Marketing on a Limited Budget (Everybody's Budget Is Limited)
Whatever Happened to Salespeople?
When was the last time you saw an Apple salesperson?
When was the last time you saw a salesperson for American Express?
…Coke?
…Pepsi?
…Target?
You know all of these companies. You know what they sell. You know where to buy. Yet, most of us have never had a salesperson from one of these companies knock on our door and ask for an appointment.
How do they do it?
How do multimillion-dollar companies sell their goods and services without a single salesperson?
If You Want to Increase Sales, Don't Hire a Salesperson
The dreaded door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman is a relic of the past — middle-aged men with bowler hats and worn suitcases.
What happened?
Today, unsolicited sales pitches are not only unwanted, they are counterproductive to growing sales.
People Resent the Intrusion
People are more sensitive to being disrupted, either by phone or by unsolicited visitors. Over the last several years, the growth of do-not-call lists and spam laws have accelerated this trend.
And, in light of the surge of digital media, social media and e-commerce, door-to-door sales is simply unwarranted.
People love to buy but…
…hate being sold.
So stop selling and start promoting. Tell your story.
You Don't Have to Be a Multimillion-Dollar Company to Tell Your Story
Marketing today can be less expensive than ever.
You can, with a limited budget, a targeted audience, and great offer, beat out the big boys like Pepsi, Coke, McDonalds, and American Express.
But how?
Have a marketing plan and execute it religiously.
Marketing is not a secret sauce that only the best and the brightest can develop. Marketing is a relatively simple four-step process:
- Identify your target customer
- Promote your product or service
- Ask for an order
- Repeat the process
Many companies fail in the focus, execution and persistence required for an effective marketing program.
Most companies, both small and large, fail in the attention to detail.
Others fail to plan.
Sound familiar?
Developing an Effective Marketing Plan
First, precisely identify your prospective customers by looking at your existing customers. What better place to start? You already know who your best customers are. They are the customers you truly enjoy working with.
Then start to develop your customer's profile by understanding:
- Their demographics (e.g. age, gender, and position).
- Why they buy from you. Do they buy from your competitor also? What is your value to them?
- What are their roadblocks to buying from you. Do they have to go through a hierarchy of approvals? Is purchasing a bidding process?
The Message Is All About the Customer
Then construct a message that accurately reflects the nature of your business and the benefit your customers derive from working with you.
Make it unique. Everyone offers high-quality and fast delivery at the best price.
If you say you are faster than everyone else, you need to prove it.
If you say you have the best quality - prove it.
Chances are, most companies can't. However, most companies do have a value proposition.
Uniquely YOU
Your value proposition must contain three basic elements:
1. Relevancy – How you solve customers' problems.
2. Value – The specific benefits your customers receive because they work with you.
3. Differentiation – Why customers buy from you and not from your competition.
Common Pitfalls
The most common pitfall we encounter when developing a marketing message for a company is that they focus on themselves, not on their customer. They have just invested half a million dollars in the latest computer-controlled five-axis milling machine, and they want to tout it.
Quite frankly, most customers appreciate that a company is investing in technology, but investing in a five-axis computer-controlled milling machine isn't very important to them. What you can do for them with the new machine is what's important.
Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it.
– Peter Drucker, management consultant, educator, and author.
Are You Ready to Take the Next Step?
Very few companies can do this alone.
That's where we come in. We'll provide a free 30-minute telephone evaluation of your current business message, brand identity and marketing plan.
Give us a call at (847) 910-1258 or
