Small Business Marketing
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Marketing Plans
    • 1-On-1 Boot Camps
    • Business Consulting
    • Hire Bryce To Speak
  • Service Locations
    • Santa Cruz, California
    • San Francisco Bay Area
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
    • Tour

The Marketing Rx B/Vlog

IS YOUR STORE FRONT LETTING TRAFFIC PASS YOU BY?

11/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Whether you are located inside a shopping mall, strip center, downtown or off the beaten path, there is one vitally important aspect of your business that should never be forgotten...your store front. As a business owner, you wear quite a few hats each and every day and one of them should be to create a regularly-scheduled walk through with the perspective of your highly-valued customers you work so hard to reach.
​
If you're like most brick and mortar businesses, the ability to attract your target customer involves a great deal of time and in many cases, financial support. As we travel throughout our region, we observe quite a few best practices executed extremely well, while we also see a number of instances where just a little more attention to detail could convert that passerby into another tick on the traffic counter. Here are a few questions to ask that should always be top of mind when it comes to making that first impression:
  • What does your store front look like after hours? Will your window shoppers return?
  • Is there a menu, website url, bounce back offer or informative collateral piece available for passersby?
  • Do poorly maintained newspaper racks greet your customers and could your landlord move them?
  • Are decals, posters and unnecessary decor hiding your interior's carefully-crafted visual experience?
  • Is your landlord maintaining your parking area, landscaping and overall property presentation?
  • Are your signs handwritten, fastened with strips of tape, sun-damaged, crooked? They shouldn't be.
  • Is your store front sign located high above your entrance area with eye-level signage being absent? Will strolling passersby walk right by your store front not knowing who you are?
  • Will a simple coat of new paint take care of the worn woodwork that resides next to the menu that potential customers are staring at as they scope your menu?
  • Has your critically-placed sandwich board been knocked down all day, is it carefully and artfully created to match the brand experience of your business?
  • Are potential customers walking by a blank canvas with hope they'll look through the window? Try merchandising your lease line and entice passersby with a peek into what's inside.

We're all guilty of walking right by those little projects that gradually worsen over time or just need a little attention, but from a potential or loyal customer's perspective, these are all variables that factor into whether they will give you their business. We vividly remember driving by a restaurant that opened pre-holiday, but their store front was set back from the sidewalk and their only sign was blocked by the landlord's holiday icicle lights that still adorned the building in late January. This is a simple fix, but it's one of those areas that needs to be reviewed regularly from the customer's point of view...in this case, those month-long holiday tourists scanning the restaurant landscape may have just passed right by.
0 Comments

DO POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS LIVE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN?

11/29/2017

1 Comment

 
Here in Santa Cruz County, 41st Avenue serves as a hurdle for many business owners who are eager to expand their customer base. While many locals on either side of town make quarterly or semi-annual journeys beyond this invisible barrier, there are strategic ways in which to increase the geographic radius of your target audience. For many businesses, it’s a matter of cracking the code of reaching tight knit communities, combating traffic patterns or possibly debunking the popular myths that accompany a popular tourism area. All of these can be a tough challenge to overcome. Chipping away at changing shoppers’ habits can be very fruitful for your business. Here are some suggestions to get you started!


  1. Team up with neighboring businesses to create a reason for people on the other side of town to visit your business district. Maybe it’s pumping up your areas celebration of First Friday with musicians and wineries that possess a deep following with those regions you’d like to invite to your area. You’ll quickly find this increase in promotional power to be amazingly effective!
  2. Create a strategic partnership with a successful business from the other side of town. We’ve recently seen partnerships between bookstores and tap rooms, event producers and businesses outside of prominent downtown areas, as well as between breweries and coffee houses.
  3. If your business is located in a traditional, tourist-based area and you’d like to attract local families, place a call into parent school groups and offer a specific “benefit night,” but go the extra mile and welcome that community with a special experience. That may just be creating a special welcome sign, drawing (collecting emails) with an extra sweet prize for parents and kids, or having their music group perform, etc…you get the picture.

Bottom Line: If you’re going to begin thinking about any of these tactics, be sure to go big, thinking small just won’t convince folks to get in their car.
1 Comment

3 EASY WAYS TO CREATE GREAT WORD OF MOUTH

11/29/2017

0 Comments

 
It’s unfortunately become a reality, but many shoppers are now very accustomed to terrible customer service. Being placed on hold, waiting for employees to finish their text, and having to ask for help are just some of the frustrations that many consumers are faced with. Not only do these types of practices make your shoppers think of other alternatives, but it also places your reputation you’ve worked so hard to create in peril as customers are now accustomed to voicing their frustrations both offline and online.
We’ve learned over the years that the key to great word of mouth is placing a little positive “shock” into the customer experience.

Here are three ways to make your customers say “WOW!”

Random Acts of Kindness – Whether it’s a completely happy customer or one that is beginning to get a little hot under the collar, a “RAK” can do wonders to make their day. We’ve surprised our customers with gift cards, tickets, food and much more. It’s that huge smile that comes about when you surprise your customers that provides that little piece of winning something that gets them talking. So if your customers need to wait for 10 unexpected minutes or you want to promote an upcoming product launch or event, the “RAK” is guaranteed to get them talking, sharing and spreading the word that your business treats their customers like royalty.

Live Help – When someone is in need of immediate assistance, do you think being transferred, being placed on hold or forcing them to leave a message is the best way to treat them? If you’re a local business, the customer is potentially going to physically arrive at your doorstep and you’ll now hear from them in person as fellow shoppers listen in. Make sure that your team is well-versed in helping phone calls under pressure. The other day, I called a prominent accounting software company and after three rings, a live person answered and I started laughing as this just doesn’t happen anymore. That right there and the fact that they were informed and found answers to all my questions went a very long way. 

Chat It Up! – We’re big fans of answering online inquiries ASAP. In fact, on Facebook, you’re rated as a business page with how long it takes you to respond to comments and messages you receive. Your first step should be to make sure your social media app settings are set to notify you with sounds, alerts and push notifications as soon as they occur…it can mean the difference between making an immediate sale and possibly losing that sale. You also need to keep in mind that as customers search online for solutions to their problems, they typically want quick answers. And many times, they have questions that a phone call or email would take too much effort to perform, so adding a chat function to your website is a very good best practice. Using a free service like purechat.com and their mobile app can give you the ability to answer questions while on the go.
0 Comments

TOP 20 MARKETING TIPS YOU BETTER CONSIDER USING, STARTING TODAY!

11/29/2017

2 Comments

 
[3 Minute Read]

If you’re like most business owners, you’ve been burned by marketing tactics like direct mail, Facebook ads, and producing your own events. Here are 20 tips in areas ranging from advertising to PR and social media to help make your life easier and your business more successful.
 
Customer Experience Audit
  1. Call your business to see how your employees answer the phone with specific, popular and unpopular questions your customers typically ask.
  2. Ensure all your social media alerts and push notifications are activated so you can immediately respond to customer inquiries.
 
Strategic Partnerships
  1. Perform due diligence with potential partners prior to reaching out to them.
  2. Take baby steps with your first collaboration, and document via email who is responsible for tasks, and communicate regularly.
 
Social Media
  1. You’re already busy, so use your phone’s camera to capture everything you do by taking people behind the scenes. Demonstrate how things are made, chosen and sourced.
  2. Utilize as much video as you can and become creative with your photos, but always be sure to multi-purpose that new content in as many ways as possible. If using Facebook & Instagram, be sure to experiment with “Stories” and “Live” video, the owners of these platforms will automatically increase your organic reach.
 
PR
  1. Align your news to regional or national trends and headlines to localize your news so reporters become interested.
  2. Think Twitter for your headlines as they need to be concise, catchy and “WOW” reporters and consumers who are bombarded by email and social media.
 
Events
  1. Be sure to post your events to local calendars, Facebook groups, niche Meet Ups and other locations where your target customer spends their time. Create a master checklist of these posting locations. Here in Santa Cruz County, some include cruzcal.org, santacruz.com, santacruzsentinel.com, patch.com, myscottsvalley.com, and tpgonlinedaily.com. And don’t forget to create a Facebook event so anyone that clicks “Interested” or “Going” will get all your event updates.
  2. Always create a unique angle, activity, or element to your event that differentiates your events from the multitude of other seasonal events, but also strikes a significant chord with your target customers.
 
Advertising
  1. Always determine whether the publication you’re curious about advertising with, actually reaches your target market and take time to ask customers about what their favorite websites, magazines and news resources are.
  2. If you determine that the stars are aligned and the advertising opportunity is spot on perfect, make sure you always ask for added value for having chosen to advertise with them.
  3. If you take the publication up on creating your ad for you, begin by giving them your precise fonts, colors and format that your ads typically follow so your ad will follow the branding of your previous marketing communications.
  4. Using Facebook ads? Be sure to create those custom audiences that pin point your target customer using everything from income, interests, shopping habits, neighborhood & more. Take it a step further and install the Facebook pixel on your website, so you can advertise directly to those who visit your website, but don’t visit a particular page.
 
Email
  1. Monitor who is clicking on which links in your eblasts and follow up with those people to see how you can help them further in that particular area of service or product line.
  2. Take a little extra time in segmenting your email lists and cater the content to those recipients so they begin to look forward to the value you add to their experience with you.
  3. Spend a lot of time on the subject line of your email and don’t send it until you create one that you’re 100% sure your target customer would open because they simply can’t resist. Try out the A/B testing most services offer to optimize your open rates.
 
1%
  1. Always treat your top 1% of loyal customers like royalty to create amazing word of mouth.
  2. Create unique experiences that blow them away and they can’t resist telling all their friends about.
  3. Give them VIP access to your events, give them unique perks, and/or create opportunities where they get to experience behind the scenes access, and document it via video or photos.

Go BIG: If you'd like to dive deeper into the opportunity to develop your own customized, marketing strategy, we have a variety of options to help you develop what you need to make it all happen. We're here to help you go BIG, click here to learn how!
2 Comments

THE $1-A-DAY MARKETING PLAN

11/29/2017

0 Comments

 
Whether you’re a start up or a seasoned business, marketing is typically the first thing that’s cut when trying to trim the fat on spending. We highly recommend that you shy away from this practice, but if you need to slash your marketing budget, it is possible to promote your business for as low as one dollar per day. You may not believe it, but just like anything in life, you typically pay for convenience so you don’t have to work harder, which in this instance means that with just a little extra effort you can make a huge impression without spending very much at all.
 
Here’s how to do it in five steps:

  1. Developing a strategic partnership with those businesses who align well with yours and have a similar target customer can be a definite route to explore. The first step is knowing your target market and being cognizant of where they shop, eat, and spend time during a normal day. Your being able to align with the right organization can help reach your target customer in a variety of different ways via a carefully selected partner.
  2. If your target customer is family-based, explore the opportunity of aligning with a local non-profit that has a youth focus. Work together in producing the perfect event or program for families as many schools allow fliers to be placed in elementary school cubbies and backpacks when non-profits play a prominent role. 
  3. If both you and your target customer use Facebook and/or Instagram, spending one dollar in advertising per day is a great way to reach those who will be interested in your product or service. Here's a how to video I created to show you how to do it. Diving into the intricacies of Facebook advertising allows you to reach those who have visited your website, specific city blocks and neighborhoods, as well as people who have interests in products just like yours. It can be a little overwhelming when diving in, but you can always tap the many tutorials Facebook offers.
  4. Do you have an upcoming event or big news to share? Getting a little PR is a great way to spread the word, all it takes is your developing relationships with the reporters and influencers that communicate publicly about your industry. Just make sure that your email subject lines are so tempting that recipients can’t resist. Always try to send individual, personalized emails while picking up the phone and having a real conversation also works. Just make sure you’ve written down your top 3-5 points you want to convey, along with concise, memorable quotes that capture the essence of what you’re promoting. 
  5. Using the film crew in your back pocket, a.k.a. your mobile phone, is a must for you as a business owner. When it comes to social media and building a loyal following, it’s essential to take your fans behind the scenes. From seeing where you source your ingredients to how you create your product or service, we always advise our clients to show people something they haven’t seen before.

If you'd like to dive deeper into the opportunity to develop your own customized, marketing strategy, we have a variety of options to help you develop what you need to make it all happen. We're here to help you go BIG, click here to learn how!
0 Comments

MARKETING, WHERE DO I START?

11/29/2017

1 Comment

 
If you’re like most business owners, marketing can be quite overwhelming because there’s so much to wrap your head around and keep up with. And then when you throw in the fact that you have HR, accounting and a variety of other daily duties to take care of, marketing can easily be placed on the back burner. We’re here to lay out the essentials so from this point on, you’ll have a resource to help guide you and keep you on track.
​ 
Facts to Remember
  1. You may have the most amazing product or service in the world, but if your target audience doesn’t know about it and you’re not marketing to them, they’ll never know it exists.
  2. Marketing isn’t complicated, keep it simple.
  3. Keep focused and don’t spread your marketing efforts too thin or else it will become ineffective.
Steps to Follow
  1. Make sure your product or service is viable and profitable
  2. Know your target audience(s) who aligns with those products or services, inside and out. Talk to them so you know how to reach them.
  3. Develop a brand that resonates and captures the attention of your target audience(s)
  4. Determine your bandwidth that can be devoted to your marketing program
  5. Decide how much time both you and your team members can devote to marketing each week
  6. Schedule the time you can devote to marketing on your calendar
  7. Find a mentor, colleague, or stakeholder that will hold you accountable and offer an objective eye
  8. Create your marketing plan for a given quarter, season or year
  9. Do this by prioritizing your business goals
  10. Align the target audience(s) associated with each business goal
  11. Determine how you can best reach those specific people so you can achieve the goal
  12. As an example, if social media is a strategy, use only social media platforms your target audience uses
  13. Create an action plan specifically for each marketing strategy including how to track each strategy’s effectiveness
  14. Create a “file” where you can keep emails, photos, and details regarding this strategy that is easily accessible
  15. Map out the steps needed to complete those strategies, those responsible and specific due dates
  16. Remember, you have a marketing production crew in your back pocket, aka your smart phone, so use it daily
  17. Document the entire project so you don’t need to recreate the wheel in the future, always keeping in mind how you can repurpose photos, videos and other content you create so it can be used in other ways
  18. Once a week, unplug and go into airplane mode to evaluate your progress and step into your customers’ shoes (speak with them if possible) to confirm you’re on the right track
  19. Evaluate your programming and promotions to determine their effectiveness and document this information
  20. Schedule regular “walk-throughs” or audits of your customer experience to ensure you’ve created a path for them to get what they want and make their lives easier and happier
1 Comment

5 STEPS TO END YOUR HATRED FOR SOCIAL MEDIA

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
[5 minute read]

For most business owners, the words “social media” makes them cringe since it takes so much time to manage and it’s just too tough to keep up with the latest trends, but you never want to get left behind either. I want to simplify social media for you today and put your mind at ease. Here’s the skinny on how to make social media work for your business, all in 5 easy steps.
 
1. Change Your Mindset
  • First and foremost, go into airplane mode and block out 2 hours to devote to mapping out a top-line view of your annual social media program, this practice will help provide clarity and get those strategically-creative juices flowing.
  • Internalize that social media is the news ticker that gives your loyal followers up-to-the-minute updates on why they need to keep you on their radar.

2. Get Back to Basics
  • What is your top business goal? Maybe it’s promoting your summer season services & products or launching a new product line.
  • Completely place yourself in your customers’ shoes, what is actually going to make them read, watch, share, like and help promote you?
  • What are the words/images that will “click” for them? If you were them, would a boring vendor photo with 10% off, “come by and save” post work OR would a video of you showing how it works out in the real world and how this product will simplify their lives and make them happier be the golden ticket?
  • Think of what would provide the WOW factor in getting you as a customer to pay attention. Determine what actually will make you say “I NEED THAT!” Go back to your observations of customers’ comments, actions, wishes, habits, and conversations with family and friends they're visiting your business with. All of this information is telling you how you can make their lives easier and happier (check out these corporate-GoPro & local-Pour Tap Room examples to give you an idea of what's possible). Time-strapped soccer mom? Just think how you can make their trip to see you more efficient and showcase that extra perk!

3. Map It Out
  • Based on your business goal(s), create a “campaign” or theme that embodies that month or season that all your marketing tactics, from décor to social media can correlate with.
  • Create a calendar of events that impact both you and your customers for each month and use those as inspiration for your social media posts.
  • Determine how you can multi-purpose your content. So if you take a “how-to” video, you can now integrate that into content to submit to your Chamber’s e-newsletter, your e-newsletter, a social media post, content for your website, a quick reply email to a customer that calls asking if you have that product, Facebook/Instagram ad, and I’m guessing you can come up with a few more ways to use it too.

4. Automation on the Cheap
  • If your customers use Facebook or Instagram and you come up with a great video or photo shoot, you can use this content to create an ad that automatically gets placed in your fans and customers’ feeds to keep you on their radars and to remind them to come and see you. As people visit your website, provide their email, and/or sign up for your newsletter, they can begin to be regularly exposed to what you’re up to. Here’s what’s possible:  
  • Did you know that for $1/day (watch video), you can run a Facebook & Instagram ad that is sent directly to: 1) Your website visitors (including specific pages they’ve visited & not visited) within the last month, 90 days or more; 2) people whose email you have; 3) an entire new set of people that match the lifestyles of the first two people mentioned (Facebook creates a “lookalike” audience); 4) people that sign up for your email newsletter (link ad to a specific MailChimp distribution list in Facebook ad manager). All of this can run on autopilot.
  • On the posting front, utilize a service like Hootsuite.com or BufferApp.com (both have FREE options) to schedule your posts days, weeks or even months ahead of time during the times and days that your customers are most active on social media (just use the analytics built into each platform to see your stats). Plus, they have apps and browser tools that allow you to “clip and share” things as you browse the internet.

5. Quality over Quantity, Use Your Phone & Don’t Be Salesy
  • Remember, people want to see and hear about what you’re up to, so post quality content that isn’t just about you making money. But be sure to not just put out “fluff” to fulfill posting something every day. It’s time to entertain, educate and take them behind the scenes to show why your different. So if you’re not posting everyday, that’ ok, just make sure that what you put out is quality.
  • Never forget that you have a video crew in your back pocket, aka your phone. Take your customers behind the scenes, so if you’re on a road trip to source ingredients or putting the finishing touches on your hand-made products, show your customers what goes into making yours different. If your brand is all about organic, handcrafted goodness, then take them in the kitchen or into the fields with your go-to farmer.
  • Look through your feed of previous posts, if it’s all the same and you’re always talking about a sale, do you think that’ll be very captivating? Probably not, so be sure to mix it up and use your month’s or season’s theme to come up with cool content you know your customers would love to see and profile how it could fit into their lifestyle.
0 Comments

5 STEPS TO BECOMING A MARKETING ROCK STAR EVEN IF YOU’RE SOLO

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 

[5 Minute Read]

If you’re a business owner of one with no one to delegate your marketing task list to, you’re probably finding it extremely difficult to even get to your social media. Sound about right? This week’s write up is all about how to implement a strategic marketing program when you don’t have anyone to assist you.
 
We see it each and every day when working with business owners. If there are at least two people that are taking the reins of day-to-day operations, it frees up the ability to squeeze in some marketing, but if you’re solo, it’s a bit more challenging so we’re here to help you develop a way to get it all done.
 
Here are the 5 steps to make you a marketing rock star:

1. Determine How Much Time You Can Carve Out: In order to get things done that really matter, you need to pencil in the time needed to make it happen. If for example, you visit the doctor and you’re told you have a health issue that requires exercising or else your health will exponentially deteriorate, you find that time to hit the gym. The same goes for the health of your business. If you run your profit and loss statement and your sales are repeatedly tracking down, you will need to do something about it. There are a lot of variables, but ultimately, you most likely need to get more people walking through your door, visiting your website or calling to make a reservation. In most cases, this involves marketing, so you’ll need to find the time to make it happen. Before you do anything, determine which days and how many hours each week that you can devote to implementing your marketing. Even if it’s two hours per week, that adds up to 104 hours per year more than if you stood back and just crossed your fingers.

2. Map Out a Realistic Plan: Now it’s time to get your thinking cap on. Most businesses think of a marketing plan as something that corporate teams create or what’s required to finish up your business plan when getting a loan, but it’s just as important to have in place no matter how small your operation is. Every September, you should be updating your business goals and objectives for the following year, which then allows you to map out your marketing plan for January 2nd to help you achieve those goals. Even if you’re a super small operation, this step is vital because it’s what will keep you super organized and on budget. Devote a weekend or large block of time of at least a couple hours to map out the first round of your marketing.   ​
  • Take your highest priority business goal and be as specific as you can. This could be successfully launching a new product line or it could be reversing your traditional Q1 sales slump.
  • Develop a calendar of national days, holidays, local events and other key dates that impact you and your customers throughout the year.
  • Determine your target audience associated with that business goal.
  • Create a theme or campaign that embodies that month for your business.
  • List out the marketing tactics needed to properly target that customer with referencing the event calendar for dates that you might be able to naturally leverage.
  • Map out each month or season that embodies that goal and determine what needs to happen each week based on the amount of time you’ve determined you can devote to marketing.
  • Using the marketing tracker we’re providing you at the bottom of this article, insert the tactics and their estimated cost that you’ll be implementing, into the “action calendar” and “marketing budget” tabs.
  • By mapping out your entire year, you’ll now have a projection of your annual marketing budget that you can adjust to get down to a realistic figure.

3. Schedule Your Marketing Action Calendar: If you’ve selected Thursdays from 8am to 10am as your designated time to work on marketing, it’s now time to determine what needs to happen each week at that time. For example, if your business goal is successfully kicking off your Back to School shopping season, then in the months leading up to that particular campaign week or weekend, you’ll want to map out the various things needed to make that happen. If it’s a special e-blast and social media campaign, you can work on small, manageable sections of these two tasks in the two months leading up to your launch. Getting the content together and working on the pages of your website that correlate with this initiative take time, so break them into easy chunks that feel like it’s quick and easy each week and before you know it, you’ll have everything in place ready to launch.  
​

4. Work Towards Getting 2-3 Months Ahead: Nobody likes fire drills as you typically have to pay extra rush fees, vendors may be booked up, and your quality usually goes down with your execution and your customers can many times see that you’ve cut corners. For many industries, the ultimate goal is to be working on the marketing for a particular month or season when you’re purchasing inventory. By getting 2-3 months ahead of the game, you’re now giving yourself a little more cushion that many times can be vital for maintaining your sanity.

5. Track All Your Marketing: Be sure to integrate tracking of some sort into every aspect of your marketing. Use promo codes or if you have employees on the front lines, you’ll need to hammer in the habit of always inquiring what brought customers into your business. Implementing an old school piece of paper that they can simply check off the customer’s response is all you need, but this needs to be done religiously. And always be as specific as can be, so if you’re running a Facebook ad campaign, direct mail, or influencer marketing initiative be sure to document precisely what brought that person in. And at the end of each week or month, take your tallies and insert them into the far right column of the marketing budget in your marketing tracker where you document the number of customers gained and the amount of time it took to implement that marketing tactic. By doing this consistently, you’ll be able to evaluate if and how you should continue each tactic in the future.  

The bottom line is that there isn’t an easy and quick way to implement marketing, but once you get the program outlined above into place you can be super organized and efficient, especially if you repurpose the content that you’re generating. Once great video from an event can be featured on your website, used to promote next year’s event, show to sponsors or partners as to the success of the event, showcased in your next email newsletter and featured in your social media feed to just name a few.
 
We’re here to help, so if you’d like an objectively, strategic view on how to orchestrate your marketing program, just let us know. Be sure to check out services page to see how we can make your marketing easier and effective.
 
We hope to see you soon!​
​
Rx Marketing Plan Budget Tool
File Size: 89 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

0 Comments

HOW DO I GET MY MARKETING TO ACTUALLY WORK?

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
[4 Minute Read]
 
Many business owners open their doors, send out direct mail, run an ad and cross their fingers. This works for very few because one critical element is typically missing. The mistake we see each and every day is that assumptions are being made as to what will convince customers to jump in their car, find & pay for parking and walk into your store or simply call you. All of those actions require a lot of effort for most of your customers and if your marketing isn’t motivating them to do so, then your time and money is being wasted.
 
Here are 4 steps to make your customers want to spend money with you:

  1. Examine the Largest Piece of Your Revenue Pie: Determine the category of product and/or service that brings in the largest slice of cold hard cash. If 65% of your income is derived from a specific product, you now need to know how to tell the customers who value that product that you have it sitting in your store waiting for them. But who is the customer that this offering will be most appealing to? Maybe you have two types of customers that find value in what you’re offering? Maybe they come from two different generations.
  2. Stop Assuming & Have Conversations: Everyday, we meet with business owners and map out what they think makes their customers tick. From their home life to how they use social media, we cover it all, but the one area that is most impactful is talking through their customers’ pain points in life as well as with the process of making purchase decisions. This process can be quite eye-opening, but the next step is where the gold nuggets of intel come into play. The essential part of this process is to have actual conversations with your customers and ask them about their average day and week including what they do for fun, where they shop & dine, how they get their news and information and most importantly what are their frustrations in life and what’s on their wish list for making life just a little bit easier for them. This might mean taking some loyal customers to lunch or coffee or providing them a gift for their time, but this information will be intrinsically valuable both in the short and long-term when you find out what is going through their and their like-minded friends’ and family’s minds. You will now know where to spend your time & money, including where to advertise, who to make a strategic partner, which events to sponsor and so much more.
  3. Speak To Customers in Their Language: Now that you have this valuable information, you can literally call out, many times in their precise words, why they need to spend some time with you since you’re providing a way to make their lives easier and happier. This also gets into the overall brand experience of your operation so your verbal description of your business, social media bio, website headline, every post card, every Facebook ad, every event, and every experience they have with your business must exhibit the vibe, persona, and feeling that reminds them that your business is the precise location to make their lives more enjoyable. This also gets into customer service but we’ll save that for a future write up.
  4. Track Your Marketing: The last step is all about tracking everything you do. If you don’t do this and engrain this habit into your employees’ minds, you will likely end up spending more time and money than you need to. Fortunately, most online marketing tactics have analytics built into them, but even so, having an old school piece of paper at the cash wrap where tallies can be kept on what precisely brought them into your store will be key. If you ran a Facebook ad this month, sponsored an event and gave out coupons, or were part of a strategic partner’s e-newsletter, you want to know what literally brought that actual person through your door.
 
If you don’t mind a little excel, just download our “marketing tracker,” which allows you to be on top of all your marketing efforts, spending and resources, just download it below.
 
And if you need some assistance in getting your marketing program organized so more people walk through your door, check out our services page so you can gain access to a secret weapon for your business.
​

Rx Marketing Plan Budgeting Tool
File Size: 89 kb
File Type: xlsx
Download File

0 Comments

Capturing the Flag: Young Bucks vs. Seasoned Veterans

11/28/2017

0 Comments

 
[4.5 MINUTE READ]

I’ve noticed over the last year that a lot of different industries are experiencing what might be a real-life game of capture the flag. Real estate, insurance, coffee, orthodontics and many more local categories are seeing a surge of young 30-40 somethings who are extremely energetic and tech-savvy enter their competitive landscape and for the seasoned business owner, this can be a bit worrisome. The idea of a challenger to their target customer base can be frightening for those who have relied on handshakes and face-to-face meetings for the length of their career.
 
On the flip side, those young bucks who are masters at social media and online sales funnels may be finding it challenging to seal the deal since they don’t have a respectable number of years under their belt and find in-person networking a bit intimidating. If you haven’t “seen it all,” it could be a chink in your armor and if we’re talking about services or products that are on the higher end of the investment spectrum then that can be a definite problem when trying to meet monthly projections.
 
So what is the solution if you’re sitting in either of these camps? Optimally, you’ll want to explore how you can hire, collaborate or create a strategic partnership with the opposing team. If you’re able to do that, you’ve essentially assembled the A-team.
 
Whether you join forces or not, you’ll want to be sure that your marketing game is diversified and continually expanding, but before you do anything, there’s one thing both sides need to do. It’s simple, talk with your target customer(s) and if your target customer is gradually getting younger, it’s even more crucial to have those conversations.
 
Unless you do this, you’ll continue to be operating on assumptions and guesses. While these might be well-educated guesses, you’ll be experimenting with your hard-earned money, time and resources to see if you’re right, so find some time to hear it straight from your customers’ mouths. Invite your optimal customers to lunch, coffee or just a chat with you. In exchange, offer them a gift card, special VIP bonus, or something special that demonstrates your appreciation for their time.
 
As a local marketing strategist, I force my clients to hold these conversations as the smallest details that a client shares can mean the difference between them and similar customers walking through your door or shopping with your competitor. The beauty of this tactic is that 95% of local businesses DO NOT do this. So by now, you’re probably curious what to ask. Essentially, you’ll want to get to the point where you know your customers inside and out, from what frustrates them in life and with your industry to where they buy their groceries. All of this intel will be invaluable to you, some of it will be immediate and other information will be assist you 6 months down the line as you implement your marketing plan.
 
Here is a beginning list of questions to get the conversation started:
  1. What is their geographic location & how far is their radius for gathering what’s important to them, whether it’s shopping, errands or leisure time?
  2. How does the online world and use of their mobile phone fit into their lifestyle?
  3. Are they athletic? Does this mean getting outdoors, the gym, Cross Fit, yoga, etc.?
  4. If they have children, what are the children’s activities and when do they occur?
 
You get the picture, but as you walk through some of these questions, you’ll begin to pick up on the fact that the lifestyle they are living and breathing may very well dictate how you can infiltrate the marketing they’re already being bombarded with so you can get their attention to let them know you exist.
 
Now that you have an idea of what they’re all about, it’s time to dive a little deeper to determine what their essential needs and wants are, as well as what will ultimately make them happier and basically make their lives easier for them. Here are a few questions you should be able to answer so you can fine tune your brand messaging and overall marketing communications.

  1. What is their first impression of your business and what it provides?
  2. What is your customer fed up with or at least finding frustrating about your type of product or service?
  3. What makes your customer potentially hesitant to try your product or service?
  4. What makes up the wish list of your target customer when it comes to your type of product or service?
 
Once you have all this information in your hands, you will have been given the road map to reaching your target customer. And if you’re battling those who you feel have a leg up on you, you now have the secret weapon to race across the competitive landscape and grab that market share that you need to get your business back in the game. You may be feeling like you’re in a Spartan race right now, but with this new intel, the ability to now craft your brand communications so they resonate with your customers, and a marketing plan that’s rock solid, your competition is going to be shaking in their boots.

If you're looking for the secret weapon to adapt to your changing competitive landscape and ever-changing target customer, be sure to review our services as we're fired up to help you go BIG with your business.
​
0 Comments
    Picture

    Author

    As founder of The Root Group, Bryce Root has a sincere passion for helping small business owners via his 20+ years of diverse marketing experience.


    Weekly E-Newsletter 
    * indicates required

    Archives

    March 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016


    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    B2B
    Branding
    Cash + Coffee
    Cash Flow
    Competition
    Content Marketing
    Curb Appeal
    Customer Experience
    Digital Marketing
    Geographic Barriers
    Influencer Marketing
    Marketing
    Marketing 101
    News
    Online Presence
    Root Of The Matter
    Social Media
    Top Tips
    Tour
    Video Marketing
    Word Of Mouth

    RSS Feed


What Our Clients Are Saying

"I own a fitness studio in San Francisco, which requires constant marketing. We used to market on an as-needed basis, not strategically, and our business wasn't as profitable as we knew it could be. I was looking for someone to help us establish a brand image/strategy that excited people to join. Bryce encouraged us get to know our clients more than on a surface-level before our first meeting, which has turned out to be the foundation for every business decision we've made since then. 

Bryce is methodical in his work -- giving us spreadsheets, handouts and homework. He's a great teacher in that he asked us questions (instead of lecturing) so we could arrive to the best marketing decisions on our own. Our sales are more than DOUBLE what they were this time last year, thanks to Bryce!! I could go on and on about everything I've learned from this invaluable experience. If you love working on your business and watching it grow, your time with Bryce will be worth every minute. It's exciting, thought-provoking and most importantly he helped us make a lot more money than we thought possible in such a short amount time!!!"

Shala M., Co-Owner - YuBalance Fitness Studio


View more reviews

Contact Us

(831) 824-4135

Location

By Appt. Only
4061 Soquel Drive, Suite C
Soquel, CA
​95073

Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
Copyright 2021
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Marketing Plans
    • 1-On-1 Boot Camps
    • Business Consulting
    • Hire Bryce To Speak
  • Service Locations
    • Santa Cruz, California
    • San Francisco Bay Area
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
    • Tour