This is the keynote that I gave in December at the Women’s Networking Extravaganza.
Good afternoon and welcome to the Women’s Networking Extravaganza. I want to thank Doris for her boundless energy in making this happen and for her support of small businesses.
I’m Yona Lunken and my company is Thinking Skills – we are a Management Consulting group that helps organizations develop high performance teams. Today I am talking to you about Eight Marketing Strategies to Push Your Business Forward.
I am not a marketing expert. Like you, I am a business owner. As a business owner, you have to wear a lot of hats and sometimes you have to wear the marketing hat. Today, I am going to talk about the things that I have learned. I have learned these lessons the hard way. I have made my mistakes and continue to. Let me share with you what I have found that works.
In preparing for this presentation I came across a quotation that I like:
According to this Japanese proverb, Success is: Fall down seven times – get up eight.
This proverb really frames the mental state that business owners need, in order to be successful. You have to keep trying.
Life, owning a business, and marketing are about getting out there and putting yourself on the line every day and taking chances. Owning a business is one of the toughest things you will ever do. It is up there with parenting, and marriage. If you are light hearted and easily discouraged, then, get out now before you have wasted lots of time and money. Just take the easy route and get a job. Do you agree?
Are you still with me? What is holding you back right now?
If you are willing to be bold, and try, and fail, and then get back up, and try again. And fail again, and get up again. And keep doing this over and over… then you have the beginning of what it take to be a business owner, a business marketer, and a business success.
I don’t say this lightly. Business is about overcoming failure. Most businesses fail in the first 3 years.
Which is my first strategy: Legs. LEGS! Yes, LEGS. The first part of good marketing is legs. The kind that get up and support you again and again after trying and failing. As I said, business is about persevering through lots of failure and you are in good company. Most VERY successful business owners have persisted through great failure. One good example is Henry Ford. Does anyone know why he called it the Model T? Because the model A, B, C, D, E, F, … S, were all unsuccessful. It was the 20th attempt that launched the world changing industry that we all benefit from today.
When you are marketing, if you are put off by the first failure or second or 10th or 100th then…get a job.
Marketing is about persevering. Trying over and over again to get your message out there. And then finally when you get your message out there, you have to do it again and again. Until someone buys your first one. Then doing it over and over.
What is the most valuable marketing lesson you learned in 2009? And how will you use it 2010?
Legs not only pick you up but they also carry you from place to place. From customer to customer. From face to face.
And my second strategy is FACE-to-FACE. When you are building and growing your business. The face to face contact is the most crucial and of the strongest influence. How much more powerful is a face to face contact than email? Than a telephone contact? It is the single most powerful way to influence a person.
All sales training programs teach the need to get Face to Face contact with who you are trying to influence. Marketers that overcome their fear of rejection will climb the hill of success by getting out there and engaging in face to face marketing. Once a relationship is established then you can support it with telephone calls and emails.
Getting out there and engaging face to face leads me to my next strategy. Local. All marketing starts local. Local is where you get your feet wet and try out new ideas/concepts and figure out how it all works for you. Local is where you get your first reputation, your first followers and first successes. Local is where it all begins. Local marketing includes volunteering your services for a not for profit or speaking at local organizations to tell them what you do – like Rotary, Kiwanis, Chambers, SCORE, or professional groups.
So let’s put the first three ideas and images together. Get up on your legs and walk around to potential local customers/clients and have face to face conversations about what they do and how you can help them. There by establishing relationships.
Which is my 4th strategy: Relationships. Marketing is about building relationships. Positive, mutual, supportive, respectful relationships. You are many times more likely to get a purchase, a job, a contract or a REFERRAL with someone that you have a relationship with, then someone that does not know you. Moreover, building and nurturing these relationships and the referrals they give you is a huge source of business. It is 7 times more expensive to get a new client then to cultivate the existing one.
Are you talking with, engaging with, checking in with, and growing your current relationships? OR are you spending your time looking for new clients? How many of your past clients have you had face to face conversations with in the past week?
Unfortunately, the saying is true – out of sight, out of mind. During the next week, when you meet with them, ask them what their current problems/concerns are. Engage them, listen to them, and then relate to them examples of how you solved similar problems for other clients or how you would help them with their current problem.
Everyone’s favorite radio station is WIIFM – what’s in it for me? So if you can show clients, how you can help them then they will be interested in you. Theodore Roosevelt said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
The single biggest growth you will get in revenue is by cultivating existing clients and getting new and different work from them. I contacted several existing and good clients and said. “I like working with you. We have a good relationship. I know that you need me and my services, but that you can’t always afford me. I am willing to help you out. Sometimes, you will pay me and sometimes you will not.” This marketing strategy – of offering to help has generated business. Also, to help them survive and thrive is a good long term investment. For as their business grows…mine will too.
Some of the relationships you have and build will be with colleagues that are doing the same thing as you. Find opportunities to partner with them. This is a great way to learn what they are doing and how they are doing it and the synergy of marketing together is wonderful and half the cost.
5 Expertise (Focus -> niche -> expert) as a marketing tool. Do you have a doctor that you go to? A preferred plumber? A car repair person? Of course you do. Do you squabble over price with them? Of course not. They are your go-to-person because they are your expert. You have several experts that you use. You probably refer other to these experts. And you ask others for referrals, to experts. They exist in all areas – photography, writing, management consulting…
Find a niche that works for you. Then focus on it and build it. Get to know the players in that area. Work to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Keep learning, speaking, blogging, writing, talking. Expertise is a marketing tool. Use it.
6 Clear message. Can you explain in 1 sentence what you do? How you help your clients? What service that you provide? Sometimes it is called the elevator speech. Sometimes it is called the opening line. Sometimes it is called a foot in the door. Regardless of what it is called–you need it.
Do you have a clear vision for your business?
Doris, for example, the conference organizer, helps women who own small businesses promote themselves. This is short and to the point. Clearly understood. Now people can ask her how? Or she can explain more depth. You are…
Clear message. Get it. Practice it. Use it.
My 7th strategy is Technology. First of all, what is technology? It is an accelerator. It takes what we can do and does it faster and broader. SO, first you need to establish what and who you are and then you can accelerate it using technology. A friend Greg has been following new music in Austin, TX for several years. Recently, he has started to blog and tweet about it and now has a following.
How many of you hesitate when it comes to technology?
Email – Collect email address and send out a newsletter or event updates or promotions. To show the power of email, in a recent Leadership Conference I gave with two colleagues, about half of the people attending signed up because of receiving my email notification.
Your Website should be an online catalogue of services, useful information, endorsements, letters of recommendation, past newsletters, contact information. This is a way for people that KNOW of you, to find out more about you. Websites need to be updated regularly. It is a time investment—like anything else. And a BIG reflection of who you are. Drive people to your website through your local engagements – presentations that you advertise, email, newsletters, updates, Twitter, etc.
Facebook – create a Fan page to advertise your business and then send out links to it and your website. It is free.
LinkedIn – business social network to connect to others. Another free service.
Twitter – short email bursts about what you are doing professionally and what you have learned. A word of caution. Be discrete and don’t tell the world that you will be leaving on week trip and where your key is. There are some bad/nefarious people out there.
YouTube – take some short videos (30 sec-2 min) of yourself. It can be candid and relaxed. Upload it to YouTube and then send out emails or texts of these to let people know. Some will pass it on. This is called organic or viral marketing.
This is the new world. And it ties together in creating communities on line.
By first figuring out who you are, then creating that image on line, and then having others follow it—by email, twitter, fan pages on Facebook, LinkedIn and texting. You create a viral or organic method of getting your message out. Marketing is creating a community.
8. Reality. You are who you are. You know your strengths and weaknesses. Like in business and life, when marketing, know yourself and your realities. Play to your strengths. I have a friend that is neck deep in the internet marketing. This is his strength. What is your strength? If you are stronger at producing slick marketing material then work that. If you are the kind to talk to people then work that. Don’t have tunnel vision. Learn the other methods too. If you need help, then find ways to get it. Pay for it. Partner with other. Barter for it.
Reality also means that you monitor/track what you are doing and how it is working. Track how you are getting the jobs. What is the source? How did you get to that source or how did they get to you? Then do more of what is working.
Always be trying new marketing angles too. How many of your goals have you hit or surpassed in 2009? Did you set business and marketing goals? Are you tracking the progress? Watch what others are doing. Read. Learn. Listen to CDs/DVDs. Get out of your comfort zone and try new. Take a class or two on marketing or internet marketing. “The only way to fail is to fail to try.” – Lauren McLarens.
In summary, you need legs to stand on and to get you those face to face interactions with local clients to establish relationships where you engage them by asking questions and listening. Eventually tell them what you can do for them by starting with a clear message. Once you have established yourself, then your technology will accelerate what you are doing by creating community on line and connecting with them via email, Twitter, Facebook and Linked In. Be realistic about your successes and needs and abilities. Business is a reality check.
Thinking smarter…and doing it faster,
Yona