willing to negotiate a little bit. Ask yourself this. Has there ever been a time when you would have been willing to sell your product or service for less than the regular price? Exactly. The same goes for the person on the opposite side of the desk from you. He or she is going to be willing to sell at a reduced price sometimes. When? Who knows! The only way to find out is to ask. The best small business owners are, by and large, tightwads. Once they start prodding for discounts and bargains, they become almost addicted to shaving costs. That’s because they soon learn that most marketing vendors have more wiggle room than they might have thought.
Display advertising in print is a perfect example. In almost every case, the rate quoted by the salesperson is, in reality, little more than a starting point for a discussion. Many new small business owners don’t realize that the sales staff can get clearance drop cost in order to bring in more advertisers. They fail to ask for a better price and pay more than necessary. If you find a copywriter who quotes you a thousand bucks for a project, find out if he or she will bite at eight hundred. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all. If you are looking for someone to handle flyer distribution, find out if you can get the rate down just a little bit. Every dollar counts when you are operating with a shoestring marketing budget. You need to be prepared to fight for the best possible price every step of the way. In order to jump-start your bargaining talents, here is a list of some basic principles to use when trying to cut a deal. Consider trade. If you offer something from which the other party might benefit, see if you can work out at least part of the deal in trade. You can run trade numbers off your retail prices, which can cut down out of pocket cash expenditures while simultaneously improving the bottom line. Be reasonable. The best way to kill a price negotiation is to come out swinging to hard. If something costs one hundred bucks, offering ten dollars won’t do anything but irritate your counterpart. You want bargains, but you can’t expect to get something for nothing. Have no fear. This is probably the most important bargaining tip. Too many people are simply reluctant to ask about a price break. It’s almost as if they feel it will be insulting or will somehow reflect upon them negatively. Get rid of that attitude! You are simply looking out for your money. Have limits for compromise. If your negotiation involves a little give and take, that makes perfect sense. However, you don’t want to give up so much that it undermines the overall effectiveness of your marketing plan. You never want to compromise effectiveness just to save a few dollars.
Develop a habit. Remember your filtering question? The one thing you need to ask yourself every time you are about to reach for that checkbook? That is going to help you develop a pattern and habit of seeking out better deals than those originally offered. You are looking for a way to save money while maintaining effectiveness at all times!
Distinguish between real deals and empty hype. Getting a free coffee mug when you buy a month’s worth of advertising does not represent a real deal. Sure, it’s a free mug, but that was probably coming your way no matter what. Obviously, most examples of this phenomenon aren’t quite so obvious. However, there are many sales people who will attempt to seduce you into spending more than what you need to spend by offering heaps of “free bonuses” that probably don’t provide you with a great deal of real value. In other words count your pennies and spend wisely.
RESISTING TEMPTATION
Therefore, you have devised a budget for your marketing and you have a good idea of what you will be doing. Now, brace yourself for an endless series of temptations designed to tear that plan apart. As a small business owner, people selling advertising on everything imaginable will attack you. They will find you, call you, visit you and try to get you to buy ad space from them. It might be a high school fund raiser. They just need a few more advertisers to fill out their programs at the Friday night football games. For only $100 you can get a business card- sized ad in every program. It might be a charity golf tournament. You can pay a few hundred dollars and sponsor a hole. Your name will go into the program, along with an ad, and there will be a sign right at the tee letting everyone know that you backed this wonderful cause. It might be some guy with a start-up advertiser tabloid. They aren’t sure about circulation yet, but the price is so low it makes sense even if only a fraction of their print run is ever actually read, they say. The local radio station might approach your retail establishment about doing an on location broadcast. They promise plenty of mentions and some additional ad slots in exchange for your expenditure. The old diner is going to put adds on the back and bottom of the breakfast menu. Heck, if you buy two spots they’ll name a combination meal after your company. You will be approached by everyone. Some of the plans will be so outrageous that you won’t be able to believe anyone decided to go out and make the sales pitch. Others will tug on heartstrings so effectively that you may worry that you’ll hate yourself if you don’t participate. You’ll have to step through the minefield of temptation to keep yourself on track. How do you do it? How will you find a way to turn person after person down? Remember your filtering question. You want to reach your goals in a cost effective manner. Ask yourself whether participation will fit your budget and whether it is likely to produce real results. Be cheap. Don’t forget just home important it is to secure the best possible deal on any transaction. If you can’t resist having two eggs, two pancakes and a bowl of fruit named after your company down at Marva’s Diner, make sure you do everything in your power to reduce the price tag. Remember that things add up. You will hear from a slew of would be advertising sales agents. Although many of these deals may have a cost that seems like a mere pittance, over time these micro-expenditures will add up to a macro-sized expense-related line item.
THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING SMALL
It’s easy to see your small business status as a disadvantage. Whether you are a one-person show or have a handful of employees, life may seem tougher for you than the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies. If you need market research, you can’t just tell your secretary to call Jones and have him put his crew on the job. When you need new advertising copy, you can’t speed dial that firm with whom you have a standing relationship or kick it to your in- house team with a brief email. No, more often than not, you get to do it yourself. Sometimes that’s just a time- ink on the work end. In other cases, you are forced to learn a new skill from scratch in order to get the job done. You get to be a jack- of-all-trades while hoping you don’t end up a master of none. That can be trying. To be honest, it can be downright depressing on those late evenings when the in-box is still stuffed and there’s no end in site. Oh, to be a corporate CEO with a multi-million dollar gold parachute and month-long Caribbean vacations that you can write off because you did stop by your bank in the Caymans, huh? Well, take some solace in being the little guy. You can do a few things that the big boys can’t even dream of accomplishing. You have a few advantages and when you learn to harness their power, you might not regret being the owner/president/ceo/janitor/data entry specialist at all. Let’s will have a look at the two “biggies.” in our next post. As a small business, you have unbelievable speed and a great opportunity to take advantage of creative impulses and new ideas……. You can read more about this and plenty more information at: http://www.womenslifestylepublications.com/business/marketing/
