Posts Tagged ‘small business marketing’
Phoenix Marketing Associates Engaged to Perform Online Marketing and Public Relations Services for Dr. John W. Bass
Phoenix marketing firm expands into medical field with recent engagement by plastic surgeon.
You Don’t Own a Business, You’ve Bought Yourself a Job
The title of this article rings true for most small business owners—they just don’t realize it. Following their passion, many entrepreneurs quit their high paying, but boring jobs and choose to jump into debt and mortgage their future to purchase a franchise or dealership or start their own brand–all in the name of self employment and prosperity. 
Often times reminding themselves that “they can do it better” or “I’ve got a better product,” most are not prepared for the workload and change in personal lifestyle which lies ahead. Often, the impetus for jumping into entrepreneurship comes at the ill fated recommendations of friends or family who love your cooking, dig your artistic flair or appreciate the service you perform in your spare time. Inspiration can also be found out of complete frustration with where their personal career has taken them and that little voice in the back of their head reminding them of what could be.
As it turns out, they may end up being a better cook or a more skillful artisan, but at the end of the day, they have no idea how to run and grow a prosperous business. I believe there are several factors that contribute to failed businesses, but the one reason I see ignored most often is the failure to use LEVERAGE.
By failing to use leverage, most small business owners wind up in the quandary of believing they run a business, but in reality, your investment has only bought you a job. This is because small business owners end up being a slave to their company, working longer hours than their old job and for usually less personal income.
Believing that your most valuable role within the business is the lead craftsman, cook, designer, installer, etc…is completely false. Your number one role within your business is sales and marketing. Without it, your business will tread water for a couple of years, then die.
Most entrepreneurs get caught up within the catch-all role of operating the business, often times performing all of the work themselves or manning the shop for twelve hours per day. They’ll make the mistake of believing that “no one can do it better than me.” Yes, you may be the best at what you do—but no matter what you believe, good people are trainable and you can train them to perform your duties. Doing so allows you the time to plan your marketing, establish relationships and truly grow your business.
The first reaction to this way of thinking is usually, “I can’t afford to hire someone.” Wrong—you can’t afford NOT to hire someone. If you hire a great employee to replace you and focus on sales and marketing, then you’ll have no problem affording that employee. Without implementing this philosophy in your business, you will undergo extreme peaks and valleys and at the first onset of an economic dip, your business will most likely die. Why? Because you haven’t spent your time filling up that sales pipeline with new accounts or potential customers.
Unless you make this shift, you’ll be so tied to your business that you’ll never be able to take a vacation because “who could do it better than you?” And isn’t freedom and a better lifestyle the reason you got into business in the first place? Successful business owners choose to hire people who are smarter and more skilled than they are and understand that their role is to manage good talent.
Go out and find your replacement, bring them on part time initially if you have to and train them well—then focus on growing your business through sales and marketing and escape the mindset of having a job!
Jason Jantzen is President of Phoenix Marketing Associates and a skilled marketer whose experience in growing small businesses is based on real world experience and proven, repeatable strategies. His company uses an integrated approach to online marketing by implementing Search Engine Optimization, Website Content Creation, PR and Social Media campaigns which has had a marked impact on their overall exposure to their target market.
Small Business Websites Need a CMS
Marketing your small business online is a process which rewards the swift and penalizes the idle. If your small business can’t afford to have a skilled website developer on staff full time, then your website needs to be operating on a CMS (content management system) platform.
In its most basic sense, a Content Management System allows the everyday business owner to bypass the expense of paying a developer $100.00/hr every time they want to make minor changes to their website. A CMS platform enables individuals who do not know how to write HTML code to make changes and additions to their website at will through the use of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) technology.
The majority of small business owners have no idea how to make changes or additions to their website—which is why most remain static and don’t do a good job at marketing their business and converting web traffic into customers. There are several CMS platforms available from the costly, one-off custom built to the little to no cost platforms like Joomla and WordPress.
Google’s recent introduction of Caffeine, their new search engine platform, now allows for the indexing of information at a much faster rate–meaning that Google’s search engine is constantly looking for and rewarding websites with the freshest and most relevant content. In essence, if you can’t add content to your website on a regular basis, you will disappear.
Through a CMS, you can also install plug-ins which allow for on-page optimization of your website from the page titles to the descriptions and keywords associated with a particular page. Complete the on-page process by adding keyword rich text on your home page with anchor text pointing to pages within your site.
A CMS also allows for the creation of additional web pages which feature new products, services or specials—things that are continually evolving for most small businesses. You can also create specific landing pages to drive targeted traffic which are hidden and non-navigable and whose only purpose is to promote a particular offer.
WordPress CMS platforms are especially useful for performing blogging functions. Blogging is a great way to add keyword rich content which should be promoted through social media and bookmarking websites to drive additional traffic. Remember, every additional page that is created is an additional page that will be indexed by Google Caffeine which helps move your website up the search engine results and in front of your target audience.
Post Recession Small Business Marketing and Survival
Times are tough. However, we are certainly seeing a bit of light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Those of you who have made it through the worst of it, congratulations, you’re a survivor! But now what—is there room to grow your small business or are consumers too wary of another disaster?
Probably a little of both. Small business owners are more directly tied to end consumers and the general economy than anyone else, which means that the slightest shifts in economic trends can have a marked effect on a small business’ success or failure.
Retailers have enjoyed a traditional holiday spike in spending, but for the most part, no one is lighting the world on fire. Service businesses who provide services that we simply cannot live without like heating and A/C contractors (especially now) have realized steady, traditional sales volumes. But for those service businesses or retailers which provide a product or service that depends on disposable dollars, the term peaks and valleys has been an understatement.
If you truly want to grow your business in this economy, then this is no time to scale back on your marketing. For those with the wherewithal to commit to a solid plan and actually start to expand their marketing campaigns, then the overall market for their respective business is theirs for the taking.
There’s an old saying in business with several variations: If you see your competitor drowning, do you offer him a helping hand or shove a garden hose down his throat?
The point being is that for those who want to dominate their industry, the time is now to begin a full scale attack through the marketing of your small business. Marketing should always be viewed as an investment—an investment which will provide a return. Not an expense.
An increase in marketing does not necessarily mean a doubling or tripling in spend. Consider entering social media marketing or email marketing into the fold. Both mediums are fairly low cost and when executed correctly can have a huge impact on your brand’s reach and ability to stay top of mind with your past and potential customers.
If you’re a retailer that depends on localized traffic, then perhaps a geo-targeted pay per click campaign with a controlled daily budget would suit your needs—nothing like placing your company in front of potential customer at the exact moment they are looking for your product!
Traditional forms of advertising like print, radio and television certainly have their place, but remember—many times this is a branding effort and most small businesses just don’t have the kind of budget for branding-only campaigns. Don’t get caught up in the sex appeal and ego infusion of seeing your pretty face in a magazine or on a commercial–now is the time to be extremely targeted and smart with your marketing dollars which will help you not only survive, but dominate your competition.
Trade Show Marketing: Get the Most Out of Your Next Event
We’ve seen it a thousand times. Well intentioned business owners laying out good money to display and market their small business at the next trade show, home show or industry event—you name it; only to leave disappointed and discouraged at the end results.
Rule #1 for any trade show or event is to grow your marketing database! Remember, even though your product or service may not be a match right now, you need to add prospects to your database and continue to stay in front of them through email marketing. They may not buy now, but they could buy later!
Let’s cover the basics of trade show marketing and a few musts:
Be prepared. Coordinate early with show producers and make sure you have the proper time and access to set up your display. Also, at the end of the show, make sure you are on point with the tear down as they usually want you out of there as quickly as possible. Additionally, it’s always a good idea to have at least two people working the booth at one time—nothing worse than not being able to engage interested attendees or an empty booth while on potty break.
Display your brand. Professionally designed display signage and banners are very important to marketing your business and catching people’s eyes as they pass your booth—you’ve only got a few seconds to catch their attention and engage. Also, wear professional clothing or uniforms that showcase your colors and corporate branding. Even the smallest company can afford a couple of monogrammed polos—it goes a long way in terms of professionalism.
Hold a Contest and Engage! This simple must-do is one that is most often overlooked. Time and time again, we see small business owners standing in their booth staring aimlessly at show attendees wondering why no one is visiting their display.
To properly market your business at a trade show you must hold a contest—and one that is worth signing up for. This is how you grow your database—remember rule #1? If you must, buy a product and raffle it off—but most would much more appreciate a free product or service from your company, as that’s why they’re at the show in the first place.
Make the giveaway substantial—everyone loves a good contest and the more entrants, the faster you grow your database. For example, you could give away six months of gym dues if you’re a health club, a water heater if you’re a plumber, a $300 gift card to your store—whatever, be creative and make sure you engage attendees as they pass by! No matter what the actual end cost of that giveaway to you is, it will be well worth the expense in future sales. Once you get them in, get as much info as possible for the follow up process.
Eye contact is important—once you get it at a show, that’s your cue to engage. Ask open ended questions, make them respond to you—you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to market yourself and draw people into your booth. And remember, the attendees are not the only ones you can engage—during lulls in the show, take the time to check out your competition, see what you or they are doing better and how you can improve for the next show. Additionally, you may end up forming some strategic relationships with other vendors that will help you in marketing your business through channels you may have never thought of.
Follow Up. We cannot over stress the importance of timely follow up after an event. When marketing your business at a trade or home show, you are not always just competing against other vendors or your competition—many times your product or service is in direct competition for precious expendable dollars. We have a client who is a jeweler—many times their biggest competition is Home Depot: The 10K diamond ring or the new deck to the house!
You have precious little time to properly follow up with leads derived from a trade show. Come Monday morning, you better be going through your list of contest entries and begin the pre-qualifying process. And of course, stay in front of them on a regular basis through email marketing, because as we mentioned, they may not buy now, but they could at some point in the future.