The ‘Beating Heart’
of Local Marketing
How to make the right
marketing tools work for your particular business
The question I’m asked most when I first meet people in
business is, “what’s the secret to good marketing?”
The truth is there is no secret to marketing; it’s as simple
as that. Creating a marketing strategy
that consistently delivers and that continually grows and adapts to the needs
of the business isn’t something that happens overnight; that said, with a bit
of patience, a basic understanding of the marketing tools that you have at your
disposal and a focused and continual effort you will see the payoff a lot
sooner than you may think.
But…and it’s a very big but; before you can begin to
consider how you will market your business, you need to have a clear and
definitive identity, meaning the business has to convey a clear, simple and
definitive message through the marketing.
This identity, message, brand, position in your market,
whatever you want to call it is what you are, what you offer and how you offer
it. It will lead you to market yourself
in a certain way, to market to a particular market; it will influence the
message you send out, how you position that message and most importantly it
will determine which marketing tools will serve you best.
Your identity should be the beating heart of the business
and of the marketing; after all it’s what you are.
Not getting this part right first is probably one of the
biggest causes for marketing efforts to under-perform and here’s why; if you
consider that your identity will ultimately decide the message you deliver, it
will also guide your strategy or plan on how you are going to market your business.
For example; if your identity is best described by quality
and expertise then part of your plan or strategy would be a blog or a platform
to share free articles with useful and relevant information, something that
would position you as an expert in your field.
Your website would represent a quality business, the information would
be up-to-date and accurate, there would be lots of free resource for me as a
visitor or prospect and my overall experience of being on there would be an
enjoyable one.
The point I’m trying to make is that your identity will
ultimately guide your marketing and it will help you map out an achievable, successful
strategy. It will also help you identify
which tools and which mix of tools will serve you best but more importantly, to
identify and stop the ones that don’t.
So How?
Clear
your mind and think about your business; for this part forget about the
marketing just think about the business.
What do you sell, offer, provide?
You
will have probably settled on the key service that you provide or the product
that you sell, for example; Recruitment Consultant, Solicitor, Estate Agent,
Car Dealer, Retailer, Restaurant, Gym, Spa, etc.
Now
take it one step further and pick which of these, currently, best describes your business;
·
Value
·
Expertise
·
Service
·
Quality
·
Choice
·
Location
·
Heritage
·
You have a genuine USP that can’t be copied and
is unique only to you.
There
may be other key differentials for your particular business or product so keep
them in mind. I’ve selected these as
they are probably the most common criteria for the majority of businesses and
best represent the point I’m trying to make, for example, if you were a
restaurant then ‘Local Produce’ may be one of your key defining features.
Now
think about your marketing; look at your website, your brochures and other marketing
collateral, your recent written communications to prospects, recent or past
advertising campaigns, your social media profiles, e-mail signatures, branding,
logos and anything and everything that is used to try and ‘sell’ your business
to your prospects.
Does
your marketing honestly convey and reflect your real identity, does your
marketing ‘currently’ do you justice?
Surely
if these are the key defining features of your business then your marketing and
everything that you do to attract new customers must reflect this; if these are
the main reasons that people buy from you, they need to be the focus of everything
you do to market the business.
Now
take a look at your competitor’s sites and try to get hold of some of their
marketing communications, adverts or brochures. How do they position themselves and what
brand or identity are they portraying, what are your first impressions?
Is the website easy to use?
Is
the information on the site clear and accurate?
How
much information is on the site, can you find what you want quickly, easily and
without having to ‘jump through hoops’?
Are
they running any short-terms offers, promotions, initiatives or events?
Are
there photos or pictures to look at?
Is
there a sign-up box on the site in return for some useful information?
Is
there free information available that a prospect may find useful, valuable?
Is
it up to date and are the news sections and feeds recent and regular?
Are
there links to other business profiles – Social Media?
Did
you enjoy the experience of visiting the website or were you left unimpressed?
Are
there testimonials or endorsements on the site?
Have
they convinced you to go back and have another look in the future? (near future)
What
does their other ‘Marketing Collateral’ tell you? (Brochures, leaflets,
adverts, letters)
What’s
the one clear message being portrayed throughout – Is there one?
If
a prospect visited their website, would they be likely to want to open a
business relationship with them, meaning would they go back or perhaps stay in
touch – or would the prospect leave and never go back?
How to interpret what you see
Let’s
say their website was clear, easy to use, had useful or valuable information to
share for free, had a sign-up box, posted regular updates in the
news/blog/articles section, the information was clear and informative and offered
me everything I could need to make a balanced view of what this company is like
to deal with - this would make them a company focused on quality and expertise
with (hopefully) service levels to match.
This
approach is used to gain trust, position the business as experts (leaders) in
their respective field and thus attract those looking for a quality product or
service. The sign up box and free
content would show me that they collect e-mail addresses from prospects,
perhaps for a unique content rich mailing or article that may convince the
prospect that this company will give me an exceptional service, they know their
stuff and I feel safe buying from them.
This
business has a ‘Beating Heart’.
If,
on the other hand, the website was difficult and frustrating to use, the
information was inaccurate and out of date, the news items were old, there was
no offer of information or expertise for free, the website felt cold and stale,
your experience was one to forget – this would tell me their service levels are
likely to be poor, their attention to detail is also probably poor and so there
is a good chance I won’t be looked after; doing business with them may be a
chore so I probably won’t go back.
Only
once you have evaluated both your market and your business, and only once you have
a clear identity that form this ‘Beating Heart’ of your marketing and of your
business, can you begin to plan a strategy that has every chance of
success. Only then will you be able to
clearly focus your efforts on the tools and platforms that work best for what
you want to achieve and be able to lose or ditch the things that don’t.
There
may be many individual things that ultimately combine to deliver a particular
message in your marketing but remember the little things all add up.
In
coming articles I will share some of the over-riding principles and rules of
what to look out for as well as some ideas and tips on how best to use tools
such as; your website, social media, e-mail marketing, direct marketing,
briefings, events and seminars, content marketing,. PR and others as part of
your local marketing strategies.
Final Thoughts
Any business, irrespective of size, turnover, budget,
locality or marketing knowledge has the ability to implement strong Marketing
Plans that grow to deliver results, all within the confines of any individual budget
or resource constraints.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a local, independent shop
or business with a local customer base, or a large regional or multi-national
with customers stretching the length and breadth of the country, get the basics
right and you will see results.
What may start as a seemingly basic idea or strategy can
soon grow into something far more robust, something that ultimately forms the backbone
of your marketing.
Most importantly don’t keep re-investing in marketing
campaigns or in advertising if you continually fail to see a return from your
efforts; if what you’re doing isn’t working stop it and go back to basics, in
marketing, simplicity is key.
It’s probably worth mentioning that a good dose of patience,
persistence and hard work is also required; if you are short on time, in-house resource
and the passion to tackle your marketing properly, it may be worth looking to a
Marketing Consultant to help you; I’m always happy to have a chat on the phone
should you want to chew things over with someone first.
Remember, any change in tact won’t happen overnight,
depending on the resource you have at your disposal it may take a few months to
really gain momentum. That said you will
see small returns from your efforts even in the first few weeks and you will
start to see the potential to be had from following the right strategy.
Any re-think requires an open mind and the thoughts of a few
minds are better than one. If you employ
customer facing or sales professionals, get their views; these people will
generally tell it like it is and they will prove valuable allies when you come
to implementing any new plan.
