The first paragraph of the article serves as a summary: It's a common occurrence for marketing campaigns, promotional activities, and small business marketing strategies to yield less than satisfactory results and a lower-than-anticipated return on investment (ROI). This can be attributed to a variety of factors, including incorrect advertising mediums, misidentification of target markets, selling a product or service with little demand or high competition, non-competitive pricing, poor location, subpar customer service, weak sales strategies, or the lack of a compelling marketing message, a distinctive company identity, or unique selling proposition. This article aims to guide small business owners on how to avoid these pitfalls and identify profitable opportunities.
Simply placing newspaper ads, purchasing radio spots, making sales calls, and distributing brochures won't necessarily lead to a surge in customer inquiries or sales. The foundation of your marketing strategy needs to be robust and well-thought-out. Your target market is constantly bombarded with advertising messages, commercials, sales pitches, and a plethora of business signs, billboards, empty promises, special sales, shouting announcers, and dubious advertiser claims. The challenge for you, as a small business owner, is to reach the right people, stand out from the crowd, inspire trust, and prompt people to respond to your offer.
One effective way to understand what works and what doesn't is to regularly evaluate the multitude of marketing messages and strategies you encounter daily. Ask yourself which messages, advertising techniques, and images grab your attention. Often, the messages that are most effective are those that focus on how a product or service can improve your life, solve a problem, or evoke positive emotions. In your ads, brochures, and sales presentations, emphasize the desirable outcomes, results, and benefits that your prospect will enjoy as a result of using your product or service. Features are important, but they are generally secondary when it comes to persuasion and sales success.
By observing what other businesses are doing and thinking creatively, you can start formulating innovative and sometimes unconventional ideas that you can apply to profitably marketing your own products or services.
A successful marketing strategy often starts with identifying opportunities to reach your target market cost-effectively when they're in a receptive frame of mind. A good example of this kind of opportunistic marketing can be seen in a children's party planning service that distributed promotional flyers at a crowded toy festival and parade. The business owner realized that thousands of parents of young children would be in the same place at the same time, having spent a fun day with their children, and would be receptive to learning about ways to make their children happier and to look good as parents. This strategy allowed the business owner to reach hundreds, maybe thousands of targeted prospects inexpensively.
Successful advertising and marketing require imagination, experimentation, and observation. If your advertising message doesn't paint an irresistible picture, create anticipation, and reach a targeted audience with the greatest tendency to respond to your offer, then your campaign will be ordinary and your results unremarkable. The principles in this article are not new, but they're probably ignored by the vast majority of those in the small business community. Commit these ideas to memory so that you're among the successful minority!
