Don't Cast a Wide Net: Targeting Just As Important for SMBs

Two of the following three statements are valid.  Do you know which one isn't? 

1. The weak economy is taking a very tough toll on SMBs.  
2. Streamlining is very important, but shouldn't include eliminating your marketing/advertising budget. 
3. In a tough economy, targeting your marketing/advertising is wasteful--you should cast a wide net. 

If you chose number 3, then you're right.  As tempting as it might be to stretch your marketing and advertising dollars by spending it any and everywhere without consideration of your target market, it's a mistake to do so.

It's of critical importance that you identify the consumers who are most likely to buy your product.  And those are the consumers who are most likely to benefit from your product or service.  If you take the approach of buying ad space in the local car club magazine because the price is very affordable, but you are selling shoes, then you're probably wasting valuable ad dollars.  Sure, you may attract a couple of people that will by a pair of shoes, but because you failed to hit your target, your return on investment will likely be negligible. 

Even larger companies can make the mistake of failing to target their marketing efforts.  Simon Dumenco writes in Advertising Age about the likely advertising miscalculations of  daily deal-maker, Groupon, which is currently hemorrhaging cash.  Which makes the point that employing a targeted approach to any marketing or advertising campaign, not only is the best way to reach those who are most likely to buy from you, but it also helps to avoid wasting precious resources on people who are not interested or ticking people off with another "pesky ad".

In a previous post on this blog, 10 Ways SMBs Can Engage Customers in a Tight Economy, in point number two, I said that you should be diversifying your marketing/advertising.  Remember, that means spreading your dollars around--some social, some traditional, etc., but not doing so without a strategy to reach your target--there is a difference.

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Another Way Technology is Leveling the Playing Field

If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, in business, technology is really the great equalizer. Small and mid-sized businesses can compete in ways they never would have been able to just a few years ago. They can pretty sell anywhere they choose, tapping into previously unapproachable markets. If you sell soap, the Internet allows for a global client base. No longer do the mom and pops of the world have to sit back and dream about expansion. Anyone with a well-designed website that has quality shopping cart software, and the appropriate fulfillment and distribution systems can have the same web presence as a multinational corporation.

Marketing and advertising options have also greatly improved for SMBs thanks to technology. And the one device that I believe holds the most promise going forward is your cell phone. A great example is text marketing or Short Message Service (SMS). In fact, SMS marketing is one of the fastest growing marketing channels, and for good reason too. Mobile phones are everywhere; audience measures on mobiles are 9 times more accurate than the Internet, and 90 times more so than tv.

The benefits are quite significant; when a mobile user texts your business, it's to request information or participate in your offer, so that's even better than permission marketing; you can get started for well under $100; you can create promotionals that require a quick response--and get it; you can develop creative promotionals that require an action such as forwarding your text to a friend, and of course the mobility factor can greatly increase traffic into your place of business.

Are you currently using text marketing? If you haven't thought much about using text messaging in your marketing plan, then perhaps it's time to consider it. Send me your feedback.

An Advertising Opportunity that Small Businesses Shouldn't Miss: Pt. 1

Being in the business of providing marketing and advertising services to small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and non-profits, I know all too well the hesitancy that many prospects have(whether they explicitly express it or not) about spending money on "those things" in a tough economy. But it's not just small businesses, large corporations are also cutting back on advertising and marketing. When reading trade publications or participating in online industry forums, it's apparent, everyone is feeling the crunch. Which also explains why many of the big agencies are now courting small businesses (which they once routinely ignored).

However, I tell propects and clients alike, that they need to advertise, because it's NOT a non-essential item. Personally, I believe when it comes to advertising, small businesses can actually use an economic downturn to their advantage. Here's why, most businesses cut back or stop advertising during a downturn. But if you continue to advertise, guess who comes to the consumer's mind first when it's time to make a purchase? Another advantage of advertising in a tightened economy is that you'll get a good deal. Most reps will be happy to negotiate with you.

But there's another reason to pony up your advertising dollar; online advertising. Online advertising is what many small businesses already use, and now a very interesting shift in the landscape is taking place. This shift, which I will discuss in my next post, should be cause for any SMB to get really excited about planning their next online campaign. But I'll give you a couple of hints, cost and customization.

I want you to watch the short video below from Borrell Associates. They're talking about their survey, 2011 Outlook: SMBs Become Everybody's New Best Friend (you can get the survey on their website, but it'll cost you). If you've never advertised online, you need to. Funny, it took a survey for the large agencies to learn what those of us who've been serving small businesses already knew, online advertising works well for small businesses AND it can be really affordable.

On a scale of 1 to 5, for small and mid-sized businesses, how important is having online advertising in the mix?

Can Postal Service Win with Money-Back Guarantee?

What would you say if the company that you were considering hiring for your advertising campaign told you, "We guarantee that your campaign will be successful, or we'll refund your money?" I think you'd say, "Come on now, what's the catch?" That would be a good response. But what would you say if the U. S. Postal Service promised to refund your money if your direct mail campaign failed?

This is exactly what the Postal Service wants to do (at least for a few big spenders). According to the Associated Press, the Postal Service wants to launch a test next month called Mail Works Guarantee. Under the proposal, the Postal Service would select 16 companies that spend $250 million dollars annually on advertising, but very little of it on direct mail.

And why would this struggling agency make such an offer? Because they are missing out on a huge chunk of ad revenues. "The top advertisers in America represent $90 billion in total expenditures for media advertising," the Postal Service noted in its proposal for the test. Of that, they currently get about three percent.

Under the plan, the Postal Service will help design individual direct-mail campaigns, and each company would agree to mail between 500,000 and 1 million first-class or standard mail items at regular prices. The company and the post office would work out the goal in advance and how success would be measured, and if the results failed to reach that level, the company would be entitled to a credit of up to $250,000 for its postage expenses. The refund would not cover printing or production costs.

The 16 companies will represent a cross section of companies. These include, retail, fast food, automotive and consumer products among others, with mail ads designed to accomplish such things as improving product sales, increasing store traffic or bringing more people to web sites.

Before testing can begin, the proposal must first be approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

I say good for the Postal Service. They are an independent agency, which means they don't rely on taxpayer dollars, and they've been hard hit (and increasingly so) by the internet. This is thinking outside the box. Let's hope it works.

Insecure About Your Marketing Communications Strategy? Don't Be

The clients that I usually work with are small businesses and non-profits. My experience has been that when these clients are ready to spend money on advertising or marketing, they are ready. They know what they want to do, though not necessarily how they want to do it (which is why they hire a professional). About a year ago, I began noticing something that could present a new challenge--prospects and clients have become much more knowledgeable of marketing communications strategies.

For years, I've encountered clients that are very knowledgeable about leveraging traditional media, but now I'm finding that more than a few are knowledgeable about social media, mobile media, cloud based environments, apps, SEO and yes, even the importance of content. Which in and of itself is a good thing.

Naturally, when your bottom line is the bottom line, you want to make sure that every investment yields a return. You want to take advantage of opportunities to increase sales, retain existing customers, engage new ones or whatever your goal happens to be. But I suspect that some prospects are not just interested in maximizing their resources or getting the best return on their investment, but are feeling a bit like David in a world of advertising and marketing Goliath's. Mainly because there are so many strategy options, and they don't want to miss out on using them.

A good case in point is a former client from a few years ago (who I'll call Mike). Mike recently expressed an interest in working with us again. He said he really liked our work, but this time around, he wanted to expand his marketing mix. Mike is very much a hands-on guy. When we last worked together, he was involved in every aspect of his campaign. Which is great, he's a very smart guy. But during our recent conversation, Mike talked about things like "integration" and "multi-platform" marketing. And how certain he was that "having an app will bring in lots of business", and most importantly, how we needed to "do whatever they're doing now that works."

It's the "whatever they're doing now that works" that prompted a series of follow-up conversations with Mike. I needed him to know that we'd love to create a marketing strategy that compassed it all. But I also needed Mike to think more about his business, his market, his clients and his budget. My point was that what works for large corporations that are trying to reach massive numbers of consumers, or even small companies that offer very different services, won't necessarily work for his business (small and local).

I know he immediately understood, but remained unconvinced. Mike believes that his growth is directly tied to having a market communications strategy that encompasses as much technology as possible. He wants to do what industry publications, marcom bloggers and other so-called marketing gurus say must be done in order to have a successful campaign.

I don't agree. I still believe that first and foremost, successful campaigns have a few irrevocable elements. First the business owner must have extensive and realistic knowledge about their business, their brand, their market, their marketing/advertising goals and their budget. The people they hire must soberly take that information, interpret it, build upon it with research, develop strong messages, possess the knowledge to choose the appropriate channels, and the ability to measure effectiveness.

It's not that I have a problem with new media, technology or clients who know what they want. But I can see a new challenge emerging where potential clients that have been sold on the idea that they can't win without employing the latest marketing trend, will have to first be sold on the idea that successful campaigns are built on good old fashioned foundational elements.

As for Mike, he'll likely go with a company that will give him what he wants. They'll probably burn through his budget pretty quickly, but at least he'll be trendy.

Taking It To the Streets: Street Team Marketing

Today, it's common to use street teams as part of the mix of a marketing campaign. But just a few years ago, the music industry was practically the only industry using street teams. Record labels would recruit fans and volunteers to help promote their artists' music at the "street level", that is to say, directly to the consumer. The street teams would be dispatched to clubs and public events to hand out fliers, hang posters and talk up the artist.

Steet team members could be easily identified by the t-shirts and hats they wore, which were provided by the record labels and usually emblazoned with the artist's name, the name of the album and the label's name. In exchange for their work, the street teams were gifted with label merchandise and music, free tickets and access to label-sponsored events. Although you couldn't pay the bills being a member of a street team, for the diehard fan, being a part of a street team was a dream come true. Today lables expect more from street teams. And they're getting more. Steet teams post on message boards, manage websites, write reviews, and call radio stations to request songs.

Street teams are now used by a wide variety of industries. They are hired to promote events, products and services; demonstrate new technology, create atmosphere, or basically anything a creative marketing or advertising plan calls for. They are also favored by small business owners and other savvy entreprenuers not only because of the wide range of prices, but they create grassroots buzz.

The growing popularity of street teams has resulted in the emergence of street team companies, and the professionalization of the street team model. When hiring a street team company, they will identify your target and assemble the right team for your project. You can expect to work with a team leader or captain who will develop a plan/strategy, an advertising buget and work with third party service providers (printers, ad agencies, etc.)--most companies will try to secure as much free advertising as possible.

Some street team companies function more like special event or advertising companies. They can produce elaborate outdoor events, light shows, they'll handle logistics, drive vehicles wrapped with your customized advertisment or digital message, you name it, all while team members are passing out your samples and talking up your company. I even know of one company whose street team members wear t-shirts embedded with small flat screen televisions promoting the client's business.

It's easy to be wowed by the many creative things that today's street teams can do. Just remember, the glitz and technology are great additions, but the most important thing is to hire people that are friendly, energetic and genuinely like working with the public.

Exactly Who Are You Marketing To?

It’s been said that nobody can toot your horn better than you. If you’re investing time and money in a venture that requires exposure, such as operating a business, launching a product or service, promoting a book or even brokering a radio show, then you are probably all too familiar with this axiom. 

In an ideal world, your marketing and/or advertising needs would be turned over to a team of creative professionals, dedicated to your campaign’s success.  But alas, this is the real world, so the job of building awareness is just one of the many hats that we wear. We need people to know that we exist.  We need them to know what we do, how well we do it, and why they should do business with us (or read our book, or listen to our radio show). So you launch a marketing campaign.  

Here’s where things can get a little tricky. You work hard designing all the requisite collateral; email, sales brochures and other print products,  PowerPoint presentations, web content, product data sheets and so forth. You're making sales calls, you’ve even made a few presentations, but sales remain elusive.

So what’s the problem?  Your marketing materials contain the most impressive facts about your venture:  the numerous awards…the storied history of the business…the enviable sales volume…the fact that you were the first to offer a premium brand or that the mayor shops at your store.  There’s no question about it, you have lots to boast about.  But perhaps that’s exactly the problem.  Simply put, you’re doing a great job of communicating why you’re important, but you’re not communicating why you’re important to your target.

If you’re going to spend the time and money to do your own marketing, then it’s imperative that you first conduct market research.  Without the proper insight of your customer base, it’s impossible to communicate value to that target—not your value, but what the target deems valuable.  For some it’s cost.  For others, it’s time, or perhaps it’s something else still.  But you’ll have to first gather information about your market.. Learn all you can about your target market (and your competition for that matter).  You should know who, what, when, where and most importantly why, before you launch your campaign.  It’ll be well worth your time to spend a few hours at the library or online gathering this data, conducting a few surveys and making calls.  Once you’re armed with this information, you’ll then be able to develop an effective marketing campaign.

Maximizing Your Marketing Efforts on Facebook

Facebook has become a favorite destination for anyone wishing to market a product, service, organization or even themselves.  And why not?  It's very functional.  You can post photos, videos, links and customize your page with an assortment of applications, just for starters.  If you are conducting a campaign, you can send updates--even targeting those updates by age, gender or location, set up an events calendar or engage in discussions.  With an investment of time and creative energy, you can succeed in the all important areas of branding, customer engagement, new customer acquisition, reputation management and lead generation, the very things that make a marketing, advertising or public relations campaign successful.

Thanks to a study conducted by Buddy Media, Facebook's marketing firm, we are learning more about best practices for posting on Facebook's brand pages.  Yesterday, we looked at a finding from the study which showed why customized URLs are important for extending a user's length of engagement.  Another key finding is that we should KISS our posts.  Not literally of course, but keep it short and sweet.  According to the study, posts containing 80 characters or less on average, had a 27% higher rate of engagement than those with more than 80 characters, however, these accounted for only 19% of all posts.  This can be a real challenge because we have so much to say, and of course it's all so very interesting. Perhaps one solution might be to post more often, using shorter posts.  Think Twitter, or maybe that's think micro Twitter since you can post up to 140 characters there.

Other key findings from the study:

• Thursday and Friday are peak interaction days.  The rate of engagement jumped by 18%.  More people commented and "Liked" posts on these days. (Data from Facebook reveals that there are actually certain days when we are happier and Friday appears to be that day as activity on the site jumps by 10%.  Read more about the Gross National Happiness Index.)
• Monday through Wednesday, engagement rates dropped by 3.5%, and by 18% on Saturday.
• As for the time of day, the Buddy Media study reveals that 60% of posts are made between 10:00am and 4:00 pm.  However, engagement rates are 20% higher outside of traditional work hours. "By posting within business hours, brands miss the critical opportunity to get the visibility they need for maximum engagement," according to the report. "So schedule posts to appear early in the morning or late at night. Don't publish simply because you're in front of your computer," noted the report.

Other recommendations from the report include:

• Avoid the hard sell.  Use promotional keywords like "winner" and "events" rather than the more direct terms "contest" or "coupon.
• Keywords like "how," "who," "what" and "when" are useful for driving interaction -- but "why," is not. "'Why' has both the lowest 'Like' and comment rates and may be perceived as intrusive and/or challenging,"
• Be direct in asking users for "Likes" and comments.  Place questions at the end of a post (rather than the beginning or middle) to increase the chances of getting a response. Posts ending with a question have a 15% higher engagement rate.

The bottom line:  Facebook can be a great tool for business.  But don't just rely on the site's bells and whistles, use a strategic approach to your Facebook campaign to maximize your marketing efforts.