Small Business Marketing Tips and Ideas

Do you think "referrals" is a bad word in small business?

I guess another way to ask this might be, "Is it unprofessional to ask for referrals?"

At first this might seem like a ridiculous notion. It kind of did to me at first anyway.

But, it's a topic or question that frequently comes up in discussion with clients and business colleagues. It just came up in a conversation with some colleagues yesterday.

I certainly don't think it's unprofessional to ask for referrals, but I often get this "roadblock" from clients that I work with. My sense is that it's typically been easier for them to say it's "unprofessional" in their business rather than admitting that it's "uncomfortable."

Many people claim word-of-mouth and referrals to be their primary source of new business. But when it comes to asking for referrals, most of the business owners I've worked with are pretty uncomfortable with the idea. At best they take a very passive approach of asking others to let them know if they ever hear of anyone that needs their service.

In conversations with those individuals, I'm often told that they don't want to come off as unprofessional. Instead, they want their hard work and professional service to pay off with others thinking to refer them without having to be asked.

Sorry, it just doesn't work that way very often. And thinking of asking for referrals as unprofessional (or a bad word) is not a productive referral mindset.

I had a discussion with a small business owner recently about this topic. We determined that when you're crystal clear about what you're out to cause with your business, then asking for referrals just makes sense. If you're focused on making a real, measurable difference for your clients then the whole mindset about referrals can make a real shift.

There is another key to making referrals not be a bad word.

To be successful in building a business this way, you need to focus on building relationships first. Clients can be a productive source of referrals, but building long-term relationships with a network of people and business who could potentially lead you to a steady stream of new business may be the key to real business growth. If you don't invest in building a relationship and really getting to know that other person, then of course the referral process can feel cheap and dirty.

I'm sure there is a part of you that wishes you knew how to generate more referrals - even if your bad past experiences make you think referrals is a bad word. There is nothing unprofessional about enthusiastically and passionately telling someone "who you want to help" and "what you want to help them get done," and then asking them who they know that might want it.

For the ultimate resource on building your own referral marketing system, check out John Jantsch's Referral Flood. It's a complete program including workbook and audios that takes you step-by-step through the process of creating your own Referral Flood.

June 21, 2006 14:54 - Your Marketing Worked...What's The Next Step?

Is marketing supposed to lead directly to new clients? Be careful now; that's a bit of a trick question.

Of course you want your marketing to eventually result in new clients for your business. But, that is not the primary goal for marketing.

Great marketing should lead to a steady supply of high-quality leads. Sales conversion then is the process of converting those high-quality leads into new clients.

Having a sales conversion system allows you to seamlessly respond when your marketing actually works. Marketing and sales might be distinct activities, but they need to be built into an integrated system.

Your marketing has worked - now what? It's amazing, but I've found that very few small business owners actually prepare for this reality. You mistakenly think that all you need is more opportunities to get in front of prospects.

True growth and revenue increases are achieved through a focus on your sales process. That statement might sound obvious, but I'm working with small businesses all the time that overlook this little bit of knowledge.

Most small business marketing is failing because it's either trying to make the sale directly or it's only focused on getting the inquiry. Either way it's ignoring how to convert the inquiries you actually do receive into clients.

• Define your ideal sales cycle up front and develop a follow-up process that will work for your most typical opportunities.

• Develop some basic materials that will help your prospects understand what they will get and what outcomes you want to create for them with your service.
  

• Create useful articles or tip sheets that you can offer to prospects to demonstrate your knowledge, experience and credibility to solve their challenges.

• Draft a series of what I call "80% letters" that will help inform, educate, and move a prospect forward through your sales cycle.

There's no point in being able to generate lots of leads if you don't convert them into clients. You've probably heard that it takes the average prospect 7 positive contacts before they say yes. Don't you think it just makes sense to think through how you might
create those positive contacts beforehand? That's the power of have a sale conversion process to go along with your lead generation process.

June 23, 2006 07:29 - Marketing Planning: Don't Worry About The Big Guys

Where do you learn about marketing if you're a small business?

For most people it's not necessarily a conscious effort. Much of what and how we learn comes from what we hear, see, and experience. In most areas of our lives we tend to model after something we've previously seen or heard or experienced for ourselves.

That explains a lot in terms of how we see most small businesses trying to market themselves. There's a lot of "me too" marketing going on out there. Small businesses are modeling their marketing after what they see, hear, and experience. In many cases, the model is coming from big business and corporate America.

Big businesses spend millions of dollars on branding. It's a mind share game and the more they can put their logo and slogan in front of you, the more likely they'll get a share.

When it comes to your small business marketing, forget about the big guys. You can't afford to market yourself the same way large businesses do and it's really not effective for you anyway.

Yes, you need to get your name "out there", but your efforts need to be targeted. Forget about name recognition and brand awareness. Those are welcome by-products of small business marketing. What you need from marketing is to create a consistent stream of leads that you can convert into new clients. That is a dramatically different focus.

Laser focus your marketing efforts to communicate to your target niche market. Be sure you're clearly communicating who you want to help, what problems you want to help them solve, and what kinds of better outcomes you want to deliver for them.

Educate yourself about small business marketing. The greatest investment you can make is in yourself. Read books, listen to audios and participate in seminars, workshops, and teleclasses to become more informed.

It's OK to watch what the big guys are doing with marketing and learn what you can. Just don't make modeling your small business after them your primary marketing strategy. Learn more about the proven marketing principles, strategies, and tactics for small business.

I covered some of these key principles in my Marketing TeleClass Series last month. You can listen to the audio- Mastering the Five Indisputable Laws of Marketing. I won't be talking about brand recognition or name awareness - just solid information you can begin applying in your business.

June 26, 2006 07:28 - When Should You Outsource Your Marketing?

"I am just not a marketing person."

There's a phrase I've heard more than once from small business owners. Most of the small businesses I work with didn't get into their line of work because they wanted to spend their time marketing and selling to acquire new clients. It's more likely that you got into or started your own business because you're good at it and love what you do. But if you don't have any marketing, then chances are you'll be looking for something new to do very soon.

Why do we dislike marketing ourselves? There are probably a number of common reasons that might sound familiar to you.

• You don't like being rejected.

• You don't have the time.
  

• You don't know what to do or where to start.
  

• You don't feel comfortable because it's not you area of expertise.
  

I'm sure some of these sound familiar to you. Many small business owners just wish someone else would take care of the marketing for them so they could focus on what they're good at. The options seem to be to do it yourself, hire someone to do it internally, or outsource the marketing to someone outside your firm.

Should you outsource your marketing? It's certainly a viable option and one that makes great sense for many small businesses.

But here is my caution... Don't outsource your marketing until you have done all the analysis and preparation work to establish a successful marketing system.

This is where so many small business owners make such a critical mistake. They simply "bring in the experts" and turn it over to them to let their creativity take over. It can work. But so many times I've seen this lazy man's approach result in disappointment and failure.

As a business owner, I think you owe it to yourself and your clients to go through the necessary preparatory work before you simply outsource the entire function. You need to be crystal clear on who your target market is, what your value proposition is, what makes your firm unique, and what makes up your core marketing message. And you should work on all of this before you ever "bring in the experts" and "turn it over to their creativity."

I believe that success in marketing is about 90% preparation and only 10% application and implementation. If you want to get the absolute most out of your marketing outsource relationship then you need to be intimately involved in the preparation work.

Yes, the word is work. You will have to work to create a successful marketing system that consistently generates leads for your business. Far too often small business owners rush into doing things (like outsourcing) without planning and preparing. And then you wonder why your results are so poor.

Outsourcing may be a wonderful decision for your small business. Just don't do it without doing your analysis and preparation work first.

June 28, 2006 13:55 - Marketing Ideas...Where Should I Start?

Where do your marketing ideas come from? Commit to writing on a regular basis and the flow will be endless.

Everything in marketing starts with writing. I can not stress enough the importance of writing regularly to all of my small business marketing clients.

Think about the importance of writing for all of your marketing. You write a marketing plan. You write marketing materials. You write copy for your web site. You write sales letters, thank you notes, and proposals or engagement letters. It all starts with writing.

Writing just might be the most important skill small business marketers need to develop. I believe it is one of those marketing activities that small business owners should commit to daily.

You see the knowledge that you've acquired and what you know is valuable. That's what people are searching for when they're trying to find solutions to their own problems and challenges.

If that's what people are searching for, then why shouldn't you be the one giving them what they're looking for? Every small business owner should seriously consider regularly writing in the form of tip sheets, articles, special reports, ezines, newsletters, and blogs.

Be willing to share a little of the knowledge that makes you so good at what you do. An amazing thing happens when you regularly write in these forums. You will gain tremendous clarity about what you do and the value that your service provides to your clients.

But even more amazing, your marketing results automatically increase.

Clients and prospects have occasionally asked me, "Where do all the marketing ideas come from?"

The answer is simple. It comes from a continual focus on your clients and prospects. What is it that they want and need?

• Think about the problems, issues and challenges that they're searching for solutions to overcome.

• Think about the outcomes and results that they would really love to have from a service like yours.

• Think about the typical challenges, barriers and obstacles for clients to work with someone in your industry.

• Think about changes and trends within the industry.
  

Do you see how these are things your clients and prospects might be searching for information about? You should commit to be the one who provides them reliable, useful information.

You can do it. Brainstorm a list of potential topics that you could write some one page tip sheets on. Commit to writing and sending out a tip sheet every other week or at least once per month.

Make it a marketing habit. You're going to find that the more you write, the better your results and the more focused and clear you're going to become.

June 30, 2006 11:29 - Make An Investment In Your Business Today!

There is a saying in business and in life that goes, "If you're not growing, then you're dying."

No matter how successful you are in your business and in life, there is and always will be room for improvement. The people and business that are wildly successful have an un-quenchable thirst to constantly expand their thinking and know more.

Business and marketing a small business are learnable skills. If you're not where you think you could be or should be in your business, then there is something you don't know yet. You have to be willing to continuously learn the right ways to start, run and build your business.

The best investment you can possible make is in yourself. Stop telling yourself that you're just not good at marketing and go to work on learning and improving the skill. It's similar to exercising. If you want your muscles to respond, then you need to work the muscle so that it gets stronger and stronger.

Success in business and in marketing your small business is a habit. And the more you do it, the easier it becomes and the better your results become.

You always have room for growth. Never stop trying to learn. There are so many ways to do this. Make a commitment to read, listen to audios, attend seminars, or find a group of colleagues that will meet to learn and share from each other. Hire a coach that can not only provide you the guidance and know-how, but that will help hold you accountable and responsible for following through.

There is a great line in the movie "Shawshank Redemption" with Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. "You either get busy living, or you get busy dying." So here it is for you and your small business... "You either get busy growing or you get busy dying." What's it going to be?