(Add to Favorites | View All Articles | Resource Directory)
|
|
|
Does Your Small Business Marketing Suffer From The Bulldog Effect?
If you're an entrepreneur responsible for your own small business marketing, there's a marketing method you should avoid at all costs, which I've coined the bulldog effect for reasons you will understand shortly. Keep reading to find out if you're guilty of using this technique in your own marketing and learn how to fix it. After a recent weekend jaunt to San Diego, my husband and I arrived back in Los Angeles tired and hungry, so we walked the small handful of blocks to a local all-night diner to grab a quick bite to eat. And it was there that we were smacked in the face with an example of unusual small business marketing, to say the least. We live near a shopping district where small businesses cater to everyone from people like my husband and myself to the elderly from the retirement homes nearby. And it was one store catering to this population of older citizens that had us in hysterics when we should have been concentrating on finding some grub. Your products sell themselves? Think again You might think a shop selling wheelchairs would have it easy in such a neighborhood -- a huge target audience planted right there, a captive audience if you will. And you'd be right. During the day, you see almost as many disabled elderly individuals out shopping as you do younger/able-bodied people. So from the sounds of things, maybe small business marketing tactics aren't as important for a shop like this because the products practically sell themselves. Right? Wrong. Despite the fact that I am not the target audience, I am a marketer and take notice of new marketing approaches so that I can try them out myself and share them with subscribers to my small business marketing newsletter. But that night, my husband and I just wanted a bite to eat. Some things you can't ignore As we walked, however, there was no way to miss the latest marketing efforts of the shop in question. This shop, which features very little in the way of shopfront advertising, had put an oversized poster in the window to promote a new model of wheelchair ... complete with a grumpy, overweight bulldog planted right in the middle of it. Sure, it's lovely that the dog's fanged underbite finally got the recognition it deserved. And of course the wheelchair came across loud and clear as the other "hero," the main focus of the image ... other than the dog sprawled across the seat, smiling that is. (I am also almost certain that a wheelchair wholesaler created this poster and not the store itself.) And you bet the poster got our attention. However, displayed as prominently as it was, the poster overshadowed any credibility the store might otherwise have had in terms of their expertise in finding less-able people the right wheelchair for their needs. Why? Because apparently, they also help pedigreed pooches do the same. Of course I say this in jest, but use this as a lesson for your own small business marketing materials. No, I'm not suggesting that you have an image of a bulldog on your homepage or in your catalog -- and if you do and it makes sense, by all means continue to do so. Rather, take this bulldog story as an analogy to your own marketing and think of ways to make your small business marketing message clearer and more meaningful to your target audience. Rid your own campaigns of the bulldog effect Here are some questions to get you thinking about your own small business marketing: 1) Whether we're talking about a simple website, a brochure or even just your business card, are you marketing yourself the way you want to be perceived by your customers? 2) Some use of characters (comic book characters, superheroes, etc.) is effective when used appropriately. Are you using the right type of character to set the tone for your business? Think critically about how others might perceive your campaigns. 3) Trusting your own instincts is dangerous without a reality check. Ask some of your customers what they think of your current marketing. Bear in mind that if they are customers, they are, in fact, buying from you despite any protests they may have with your marketing approach, so take their feedback with a grain of salt. 4) Ask strangers to your business what they think of your current marketing. These should not be people you know or else they will not be as candid. 5) Test everything! Regardless of what approach you take, test one version against the next to see what sells more. Experiment. Mix and match. But measure your results so that you know that your bulldog should be removed. Or not. In closing, first impressions count, and you need to ensure that the message you're broadcasting to your prospects is the right one. Use this tail -- I mean, tale -- to see if there's anything you can improve in your own small business marketing. Copywriter/marketing strategist Jennifer McCay helps individuals and small businesses turn their expertise into marketing success stories. She is the publisher of the Avenues to Marketing Success Newsletter, which delivers tips to help you rev up your small business marketing. To subscribe and receive a FREE special report on 7 ways to improve your sales copy, head to http://AvenueEast.com
MORE RESOURCES: News provided by Yahoo! News and Google News Small-Business Owners More Optimistic About Growth -Survey Wilmington council considers small biz help along with ballpark - WWAY NewsChannel 3 Head of U.S. Small Business Administration in Jacksonville to talk 'microlending' Bill Aims to Simplify 1099-Ks for Small Biz - Reuters Small-biz advocacy group pushes health insurance co-op idea in Springfield - Crain's Chicago Business (blog) |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Get Free Payroll Forms Download from the Internet Having a successful business means also having a good working relationship with your employees, and nothing more makes it sour than having problems with the payroll. You can't expect them to work gratis, employees expect to be paid and compensated fairly. Top 10 Record Keeping Mistakes Business Owners Make (and How To Avoid Them) If you interviewed business owners of failed businesses, a majority will tell you that they didn't understand or feel comfortable dealing with the "book work". Your ability to understand and perform day to day accounting tasks in your small business is a critical success factor. Competition in the Market Place and Over Disclosure Regulatory Burden The Federal Trade Commission is assisting competitor to cheat and encouraging this unethical behavior thru their disclosure rule on franchisors. Competition in the market place is far more competitive and the stakes are high enough that Over Disclosure Regulatory Rules cause competition to take the advantage and cheat. Dispute Resolution; Competing With Other Franchisees If you are in a franchise and have a territory dispute with another franchisee you need to prevent a lawsuit use dispute resolution techniques to resolve the dispute. Competing with other franchisees is a subject that franchisors would prefer not to need to talk about. Small Business 101: Deadly Ignorance American small business is again in transition. Many employees, now working from home, are no longer tied to a geographic office and the woes of commuting. Going Public by Way of Regulation D (504) Offering Under the Securities Act of 1933, any offer to sell securities must either be registered with the SEC or meet an exemption. Regulation D (or Reg D) provides three exemptions from the registration requirements, allowing some smaller companies to offer and sell their securities without having to register the securities with the SEC. Community Relations Strategy for Small Business Does your company have a community relation strategy? Have you even considered it? It is essential to have policies in place. Having run a small business for years which eventually turned into a multi-state franchise system, I realized early on that a business who is part of the community it serves can survive the ups and downs of the business cycles, making it somewhat recession proof. Image is everything - Not just a cliché What image do you and your people portray to your prospects and clients? Here's a situation that happened to me recently and hopefully you'll glean useful small business ideas that will make you money instead of costing you money.January is always a good time to grab bargains so when I noticed that two well-known blind companies were advertising 35% off their blinds, I decided to give them a call? and it was an interesting experience. 10 Cardinal Rules for Business Growth After over 30 years of participating in hundreds of businesses, competing in at least as many different industries, with companies marketing both products and services, you begin to develop and accumulate some fundamental businesses axioms or "rules of thumb" that seem to make more sense everyday and gain more value in business practice as your career continues to advance and evolve.You like to think what you have learned and the business knowledge you have retained along your long and varied career path is unique, proprietary, or even "original", but somewhere deep inside you know that most of the things you hold near and dear to your own business self identity probably were already developed, practiced, and taught way before you ever entered your first business conference room. Small Business Vendors; Getting the Best Service If you are a small business you know that you must rely on your vendors to make sure you have everything your customers need. Lack of vendor support can lead to upset customers or even loss of your business. Restaurant Operators - What Skills do you Need A tongue-in-cheek look at the skills required to operate a restaurant but?on he whole they come pretty close to the truth.People Skills, You need to be good with people, because you will have different customers almost every day, you will have repeat customers who have higher expectations, a high-maintenance shift-based staff to manage, suppliers who won't always meet your expectations or time frames and creditors who want their money now. The feast-or-famine roller coaster A solopreneur I know disappears from my radar screen for weeks on end when she's actively engaged on a project for a client. During this time she is heads down, totally focused, and immersed in delivering her service to her current client. The Business Autopsy: A Fact Of Life Last week we discussed the importance of performing an autopsy on a dead business. No, I haven't been watching too many of those wonderfully graphic, TV forensic investigation shows. Your company is too small for a business plan - and other myths Are you -- like 70 percent of small business owners -- working without a plan?Here are three myths that need to be dispelled about strategic planning for small business.1. Expanding A Mobile Car Wash Business What is the best time to expand a mobile car wash business? If everything were perfect and you could choose the best time to buy a new mobile car wash rig, you should buy it in April and have it running by the 20th of May. If you have 1. Proper Care and Feeding of the Business Owner That sizzling sound you're hearing may be a symptom of a major hidden cause of businesses closing their doors. It's called burnout. Starting a New Business in a Small Town Q. I am a former pastor who left the ministry after sixteen years to spend more time with my family. How to Raise Your Fees and Thrill Your Customers Think the best way to get more customers is to have the lowest prices in town? Think again. Think the best way to create a successful business is to try to appeal to everyone? Wrong again. Ways to save your small business some money One of the primary concerns all small businesses have is saving money. When it's time to trim the fat, most look for one giant expense to decrease or eliminate in order to stay within budget. There Is Security in Change... But Use Caution It has been said that the only constant is change. That statement, while true for everyone, it is especially true for those engaged in business activities.
|
| Home | Site Map | Privacy Statement | More Articles |
| © 2006 |