Marketing stragegies for small businesses

S W O TStrengths of the business, or yourself Weaknesses of the business, or yourself ---Opportunities in the marketplace Threats in the marketplace... Promoting Yourself• 20 second ele

BUS 211_Mrktng&Advtsng S pringl 2006 Copy

This Certificate Confirms the Successful Completion

of 12 Small Business Short Courses by

Sue M Patzer

at Solano Community College:

Starting & Managing a Small Business Business Budgeting Starting a Home-Based Business

Financing a Small Business Planning for Profit Small Business Recordkeeping Business Financial Management Selecting Employees Marketing & Advertising

Managing Credit & Collections Employee Relations Risk Management—Insurance

Charles D Eason, Director, SBDC John T Urrutia, Dean, Business Division Solano Community College Solano Community College

S W O T

Strengths (of the business, or yourself)

Weaknesses (of the business, or yourself)

-Opportunities (in the marketplace)

Threats (in the marketplace)

The 3 R’s of Target Marketing

• Researching Your

Market

• Reaching Your Market

• Retaining Your Market

Promoting Yourself

• 20 second elevator blurb

• Present Your Business Cards to

the people that you think could

use your services

• Collect business cards from the

people whose services you could

Implementation of Marketing Strategy: Useful Small Business Strategies

• Differentiation - Your business is made to appear different from

the others (think in terms of a yellow page ad)

• Location – think of as geographically, “virtually”, and in the

“minds” of your clients (like, Fredericks’ of Hollywood)

• Specialization - Being specialized helps in a “saturated”

market, for example, a bookkeeper that “specializes” in contractors, or

a automobile repair that specializes in BMWs, or certain imported

autos.

• Positioning - More likely (often) used by larger corporations -

i.e.: THE other Phone Company

• Substitution - Attract customers by offering one product or

service & a low price and then sell an additional product at a higher

price A good example is the McDonald’s Dollar Menu, or a hair salon that has a

$39 perm special.

Implementation of Marketing

Strategy: MORE Useful Small Business Strategies

• Niches finding a segment of the market that is

untapped and grab the customer’s attention.

• Star First, where you are a star, or partner with

one (a local celebrity). Second, when you use the

name of a star to draw attention (ex: George Forman

Grill).

• Benefit People don’t buy features, they buy

benefits! Remember to market the BENEFITS! Tell

them the Benefits

Overnite Web Design

Clean as a Whistle Janitorial

Most small businesses use two or more

strategies!

What is in a Name?

Eat at

E Colis’ Place!

Good Food!

The name should:

customer

Selecting a Slogan ( or tag line )

• Often, the name is not enough to grab the interest

or to “tell the story”

• Add a slogan to emphasize the benefit or grab

attention

The Bookkeeping Company

For Timely Financial Statements

Business Perspectives

Business Consulting from insight to action

• Takes planning, time, persistence

and money!

• Image / Identity are developed

• Determine the most appropriate form

of Media

– Involve the audience

– Inform the customer about the benefits – Illustrate the benefits

– Always track your advertising response for effectiveness

Tracking Your Advertising Dollars

You need to know which advertisement pays

• Develop an Advertising Worksheet to plan a

targeted advertising campaign

• Systematically TRACK your referrals through an

Advertising Response Record

• Ask your clients how they were referred to you,

and/or by whom Thank the referrals

• Many small business owners join Leads groups to

help stimulate referrals

THE YELLOW Pages

 One of the most common forms of advertising

is the Yellow Pages

 When people look in the Yellow Pages they

are ready to buy… But, ask yourself when do

you look in the book? Do you look for a

massage therapist? How about a plumber?

 We need to use a Marketing Strategy in the

Advertisement.

 Size is not always the biggest attention

grabber it is the message!

Service Directories & Classified

Ads

 Service Directories appear in most newspapers,

before the classified

 Many papers will have “special sections” or

special inserts for certain industries Call them to

find out

 Solano County is unique due to the many local

papers

 The advantage of a Service Directory is that you

can change or drop the ad at anytime

 Classifieds are also like Yellow Pages, where you

are listed alphabetically

 You can test the effectiveness by advertising

once (Sunday) before paying for a whole month, or

year

Door to Door Flyers

 Still one of the most cost effective methods of

getting the word out

 Take the time to design a “professional” flyer it

can be the standard 8½ x 11

 “Test Market” the flyer with one-hundred copies See if you get interest and at least one customer

 Think of the appropriate:

• Location, Message, & Timing

 Be familiar with zoning practices

 Remember, door-to-door works for some

businesses and not for others!

Direct Mail Techniques

→ Direct Mail means you send out a brochure, flyer, catalog or cover letter to a prospective client(s)

→ The real success lies in your database of potential clients

→ The more you know about them, the more you have an

opportunity of grabbing their interest and action is taken

→ There are “mailing lists” that can be purchased for as low as

$250 per 5,000 names The more ‘targeted’ the higher the price

→ Starting your own Database Marketing is critical

(ex: start today with the members of the class)

→ Many small businesses will “grow” their own lists through chamber mixers, trade shows, etc

→ Follow-up is a critical element Keeping the contact

information up-to-date is essential too

Alternative Marketing:

Other means to get the message out!

(www.TSNN.com)

ex: sponsor a Little League team, or an informative class

Marketing on the Internet

 E- Marketing is Hot!, but it is Not for every business!

 Before you dive into e-commerce, e-marketing and

becoming a pure “click” business do your research!

 Ask the questions:

What message do I want to deliver?

How do I want to format the material?

Who do I want to reach?

Do my customers have access?

Is it cost effective?

What other marketing pieces direct the clients to this webpage (is your email or website on your brochure)?

Publicity FREE ADVERTISING!

 Publicity has been defined as “free advertising”

(unfortunately there is little control over it)

 You need to be able to present a “Unique Angle”

on your business to get a Press Release printed or

a PSA (Public Service Announcement) aired

 Get involved with the community and annual

events

 Become a “specialist” in your community

 Time your Press Release and/or PSA at least 2

weeks before an event

 Speak to classes or publicize your unique

service at a Rotary Meeting, etc

Promotion - the Power of this P

when they consider promoting their businesses.

• Remember PROMOTION is any and every way to:

– Get the word out about your products or services– Generate referrals and interest for your business– Present your image

• Promotion includes advertising, marketing,

The Pro’s & Con’s of PR

PROS

• PR is cheap or FREE,

but it can be worth a lot!

• You can save a copy of

the article and show it

again and again!

• It builds credibility and

promotes your image!

• Most small businesses do not target their Publicity.

• It can be an one-time shot.

• Often times it is not

What is Publicity?

any group who might have an interest

on the ability of your company to

achieve its objective.

PR is a variety of programs designed to

promote or protect a company’s image.

Publicity Includes : Press (Public)

Relations, Product Publicity, Corporate

Communication, Lobbying, Counseling

The Final R: Retaining Your Market

Customer Satisfaction

 The customer may not be the KING,

or always right, but the customer is

always the customer!

 Customer Satisfaction is the Heart of

Retention

 RETENTION is the heart of staying

in business and growing (and profiting)

 Customer Relationship Management

is a key element in our Growing for

Sales & Profit Class.

 For now, remember to focus on the

customer (internal & external)!

“80% of your business comes from 20% of your

customers”

• Comments

• Questions

• Please turn in your suggestions

• Please turn in your group work