October 18, 2004

Marketing a Small Business

Perhaps the greatest hurdle many small business owners face is creating a cohesive - and successful - marketing plan. This is especially true for people who have little or no experience in sales. Even for those with prior sales experience, it can be difficult to sell one's self. However, a solid marketing plan is essential to business success.

If marketing wasn't part of your original business plan, or if your plan is weak and ineffective, here's an opportunity to give your company a healthy dose of new business by creating a solid, workable marketing plan. What follows is the beginning of a "broad stroke" overview of how to put together a comprehensive and successful marketing plan.

The first - and most important - task when creating a plan is to put down on paper exactly what you do and who will benefit from your services or products. Create two lists and make each list as comprehensive as possible. When complete, they will show you what you have to work with.

Be specific and be thorough. In your list of services, it's not enough to write "training" and leave it at that. What kind of training do you offer? Be as specific as possible. Instead of "computer training", list the specific areas, types of software, etc., for which you offer training. In each area, break out each facet of your training: beginning, intermediate, advanced, any special tasks.

In this example, one side benefit of the list-making exercise is identifying any gaps, not only in the list of services, but also in training necessary to bolster any weaknesses the provider may have. Make a separate list of these to help create a master training plan for yourself and your employees.

The second list focuses on target markets. In the brainstorming stage, write down as many different target audiences as you can. Don't worry about how you will market to these people; we'll get to that later. Right now, the key is to identify as many markets as possible - the more, the merrier. As with the first list, be as specific as you can.

If you have a varied list of products or services, make note of which items can be marketed to each targeted segment. For example, I don't market my expertise in writing employee manuals to newspapers and magazines. Instead, I market myself as a features writer and columnist. When querying larger companies for newsletter work, I highlight my past experience in this area, but also mention the other corporate writing I've done.

Keep these lists handy and add to them as necessary, either when adding a new service or product, or when you've identified a new market to approach. We'll look at how to use these lists in the future, either here, or in an article on the web site.

Resource - Book

Practicing Servant-Leadership: How to Succeed Through Trust, Bravery, and Forgiveness, 2004, Jossey-Bass.

Released on last month, this excellent book includes essays from the Greenleaf Center's Voices of Servant-Leadership Series, plus additional material by Robert K. Greenleaf, Larry C. Spears, Michele Lawrence, and a Foreword by Warren Bennis. To order Practicing Servant-Leadership online, go to www.greenleaf.org/catalog/ and look under "Recent Books from the Greenleaf Center."

Quick Tip - Put People First

A recent article on MSN's career center offered six tips for being a better manager. The first four focused on additional training and education for new managers. The last two focused on management skills. Saving the best tip for last, the article noted:

The bottom line about being a good manager is this: If your employees don't perform well, you don't perform well. Every good manager must learn how to train, support and motivate his or her employees. If you don't take the time to support your staff and ensure their needs are being met, all of your work will be useless. After all, says Moore, "If you don't develop your people, you have nothing."

You've Got Questions

Q: I'm in retail and am buying my first Yellow Pages ad. What size should I get?

A: Depending on your area, Yellow Pages ads can be expensive, especially as you move up in size and add colors. In the beginning, it's often best to get a modest ad, or perhaps just a bold &/or boxed listing. Each situation is different; each business has different considerations. Keeping that in mind, here's a general list of tips:

Look at your proposed category in the current book. How many total competitors are listed? What percentage have ads (not just listings) and what size are they? What percentage have bold or boxed listings?

If there are only a few small ads, you may not need one at all. Instead, get a bold listing with a few lines of copy and, if it's not too much more, have it boxed.

If there are numerous ads of substantial size, consider an ad approximately ¼ to ½ the size of the largest examples. This affords you visibility while saving money.

Don't forget secondary listings. Sometimes, you can negotiate free or reduced rate bold/boxed listings, with a note to see your ad on page whatever. It certainly won't hurt to ask.

Don't get caught up in the sales process and let yourself be talked into more than you need or can afford. Before agreeing to anything, take the time to think first.

Once you've placed your ad, track your results to determine its success.