A quick 80-20 rule technique for your business.
Unless you’ve been under a rock you’ve heard about The Pareto Principle aka the 80-20 rule. It states for many events roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. (Not just in life but in business as well.) If you ever wanted to know what advertising and marketing endeavors are bringing in the cash (and which ones to eliminate) then here’s a simple way to apply this rule to find out.
Make a list of everything, even advertising specialties (pens, calculators, etc.) and brochures and business cards along with how much you money you spend on them. Then work out the numbers over a period of time to see which of those efforts brought in the most money. Make sure you do this carefully or you could end up eliminating something that’s working. Review your list and determine the top 20% that made the cash register ring 80% of the time? Now comes the hard part. STOP DOING THE THINGS THAT ARE NOT WORKING UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHY. (Don’t make me write the definition of insanity.)
Don’t go blowing the extra money.
Since that money was already part of your advertising budget you should put it to use by tweaking a few of the money wasters or with a new type of marketing. If you need to go over some unique advertising and marketing techniques just give us a call.
Let me know how you did.
How to spend less money on advertising?
An easy way to spend less on advertising is to make sure that you have a great informative website to compliment all of your advertising and marketing endeavors.
Think of your website as the center of all your advertising and marketing. Everything you do will point to the website. Once your website is up, it takes a small amount of time and effort to keep it fresh. This allows you to spend your advertising dollars on smaller more targeted ads in publications that before the price was out of your reach.
As always your comments are appreciated.
The More You Touch the More You Convert
I know the title sounds strange but in marketing this is what we want to accomplish. The first time a prospect sees your ad or hears a your radio spot or views your website, etc. theses are all first touches in the sales and marketing process. Then as you continuously market to them they are touched more and more until finally they make the decision to do business with you.
The important thing to remember is when creating these touches you use your brand identity. If not then every time they see your message it will be like they are seeing it for the first time and this is bad. In marketing we want people to build feelings of knowing and trusting you when they see your marketing message. They also want to know you can give them what they want.
By using your brand identity it allows you to stand out and more importantly be remembered. Most times when we respond to an ad in print or on the web it’s because we have seen it many times before acting. Then over time it goes from our subconscious to our conscious. This is another reason why frequency is so important as well.
A one, two touch.
Make sure wherever you are advertising it directs people to your website. This is a one two touch. Your ad gets them curious and then your website gives them more information about your products and services. Since most of us use the web for research before doing business with a company your website should answers the questions that might arise from the ad and your other marketing.
Give people value when they get to your website. Give them articles from you and third party sources about your products and services. People want to know other peoples thoughts on your industry, product or service. (This is called market data.) Better to give it to them on your website first.
So remember the more touches the more they will remember you and the more will become your customers.
Your comments are always appreciated.
Are you trying to find a client who has never, never, never been born?
Finding clients to sell your services to is not a difficult task. However, many business owners make it difficult on themselves by prospecting to people or companies that have no need of your products or services. How many times have you been called by telemarketers or received a postcard or letter to your company from a competitor asking you to buy from them? We get these calls and direct mail pieces at least once per week. It amazes me that these companies don’t do the slightest research to see if we “qualify” as one of their prospects. They just do a general blast to all companies in a certain geographic area without looking to demographics and excluding competitors. Not taking this easy step is a huge waste of money.
There are also the companies that send to prospects that they think “might” become a customer. This is also bad marketing. With all the lists available you can find prospects that have purchased exact, very similar and complementary products and services. Since this information is available why are companies trying to find the client that has never been born? In addition, don’t fall into the trap of what we call the “everyone is my customer” syndrome. Many seem to think that if you send enough email or direct mail to enough people then some has to stick. While that works sometimes, it is another huge waste of money and shouldn’t be counted on.
Let me give you an example: Lets say you sell scissors. Do you think it would be better to spend your money advertising in a local newspaper or take your money and advertise in a trade publication targeted to Hair Salons and Cosmetologists? What if you’re a gym? Should you advertise in a newspaper wherever they can place you ad or should you insist on the sports section or women’s section, etc?
Targeted email lists are also available for rent enabling you to target market. Everything you do to market your company from Google AdWords to Email, from trade publications to press releases, etc. Everything should be exposed to your targeted demographic and psychographic.
Another misstep is not taking your target market when creating your company website. Never create a website that looks good just to you. You’re not the customer. Always create your website with your customer in mind. How will they benefit by doing business with you? What do they want to see? What are their demographic and psychographic? Are they mostly Male or Female, professional or blue collar? Are they high income? Are they the children of elderly parents looking for research about the products or services you sell before they make a buying decision? When developing your collateral you should also keep this in mind.
I know to many experienced business owners this is basic marketing. But to the new business owner it’s usually an eye opener. With slim budgets and small margins this information could make you more profitable and save you much time.
Targeted marketing is the best and most affordable approach to promoting your company.
Can you guess which song the title of this article is related to?
Your comments are always welcome.
