Small Business Marketing Tip Paste Up Those Sweet Somethings

Writen by Craig Lutz-Priefert

OK, in an earlier article we launched you on a scavenger hunt for Sweet Somethings--small reminders you whisper in your customer's ear and let her know what you stand for.

Some small business owners think their products and services can speak for themselves. Don't fall into that trap, no matter what your employees or your suppliers might tell you about how good your product or your service is. Your customers are your most valuable marketing resource--and your most believable. OK, if you can get editorial copy in the newspaper or on the internet written about you, that can be an equally credible source, but it is much tougher to obtain.

So word of mouth advertising--via your customers--is the most cost-effective promotional marketing you have. You want to plant a seed in that new customer's mind, using your current customers.

Just like in nature, your marketing message needs to find the right carrier. You need to find a sticky message--and put it in front of as many customers as you can. Just like a little sandbur that sticks to a dog's leg and gets carried for miles, your marketing message needs to stick to the customer carrier.

And that means your brand message needs to be packaged in a way so that it can be easily picked up by your customers.

First, let's write down those brand phrases you picked up earlier when you were on the scavenger hunt. See what the customers are saying about you. This is also a fantastic time to review your features and benefits.

Did you find any nuggets from your customers? Did any of the phrases they say resonate with your own experience? Did you pick up any little gems you can use to refract your company's brilliance back to other customers? Sounds goofy, doesn't it, but think about it--isn't that exactly what you want to do? There are fifty girls in their early-Twenties within a mile of you right now that are every bit as pretty as the #1 Box Office Hollywood actress. They just aren't wrapped in as pretty of a package.

OK, once you write down your brand phrases you are going to use, then the next step is to determine where to put them. How about:

• Your welcome mat (you do have one, don't you???)
• The back of your restroom door
• On a sticker on the back of every magazine in your waiting area
• Matchbooks—or today's equivalent (when you find it, let us know)
• Vending Machines
• Any place where customers have to wait
• Drinking fountain
• Coffee machine
• Merchandise shelving. Too obvious? How about on the bottom side of a rack that's higer up?
• Instead of a "Caution—Wet Floor" pylon how about creating one that reads: "Caution—Savings ahead" or "Caution: Hard hat area ahead—Falling Prices"
• Chair covers. Do you have molded plastic or folding chairs in your waiting area? Why not have some chair covers made with a few of your favorite phrases on them?
• Inside the lids of your boxes. (Check out a Celestial Seasonings Tea Box in your grocery store sometime. Just look inside for a great example of a Sweet Something.)

There are multiple locations just ripe to plant your message. If you and your staff find even a few, you'll be ahead of your competition.

OK, you've found the places. Now, take a phrase and plant it there. Maybe the phrase is a simple, time-worn saying like: "Your satisfaction 100% guaranteed or your money back!"

You see this phrase often--because it works! It reassures the customer that your small business stands behind your work. And remember, it's not just the first time, stray, new customer that just comes in the door you want to whisper a sweet something to. Existing customers have a way of being taken for granted by too many small companies. Sometimes we actually feel the customer owes us, instead of the other way around. This attitude sends more customers packing off--straight to the competition--than all the advertising in the world, combined.

Let's imagine for a moment you are an All Terrain Vehicle store--Terry's ATVs. Besides the farmers and ranchers who use your product on the job, a huge part of what you sell is Fun.

"Fun on Sale" could be a major theme you use throughout the year in marketing your small business. You don't need to limit this brand marketing theme to just the sales floor where the new models sit or to the banner that hangs outside your store (you have a banner, don't you?)

What about hinting at this brand theme wherever you can? How about in the area where you sell parts, such as spark plugs or tire-repair kits? Maybe a little strategically placed placard back there that says: "The sooner it's fixed, the sooner you can rev up the fun again." This reinforces the brand of your store as fun, and maybe even puts a little smile on your customer's face.

Think of somebody you like. Maybe it's a parent, or a spouse, or that guy in 7th Grade you had a crush on. Isn't it just the mere, little things about that person you think about when you remember them? Most life experience is woven from a thousand little threads and it's the same with your business and the experience your customer has with it. Bring out your store's personality, quirks and all, and whisper those sweet somethings in their ear.

Remember: Brand (who you are) + Package (your Face to the Customer) + People (customers and employees) = Marketing Success.

© 2006 Marketing Hawks

Craig Lutz-Priefert is President of Marketing Hawks, a firm providing essential marketing vision for small business. Marketing Hawks also sponsors the ongoing small business adventures of entrepreneur Crystal Trino at the JourneyToday website.