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Then you need some Marketing CPR! Macy’s stated that “Success in Business” is achieved by simply doing three things: “Be Everywhere, Do Everything, Astonish the Customer”. We agree with this philosophy with a few caveats:
Be Everywhere (your target market
is looking). Marketing budgets are finite so you need to first identify your
best target market (with the best potential for return-on-investment (ROI)) and
then pinpoint where they are and where they are looking. It might be on the
internet, networking, direct mail, print ads. This is how you achieve brand
awareness.
Do Everything (within your
business model: outsource or refer everything else). Time is finite so focus on
your core business and pinpoint other resources of added value to your target
market. You may not win all the business but you will become the “hero” to your
customers. This is how you gain a positive business reputation and “raving
fans”*.
Astonish the Customer () There
is no caveat here. Business is finite you want to get YOUR market share and so
you need to present your “WOW factor”, your “Unique Selling Proposition”* that
distinguishes you from your competition. THIS is how you get your phone and cash
register to ring. And this is the bottom line to fixing the flatline; it’s that
“shot in the arm” referenced earlier.
How
you accomplish this is with a little CPR.
Co-op Your Marketing – Find
businesses with the same target market as yours. These businesses may be in a
related industry or target a similar demographic or geographic area. Pool your
resources and maximize your exposure.
Promote and Cross-Promote –
Promote you business and then cross-promote those added value businesses. If
each business did that, your marketing dollars would stretch even further.
Rate the Return – You need to
test and measure your marketing program for its ROI. There is a conversion
formula that looks at the ratio of audience to new customers to the life-time
value of the average customer that determines the effectiveness of a marketing
campaign. From there you can adjust the message, the market and/or the medium.
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