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Strand, Yellowdog Hold Forum on Marketing

November 15, 2005
Dave Strand of Strand Marketing and Liss Campbell of Yellowdog Design, both of Newburyport, recently held a forum on marketing in collaboration with the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Small Business Development committee. The October forum, titled "Taking Your Marketing to a New Level" was a great success, as over 25 small business owners showed up to learn about and share ideas for improving their marketing.

By request of Chamber members, this a summary of ideas and action steps presented and discussed during this small business forum:

Are you vomiting ads all over creation hoping one will stick? Are you stuck in gear because you're fearful of wasting cash on unproductive advertising ideas? Or are you certain you have some winning ideas, but are not sure how to implement them effectively? These are just a few of the topics discussed at October's small business seminar series at the Greater Newburyport Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Like most small business owners you're probably dealing with issues of cash flow - how much to pay yourself, what to reinvest, and how to efficiently spend on marketing your business. For many, the fear of making unwise marketing decisions makes it easier to risk nominal cash on small, shotgun ideas. Unfortunately, these shotgun ideas rarely produce results. But before you throw in the towel because you think it must take big bucks and a big ad agency to spark sales growth, why not try some of these ideas that other small businesses have successfully implemented.

Borrowing a motto from the New England Patriots play book, we call it the P.A.T. approach. No, not point-after-attempt. It refers to: Planning, Attitude, and Teamwork.

First, let's talk about attitude. Your attitude about marketing in general is critical to your success. Do you take your store windows seriously, or have they been the same since the disco days? Is it important to you that your logo represents you professionally and evokes raised eyebrows, or is the design your nephew created doing the trick? And are you truly ready to make a change, or are you happy with the way things are? Adopting a positive attitude about marketing is ultra important before beginning a new marketing strategy. Good marketing ideas do work, but only if an owner has the commitment to see them through.

Next is planning. Retail, industrial and professional services companies can all benefit from the following planning approach:

  1. Establish a budget for yearly marketing. Somewhere between 1 and 3% of gross sales is typical. And break your planning/spending into 4 quarters.
  2. Create a marketing positioning statement on paper for yourself that clearly outlines who your key prospect is and how your offerings will improve their lives.
  3. Make lists of your competitors, your potential media vehicles, and your customers and prospects. Then evaluate these lists against your marketing position to help with decisions on media choices and vehicles for communication.
  4. Ask for honest opinions about your current branding and advertising from people who buy from you.
  5. Write down all the ideas you've had about promoting your business and keep them in a notebook for reference and discussion with a professional.
  6. Do not underestimate the power of PR. It is a great way to promote your business with limited expense. Remember when pitching story ideas to the media however, that it's not about you, it's about their readers. Keep in mind what interest their readers will have if the story is written.
  7. Create reasons and methods for staying in touch regularly with your customers.

Additional Ideas for Retailers:
  1. Keep your storefronts fresh with the season.
  2. Try an in-store party for fundraising (or just plain fun) after hours.
  3. Keep a preferred customer list and ask people if they'd like to stay informed of sales, special items, or events. (But be sure to use it.)
  4. Include a coupon in your ads to track where they came from.
  5. Collaborate with other like-minded shop keepers and trade in store signage.
  6. Consider packaging your things for corporate gifts, online purchases, or male or female oriented seasonal gifts.

Additional Ideas for Professional Service Companies:
  1. Give a seminar on a topic that is likely to be on the minds of your prospects.
  2. Don't undervalue the value of networking and your elevator pitch and business card.
  3. Create a professional Web presence to complement your branding and include news and articles you've published. Most people will check it out before they buy.
  4. If you're going to advertise your brand, think professionalism and frequency. If you're going to advertise for a response, think about the offer, the distribution list, and the creative angle.

Additional Ideas for Commercial, High Tech and Industrial Companies:
  1. If your prospects are technical, educational information is the best offer. Try getting your engineering staff together to formulate a how-to guide on a problem your prospects face regularly.
  2. Make sure your Web site is a great front door to your company. Keep it fresh with news stories (also a very good way to optimize search engine results) and offer a way to simply send in a request for quote.
  3. Use trade journals as direct marketing vehicles by including offers for tech papers, free catalogs, or downloads from your Web site.
  4. Always include some PR in your mix. Business prospects respond to print more readily when published by editors. And with frequency, you will become recognized as the experts.

Finally, for all businesses, there's teamwork. Starting at the top, the boss has to be the champion of the marketing strategy. Staffers then must clearly understand their role in the process. And when you don't have all the resources to complete things professionally yourself, look to outsource components of your plan to professionals who can. Marketing, like other departments in your business, is an important Cog in your operation that needs to well engineered and oiled.

When you've pumped up your team around a solid marketing plan, you're destined to create more sales.