Description
Starbucks, Walmart, IBM, Microsoft, or any other wildly successful corporation, you have to admit that something they're doing is working in a big way.
A Blue Beetle Books Publication
Making Your Business Stand Out
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Copyright © 2011 Blue Beetle Books
Making Your Business Stand Out -
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Vaughan, Ingrid; Business Writer
Dolinsky, Karla; Editor
Published as an eBook original by
Blue Beetle Books.
No part of this eBook may be reproduced in
any manner whatsoever without the written
permission of Blue Beetle Books.
Blue Beetle Books
204-900 Wollaston St., Victoria, BC V9A 5B2
Tel: 250-704-6686
E: [email protected]
www.bluebeetlebooks.com
3 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Making Your Business Stand Out
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................4
Learning from the Best - Big Business Marketing Strategies Any Small
Business Can Use ..................................................................................................................5
The High Call of Honesty in Marketing ................................................................................7
An Old Marketing Model Made New - Applying AIDA to Modern Marketing ...................9
Cooperative Marketing ..........................................................................................................9
Standing Out From the Crowd ............................................................................................13
Your Marketing Message – Is it Working for You? ............................................................15
Cause-Related Marketing: Can Your Business Beneft? ..................................................17
To Launch or Not to Launch? Using Market Research to Validate
Your Great Ideas ..................................................................................................................19
Consider Radio Advertising ................................................................................................21
Is Your Website Your Customers’ Favourite? Ideas to Get on to Your
Customers’ Top Bookmarks ...............................................................................................23
Tap into Testimonials - The Marketing Strategy You May Tend to Forget ......................25
4 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
We’re all busy people, which is why the Small Business Success
Library of books is a great way to get your hands on a lot of
information, vital to your success, in easy bite-sized pieces. This
anthology on Marketing will give you lots of hands-on, straight-forward
ways to improve your small business marketing.
In Volume one of our Marketing series you will fnd a variety of tips and
habits that will show you how to increase your competitive edge in the
marketplace.
We start with Learning from the Best – using the strategies from large
successful corporations and showing you how you can make them
work for your small business. In addition, you’ll fnd information on
the importance of honesty in your marketing message, and on blending traditional, proven marketing
strategies with new methods of delivering them.
With Cooperative Marketing, you’ll learn how to collaborate with other businesses to expand your
exposure and increase your customer base. You’ll also fnd out how cause-related marketing can help
you increase business.
In this volume, you’ll also fnd several tools to help you stand out from the crowd. Make Your Website
Your Customers’ Favourite and To Launch or Not to Launch provide tools to help you make smart
marketing decisions. The questions in Your Marketing Message, will give you a fresh new perspective
on how to evaluate your company’s messaging. Finally, Tap into Customer Testimonials gives you some
great ideas on how you can easily turn happy customer experiences into marketing messages that will
have a huge impact on your business.
No matter how large or small your business, you’ll fnd something in this eBook to make you think
about how you are marketing your business, and give you strategies on how to do it better.
Making Your Business Stand Out - Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work is a quick and
easy read, but the tips and tools you fnd here will help you to improve your marketing, strengthen your
brand, and get your message out to the people who need to hear it – your customers!
Ingrid Vaughan
Business Writer
Introduction
5 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Learning from the Best
Whether you’re talking about Starbucks, Walmart,
IBM, Microsoft, or any other wildly successful
corporation, you have to admit that something
they’re doing is working in a big way. Starbucks
doesn’t give out coupons, use punch cards, or
advertise on radio or TV. Yet it continues to be one
of the biggest business success stories of this
generation. Its marketing is actually quite subtle,
yet hundreds of thousands of people fock to
purchase coffee, food, and retail items there every
day. How can you apply some simple, practical
marketing strategies in your business that mirror
those used by large, successful corporations?
It’s easier than you think, and costs less than you
would imagine. The following marketing strategies
come from research conducted with employees
of some of those companies. Not surprising, each
strategy has to do with recognizing your employees
and their potential impact on your marketing. It’s a
frst step toward shifting your thinking “inside out”.
They are easy to implement, and can have huge
implications for your business proft.
Provide great employee discounts
Although on the surface this doesn’t look like a
great marketing strategy, take a moment to think
about it. Your employees are your best marketing
tool. If you make it easy for them to shop at your
store, they become walking, talking advertising
campaigns for your business. If you own a retail
clothing store and only offer your employees a 5
or 10% employee discount, chances are they’ll
fnd similar items in another store for less. What
incentive do they have to buy it from you? But
if you offer them a 30-40% discount, they have
greater motivation to shop at your store, and
Big Business Marketing Strategies Any Small Business Can Use
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when other people notice their clothing, your store
gets the credit. Not to mention, the more of your
products they try and buy, the better equipped they
are to sell them to customers.
Give your employees free
stuff from your store
Again, on the surface, you may be thinking “that
will cost me a fortune”, but it doesn’t have to be
high cost items. If once a month you provided your
staff (or even selected members of your staff – be
creative with how you choose who gets the take-
home prize of the month), with a small item from
your store, it will go a long way toward building
loyalty in your staff, and also getting your staff to
try the things you sell when they may otherwise not
do so. It’s free advertising. Your employees have
friends and families, and they have a huge infuence
on their buying decisions. Say you own a computer
store. Consider that everyone who works at your
store has a large network of people who come to
them with questions about computer equipment
simply because they work at your store. If they
don’t know anything about what you sell, they
won’t be infuencing their friends to shop with you.
In fact, they may be a negative infuence on your
store. On the other hand, if last month, they won a
particular piece of hardware that has doubled their
computer speed and effciency, and as a result,
they can speak confdently about how this changed
their computing experience, how different do you
think their discussions and advice to their friends
and your customers will be?
Allow your employees to have input
in your marketing plans
Strong companies know their employees are
their best window to the market. They know,
often better than management, what customers
want, what they’re talking about, what they need.
Give them the opportunity to have input in your
marketing decisions, and reward good ideas. And
don’t be afraid to implement those ideas! It will
show employees their contribution is valued, and
allows them to see the impact of being invested
in your business. Not every idea will work, but the
more of them you try, the more likely you’ll fnd
ones that do.
Reward your employees for
hard work and loyalty
Successful companies value their employees and
demonstrate that to them. Whether it’s monetary
rewards, company retreats, an occasional paid day
off – people love being acknowledged for their hard
work. It makes them happier on the job, and this
positive attitude affects customer decisions. Not
only does it motivate them to work even harder,
but they tell people what a great employer you are.
This motivates their circle of potential buyers to
seriously consider purchasing from you. Potential
customers assume that if you treat your employees
that well, you’ll treat them well too.
Work on developing your team
Smart, successful businesses put a lot of money
and energy into building their teams because they
know a strong team is the foundation for a strong
business. Professional development and training,
teambuilding meetings and retreats, and team-
oriented activities on a day-to-day basis strengthen
your business. People who genuinely enjoy working
together refect that to customers, and customers
enjoy their experience in your business even more
when that team spirit is evident. One successful
corporation interviewed told us they require every
person on every shift, to write a brief note of
encouragement to another staff member. This is
not optional – it’s a mandatory part of their job!
The note can be about how they served customers
particularly well that day, or something kind they
did for someone, or a way they went above and
beyond for someone else during their shift, or even
for their product knowledge. This is one way to
create loyalty and spirit among your team, as every
day they receive positive acknowledgment from
their peers.
Your employees are the frst ring in your marketing
circle. Sell to them frst, and you’ll fnd greater
success in selling to your customers. Consider
them as part of your marketing strategy and you’ll
see big results.
7 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
If you made a list of the people you most admired
in your life and wrote down the attributes that
they displayed, I have no doubt honesty would be
among them. Honesty is the most common value
people look for in partnerships, marriages, and
friendship. It is no wonder it’s such an important
part of business. Sadly, somewhere along the way
we’ve lost our trust in what people say when it
comes to business. We enter into sales situations
with anxiety, wondering “what isn’t he/she telling
me?” A recent national poll in the United Sates
showed that 53% of people sense a “feeling of
deception” when it comes to hearing marketing
messages. Advertising is even more mistrusted.
Perhaps there are valid reasons for this mistrust.
Customers have been used, lied to, deceived, and
taken advantage of, and there likely isn’t a person
out there who couldn’t tell a story to validate this.
It’s diffcult to fnd someone who hasn’t had a
bad purchasing experience somewhere. So here’s
to a resurgence of honesty in marketing. If your
business becomes one that embraces honesty, you
will stand out from the crowd.
Marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson
in his book Guerilla Marketing
Excellence – The Fifty Golden Rules
for Small Business Success
says, “Although I cannot
claim that honesty is
one of the most valuable
weapons in the arsenal of
a guerrilla, I can advise you
that dishonesty is one of the mortal enemies of
your reputation and your marketing.” When it
comes to marketing your product, can you
afford to provide your customers with
anything less than the truth? Here are
a few ideas to inspire your thinking around this
issue, and to encourage a truly honest marketing
plan for your business.
Admit your mistakes
Nothing builds trust more than when you admit that
you’ve blown it and do all you can to make it right.
Covering up, passing the blame, or giving your
customer a line about
why it wasn’t your fault
will come back to
haunt you. Eventually,
they will fnd out.
Better to say “we
received a bad widget
shipment and have
sent them all back
to the manufacturer.
We’ll replace yours for
free.” Or, “we made a
mistake – your service
contract should have
been renewed two
months ago, but
we’ll honour the
contract and
make
The High Call of Honesty in Marketing
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this repair for you.” Honesty builds trust and trust
builds loyalty. Loyalty brings in new customers
through word-of-mouth. That’s effective marketing!
Hype attracts, truth sells
There’s no question that the bigger the
hype, the more attention you
attract. But hype doesn’t
sell, truth does. Hype
is fun and it may get
folks through the
door, but in the
end it doesn’t
get them to
part with
their money.
If you want
to sell your
customers
on your
product
or service,
tell them
the truth.
Be honest
about its great
attributes, as well
as its limitations.
Don’t say “best price in
town” unless you know for
sure it is, or are willing to beat any
competitor whose price is lower. “Largest
selection in Canada” doesn’t wash because your
customer can’t fnd out if it’s true. Do your best to
represent truthfulness in every marketing piece that
you put out. You’ll fnd your sales statistics much
higher than those companies who live on hype.
Offer something for nothing
Once in a while, give something away that has no
strings attached. This concept is so rare that if
you do it, people will take a while to get used to it.
They’ll keep expecting you to ask for something.
So instead of offering a newsletter that you
will use to promote your next sale, just offer an
informative newsletter that has useful information
for your customer. Provide a free seminar on a
related topic that is just that – FREE. If you own a
car dealership, offer a workshop on how to change
a tire. If you own a craft or sewing store, bring
in one of your crafter customers to do a
workshop on a specifc project.
The key here is – don’t ask
customers or participants
for something as they’re
going out the door!
The marketing
impact will be
greater if you
haven’t tried
to sell them
something,
than if they feel
they have been
manipulated
into coming
so you can sell
to them.
Offer
guarantees on
everything
Nothing inspires people
to believe in you more
than knowing you will back up
everything you do or sell. If you say
you’ll take it back for any reason – people
will trust you and buy your product. Whatever is in
your power to guarantee, do it. You’ll actually have
far fewer people trying to return things, and more
people buying with the confdence that they can, if
they need to.
Take steps to inspire honesty and the confdence
it generates, through your marketing efforts. A
little bit of trust goes a long way when it comes
to customers. Be a company that customers can
believe in and count on and they’ll be loyal to you,
and bring new customers to you. That’s a pretty
sound marketing strategy!
9 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Social media is changing the way we do business.
There’s no denying businesses who want to survive
in the future will need to learn and tap into this
whole new arena (if you’re not yet convinced, watch
this brief video athttp://bit.ly/sbs_social for some
shocking statistics and the reality that social media
is here to stay). But do we have to turn our backs
on old methods and models? To throw the baby
out with the bathwater? While the way in which we
market is already in place, has changed, and will
continue to change, sound marketing principles
have not changed.
There is an older marketing model (acronym AIDA)
developed in 1925 by a business analyst named
E.K. Strong that was taught in business schools
for years. It stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire
and Action. The model isn’t new, and by modern
standards it might seem archaic and irrelevant, yet
it stresses fundamentals of successful marketing
and thus still has incredible value in marketing
today’s business.
Attention:
The frst principle is attracting your customers’
attention. This probably looked quite different
in 1925 than it does now, but it is at the core of
what advertising does. If you don’t get a person’s
attention, you can’t convey a message and certainly
can’t persuade them to buy anything. Consumers
in the 21st century have less time to attend to
things such as advertising and seemingly a shorter
An Old Marketing Model Made New
Applying AIDA to Modern Marketing
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attention span than they did in 1925, so grabbing
their attention needs to happen quickly – within
the frst few seconds – or they‘ve continued on their
way to somewhere else. Today’s audience demands
more sophisticated content. To attract attention,
the message or impact needs to be rawer, bolder,
and on the edge, and customers want it NOW.
Traditional marketing isn’t geared to “now”. It comes
whenever a customer picks up a magazine, turns
on the TV or radio, drives past a billboard or gets
a fyer in the mail. Social media allows immediate
attention grabbing. Tweet your message and you’ve
got hundreds of people’s attention immediately. By
having your link on another’s Facebook page, you
can attract the attention of a person who isn’t even
expecting to see your message there. As a business,
you’re going to have to come up with smarter ways
to reach your customers and get their attention, and
grab it fast.
Interest:
Once you’ve got their attention, you have the equally
diffcult task of keeping it. Today’s consumers are
more savvy. They know more about what they’re
buying and they expect more of the companies they
buy from. More than ever, they need to know what’s
in it for them, so the focus on beneft rather than
information is vital. Keep their attention by engaging
with them in real time, asking them questions and
being interested in what’s important to them. Listen
to what they are saying and respond in ways that
will mean something to them. Traditional surveys
can do this, but social media allows for even
greater information sourcing and more meaningful
exchange. A question on Facebook or Twitter could
get more responses and genuine information than
paper, telephone, or even online surveys.
Desire:
Once you’ve got their interest, you must convince
them that they want what you have to offer and
that it will meet their needs. People can recognize
that they have a need, but that is not desire. Desire
is what motivates people to buy. Some traditional
ways of creating desire are using the scarcity
principle (telling people the item to be desired will
not be available for long), demonstrating how other
people approve of the item and have acquired it
for themselves, or showing them how what you
have to offer will solve some of their problems. It’s
suggested that a modern substitute or addition to
the “D” is DIALOGUE. Today’s consumer wants
to talk about what they’re buying. They’re asking
everyone all over the world about their experience
in buying what you’re selling. If you can open up
a dialogue with potential customers that shows
transparency and that you’re listening, it will assist
you in creating that desire. This is easily done with
the new social media, and can fow quite naturally
once you’ve captured their interest.
Action:
This principle says you must lead your customers
toward action. It is known in current terms as a
“call to action”; a “click here”, or a “phone now”.
You are actively moving the customer toward the
purchase. Shopping channels do this brilliantly, as
do infomercials. On the left hand side of your TV
screen you see how many items are available, and
as the hour ticks on you actually see the number of
items available going down, presumably as people
are focking to their telephones to order. “Special
offer “, or “if you call in the next 5 minutes you get a
bonus” are calls to action. So are dated sales. The
next generation of customer may be less and less
infuenced by these traditional calls to action, so
smart businesses may have to fnd a way to move
customers to action without pressure tactics.
Finally, some marketing experts have added an “S”
to the acronym, for Satisfaction. This involves an
exceptional customer experience - satisfying the
customer so that they ‘repeat buy’ and refer their friends.
Here tradition meets the future. AIDA provides
strong, relevant marketing principles, and
businesses today need to fnd new ways to apply
them. Do some research on your own. Take a course
on social media and consider the many ways it can
serve your business in the future. Keep up to date on
trends and stay on the forward edge in your industry,
and adapt the fundamentals of marketing to a new
medium. Be the one who stands out because you
get it, and you’ll see success.
11 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Jay Conrad Levinson (Guerilla Marketing guru)
coined the phrase “fusion marketing”, which
refers to a marketing strategy that challenges
tradition. It involves building relationships with
your competition and other businesses with a
similar target market to enhance each other’s
business success; a twist on the traditional,
more territorial marketing methods. Cooperative
marketing expands your exposure and your
potential for proftability. One recent example of
successful fusion marketing partherships from big
business is Tim Hortons and Wendy’s restaurants
operating in a shared space. The idea is that
people come in for lunch or dinner at Wendy’s,
and slip past Tim Horton’s for coffee and dessert.
And who hasn’t enjoyed a cup of Starbucks coffee
while shopping at Chapters? Another example can
be found with companies who offer frequent fyer
miles partnering with hotels, car rental agencies
and restaurants. Cooperative marketing is a win-
win strategy.
Cooperative marketing is one of the most
inexpensive and underused forms of marketing,
yet it has the power to increase the value of your
marketing dollar. It’s as simple as fnding someone
who will put your fyer in their window while you
Cooperative Marketing
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put their fyer in yours. It can be as complex as
merging huge companies, as in the example above.
The purpose of cooperative marketing is mutual
proftability, and it can work for your small business.
Here’s how you can go about fnding cooperative
partnerships for your business.
Make a list of potential cooperative markets.
Look out your window and write down all the
businesses that provide a product or service within
your sight. Contact your key suppliers and ask
for their ideas. Ask your customers what kind of
service they might like that would complement
what you offer. Get a business list from your local
Chamber of Commerce. Try not to flter too much
at the beginning. You never know what kind of
synergy might exist in unexpected places.
Think about companies on your list who have a
similar target market as your business. At frst
glance, a car wash and a European deli next door
to one another may not appear to have much in
common but doesn’t it make sense that people
having their cars washed might want a sandwich
while they wait, or that people who are having lunch
might have their car washed while they eat?
Ask what your business might have in common
with another. What might a bottled water company
have in common with a company that sells organic
gourmet coffee? People who drink expensive
gourmet coffee are likely to use bottled water to
make it. The water company has a rack of the
gourmet coffee by its checkout, and the coffee
company provides a fyer or discount coupon from
the water company to each of its customers. Ask
yourself this question in relation to a dozen or so
businesses in your area and see what fun you can
have trying to come up with some cooperative
marketing ideas.
Approach other businesses with your ideas.
Since cooperative marketing is about mutual
beneft, it’s hard to imagine that people won’t be
excited about increasing their marketing potential
by helping you with yours. Be enthusiastic and
prepared. The more well thought-out your idea, the
more likely someone will want to participate. Talk
about ways to share marketing expenses. Can you
share the cost of printing fyers if each business is
featured on one side? Could you add their fyer to
your next business mail-out and they add yours to
theirs? Can you plan a customer appreciation event
together that maximizes both your contact lists?
Can you offer free advertising on each other’s web
sites? The possibilities are endless. Go crazy with
your creative ideas.
Keep looking for new partners. Chances are,
you’re going to fnd cooperative marketing such a
great way to do business, you’ll want to keep your
options open. Every time you get an advertisement
in the mail or purchase a product or service, ask
yourself whether this might be the kind of business
you could partner with.
Don’t forget about web marketing. If you have
a website, you owe it to yourself to employ this
strategy to maximize your internet marketing
dollar. Do a search of companies who offer similar
or complementary products, or who do business
in your geographic area. Search for established
web sites of organizations or associations in your
industry, and approach them with a cooperative
marketing plan.
Cooperative marketing may require a shift in the
way we’ve traditionally thought about marketing,
but it can push your sales and profts to a level
you might never be able to reach on your own. Not
only will you increase your bottom line, but you’ll
increase your network and potential customer base
at the same time. You may never have heard of the
gourmet coffee company mentioned earlier if you
hadn’t come in to get your bottled water. If you like
the coffee, they’ve just gained a customer they
could not have reached any other way.
Think about how cooperative marketing might
beneft you and your business, and watch your
business grow!
13 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Chances are, you aren’t the only business
offering your product or service in your area. If
you have competitors, it’s worthwhile to take a
look at whether you have something that stands
out enough to attract people to your business.
This process is called differentiation. It’s not as
much about competing for clients with other
‘like’ businesses as it is offering potential clients
a specifc reason to choose yours. Here’s how
differentiation could work for you.
Determine where you are truly
different from your competitors.
This is the easy part. You probably already know
this, but it wouldn’t hurt to do a competitive
analysis on how your product or service differs from
others on the market. Be as specifc as possible
and come up with as many different things as
you can. If you sell a software product, are you
the only company who also installs and trains on
the software? If you are a graphic designer, do
you offer brokering of the print process as part
of your service? If you do automobile body work,
do you provide courtesy cars with free pick-up
and drop-off for your customers? Does your retail
clothing store have an in-house alteration service?
Figure out what truly sets you apart from your
competitors. Why do customers choose YOU?
Think about how what you do
benefts your customers.
It’s not enough to simply determine where you
are different, you also have to fgure out how to
make that difference matter to your customers.
Standing Out From the Crowd
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Look at your list of what makes you different and
think of the specifc benefts each may have to
a customer. For example, what is the beneft of
offering installation and training on the software
you’re selling? It saves time - the customer
doesn’t have to look for someone else to do the
training. It saves money - instead of wasting
hours trying to learn from a manual, your training
will assist in decreasing the learning curve. It
shows commitment - you’re not just going to sell
and run, you’re standing behind your product
and establishing a longer-term relationship with
the customer. Are they then more likely to also
purchase your support package? Probably. You’ve
already given them three reasons to. So take each
difference you’ve listed, and come up with three
benefts to your customer that those
differences provide.
Anticipate customer problems
and needs.
The more accurately you can predict what your
customers’ needs and problems might be, the
better you will be able to deal with objections that
come your way, and the stronger your position
will be. Take the example of a graphic artist. Sally
knows her clients appreciate the design work she
does for them, but has noticed their frustration
in having to deal with the print process once her
service is done. Her customers spend considerable
time getting quotes from different printers to
determine where to go. They don’t understand the
language used in the print process, and often end
up getting proofs that do not ft their specifcations.
In addition, they have to spend time running back
and forth to the printer to look at proofs. Now
that Sally has anticipated the problems, she can
differentiate herself from other designers. Since
Sally is familiar with the printers, understands the
language of specs, and knows generally which
printer specializes in what type of job, she can offer
to manage the print process as part of her design
service. It takes very little of Sally’s time to add a
valued service, and suddenly, Sally stands out.
Stay focused - do what you do well.
In trying to differentiate your company, the
temptation is to try to do everything for everyone.
This in itself may be a differentiation, but not
necessarily a good one. Marketing experts say it
is better to do one thing exceptionally well than a
bunch of things with mediocre results. Determine
what you do best and focus on that. Don’t be afraid
to refer customers to a competitor if they truly offer
a better ft for their needs. In the long run you’re
better off having them happy with what they’re
getting from a competitor than trying to stretch your
abilities and not being able to provide customer
satisfaction.
Do you remember what your USP (Unique Selling
Proposition) was when you started your business?
Is it still the same? How can you use that USP to
differentiate yourself in your industry and make your
business stand out from the rest?
15 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Every business has a message, or at least it
should. It’s the one thing you want everyone
to know about you; that thing that makes you
unique - your unique selling proposition. The
reason everyone should come to you when they
need that product or service. Your marketing
message is critical to everything you do to
market your business, and it should be on every
piece of media you use – from advertisements
to brochures to your website. A marketing
message is not a mission statement, or a slogan
(although it can be incorporated into a slogan),
or a list of credits and accomplishments. It is the
one thing that grabs your prospects’ attention
and draws them to your business over someone
else’s. So what’s your message, and is it
working for you?
David Frey, author and creator of “The Coaches
and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp” said the
following:
“The key to creating a winning marketing
message is to make sure that it matches the
wants and needs of those who receive it.”
Sounds pretty simple, but few business owners
really understand the power of using this principle.
Frey continues to say that most businesses
approach their marketing with a WWD (what we do)
mentality. This means letting potential customers
know what the business does and what services
it offers. Compare this to a customer-focused
mentality that answers the customer’s concern
- WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). This approaches
the marketing message by providing information
based on fnding and flling a customer’s need. The
customer is far less concerned with a list of all the
programs, products and services you offer, than
with what specifc beneft they will gain through
your company, or that your company has a solution
to their problem.
If you are looking for new tires for your car, which
message would appeal to you more – “ABC Tire
– riding on 25 years of experience”, or “XYZ Tire –
your family’s safety is our only priority”. Chances
are, your family’s safety is going to win out over
how many years the tire company has been in
business. If XYZ tire added “ for 25 years your
family’s safety has been our only priority” you’d
have an even stronger message. In that case, the
25 years adds weight to what’s already important to
the customer.
Your Marketing Message – Is it Working for You?
16 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
So have a look at your marketing message and ask
yourself the following questions:
1. Will it reach your specifc target market? If
you don’t know who your target market is, you
need to do some research. You can’t write an
effective message if you don’t know who needs
to receive it.
2. Does it tell WWD (your perspective), or does it
answer WIIFM (the customer’s perspective)?
Remember, your message will be more effective
if it solves a problem or flls a need for your
customer, rather than just listing your products
or services.
3. Does it push an emotional “button” for the
customer? People often buy from an emotional
response to something. In the case of XYZ tire,
the emotional trigger is concern for your family’s
safety. That’s a pretty hot button!
4. Does it solve a specifc problem the customer
has? If you suffer from Type II Diabetes, would
you be likely to respond to an advertisement
that promises to help you manage it more
effectively with little interruption to your life?
People are interested in solutions to their
specifc problems. Find out what that is for your
target market.
5. Will the receiver of the message feel compelled
to come to you? What do you have that’s so
different from your competition? Why should
they choose you over someone else? Answer
those questions for the customer and they likely
will choose your business.
6. Will the customer have confdence you can
provide the solution you’re offering? Can you
back up what you’re saying with experience and
with proof that you’ve delivered that solution to
other people?
7. Is everything in the message true? Nothing is
worse than trying to make your message more
appealing by exaggerating it slightly. Someone,
somewhere, will fnd out you’ve not been
honest, and your integrity will be shot. That
is the most diffcult thing for your business to
recover from. Make sure everything you say in
your message is absolutely, 100% true.
The answers to these questions should inform
you about your message and help you create one
that will have the desired impact. Once you’ve
come up with a marketing message that speaks to
these issues, use it on everything. You want your
message to be on everyone’s lips, so that your
company comes to mind immediately in response
to a specifc need. Revisit your message often as
economic, demographic and industry changes
occur. This will give you an edge in keeping existing
and getting new customers as your message
responds to their needs.
17 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Every June, Tim Hortons restaurants invite
customers to buy a cup of coffee and help send
kids who could otherwise not afford it, on the
camping adventure of a lifetime (Camp Day). It is
the single largest fundraiser for the Tim Horton
Children’s Foundation, and takes place annually
at more than 2,300 participating locations across
Canada. If you set foot inside of a Tim Hortons
on that day it is hard not to notice the excitement
and enthusiasm generated by what is a simple
philanthropic act. It literally drives people into Tim
Hortons, even if that is not where they normally buy
their coffee, because they want to contribute to
the cause. Special “smile” cookies are also sold to
customers, adding to the $5.5 million dollars raised
on Camp Day. This is a successful example of
cause-related marketing and many big businesses
have discovered the enormous mutual beneft to
their companies in partnering with a charitable or
community organization. It’s time for small business
to discover it too.
Whether your business is in a large urban centre or
in a small community, cause-related marketing can
be a great way to bring attention to your business
and to give back to your community. Cause-related
marketing is really just a partnership between a
proftable business and a non-proft organization,
whereby the business agrees to donate a portion
of its product sales for the beneft of a cause. The
beneft to the non-proft is obvious; it gains both
exposure and money. The beneft to the company
is increased traffc to their location, increased
exposure, attracting new customers, higher sales
Cause-Related Marketing:
Can Your Business Beneft?
18 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
and an invaluable perception of goodwill in their
community. You may not be Tim Hortons, but you
can participate in cause-related marketing no
matter how large or small your business or your
community. Here are some things to consider.
Choose to partner with a cause you’re
passionate about. It gives integrity to the
whole process when you can genuinely and
enthusiastically stand behind the cause.
Remember the three C’s of effective cause-
related marketing: Connection, Clarity and
Communication. Make sure your “Connection”
with the organization you’re supporting is clear and
makes sense. Consumer perception is higher when
it can see why you’re supporting the organization
and where your passion comes from. Chapters
bookstore contributes to a fund called Love of
Reading Fund, which supports literacy initiatives
across the country – a perfect match. Ensure there
is a high degree of “Clarity” about exactly how the
organization will beneft from your contribution. For
Tim Hortons, the proceeds of every cup of coffee
sold goes toward Camp Day. It’s simple. It’s clear.
It’s easy to get behind. People will more readily
support things they can understand. Finally, make
sure your “Communication” about the partnership
is strong and clear and throughout the community
to attract new customers. Tim Hortons advertises
Camp Day weeks in advance and makes sure no
one gets through that event without knowing they
had the opportunity to participate. Let people
know what you’re doing and give them plenty of
opportunity to join you in supporting the cause.
Be creative with how you will participate. For
Tim Hortons it’s easy to set aside the proceeds of
coffees sold, but if you’re selling computers it’s
a little more complicated. If you can attach your
support to a simple product that’s great, but if you
can’t there are other ways to become involved. It’s
becoming popular for businesses to give their entire
staff a day off to roll up their sleeves and work in a
community garden that provides fresh vegetables
to food banks and homeless shelters. Signs can be
posted on their doors weeks in advance to advise
customers they will be closed that day and why.
During the preceding weeks they may give their
customers an opportunity to bring non-perishable
items or donations to be forwarded to the food
banks. The day of the event the staff can wear
bright green T-shirts so everyone who is driving by
the garden that day is aware that the company is
helping out the community in this way.
Make your partnership work and become each
other’s fan club. Meet with your community
partner and brainstorm creative ways to partner
with them. They may have more ideas than you
can actually implement! Talk about them with
your customers and encourage them to talk
about you to their constituents. This fosters a
genuine connection, and generates enthusiasm
on both sides.
Get your staff involved. Have them be part
of the process. Rather than telling them what
you’ve decided to do, let them know you will be
partnering with organization X and ask for their
input as to how you, as a whole company, can be
involved in the project.
Don’t lose your focus. Cause-related marketing
feels good, is philanthropic and altruistic, but its
purpose is also to market and drive people to your
business. Selecting a cause that means something
to you is important, but remember your target
market in that selection process. If you want
them to support you, it will need to be important
to them as well, and they need to see and feel
that connection.
In the end, everyone wins and cause-related
marketing is a way to accomplish many of your
marketing goals. It increases success for your
business, genuinely assists another organization
that needs help, gives the community an
opportunity to participate, and fosters goodwill all
around. So, what’s holding you back from taking
a step toward contributing to your community
through cause-related marketing?
19 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Sam, the owner of a highly
successful local soup
and sandwich shop was
considering extending his
hours to offer dinner to its
patrons as well as lunch.
Before Sam went to the
expense of purchasing extra
food and hiring more staff,
he decided to do an informal
poll among his customers.
For one week he offered
everyone who was willing
to fll out his market survey
a free pastry and coffee.
The survey results showed
him that only a small
percentage of his existing
customers would have soup
and sandwich for dinner. In
addition, his location was
close to an industrial area
that was well lit during the
day but where people said
they wouldn’t feel comfortable coming to in the
evening when it was dark. Sam’s market research
told him that he was being successful doing exactly
what he was doing, so rather than extend his hours,
he expanded his shop and is still doing a booming
lunch business.
Lucy was the Executive Director of her town’s
Chamber of Commerce. She and her staff came up
with what they thought was a brilliant idea to offer
a Leadership Training Program to their members.
They calculated what it would cost to run such a
program and created a preliminary course outline.
Before they launched the program, they did an
online survey of their members. Lucy discovered
that there was a lot of interest in the program itself,
but that the members were not willing to pay what
the Chamber needed to make it proftable. Lucy
readjusted the program costs, took the course
down to 5 modules from 8, and offered the course
to her membership. Not only did this provide
the foundation for Lucy’s initial success with the
program, but it became so popular, she was able to
raise the course fees the following year and take it
up to the original 8 modules.
Although Lucy and Sam are running very different
types of organizations, they both beneftted greatly
from doing their market research prior to launching
To Launch or Not to Launch?
Using Market Research to Validate Your Great Ideas
20 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
their big ideas. That market research saved them
both money and time and led them to more
success than they would have had, had they not
taken the time to determine what their
customers wanted.
It’s tempting when you have a great idea (and
entrepreneurs have lots of them) to get carried
away by your enthusiasm, but there are lots of
reasons your idea may not work. You need to know
whether your customers will buy into that idea.
They are the ones who will support your idea with
their dollars, so doesn’t it make sense to ask them
what they think before you leap?
Author, speaker and sales and marketing guru,
Brian Tracey says, “Before embarking on any new
business venture, considerable time must be spent
in research. Your payoff will be in excess of ten to
one in time and money saved or earned. For every
dollar, for every hour that you put into research,
you’re going to save ten or twenty or thirty dollars or
hours later on.” Here are some suggestions for doing
research before you launch your next big idea.
Ask for meaningful information. Leave no stone
unturned. Think of every potential detail you may
need to know before launching your idea and put
it into your survey. Be clear how much it’s going
to cost you, what you have to charge to make it
work, and who your potential customer or audience
is. Ask questions that will help you determine
whether consumers are willing to buy what you’re
proposing, and how much they are willing to pay.
Asking them whether they think it’s a good idea
isn’t enough. A lot of people will tell you they like
your idea, but that doesn’t mean they would pay for
it. Your research will show you where you need to
tweak the details to make it work, or, whether you
need to scrap it and go in a different direction.
Do your own research. Read trade magazines,
industry articles, and educate yourself about
consumer trends and cultural infuences. Know
your customer’s mindset. For example, if your idea
consists of selling a high consumption product
that’s hard on the environment, you’re probably
not going to be able to sell it given the current
environmentally-conscious culture. It’s not only
about knowing what consumers are thinking
today, but where they may be leaning tomorrow
that’s important.
Be objective. Don’t let your love for your idea
cloud your judgment. If there’s anything dangerous
about the entrepreneurial mindset, it’s that
entrepreneurs tend to love their ideas so much
they’ll do anything to justify making them happen.
Take the real data, learn from it, and make a sound
decision based upon it.
Yes, it takes time. Yes, it even takes money. But
as Tracey says, dollar for dollar you’ll save a lot
of money if you spend a little to invest in your
research. If you charge ahead based on a wing and
a prayer (and even a whole lot of self-belief), you
may be in for a rude awakening and potential loss
to your business. Don’t stop dreaming and coming
up with ideas, but make sure your ideas are based
on realistic market research and solid evidence for
their viability.
21 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
This past weekend I was one of the guest speakers
at a conference of radio sales executives and
creative writers. One of the bonuses of being a
speaker at these types of events is that you get to
take in a lot of great training from other presenters
just because you’re there! One of the things that
struck me as I sat in on a few of the sales sessions
in particular, was how enthusiastic these folks
were about helping their clients achieve business
success through radio advertising. This particular
company’s niche market was small to medium
sized communities across western Canada (their
largest community - 80,000, their smallest - 5,000),
so their clients consisted to a large degree, of local
small and medium sized businesses.
While these sales execs were selling based on
commission (so certainly the motivation to achieve
higher sales was in part tied to money), it was also
obvious how much they cared about serving their
clients well and helping them to achieve sales
success. It got me thinking about how few small
business owners that I know personally, are using
radio as part of their advertising strategy. So I did
some research and discovered that radio is one
of the most underused but highly effective forms
of advertising for small business. Here are some
reasons to think about whether radio advertising
might be a strategy you should consider for your
small business.
1. Radio is cost-effective – there’s a myth
among small business owners that radio is
an expensive way to advertise. Based on my
research, it’s actually very cost effective, and
can be cheaper and more effective than
print advertising.
2. Radio provides frequency – we all have heard
the statistics about how many times a potential
customer needs to see (or in this case hear)
your ad before it leads to an action. Radio is
built on frequency – when you purchase a radio
campaign your customers hear it over and over
Consider Radio Advertising
22 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
and provides the “hits” you need for them to
come into your store or business.
3. Radio is creative – one of the comments I
heard this weekend was “radio is superior to
TV because the pictures are better!” I thought
about that – when you’re watching television
(or even looking at print ads for that matter) the
pictures are provided for you. When you listen
to a really great radio ad, much like reading
a book, you engage in “theatre of the mind”
where you create the pictures – so much more
effective and more strongly linked to memory.
4. Radio reaches people when they are on the
move – most people listen to the radio in their
cars, especially in smaller communities. Radio
is a connection to the community. What better
way to reach your potential customer than when
they’re in a position to respond to your ad and
pull into your parking lot?
5. Radio listenership is on the rise in Canada
- a 2008 RMB* study showed that 93% of
Canadians continue to listen to local radio
weekly! In addition, while all other forms of
media usage has declined, only radio and the
internet have increased, and 86% of Canadians
reported their time spent with radio has
increased over the last year, compared with
print and newspaper, which have showed a
steady decline.
6. Radio provides its own creative
professionals – it was amazing to hear from
the creative writers at this conference – the
ones who take your business information and
turn it into fantastic, memorable commercials,
and to hear some award-winning pieces
that sometimes tickled my funny bone, and
sometimes brought a lump to my throat and a
tear to my eye. It’s all part of the deal – when
you sign up for a radio campaign, the creative
is done for you. One word of caution, when you
work with creative radio professionals, trust
them to do their job. You may think you have
the funniest idea, but they know what works.
Give them as much information about your
business as possible, and let them do what
they’re good at.
7. Radio works – on average, 80% of Canadians
listen while driving to and from a shopping trip
and 60% identifed radio as the last medium
they were exposed to before a purchase. Radio
clients will tell you that consistent, creative
advertising campaigns build their businesses.
8. Radio is emotional – when was the last time
you were moved to tears by a newspaper ad
or a brochure? Because of its “theatre of the
mind” potential, radio can make an emotional
connection, and we all know that consumer
purchases are based largely on emotion. At
the conference, we heard an ad that impacted
everyone in the room. We simply heard the
voice of an elderly gentleman, talking about
his recent heart attack. He told the story of
how he ended up at a specifc hospital in
his community. He continued to speak with
warmth and sincerity about his treatment
and stay at this hospital – about the nurses
kindness and attentiveness, about the quality
of care he received, and about his eventual
recovery and return to his family. There wasn’t
a person in the room who wasn’t thinking
about their dad, or grandfather, or uncle – or
someone they knew who had experienced a
heart attack, and by the end of the commercial,
there wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t
convinced if they ever had a heart attack, they
wanted to be taken to that hospital! Radio is an
emotional medium – and one that can help you
connect to your potential customers.
All it takes is a phone call to your local radio station
to request a visit from one of their sales executives.
The visit will cost you nothing but a few minutes
of your time. There are a lot of reasons to consider
trying a radio advertising campaign. Don’t miss an
opportunity to try something new because of your
potentially inaccurate assumptions. Find out for
yourself whether this might be a strategy that could
help you build your business.
What’s your favorite website - the one you keep
23 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
going back to day after day? Why is it your
favorite? Does it provide you with information on a
specifc topic that’s of interest to you? Is it easy and
fun to navigate? Does it give you what you want at
a glance? There are a lot of things that draw us to a
website initially. We may be researching something
for work, or trying to fnd the answer to a debate
we’ve been having with our co-worker. You want
your business website to draw people to it, but you
also want them to keep coming back. It doesn’t
really matter why they’re coming back - just the fact
that they are keeps them exposed to your business
and all that you have to offer. Take ten minutes
to do the following exercise: go to your favorite
website and spend 5 or 10 minutes doing what you
usually do; then, take a moment to write down why
Is Your Website Your Customers’ Favourite?
Ideas to Get on to Your Customers’ Top Bookmarks
24 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
you like the site. What happened when you were
on it? What did you fnd interesting? What does it
do to draw and keep your attention? Many small
business owners think of their websites as just
another checkout. If that’s all your website does,
you’re losing a whole world of potential customers.
Web surfers are savvy and they want more than
just another place to buy stuff. If you and your
competitor are both selling the same goods
on your websites, but your competitor offers
that “something extra” that makes his website
the customer’s favourite, it doesn’t matter how
beautiful your site is, or how great your product is,
the customer will default to the other site. Here are
some ideas for making your website the favourite
of your customers.
Offer useful, unique stuff - the checkout concept
just doesn’t work any more. There are hundreds
(even thousands) of businesses online selling
similar products to yours. People have lots of
checkouts to choose from. To get to the top of
their list, you must offer them more. Articles or
white papers on topics they might fnd useful, a Q
& A forum where they can post their questions and
get answers from your “experts”, tutorials (maybe
a brief but informative tutorial that shows how to
grout tile in a bathroom, if you sell bathroom tile),
helpful links to other related sites they might fnd
interesting, an opportunity to subscribe to your
newsletter, a way for them to connect with other
customers, and the list goes on.
A favourite site is www.ehow.com (subtitled How
to Do Just About Everything). For some great ideas
on ways to add interest to your website, take a
look. It has a section on helping you fnd out how
to do “just about anything”. It has videos that show
you how to do things. It has resources for you to
research your topic further. It even has a section
that tells you what some of the most requested
topics are and offers its community the opportunity
to write the articles to answer those questions.
The bottom line is - give your customers a reason
to keep coming back by providing stuff they fnd
useful. That’s more than a checkout!
Increase your credibility - people can say just
about anything on their websites and it’s up to the
surfer to fgure out what’s true. So, using industry
experts who have nothing to do with your company
adds credibility to your site. Get reprint permission
for an article written by a highly respected person
in your industry. Get quotes or use stories from
community leaders who are relevant to your
industry. Find an expert who is willing to write
content for you. Find creative ways to use experts
in your online community.
Keep your site working properly - there’s
nothing more frustrating (or that detracts from your
credibility) than a site that doesn’t work. Broken
links, shopping carts that don’t work, sales that are
out of date, pages that don’t load (or take forever
to load), etc. Your technology should be seamless.
Modern web surfers are not patient, and will quickly
move on if your site causes too many frustrations.
Keep it interactive – web consumers want to be
able to interact with you. Give them opportunities
to enter contests, contribute content, share their
experiences, ask questions, tweet or facebook
(or a dozen other social media opportunities) and
connect with other customers. Static websites are
passé. With all the free social media tools available
there’s no excuse not to provide opportunities for
interaction on your website.
Take note of what you like on the web, and think
about how you can create the same experience
on your own website. Make it your goal to have
your website reach the status of landing on your
customer’s “favourites” bookmark bar, and watch
your business exposure and sales increase. The
more often your customer goes to your site, the
greater your chances of enticing him or her to
purchase from you again.
25 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
You’ve had it happen to you – you’ve just done
an exceptional job of fxing something for your
customer at a great price, and they can’t stop
raving about you. In fact, they’re telling everyone
in your showroom who will listen, how great you
are. You stand there and smile, enjoying your
moment in the sun and hoping that everyone who’s
listening will be infuenced toward making large
purchases. After your customer leaves however,
the enthusiasm dissipates quickly and an hour later
it’s business as usual, and you’re just another guy
who does what you do along with everyone else.
So how do you make the most of your customers’
great experiences with your business? Word
of mouth is the most powerful way to gain new
customers. Capture that positive energy and put it
to work for you through testimonials!
Marketing expert David Frey in his “Coaches
and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp” says,
“Testimonials are powerful. They create
believability, credibility, and a sense of security
for your customer. They help to break down the
natural barriers and distrust that most buyers feel
toward you and your business.” Have you ever
noticed how infomercials are loaded with customer
testimonials? Why? Because they work! It’s easier
for us to relate to an ordinary person telling the
story about how great the product was than it is for
us to believe the words of the seller.
Here are a few tips on how to maximize the good
things your customers say about you, and use it to
gain new business every day.
Tap into Testimonials
The Marketing Strategy You May Tend to Forget
26 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Strike while the iron is hot
(and your customer is happy)
Don’t wait even for a few days to ask for a
testimonial. Ask when your customer is most
thrilled with your service – right at that moment.
When they’re raving about you, ask if they’d
be willing to have you use their words on your
marketing materials. When customers are in that
state of satisfaction, they’ll rarely turn you down,
and those words will work for you as long as you
have your business.
Write it for them
Some people would love to give you a testimonial
but struggle with the writing part of it. If you have
heard from them verbally and can translate that
into a written testimonial, you’re way ahead of the
game. Simply send them a copy of what you wrote
and give them the freedom to edit it if they wish
(which they rarely do). This often saves a lot of time
in waiting for them to get back to you.
Get testimonials for different
aspects of your business from the
same people.
Ask for three different testimonials specifc to
each of the areas of work if you offer 3 different
services. That way if you’re marketing the training
aspect of your business, you can pull out the
quotes that specifcally refer to training, and when
you’re marketing the coaching aspect, the quotes
relevant to that side of your business will be used.
If you’re asking for more than one quote, you may
want to consider writing them for your customer as
mentioned earlier.
Keep them short and specifc
Ask for 2-3 sentences only. People can usually
come up with a few sentences, but if you ask for
something longer they may feel overwhelmed and
not be as willing to do it for you. Also, provide
guidelines to your customers as to what aspect
of your business you want them to comment on.
Here’s how you can phrase the request: “Can you
please comment specifcally on what aspect of the
course material you found most valuable, and also
what made me as a trainer effective in delivering
the material?” You already know this person thinks
you have done a good job because she emailed
you after the session and told you so. Chances are
they’ll be more than happy to comply and send the
quote within a day.
Use real names whenever possible
and always use credentials
Always ask your customer if they feel comfortable
with you using their real name, or if they’d allow
you to use their frst name and last initial. Saying
the quote came from “Susan James, or Susan J.,
Associate Professor, Stanley College” gives more
weight to the quote than just “Susan”.
Always thank your customer
for their testimonial
If your customer has agreed to give you a
testimonial, make sure they know how much you
appreciate it. Write them a thank-you note letting
them know how valuable this will be to you in
growing your business. Send a small thank-you
gift or offer a discount for the next time they use
your service.
Frey says “It’s one thing to toot your own horn
– people expect you to sing your own praises.
Because of this there’s an inherent disbelief in any
marketing message that comes from you. But when
other people who have nothing to gain from your
success say good things about your products or
services, your believability shoots skyward.”
So get out there and start asking! You’ll be amazed
at how willing your customers are, especially after
they’ve had a good experience, and watch your
credibility to new prospects soar.
Small Business Success
A Blue Beetle Books Publication
Provided by
Community Futures Elk Island Region
Box 547, #4 5002 Diefenbaker Avenue
Two Hills AB T0B 4K0
Phone: 780-657-3512
Fax: 780-657-2359
Email: [email protected]
www.cfelkisland.ca
doc_201592500.pdf
Starbucks, Walmart, IBM, Microsoft, or any other wildly successful corporation, you have to admit that something they're doing is working in a big way.
A Blue Beetle Books Publication
Making Your Business Stand Out
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Copyright © 2011 Blue Beetle Books
Making Your Business Stand Out -
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Vaughan, Ingrid; Business Writer
Dolinsky, Karla; Editor
Published as an eBook original by
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3 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Making Your Business Stand Out
Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work
Table of Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................4
Learning from the Best - Big Business Marketing Strategies Any Small
Business Can Use ..................................................................................................................5
The High Call of Honesty in Marketing ................................................................................7
An Old Marketing Model Made New - Applying AIDA to Modern Marketing ...................9
Cooperative Marketing ..........................................................................................................9
Standing Out From the Crowd ............................................................................................13
Your Marketing Message – Is it Working for You? ............................................................15
Cause-Related Marketing: Can Your Business Beneft? ..................................................17
To Launch or Not to Launch? Using Market Research to Validate
Your Great Ideas ..................................................................................................................19
Consider Radio Advertising ................................................................................................21
Is Your Website Your Customers’ Favourite? Ideas to Get on to Your
Customers’ Top Bookmarks ...............................................................................................23
Tap into Testimonials - The Marketing Strategy You May Tend to Forget ......................25
4 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
We’re all busy people, which is why the Small Business Success
Library of books is a great way to get your hands on a lot of
information, vital to your success, in easy bite-sized pieces. This
anthology on Marketing will give you lots of hands-on, straight-forward
ways to improve your small business marketing.
In Volume one of our Marketing series you will fnd a variety of tips and
habits that will show you how to increase your competitive edge in the
marketplace.
We start with Learning from the Best – using the strategies from large
successful corporations and showing you how you can make them
work for your small business. In addition, you’ll fnd information on
the importance of honesty in your marketing message, and on blending traditional, proven marketing
strategies with new methods of delivering them.
With Cooperative Marketing, you’ll learn how to collaborate with other businesses to expand your
exposure and increase your customer base. You’ll also fnd out how cause-related marketing can help
you increase business.
In this volume, you’ll also fnd several tools to help you stand out from the crowd. Make Your Website
Your Customers’ Favourite and To Launch or Not to Launch provide tools to help you make smart
marketing decisions. The questions in Your Marketing Message, will give you a fresh new perspective
on how to evaluate your company’s messaging. Finally, Tap into Customer Testimonials gives you some
great ideas on how you can easily turn happy customer experiences into marketing messages that will
have a huge impact on your business.
No matter how large or small your business, you’ll fnd something in this eBook to make you think
about how you are marketing your business, and give you strategies on how to do it better.
Making Your Business Stand Out - Small Business Marketing Strategies that Really Work is a quick and
easy read, but the tips and tools you fnd here will help you to improve your marketing, strengthen your
brand, and get your message out to the people who need to hear it – your customers!
Ingrid Vaughan
Business Writer
Introduction
5 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Learning from the Best
Whether you’re talking about Starbucks, Walmart,
IBM, Microsoft, or any other wildly successful
corporation, you have to admit that something
they’re doing is working in a big way. Starbucks
doesn’t give out coupons, use punch cards, or
advertise on radio or TV. Yet it continues to be one
of the biggest business success stories of this
generation. Its marketing is actually quite subtle,
yet hundreds of thousands of people fock to
purchase coffee, food, and retail items there every
day. How can you apply some simple, practical
marketing strategies in your business that mirror
those used by large, successful corporations?
It’s easier than you think, and costs less than you
would imagine. The following marketing strategies
come from research conducted with employees
of some of those companies. Not surprising, each
strategy has to do with recognizing your employees
and their potential impact on your marketing. It’s a
frst step toward shifting your thinking “inside out”.
They are easy to implement, and can have huge
implications for your business proft.
Provide great employee discounts
Although on the surface this doesn’t look like a
great marketing strategy, take a moment to think
about it. Your employees are your best marketing
tool. If you make it easy for them to shop at your
store, they become walking, talking advertising
campaigns for your business. If you own a retail
clothing store and only offer your employees a 5
or 10% employee discount, chances are they’ll
fnd similar items in another store for less. What
incentive do they have to buy it from you? But
if you offer them a 30-40% discount, they have
greater motivation to shop at your store, and
Big Business Marketing Strategies Any Small Business Can Use
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when other people notice their clothing, your store
gets the credit. Not to mention, the more of your
products they try and buy, the better equipped they
are to sell them to customers.
Give your employees free
stuff from your store
Again, on the surface, you may be thinking “that
will cost me a fortune”, but it doesn’t have to be
high cost items. If once a month you provided your
staff (or even selected members of your staff – be
creative with how you choose who gets the take-
home prize of the month), with a small item from
your store, it will go a long way toward building
loyalty in your staff, and also getting your staff to
try the things you sell when they may otherwise not
do so. It’s free advertising. Your employees have
friends and families, and they have a huge infuence
on their buying decisions. Say you own a computer
store. Consider that everyone who works at your
store has a large network of people who come to
them with questions about computer equipment
simply because they work at your store. If they
don’t know anything about what you sell, they
won’t be infuencing their friends to shop with you.
In fact, they may be a negative infuence on your
store. On the other hand, if last month, they won a
particular piece of hardware that has doubled their
computer speed and effciency, and as a result,
they can speak confdently about how this changed
their computing experience, how different do you
think their discussions and advice to their friends
and your customers will be?
Allow your employees to have input
in your marketing plans
Strong companies know their employees are
their best window to the market. They know,
often better than management, what customers
want, what they’re talking about, what they need.
Give them the opportunity to have input in your
marketing decisions, and reward good ideas. And
don’t be afraid to implement those ideas! It will
show employees their contribution is valued, and
allows them to see the impact of being invested
in your business. Not every idea will work, but the
more of them you try, the more likely you’ll fnd
ones that do.
Reward your employees for
hard work and loyalty
Successful companies value their employees and
demonstrate that to them. Whether it’s monetary
rewards, company retreats, an occasional paid day
off – people love being acknowledged for their hard
work. It makes them happier on the job, and this
positive attitude affects customer decisions. Not
only does it motivate them to work even harder,
but they tell people what a great employer you are.
This motivates their circle of potential buyers to
seriously consider purchasing from you. Potential
customers assume that if you treat your employees
that well, you’ll treat them well too.
Work on developing your team
Smart, successful businesses put a lot of money
and energy into building their teams because they
know a strong team is the foundation for a strong
business. Professional development and training,
teambuilding meetings and retreats, and team-
oriented activities on a day-to-day basis strengthen
your business. People who genuinely enjoy working
together refect that to customers, and customers
enjoy their experience in your business even more
when that team spirit is evident. One successful
corporation interviewed told us they require every
person on every shift, to write a brief note of
encouragement to another staff member. This is
not optional – it’s a mandatory part of their job!
The note can be about how they served customers
particularly well that day, or something kind they
did for someone, or a way they went above and
beyond for someone else during their shift, or even
for their product knowledge. This is one way to
create loyalty and spirit among your team, as every
day they receive positive acknowledgment from
their peers.
Your employees are the frst ring in your marketing
circle. Sell to them frst, and you’ll fnd greater
success in selling to your customers. Consider
them as part of your marketing strategy and you’ll
see big results.
7 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
If you made a list of the people you most admired
in your life and wrote down the attributes that
they displayed, I have no doubt honesty would be
among them. Honesty is the most common value
people look for in partnerships, marriages, and
friendship. It is no wonder it’s such an important
part of business. Sadly, somewhere along the way
we’ve lost our trust in what people say when it
comes to business. We enter into sales situations
with anxiety, wondering “what isn’t he/she telling
me?” A recent national poll in the United Sates
showed that 53% of people sense a “feeling of
deception” when it comes to hearing marketing
messages. Advertising is even more mistrusted.
Perhaps there are valid reasons for this mistrust.
Customers have been used, lied to, deceived, and
taken advantage of, and there likely isn’t a person
out there who couldn’t tell a story to validate this.
It’s diffcult to fnd someone who hasn’t had a
bad purchasing experience somewhere. So here’s
to a resurgence of honesty in marketing. If your
business becomes one that embraces honesty, you
will stand out from the crowd.
Marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson
in his book Guerilla Marketing
Excellence – The Fifty Golden Rules
for Small Business Success
says, “Although I cannot
claim that honesty is
one of the most valuable
weapons in the arsenal of
a guerrilla, I can advise you
that dishonesty is one of the mortal enemies of
your reputation and your marketing.” When it
comes to marketing your product, can you
afford to provide your customers with
anything less than the truth? Here are
a few ideas to inspire your thinking around this
issue, and to encourage a truly honest marketing
plan for your business.
Admit your mistakes
Nothing builds trust more than when you admit that
you’ve blown it and do all you can to make it right.
Covering up, passing the blame, or giving your
customer a line about
why it wasn’t your fault
will come back to
haunt you. Eventually,
they will fnd out.
Better to say “we
received a bad widget
shipment and have
sent them all back
to the manufacturer.
We’ll replace yours for
free.” Or, “we made a
mistake – your service
contract should have
been renewed two
months ago, but
we’ll honour the
contract and
make
The High Call of Honesty in Marketing
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this repair for you.” Honesty builds trust and trust
builds loyalty. Loyalty brings in new customers
through word-of-mouth. That’s effective marketing!
Hype attracts, truth sells
There’s no question that the bigger the
hype, the more attention you
attract. But hype doesn’t
sell, truth does. Hype
is fun and it may get
folks through the
door, but in the
end it doesn’t
get them to
part with
their money.
If you want
to sell your
customers
on your
product
or service,
tell them
the truth.
Be honest
about its great
attributes, as well
as its limitations.
Don’t say “best price in
town” unless you know for
sure it is, or are willing to beat any
competitor whose price is lower. “Largest
selection in Canada” doesn’t wash because your
customer can’t fnd out if it’s true. Do your best to
represent truthfulness in every marketing piece that
you put out. You’ll fnd your sales statistics much
higher than those companies who live on hype.
Offer something for nothing
Once in a while, give something away that has no
strings attached. This concept is so rare that if
you do it, people will take a while to get used to it.
They’ll keep expecting you to ask for something.
So instead of offering a newsletter that you
will use to promote your next sale, just offer an
informative newsletter that has useful information
for your customer. Provide a free seminar on a
related topic that is just that – FREE. If you own a
car dealership, offer a workshop on how to change
a tire. If you own a craft or sewing store, bring
in one of your crafter customers to do a
workshop on a specifc project.
The key here is – don’t ask
customers or participants
for something as they’re
going out the door!
The marketing
impact will be
greater if you
haven’t tried
to sell them
something,
than if they feel
they have been
manipulated
into coming
so you can sell
to them.
Offer
guarantees on
everything
Nothing inspires people
to believe in you more
than knowing you will back up
everything you do or sell. If you say
you’ll take it back for any reason – people
will trust you and buy your product. Whatever is in
your power to guarantee, do it. You’ll actually have
far fewer people trying to return things, and more
people buying with the confdence that they can, if
they need to.
Take steps to inspire honesty and the confdence
it generates, through your marketing efforts. A
little bit of trust goes a long way when it comes
to customers. Be a company that customers can
believe in and count on and they’ll be loyal to you,
and bring new customers to you. That’s a pretty
sound marketing strategy!
9 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Social media is changing the way we do business.
There’s no denying businesses who want to survive
in the future will need to learn and tap into this
whole new arena (if you’re not yet convinced, watch
this brief video athttp://bit.ly/sbs_social for some
shocking statistics and the reality that social media
is here to stay). But do we have to turn our backs
on old methods and models? To throw the baby
out with the bathwater? While the way in which we
market is already in place, has changed, and will
continue to change, sound marketing principles
have not changed.
There is an older marketing model (acronym AIDA)
developed in 1925 by a business analyst named
E.K. Strong that was taught in business schools
for years. It stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire
and Action. The model isn’t new, and by modern
standards it might seem archaic and irrelevant, yet
it stresses fundamentals of successful marketing
and thus still has incredible value in marketing
today’s business.
Attention:
The frst principle is attracting your customers’
attention. This probably looked quite different
in 1925 than it does now, but it is at the core of
what advertising does. If you don’t get a person’s
attention, you can’t convey a message and certainly
can’t persuade them to buy anything. Consumers
in the 21st century have less time to attend to
things such as advertising and seemingly a shorter
An Old Marketing Model Made New
Applying AIDA to Modern Marketing
10 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
attention span than they did in 1925, so grabbing
their attention needs to happen quickly – within
the frst few seconds – or they‘ve continued on their
way to somewhere else. Today’s audience demands
more sophisticated content. To attract attention,
the message or impact needs to be rawer, bolder,
and on the edge, and customers want it NOW.
Traditional marketing isn’t geared to “now”. It comes
whenever a customer picks up a magazine, turns
on the TV or radio, drives past a billboard or gets
a fyer in the mail. Social media allows immediate
attention grabbing. Tweet your message and you’ve
got hundreds of people’s attention immediately. By
having your link on another’s Facebook page, you
can attract the attention of a person who isn’t even
expecting to see your message there. As a business,
you’re going to have to come up with smarter ways
to reach your customers and get their attention, and
grab it fast.
Interest:
Once you’ve got their attention, you have the equally
diffcult task of keeping it. Today’s consumers are
more savvy. They know more about what they’re
buying and they expect more of the companies they
buy from. More than ever, they need to know what’s
in it for them, so the focus on beneft rather than
information is vital. Keep their attention by engaging
with them in real time, asking them questions and
being interested in what’s important to them. Listen
to what they are saying and respond in ways that
will mean something to them. Traditional surveys
can do this, but social media allows for even
greater information sourcing and more meaningful
exchange. A question on Facebook or Twitter could
get more responses and genuine information than
paper, telephone, or even online surveys.
Desire:
Once you’ve got their interest, you must convince
them that they want what you have to offer and
that it will meet their needs. People can recognize
that they have a need, but that is not desire. Desire
is what motivates people to buy. Some traditional
ways of creating desire are using the scarcity
principle (telling people the item to be desired will
not be available for long), demonstrating how other
people approve of the item and have acquired it
for themselves, or showing them how what you
have to offer will solve some of their problems. It’s
suggested that a modern substitute or addition to
the “D” is DIALOGUE. Today’s consumer wants
to talk about what they’re buying. They’re asking
everyone all over the world about their experience
in buying what you’re selling. If you can open up
a dialogue with potential customers that shows
transparency and that you’re listening, it will assist
you in creating that desire. This is easily done with
the new social media, and can fow quite naturally
once you’ve captured their interest.
Action:
This principle says you must lead your customers
toward action. It is known in current terms as a
“call to action”; a “click here”, or a “phone now”.
You are actively moving the customer toward the
purchase. Shopping channels do this brilliantly, as
do infomercials. On the left hand side of your TV
screen you see how many items are available, and
as the hour ticks on you actually see the number of
items available going down, presumably as people
are focking to their telephones to order. “Special
offer “, or “if you call in the next 5 minutes you get a
bonus” are calls to action. So are dated sales. The
next generation of customer may be less and less
infuenced by these traditional calls to action, so
smart businesses may have to fnd a way to move
customers to action without pressure tactics.
Finally, some marketing experts have added an “S”
to the acronym, for Satisfaction. This involves an
exceptional customer experience - satisfying the
customer so that they ‘repeat buy’ and refer their friends.
Here tradition meets the future. AIDA provides
strong, relevant marketing principles, and
businesses today need to fnd new ways to apply
them. Do some research on your own. Take a course
on social media and consider the many ways it can
serve your business in the future. Keep up to date on
trends and stay on the forward edge in your industry,
and adapt the fundamentals of marketing to a new
medium. Be the one who stands out because you
get it, and you’ll see success.
11 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Jay Conrad Levinson (Guerilla Marketing guru)
coined the phrase “fusion marketing”, which
refers to a marketing strategy that challenges
tradition. It involves building relationships with
your competition and other businesses with a
similar target market to enhance each other’s
business success; a twist on the traditional,
more territorial marketing methods. Cooperative
marketing expands your exposure and your
potential for proftability. One recent example of
successful fusion marketing partherships from big
business is Tim Hortons and Wendy’s restaurants
operating in a shared space. The idea is that
people come in for lunch or dinner at Wendy’s,
and slip past Tim Horton’s for coffee and dessert.
And who hasn’t enjoyed a cup of Starbucks coffee
while shopping at Chapters? Another example can
be found with companies who offer frequent fyer
miles partnering with hotels, car rental agencies
and restaurants. Cooperative marketing is a win-
win strategy.
Cooperative marketing is one of the most
inexpensive and underused forms of marketing,
yet it has the power to increase the value of your
marketing dollar. It’s as simple as fnding someone
who will put your fyer in their window while you
Cooperative Marketing
12 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
put their fyer in yours. It can be as complex as
merging huge companies, as in the example above.
The purpose of cooperative marketing is mutual
proftability, and it can work for your small business.
Here’s how you can go about fnding cooperative
partnerships for your business.
Make a list of potential cooperative markets.
Look out your window and write down all the
businesses that provide a product or service within
your sight. Contact your key suppliers and ask
for their ideas. Ask your customers what kind of
service they might like that would complement
what you offer. Get a business list from your local
Chamber of Commerce. Try not to flter too much
at the beginning. You never know what kind of
synergy might exist in unexpected places.
Think about companies on your list who have a
similar target market as your business. At frst
glance, a car wash and a European deli next door
to one another may not appear to have much in
common but doesn’t it make sense that people
having their cars washed might want a sandwich
while they wait, or that people who are having lunch
might have their car washed while they eat?
Ask what your business might have in common
with another. What might a bottled water company
have in common with a company that sells organic
gourmet coffee? People who drink expensive
gourmet coffee are likely to use bottled water to
make it. The water company has a rack of the
gourmet coffee by its checkout, and the coffee
company provides a fyer or discount coupon from
the water company to each of its customers. Ask
yourself this question in relation to a dozen or so
businesses in your area and see what fun you can
have trying to come up with some cooperative
marketing ideas.
Approach other businesses with your ideas.
Since cooperative marketing is about mutual
beneft, it’s hard to imagine that people won’t be
excited about increasing their marketing potential
by helping you with yours. Be enthusiastic and
prepared. The more well thought-out your idea, the
more likely someone will want to participate. Talk
about ways to share marketing expenses. Can you
share the cost of printing fyers if each business is
featured on one side? Could you add their fyer to
your next business mail-out and they add yours to
theirs? Can you plan a customer appreciation event
together that maximizes both your contact lists?
Can you offer free advertising on each other’s web
sites? The possibilities are endless. Go crazy with
your creative ideas.
Keep looking for new partners. Chances are,
you’re going to fnd cooperative marketing such a
great way to do business, you’ll want to keep your
options open. Every time you get an advertisement
in the mail or purchase a product or service, ask
yourself whether this might be the kind of business
you could partner with.
Don’t forget about web marketing. If you have
a website, you owe it to yourself to employ this
strategy to maximize your internet marketing
dollar. Do a search of companies who offer similar
or complementary products, or who do business
in your geographic area. Search for established
web sites of organizations or associations in your
industry, and approach them with a cooperative
marketing plan.
Cooperative marketing may require a shift in the
way we’ve traditionally thought about marketing,
but it can push your sales and profts to a level
you might never be able to reach on your own. Not
only will you increase your bottom line, but you’ll
increase your network and potential customer base
at the same time. You may never have heard of the
gourmet coffee company mentioned earlier if you
hadn’t come in to get your bottled water. If you like
the coffee, they’ve just gained a customer they
could not have reached any other way.
Think about how cooperative marketing might
beneft you and your business, and watch your
business grow!
13 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Chances are, you aren’t the only business
offering your product or service in your area. If
you have competitors, it’s worthwhile to take a
look at whether you have something that stands
out enough to attract people to your business.
This process is called differentiation. It’s not as
much about competing for clients with other
‘like’ businesses as it is offering potential clients
a specifc reason to choose yours. Here’s how
differentiation could work for you.
Determine where you are truly
different from your competitors.
This is the easy part. You probably already know
this, but it wouldn’t hurt to do a competitive
analysis on how your product or service differs from
others on the market. Be as specifc as possible
and come up with as many different things as
you can. If you sell a software product, are you
the only company who also installs and trains on
the software? If you are a graphic designer, do
you offer brokering of the print process as part
of your service? If you do automobile body work,
do you provide courtesy cars with free pick-up
and drop-off for your customers? Does your retail
clothing store have an in-house alteration service?
Figure out what truly sets you apart from your
competitors. Why do customers choose YOU?
Think about how what you do
benefts your customers.
It’s not enough to simply determine where you
are different, you also have to fgure out how to
make that difference matter to your customers.
Standing Out From the Crowd
14 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Look at your list of what makes you different and
think of the specifc benefts each may have to
a customer. For example, what is the beneft of
offering installation and training on the software
you’re selling? It saves time - the customer
doesn’t have to look for someone else to do the
training. It saves money - instead of wasting
hours trying to learn from a manual, your training
will assist in decreasing the learning curve. It
shows commitment - you’re not just going to sell
and run, you’re standing behind your product
and establishing a longer-term relationship with
the customer. Are they then more likely to also
purchase your support package? Probably. You’ve
already given them three reasons to. So take each
difference you’ve listed, and come up with three
benefts to your customer that those
differences provide.
Anticipate customer problems
and needs.
The more accurately you can predict what your
customers’ needs and problems might be, the
better you will be able to deal with objections that
come your way, and the stronger your position
will be. Take the example of a graphic artist. Sally
knows her clients appreciate the design work she
does for them, but has noticed their frustration
in having to deal with the print process once her
service is done. Her customers spend considerable
time getting quotes from different printers to
determine where to go. They don’t understand the
language used in the print process, and often end
up getting proofs that do not ft their specifcations.
In addition, they have to spend time running back
and forth to the printer to look at proofs. Now
that Sally has anticipated the problems, she can
differentiate herself from other designers. Since
Sally is familiar with the printers, understands the
language of specs, and knows generally which
printer specializes in what type of job, she can offer
to manage the print process as part of her design
service. It takes very little of Sally’s time to add a
valued service, and suddenly, Sally stands out.
Stay focused - do what you do well.
In trying to differentiate your company, the
temptation is to try to do everything for everyone.
This in itself may be a differentiation, but not
necessarily a good one. Marketing experts say it
is better to do one thing exceptionally well than a
bunch of things with mediocre results. Determine
what you do best and focus on that. Don’t be afraid
to refer customers to a competitor if they truly offer
a better ft for their needs. In the long run you’re
better off having them happy with what they’re
getting from a competitor than trying to stretch your
abilities and not being able to provide customer
satisfaction.
Do you remember what your USP (Unique Selling
Proposition) was when you started your business?
Is it still the same? How can you use that USP to
differentiate yourself in your industry and make your
business stand out from the rest?
15 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Every business has a message, or at least it
should. It’s the one thing you want everyone
to know about you; that thing that makes you
unique - your unique selling proposition. The
reason everyone should come to you when they
need that product or service. Your marketing
message is critical to everything you do to
market your business, and it should be on every
piece of media you use – from advertisements
to brochures to your website. A marketing
message is not a mission statement, or a slogan
(although it can be incorporated into a slogan),
or a list of credits and accomplishments. It is the
one thing that grabs your prospects’ attention
and draws them to your business over someone
else’s. So what’s your message, and is it
working for you?
David Frey, author and creator of “The Coaches
and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp” said the
following:
“The key to creating a winning marketing
message is to make sure that it matches the
wants and needs of those who receive it.”
Sounds pretty simple, but few business owners
really understand the power of using this principle.
Frey continues to say that most businesses
approach their marketing with a WWD (what we do)
mentality. This means letting potential customers
know what the business does and what services
it offers. Compare this to a customer-focused
mentality that answers the customer’s concern
- WIIFM (what’s in it for me?). This approaches
the marketing message by providing information
based on fnding and flling a customer’s need. The
customer is far less concerned with a list of all the
programs, products and services you offer, than
with what specifc beneft they will gain through
your company, or that your company has a solution
to their problem.
If you are looking for new tires for your car, which
message would appeal to you more – “ABC Tire
– riding on 25 years of experience”, or “XYZ Tire –
your family’s safety is our only priority”. Chances
are, your family’s safety is going to win out over
how many years the tire company has been in
business. If XYZ tire added “ for 25 years your
family’s safety has been our only priority” you’d
have an even stronger message. In that case, the
25 years adds weight to what’s already important to
the customer.
Your Marketing Message – Is it Working for You?
16 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
So have a look at your marketing message and ask
yourself the following questions:
1. Will it reach your specifc target market? If
you don’t know who your target market is, you
need to do some research. You can’t write an
effective message if you don’t know who needs
to receive it.
2. Does it tell WWD (your perspective), or does it
answer WIIFM (the customer’s perspective)?
Remember, your message will be more effective
if it solves a problem or flls a need for your
customer, rather than just listing your products
or services.
3. Does it push an emotional “button” for the
customer? People often buy from an emotional
response to something. In the case of XYZ tire,
the emotional trigger is concern for your family’s
safety. That’s a pretty hot button!
4. Does it solve a specifc problem the customer
has? If you suffer from Type II Diabetes, would
you be likely to respond to an advertisement
that promises to help you manage it more
effectively with little interruption to your life?
People are interested in solutions to their
specifc problems. Find out what that is for your
target market.
5. Will the receiver of the message feel compelled
to come to you? What do you have that’s so
different from your competition? Why should
they choose you over someone else? Answer
those questions for the customer and they likely
will choose your business.
6. Will the customer have confdence you can
provide the solution you’re offering? Can you
back up what you’re saying with experience and
with proof that you’ve delivered that solution to
other people?
7. Is everything in the message true? Nothing is
worse than trying to make your message more
appealing by exaggerating it slightly. Someone,
somewhere, will fnd out you’ve not been
honest, and your integrity will be shot. That
is the most diffcult thing for your business to
recover from. Make sure everything you say in
your message is absolutely, 100% true.
The answers to these questions should inform
you about your message and help you create one
that will have the desired impact. Once you’ve
come up with a marketing message that speaks to
these issues, use it on everything. You want your
message to be on everyone’s lips, so that your
company comes to mind immediately in response
to a specifc need. Revisit your message often as
economic, demographic and industry changes
occur. This will give you an edge in keeping existing
and getting new customers as your message
responds to their needs.
17 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Every June, Tim Hortons restaurants invite
customers to buy a cup of coffee and help send
kids who could otherwise not afford it, on the
camping adventure of a lifetime (Camp Day). It is
the single largest fundraiser for the Tim Horton
Children’s Foundation, and takes place annually
at more than 2,300 participating locations across
Canada. If you set foot inside of a Tim Hortons
on that day it is hard not to notice the excitement
and enthusiasm generated by what is a simple
philanthropic act. It literally drives people into Tim
Hortons, even if that is not where they normally buy
their coffee, because they want to contribute to
the cause. Special “smile” cookies are also sold to
customers, adding to the $5.5 million dollars raised
on Camp Day. This is a successful example of
cause-related marketing and many big businesses
have discovered the enormous mutual beneft to
their companies in partnering with a charitable or
community organization. It’s time for small business
to discover it too.
Whether your business is in a large urban centre or
in a small community, cause-related marketing can
be a great way to bring attention to your business
and to give back to your community. Cause-related
marketing is really just a partnership between a
proftable business and a non-proft organization,
whereby the business agrees to donate a portion
of its product sales for the beneft of a cause. The
beneft to the non-proft is obvious; it gains both
exposure and money. The beneft to the company
is increased traffc to their location, increased
exposure, attracting new customers, higher sales
Cause-Related Marketing:
Can Your Business Beneft?
18 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
and an invaluable perception of goodwill in their
community. You may not be Tim Hortons, but you
can participate in cause-related marketing no
matter how large or small your business or your
community. Here are some things to consider.
Choose to partner with a cause you’re
passionate about. It gives integrity to the
whole process when you can genuinely and
enthusiastically stand behind the cause.
Remember the three C’s of effective cause-
related marketing: Connection, Clarity and
Communication. Make sure your “Connection”
with the organization you’re supporting is clear and
makes sense. Consumer perception is higher when
it can see why you’re supporting the organization
and where your passion comes from. Chapters
bookstore contributes to a fund called Love of
Reading Fund, which supports literacy initiatives
across the country – a perfect match. Ensure there
is a high degree of “Clarity” about exactly how the
organization will beneft from your contribution. For
Tim Hortons, the proceeds of every cup of coffee
sold goes toward Camp Day. It’s simple. It’s clear.
It’s easy to get behind. People will more readily
support things they can understand. Finally, make
sure your “Communication” about the partnership
is strong and clear and throughout the community
to attract new customers. Tim Hortons advertises
Camp Day weeks in advance and makes sure no
one gets through that event without knowing they
had the opportunity to participate. Let people
know what you’re doing and give them plenty of
opportunity to join you in supporting the cause.
Be creative with how you will participate. For
Tim Hortons it’s easy to set aside the proceeds of
coffees sold, but if you’re selling computers it’s
a little more complicated. If you can attach your
support to a simple product that’s great, but if you
can’t there are other ways to become involved. It’s
becoming popular for businesses to give their entire
staff a day off to roll up their sleeves and work in a
community garden that provides fresh vegetables
to food banks and homeless shelters. Signs can be
posted on their doors weeks in advance to advise
customers they will be closed that day and why.
During the preceding weeks they may give their
customers an opportunity to bring non-perishable
items or donations to be forwarded to the food
banks. The day of the event the staff can wear
bright green T-shirts so everyone who is driving by
the garden that day is aware that the company is
helping out the community in this way.
Make your partnership work and become each
other’s fan club. Meet with your community
partner and brainstorm creative ways to partner
with them. They may have more ideas than you
can actually implement! Talk about them with
your customers and encourage them to talk
about you to their constituents. This fosters a
genuine connection, and generates enthusiasm
on both sides.
Get your staff involved. Have them be part
of the process. Rather than telling them what
you’ve decided to do, let them know you will be
partnering with organization X and ask for their
input as to how you, as a whole company, can be
involved in the project.
Don’t lose your focus. Cause-related marketing
feels good, is philanthropic and altruistic, but its
purpose is also to market and drive people to your
business. Selecting a cause that means something
to you is important, but remember your target
market in that selection process. If you want
them to support you, it will need to be important
to them as well, and they need to see and feel
that connection.
In the end, everyone wins and cause-related
marketing is a way to accomplish many of your
marketing goals. It increases success for your
business, genuinely assists another organization
that needs help, gives the community an
opportunity to participate, and fosters goodwill all
around. So, what’s holding you back from taking
a step toward contributing to your community
through cause-related marketing?
19 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Sam, the owner of a highly
successful local soup
and sandwich shop was
considering extending his
hours to offer dinner to its
patrons as well as lunch.
Before Sam went to the
expense of purchasing extra
food and hiring more staff,
he decided to do an informal
poll among his customers.
For one week he offered
everyone who was willing
to fll out his market survey
a free pastry and coffee.
The survey results showed
him that only a small
percentage of his existing
customers would have soup
and sandwich for dinner. In
addition, his location was
close to an industrial area
that was well lit during the
day but where people said
they wouldn’t feel comfortable coming to in the
evening when it was dark. Sam’s market research
told him that he was being successful doing exactly
what he was doing, so rather than extend his hours,
he expanded his shop and is still doing a booming
lunch business.
Lucy was the Executive Director of her town’s
Chamber of Commerce. She and her staff came up
with what they thought was a brilliant idea to offer
a Leadership Training Program to their members.
They calculated what it would cost to run such a
program and created a preliminary course outline.
Before they launched the program, they did an
online survey of their members. Lucy discovered
that there was a lot of interest in the program itself,
but that the members were not willing to pay what
the Chamber needed to make it proftable. Lucy
readjusted the program costs, took the course
down to 5 modules from 8, and offered the course
to her membership. Not only did this provide
the foundation for Lucy’s initial success with the
program, but it became so popular, she was able to
raise the course fees the following year and take it
up to the original 8 modules.
Although Lucy and Sam are running very different
types of organizations, they both beneftted greatly
from doing their market research prior to launching
To Launch or Not to Launch?
Using Market Research to Validate Your Great Ideas
20 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
their big ideas. That market research saved them
both money and time and led them to more
success than they would have had, had they not
taken the time to determine what their
customers wanted.
It’s tempting when you have a great idea (and
entrepreneurs have lots of them) to get carried
away by your enthusiasm, but there are lots of
reasons your idea may not work. You need to know
whether your customers will buy into that idea.
They are the ones who will support your idea with
their dollars, so doesn’t it make sense to ask them
what they think before you leap?
Author, speaker and sales and marketing guru,
Brian Tracey says, “Before embarking on any new
business venture, considerable time must be spent
in research. Your payoff will be in excess of ten to
one in time and money saved or earned. For every
dollar, for every hour that you put into research,
you’re going to save ten or twenty or thirty dollars or
hours later on.” Here are some suggestions for doing
research before you launch your next big idea.
Ask for meaningful information. Leave no stone
unturned. Think of every potential detail you may
need to know before launching your idea and put
it into your survey. Be clear how much it’s going
to cost you, what you have to charge to make it
work, and who your potential customer or audience
is. Ask questions that will help you determine
whether consumers are willing to buy what you’re
proposing, and how much they are willing to pay.
Asking them whether they think it’s a good idea
isn’t enough. A lot of people will tell you they like
your idea, but that doesn’t mean they would pay for
it. Your research will show you where you need to
tweak the details to make it work, or, whether you
need to scrap it and go in a different direction.
Do your own research. Read trade magazines,
industry articles, and educate yourself about
consumer trends and cultural infuences. Know
your customer’s mindset. For example, if your idea
consists of selling a high consumption product
that’s hard on the environment, you’re probably
not going to be able to sell it given the current
environmentally-conscious culture. It’s not only
about knowing what consumers are thinking
today, but where they may be leaning tomorrow
that’s important.
Be objective. Don’t let your love for your idea
cloud your judgment. If there’s anything dangerous
about the entrepreneurial mindset, it’s that
entrepreneurs tend to love their ideas so much
they’ll do anything to justify making them happen.
Take the real data, learn from it, and make a sound
decision based upon it.
Yes, it takes time. Yes, it even takes money. But
as Tracey says, dollar for dollar you’ll save a lot
of money if you spend a little to invest in your
research. If you charge ahead based on a wing and
a prayer (and even a whole lot of self-belief), you
may be in for a rude awakening and potential loss
to your business. Don’t stop dreaming and coming
up with ideas, but make sure your ideas are based
on realistic market research and solid evidence for
their viability.
21 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
This past weekend I was one of the guest speakers
at a conference of radio sales executives and
creative writers. One of the bonuses of being a
speaker at these types of events is that you get to
take in a lot of great training from other presenters
just because you’re there! One of the things that
struck me as I sat in on a few of the sales sessions
in particular, was how enthusiastic these folks
were about helping their clients achieve business
success through radio advertising. This particular
company’s niche market was small to medium
sized communities across western Canada (their
largest community - 80,000, their smallest - 5,000),
so their clients consisted to a large degree, of local
small and medium sized businesses.
While these sales execs were selling based on
commission (so certainly the motivation to achieve
higher sales was in part tied to money), it was also
obvious how much they cared about serving their
clients well and helping them to achieve sales
success. It got me thinking about how few small
business owners that I know personally, are using
radio as part of their advertising strategy. So I did
some research and discovered that radio is one
of the most underused but highly effective forms
of advertising for small business. Here are some
reasons to think about whether radio advertising
might be a strategy you should consider for your
small business.
1. Radio is cost-effective – there’s a myth
among small business owners that radio is
an expensive way to advertise. Based on my
research, it’s actually very cost effective, and
can be cheaper and more effective than
print advertising.
2. Radio provides frequency – we all have heard
the statistics about how many times a potential
customer needs to see (or in this case hear)
your ad before it leads to an action. Radio is
built on frequency – when you purchase a radio
campaign your customers hear it over and over
Consider Radio Advertising
22 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
and provides the “hits” you need for them to
come into your store or business.
3. Radio is creative – one of the comments I
heard this weekend was “radio is superior to
TV because the pictures are better!” I thought
about that – when you’re watching television
(or even looking at print ads for that matter) the
pictures are provided for you. When you listen
to a really great radio ad, much like reading
a book, you engage in “theatre of the mind”
where you create the pictures – so much more
effective and more strongly linked to memory.
4. Radio reaches people when they are on the
move – most people listen to the radio in their
cars, especially in smaller communities. Radio
is a connection to the community. What better
way to reach your potential customer than when
they’re in a position to respond to your ad and
pull into your parking lot?
5. Radio listenership is on the rise in Canada
- a 2008 RMB* study showed that 93% of
Canadians continue to listen to local radio
weekly! In addition, while all other forms of
media usage has declined, only radio and the
internet have increased, and 86% of Canadians
reported their time spent with radio has
increased over the last year, compared with
print and newspaper, which have showed a
steady decline.
6. Radio provides its own creative
professionals – it was amazing to hear from
the creative writers at this conference – the
ones who take your business information and
turn it into fantastic, memorable commercials,
and to hear some award-winning pieces
that sometimes tickled my funny bone, and
sometimes brought a lump to my throat and a
tear to my eye. It’s all part of the deal – when
you sign up for a radio campaign, the creative
is done for you. One word of caution, when you
work with creative radio professionals, trust
them to do their job. You may think you have
the funniest idea, but they know what works.
Give them as much information about your
business as possible, and let them do what
they’re good at.
7. Radio works – on average, 80% of Canadians
listen while driving to and from a shopping trip
and 60% identifed radio as the last medium
they were exposed to before a purchase. Radio
clients will tell you that consistent, creative
advertising campaigns build their businesses.
8. Radio is emotional – when was the last time
you were moved to tears by a newspaper ad
or a brochure? Because of its “theatre of the
mind” potential, radio can make an emotional
connection, and we all know that consumer
purchases are based largely on emotion. At
the conference, we heard an ad that impacted
everyone in the room. We simply heard the
voice of an elderly gentleman, talking about
his recent heart attack. He told the story of
how he ended up at a specifc hospital in
his community. He continued to speak with
warmth and sincerity about his treatment
and stay at this hospital – about the nurses
kindness and attentiveness, about the quality
of care he received, and about his eventual
recovery and return to his family. There wasn’t
a person in the room who wasn’t thinking
about their dad, or grandfather, or uncle – or
someone they knew who had experienced a
heart attack, and by the end of the commercial,
there wasn’t a person in the room who wasn’t
convinced if they ever had a heart attack, they
wanted to be taken to that hospital! Radio is an
emotional medium – and one that can help you
connect to your potential customers.
All it takes is a phone call to your local radio station
to request a visit from one of their sales executives.
The visit will cost you nothing but a few minutes
of your time. There are a lot of reasons to consider
trying a radio advertising campaign. Don’t miss an
opportunity to try something new because of your
potentially inaccurate assumptions. Find out for
yourself whether this might be a strategy that could
help you build your business.
What’s your favorite website - the one you keep
23 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
going back to day after day? Why is it your
favorite? Does it provide you with information on a
specifc topic that’s of interest to you? Is it easy and
fun to navigate? Does it give you what you want at
a glance? There are a lot of things that draw us to a
website initially. We may be researching something
for work, or trying to fnd the answer to a debate
we’ve been having with our co-worker. You want
your business website to draw people to it, but you
also want them to keep coming back. It doesn’t
really matter why they’re coming back - just the fact
that they are keeps them exposed to your business
and all that you have to offer. Take ten minutes
to do the following exercise: go to your favorite
website and spend 5 or 10 minutes doing what you
usually do; then, take a moment to write down why
Is Your Website Your Customers’ Favourite?
Ideas to Get on to Your Customers’ Top Bookmarks
24 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
you like the site. What happened when you were
on it? What did you fnd interesting? What does it
do to draw and keep your attention? Many small
business owners think of their websites as just
another checkout. If that’s all your website does,
you’re losing a whole world of potential customers.
Web surfers are savvy and they want more than
just another place to buy stuff. If you and your
competitor are both selling the same goods
on your websites, but your competitor offers
that “something extra” that makes his website
the customer’s favourite, it doesn’t matter how
beautiful your site is, or how great your product is,
the customer will default to the other site. Here are
some ideas for making your website the favourite
of your customers.
Offer useful, unique stuff - the checkout concept
just doesn’t work any more. There are hundreds
(even thousands) of businesses online selling
similar products to yours. People have lots of
checkouts to choose from. To get to the top of
their list, you must offer them more. Articles or
white papers on topics they might fnd useful, a Q
& A forum where they can post their questions and
get answers from your “experts”, tutorials (maybe
a brief but informative tutorial that shows how to
grout tile in a bathroom, if you sell bathroom tile),
helpful links to other related sites they might fnd
interesting, an opportunity to subscribe to your
newsletter, a way for them to connect with other
customers, and the list goes on.
A favourite site is www.ehow.com (subtitled How
to Do Just About Everything). For some great ideas
on ways to add interest to your website, take a
look. It has a section on helping you fnd out how
to do “just about anything”. It has videos that show
you how to do things. It has resources for you to
research your topic further. It even has a section
that tells you what some of the most requested
topics are and offers its community the opportunity
to write the articles to answer those questions.
The bottom line is - give your customers a reason
to keep coming back by providing stuff they fnd
useful. That’s more than a checkout!
Increase your credibility - people can say just
about anything on their websites and it’s up to the
surfer to fgure out what’s true. So, using industry
experts who have nothing to do with your company
adds credibility to your site. Get reprint permission
for an article written by a highly respected person
in your industry. Get quotes or use stories from
community leaders who are relevant to your
industry. Find an expert who is willing to write
content for you. Find creative ways to use experts
in your online community.
Keep your site working properly - there’s
nothing more frustrating (or that detracts from your
credibility) than a site that doesn’t work. Broken
links, shopping carts that don’t work, sales that are
out of date, pages that don’t load (or take forever
to load), etc. Your technology should be seamless.
Modern web surfers are not patient, and will quickly
move on if your site causes too many frustrations.
Keep it interactive – web consumers want to be
able to interact with you. Give them opportunities
to enter contests, contribute content, share their
experiences, ask questions, tweet or facebook
(or a dozen other social media opportunities) and
connect with other customers. Static websites are
passé. With all the free social media tools available
there’s no excuse not to provide opportunities for
interaction on your website.
Take note of what you like on the web, and think
about how you can create the same experience
on your own website. Make it your goal to have
your website reach the status of landing on your
customer’s “favourites” bookmark bar, and watch
your business exposure and sales increase. The
more often your customer goes to your site, the
greater your chances of enticing him or her to
purchase from you again.
25 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
You’ve had it happen to you – you’ve just done
an exceptional job of fxing something for your
customer at a great price, and they can’t stop
raving about you. In fact, they’re telling everyone
in your showroom who will listen, how great you
are. You stand there and smile, enjoying your
moment in the sun and hoping that everyone who’s
listening will be infuenced toward making large
purchases. After your customer leaves however,
the enthusiasm dissipates quickly and an hour later
it’s business as usual, and you’re just another guy
who does what you do along with everyone else.
So how do you make the most of your customers’
great experiences with your business? Word
of mouth is the most powerful way to gain new
customers. Capture that positive energy and put it
to work for you through testimonials!
Marketing expert David Frey in his “Coaches
and Consultants Marketing Bootcamp” says,
“Testimonials are powerful. They create
believability, credibility, and a sense of security
for your customer. They help to break down the
natural barriers and distrust that most buyers feel
toward you and your business.” Have you ever
noticed how infomercials are loaded with customer
testimonials? Why? Because they work! It’s easier
for us to relate to an ordinary person telling the
story about how great the product was than it is for
us to believe the words of the seller.
Here are a few tips on how to maximize the good
things your customers say about you, and use it to
gain new business every day.
Tap into Testimonials
The Marketing Strategy You May Tend to Forget
26 www.cfelkisland.ca Community Futures Elk Island Region
Strike while the iron is hot
(and your customer is happy)
Don’t wait even for a few days to ask for a
testimonial. Ask when your customer is most
thrilled with your service – right at that moment.
When they’re raving about you, ask if they’d
be willing to have you use their words on your
marketing materials. When customers are in that
state of satisfaction, they’ll rarely turn you down,
and those words will work for you as long as you
have your business.
Write it for them
Some people would love to give you a testimonial
but struggle with the writing part of it. If you have
heard from them verbally and can translate that
into a written testimonial, you’re way ahead of the
game. Simply send them a copy of what you wrote
and give them the freedom to edit it if they wish
(which they rarely do). This often saves a lot of time
in waiting for them to get back to you.
Get testimonials for different
aspects of your business from the
same people.
Ask for three different testimonials specifc to
each of the areas of work if you offer 3 different
services. That way if you’re marketing the training
aspect of your business, you can pull out the
quotes that specifcally refer to training, and when
you’re marketing the coaching aspect, the quotes
relevant to that side of your business will be used.
If you’re asking for more than one quote, you may
want to consider writing them for your customer as
mentioned earlier.
Keep them short and specifc
Ask for 2-3 sentences only. People can usually
come up with a few sentences, but if you ask for
something longer they may feel overwhelmed and
not be as willing to do it for you. Also, provide
guidelines to your customers as to what aspect
of your business you want them to comment on.
Here’s how you can phrase the request: “Can you
please comment specifcally on what aspect of the
course material you found most valuable, and also
what made me as a trainer effective in delivering
the material?” You already know this person thinks
you have done a good job because she emailed
you after the session and told you so. Chances are
they’ll be more than happy to comply and send the
quote within a day.
Use real names whenever possible
and always use credentials
Always ask your customer if they feel comfortable
with you using their real name, or if they’d allow
you to use their frst name and last initial. Saying
the quote came from “Susan James, or Susan J.,
Associate Professor, Stanley College” gives more
weight to the quote than just “Susan”.
Always thank your customer
for their testimonial
If your customer has agreed to give you a
testimonial, make sure they know how much you
appreciate it. Write them a thank-you note letting
them know how valuable this will be to you in
growing your business. Send a small thank-you
gift or offer a discount for the next time they use
your service.
Frey says “It’s one thing to toot your own horn
– people expect you to sing your own praises.
Because of this there’s an inherent disbelief in any
marketing message that comes from you. But when
other people who have nothing to gain from your
success say good things about your products or
services, your believability shoots skyward.”
So get out there and start asking! You’ll be amazed
at how willing your customers are, especially after
they’ve had a good experience, and watch your
credibility to new prospects soar.
Small Business Success
A Blue Beetle Books Publication
Provided by
Community Futures Elk Island Region
Box 547, #4 5002 Diefenbaker Avenue
Two Hills AB T0B 4K0
Phone: 780-657-3512
Fax: 780-657-2359
Email: [email protected]
www.cfelkisland.ca
doc_201592500.pdf