Small Business Marketing Tips and Ideas

I'm often asked, "What's the greatest small business marketing tip you could offer to someone?" The answer may surprise you.

You want to get better, more regular and consistent results from your small business marketing? Then start booking appointments in your calendar to actually work on your own marketing. Marketing takes regular and consistent effort to get the results you're seeking. I've found many small business owners just don't make it a consistent habit.

It's like an exercise program. If you don't a regular time to go to the gym or get up and go for that jog in the morning, what do you think your chances are of reaching your goals? It's the same with your small business marketing.

Even if you say you're not a marketer, everyone at least has notions about what kind of marketing they should be doing. I talk to business owner all the time that have great ideas, but they never get implemented. If you always let administrative work or busy work or even client requests get in the way, it's likely you'll let the marketing get pushed off week after week.

Trying to figure out what to do with the marketing appointment time you book for yourself?

Have you built your own Power Marketing Super System yet?

How about an InfoGuru Marketing Action Plan?

Are you consistently attracting clients like a magnet with your Give To Get Marketing System?

Start booking a marketing appointment in your calendar today and I predict your results will soar in just a few short months!

September 5, 2005 08:45 - New Marketing Principles for Proven Success

What if I told you that most of what you believe about marketing is probably wrong? And what would you say if I told you that tossing out your pre-existing notions and adopting some proven marketing principles would put you on a path to much greater success?

It wouldn't surprise me at all if you were saying, "Whatever Kevin - We've heard this before. Why should we believe you've got anything new to teach us?"

My response is pretty simple. I know because I was also wrong for many years. But, when I started paying attention to someone who knew what they were talking about, my results began to change pretty much overnight.

I know because every small business I've worked with since I started my own marketing business a couple of years ago has been wrong. But when they're willing to let go of their flawed pre-existing notions and begin applying some proven marketing principles they begin getting vastly improved results.

Shift the focus of you marketing from you to your clients and prospects and watch your results begin to soar.

What do I mean by shift your focus? For many that I work with it's hard for them to see what they're doing wrong because they're initially clinging to their old notions about marketing.

Take a look at some of your own marketing materials. If they're talking mostly about who you are, what services you provide, and how much experience you have - your focus is all wrong.

Shift your focus to talk about what types of clients you want to help, what problems and challenges you want to help them solve, and what kind of outcomes and results you want to produce for them.

See my article "Marketing Strategy - Shift The Focus" for more reading.

Want to share your thoughts or comments on today's post? I'd love to hear from you. Just click the comments link below.

September 9, 2005 08:20 - Understand Your Marketing and Sales Flow

One of the keys to getting great marketing results is to understand your own marketing and sales flow. Every small business has a certain marketing and sales flow. The pace and complexity of the flow may differ depending on what you sell, but I still believe every business has a flow.

This is a very key concept for the small service based businesses I work with in my KPD Marketing practice (www.abcdgrowth.com). If you understand the marketing and sales flow for your own business, then you can set your marketing and sales systems up to best take advantage of the flow.

Here's how I define the basic flow for virtually every small business I work with...

Attention: Your prospects need to know you exist. You have to be able to grab their attention and get them to want to know more.

Build Interest, Credibility and Trust: This is about providing some useful information to help educate your prospects about the outcomes you produce and how you can solve problems relevant to them. Many skip this step altogether. They go directly from attention to trying to set up the presentation or closing the deal.

Conversation: Now the prospect is ready to talk because they believe you might have what they want and need. Yes, now it's time to start selling. But, successful sales people know that the best selling conversations start with effective questioning and good listening.

Deal: Conceptual agreement has been made to work together and now it's time to structure the deal. This is about making sure the deal is win-win and everyone understands the expectations and responsibilities.

Spend some time to analyze the marketing and sales flow of your own business. Look at your own best customers and see where the flow has gone smoothly or where it ended poorly.

When you're clear about the flow for your own business, you can set your marketing and sales system up to support and leverage the flow to win more often.

Any comments on today's post? Just click the comments link below.

September 12, 2005 08:03 - Customer Service is a Key Ingredient to Success

Don't ever over-estimate the importance of customer service to your marketing and small business success. How is your customer service? Is it at the level you'd like it to be?

If you haven't defined any customer service standards for your small business, you really could be doing more harm than you ever thought imaginable. How easy and inviting do you make it for your customers to do business with you?

I had a couple of experiences this past weekend that really got me thinking about the importance of this for long-term business success. In one short trip to make a handful of errands, my oldest son Connor and I had a couple of poor experiences and a couple of pretty positive experiences.

In the case of the poor experiences, I'm pretty sure the businesses involved weren't even aware that they drove business away. In the case of the positive experiences, I'm pretty sure the businesses involved were very conscious of the fact that they were "taking care of a customer" to increase the likelihood that he would not only come back, but maybe even refer some additional business their way.

First the poor customer service experience. I took my watch into one store that spends millions on marketing and advertising to get the battery replaced since the watch had stopped running. They said they could sell me a battery but would not replace it because they did not sell that particular type of watch. I didn't buy the battery.

In the next place I went to that I'm sure spends next to nothing on marketing and advertising they didn't sell the kind of watch I had either. But the nice lady not only replaced the battery, when she did she noticed that the gasket that keeps it waterproof was stretched. She offered to replace it as well at no extra charge. Which place do you think I'll go back to?

These may be silly little examples, but my point is this - it won't matter how good you get at marketing your small business if your customer service stinks. If you're not making it easy for customers to do business with you, they will go elsewhere. Just ask my fourteen year old son Connor. He's the one who made the comment about which place we should go back to next time.

September 16, 2005 08:37 - Your Greatest Marketing Assets

You might not think that you are a marketing and sales person, but if you own or work in a small business think again. When you're in business for yourself - whether you like it or not, feel like you're good at it or not - you are a marketing and sales person.

I tell my marketing clients and those that attend my various marketing presentations all the time that the two greatest assets you posses are your Attitude and Belief. When these are positive and show through your marketing and sales efforts, your results will increase dramatically.

Attitude: Be enthusiastic and passionate about your value proposition to the marketplace. You know that what you offer can make a difference and have an impact on your clients. When it comes to your own marketing, if you feel good about yourself and you have self-confidence because you are doing everything for the benefit of your clients, you'll become more attractive to prospective clients.

Belief: You don't have to have a degree in marketing to get great marketing results. But you do have to believe in yourself and your actions. I call it a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you believe that can't do something, you're right - you won't do it. On the other hand, if you believe that you can learn what it takes to get better marketing results you will.

If you're persistent in pursuing your business and your small business marketing with a positive attitude and belief that you can, sooner or later you'll find what works for you. You'll discover the marketing strategies and tactics that allow you to begin attracting attention and bringing in new clients consistently! I know because it's happening for me.

September 19, 2005 08:13 - Overcoming Marketing Obstacles

Last time I talked about a couple of your greatest marketing assets. Today I want to discuss a couple of your biggest marketing obstacles. It all starts with the space between your ears.

What I've noticed for many small businesses is that it's not that you don't know how to market. It's just that you don't. You know that you should, but there always seems to be something competing for your time and energy.

There are two hurdles that I keep running into time and again with small businesses. These might not be the only hurdles you deal with, but understanding these two and creating a game plan to overcome them could be a huge first step to better marketing results.

Perfectionism - Many of us tend to try and be perfectionist in our businesses. But, because perfectionism is not really attainable it can be a huge hurdle from ever getting our marketing ideas implemented.

Instead of perfection, embrace the pursuit of perfection - otherwise known as continuous improvement. If you weren't a marketing expert yesterday, then don't expect to be one tomorrow.

Fear of Failure - Believe it or not, I think the second hurdle is closely related to the first. Many small business owners are terrified of failure. And because many are unsure or uncomfortable with marketing, you tend to hesitate putting something out there and have it not work.

Unfortunately, the common reaction to avoiding failure leads to trying to make your marketing perfect. And again, it just never gets implemented.

The small businesses that seem to reach the highest levels of success are the ones who are willing to fail the fastest. That doesn't mean their marketing isn't planned and well thought out. It just means that they're more willing to make it good enough and then learn from their experiences.

September 23, 2005 08:58 - The Greatest Marketing Skill

The greatest marketing skill any small business owner can commit to learning is how to gain Attention.

If you're not consistently attracting attention from enough new prospective clients, here's why. You're going about it the wrong way. Not only are you doing it the wrong way, you actually think you know what the right way is.

Your marketing is likely characterized by telling others who you are, what services you provide, how experienced you are, and how your focus is on making the customer number one. When you introduce yourself, you likely use a label or give the name of the company - "I'm an accountant with 22 years of experience." Or, "I'm with XYZ Company, a leader in our industry."

Your brochures and advertisements likely use the name of your business as the headline and then list the various services you provide. But those things don't grab attention from your target prospects consistently.

Prospects will pay attention if you're speaking to them and discussing problems, issues and challenges. That's the language of attention in marketing. Now realize that you won't gain many new clients if all you do is continue to talk about problems, but it's a much better place to start.

Think about it for a minute. In one case you're talking all about you and who you are and what your experience is, etc. It's up to the prospect to figure out if it's relevant for them and if they care. In the other case you're letting them know that you understand the common problems and challenges they have. Now they're paying attention because there's a possibility that you're the one that can help them find solutions.

Once you have someone's attention, you really have an opportunity. Don't waste the attention once you get it. Have a plan for how to gain attention, but then also have a plan for what you're going to do with it.

For more reading, see my article on Mastering the ABCD's of Marketing.

September 26, 2005 12:50 - Offer Evidence of Success Throughout Your Marketing

Are you good at what you do? Sure you are, maybe even great at it. That's certainly one of the reasons you got into the business that you did. Unfortunately, that's not all there is to small business success.

As a small business owner, I'm sure you understand that being good at what you do doesn't matter for much if you don't know how to consistently attract clients. Consider that even the best in your field will go out of business without a constant stream of new clients and more income from existing clients.

The best way to leverage being good at what you do is to have plenty of evidence of your ability to produce results. Two things I say you can never have enough of are case studies and testimonials. They speak directly of real results and can be at the heart of all your marketing. They add credibility to your marketing materials.

If you're not using these two powerful little marketing tools, then you need to start today. Success stories and testimonials go a long way towards convincing your prospects that you can deliver on what you say you can. Create a system to generate case studies (or success stories) and testimonials and then use them throughout all your marketing materials.

Use them as attachments to letters, articles or follow-ups you're sending to someone. Weave them into the articles and special reports you're writing to send out to prospects. Spread them throughout your web site where you're talking about who you serve, how you work, and what services you offer. Bind them together in a booklet that's titled "Why Our Clients Love Working With Us".

The uses are practically endless. You just need to commit to creating these tools on a consistent basis. Your marketing materials will be much stronger for the effort.

September 30, 2005 07:42 - Forget About What You Like. What Do Your Prospects Need?

When it comes to your small business marketing, what you like needs to take a back seat to what your clients and prospects need.

I see small business owners all the time creating marketing messages and materials based on their preferences and what they like. It seems logical enough, but too often these same business owners are surprised when their materials and messages miss the mark.

Consider that everyone is judging your message and your materials based on their criteria, not yours. Sometimes I describe it to my clients by saying think of your marketing as a wall. There are two sides to the wall. There is the side that you see and what is important to you. But, there is also the side the prospects or clients see and what is important to them.

If your message and your materials are only designed to reflect your side of the wall, then don't be surprised when they don't work. It's a common small business mistake. Design your marketing message and materials from the outside-in. Marketing materials are often poorly put together because they have the wrong orientation and insufficient content.

How many times have you come across someone else's materials and been left wondering if what they offer is relevant for you? Short little three-word bullets that list off services or facts about how long you've been in business simply don't communicate.

What your prospects and clients need is to know that you understand their situation and what problems, issues and challenges they're trying to solve. They need to know what outcomes and results you want to help them produce - what will things be like when their problems are solved. They need to understand your basic approach to help them solve their challenges.

Great marketing materials inform and educate those who are in search of solutions. Yes, your marketing materials should reflect you and your business - but don't focus on that until you've addressed what your prospects and clients need.