You are in the People Business

I started writing this in March:

No matter what you produce, provide, sell....

No matter how automated and sleek your systems are...

No matter if you wear jeans or a three piece suit...

You are in the people business.

There's a couple of coffee shops on the same street in my town that have very different personalities.

My favorite has been in business for over 10 years and has switched coffee providers once or twice, changed some of the details and each year they seem to do a little remodeling.

They used to have live music on Friday and Saturday nights. They don't anymore. They used to be open late on weekends. Now they close at 8pm every night. They have a couple of the original staff, and the others that work there fit in to the culture.

Most of the furniture is old, some is getting a little threadbare, but it is a comfortable place to go and get a bite to eat, a white mocha, a smile and a little conversation.

Down the street is another coffee shop that roasts their own beans and is also family owned. They moved from across the street to the same side as the first shop and expanded their offerings.

Along with having coffee, they also have a full service bar and on Friday and Saturday evenings they would have a special theme menu that would include ingredients from their garden and recipes crafted from their own chef. Coffee shop #2 really had it going for them as a place that my wife and I would often visit for dinner on Saturdays.

Not anymore.

Recently on a Saturday night at 6pm we walk in the door and notice the weekend menu's were not out. They were on the door, but not on the tables or at the bar. The owner and his wife are usually there when we show up, but not this time.

Instead of feeling comfortable, it felt like sort of weird. The guy at the register was busy counting change, the young woman who took my wife's drink order not only had to pull out the recipe card but had to ask what kind of liquor to use and she seemed very unsure of herself.

When I asked for a menu, they said they aren't doing the weekend dinner menu on Saturdays, only Fridays. Which was very disappointing since the read the menu as we walked in and was trying to decide which delicious items we would enjoy. Instead we had a drink and left.

It's now 4 months later. Neither one of us have been back. As a matter of fact, a couple of days ago, she asked me if coffee shop #2 was still in business, as we drove by on Saturday afternoon. That's not the lasting impression you want to leave with your customers is it?

And yes, they are still in business.

TOMA

What is TOMA?

Top
Of
Mind
Awareness

I don't care if you believe that Branding is important, or Price is important or Location, or any number of contributing factors you and I could name, what you really want from all of your marketing and advertising efforts is TOMA.

Last month I met with the real estate agent that I used to sell my last house about 4 years ago.

I'm not planning on buying another house for at least 10, maybe 20 years. But each month I get a piece of mail from her, and it's one of the ways she retains TOMA with me.

You cannot advertise only to the people who need you now.

Why?

Because despite all the targeting that the internet allows us to do using keywords and location and other Search Optimization techniques, if I have a favorite ___________, then I will use _________, and recommend ___________ to others.

We spend our money with those that we trust will provide us with the right value.

My daughter sent me a Groupon offer for carpet cleaning at 70% off.
We won't use it because we like the carpet cleaner we use.
He provides the right value and we trust him.

I used to spend $75 to get my hair cut. But then I discovered a chain shop that will cut it for $15 including a generous tip and they never screw it up. Which happened a couple times with the $75 cut.

Back to the real estate agent. She asked me who I would recommend to my friends, and I told her, "You, and only you". I know other agents but she is the one that I trust.


Top Of Mind Awareness coupled with a good reputation wins every time.

If you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, I can help you build TOMA. Email Scott at ScLoHo.net

The Importance of your Employees

On a recent weekend, I had a conversation with a friend over coffee about a couple of the employees at the coffee shop we were sitting in.

He told me about how two of the employees are hurting this coffee shops business.

Let's see if you can relate to these stories and if they are going on in your business, I hope you take appropriate action.

First off, the late employee.

Her job is to be there so they can open the doors and start serving customers at 6am. In order to do that, she should be there 30 minutes early to set up 3 or 4 coffee airpots where customers self-serve.

But she has a habit of showing up late. Sometimes as late as 6:30am. Morning customers usually have a time sensitive routine and an easy way to lose customers is to not have what they want when they want it.

So customers who used to stop by at 6:15 for a quick cup of Joe to go, are now going elsewhere, since this coffee shop is unreliable due to one employee. How much is this costing the coffee shop? More than that employee is paid per hour, that's for sure.

Next, we have the inconsiderate employee.

She has an attitude. She shows favoritism to some customers and others notice. Not only do others notice, but others talk about it too. Like my friend did over the weekend.

It all began with a comment about where this employee parks her car. She sometimes picks one of the prime spots directly in front of the coffee shop, which should be reserved for customers, not an employee whose car will be sitting there for 6 to 8 hours.

The owners of this coffee shop are aware of these two problems but choose to ignore them.

After all, the employees are friendly to them.

It's time for perspective that business owners often lack.

What matters most is how your employees are representing your company.

This is part of your marketing that not enough owners and managers consider.

And no amount of advertising can overcome crappy customer service.

Privacy & Personalized Marketing

Facebook just launched a location service where people can update where they are on their Facebook page.

This is not a new service in social media, there are a couple of others including the one I use on occasion, FourSquare.

But Facebook is a giant. If you watched the video I posted last week, (Click here to see it again), did you catch that if Facebook were a country, it would rank 3rd largest in the world?

Facebook has privacy issues because it is so big.

Let me explain.

Because Facebook is so popular, unscrupulous people have found ways to gather information that most people would want kept private.

To Facebooks credit, they have created increased privacy options, but the general public hasn't locked down their Facebook pages and taken advantage of the privacy options Facebook offers.

I prefer location services like Foursquare, because I can use it when I want and only include people that I trust as my friends. Tonight I'm going to a baseball game and I'll use it to see who else is there.

Some businesses have used Foursquare as a marketing tool by offering specials to people who "Check in" on Foursquare when they are at that particular business. At lunch today, I was checking in on FourSquare and noticed that the Radio Shack in the same shopping center was offering a FourSquare special of 10% off just for showing them your phone with the FourSquare offer. It's a form of Word of Mouth endorsements via social media.

Most people however I not aware of all of the ways they give up their private information.

10 years ago, my mom was afraid of ordering anything online, yet for years she would freely give her credit card number to a stranger over the phone when placing an order at Sears.

Take a look at your key ring.

Do you have one of those loyalty cards with a bar code from your grocery store that they swipe in order to save money?

They have a record of everything you buy. Sometimes that is helpful like when they had the egg recall last week, some of the grocery stores were able to call customers who purchased the recalled eggs and leave them a warning and recall message.

And unless you are buying stuff that would be embarrassing, then you probably have nothing to worry about.

Personalized Marketing at the grocery store also occurs when they hand you coupons for your next visit that are based on the items you just bought.

Websites, and search engines do personalized marketing too, with ads that are relevant for what you are searching for and/or your location.

In the radio business, I've done a form of personalized advertising too.

No, I don't call your name in a commercial, but I'll target a very specific person in the content of the ad and keep it as time relevant as possible too.

A few other thoughts on this subject, when I turned 50 a few months ago, the direct mail and some of the email (Spam) I started receiving was geared to the 50+ generation. More like the 65+ generation.

And if you are going to send a direct mail piece to me addresses to RESIDENT or OCCUPANT, I'll probably be calling on you to teach you how to do a better job with your advertising and marketing.

Media Numbers vs Your Numbers

Last week it was announced that Facebook now has 500 million members.

That's a helluva lot of people.

The radio stations I work for have over 142,000 listeners every week according to the last report we received from Arbiton.

That's a helluva lot of people.

Every week there are over 400 visits to one of my blogs.

That's a helluva lot of people.

But these numbers don't really matter.

I have a choice of watching between 50 and 150 different TV Channels in my home.

I have over 500 Linked-In connections.

I have 550 Facebook Friends and 1017 Followers on Twitter.

That's a helluva lot of people.

But these numbers don't really matter.

What does matter?

Your numbers.

If you are running a business, and you need to, or want to grow, do you know how many more customers you can handle before you have to make some changes, like hire staff, extend hours, etc?

Do you know how to grow by 10% without gaining a single new customer? (Upsell).

Do you know what it takes to retain more customers and recruit them as your ambassadors who will tell others about you which in turn creates more business and growth?

Please don't be hoodwinked by the marketing gurus, advertising salespeople, or social media pundits into spending your money based on their numbers.

Invest in your business marketing based on your numbers.

Need help? Contact me. Click here.

Playing Favorites?

Or making excuses.

First, a true story. Followed by a Challenge.

In my real life, I spend my 40+ hours working for a group of radio stations in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I've been here nearly 7 years, and have been in the radio business for over half my life. And I've worked outside of the radio and advertising business too for about 10 years.

Last week I had what I call a "come to Jesus" meeting with one of the advertising agency media buyers that handles one of the two major hospitals in our region.

For the past several weeks, I've been hearing radio ads for a "Don't Text & Drive" campaign on a number of radio stations, but none of mine. I was told in the meeting that with limited funds, they only bought the radio stations that had the highest ratings.

I pulled out the numbers which demonstrated our station was top dog for their target.

Then I got the truth.

She was prohibited from buying "certain stations due to the music they play".

These 3 stations represent over 219,500 listeners out of 792,000 people. Just over 25% of the population that they are not inviting to do business with them. These stations target the 18 to 35 year olds. The people starting families, establishing doctor relationships, etc.

I represent one of the stations. Fortunately I have 3 other stations to offer to this hospital and health care organization. And I will also go to their competitor and see if they are as limited in their vision and stereotypes.

Now, here's my Challenge to you:

What is holding you back from making smart, forward thinking marketing decisions?

What assumptions are you making that is crippling your growth?

You can't blame the economy. Even if we had 20% unemployment, that means 80% of the population is making money and spending money.

If you need help figuring all this out and want to plan for the future, and live/work in Fort Wayne, Indiana; contact me.

Scott @ ScLoHo.net is my email.

Mention this blog as I get a couple hundred emails a day and want to make sure I get yours.

Calculating The True Value of Your Customers

We want to spend money on things we want, not things we need.

Do you really want to pay a mortgage, car payment, doctor bill, income taxes, or anything that you "have to" pay?

Probably not.

So these types of businesses need to make it as painless as possible for their customers to take care of business and move on with their life. Maybe they can do something nice for their customers every once in awhile too.

Let's look at the "want" based businesses.

Nearly every Friday night, I take my wife out to one of her favorite restaurants. Usually just the two of us. And it is usually a place about a mile from our home that has a spectacular view overlooking a pond with plenty of wildlife. And it is right in the city.

I've had better food. I've had less expensive food. But this is a "want" in our lives.

We've introduced hundreds of people over the years to this favorite spot of ours. And many of them have come back time and time again.

I did some math on how much my wife and I spend at our Friday night spot per year and it adds up to around $2000 or more. We've been doing this for about 10 years. Before we met, my wife was coming here and bringing friends. I bet we have spent $25,000 or more so far at this one restaurant, just by visiting 4 times a month. And there is no end in sight.

We are not the only ones who make this restaurant apart of their regular routine. What if we are one of 100 couples, or one of 1000 couples with a similar routine? See how the dollars add up?

And not only do you need to count the dollars we spend when I sign for the check, there's also the new dollars that will be coming in as we are spreading the word about this restaurant and bringing in new customers to share this experience with us.

This is one more reason why marketing is so much more than just your advertising and why every customer is worth more than you can imagine.

Specialize or Generalize

I am doing more by doing less, which results in doing more. Let me explain and see how this can work for you too.

When I formalized my business, ScLoHo Marketing Solutions, I had a general idea of what I wanted to do with the company.

But it took some refining by knowing my strengths and what areas I wanted to avoid.

However, every once in a while, I get a request to do something outside of my arena which I have been challenged to accept, but I reel myself back in and decide to do what is best for me and the client.

Sometimes that is hiring a freelancer or subcontractor, to do the nitty-gritty. Other times it is referring the work to someone I believe is more qualified.

I have had the pleasure of learning from hundreds of business owners that were trying their very best to be successful and unfortunately unless you specialize you run the risk of losing it all.

Even Walmart specializes. They specialize in low prices. And they have the buying power to do so.

Me, like you, we need to determine what we are good at, and build on our areas of expertise. Build solid relationships with those that are your clients and customers and also build good relationships with those that you decide are not a good fit for you.

One way to ruin your reputation and your business is to over commit and leave a bad taste in someones mouth. And with the spread of social media, that bad taste will spread to others via word of mouth.

Better to be known for what you are good at, than to be known for what you are not good at.

Passion Partners

My Childrens world is not the world that I grew up in when I was their age. When I was a child we had 3, then 4 then 5 television stations to choose from, a morning newspaper and afternoon paper, maybe 8 radio stations at the most that were local and that was it for local media and advertising choices.

I am back in my hometown and my oldest daughter also lives here. If she had cable, she would have access to hundreds of television channels, but she just has regular High-Def Digital which gives her access to a dozen channels. There are still 2 daily newspapers, but she gets her news from other sources. Radio stations? 20 plus in our town. Then there's the Internet which didn't exist when I was her age.

And now that I'm in the media and marketing business, I am aware of dozens of other mediums that business owners can use for advertising.

I also know that most business owners are clueless about what they should do to generate new customers, retain the ones they have and how to generate positive word of mouth. This is also true with a lot of non-profit organizations. And sadly, this is also the situation with most advertising agencies and internal marketing directors.

So, this week I have formally formed a business to help, ScLoHo Marketing Solutions. My passion is to help businesses make smart marketing decisions. This includes everything internally, externally, evaluation of what direction to head for growth in the future and in the present.

With experience dating back to 1986, working with 100's of business owners, finding the common threads of success and failures, and with a keen understanding of advertising and human behavior, I can help. And this is not a solo project, as I have partners that I will call on to subcontract some of the work depending on what the marketing project is. I know that I am not an expert in all areas, but I have a network of experts who will be working with me.

It all boils down to Passion.

You have a passion for the work that you do. You have become an expert in your field, whether that is health care, transmission repair, or whatever your field is. You need a partner to help you spread the word using all of the tools that are available today, and using timeless relationship principles. And you also need to find and fix the "leaks in your boat", that are causing you to lose customers and clients.

Currently ScLoHo Marketing Solutions will concentrate on businesses and organizations that are based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, as I am retaining my role with the group of radio stations that I have been with the past 6 years. I will work with only a select number of clients, and you must be committed to the process which will be developed based on your current and future needs.

I am not a "yes man". I will tell you the truth. I may tell you to fire your sister. Or at least help her find a position in your company that fits her passions and makes your organization stronger.

Now, more than ever, you need help. Contact me to see if you qualify: Scott@ScLoHo.net

Are you Out of Touch?

A friend of mine has been very successful in the advertising world and he doesn't own a computer.

He could if he wanted to, but in his current line of work, he doesn't need one. Why? He has a secretary who takes care of all his emails for him. (No, she's not an administrative assistant, he prefers "secretary".)

He is an exception. The only thing that he does that I would urge you to follow is his work ethic. Each morning he reviews the to-do list that he wrote the night before with a pencil and a notepad and goes to work.

Yet, as I write this on my laptop, there are 5 others around me in this coffee shop on their laptops and they are all doing something that is keeping them connected. Perhaps they are on Facebook. Maybe they are on LinkedIn. They have most likely heard about Twitter even though they don't understand it yet. Most use Google I bet to find stuff. And everyone has email so it seems. Even my friend without a computer has an email address.

There is a problem or an opportunity for you right now depending on how you answer the following questions:

Does your business have a website?

Has it been redesigned in the past 3 years?

Is the website optimized so Google will find it easily?

Do you have any Google Alerts set up for your company? Your staff? Your competitors? Do you read them?

Do you know what happened to Domino's this month? Or does #AmazonFail mean anything to you?

The last 2 questions are related to Twitter and YouTube and the speed of communications these days. Businesses used to be able to control the spread of bad news and rumors, but not anymore. With the rise of the so-called Social media, news spreads faster than a California wildfire. And it can be just as destructive too, unless...

Unless you step up to the plate and join the growing world of instant world wide communication and at the very least start monitoring what is going on, followed by a policy and procedures on how to handle and manage bad news as well as good news, you will be limited in your growth.

It's available to you now. And it's not going away. Will you stay "Out of Touch"? Or will you embrace the future now as it unfolds all around you.

Your comments, and questions are always welcome.

The Word to Learn is Value (part two)

Just a few more words on the topic of VALUE.

People attach a VALUE to everything they trade for their dollars.

My wife mentioned to me that she really liked the Wendy's new fish sandwich, priced around $4.

My wife complained at the little burger she got off Wendy's VALUE menu. Her exact words, "Where's the beef?"

No matter what the price, we want something for our money that we feel is fair. Otherwise we feel ripped off.

I felt ripped off a couple years ago after buying a used Mercedes. Not by the guy that sold it to me, but by the multiple repair shops that charged me to fix a problem that they didn't really fix.

These days I take it to an import dealer who gives me a loaner, not a rental. (The last time I dropped my car off, they gave me a brand new red Jetta to drive that only had 35 miles on it!) It may cost a few dollars more, but they give VALUE by repairing my car right the first time, (and the loaner is pretty cool too.)

So, selling cheap stuff doesn't mean you can sell crap. Just focus on VALUE, no matter what the price tag and you'll be a winner.

Sell More to People who Want to Buy-Part 1

Want an easy way to earn more money? A way to increase your revenue? A way to increase your profits?

And this does not involve increasing your advertising one single dime?

I can see your head bobbing up and down.

So here's the answer:

Convert more "shoppers" into "buyers".

A shopper is someone that comes into your store, or calls your business. They're looking for something and they are going to spend their money with someone.

Here's a true story that was told to me over lunch by a friend this week:

He had a coupon for a free oil change at a local new car dealership. When he took his vehicle in, he asked them to check the thermostat because he felt the heater wasn't warming up properly and he wanted it fixed.

30 minutes later, he was paged to the service desk and told his vehicle was ready to go. He asked, "What about the thermostat?" They told him, "It's fine, don't know what to tell you buddy."

After he left he called a mechanic that he knew that worked for an independent shop and explained what happened. He was told that on his vehicle, it would take at least 40 minutes because of where the thermostat was located and that it would require extra work, etc. to check the thermostat.

So he scheduled a time to drop his vehicle off and have the thermostat replaced. It will cost him about $140.00, but it is costing the dealership a whole lot more.

First of all, the dealership lost the money that they could have earned if they would have performed the service they were asked to do. Probably at least $200.00 at the dealership.

Next, they lost the trust of my friend to ever do anything on his vehicle. He even doubts if they did the oil change properly. He'll find out when he takes his vehicle to the other shop.

Third, he is telling everyone he knows about this experience and will continue to spread the word for the next month or more. Word of mouth works both ways, you know.

Fourth, how many other potential "buyers", at this dealership are turning away business due to the lazy and dishonest mechanic?

Now, do a little test like this at your place of business. What are you and your staff doing that keeps "shoppers" from becoming "buyers"?

More on this subject the next time. Your comments are always welcome.

American Idol Marketing Lessons: Bikini Girl

I needed to interrupt my series on advertising to share with you some lessons from Tuesday's American Idol.

Now in their 8th season, the question that remains is what do you have to do to...

no, not win.

what do you have to do to get on TV and create a name for yourself.

There are hundreds who will audition for the show, and some are just plain awful, and if you get on TV because you suck, then you have done the 2009 version of crapping your pants in front of the world.

Those that know you will make fun of you, and eventually you will forgotten except as one of the losers on the Idol Blooper reel. You can't make any money that way.

So, take the opposite approach like Katrina Darrell did and create a positive impression. She created a niche as the Bikini Girl and she did a fair job of singing. She was rewarded with a ticket to Hollywood to compete in the first round.

And here's what has happened overnight.
As I was driving to work, I scanned three radio stations, including the news/talk station and all three made mention of her and even played an audio clip of her.
She is all over the web on both blogs and traditional media websites.
She needs an agent and she needs to get signed up for some endorsement deals this week as the American Idol Bikini Girl.

She will not win the crown, she's not that good of a singer, but she has her niche and she needs to focus on that as long as possible.

Quite frankly if Billy Mays can create a niche by yelling at people and make millions, Katrina should be able to rake in a few dollars while she is riding her 15 minutes of fame.

It's what's Inside that counts

In the last article, I demonstrated a formula for putting together an advertising schedule including a plan for a jewelry store on a radio station. But beware, because the schedule is only one factor in determining success.

Today, I'll share with you the next factor: Content.

Face it, some advertising is more effective than others. I'm not talking about the advertising mediums, but the actual advertising messages.

Since we started talking about radio, we'll continue in that medium. I personally like radio because of the way it can communicate to your potential customers that is very similar to a word of mouth recommendation that one friend gives to another friend. Unfortunately, not all radio advertising makes full use of this advantage.

Here's what you want in your radio advertisement:

• Your Uniqueness that sets you apart from others that may offer the same or similar product or service.
• An Offer or incentive for people to do business with you.
• A Call to Action. What you want the listener to do next.

Here's what you don't want in your radio advertisement:

• Cliche's.
• How many years you've been around.
• How many years of experience your staff has.
• Anything that your competitors can also claim about them.
• Your street address. Instead say, "the bright yellow building on West Main Street."
• Your phone number unless it is memorable and that is the way you want them to contact you. 484-FOOD works if you do pizza delivery.
• The "WWW" part of your website address.

Then there's the style of the presentation. Unless you are a fast talking used car salesperson, don't use fast talking, slick sounding ads. They are a turn-off.

Instead, a natural, professional vocal style without background music can be very effective.

Use music and sound effects sparingly.
Humor and dialogue ads are also very difficult for your typical radio station to produce convincingly.
Focus on only one item or offer in each ad. Don't try and cram everything into one commercial.

Some of the best campaigns are a series of ads that build upon each other but can also stand alone. It takes a rare talent to develop this type of advertising campaign.

And finally back to what I mentioned at the beginning, focus on your Uniqueness. But not from your perspective, from the customers perspective. Develop a theme that you use in all your ads and stick with it.

Why You?

Every time you have an opportunity to interact with a client/customer, or potential client/customer, you have to earn their continued business.

Every time they pick up the phone to request a service call, every time they walk in your doors, every time they go to your website, you need to answer their question, "Why am I willing to spend my money with you?"

Shorten that phrase to, "Why you?"

There is one car dealer I buy from. Every time I have gone to him, he continues to earn my business with his honesty.

The carpet cleaner my wife calls has earned lots of money from us directly and indirectly with the referals we give him.

The plumber I used to rely on however has lost my business. 3 weeks ago, we had a plumbing/sewer problem and they sent out a plumber who spent two hours at our home but was unable to fix the problem and wanted to reschedule a time to come back later in the week.

So we blindly (looked up in the Yellow Pages), another company and they sent two guys over that afternoon and took care of the problem. They got $354.00 for fixing the problem.

Thursday, (Thanksgiving Day), less than 3 weeks later, the problem occurred again. Fortunately we have two bathrooms. The next day, I called back the folks I gave $354 to and asked for help. They explained that they were short staffed but when I told them the problem, they said that the owner himself would be out if they couldn't find the guys they sent previously.

Turns out within two hours, the original guy they sent out came to our house and fixed the problem again. It was his day off. He did not charge us anything. He wouldn't even accept a gift tip for coming out.

He told us what we needed to do if the problem happened again along with a price, couple grand, to fix the problem, or we could be very careful and he gave us some temporary advice to keep things running smoothly.

They answered the question, "Why you?"

How about your business? What are you doing to continually earn your client/customers money?

Changes and Stability

It was 22 years ago that I made the switch to the advertising side of media.

Some of the changes over the past two decades include:

We are exposed to more advertising messages than ever before. So we become consciously numb to many of the ads and it takes something out of the ordinary to get our attention.

There are more demands on our time as the two income family is now the norm. So there are less housewives than ever before as even those that take a break when their children are born, return back to work within weeks, not years.

We have more choices for where we get our news, information and entertainment. In 1986, we had cable, but not 200 channels. The internet was not an option.

Our telephones were at our desks, or on the wall, not in our purse, pocket or belts. And we were not expected to be on call 24/7.

Personal Computers did not exist in most offices. Email, Instant Messaging, Blogs, Social Media sites, Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Google have all changed the way we live our lives.

With all these changes, there are still lots of things that have not changed.

People like to buy, they don't like to be sold.

People will tell others about a good deal. People will tell LOTS of others about a bad deal.

Reputation matters.

We buy based on emotion, not logic. Even the most logical, unemotional people do this.

So to summarize, technology will continue to change, human nature remains predictably stable.

If your advertising is contrary to human nature and emotion, (like the screaming furniture sale tv ad I saw this week), then your chances of success are minimal.

Use the power of human nature and predictability as a guideline as you consider your advertising and marketing and you will not be disappointed.

5 Simple Things First

There is a very valuable strategy that says to do the hardest project on your to do list first.

That may be good for your time management, but isn't always the best for your marketing.

Here are 5 Simple Things you should do now:

1. Business Cards with correct information.

2. Signage if you have a physical location.

3. Networking, a low to zero cost way to start Word of Mouth.

4. Press Release, to announce ANYTHING of importance.

5. Website, a real one, not a myspace or facebook page.

Contact me at ScLoHo@ScLoHo.net if you need help.

Now, that you've taken care of the basics, then you can start some of the harder stuff like a marketing and advertising plan that fits your business.

But First things First.

The Message vs. the Messenger

Last week I was brainstorming with other members of a marketing committee for the local Boy Scouts and as we were talking about how to achieve growth over the next 5 years, the following concept came to mind...

If your organization has a good strong attractive message, then be very cautious about changing the message.

However, you are going to have to adapt the means of communicating that message (i.e. the Messenger).

Let's put it another way. You have a good strong, attractive brand. Burger King's brand is flame-broiled Whoppers. Boy Scouts have their Values wrapped up in the Scout Law and Scout Oath. This is the message that needs to be communicated to the people. The Message/Brand is a reflection of the organization/company.

The messenger is based on the people you need to get the message to. Traditional Media, Word of Mouth, Promotional activities, Internet and Social Media, etc.

Make sure you do not abandon a good message/brand, just because you have to change the messenger.

How much is a customer worth?

Like everything else, it depends.

But to help you sort out the variables, I have some examples.

Fast Food Restaurant that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Odds are that they have regular customers at the drive-tru every morning spending 4 bucks a day.

Perhaps they only visit 3 days a week. There's $12 bucks a week.
Let's say they do this 9 months each year. 39 weeks times $12 = $468.00

Do this for just 3 years and we are up to $1404.

Let's say they grab dinner for the family twice a month at $25 bucks, or $50 a month times 36 months and we have another $1800 over three years.

Together that's over $3200.

And these are typical but conservative figures.

Roofer.

$10,000 for a 20 year roof.
Three neighbors also get bids when they see the quality work being done. One of them buys now, another buys in a couple of years.

Average cost was $10,000 or $30,000 total.

Coffee Shop.

Another one of those small but frequent purchases.
5 bucks times 5 days, plus bringing a friend a couple days a week and perhaps another visit with friends over the weekend and that 1 customer can be worth 50 bucks a week times 50 weeks and you've got a new customer value of $2500 per year!

Then let's say this customer refers 4 friends during that first year.
Now by reaching that first customer and earning $2500 in year one, you are now earning an additional $2500 from his 4 friends for a total of $12,500 in year two!

This is how you should measure the true value of a customer!

The Secret to Networking

Recently I was talking to a couple of local business owners that were "dropping out of networking".

As we talked, I wanted to learn why they were soured on the local networking scene and I learned some very valuable information that confirms what I have witnessed too.

In Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was at one time a list of over 100 different networking groups of various sorts. They ranged from weekly meetings with no formal agenda, to monthly meetings where you stand up and give a 1 minute talk about yourself, to service clubs, and social clubs.

When I was looking for a fast start when I returned to the radio business, I ended up joining a B.N.I. group due to the organization and the people.

It is by far, one of the best business networking groups around because they follow a principal that many other groups have not figured out yet.

That principle is "Givers Gain".

If you try and sell your goods and services to the people in the room at the networking group you are attending, then, for the most part, you are doing things backwards. Instead of being a Giver, you come off as a Taker.

Stop trying to sell the other members that are in your midst and instead, listen to what they have to offer and think about who might benefit from getting to know this person. This is referral based networking and this is what has worked for generations.

Referral Based Networking is simply a form of Word of Mouth. For example, if I ask you who you would recommend as a dentist, and you liked your dentist, then you would give me his/her name.

B.N.I. is a referral based networking system that offers members exclusivity and requires regular attendance. They also have a system for passing and keeping track of referrals.

Unfortunately, most of the other business networking groups fall short of being a referral network, and this is why I sometimes hear negative comments on the concept of networking.

There are differences in each B.N.I. group, and I believe that the one I was a member of for three years is one of the best around.

There are other ways to network, including using the web and free services such as LinkedIn.com to stay in touch and meet others.

Remember that networking is about building relationships and that you want to be a giver, not a taker. Help enough other people and you'll be helped in return if you are honest, trustworthy and "referable".

That is the Secret to Networking.