Marketing Strategy

After a hiatus, the Marketing with Moxie blog is back!! Have you missed us? As part of my effort to think bigger in 2012, I’ve decided to take a more proactive approach to my posts here.

So look for marketing tips and tidbits in three general categories.

1. Tips and cool tools. Once a week or so, I’ll summarize the latest and greatest marketing gadgets, websites, or tools any small business owner can use. I run across things all the time in my news feeds, via the Duct Tape Marketing blog and in my in box.

2. Marketing strategy. I’m a firm believer in strategy before tactics. I have also found that focusing on strategies first is like pulling teeth for many small business owners. A lot of them just want a “sure-fire” tactic that will generate leads and create sales. Mention strategy, and they’re likely to glaze over. But that’s a huge mistake. While stand-alone tactics can sometimes do the trick to grow your business, tactics backed by a strategic marketing foundation will work better, almost every time. I’ll be going through the Seven Steps of Marketing Success again this year – the proven system created by John Jantsch. But thanks to a new and revised version of the steps, you’ll see even more relevant strategies to grow your business.

3. Small business owners with marketing moxie. When I started this blog, I intended to profile small business owners who have  an “inner marketing moxie.” These people are natural marketers. They just think bigger all the time like Zappo’s founder Tony Hseih – the source of the quote in this post. They just seem to inherently get marketing and sometimes do it without even knowing it is marketing. Others are very intentional about it, and have stories to tell. I’ll be inviting these business owners to write guest blogs to share their “secret marketing sauce,” or I’ll interview one from time to time. Are you a small business owner with marketing moxie? I want to hear from you!!

So, all the best to you in 2012 as you work to grow your business, and as all of us involved in the Duct Tape Marketing network like to say this year – Think Bigger!

I happened upon a fellow marketeer today who appreciates the fine points of marketing with moxie.  Heather Stephens is a full-time mompreneur who specializes in teaching others how to market a home based business online with a family by their side.  Read her post…

I like your thinking, Heather!  It reminded me of my very first Marketing with Moxie blog post, which I re-post today as a tribute to all of you with marketing moxie!

mox·ie (mŏk’sē) noun Slang

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner in Austin, don’t miss this year’s RISE conference the week of March 7. Created originally in 2007 by Roy and Bertrand Sosa as a week-long, free “un-conference” for- and by- entrepreneurs in Austin, Texas, RISE has now grown into an ongoing annual program that leverages its proprietary web interface to provide one-of-a-kind resources and experiences to entrepreneurs worldwide for free.

There are dozens of sessions to choose from in locations all over town ranging from bootstrapping your business to sales training to the kick-off event with Robert L. Johnson founder of the RLJ Companies and Founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Of course, I hope you’ll join me for one of three sessions I’m hosting on Monday March 7 at the Better Business Bureau Conference Room on La Posada Drive:

8-9:30 am:  Seven Steps to Marketing Success

10-11:30 am: The Social Media Pyramid: Unraveling the Mystery of Social Media Marketing

12-1:30 pm:  Winning the Local Search game PLUS Teaching Your Business to Market Itself with Referrals

See you there!

I’ve been conducting kickoff workshops with a couple of new clients over the past few weeks. I’ve challenged them to begin thinking about their “secret sauce” — what sets them apart from their competitors. It’s something that every small business should think about. If you don’t really know what sets you apart from the competition why should anyone buy your product or service? If you think it’s quality or great service, think again. Those aren’t secrets to success. Have you ever met a successful business owner that admits “our quality sucks,” or “we have lousy service.” Everyone says they have those things.

Here are three keys to writing a recipe to make your secret sauce:

1.  Stalk the competition. Not in a creepy way, but in a way that really helps you fully understand what makes them tick. What do you admire about them? What are their weaknesses?  What can you do differently? Many business owners say they don’t want to do this — that they’d rather just focus on what they can do best and the customers will come. That’s like running a business with your blinders on. The competitor will leap ahead before you know what hit you. If you study and know what you can do better, that’s the basis for good recipe.

2. Listen to your customers. Ask them what frustrates them about doing business with companies in your industry – this can be an informal conversation, or in a survey.  Better yet, ask them what frustrates them about doing business with you.  Can you find a solution, process, outrageous guarantee — something tangible that overcomes this frustration?  Then do it.  Is there a gap or problem that you need to fix?  Fix it.

3.  Be consistent. Once you discover your secret sauce, be sure that you deliver it consistently and authentically. Slather it on! It can’t be a one-time promotion or a “bait and switch.” It should be part of your company DNA. Be sure every employees knows how to make the sauce and better yet, deliver it. Set expectations with your customers that they’ll get the secret sauce and your team will know they have to deliver it.

Happy New Year!  I haven’t followed my own advice to blog at least once a week once your blog is up and running, so let this be a lesson to you – give your blog good care and regular feedings and it will love you back. I’m afraid this blog looks neglected right now, so I’ll give it a little love today.

With that sheepish disclosure, here are three items of interest that popped into my feed reader recently (bonus tip:  My Yahoo! is my preferred reader of choice for the way it aggregates the page with columns, is customizable in both design and content categorization, and lets me preview postings by hovering over the link.)

Act Your Shoe Size, Not Your Age: 3 Ways to Market Smaller in 2011

A flattering post for small business marketing from Marketing Profs.  Here’s an excerpt:

The bigger a business is, the more likely it is to struggle with the things that will spell success in 2011: The ability to market “real-time;” be quick and nimble; emphasize human-scale, one-on-one interactions; embrace simple social media approaches and the amplification effect you get when the right people start spreading their interpretations of your messages and content throughout their social graphs; and maintain a maniacal focus on super-serving niche audiences (or “microcultures”), as Greg calls them. Need help? Take a page from small businesses, which are typically more natural micro-marketers and are generally more open to serving niche audiences.

Click here to read the full post.

New Year’s Cleaning Tip:  Degrease your Laptop with Mr. Clean.

Huh?  Yeah, really.  I do find my laptop getting a little messy from time to time from finger prints, dust, etc.  Check out this post and video from Lifehacker.

What Should You Do the First Week of the Year?

Good advice from one of my marketing heroes, Steve Yastrow, on the first week of 2011 — or any week for that matter:  focus on your customers.   Read his newsletter article here.

At the recent Gathering of Duct Tape Marketing Consultants in Kansas City, Duct Tape Marketing Founder John Jantsch shared an updated version of his highly popular “Seven Steps To Marketing Success” process.  A significant addition is the emphasis on the Marketing Hourglass (TM) and the role it plays in the marketing lifecycle of your business.  John developed the hourglass concept a few years ago, but it is even more relevant now because the traditional marketing funnel is broken. Thanks to the explosive growth of social media, our customers and clients play a larger role in the marketing process – they find, review and refer us – completely out of our control.  Take a look at John’s blog post on the American Express Open Forum for a “New and Improved” look at the Seven Steps to Creating a Sure-Fire Marketing System.

Used by permission.  Duct Tape Marketing.

I often write about Duct Tape Marketing here. Moxie Marketing has been affiliated with John Jantsch and the Duct Tape Marketing network of coaches around the world for some time now. At the Duct Tape Marketing Network Annual Gathering last week in Kansas City, John announced a new brand name for that network – we are now collectively known as Authorized Duct Tape Marketing Consultants.

It’s a timely and significant change. Most of the marketing pros who are licensed to install the Duct Tape Marketing System in small businesses work with their clients as a hybrid consultant/coach. But my work is better described as a collaborative consultant rather than a coach. The re-branding will better reflect what we do.

Why do I like the Duct Tape System and what does Moxie Marketing get out of it?

Simplicity

The step-by-step approach we use to build a marketing plan just makes sense. My clients “get” marketing for the first time when they begin implementing the Duct Tape Ultimate Marketing System in their business. It breaks down a challenging process into a series of steps. It’s still a lot of work, but it illuminates the “black hole” of marketing in a way that helps business owners see it as a system.

Depth

My clients benefit from the wealth of knowledge the network provides. Consultants share knowledge and ideas with one another and we transfer that knowledge to our engagements with clients.

Customization

The universal principles we use to implement a marketing system does not mean we take a cookie cutter approach. Every engagement is different. I never work the same way with one client as I do the next. The process itself discovers unique and highly targeted ways to grow a business – from identifying its ideal customers, to developing content that sets a business apart from its competitors.

Authenticity

You’ll find lots of aggressive marketing methods in cyberspace that claim to unlock marketing in a way that will make your business grow like it’s on steroids. Don’t buy it. There is no magic pill or potion. The Duct Tape System is the real deal, but frankly, it takes a lot of work to do it right. John Jantsch and his leadership team of Joe Costantino and Cidnee Stephen are extremely talented and experienced marketers who have a passion to help small businesses succeed unlike any other organization. And I’m proud to announce that at The Gathering last week, I was honored to receive the designation of a “Certified Duct Tape Marketing Consultant.”

“All Duct Tape Marketing Consultants receive rigorous training just to be a part of the network, but certified consultants have also demonstrated a mastery of the principles contained in the Duct Tape Marketing System by successfully creating positive marketing results for their clients,” said John Jantsch, founder of the Duct Tape Marketing Consultant Network. “I am proud to announce that Rick has achieved this advanced level of success.”

Thanks, John, and kudos to my fellow consultants!

It’s official. I’m a mobile blogger.

This post is being written on my Blackberry Bold using the Blackberry WordPress app as I sit under an umbrella outside Starbucks in The Domain. Pretty cool app. Easy to use. Intuitive. It has enough tools to handle a basic post, from formatting font to inserting video or images.

Why should you care?

I am often asked in my workshops how often to post on a blog. Two to three times a week is a good goal, especially when you’re starting out. After that, post whenever you have something to say. Aim for at least one a week but whatever you do, don’t ignore your blog for weeks (or even worse, months) at a time.

So a simple app like this is a nice little tool to help you post a quickie on the go in your quest to achieve “Blog Nirvana,” whatever that is for you.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

I couldn’t resist taking advantage of today’s date to write a Top Ten List of Reasons I Don’t Need Marketing. October, 10, 2010 or 10/10/10 apparently has metaphysical, mathematical and psychological implications.  I found this random and mildly amusing web page about the significance of the day, which won’t happen again for 100 years.

Take 10 metaphysical minutes to ponder this list. Do any of these reasons sound familiar to you?

10. Marketing is over rated. We have a sales force and all they need to do is SELL, SELL, SELL!

9. I’m busy running my business, I just don’t have time to work on marketing

8. Marketing?  We ain’t got no marketing,  We don’t need no marketing.  We don’t have to show you any stinkin’ marketing!

7. It costs too much.

6. There is no ROI.

5.  I’ve tried advertising before, and we didn’t generate one new customer.

4. I’ve got a website.

3. My sister-in-law designed a great logo.

2. Our quality and products sell themselves.

1. We’re already doing marketing! We know our narrow target market, understand who our ideal clients are, can say what makes us different, have developed content that educates, have a great marketing kit, created a brand identity, have a great web site and know how to use social media — we’re doing mailers, newsletters, special offers, networking, advertisements, public relations, have awesome repeat business and we’re getting all the referrals we can handle — NOT!

I like to think of things in threes. It seems that my brain more readily learns and retains three things at a time. Three is a mystical number that shows up in the Bible and fairy tales too, so there must be something to it! The following three-step referral process will help you grow a simply amazing business and help other businesses do the same. Note that each step has just three words. I’ll bet you’ll be able to remember them too!

1. Discover your Difference
2. Give to Get
3. Refer and Reward

Discover your Difference

Take some time to discover what truly sets your business apart and identify three things that make your business amazing. Here’s a hint: those things are not your product, service or price. Truly amazing businesses don’t compete on price or their product or service. Customers buy from truly amazing companies because they offer something else. For example, an outrageous guarantee, a unique experience (think Southwest Airlines), an outstanding process, or incredibly friendly people – you get the idea. Are you stumped at how to find that difference? Here are three steps you can take:

1. Ask three employees (it can be more, but start with three) what they think sets you apart or what they see in your industry that could help set you apart. Start with your sales team.
2. Ask three of your ideal customers what they think about doing business with you. Invite them to participate in short survey. Ask them why they hired or bought from you in the first place. Ask them why they refer business to you. Ask them what you could do better.
3. Evaluate three competitors and look for gaps that you can fill. They’re probably competing on price or product in their marketing messages. Look for ways to beat them at their own game. You’ll see some themes emerge from this process. Write them down, and build them into your business or marketing plan. Can’t find three differences? Did you find some gaps or problems? Well, that’s good. You now have some work to do to become an amazing business.

Give to Get

Now that you have three amazing differences in mind, find three other businesses that could be or are amazing. They can be businesses that have the same customer base as you. The idea is to get connected to business that you can refer and they in turn will refer you. Find amazing businesses that your customers or prospects would like, and your customers will in turn think more highly of you for the information. The key here is not to ask them to refer you, but to invite them to educate you on how can to send them referrals . Give to get. Three more steps:

1. Contact three business owners and tell them you’d like to know three amazing things about their business. Explain that you believe you have similar customers or clients that could benefit from knowing about their business.
2. Give them your three amazing differences as an example and explain how you came up with those differences.
3. Invite them to send their three amazing differences back to you so you can begin referring business to them, and encourage them to do the same for you.

Refer and Reward

Follow-up is essential in this process. Now that you know three amazing differences about other businesses, actively refer them. Your final three steps:

1. Think of three current customers or prospects that might be a good match for your three referral partners and actively refer them. Important: this isn’t something you should do passively. Don’t simply write a company’s name down on a scrap of paper and tell your customer or prospect to call them. Introduce them – via email, at lunch, or at an event where everyone is in attendance. Make it personal and communicate your referral partner’s amazing differences.
2. Set up some kind of reward system when your referral partners send business your way. You can offer a cash incentive, a gift certificate, or maybe free services or products from your business. However a reward doesn’t have to be money or free services. An acknowledgement via a hand-written note can go a long way to help your referring partner feel appreciated when they send you a prospect who becomes a customer.
3. Repeat the process. This isn’t something you do once and forget. Always be on the lookout for more referral partners. Ask your new customers what businesses they think are amazing and approach those businesses to be your referral partners. Create a plan. You don’t have to refer everyone all the time (after all, you have to grow and run your business, right?). Do it over three months, and find three ways to introduce them. Feature a “referral partner” once a month on your website, put information about them in a newsletter, or keep their business card handy to share with others you meet in a networking session, and tell them you’ll follow up with a personal introduction.

So put the power of three to work to make your business amazing. I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions – I’ll take at least three!

[Blogger's note: This post first appeared as my submission to the HP SugarTone contest: “Making your business amazing”, sponsored by Hewlett Packard]

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