The Unofficial Guide to Marketing Your Small Business (Unofficial Guides)

314 Pages·2006·1.59 MB·English

by  Marcia Layton Turner

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the
Unofficial
®
Guide to
Marketing Your
Small
Business
Marcia Layton Turner
02_799076 ftoc.qxd 8/23/06 10:28 PM Page viii
01_799076 ffirs.qxd 8/23/06 10:21 PM Page i
the
Unofficial
®
Guide to
Marketing Your
Small
Business
Marcia Layton Turner
01_799076 ffirs.qxd 8/23/06 10:21 PM Page ii
Copyright © 2006 by Marcia Layton Turner
Published by Wiley, Hoboken, NJ
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2006926119
ISBN-13: 978-0-471-79907-8
ISBN-10: 0-471-79907-6
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Book design by Melissa Auciello-Brogan
Page creation by Wiley Publishing, Inc. Composition Services
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Introduction ........................................................xi
I Marketing Matters..............................1
1 Zeroing In on Your Customer ......................3
Divide and conquer .....................................4
How many customers make
a successful business? .................................5
Who are you currently selling to? ..................6
Understanding demographics.......................10
Picture your perfect customer .....................12
Just the facts ...........................................14
2 Why Customers Buy .................................15
Decisions, decisions: How customers buy ......16
Your product meets their needs ...................19
Your product has a competitive advantage ....20
Your product is priced right ........................22
Your product is convenient .........................24
Just the facts ...........................................25
3 Know Your Enemies .................................27
Who are they?...........................................28
What do they offer?...................................30
How do they measure up?...........................32
What’s their marketing strategy? .................33
Take an inside look at their operations .........35
Information is power .................................39
Just the facts ...........................................39
iii
Contents
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iv CONTENTS
II Planning Your Success....................................41
4 Positioning..............................................................43
Perception is reality ...................................................43
Who’s on first? ..........................................................44
What makes you different? ..........................................45
Positioning strategies .................................................47
Holding on to the lead ...............................................48
The follower advantage...............................................49
Just the facts............................................................50
5 Goal Setting ............................................................51
The bottom line.........................................................51
Financial goals ..........................................................57
Customer goals ..........................................................58
Image goals ..............................................................59
Just the facts............................................................60
6 Your Marketing Plan .................................................61
Why plan?.................................................................62
Outline of a plan .......................................................64
A marketing plan’s long-term value ..............................77
Just the facts............................................................78
III The Least Expensive Ways
to Market Your Business.................................79
7 Public Relations.......................................................81
Relevancy .................................................................82
Contact point ............................................................83
PR tools ...................................................................84
More advanced PR tools ..............................................89
Beyond publicity........................................................93
Just the facts............................................................96
8 Networking .............................................................97
Be prepared ..............................................................98
Trade and professional organizations ...........................100
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CONTENTS v
Alumni groups .........................................................101
Volunteer and civic organizations ...............................102
Private clubs ...........................................................103
Online networking ....................................................104
Networking groups and tip clubs ................................106
Barter exchanges......................................................107
Referrals .................................................................108
How not to network..................................................109
Follow up or fail ......................................................111
Just the facts ..........................................................111
9 Public Speaking .....................................................113
Public presentations .................................................114
Seminars.................................................................116
Courses...................................................................117
Webinars.................................................................118
Getting comfortable with public speaking ....................119
Preparing a presentation ...........................................123
Just the facts ..........................................................127
IV Moderately Priced Marketing Approaches .......129
10 Online Marketing ...................................................131
The best online tool: Your Web site ............................132
Digitally communicating your message ........................141
Just the facts ..........................................................148
11 Printed Pieces........................................................149
Must have: The basics ...............................................149
Helpful to have........................................................154
Just the facts ..........................................................166
12 Sales Promotion Opportunities ................................167
Selling to new customers ..........................................168
Selling more to existing customers .............................177
Selling higher value offerings to existing customers ......181
Just the facts ..........................................................184
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vi CONTENTS
13 In-Person Marketing ...............................................185
Manning a booth at trade shows ................................186
Setting up appointments and meetings .......................188
Making presentations................................................190
Door-to-door calls ....................................................191
Using sandwich boards..............................................193
Handing out flyers ...................................................193
Just the facts ..........................................................194
14 Telemarketing ........................................................195
Rules you don’t want to break....................................195
Cold calling .............................................................198
Warm calling ...........................................................204
Outsourcing.............................................................204
Inbound telemarketing..............................................205
Teleseminars............................................................206
Just the facts ..........................................................207
V Higher-Cost (But Highly Effective)
Marketing Tools ...........................................209
15 Branding ...............................................................211
Consistency .............................................................212
Awards ...................................................................213
Certifications...........................................................215
Promotional products ................................................216
Packaging ...............................................................217
Employee dress and/or uniforms.................................218
Signage ..................................................................219
Sponsorships ...........................................................222
Just the facts ..........................................................224
16 Advertising ............................................................225
Print advertising ......................................................226
Broadcast................................................................232
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CONTENTS vii
Out-of-home advertising ...........................................233
Indoor opportunities ................................................236
Inserts....................................................................238
Online Advertising....................................................240
Design Do’s and Don’ts..............................................240
Just the facts ..........................................................242
VI Finding What Works and Sticking With It ......243
17 Choices, Choices.....................................................245
The top tier: Selecting the most important activities.....246
Expanding with additional marketing tools ..................248
When to do it yourself; when to delegate ....................249
Just the facts ..........................................................255
18 Evaluating What’s Working and What’s Not...............257
Tracking marketing methods ......................................258
Testing your message(s) ............................................262
Knowing when to stop ..............................................264
Just the facts ..........................................................265
19 Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose ......................................267
One-shot deals are a waste ........................................268
Integrated marketing is the most cost effective............274
Getting better results without breaking the bank..........275
Just the facts ..........................................................275
VII Appendices .................................................277
A Glossary ................................................................279
B Resource Directory .................................................285
Organizations ..........................................................285
Web sites ................................................................286
C Further Reading .....................................................287
Index ....................................................................289
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