The MyBusinessDashboard Blog: Small Business Dashboard Metrics Key Performance Indicators and Goals

Fast Company: 5 Reasons Your Customer's Age Doesn't Matter

Another victom of the social media wave is the blanket demographics used by traditional advertisers such as newspaper, TV, and radio.  Check out this article from Fast Company.

New Services, New Markets, Diversification -- Suggestions from WSJ.com

I've seen a local contractor whose business started to slow achieve thier financial projections by expanding into new markets.  Once the economy turns around, that business will be in a huge growth phase.  The Wall Street Journal online has some other great ideas for making it through these tough times.

5 Mistakes that Can Ruin Your Business and Destroy Your Dreams: #2 Change Your Marketing Plan Every Month or So

This is the second in a series titled, "How to Ruin Your Business and Destroy Your Dreams!"  I originally presented this to the Chandler Chamber of Commerce.  The PowerPoint is available at www.MyBusiness-Advisors.com.

Today's mistake: Change Your Marketing Plan Every Month or So

An exercise I often take a new client through is to go through all their marketing/advertising efforts for the past year.  It's a fun exercise to go through, because we always end up with a mountain of failed campaigns.  This mountain is built as the client grabs a flyer, magazine ad, or direct mail piece, throws it into the pile, saying, "Did this for a month, didn't work!"  There starts to become a clear pattern: tried it for a month and it didn't work.

The trick is to do research, analyze your market, THEN launch a marketing campaign.  Commit to that campaign for AT LEAST six months.  Analyze the results quarterly and make very small, deliberate adjustments as you go.  This will ensure that you create a well-oiled, targeted campaign that brings in business.  That way, when your business coach visits, you can say, "Over the pas twelve months, I've done these three campaigns and gotten a 300% return on my investment!"

What is it about Advertising?

Is there any easier sale to make than selling advertising to a small business owner?  It's a pretty simple pitch: get more business without doing anything.  Just get the ad out there and watch your numbers grow!  How simple!  How many times have you fallen into that trap?  I know I have, many times.

While sitting in Sun Devil Stadium watching my Sun Devils take on Northern Arizona University's team, I couldn't help notice all the opportunities for advertising pasted all over the stadium, from banners to permanent signs to quick ads on the video boards.  As I look at the ads, I realized I had not even heard of many of these advertisers.  And how much money did they spend to get noticed by 60,000 fans?  What is the cost-per-thousand (CPM) on that ad?

Now, some of these ads made sense: Coca-Cola, All-State, Nike.  But there were a couple that I didn't quite understand...small, local businesses that I hadn't seen before and haven't seen since.

So, how do we turn down the almost irresistible lure of buying advertising we don't need?  Simple...have a plan and a budget.  If you can identify the promotional activities (ads, SEO, direct mail, direct sales, etc.) that you need to get to your market, AND identify the budget for these activities, AND have concrete objectives for these activities, you will be better armed to tell that ad rep, "NO!".  Or, if he or she has a great opportunity, you can still seize it -- just replace some under performing activity.

We all want our small businesses to be successful and achieve growth.  Knowing when to buy advertising is real key to that success.

Your Small Business is What it Eats! So Eat Success!

I remember biology class (or, was it chemistry?) in high school and learning that we really ARE what we eat.  The foods we eat get broken down and become part of our muscle, blood, fat, and other cells and fluids and the sort.  So, remembering that, I wondered if a small business is what it eats.  Do you eat for success?  What would that mean?

We eat to add energy and other nutritional value to our bodies.  We also eat for pleasure.  For the small business, what are we bringing into the system that brings healthy profits, a fun experience, and ultimately our definition of success?

There are three things I can think of:

1. Cash.  By cash, I don't mean more money or higher profits, per se.  I'm talking about a good plan and system that keeps the cash flowing, from timely billing, to a good collections policy, to a targeted pricing strategy.

2. Happy Customers.  We must bring in customers and create a unique, pleasurable experience for them.  This interaction will bring health to the business and joy to it's owner -- you!

3. Supplies.  A well-fed business will strike a good balanced diet of supplies, weighing cost and quality.  The key is to reduce costs but maintain the proper level of quality your customers expect.  This might become a function of taking the discounts offered by suppliers or by negotiating better terms with them.

4. Relationships.  For a successful small business, I think this may be the most important nutrient.  Small business is based on relationships.  We know our customers by first name.  The bonds we build with our customers, suppliers, service providers, and alliance partners are paramount to our success in achieving our goals.

We are what we eat, and so are our businesses.  Let's start eating for success!

Business Card of the Week: Orange Salon

Here is the inaugural posting of the 'Business Card of the Week'.  Now, I can't guarantee that I'll do this every week, but I collect so many business cards from networking events and business meetings, that I thought I'd post the best ones.

This week is one from a local salon called Orange Salon.  I like the eye-catching orange color and the unique, square shape.

If you have a unique business card, send me it to me or send me a scan of it, and I'll post it here!

Do Referrals Bring the Best Customers?

So many small business owners would love to say what others are saying, "My business grows by referrals."  Or, even better, "My business grows by word of mouth."  It is nice to have customers who refer their friends or colleagues to you, but there can be a catch: are they the RIGHT customers?

Sometimes, a series of referrals can derail a business from sticking to their core competencies or to their core values.  For example, consider a general contractor who specializes in new custom builds.  This contractor takes on a remodel job for a friend of a friend.  He/she does great work on the job and gets a referral -- for another remodel.  Cash is cash, so she/he takes on the new remodel job.  Pretty soon, his/her small business becomes a remodeling company -- not quite her/his vision of success.  While cash flows are of primary importance, this builder has been diverted from his/her mission.  How can this be avoided?

Don't let word of mouth or referrals be your only source of marketing and new business.  Referrals are great and provide you with the easiest sell, but they can be the wrong kind of business.  Keep an active marketing campaign going, focusing on your ideal target customer.  That way, you will start to bring in those customers and keep your company on the right path and serving the right customers.  This will help you create a successful small business within your vision of this success.

Marketing/Advertising/Promotions: What Are Your Objectives?

First of all, don't tell any advertising sales people about this blog, or they'll know that we've got 'em figured out. We've figured out a simple way to separate the good ones from the not-so-good ones. When you talk to a publication's sales person, the first question they should ask is, "What are your objectives?" Unfortunately, the first question many of them ask is, "What's your budget?"

Assuming we're talking to the right ad rep, we need to have a good answer to the 'What are your objectives' question. Have you thought this through? Most of us haven't when confronted with this insightful question. So, what are your objectives when it comes to advertising/marketing/promotions?

Consider these possibilities:

1. X number of new customers (say, 100 or 100,000 or 5)
2. A sold out event (example: 100 tickets sold)
3. X units sold on your online store (10,000)
4. Entry into a new market (a new city, state, or age bracket)
5. Introduce a new product/service (Introducing!)
6. Create a brand or identity (not a typical small business objective)
7. Increase traffic on the website (increase traffic by 50%)
8. Return on Advertising (NOT to pay for itself, but to return 10:1 Sales:Ad expense)

When defining an objective, it is important that it be clear, measurable, and realistic.

Do You Need More Customers?

I saw a truck the other day that was wrapped bumper to bumper in bright yellow and red, for a painting company (UPDATE: since then, I met the guy in the truck; it was Tim with iPaintHomes.com -- check him out). It was quite a change from the typical paint-drip decorated white pickup with ladders you normally see a painter driving. What stuck out to me most was the marketing effort, again rarely seen in the painting business. It made me think that this business was a marketing business whose product is painting houses.

That led me to think about some past seminars I've given and blogs I've written about "What business are you in?" That question was answered in a short list of types of businesses, identified by the 'need' they fulfill for their customers. For example, the need for physical health can be met at a gym. This painter's truck made me start to reconsider that angle. While I'm not ready to change my ideas completely, I am ready to start considering that we all need to be in one of three types of business:

1. I'm in the Customer Service Business! I've always said that Southwest Airlines is in the Customer Service Business. Their focus is on the passenger. I've even contended that if you were to take away their airplanes and give them, say, running shoes, they would continue on without a hitch, because they are in the customer service business and simply use their products to deliver that special experience. One of my favorite lines is, "We don't want to tell YOU we have great customer service, we want YOU to tell OTHERS!" Know where that came from?

2. I'm in the Sales Business. Again, this business is not about the products, but is about building relationships with its customers. The focus is on creating a finely tuned sales machine that increases that top line each month and each year. When product is considered, it is designed with the sales process in mind. I might put Amazon.com in this category. They have built a great sales machine. They keep adding new products without a hitch because their sales system works so well.

3. I'm in the Marketing Business. Proctor and Gamble is in the marketing business. They know how to create products driven by their market, get it positioned right in front of them, and get the word out so that their customers flock to purchase thier products. They are not about the 'best widget available!' They are about marketing.

So, am I recommending that you become a Sales, Marketing or Customer Service Business? Yes! However, I'm not asking you to abandon your core strength, which is creating products that satisfy your customers' needs. I'm simply recommending that you make one of the three methods central to your business. That way, you'll get a steady flow of the customers you need.