A HUGE Small Business Marketing Mistake

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not having a cohesive and consistent marketing system. Instead, everything is ad hoc. Very tactical. A little of this...a little of that. "Let's try this today. Well, that didn't work, let's try something else tomorrow."

By cohesive, I mean...

• Every marketing piece should be designed to feed the sales funnel. (Turn readers/watchers/listeners into leads/inquiries/visitors.)
  
• Every marketing piece should communicate the same central message. (Your USP, unless it's a purely lead-generation piece--in which case it should sell the benefits of your lead-generation device, be it a white paper, special report, video, etc.)
  
• Each marketing piece should "pre-sell" the company, product, or service.
• Every piece should work in tandem with all the other pieces, so they all reinforce each other. (Website reinforces and expounds on print ads. E-mail campaign reinforces the core story, Etc.)
• Marketing should be consistent with the sales message. In other words, the sales side should be a logical extension of the external marketing.
• Marketing should be consistently delivered...that is, it should be a regular system that acts like clockwork, producing the same results every time.

Your marketing system should be written down and documented. It should be designed from the ground up to be consistent and cohesive. In other words, each piece of your marketing matrix should be like a team-member, reinforcing all the other pieces.

Beyond the Unique Selling Proposition

I've discussed before the importance of the USP. Probably 90% or more of all businesses can't articulate their 'unique selling proposition.'

So just doing this step will put you leagues ahead of your competitors. But today, I'm going to go beyond the USP.

Let's call it a "graduate level" marketing strategy.

Here's the problem with ONLY having a USP, and going no further in your strategic focus...

At any given time, only about 3% of your total eligible buyers are buying right now. So you're fighting with your competitors for that 3%. A USP will help you greatly here.

But what about the other 97%? Since they're not buying right now, then a USP won't sell them, will it? What difference does it make if you sell the best widgets, if they're not looking for widgets right now?

This is where we get into what Chet Holmes calls the "Ultimate Strategic Position." It's an advanced form of the USP that helps you get "in" with the other 97% of the market, and secure them as customers or clients before your competitors even have a chance!

At this level, you're not peddling any products or services...you're offering information. You're building relationships. And along the way, you're positioning yourself as the only viable alternative.

Sounds pretty awesome, right?

I'm sure you'll want to read all about it. So check out Chet Holme's book "The Ultimate Sales Machine." I can't recommend it enough. It's at Amazon for less than $17. (That's not an affiliate link, by the way. Just giving you a head's up, which I know you'll appreciate.)

The Commoditization-Differentiation Continuum

Commoditization is when products or services are so similar to each other that price becomes the overriding concern.

Differentiation is when a product or service is so radically different from all of the alternatives that price is no longer a concern.

You can look at these two points as opposite ends of a continuum. Where does your business lie on this continuum?

If you’ve been commoditized…

• Your prospects and customers price-shop you all the time.
• You find yourself competing on price alone and losing out to low-balling competitors.
• Your customers are always haggling with you to lower your prices.
• Your customers or prospects simply don’t see or understand your added value (if any).

If you’ve differentiated…

• You have no real competition because you’re strategically positioned as being unique.
• You customers don’t complain so much about price…and even if they do, they still pay it.
• You can get away with charging more than your “competitors.”
• You’re positioned as the only viable alternative.

The solution to commoditization is differentiation. Commoditizers can only fight a tactical battle. Differentiators fight a strategic one.

I'll be going into more detail on this very subject in a special report I'm finishing up called "How To Surge Ahead of Your Competitors And Leave Them Eating Your Dust!"

Sign up for the "Strategic & Tactical Report" on the right and you'll get this report for free.

Marketing Strategy Vs. Tactics

The tactician says...

• "I need to get more leads."
• "Sales is a numbers game, people!"
• "Let's buy the biggest ad in the yellow pages so people will call us instead of our competitors."
• "Let's put an ad on Craig's List."
• "We need to cut our prices to stay competitive."
• "What's the latest marketing technique?"
• "What's the cheapest way to get leads?"
  

The strategist asks...

• "How can I differentiate myself from my competition so people will choose me instead of my competition...even if my prices are higher?"
• "How can I increase my lead-to-sale conversion rate?"
• "How can I increase the value of each customer/client so I don't have to chase down new leads all the time?"
• "How can I get people to chase me instead of the other way around?"
• "How can I make sure that my customers/clients stay with me for as long as possible?"
• "How can I afford to outspend my competitors on acquiring new customers/clients?"

No wonder it's the strategist who always wins!

The Power of Up-Sells and Cross-Sells

Dan Kennedy is one of my two biggest marketing mentors. The other is Jay Abraham. Both are geniuses.

To say I learned a hell of a lot from Dan Kennedy is an understatement. And I continue to learn from him...and be reminded of things I learned already.

It helps to be reminded. It's too easy to forget or let things sink to the back of your mind.

So let me remind you of the power of the up-sell. Dan Kennedy wrote about it his blog today.

You probably already know about it. You know that every time you go to McDonald's they ask you, "Would you like fries with that?" or "Would you like to supersize that today?"

Not every customer will take you up on your up-sell or cross-sell offers. But what if only 15-20% actually do? What kind of impact do you think that would have on your bottom line? Wouldn't that be worth implementing a regular system...asking every client at closing to purchase more, or try other products/services?

They're already in buying mode. They've already made the decision to give you their money. It's not that big of a leap for them to buy more. The leap was in making the decision in the first place!

27 Ways To Make 2008 The Best Year Ever In Terms of Sales

I just finished up a special report, which I'm offering for free to anyone who signs up for my weekly e-newsletter, "The Strategic & Tactical Report."

I like that military terminology. Business and marketing can be very much like warfare. You're competing with an enemy to gain territory (a.k.a. "market share"). You've got to be concerned with both strategy and tactics.

The best tactics are pretty much worthless against superior strategy. But superior strategy also needs superior tactics in order to be more effective.

So the newsletter will deal with both in very down-to-earth, plain-English kind of way.

So what about the special report?

I call it "27 'Jedi-Master' Sales Secrets To Boost Your Conversion Rate Into Hyperdrive!"

Can you tell I'm a Star Wars fan?

Anyway, here's some of what you'll discover in this special report...

• What to do when you're faced with hoards of competitors chasing after the same dollars you are.
  
• An essential business strategy that will get customers chasing you...and not the other way around.
• How to target your market when you offer a broad range of services.
• How to be the first person your prospect thinks of when they need your product or service.
• How to make your offering sound like a bargain...even if you charge more than your competitors!
  
• One business strategy that your competitors may be too scared to implement...but for those with nerve, it can mean a TON more sales!
• "Covert" psychological tactics that get your prospects charged up and ready to say "Yes!"
• Six ways to bolster your claims and prove your case so that credibility is not even an issue.
• The top five most essential strategies for sales success.

Now...if after reading all that, you aren't willing to give up your name and email address, then go read another blog, for God's sake!

Sayonara...and Happy Hunting!

You're In The MARKETING Business...

Whatever you sell...product or service...B2B or B2C...whether you're in manufacturing, or retail, or distributing, or reselling....you're in the marketing business.

Marketing is the engine on which your business runs. Without a good marketing plan that will consistently deliver customers to you and keep them coming back, your business is worthless. You need customers to make your business worth something.

When you switch your thinking to realize you're really in the marketing business, that's when breakthroughs can happen.

That's when your entire organization becomes focused around obtaining and keeping customers. That's when you realize that good customer service is good marketing and great customer service is great marketing.

It's when you realize that every customer interaction, even delivering an invoice, is a marketing opportunity. (See Seth's post on this.)

It's when you realize that industry conventions ("that's the way things are done in this industry") are made to be broken, as long as it serves the customer.

It's when you realize that you need solid marketing systems in place to increase the number of inquiries, optimize your conversion rate, and maximize your total customer value.

It's when you realize that you need to do an excellent job of communicating all the benefits of doing business with you to prospective customers.

Dan Kennedy defines marketing like this: "Delivering the right message to the right people in the right way, using the right media." I would add "such that you obtain and keep them as a customer or client for the longest possible duration of time." (And I know Dan Kennedy would agree with that!)

Makes you look at your business a little differently, doesn't it?