 I moved from working in my business to working on my business!
Jim White, Founder Savor Dallas http://www.savordallas.com |
 I found a community of business leaders who make being in business a lot more fun and less lonely.
Jeannine Sandstrom, CEO CoachWorks International, Inc. http://www.coachworks.com |
 I now have a place to be open about my business success and future challenges.
Debbie Mrazek, CEO The Sales Company Author The Field Guide to Sales http://www.the-sales-company.com |
Archive for the ‘Articles for Small Business Success’ Category
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I often get asked by business owners about Online Marketing Strategies. Many of my customers find information about MLM or Network Marketing when searching in Google for Online Marketing Strategies, and then ask me what a “real” business needs to be doing to drive Online traffic.
I am here to tell you – the 2 business models have no difference when it comes to Online marketing.
Here is a marketing strategy that I use in my business:
- Write a Blog post
- Create an article
- Go to Hellotxt.com and make an update
- Bookmark your blog post
- Create a Squidoo and Hubpage on a similar topic
When you create your Blog post keep in mind that people generally skim blogs and remember to keep the post brief. Be sure to include lists and headings to make the post easier to read / skim. This also gives you an outline for a more in depth article for either EzineArticles, Squidoo, and Hubpages. After completing your post/articles go to HelloTxt.com and make an update referencing your post. This will send your message throughout the social sites that you participate in. Bookmarking your posts is best accomplished by participating in a Digg or Del.i.ous group so that you are not bookmarking (spamming) your own content. Bookmarking sites frown upon listing your own content and you risk the site deleting you account if you get caught bookmarking your own content.
All of these steps will help to drive traffic to your website or blog and it will also get more of your content listed in Google when people are searching for your topic. Be sure to do some deep linking to more of your content as well as relevant content produced by friends/colleagues.
Setting Up Your Online Strategy
To follow the above Marketing Strategy You need to have a Hellotxt.com account set up. Go to HelloTxt.com and register for a new account. Set up your profile with an image of yourself and a short bio. Then link all of your other Social Sites to you HelloTxt account through the registration form. Make sure that all of your usernames and passwords are correct. Once this account is set up then all you have to do is log onto your HelloTxt account and send a short (140 characters or less) update – it will be distributed throughout your Social Sites. Be sure to include a link to your new content within the HelloTxt update.
HelloTxt will cover Social Sites that allow Profile Updates like:
- MySpace
- Plaxo
- Tumblr
- Flicker
- FriendFeed
- Total of 42 Sites
What is missing from the list are sites like Ning Social Networks, Blogs, Modular Type Sites and any other Social site that you have some control over the content.
Examples of these types of sites are:
- Any Ning Site
- Blogs
- Websites
For these type of sites use the Twitter Widget to reach these sites at the same time as the Profile updates. The Twitter Widget can be found in the Settings of your Twitter account. There is a link half way down the settings page that references adding Twitter to your blog. Click the link then follow the steps for the “other” type and then just walk through the setup for the Flash Widget. At the end you will get code to copy then paste it into your various Social Sites, Blogs, and Websites. Taking this extra step will greatly expand the HelloTxt strategy to include your entire Online social network.
Dotty has spent the past 2 years building her brick and mortar web design business online as well as offline. She teaches other business owners how to get their businesses found on the Internet and gives them working strategies for building traffic, sales, and clientele on the Internet. To find out more about her business you can visit her website at Premium Websites or her blog at Attraction Internet Marketing
By Valerie Love
Facebook is an Internet marketer’s dream, if used properly. This article focuses on financial advisers who may be starting out or who want to expand their online marketing strategies.
If you’re wondering how to become a financial adviser, the info at the end of this article will help you evaluate your business options.
Note: I’ll assume that you already have a free Facebook account. If you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, and don’t have a Facebook account yet, head on over after reading this article and set up your account. It’s free and it’s a no-brainer for any business owner. I’ll also assume that you’ll begin searching for your existing client base on Facebook, and that you’re actively inviting them to be your friends.
Another note: Make sure you check with compliance about your company’s rules for online client interaction. If your compliance department is anything like mind was, they’ve got a book on it.
Let’s get started:
Strategy #1: Start a Facebook group. The advantage of starting a group is credibility. Set up a group that’s relevant to the area of being a financial adviser, that would appeal to clients. Make it a Getting Wealthy Club or an Investing for Great Returns Club.
When you set up the group, clearly state your ‘credo’, which is a statement of purpose for what this group is all about.
Once you start the group, invite your clients to join the group.
Then, visit the group daily, posting your comments, ideas and/or wealth building strategies. You’ll gain credibility and your clients will gain knowledge and a closer connection with you…which means more money. Financial planning success is built on relationships.
Strategy #2: Comment daily on your own feed with your meaningful thoughts. That means to go daily to your own Facebook page and post a meaningful thought for the day-one that will appeal to your clients.
As a financial adviser, you want to stay top of mind to your clients. This is a great way to interact with them, without selling something or seeming pushy.
Important Note: Do not post what cereal you’re having for breakfast or any of the other minutiae of life you’ll find on Facebook. That’s not effective marketing. You want to make your posts meaningful to your clients.
Strategy #3: Keep your clients on a separate list on Facebook and respond meaningfully to selected posts. Creating a list is easy, and it means that only those who are on the list will see the feeds for that list. You don’t want to mix your friends.
This is very important!
Keep your clients separate from your friends/family! Business is business and play is play. Keep this boundary in place. Then, when your clients post things that are going on in their lives, take note. Comment when you feel inclined too. Otherwise, keep the info in mind, for instance, a kid’s graduation, or a client who’s preparing for a marathon.
People share all kinds of personal info on Facebook with their friends, and you can use that info to create deeper bonds, because you care.
Strategy #4: Search for people in your niche market and invite them to be your friends. Facebook folks don’t seem to mind who invites them to be friends, it seems that most people on Facebook are open. There are some who are picky about friends, but they are by far the minority.
Facebook is one big party, so invite people who are in your target market to join your party. That way, they’re being exposed to your skill and expertise as a financial advisor on a daily basis. Sooner or later, they’ll connect with you personally.
Hint: you can find people in your niche market by the droves by searching the existing groups on Facebook.
So there you have it, 4 Facebook marketing strategies that are easy, and the best part is, you can begin today!
I wish Facebook had been an option in the days when I was getting started as a financial adviser. It wasn’t. But today, you can use this powerful medium to market yourself effectively, for free, and add to your client base, while solidifying existing relationships.
Good fortune to you!
Valerie Love is a Wealth & Prosperity Coach who teaches the art and science of wealthy living, personally and in business. If you’re looking for a unique and powerful way to add an additional four figures of revenue to your monthly income, visit: http://www.WealthCreationInternational.com or connect with Valerie via e-mail at: valerielove@liveyourdestinytoday.com.
By James Copper 
Today, every business tends to have a strong advertising campaign for its product. In simple terms, advertising is a process of promoting and endorsing a product in the local market. The various advertising techniques include newspapers, Internet, pamphlets, and hoardings.
What is a campaign?
An advertising campaign refers to applying the various promotional skills for popularizing a product. These skills work on the sole motive to make profit and display the single message for advertising the product. A strong and faultless campaign is a part of the marketing plan that helps you in achieving long-term goals and profits. Therefore it is very important for a business to have an effective promotional campaign.
An effective campaign
An advertising campaign will only boost up your business if it is designed in an effective way. An effective promotional campaign should be prepared by keeping in mind the following aspects-
Marketing plan: Advertising is an integral component of marketing. Therefore for an effective advertising campaign, it is very important to have a planned marketing plan. This plan helps in knowing about the competitors and long-term goals of the company.
Campaign theme: For a successful promotional campaign, the theme is very important. A campaign theme refers to basic message that is promoted through the various advertising techniques.
Advertising budget: The plan of action depends a lot on the advertising budget. The campaign is designed; as per the budget therefore it is advisable for a business to take wise decisions while planning it
Target audience: One of the primary components of an advertising campaign is to reach the suitable audiences. It is very important for a business to know its target audience.
Thrashing competitors: There are chances of the similar products in the market before your product is launched. Therefore an effective advertising campaign should be designed by keeping in mind the various competitors existing in the market.
Combination of content and creativity
Advertising is a combination of content and creativity. The content of the advertisement should contain all the chief features and aspects of a product. Whereas creativity refers to the different promotional skills used. These skills should be proposed in a new and unique design to the target audiences. The creative promotional skills along with suitable content will help in hitting the audiences in a more significant manner than any other regular advertisements. An advertising campaign includes the amalgamation of content and creative skills that works on the sole motive of promoting the product.
A clear message
A successful advertising campaign should have the ability to promote the clear message about the product. The various techniques and tips will only be fruitful if the audiences are able to grab the basic idea and features of the product from the advertising. An unclear message may confuse the content of the product and thus leave the audience unimpressed. A true superior advertising campaign should be designed with a compelling message so that people choose your product by overlooking the similar products of your competitors.
James Copper is a writer for the big agency
Do you ever imagine yourself lying on a beach enjoying the sun or hiking in the most beautiful forest imaginable, or spending the holidays relaxing and sharing good times with your family and friends? We all daydream and picture ourselves in places we would like to go or doing things we enjoy, but can that daydreaming bring us success in business?
What do you do next if you want to make your daydream a reality? When you want to take a vacation you start by thinking about where you want to go. You look at pictures, you surf the net and you see yourself in that place. You reserve your hotel, you buy your plane tickets, mark you calendar and dream of the day you will leave. When the date arrives you head off to enjoy all of your daydreaming and planning.
We hear all the time how athletes do this before any game or competition. They imagine themselves sinking that 3-point basket from half court or sinking a “hole in one.” As they prepare, they see themselves doing each move to perfection and then standing in front of the crowd with their trophy or a medal around their necks.
Visualization may apply to planning a great vacation and to winning athletic competitions. But can it help you succeed in business? Yes, I believe it can.
Did you hear about the Harvard Business School study where recent graduates were asked to write down their goals and then surveyed ten years later? The result of visualizing their success and writing down their goals was incredible. Graduates who had clear goals in mind were making two to ten times more money as their classmates who did not visualize or write down their goals. Well according to some this is a true story and according to others it is totally false. Either way, it does make sense that what we concentrate on most will manifest. Because as the saying goes, “be careful what you wish for, as it just might happen” can very well be the most powerful statement yet.
You probably have heard about “The Secret” and the powers of the Law of Attraction. Visualize it, feel it as if you have what you want, and before you know it, it shall be yours. True to some, hearsay to others, but isn’t it better to concentrate and “see” the positive things you want to happen in your life than the negatives.
I say “YES” absolutely…YES!
So why not put this strategy to work; do some “daydreaming.” Picture yourself there, feel yourself having it, engage yourself in the power of as if it were happening now.
Your Goals
Create a vivid image in your mind of what success means to you. Write down the answers to the following questions about your image of success:
• What will you be doing with your time?
• Who will your clients and customers be?
• How many clients and customers will you have?
• How much money will you be making?
• How much can you afford to give to your favorite cause(s)?
• What will your lifestyle be?
Your Objectives
You will need to identify a few specific marketing goals:
1. How many clients or customers do you want or will you need to be working with each month?
2. How many new clients do you want to add per month in order to bring in new clients?
3. How many prospects do you want to target each month?
4. How will you find them?
Your Marketing Strategy
You need a plan. Most small businesses owners struggle with this and don’t make a plan other than wanting their plan to be to make a lot of money. Making money is great, but how? Begin by asking yourself:
• What can I do to attract attention and prompt interest by potential customers?
• What can I do to increase the number of qualified leads I generate each month?
• How can I build the credibility of my company so customers will trust that we will deliver?
• How can I ensure they remember my company when they have a need and are ready to buy?
• What are the decisions potential customers need to make to become clients?
Your Marketing Tasks
Just having a marketing message, or an advertising campaign or a web site does not ensure you of anything. Each of these needs to achieve the specific goals and objectives that you have set. The best way to evaluate these efforts is from your prospects perspective. Ask yourself these questions:
1. What are my prospects concerns?
2. Are my marketing messages interesting to potential customers?
3. What would my response be to my own marketing calls?
4. Without mentioning the name of my business, its credentials or products, is what I provide clear to potential customers?
5. What do I want people to do when they visit my web site?
Just visualizing your success will not get you there over night, but it is an effective way to begin planning and seeing the big picture of what you can accomplish. Determine your marketing goals, your strategy, your objectives, and the tasks from this big picture and you will create a plan that will lead you to success.
Visualizing is VERY important, BUT writing down your goals is the key! By putting them down on paper, you will be giving your subconscious a clear vision of what you are wanting to accomplish and putting it out to the Universe. By visualizing it, writing it down and believing that you can accomplish your goals, the Laws of Attraction will take over, and anything is possible. Spend about 15 minutes each morning and about 15 minutes each evening “daydreaming” and seeing yourself in whatever place you want to be. Think it, believe it, live it.
Customers demand it and companies say they have it, but do you really understand it? What is it? It is customer support service. It is a general topic of discussion in business circles for several years now and this is an issue that is gaining more attention, as companies compete globally to get more and more customers and profits.
Customer care services are essential part of any business. You can offer various promotional activities to bring more and newer customer however unless you can get some of those customers to come back, your business would not be profitable for long.
Good customer service is all about bringing customers back and keep them connected to your business for long. And keeping them happy means positive feedback for your business.
No matter what products or services your are offering, it’s extremely important that you make customer support services on priority. Many business owners do spend millions of dollars in advertising to attract many customers, but they are unable to manage these customers for long term due to bad customer care support services. If you want to keep your customers then you have to attract them to your door through your advertising, it is imperative that you provide an exceptional quality service to customers. Because customers are main assets of your business therefore growth of your business solely depend on their faith and loyalty towards your business.
Customer service not as an expensive, but it is highly profitable investment. Exceptional customer care service builds customer loyalty, resulting in profits. Research shows that not only satisfied customers buy more, but they buy more often, and they bring newer customers to get connect with your business. According to a study by the American Management Association, sponsorship offer loyal customers paid 65 percent of the volume of a typical company.
The larger your base of loyal customers, the less money you will need to spend on advertising, marketing and other promotional activities. If we speak of advertising, then note that there is no advertising more effective than word of mouth. Your satisfied customer tell others about your products and services, especially about your exceptional customer care services which you offer, has more credibility than anything you can put in print or broadcast through radio/ TV or any other medium.
Chris Shetler is associated with call centers in India since a long time, Call Center India Management team has over 25 years of combined call center experience and providing inbound call centre services and offshore call centers services, technical support services, back office services and etc.
If you want to develop a long term relationship with a client that will lead to repeat business, Partnering opportunities and Joint Ventures, you need to develop a wide platform on which to base your sales contacts.
1. You must make sure you have vision and believe in your company if you are going to be convincing in your marketing efforts. If you are looking to secure tender packages from a potential client without the vision to create a long term sales pipeline, you are simply in the numbers game and unlikely to develop a healthy client base.
2. Offer step by step strategies that offer solutions to your clients. Your potential clients are in business to build a better future but many of them will not have a thought through strategy for achieving their goals. Imagine what would happen if you were instrumental in helping them to realize some of their potential. Sound a bit far fetched? Not at all!
3. Assess the viability of your client’s status. It is in your best interests to ascertain this, especially if you intend developing a marketing strategy that embraces relationship building.
4. Be infectious in the way you sell the vision! It is possible at a very early stage of speaking with people, to open various options, suggestions and recommendations that would be attractive to your potential client and would enable them to see beyond the horizon of the immediate business relationship to a wider and more long term finance strategy that could prove lucrative to all parties concerned. Most developers, housing associations and entrepreneurial business people, have ambitions which exceed their current budgets. It’s OK to dream!
5. It may seem a little presumptuous, but small to medium size companies may well struggle in their push to make healthy profits and meet business plan targets. With a little incremental planning you may be able to help them achieve most of what they want over time. I’m not suggesting formal advice on financial planning, but I am suggesting that we get into the position where we can talk frankly with them about their budget and help them make the right trade-off decisions. This can more easily be accomplished in a negotiated contract position, where interaction between contractor and client on these issues is more acceptable.
6. Strive to earn the trust of your client at every hurdle. You must get past the suspicion that you are trying to push as much product as quickly as possible. If you can’t find out what their budgets are, let them know what the lifecycle costs of various approaches are and let them steer.
7. Provide the client with options that solve their problems. By doing this, you will build a strong foundation for business growth and client retention. Remember, you are always there for your client. And your client is always there for you.
8. Look beyond the sale. We often never progress beyond the chase for the next lucrative tender package. Look beyond it, to the bigger picture. We need the vision to build trusting relationships with the decision makers, business builders, entrepreneurs and industry professionals that will enable us to build an infrastructure for mutual growth and profitability.
9. Identify and capitalize on the essence that makes your company vital and different from the competition. There are many ways this can happen and in this manual you will find numerous examples of how this can be done. Your company personality and character can also be developed in a positive way, as the emphasis is projected beyond the sale.
Steve Flashman is a Marketing Consultant with a unique edge! He is a public speaker published author, recording artist, media broadcaster and communications expert. Making Construction Work
In addition to a clear strategy, good measures, and streamlined processes, reinventing enterprises requires a focus on personal relationships and human potential. As a result, it depends upon emotional connection and excellent communication to function well. The objective business world has often struggled with the subjects of emotions and communication. If they are considered at all, they are spoken of-in businesses and business schools-in somewhat demeaning terms such as “soft” skills.
Something that I learned as a consultant that I didn’t understand very well as an executive was that the notion of command and control with knowledge workers is largely a delusion. When I worked in a large company, people who reported to me would often nod their head “yes” when I asked them to do something. With regularity I would later discover that they really didn’t know what I was asking for, and many times I really didn’t either.
In large Enterprises these types of command and control misconceptions have the effect of making executives think that things are changing faster than they really are. After I began consulting, it became clear that co-creating solutions and building broad relationships was really the only way to achieve sustainable and productive change. It’s hard, but it is required. There is probably no business management area where I have changed my view more than on this one. The truth is that with knowledge work, the command and control mindset needs to be demoted, and communications and emotions need to increase in importance.
If knowledge work isn’t co-created, chances are it’s not going to get implemented productively. Co-creation is different from consensus, however, because co-creation also requires a decision maker. Even though co-creating work produces slower starts, it will lead to faster and more sustainable results. Investing a little extra time now will save a lot of time later. If you want something done productively and sustainably, you’ll probably need to put more of your own skin in the game-in conjunction with those who are actually doing the work.
The objective nature of Scientific Management effectively bred subjectivity out of businesses during the 20th century. Nonetheless, it is very important to articulate how you’re feeling so that you can better connect with how others are feeling. Emotions are important to productive knowledge work and Enterprise reinvention. They increase energy, clarity, and the productivity power of relationships. In this context, key motivators include the desire to win, achievement of something worthwhile, a sense of personal power, approval and acceptance, and recognition of efforts.
In the Operate work-behavior area of the an enterprise reinvention system, feelings influence actions which produces results. As part of this, it’s important to remember that people ultimately love others because of how they make them feel. We too often forget how important the need is to be appreciated, that neglect can often be more damaging than abuse, and that if you really want to honor someone, you should ask for their help. Leaders need to lead with their heads and their hearts, and in difficult times, emotional resistance can only be overcome by a stronger emotion. It’s important to turn negative emotions into positive ones, with special emphasis on the positive emotions of optimism, hope, faith, courage, ambition, determination, self-confidence, and self-worth.
In addition to elevating the status of emotions in Enterprises, communication also needs much more emphasis for companies to be more productive. This requires integrating the four steps of Enterprise Reinvention: Envision-Design-Build-Operate. Where a Design-oriented person might be overly blunt, an Operate-oriented person can instinctively be overly nice. Combining the blunt facts of Design with the emotional sensitivity of is the most productive answer. In practice it is called tact. It is the equivalent in the medical world, of the nurse who has the ability to give his or her patient a shot without having it hurt too much.
Productive communications are socially negotiated. This is harder than being blunt or telling someone what they want to hear. In the communication process, it’s important to connect the dots between where you’ve been, where you are, and where you need to go, because if something doesn’t fit with the past, it will very often be discarded or misread by people. This logical and emotional transition from the past to the future is necessary for sustainability.
Effective communication requires leaders to ask great questions and stick to a few key points. Asking questions instead of giving orders empowers people. Statements limit creativity. When you communicate, it is important to articulate what needs to stay the same, what needs to change, the steps required, and the progress being made. Consistent with this, it is important to have a clear and formal communication strategy to control the dialogue and to channel formal and informal organizational energy toward achieving the vision of the Enterprise.
Focus is as important to communications as it is to each step of the knowledge work productivity system. Short-term memory is limited to about five items. Three is better. If you have more than five points, people won’t remember any of them. To communicate productively, it’s important to be consistent, give people something that they can’t get anywhere else, and make them genuinely feel wanted and loved.
Productive relationships are essential ingredients in effective and efficient Enterprises. To activate them, the Operate step needs to help individuals achieve something as part of the company that they can’t achieve on their own.
Enterprises need leaders who set the tone, connect with people’s personal lives, support employees when they struggle, provide levity in difficult times, and motivate people to achieve the firm’s vision. Motivation requires the combination of emotions and communications. As humans we all need to be treated fairly, trusted, have a chance to grow, and have a vision that is larger than ourselves.
The Enterprise Reinvention system is an important mechanism to activate the human spirit on a sustainable basis. It requires Envision-Design-Build-Operate as a total system. All are needed to help Enterprises, functions, and individuals productively self-organize-using a unified framework and the cybernetic process.
To set the system in motion, it’s necessary to energize human relationships and activate human potential through the Operate work-behavior area. This requires that companies co-create the future with their customers, recognize and capitalize upon informal as well as formal organizations, coach people effectively, and communicate with a combination of objectivity and emotion.
Jack Bergstrand is an expert in enterprise reinvention and knowledge work productivity management. He founded Brand Velocity, Inc., the first company ever prototyped using knowledge work productivity principles, and created the Strategic Profiling (R) instrument, a tool to help firms accelerate and improve important enterprise projects. To learn more about his book, “Reinvent Your Enterprise,” visit: http://www.ReinventYourEnterprise.com/.
By Jeff Becker
Selling your business is something that most business owners do only once in a lifetime. So how do you make sure everything goes well? Many business owners consider working with a business broker, an expert in selling businesses, to make sure they maximize the sell price of their business. Is this always a good idea? Lets look at the pros and cons of working with a broker:
Why you should work with a business broker when selling your business
1) A broker has (hopefully!) sold many businesses for prior clients, and you can use that expertise to learn the basics of the process and avoid making careless mistakes.
2) They can act as a facilitator to the transaction, making sure that negotiations go smoothly, the transaction proceeds at the right pace, and that the business is ultimately sold with all parties satisfied.
3) A broker may reduce your upfront costs of selling the business, as many brokers will pay for creating sales collateral and advertising the business at their own expense in exchange for a fee when the business sells. They also may have insights as to what advertising mechanisms deliver the best “bang for the buck” to make sure as many potential buyers as possible are exposed to your business.
4) They can provide expert advise related to market conditions and can help evaluate potential offers to buy your business. For example, a business broker will typically provide a free initial estimate of the sales price of your business, and can provide information on what similar businesses may have recently sold for in your area.
5) A business broker can help preserve the confidentiality of the sale. By having a third party involved, buyers can interact with the broker instead of the business owner, making it easier to protect the identity of the business for sale.
With so many good reasons why a broker can help sell a business, no wonder that most businesses that are sold ultimately involve a business broker. However, there are downsides to working with a broker that a prudent business owner should consider.
Why you should NOT work with a business broker when selling your business
1) Business brokers may charge a large commission. The amount of commission varies based on many factors, such as the ultimate sales price, geographic location, and the skills of the broker. For a “main street” style business selling for less than a million dollars, it would not be unusual to see between a 10% to 20% commission fee. Some brokers will also have a guaranteed minimum, on the order of $10,000 or $15,000. You should only hire a business broker if you believe that the time and effort involved justifies this price, or if you believe they will raise the selling price by more than the amount of their commission.
2) A great broker is worth their weight in gold, but a bad (or even mediocre) broker costs far more than they are worth. In many cases, the sale will be lost due to incompetence on the part of the business broker. If you are not confidant that the business broker can not only increase the transaction value, but can also increase the chances of actually getting the business sold, then you are probably better of managing the sale on your own.
3) Do not work with a business broker if you go into the transaction not knowing what you want out of it. Many times business brokers will contact you proactively, letting you know that there are buyers interested in buying your business. Selling a business is a big decision, and one that you should enter into with a great deal of care. Make sure that you are talking to a broker because YOU made the decision to sell, and that you have properly educated yourself about the process and the ultimate consequences of your decision.
Working with a business broker, when done properly and for the right reasons, can be a great benefit to selling your business. By educating yourself about the different factors involved, you have taken an important first step towards getting your business sold. Best of luck!
Jeff Becker has bought, run, and sold his own small business using a business broker. He subsequently became a licensed business broker and has advised both small business and Fortune 500 companies on business transactions. He provides insights to the business broker world to business owners interested in selling their business through his website, Business Broker Secrets, at http://www.businessbrokersecrets.com
Marketing certainly has its roots in large and expensive campaigns intended to reach as many people as possible. This type of ‘mass marketing’ helped develop corporate branding but was completely ‘product focused’ and treated all customers as if they had the same needs and buying preferences. Compare this to what the direct marketing folks are now doing with target marketing, relationship marketing, permission marketing, event-based marketing and even location-based marketing.
It’s interesting to see how these different strategies actually evolved.
Mass Marketing – The goal here is to reach the largest number of people and ‘hope’ they have interest in your product/service. Mass marketing uses mass media such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc. This type of marketing is (was) characterized by big budgets, national campaigns, and very little actual data to measure marketing efficiency.
Direct Marketing – Mass marketing was flipped around when direct marketing started directly contacting consumers (using direct mail, telemarketers, etc). This new evolution (around 1960) also was the start of test-marketing to gauge the effectiveness of different advertising campaigns.
Target Marketing – Soon after computers became widely used, marketers began gathering data on who was buying their products and why. This led to targeting their promotional strategies directly towards consumers who are most likely to purchase their product. This market segmentation divided up customers and prospects according to their demographics, age, income, etc.
Relationship Marketing - Many businesses realized that it was just as profitable to ’sell more to each customer’ as it was to ’sell to more customers’. This led to (around 1990) marketing that communicated with customers ‘as individuals’ with tailored information geared towards their unique buying experiences and preferences. Obviously this requires lots of data on customer behavior patterns, profiles, etc. which helped launch the development of new business CRM applications and marketing automation tools.
Permission Marketing - As consumers began to get bombarded with email spam, many businesses realized the benefits of spending more time marketing to consumers who have specifically shown interest in your product/service and (effectively) have given you permission to market to them (in a way they want to be marketed to)! This is most commonly done when consumers sign up (i.e. give out their email address) to download product information or receive a newsletter. The importance of having good customer data to personalize your marketing is critical since these prospects can remove their permission anytime (by opting out).
Event-Based Marketing- Imagine someone just supplied their personal information and downloads information about a new vacation resort. This event triggers an marketing automation tool to send out a targeted promotional offer that is customized, timely, informative, and useful. Everyone potentially wins. The consumer gets something they were actually looking for – when they want it! This type of marketing is heavily Internet focused and relies on good automation tools.
Location-Based Marketing – Now that cell phones have Internet access AND they have embedded location devices (i.e. GPS locators), we can expect to see mobile advertising based on location. Of course this will also be personalized and permission-based but imagine you are leaving work for lunch and you receive a text message with ‘2-for-1 lunch deals’ at restaurants in your immediate area. Over time the system also realizes you prefer Chinese over Mexican, etc.
Take-aways from this marketing evolution …
- Mass Marketing is moving to Relationship Marketing
- Few Large Campaigns are moving to Many Customized Campaigns
- Product Focus is moving to Customer Focus
- Short-Term Revenue is moving to Long-Term Customer Loyalty
Resources …
The CRM Handbook – great book on CRM implementation, especially read Chapter 2 (CRM in Marketing)
Post from BNET on the subject of Broadcast Marketing and why it doesn’t work anymore.
Steve Moore – Business Growth Consultant (http://www.SPMsolutions.NET)
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