If you have ever read any books on marketing you are no doubt familiar with the 4 – “P’s” of Marketing – Product, Price, Place and Promotion.  When combined correctly, these 4 elements can have a tremendous impact on your bottom line, but NONE of them are anywhere near as effective as the never mentioned 5^th “P”.  Every company struggles with it, and most would confess it is what holds them back from achieving success in their marketing.  What is this elusive 5^th “P”?

Productivity

It’s all well and good to have a sound plan or system on paper, but it is another to put those plans into action and then to maintain those activities on a consistent basis.

Because so many business owners remain the key rainmaker for their organization and still carry out a ton of the work, non-time-sensitive activities, like marketing tend to fall to the wayside.

Let me ask you this.  If you were meeting with a new prospective customer to work on a sizable proposal, would you miss the meeting because the printer needs fixing or you have a ton of emails in your inbox?  Of course not!

It’s time to consider marketing your biggest client.  It does, after all, bring in more money than any other one activity, yet we constantly put it aside for less important issues. Want to make a big difference in your business?  Then start keeping your appointments with your marketing.  Here’s how you can harness the 5^th “P”

1. Make Appointments With Your Marketing – In your calendar, set aside consistent meetings with Mr. Marketing.  Try 1 hour a day at least 3 days a week for a start.  Now don’t break these appointments.
2. Minimize Distractions – Turn Notifications off on your Email, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, close the door to your office and remain productive for one hour.  After all if you were in a meeting with a client, you wouldn’t be answering emails, phone calls or questions from staff or family members!
3. Make a Priority List – I like to create a list in Excel and then next to each item I rank it first by priority (1 is high and 3 is low), and then by the amount of time it takes (.1hrs, 3 hours or 40 hours).  Now multiply these two columns and sort your task from those with the lowest to the highest.  For big tasks, you might want to break them down to smaller tasks so they get started and don’t remain too far down your list, especially if they are a high priority.
4. Create a Weekly Task List – of everything you want to accomplish that week so that when you sit down you know what it is you’re working on.
5. Too much on your plate? Then ask yourself, can you outsource this to someone else, and is it really that important right now.  Remove those items that others can do or that can be delayed with little detriment, to a later date.
6. Be Held Accountable – who do you have to hold you accountable on your marketing?  Face it – we all work best to hard deadlines.  Choose an accountability partner, or of course you can always enroll in one of our courses!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

Tags: Cidnee Stephen, Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Marketing, news
Posted on November 3rd, 2009 | No Comments »

What makes social networking so exciting right now is that “the book” is still being written. What I mean by that, is that people are finding a multitude of ways to use tools like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to promote themselves and their businesses. Are they producing the intended results? In many cases, the answer appears to be, “absolutely.” If you haven’t stepped foot in this arena yet, at the very least set up your accounts and post a picture and a link to your website. It takes 15 minutes and it’s free.

The big question after you are LIVE is, “now what do I do?” The quick answer is start by posting updates and inviting people to be part of your network. In this article, let’s start by looking at what type of information you can post to boost exposure and promote your business. I’m not one personally for updating the world on the newest run in my nylons. So what kind of comments should you post? Strategic, well-thought-out ones of course, mixed with a personal flavour – hmmm sounds just like live networking.

Here are 10 clever ways to use your updates in Facebook, LinkedIn and/or Twitter to get results.

1. Think Media – Did you know the larger news and broadcast media are watching social networks for relevant news ideas? Well they are. So think of some catchy headlines that are topical and use these for updates.

2. Q. & A. – Do you get asked a lot of common questions? Pose the question via your update and then develop a link back to your site for the answer.

3. New Article or Newsletter Link – Check the software you are using. Can it automatically update your status? If so, set it up to do so or manually enter the topic and a link to read more.

4. Conduct a Poll – Want to test a new product or service or gauge market demand? Ask people what they think on a topic.

5. Brag - Share your successes. It lets people know you are in business and making progress. This could be a big client or an award or media exposure, as examples.

6. Invites - Invite people to your next Free tele-seminar or webinar or even to a paid event.

7. Share Interesting Resources – This could be a helpful tool, recommended reading, a great blog or a useful website.

8. Announce New Products or Services – Again, this lets people know you are invested in growing your business.

9. Introduce/Promote Others in Your Community or Network – Networking is about connecting people. Make sure you “give” back and support others by singing their praises, providing a testimonial or commenting on a useful page on their website.

10. Stay Human – Ask for help or expose a weakness. Because you may never meet these people face to face, it’s important to show people you are just like them. Poke fun at yourself every now and then, or allow others to help you. Otherwise they may see you or your company as too high-level for them.

Think about it. If you can think of 3 examples for each of the above ideas you would have 30 updates. That’s a month’s worth!

Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget-minded small businesses and professional services. She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success. Cidnee is also a sought-after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

Tags: Cidnee Stephen, Duct Tape Marketing Coach, news, social media
Posted on October 27th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Some of our best business conversations happen in the most unlikely places, including our daily walk to the local coffee shop we fuel up in, and the dog park where Liz takes her border collie, Mike.

One of our dog park buddies is a woman we’ll call Mary. She’s a self-employed consultant who knows we’re always open to providing what insight we can while we throw tennis balls for Mike and his doggy pals.

We like what Mary does, so we took her along to meet a client of ours who needed the kind of services she provides. Now, when a colleague accompanies you to meet a client with a stated need, you can be pretty sure there is real business to be had, and that you have a better-than-even chance of getting it.

Here’s how the meeting went. Client to Mary: “Here’s what I need (gives detail). What would you charge me for that?” Mary to Client: “That would be X dollars. But I could give you a discount if that’s too much.”

So Mary got the job, but gave away about 20% of what the client was willing to pay her because she didn’t know the Three Magic Questions she should have asked.

Magic Question Number One:
What is the biggest frustration, or the most powerful opportunity you have been facing in the last twelve months?

Magic Question Number Two:
If you had solved that problem, or been successful with that opportunity, what would that have meant to your company (In dollars? In market share? In profit? In store traffic? In lead generation?)

Magic Question Number Three:
On a scale of one to ten, how committed are you to solving that problem, or succeeding with that opportunity, in the next twelve months?

Can you see why these questions are pure magic? Because the client has the opportunity to talk about his favourite subject (himself) and is actually telling you exactly what he wants to buy and how much it is worth to him.

If the prospect had said his commitment level was eight out of ten or more, Mary could have said, “I specialize in providing solutions that (solve the biggest frustration the prospect has) so that my clients can achieve their goal of (what the client said he wanted to achieve).” She could have quoted a fee that was reasonable in relation to the answers to Magic Question Number Two.

If the prospect had said his commitment level was under eight out of ten, Mary would have suspected that the client was not willing to pay her usual fee. She might also suspect that the project might be terminated early, or even that she would have trouble getting paid on time.

In this case, she could have said, “You’ve said your problem is (restate the problem or opportunity) and that resolving it would result in (restate the results he mentioned). But it doesn’t sound like it’s your number one priority in the next year. I specialize in this type of work, and I feel that you should invest X (a reasonable fee). How does that sound?”

Based on the response she got, she would then be able to make a decision to accept the job, decline it, or negotiate a short-term contract she and the client would be happy with.

Increasing the value of your sales? All it takes is a little magic!

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on October 26th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

When looking for a product or service they’ve never used before, what do people most often do? Ask someone who has had experience with the product or service of course.

This would include taking the advice of an unbiased product review. By “unbiased” we mean reviews that are not paid for, or supported in some way, by the entity being reviewed, so the information is impartial—the reviewer has nothing to gain or lose by giving an honest opinion.

When taking the advice of others, you’re getting what’s called in the marketing industry a “third party endorsement” (TPE) and it’s one of the most powerful forces in the universe for anyone marketing a product.

It works because as humans, we typically are more inclined to believe what an uninvolved “third party”; a friend, neighbour, or unbiased reviewer; has to say than an advertisement or paid communication of any kind. This is not to say that advertisements don’t have credibility, all we’re saying is TPE’s have more.

So how do you put this tremendous force to work for your company? First of all, we’re assuming that your product is a good one so recommendations are a possibility—no one’s going to recommend you if you’re offering something of inferior quality or outright junk!

The starting point might be on your web site—do you have a list of client testimonials? People want to know what others have said, so start asking your happy customers if they’ll supply a testimonial you can use. Don’t use anything without their permission and don’t change what they’ve said to suit your purpose!

Make it a policy to always ask for these testimonials, not only will they be useful in your marketing, they will tell you what you’re doing right—so you can do more of that.

You can also slip a testimonial into your advertising. Now you’ve got that TPE right in the ads!

In many publications, there are columnists that write reviews for entertainment, automobiles, and housing developments and increasingly for consumer items and services. Make sure these people are aware of what you offer. Send them a letter asking to be reviewed and then stand back. Be prepared to accept what they write, after all, you asked!

Now, since the media is such a good vehicle for TPE there must be other ways to use it than just placing ads. Quite right, because people tend to believe what they read in quality publications. So harness the power of “media relations”—become an expert that the media will love to quote when writing on your field of expertise. Target the reporters that cover your market and keep them up to date on what’s happening in your industry. Don’t try to sell them your product or service, just stay available to answer questions they may have—guess who they’ll call and quote when they need answers.

Send out regular press releases on new developments and product improvements in your company. Make them factual and be sure they have an interesting story angle that will command attention—they should be newsworthy not fluff or sell.

Maybe your firm has a great story on how it was founded, or how the business evolved to its present state. Write it up and send it to a publication that may be interested in including it as editorial—be sure it’s a publication that’s sure to be read by your ideal kind of customer. People love stories so keep it interesting and be truthful!

These are just a few of the ways you can get the word out, you can probably think of many more, but keep one thing uppermost in your mind—a bad reputation gets around much faster than a good one. Always take care to do the best you can do and when others are pleased with you, tell the world!

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on October 23rd, 2009 | No Comments »

Guest post today by Cidnee Stephen of  Strategies for Success.

I love to write – creatively as well as for business. So last year I decided to take a course at a nearby college to learn how to hone this skill. I learned a very valuable lesson that REALLY should be the GOLDEN RULE for your marketing.

It’s always better to SHOW your audience than TELL them.

Speaking is a great way to do this, especially for those of you in service based businesses. Here are just a few of the key advantages of integrating this into your marketing:

• You have the opportunity to educate your target market in your area of expertise
• By demonstrating your expertise, you increase trust and credibility with attendees
• The content you create can be used in multiple other ways – articles, audio CD, teleseminar, webinar, report or book.
• You get to hone your public speaking skills and may find that you can even get paid to speak!
• Most importantly, you have the opportunity to attract more prospects to you and your business

Okay, so you know that speaking is for you. You do after all possess some public speaking ability. Maybe you have even done some talks already. If this is the case and you are finding that you STILL are not getting the leads you think you should, it could be because one or more of the following areas are not aligned.

• You are not presenting your subject in an appealing way or with a catchy title – Create at least 3 various topics to present. This allows the organizer to choose the one that is most appropriate for them. Research various topics that other speakers in your area of expertise use to give you inspiration in catchy titles and content.
• You are not attracting the RIGHT type of speaking engagements – Look for speaking engagements that have your qualified prospects in the audience. Don’t be afraid to ask about the audience or expected numbers. There is nothing worse than doing hours of preparation only to find a handful of people in the room when you are expecting 50!
• You are giving too little or too much away in your talk – you should be looking to explain why your topic is important to the attendee and what the key areas are they need to address. You are giving away too much if you start explaining HOW they address each area.
• You have no mechanisms in place to capture leads AFTER your talk - This is probably one of the biggest mistakes many speakers make. If you walk away after a talk HOPING that people will contact you, you are losing valuable control in your marketing system. Think of ways that you can contact them. Perhaps you can offer to send them the PowerPoint slides for your presentation or a special Trial of your product or services. By having a lead capture system in place you will be able to measure your results and implement a strong follow up campaign to move prospects closer to a sale.

How do you know you have been successful? That depends on your goals. I am looking to speak at least 20 times per year to an average audience of 50+ solopreneurs and business owners (so let me know if you are aware of such opportunities). At each event, I am looking to capture information on over 80% of them, and to close a minimum of $5000 in sales through each one (not on the day, but through my follow up campaign).

What are your goals?

_________________
Cidnee Stephen is the owner of Strategies for Success – a marketing company that focuses on the needs of budget minded small businesses and professional services.  She has helped hundreds of small businesses get out of their peak and valley ruts to finally achieve that next vital level of success.  Cidnee is also a sought after speaker, writer and blogger on marketing topics that affect small businesses and B2B service based operations.

If you would like to build a system to reach those goals quicker, check out Cindee’s Speak for Leads & Expertise Program.

Tags: Cindee Stephen, Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Marketing, marketing leads, news
Posted on October 20th, 2009 | No Comments »

Did you know that small businesses could actually double their sales by simply following up with leads and contacts? That’s right: 99 percent of small businesses do not consistently follow up with their prospects and customers.

Look at the math: If you close 25% of 100 leads or sell to a quarter of 100 store visitors, you have 25 customers. If you close 10 percent of the remaining 75 leads or visitors, you have 32.5 customers—that’s a 30 percent increase. Close 20 percent and you’re up 15 new customers, or 60 percent more. Follow up with customers to get them to buy one more item this year, and you’ve added another huge increase.

Why don’t we follow up? Because we fall prey to an insidious and dangerous belief about our business that’s so bad it’s like having someone’s hand in your pocket, just reaching in to take our hard-earned money. It’s called product management and it will guarantee you don’t make the money you need and deserve.

See if this sounds familiar. You are a retailer, and you know the margin on every item in your store. More than that, you know exactly what it costs to keep an item in inventory, and how many times you have to turn your stock to maximize your return. You know your sales per square foot, and what every area of your store delivers in sales and profit.

Perhaps you are a manufacturer. You run tight controls on your raw materials, and you insist on just-in-time delivery from your suppliers, and just-in-time manufacturing and shipping to your customers. You control your labour costs and capacity utilization, and you manage your receivables really well. You have a good handle on foreign currency.

What if you provide a service, say accounting, financial planning or law? You know your billable rate, and how many billable hours you must account for and bill during the year. You review the realization rate for the firm regularly. You know where you make money, and where it’s better to put lower-paid juniors on the case.

Now all this activity is laudable, and we are not denying the importance of managing costs. In fact, tight controls are vital to a well-run business. But focusing on costs won’t do the one thing you need more than anything!

Managing costs will persuade ZERO customers to do business with you. In fact, this approach is so insidious it can actually make your business fail.

We fall into it because we manage our relationship with products, not clients. And let’s face it, products don’t write cheques; customers do.

If you are spending more time following up on products, shipments, and inventory than on leads, prospects and clients, you are literally throwing away the opportunity to double your business.

If you are a business owner, we urge you to delegate everything that takes you away from communicating with prospects and customers. We’ll be sharing a way to automate your follow up to ensure you don’t miss out on that potential 100% increase from now on.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin, news
Posted on September 29th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

There’s an old story in the ad business about a man who ran a hot dog stand. He did really well selling his hot dogs. One day, a customer mentioned, while adding mustard to his hot dog, that he felt there was an economic downturn looming. The hot dog stand owner decided he’d better prepare for the worst so he immediately fired his helper, switched to lower quality wieners and stopped advertising. Sure enough, business dropped off and he finally had to close down. “It’s a good thing I was prepared.” said the hot dog stand owner, as he signed his bankruptcy documents.

The fact is, that when times become tough, the first thing many business owners do is stop marketing, and lay off staff. This most likely means there will be fewer customers coming in and fewer people to serve the ones that do show up—a good recipe for disaster.

This is what the Brick found out recently. We’ve always thought of The Brick (“Nobody beats The Brick”) as more of a finance company than a furniture company, but it’s certainly true that between it, Leons and Chinese imports, furniture retailing has fundamentally changed in this country.

The sector is worth $17 billion dollars a year, but profits are thin and the market is highly fragmented. The Brick has about an 8% share, and lost a ton of money in both 2008 and 2009.

But rival Leons, while facing slowing store sales and profit declines, were still making money. How come? Because The Brick made some decisions that seemed like a good idea at the time, and nearly drove their business into the ground.

Look at what they did and see if you would have done the same thing. We bet most of you would—and we bet you would face the same bad results.

The Brick “saved” money by chopping advertising and laying off hundreds of sales staff. As a result, store traffic tanked. Fewer customers came into the store, and those who did come couldn’t find the help they needed, so they didn’t buy. Not enough commissioned professionals on the floor selling meant revenue dropped even lower.

Lax controls chewed up cash. Inventory did not match customer demand–too many items that didn’t move off the floor, too few of the high-demand items. The result: long delivery times that annoyed customers and kept them from coming back. And following that, problems with supplier credit, as inventory turns slowed and inventory costs rose.

New Brick CEO, Bill Gregson figures that only ten percent of the company’s troubles were due to the recession. The real culprits were the wrong stock in the showroom, no expert sales staff on the floor, no advertising to get customers in the door and lax inventory and supply chain controls.

He’s figuring on a fast fix (their August long weekend sales were way up), by fixing inventory levels, hiring back the staff, running more ads and finding economies in some novel ways like holding inventory at the manufacturers rather than the Brick warehouses.

We are not saying you can’t find real economies by reviewing your staffing, inventory and advertising practices; in fact, much of what we do for our clients is to make these processes more efficient.

We are saying that it’s easy to “cut off your nose to spite your face” when you cut the very services that bring business in the door. Bottom line is: when the economy is bad is the time to increase your marketing and upgrade your service. Do so and you’ll be way ahead when the good times are back.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin, Marketing, news, retail
Posted on September 22nd, 2009 | 2 Comments »

You are thinking of hiring marketing professionals for your organization. Many people use an RFP—Request for Proposal—process as a way to feel confident of making a good choice. But beware! There are pitfalls in the RFP process that are easy to fall into.

If you’ve never worked with a marketing professional, or this is the first time you’ve hired an advertising agency, here are a few “secrets” that will save you time, grief and money.

1. Provide background
Let prospective suppliers know how your organization is structured, who your buyers or users are, and what business issue you need your new agency to solve. They’ll want to know what your budget is, and how you will make a decision. TIP: Share your value proposition and what you feel has made your company a success. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Good agencies want to work with good clients. You may not get the best to respond if they don’t believe they can do meaningful work, even if your budget is impressive.

2. What are the “got to’s”?
These are the absolute minimum criteria for a company to be on your short list. They include things like years in business, previous experience in your industry, and geographic location. Provide a “fill in the blanks” form for their responses. TIP: Be very specific about your criteria. Instead of saying “seeking well-established agency”, say “Must have been in business 5 years or more.” WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Quickly and accurately evaluate responses, and exclude companies from consideration.

3. Ask about their processes.
You should understand how the agency works. What is their “sweet spot” – the typical account size range they work with? How would they communicate with you? How do you give them information? What is their approach or methodology for assisting you? How do they create plans and recommendations? How do they make the ads? How do they get paid? TIP: An agency with a defined business system they’ve used for many clients will be effective and efficient at creating solutions and getting them out into the marketplace. WHY IT”S IMPORTANT: Assurance that you are guaranteed an efficient use of their time, since most agencies bill by the hour.

4. Ask about their people.
You want experienced people who won’t have to learn on your dime. Get biographies of the people you will be working with directly. See the work they have done and ask about the results it generated. Get references and check them. TIP: Take extra time to check the “chemistry” between you and the agency team. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: You will be sharing your most intimate business information with these people, so you must like and trust them.

5. Avoid this!
Don’t make the RFP form long and involved. Avoid intrusive or irrelevant questions. Don’t ask for answers that can easily be found on the agency’s Web site. TIP: Don’t ask for ideas or ads “on spec”. WHY IT”S IMPORTANT: The only thing an agency has to sell is its ideas. Goods agencies won’t do the work before they get the job. The busy, successful agency you want on your business will likely not respond to your RFP.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin
Posted on September 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

One of the great joys of our work is meeting a wide range of successful local business owners. Each has a wonderful story to tell about how they created and developed their firm, and each has special challenges.

Each owner has a set of talents that make his or her business unique, and some valuable lessons for all of us on what has worked for them.

On the principal that it’s easier to follow someone else’s best practices than spend time and effort making up our own, here are some lessons we can all apply from business people right in our own neighborhood.

We are not sharing these ideas for you to change your business partners and suppliers—these are simply people we have met and worked with whose business practices have given them above-average returns.

One is an independent insurance professional. Now, you probably all know that selling insurance is tough—in fact, there’s a saying in the business that “insurance is sold, not bought.” This insurance guy has created long-lasting relationships using a basic practice we should all follow: he makes and retains detailed notes about every single conversation he has with a client or potential client. Over twenty years, he has made a lot of notes! So now he can instantly and accurately recall exactly what his clients needs and issues are and offer products and services that change as people’s lives change. Because of this, his customers see that he has a detailed grasp of what’s important to them—a welcome change in an often-anonymous world.

Another makes and installs counter tops and cabinets. If you ask him the single thing he does that makes him more successful than his competition, he’ll say, “I call people back quickly.” He calls his prospects to confirm an appointment. He calls if he is going to be even five minutes late. He calls to let people know the status of their job. He calls to say how a quote is coming along. “Hey, I have a cell phone,” he says, “it’s so easy to do.” As a result he closes more deals, gets more repeat business and is recommended more often by his contractor partners.

The last one is the Membership Development Manager at a nearby Chamber of Commerce. She uses new social networking tools like LinkedIn, where she has a personal profile and a special Chamber group to connect to chamber members and potential members. The Chamber website allows visitors to track using Twitter and Facebook. The site is updated regularly with information that directly relates to the Chamber’s core message, “Where business connects”. This chamber has a reputation for being forward-thinking and has attracted over one thousand members.

Keeping notes of customer preferences, following up, and using new tools to automate the process: things we can all do to make our businesses more successful.

We are looking for more “success stories” and best practices. If you know of anyone who would allow us to interview them for this series, please let us know.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca

blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin, news
Posted on September 10th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

About a month ago, Staples and Angus Reid released their latest “STAPLES Canada Small Business National Quarterly Index.” It looks like we believe we are over the hump. 70 per cent of business owners expect at least some improvement to their business over the next six months (compared to 58 per cent in March 2009).

Now that you’re feeling better, get out there and make sure that your customers will come to you rather than your competition when they are ready to buy.

Chances are you are a little tight for cash, so here are ten low-cost ways to market better that we’ve worked out with help from Joanna L. Krotz, co-author of the “Microsoft Small Business Kit”. (If you haven’t already, check out Advice for Entrepreneurs at www.microsoft.com/canada)

• Stop servicing break-even customers. By now you know this is a theme with us. Every second you spend with a customer who doesn’t help you make money; you are short-changing those who do.
• Make every customer feel special. Always add something to the purchase, whether it’s a hand-written note to a consumer or a recommendation on the latest, greatest business book to a business customer.
• Create business cards that prospects keep. How about a good-looking notepad with your contact info and tagline on every page? Or a free or low-cost trial offer on the back—paper real estate that’s valuable and often wasted.
• Develop an electronic mailing list and send old-fashioned snail-mail letters too.  E-newsletters are cheap to send, but you can quickly stand out by occasionally sending personal, surface mail letters to customers and prospects. Just make sure the letter delivers something customers want to read.
• Boost your profile at point of sale, trade shows and conferences. You can quickly create your own signage, glossy postcards with your contact information, product news inserts or a web site for a special event—even if you are not a software pro.
• Combine business with pleasure and charity. Spearhead an event, party or conference for a cause you care about. That puts you in the position of getting to know lots of people, and shows off your small business leadership skills.
• Create a destination. Indigo Books & Music has its coffee bars. Ikea offers child-care centers and cafeterias. Steal this idea. Add a free advisory service. Add customer loyalty services, such as free delivery for second-time buyers.
• Become an online expert. This is the “free sample” approach to bringing in business. Research active e-mail discussion lists and online bulletin boards that are relevant to your business and audience. Join several and start posting expert advice.
• Court local media. Editorial features convey more credibility with prospective clients than paid advertising does. (Check our recent article on how to get PR.)
• Finally, don’t let customers simply slip away. It costs a lot less to retain a disgruntled or inactive customer than to acquire a new one. Send a personalized e-mail (you can automate this process), inquiring whether all is well. For a customer who suffered a bad experience, pick up the phone, acknowledging the unpleasantness and ask if there’s anything you can do. A discount can’t hurt either.

Being kind to customers is the smartest low-cost marketing you can do.

Ken Burgin and Elizabeth Walker are the Marketing Masters (www.MarketingMasters.ca), a full-service marketing and advertising partnership that helps build busy businesses. Send your ideas on How to Thrive in Times Like These to liz@marketingmasters.ca or ken@marketingmasters.ca, or call 1-866-908-5720.

web: http://www.marketing,masters.ca
blog: http://thebuzzwithkenandliz.blogspot.com/

Tags: Duct Tape Marketing Coach, Elizabeth Walker, Ken Burgin, marketing tips
Posted on September 3rd, 2009 | 1 Comment »