Advertising Agencies and the need for a Brand (Series Article 6)

Advertising agencies are kind of like stock brokers, they are higher priced for something you can probably do yourself or atleast discern effective lower cost options. People tend to put their faith in them because of some intrinsic value that they believe they receive when working with them. But practical business people that are looking for value over fluff can probably get the same creative advice and implementation of a highly effective advertising campaign for a much better price when going with a different option. Let me explain further…

Hiring creatives to implement an advertising campaign or to create a brand for your company is a necessity in creating competitive advantage and differentiation from your competition. Your brand is an association with your company that consumers perceive, something that creates value (or diminishes it) that ideally resembles what your company is about. It is important to create this brand and be consistent with it in order to build recognition of your brand among consumers. You may need to find some right-brained experts to help with this. Your first thought may be to contact an advertising agency. There are different kinds of advertising agencies but most of them consist of premium rates. My experience with advertising agencies is that they are rich on ideas and are so good at creating that people will pay an arm and a leg for them. They are definitely great at laying out very detailed advertising programs to perfection.

The funny thing about this is although the ad agency is most likely giving you GREAT creative options there are MANY smaller companies or even freelance individuals who can give you creative options that are just as effective and help you grab the attention of your niche market. You also get charged much less. Going with the ad agency is basically a luxury that could be considered over indulgence. The problem is that people tend to put more value on what they pay more for and whomever they believe are “the experts”. The catch is that if you understand basic concepts of marketing and advertising you can spot money waste in this area.

For a small business concerned with value and spreading your money as far as possible advertising agencies with large costs are most likely not your best option. You should atleast consider your other options before dropping big bucks on advertising if the name of your game is value for your dollar and return on investment.

Be practical. You can now higher creatives who work with much less overhead and have a small number of employees (or have a network of experts that they team up with) that can therefore afford to charge less for great service while creating just as much “reach” to the public as the big guys.

Tomorrow: more advertising options.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

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Customer Retention (Series Article 5)

As a small business, you have a real advantage in that most cases the owner of the business is directly communicating with the customers. If it’s not the owner, he is still close in a chain of command to the actual client contact. The more opportunity you have for personal touch with a client, face to face time or a thankful phone call, the better. In our society, we are working to cut out as much time as possible in order to be more productive. This is necessary in some areas but cutting off the appreciation to clients for their business is going to greatly inhibit your ability to retain customers.

You may ask, why should we be so concerned about retaining customers after completion of the business or transaction? Satisfied customers are your best resource in that they speak highly of the product. Some will be referrals to your product or service. Others will simply speak well of you and your company. In either case, any opportunity to have a contact that is appreciative of your product or service is a free sales representative. They are a face for your company and will speak above and beyond your own personal sales pitch.

If you are a service based company, there is nothing better than a written thank you card. Email responses are never going to be received in the same manner or appreciated in the same way. The time put into writing a short thank you card and mailing it speaks volumes over your verbal thank yous. Anyone that has given you valuable advice and you want to say thank you above just a verbal thank you shows them that you appreciate them. Most people aren’t necessarily looking for pay but everyone appreciates recognition. These people will be more likely to help you in the future if they realize that you do really appreciate their help.

Secondly, people tend to expect more in regard to technical support than they used to. Or, maybe it’s that they are getting tired of automated phone services. Either way, quickly taking care of their concerns in regard to technical support or customer service is important. Also, having a “live” person to communicate with is a major plus. One company that does this extremely well is Apple. I can call anytime and have a highly competent person not only assist me but give me great advice. This is invaluable. Try to offer this. The more automated steps you have for customers to go through, the more likely it is for them to get confused and frustrated. Make it as simple as possible.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

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Networking (Series Article 4)

I once heard a very successful business person say that success in business is 10% ability, 10% credibility, and 80% networking. I tend to agree with him. Networking is one thing that is required for a small business to succeed. I have to admit, I am only a novice in networking. But, even a novice knows the importance of it and the need for consistency in networking to expand one’s sphere of influence.

My main suggestion in networking would be to observe others that are really good with people. Find someone that is good and watch them and try to copy what they do. This may sound weird but it is very important. You, of course, cannot copy genuine concern from other people. But, you can learn ways to show care and concern in an outward fashion. Some people are better at it than others. Be a good observer, listen, and learn.

The second thing I might suggest is get involved in a business or community organization. Each industry has an organization that you can be apart of. Go to their events and take your business cards.

Finally, make time and put effort toward networking. You must often create opportunities to meet new people. One thing that I believe can be a big help here is to think and look outside yourself to get to know other people. If you are always concerned about yourself and not interested in knowing about others you are not going to be too successful. Develop an interest in others.

I am currently studying networking tips. One of the books I’ve picked up is The 29% Solution by Ivan R. Misner. It basically helps you act on networking. A lot of the skill of networking is just getting out and doing it. So, go for it. If you need help in that area, check out that book. Maybe in a few months after reading a few resources on networking and trying a few of them out I will get back with you on other ways to network.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

Your confidentiality will not be compromised.

Social Network Media Marketing (Series Article 3)

Social Networking has taken on many various forms with the internet as a media outlet for networking. There are numerous opportunities to network personally as well as professionally from LinkedIn as a professional individual and Facebook for personal networking. As a small business, your connections on and off the job are your greatest assets. Being visible in these aspects is a free opportunity to be available if a friend needs you or if you need your friends. The greatest advantage of this is for those friends that were at one in your current circle of influence but are no longer. Having access to them in order to just stay knowledgeable about old friends can be a big benefit for all aspects that you are involved in. Everyone wants a trusted friend’s help. Keep at least one of these online networking tools with updated information on you to stay visible. This can also be viewed as a very simplistic form of inbound marketing.

My suggestions for your small business social media marketing would depend on the type of product or service that you have. Free social networking will continue to improve and be more expansive in the future. It is important for you to have a basic understanding of the benefits of each to make an educated decision on what would work best for your company. Twitter is also great for product awareness and giving those that want constant information possibly in the form of coupons. Twitter is discussed in the Online Inbound Marketing article more.

Using online social media, your ability to keep up on a more personal level increases simply by keeping your page up to date and you can feasibly stay connected with double and sometimes triple what you could without it.

Email Inbound Marketing (Series Article 2)

The other form of inbound marketing that I find valuable is keeping tabs on satisfied customers or on following up with interest in your product. In order to do this successfully you must be able to track this information and send information to those clients when it is pertinent.

Your current customers or previous buyers are your best advertising tools. Capture their information in order to send them honest tips or suggestions. DO NOT use this information and give it to someone else. Also, DO NOT send your customers useless information. This will only irritate them in the long run. Only send them information that they would find helpful and be purposeful in the timing of the emails as opposed to swarming them with emails. Being purposeful and limiting your amount will help your happy client to notice your email when it comes and not delete it automatically when it enters their inbox. The amount you solicit them of course depends on how much they are wanting it or not. If you are not sure, then go with the purposeful and limited amount.

The cheapest version of tracking the information of your customers would be through an email database such as Constant Contact as long as you are in the building stage of your contacts and don’t have over 500. This is by far the cheapest form of gathering contact info and soliciting with emails. If you have over 500, Constant Contact charges $30 per month and in my opinion you can get it cheaper if you go ahead and create your own custom database. If you do it right the first time and you plan on your company being around for a while you will save in the long run. If you are unsure of your exact needs then it would be good to start with Constant Contact or get some creative consultation on what might be best in creating a strong inbound marketing scheme that you can pay for upfront and not be wishing for a change two years down the road.

To create a custom database you can hire a web designer with strong coding skills and he can create a database for you. Make sure that he makes it user friendly so you can easily retrieve information without having to navigate through his code language. Usually this is accomplished through some sort of Customer Relationship Management System. You should be able to get someone to create a database like this for no more than $2000 assuming you are simply wanting basic contact info and the capability of emailing them from your database.

I recommended to one of my clients a database with basic contact info, name/phone/email in addition to the zipcode. The product was a traveling act that needed an easy way to spread the word when they were coming through town. At a moment’s notice the act can contact his or her fans in a region and have them spread the word.

As you can see, Inbound Marketing can be a very effective tool when done correctly and when you are in a market where there is a need to capture and retain customers (WHICH IS EVERYBODY!!). Just don’t overdo the contacts, you want your customers to continue to love you for years to come.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

Your confidentiality will not be compromised.

Online Inbound Marketing- (Series Article 1)

Inbound marketing is simply informing a company of the traffic coming to your product or service.

We will first start with online inbound marketing.

You may already have heard of Hubspot, one of the several companies focusing in inbound marketing. Hubspot is a great resource for companies that are looking to maximize their opportunity to contact prospects over cold calling. The only problem with Hubspot is the never ending resource of information. You may need two people to take advantage of all the resources and really maximize your investment and return for the price of the service. For a small business and specifically in an economy where time is money, this may not be the version for you. There is now a small business model that is more affordable than the service than I am familiar with. I would be hesitant to invest in the small business version unless it is substantially better than the google analytics version. Maybe I will post on my research on that in the future! There is a proven success record for inbound marketing in converting consumers into sales leads.

One thing that you do want to take advantage of with Hubspot is the inbound marketing training made available FOR FREE.

The small business version that I prefer is Google Analytics.
The most helpful information I find from these inbound marketing tools is the hits and the links. These analytics will tell you where your website hits are coming from and how many. This is a way you can track your websites success and prospect. And this version is absolutely free!

In this tight economy, monitoring and interpreting your traffic is vital for a website. A website in it’s nature is a source of information and not a marketing tool in and of itself. Getting the full advantage of having a website is the traffic that comes along to know your prospective customer. These people are already aware of your brand or product and have come to get more information. So, now that you have their attention, you can prospect those clients with more confidence. Forget the endless hours of searching randomly for work. Move over cold calling…prospecting is now the name of the game.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

Your confidentiality will not be compromised.

Advertising in a Tight Economy Series

How are you supposed to ramp up sales, advertising and marketing efforts in an economy that is cutting back?

As a small business owner your ROI is the bottom line. Companies should seriously consider several cost effective approaches to spreading the word about their product or service. In the next few days we will address each one of these more specifically and how to be most effective in these methods:
Social Networking
Inbound Marketing
Retention of Current Customers
Doing Marketing and Advertising In-House.
Outsourcing to a "One Stop" Advertising Outfit.

Know someone that needs to hear this information, please pass this along. If you need assistance getting leads, prospects, and clients cost effectively, please contact me:

Your confidentiality will not be compromised.