It’s a solution, not my solution

I was once attached to a company that actively sought out to put themselves into the following trap:

Generate a suite of business solutions that we can hang our hat on. These solutions will serve the majority of businesses regardless of their market position and valuation. By generating a suite of “off the shelf” solutions, the company will save on resources that otherwise would have to go to generating unique solutions for every new client. Furthermore, once our sales team learns the suite, they can speak very passionately and effectively about it to prospects.

That company is no longer in business. This practice was a major contributor to their demise.

Quick, name two companies that operate exactly the same. Name two companies for which an off-the-shelf solution (software, operational, marketing, or otherwise) could quickly be immediately integrated and effective. You can’t because there is none.

Every business faces different challeneges dependent on a host of variables from their marketspace to their corporate values. Two different companies that make identical widgets do so in different ways.

I recently was connected to an organization which created boilerplate new business pitches. The budget that followed the boilerplate was, of course, customized to reflect the client and project, but the majority of the paperwork was submitted untouched. If you try to play this game, you put your chances of winning the business in peril. Your proposal comes off being to generic and ends up being as ineffective as a generic cover letter.

It takes work to get work. Anything worth having is worth working for. By taking the extra time to generate proposals and solutions for each individual situation shows that you are earnest when you say “I want to work with you. I want to do work for you.”

It’s time to get horizontal

This blog has been chock full of ideas and concepts on how you can increase awareness of your product. We’ve talked about on-air advertising (television and radio), print, outdoor, Internet, direct response, economic challenges, the power of social media, and Guerilla Marketing. We’ve even talked about co-op advertising. This week, we’re going to explore the idea behind horizontal marketing.

Let’s say you make…oh, I don’t know…in keeping with the horizontal theme: mattresses. You want to increase the awareness of your product so you know you have to advertise. The problem is your particular product isn’t something that people can easily browse in a store like a candy bar or shirts. Your product has to be a destination for a shopper in order for a potential customer to lay hands on it. Beyond traditional media buys and storewide sales events, what else can you do?

Similar to the concept I forwarded with co-op advertising, are there interconnected businesses that you have a relationship with where you can co-promote together? For example, maybe there is a home improvement store or a bed sheet manufacturer where you can build a partnership. With the purchase of a mattress, you get a set of bet sheets or a gift card to a home improvement store to further improve your bedroom. Then in buying the traditional media, you can split costs with your partner thereby lowering your advertising costs.

If you own a mattress store, it’s smart to think vertically and split ad costs with mattress manufacturers, but there are endless possibilities horizontally as well, all of which can lower your marketing costs and increase your exposure.

You CAN get there from here.

From when I was young, I remember a TV commercial where someone stopped for directions to Bar Harbor, Maine. The reply came in a very thick Maine accent: “You can’t git therah from hereh.”

The phrase has popped up in my life from time to time. But it’s when it pops up in my professional life that I get most disturbed.

The idea of “it can’t be done” or “you can’t get there from here” is very foreign to me. I recently fielded a call from a new client. He knows that I touch all types of marketing, but already had established a relationship with a graphic artist before we started working together. To his credit, he wants to remain loyal to his vendors. That’s why that graphic artist got the call when his company decided last minute to place a full-color ad in a nationally distributed magazine. The client was very clear in what he wanted and the graphic artist tried his best, but ultimately submitted sub-par work stating that there wasn’t enough time to carry out the request and that “it can’t be done.”

The client and I are of like mind. To use his words, “If you throw enough effort or resource into something, it can get done.” That’s right, Mr. Client. You can get there from here, no matter where ‘there’ and ‘here’ are.

He called me on a Thursday night. I had approval of the ad by Monday night and it went to print.

I’m not trying to brag (although, maybe I am just a little). I’m trying to illustrate that there is ALWAYS a solution to be found somewhere. If you have a clear definition of the destination and you’re creative enough, connected enough, and/or savvy enough to build the path, you can make it happen.

Easier said than done? Sure. That’s why when you do it, the client loves you. That’s why when new competition knocks on your client’s door, your client calls you to laugh about it.

Are you prepared for the next fire drill? What are you doing today that will allow you to deliver superior service tomorrow? Are you networking and meeting new vendors? Are you researching new concepts and technologies?

Do you have a success story that you’d like to share that we can all learn from?

Wanted: The best and the brightest

You know how important good employees are to your organization. In fact, before you started your own business, it’s likely that you were a good employee to someone yourself.

On the flip side, adding a staff, or even starting a staff, is a very scary and expensive proposition. The employee sees the net on their paycheck and that’s how much they cost, right? Of course not. You have all those extras you have to pay for: self-employment tax, workspace expenses, benefits. The list goes on.

So, you need a staff, but you know that hiring the wrong people is a very expensive mistake to learn. What do you do to ensure that you minimize that risk?

Much of it depends on the type of position you are looking to fill. Is this a front line person that needs basic skills and needs to be dependable? Is this a manager that is going to generate leadership and drive a department? Is this someone that you might need as your right hand person with the possibility of having as a partner.

Ads in the paper for front line employees have become a very last-century activity. In fact, many papers are just a fraction of their former selves due to the acceptance of the Internet as a tool for job seekers and the lack of advertising/classified dollars. You have to post your position(s) where the most eyeballs will be. Monster and Careerbuilder are just two of the possible ways you can look to fill your positions. I’m a strong advocate of posting positions on your own website regardless of the level of the position. People who are really interested in your company are more valuable than those simply looking for a job.

It’s helpful to start to network to find a strong manager for your company. Talk to people you know and place feelers out there in your connected community. Let people know you’re interested. People that know people are often an excellent source of information about a candidate beyond what you might find on their resume.

But don’t let any of this work and expense be the reason for not adding to staff. If you’re growing your sole proprietorship, then you’re likely at the ceiling point where you might not be able to grow your business any further. Besides a second set of hands, new employees can also be an extra set of eyes and another prespective on problem solving.

Brought to you by…

There is no shortage of ways in which you can get your name and brand out in the public eye. Between straight spot buys on TV, radio, placement within print and outdoor, you can carve out your own slice of the medium and craft your message for maximum impact.

But that doesn’t prevent those who sell media from thinking of additional ways of getting advertisers to spend money. You can always purchase a sponsorship. You can sponsor shows on TV, holes during a golf tournament, or printed materials for a non-profit’s event. These are great ways for ad sales reps to earn income beyond the standard selling of advertisements (internally, you might hear reps refer to this as “non-traditional revenue” or NTR).

But is this right for you?

In the case of cause marketing (marketing of an event connected to a cause such as the American Cancer Society’s Rely for Life), this may be a great opportunity to generate goodwill toward your organization in the form of displaying that you care and that you are a part of the community. Selfishly, it also puts you in front of a particular segment of people that you may want to reach. Even if it’s not just cause marketing but a local event, you may also find value in your sponsorship given that your company’s brand will be seen as involved.

Through years of both sponsoring and creating public events, I’ve gotten to know what really works from sponsorships and what might not necessarily generate value for your marketing dollar. The biggest mistake I’ve seen people make is to give dollars to sponsor something and then not worry about how they will be represented. If you’re worried about maximum exposure, then make sure that your providing a banner, sign, or logo and know where it’s going. Unless your signage is truly unique, then having it placed among so many others is simply spending money to become part of an ignored background.

How many times have you been to an event and seen how many benefactors were listed in a program? How you bothered to look at every name? Have you done business with an organization because they were listed among so many others in that program? It’s likely they got lost in the shuffle. They weren’t worried enough about their placement to make their sponsorship marketing purchase worthwhile.

Take control over how you will be presented. Where will you be listed? How will you be listed or placed? How many other people will be listed with you? Is your competition also participating? If this is the first year you are participating with an event, is there something “extra” that they can do for you? All things you’ll want to think about before consenting to sponsor an event.

Have you sponsored an event that you found to be exceptionally worthwhile and enhanced your business through its participation? How you given an event sponsorship dollars only to find it was a total waste? And if so, what did you learn from the experience?

Go ape with your marketing

Not that I necessarily advocate this type of marketing, but it’s likely you may have heard about it so I thought I would spend this week’s post educating you about it.

It’s called Guerilla Marketing. Depending on the type of business you are, this might be a viable option for you as long as you understand the ramifications behind it.

The term Guerilla Marketing is used to cover a number of different marketing activities, but at the essence it’s a very active in-your-face type of marketing. It might be street teams hired to go out into crowded shopping/tourist areas and hand out samples of your product. It might be people walking down the sidewalk handing out leaflets on your business. It might be a hot air balloon with your logo flying over a local event. Or it might be completely transforming an ordinary bus stop using product that your store carries.

The common theme among these examples is the desire to be so different and non-traditional that the acts serves to cut through the clutter with a chainsaw. These are often highly interruptible forms of advertising forcing you to stop and experience the brand. If done in a positive way, this can be a very effective form of marketing. However, much also depends on the kind of business you are. I’ve seen this work exceptionally well for a Top 40 radio station, but it would be highly detrimental to the brand of a more upscale type business (can you imagine Swarovski Crystal trying something like this?).

Think about your ideal new customer for a minute? Would they mind if you shook them out of their daily routine to experience you? Would they embrace the event you’ve planned? Will the event work in concert with the other marketing that you are executing?

Have you done guerilla marketing in the past? Have you experienced success? Do you have stories you can share with us?

Find some fans

This is kind of an extension of earlier idea on having a cheering section and using testimonials.

I live in Connecticut where the sports allegiances are sharply divided. In baseball, Yankees and Red Sox fans are forced to co-exist (and where Mets fans are third class citizens). Patriots fans co-mingle with Giants fans. Bruins and Rangers fans tolerate each other.

I say all this because sports franchises have a rabid fan base. These fans spend far beyond just tickets to games. They buy all sorts of paraphernalia from shirts to cups to bumper stickers…anything that has the logo on it and is related to the team.

Don’t think this translates to business? Let me give you a couple of examples.

Apple: This company does so well keeping new product development a secret that the Internet is littered with websites just dedicated to speculation as to what they’re doing. Suppliers give these websites confidential scoops on part orders to further generate speculation. By the time an Apple product is announced, there’s been so much (free) buzz generated about it, it’s almost a lock to be a success. Beyond just the products, the company has generated such a following that pre-owned t-shirts they employees had sell on eBay. People that own old and obsolete Apple products are still unwilling to give them up.

Harley-Davidson: Ask a Harley owner if they’ve ever owned a different manufacturer’s product before. Odds are, they have. Ask them if they will ever own a motorcycle other than a Harley again. Odds are, they won’t. Ever. Aficionados everywhere emblaze their body with the company’s logo to the degree that there are entire web pages dedicated to what you need to know before getting not just a tattoo, but a Harley tattoo. Being a Harley fan is more than enjoyment of product and happiness with company. It’s an entire lifestyle.

I’m not suggesting that every company aspire to reach this level of following, but certainly there are components of these case studies that you can adopt to your business. Can you develop a following? Can you generate interest in your products to the point that people look forward to their release? Can you get customers to the point that they will only do business with you and tell others to do the same?

How much is that little doggie in the (virtual) window?

I love electronics. Like oh-so-many other guys, I like going into my local electronics retailer and picking up and playing with the gadgets. I may not buy them, but they’re fun to play with. I remember one year telling my wife that I was going to take my birthday as a vacation day from work and spend the morning at Best Buy.

You’ve done it yourself I’m sure. You’ve gone into a Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s, CompUSA, or any of the other brick-and-mortar electronics retailers and just played. You might have gone in for something specific and just got sidetracked or maybe you were just going in to have fun and kill some time. But you’ve tinkered.

Then came the Internet. And with it, ease of comparison shopping. Then the brick-and-mortar that you visited just became the playground to test out new gear. You figured out which model you wanted and then went home where you could find it online for the cheapest price from a company that you hope wouldn’t drop it too many times before it shipped.

What happened to the brick-and-mortar stores? Circuit City is gone with its brand sold to a company that maintains an online-only presence. CompUSA is gone as well. Even market leader Best Buy is reporting in 1st Q 09 a domestic segment increase of almost 1%, but comparable store sales decline of 4.9%.

What does all this mean to you, the small business owner?

You know all that overhead you endure month after month? The salarys, the building and maintenance cost? The inventory? Know how you work so hard to generate positive foot traffic so people come in?

Ask yourself, if you were in your customer’s shoes, would you buy from you?  Is there a compelling reason for someone to buy from you rather than just play with your floor models and then go home and order it?

Of course there is. You know all the reasons as well as I do. First and foremost, the item’s already in the customer’s hands. Why let them put it down and then go home? They have have it TODAY. Despite the rigors of the current economy, we’re still a nation of “gotta have it now” people. Secondly, your staff is there to support you if you need to learn how to use it, need to select a better one, or return it. No need to ship it off to some post office box. Just bring it back and you’re happy to help. Thirdly… Fourthly… Fifthly…

You know all the reasons. I don’t need to tell you. But you do need to tell your customers. Before you become a Circuit City, CompUSA, or Ritz Camera, you had better make sure that your marketing and branding all position you against your competition correctly. And don’t forget, your competition includes all those faceless retailers that don’t even have a storefront.

It’s on sale

As I write this, today is one of the major national holidays: Independence Day. Around many of the holidays, many retailers (and other small businesses) decide to take the opportunity to go into sale mode.

On a fundamental level, just what is a sale? It’s when you take your goods and/or services and discount their price point in hopes of spurring buying behaviors.

Is this a good idea? To help you decide, let’s take a look at both sides of the equation.

Pro:

Lowering your price is the perfect reason to ramp up your marketing efforts. You have an intrinsic reason for advertising. Your advertising takes on a more active voice rather than branding-oriented and compels immediate action. Generating more traffic to your business increases the likelihood that customers will buy more than what they came for. Decreasing the price of certain merchandise helps move that product making way for new items for which you might want to dedicate shelf space.

Con:

Lowering your price implies that you’ve been overcharging all along. Having sales increases foot traffic which demands that you increase staffing to accommodate. Creating a sales mentality with your customer base may create a situation where they will not buy an item until you place it on sale. Lowering price means you have to sell more product to realize the same profit.

Before going into sale mode, determine if the reasons for having a sale benefit you in the long run. If your product/service is currently priced correctly, then there might not be a need for lowering it. Having a sale is often a good short term cash flow fix which in turn creates long term branding issues.

Can you manage to be a leader?

You walk into the office on Monday. You know that there’s a project due soon so you check in with key employees that have been assigned parts to find out their status and expected delivery time. You meet with other employees that you need to join the process and give them the appropriate materials and guidelines so they can start. You then head to your desk to provide a status report to your supervisor. Then it’s time to dive into your inbox and coffee while thinking how well the day has started.

Leadership or management? You might think this is an easy one, but in reality, I haven’t given you enough information to make a determination.

Leadership and management are status-independent activities. Certainly you manage down to your employees, but you can also manage up (ever have a boss that needs you more than you need him?) and even manage sideways. I’ve known many first rung employees that have demonstrated tremendous natural leadership.

Leadership comes from your actions and interactions. Leadership comes from within and is projected outward. Leadership is the ideal building block from which to build management skills that will create an environment of success.

So back to the original example. We know that our hero is managing people and a process. But was he leading?

To the first group, he took the time to understand the challenges they faced and listened to what they would need to continue forward. He worked with them to develop a feasible plan to enable them to be successful. To the second group, he shared the vision of what the project was about and what they hoped to accomplish. He invited feedback and insights into how the new group could add to the team. And he didn’t leave until they knew how they could get support from him if they needed it before the next check in.

Communication, actions, and attitude all contribute to your position as a leader.

It’s not about being soft and easily manipulated. It’s not about never making a mistake either. It’s about trying to do the best by the team at all times. It’s about having people want to follow you.

Following is always a voluntary activity. There is no such thing as a leader with no followers.