November 2004 Issue:

-The Four P's of Marketing (Part 3)
-The High School Coolness Factor
-Cents and Sensibility

Archived Issues

The Four P's of Marketing
Part 3: Promotion

Last month we published the second article in our four-part series called The Four “P’s” of Marketing -- Product, Pricing, Promotion, and Placement. Articles one and two, Product and Pricing, can both be found in our newsletter archive on our web site. Since we have already covered Products and Pricing, we now turn to the third “P” of marketing, Promotion.

Promotion is different from advertising, though many people think these two are interchangeable. Advertising refers to specific initiatives (such as paid newspaper ads), but promotion is a much more general term, referring to most other types of marketing communications. As a result, there are many different types of promotions, such as special events, free samples, trade shows, community events, or coupons.

Advertising, on the other hand, is generally targeted toward the end consumer. Advertising provides specific information about your product or service, and helps create brand loyalty. But promotion is the most effective way for people to become familiar with your business and to become aware your products and services. The goal of a good promotion plan is to make sure the public recognizes your company and thinks of you first when looking for the products and services you offer.

Promotion can also be more cost effective than advertising, since there are so many creative, inexpensive (or even free!) ways to promote your business. For example, media promotion is one of the great marketing opportunities in business today. When successful, media coverage can give your business a tremendous amount of exposure and credibility - a combination hard to come by with traditional advertising. Best of all, media tactics can be very affordable if done properly. Press releases, internet articles or directory inclusions, interviews, and community events are great ways to create buzz about your business, and are often low-cost or no-cost promotional strategies.

Small businesses can really benefit from putting a good promotion plan in place. Promotional efforts will not only increase your visibility, but will also spill over to the other areas of your overall marketing efforts, too. The more successful you are at promoting your business, the more recognition you will get, which ultimately leads to new customers and increased sales. Be creative with your promotional ideas, and don’t be afraid to try new things. Make sure that consumers are familiar with your products and services, and they will be likely to think of your business first when they need what you have to offer.

Next month: Part 4- Placement.

The High School Coolness Factor

Remember your high school days? Somewhere in the search for popularity, the latest styles, the hot new bands, and driving your parents crazy, you learned some important lessons that - believe it or not - are basic to any good marketing strategy.

Take the coolness factor, for example. In high school, everybody wants to be cool. Although there isn’t really a definition for “coolness,” everyone knows it when they see it. From haircuts to cars and everything in between, kids buy and do things that make them look cool around their friends. In high school, a cool person could even start an entire trend just by trying something new and watching as other kids followed suit.

When considering your marketing strategy, ask yourself, “is my product or service ‘cool’ in the minds of my customers? Is it more cool than my competition?”

Of course, being cool isn’t everything - people also want to feel like they belong. In high school, it’s critically important to have a group of friends, to have a special hangout, or to be a member of a team or activity. It’s a trait you’ll see in almost any high school. In fact, I recently saw a teenager-type movie that had a great line where the main character told her new friend that “on Wednesdays we wear pink.”

So do your customers feel a sense of belonging from using your product or service? Do they feel like they are a part of something special or important?

It is also true that people – especially those in high school – want to have fun. Basketball games, dances, parties, and even some of the classes are fun. But what makes these experiences fun is the memories they create, and of course, the stories that inevitably live on.

In your current marketing strategy, have you included elements that give customers a story to tell? Is your product or service memorable or fun in some way?

It seems that high school may have taught us more than just the lessons learned in the classroom. There were also the daily lessons about being cool, belonging, and having some fun. But then we grew up and changed, right? Well, think about laptops, Starbucks coffee, PDAs, big screen TVs, sushi, and so on. Maybe we haven’t changed so much after all.

The purchasing decisions we make today are still based on many of these lessons from high school, and tapping into them is a great way to strengthen your marketing strategy.

Cents and Sensibility

We all know how important customer satisfaction is, especially for small businesses. It would be wonderful if small businesses could have one-on-one contact with their clients every week, but that may not always be feasible. So how can small businesses make their customers feel valued and appreciated? Try a Customer Aftercare Program.

After “rescuing” customers from the grasp of your competitors, it is very important, as well as profitable, to maintain the health of that customer relationship. Studies show that the costs involved in landing a new customer can be 10 times that of simply keeping an existing customer happy.

A Sense of Appreciation
A Customer Aftercare Program can help keep your company name in front of customers on a regular basis, and also remind them of how special and important they are to you. By showing your appreciation, you can turn your customers into an army of word-of-mouth advertisers for your products or services.

So how do you design a Customer Aftercare Program that is right for your business? Here are some suggestions:

• Letter of Thanks: This is a simple, but often overlooked, gesture that should be mailed the same day that you make the sale or land the deal.
• Customer Feedback: Send a friendly note explaining that you value your customers’ input and that you will use the information to make improvements. With that note, enclose a short customer satisfaction survey and a stamped return envelope to make it convenient for the customer to follow through.
• Message from the Owner: A letter from the owner sends a powerful message that the person at the top appreciates the sale or deal, and also cares about meeting the customers’ expectations in the future. This letter should be sent a week or two after the sale.
• Happy Anniversary: Approximately a year after the sale, send a note to your customer telling them of the “anniversary” and let them know that you look forward to working with them again.
• Monthly or Quarterly Newsletter: Part of a good follow up program includes contact with your customers on a regular basis. By sending out a Newsletter, your customers benefit from the news and information you provide, and they also get used to seeing your company name each month or quarter. This type of familiarity can really improve customer retention and loyalty.

Of course, a good Customer Aftercare Program should be a complement to your existing marketing efforts, such as mailings and regular reminders of specials and/or other benefits of working with your company. A solid Customer Aftercare Program can help set you apart from your competition, leading to better sales and profits over time.

Five Sparrows values your privacy and will never share, sell, or rent your information to anyone, and you may unsubscribe from this publication at any time.

Copyright 2004 Five Sparrows, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
3889 Hartland Hills, Hartland, MI 48353
www.fivesparrows.com