Marketing Your Business in a Tough Economy

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Logan Nash
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1 Marketing Your Business in a Tough Economy Presented by Ty Rideout, M.B.A.

2 Be Realistic Advertising vs. Marketing Allocate Resources Know the Basics Remember the Four Ways Develop Your Plan

3 Be Realistic about the Economy Be Realistic about Your Capabilities Be Realistic about Your Budgeting

4 Be Realistic about the Economy: Companies are failing but liquidation businesses are doing well People are losing jobs resume writing services are booming Big companies are having trouble small companies are using their inherent flexibility to adapt quickly

resume writing services are booming Big companies are having

5 Big advertisers are cutting budgets advertising rates are falling Travel budgets are being cut but oil prices are down Jobs being cut in many industries but jobs being added in environmental related industries, energy industries and healthcare

Jobs being cut in many industries but jobs being added in

6 The Lesson? Be realistic about the economy. There IS a lot of bad. But there are also bright spots for small businesses who capitalize on emerging trends.

7 Be realistic about how the economy affects your particular industry. Consider the effects not only on YOUR customers but also on your customers customers. Consider how buying patterns may be changing within your target markets due to the economy.

8 Be Realistic About Your Capabilities Understand what parts of your marketing plan you can handle professionally in-house, and what you can t.

9 If you nor your staff are web-savvy- consider hiring a freelance webmaster or web design firm. If you don t have someone in your company who can create professional looking print pieces, hire a designer or someone who can. If your company has newsworthy events, but not the basic skills or staff to capitalize on them, consider using a PR firm or service.

print pieces, hire a designer or someone who can.

10 Be Realistic About Your Budgeting Expect the best but plan for the worst. Have a marketing budget and a marketing plan Then review at appropriate interval to ensure that the numbers still work

11 Marketing vs. Advertising People often use these terms interchangeably But that s s Incorrect!

12 Marketing or Advertising Which one comes first?

13 Marketing?

14 Or Advertising?

15 Marketing Marketing is anything and everything about your business that positions your product or service in the consumer s mind.

16 Marketing Marketing is about all of the 4 P s- ~Product ~Price ~Place ~Promotion Advertising is about one- promotion.

17 Marketing Marketing is about strategy.

18 Advertising Advertising is about implementing strategy.

19 So Which Comes First? Marketing? Or Advertising?

20 The Answer SHOULD always be Marketing!

22 Allocate Resources Good small business marketing takes time and/or money Both is better.

23 There are many marketing techniques that are inexpensive but they take time There are many marketing techniques that don t take that much time but they re expensive. There is usually a strong correlation between time and money when it comes to marketing.

24 MARKETING BASICS: -Have Something Worth Saying -Say it Well -Say it Often

25 Have Something Worth Saying Your message should convey a benefit for your prospects/customers. People may care LITTLE about what you can do... But they care a LOT about what you can do for THEM. New businesses should be willing to accept the risk that comes with a strong message.

26 Your USP... - Or slogan... - Or positioning statement... - Or mission... - Or vision statement... - Or elevator speech... -Or something!

27 Say It Well This step is the one that many entrepreneurs need professional assistance with. Saying It Well means refining your message into a form that is accepted and memorable.

28 Say It Well Saying It Well means using the methods that are appropriate for your audience and your budget. Saying It Well means maintaining consistency in the way your message looks and sounds.

29 Say It Well Saying It Well means saying it simpler. Don t ask the reader, or listener to interpret complex messages. Keep it short & simple.

30 Say It Often Say It Often Say It Often

31 Say It Often Repeating the same message is a time-tested successful marketing technique. Prospects can t be expected to hear your message once, and remember it until they are ready to buy.

32 Say It Often Hearing your same jingle, or reading your same tagline over and over may bore you to tears- But repetition of a meaningful, clear message is the best way to ensure that it is remembered.

33 - Have Something Worth Saying - Say it Well - Say it Often

34 Gain Control of your Corporate Identity!

40 If you DON T Own and Control Your Own Graphic Files and you - Have a sign shop make your signs - And the newspaper design your newspaper ad - And a print shop layout your letterhead - And a mail-house design your postcards - And a marketing firm design a brochure - And your best friend s son create your website

41 Your Campaign Will Not Have a Consistent Appearance (I promise!)

42 In Fact, There Are Only Two Ways To Maintain a Consistent Appearance for Your Campaign: Use the same marketing firm for all of your marketing efforts... ~Or~ Own and control your own camera-ready graphic files

44 Good PLANNING = Good MARKETING - Good planning means budgeting - Good planning means buying advertising PRO-actively instead of RE-actively - Good planning means maintaining consistency - Good planning means having a distribution plan

45 Good Planning Means Your Marketing Dollars Will Work Together!

46 Your graphic files and your message are the key to making different marketing efforts work together YOU or someone on your team MUST assume the responsibility of maintaining a consistent message and identity

47 Designing a Successful Promotion Start with an objective!

48 Or, start with the broader goal of GROWING your business...

49 There are FOUR... and ONLY Four Ways to GROW Your Business

50 Get NEW customers Get customers to spend MORE Get customers to spend more OFTEN Make more MARGIN on what you sell

51 THAT S S IT.

56 There are simply no other ways to Grow Your Business.

57 Any promotion you consider should have one of these four objectives as the intended result.

58 #1 Get New Customers People think of this first...and sometimes that s all... Important for new businesses Many choices available Trial /error, testing, track leads, measurement, revise and repeat

59 #2 Get customers to spend Examples: MORE Upsell- Super-Size? Cross-Sell Would You Like Fries with that?

60 #3 Get customers to spend more OFTEN Examples: Customer Loyalty Programs Buy 5 coffees...get one free; Frequent Flyer Miles Frequent Buyer Discount Discount for those who purchase twice a month

61 MARGIN on #4 Make more MARGIN what you sell For Example- - Promote the products/services that you make better margin on - Bundle/package products to provide value and protect your margin

62 The Neatest Thing is the math...

63 If you get 20% NEW customers Who spend 20% MORE per invoice Who buy just 20% more OFTEN And you increase your average gross MARGIN by 20% You d earn 107% more GROSS PROFIT than you do now.

64 It s not fuzzy math... It s exponential... The sum is greater than the parts!

65 Work on all four ways a little and improve your bottom line a lot

66 Action YOU can take TODAY Review your USP- making sure that it conveys benefits...not features/capabilities. If you don t have a clean, consistent corporate identity, call a graphic artist today. Plan the next year s marketing...remembering YOU can always CHANGE the plan...

67 Rememberthere are 4 and ONLY 4 ways to Grow Your Business... Plan promotions that support those 4 WAYS!

68 Be Realistic Advertising vs. Marketing Allocate Resources Know the Basics Remember the Four Ways Develop Your Plan

69 Where to Get More Information -Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson -Your Chamber of Commerce -SBA -Your local university ABBA PROMOTIONS toll free Targeted Marketing to Grow Your Business

70 Questions?

Marketing in Tough Economic Times

Marketing in Tough Economic Times 2013 1 First Things First Marketing everything you do to build awareness of your company and products. Sales - everything you do to convert marketing interest to a purchase.