As a lot of you know I run a small business marketing company – Scapes Consulting as well as writing for this blog. I have been focused on bringing internet marketing ideas to the local bricks and mortar type businesses that don’t normally know how to enter this strange new marketing world beyond just putting up a website.
I have noticed as business is picking up I have had less time to commit to producing new articles for all my Bootstrapping Friends. Well I decided that I will share the video’s that I have created for my local clients with you guys as well. A lot of the information in them is just as important for my readers that are here as well.
It also does not matter where in the world you are my company would be able to help you with any of the concepts that I talk about.
Shiny wrappers promising delicious treats inside, perfectly tied bows sealing seductive sweets within, colors of the rainbow catching the eye at every angle…I’d like to address the kid-in-the-candy-store phenomenon and how it applies to your marketing (more specifically, how it shouldn’t apply). Through my years of experience of working with my clients and trying to educate them on their marketing and working with a bootstrapped budget, I’ve noticed that they really appreciate it when I slap their hands and help them slow down before they burn through their budgets like a chocolate-smeared kid blowing through his allowance in a candy store. Granted, there are some very effective marketing methods out there today, but without the occasional hand-slap, you might get as excited as a child and buy up every shiny new marketing solution that you see.
First, the following is not supposed to be considered a popularity contest, and by no means am I claiming to be the coolest guy out there-well, my five-month-old son may think I’m pretty cool! But what I’d like to ask you is: Who do you know? I don’t want to know if you’ve ever seen James Woods in a Starbucks or if you’re the type of person who gets the thumbs up from everyone you pass. I just want to see if you can develop a list of people you know. Why develop a list? Because, whether you’re a first-year small-business greenhorn or a veteran badass, creating a contact list is one of the best ways to get your marketing wheels rolling. And…uh huh, you know what’s coming here…it’s free!
Instead of buying the first shiny marketing package that catches your eye, set aside a significant period of time and develop a list of all the people you know. By first creating a list of contacts that you can solicit and present your business to, you’ll be taking advantage of verified, warm leads; leads you didn’t have to spend a single marketing dollar on. The first phase of creating your list should be done through a stream of consciousness, writing down every single name that comes to mind. Subsequently, you’ll use a filter and qualify each of the name’s you’ve written down. Try categorizing them into Direct Purchase, Referral Prospects, Barter Candidates and Sleepers.
- Direct Purchase: Who on your list is ready to buy? Which names did you write down that fall under your classifications for your ideal client?
- Referral Prospects: Want to double or triple your new contact list? Then ask yourself “Who do they know?” For example, let’s say you’re a used-car salesman. Okay, so you’ve got your brother on the list, but he’s always been a new-or-nothing kind of guy and though he loves you, refuses to buy from you. Instead of testing this familial tie’s strength, simply think of who he knows or ask him if he thinks any of his friends might be interested. No matter what industry they’re in, business owners would do well to view their company as a network marketing company or an MLM. Look beyond the surface; there are many levels to a solid business.
- Barter Candidates: Who on your list could you trade services/products with? Perhaps your neighbor doesn’t need a car at this time, but you can still ask him if he’d be willing to trade you a few hours of his skills for some car repair discounts you get through your vendors.
- Sleepers: These are the people you just can’t seem to categorize. Perhaps you only briefly met them on the street once and don’t have an actual relationship with them. Either way, you should never assume a contact is worthless until you’ve made the effort to market to them.
Just as we encourage equality in society, so shall it be with your business. Never assume anything about your prospects or contacts until you’ve dealt with them directly-after that, you can judge them as much as you’d like.
Look for our future feature article on follow-up to help you capitalize on your contact list.
Well I have dug through the archives to bring you some more great guerrilla marketing and innovative ad campaigns. We had a lot of discussion last week about pushing social, religious and political agenda’s in marketing. Many thanks to those that participated and I am excited to hear about what we think of these ones.
Guerrilla Teeth
What a great idea this one is, it really hits the message home in my opinion. After being a bit disgusted you can’t help but smile at this one. I am going to look to see if I can find some statistics on how the response was for the company.
Playful Playboy
This one feeds most boy’s imagination, some girl’s ego and for the rest it will generate conversation. This is a guerrilla campaign that could be used for both traditional and viral marketing for many years to come. You can get a lot of traction out of this one.
Virgin Virgin Virgin
I have had a lifelong fascination with everything Virgin. Richard Branson’s marketing and PR stunts are the best in the world. I bow down to “The Master of Branding”.
This one gave me a bit of trouble when I first saw it. I see it for it’s brilliance but have a problem with using historical monuments for commercial advertisements. I would like to hear your thoughts on this?
Maybe I am just being sensitive with this one!
Pothole Application. Does it cross the line.
As you all know I am big fan of pushing the limits of creativity and how to get your message out to the masses but when we get to a point when we endanger public safety that is where the line has to be drawn. With the adhesives and quality of the graphics we can create now something like this could cause accidents, injury and possibly death. I am pretty sure that is not the legacy that the company wants for there marketing.
That is it for this time, if you have any campaigns that you would like to see me feature in this series of posts, let me know.
“It’s nothing personal.” Bullspit! There’s no such thing as nothing being personal in the business world. No matter who’s involved in a business equation, people are either spending money they worked hard to earn, or are looking to earn the other person’s money through hard work. Unless you’ve won the lottery, any blood, sweat and tears poured into your business makes the scenario very personal.
If you’re running your business like a robot, void of emotion and looking at your clients like binary code, then they’ll eventually start tearing you apart like HAL 9000. You will get significantly more mileage out of your bootstrapped budget if you treat your customers like people. What’s the best way to do this? You’ve got to build relationships.
Especially in a world that’s virtually all virtual, prospects and clients want to know there’s a real person caring for them and their business. A prime example of this is the latest Allstate tagline stating that “You’re In Good Hands with Allstate.” Make your clients feel like they are individuals and that you will always be there for them and you will build immense loyalty. As you can imagine, customer loyalty bolsters your budget for several reasons.
For one thing, it’s always significantly more lucrative to retain clients than it is to shop out new ones. Even if you decide to raise your rates down the road, loyal customers will be willing to pay more because you’ve built up value with them. Your ideal clients should not take on the air of an accountant, constantly counting pennies, but should be looking beyond your fees and focusing on the positive results you’re producing for their business. If you’ve taken the care and time to build a solid relationship with your clients, then they’ll gladly pay more for the peace of mind they get from knowing you’re treating their business as if it were your own.
Transcending the business barrier and achieving a personal level to the business you do creates a third dimension. Any additional element you can add to your client relations serves to fortify your situation as a whole. Here we can apply the apples-to-apples scenario: You should always be thinking of how you can distinguish your apple from all the other apples out there. Especially in tough economic times, when businesses are having as much luck trying to stretch their budgets as they would using a timing belt as a rubber band, you need to illustrate as many value points as possible. If all other elements are equal in comparison, a client will remain loyal to you if you’ve established and maintained a personal rapport.
In addition, when you take the time to build a personal relationship with your clients, then you naturally garner a better understanding of what they want and what their business needs for the greatest success. A little extra TLC will then actually help save you time and money, as you’ll be able to handle their account more efficiently. And not that we’re encourage sloppy business, but a personal relationship will also help foster some added forgiveness for the occasional error!
Another huge positive for you bootstrappers is the fact that when you maintain a personable level with your clients, then they are significantly more likely to refer your business to others, increasing your word-of-mouth business, which is…uh huh, go ahead and let it roll of your tongue…free!
In todays installment of Monday Marketing Tips, I want to talk about one of, if not, THE easiest way to generate word of mouth referrals for your business; under promise and over deliver! Hands down, by remembering this statement, you can drastically improve your customer relationships, your sales and word of mouth marketing.
Making your customers happy
When your car is in the shop and you are told that it will be ready on Saturday, but you receive a call on Thursday that your car is finished two days early, what is your emotion at that point? If you’re anything like me, it should be happy and very pleased! The same is true for your small business services. Bootstrapping your business by over delivering is the GREATEST way of improving your word of mouth marketing. Once you make that person happy, whenever they talk to another friend or family member, you can bet the bank that they’ll be talking about how you finished early.
Creating a cushion with time
Another great benefit of under promising is that you buy yourself some extra time in case of an emergency. Similar to how I asked earlier if your business can run without you, you never know when the time will come where you just can’t make it to work (or are not able to be in your home office). By adding that extra cushion time, if you complete it early, you’ve made the client happy. If you can’t get it in within your “early time”, you still have the extra cushion to work with and if you send it on time, your client is STILL happy. It’s definitely a win/win situation for you and something you should not overlook, ever.