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The small business marketing strategy you can’t afford to miss
Everyone loves a story. Even if you don’t particularly like reading them chances are you love watching them, either on TV or at the movies. Imagine if your marketing literature was like a great story: people would read it from beginning to end for one thing (as opposed to just throwing it straight into the bin), and they’d be more likely to tell their friends about it, too. Your small business marketing could be famous! Well, maybe

Ok, so “famous” may be stretching it a little. By telling an interesting story, though, your marketing can at least make your small business well know in your local area or industry. But how do you do it?

Small business marketing through stories

In the same way that everyone loves to hear a story, most people have one to tell. You may not think it, but it’s true. Your story may never make it onto the bestseller lists, but it can certainly help jazz up your marketing. Think about it. Just what was it that made you decide to start up your own small business in the first place? Whether it was a terrible boss, a personal crisis, or just the perfect eureka moment, I bet your story is one that you love to tell. It’s probably a lot more interesting than most of the “corporate speak” sales pitches most people use in their small business marketing, too.

Using your personal story as part of your small business marketing
No matter what your story is, you can use it to great effect in your small business marketing by including it in your email newsletter, on your website, in your blog, or as part of your sales letters. This does two things:

1. Your story helps “personalize” you. Next time your customer sees your name on an invoice or at the bottom of a sales letter, they’ll remember your story. You’re no longer part of a faceless business venture: you’re a real person, with a real story. This not only helps your stand out from your competitors, it also makes you easier to trust.

2. Your story makes you memorable. Say your small business start-up story involves you being laid-off from your job in a factory, only to start up a similar business on your own. Next time your customers are watching the news and hear something about lay-offs (or even factories, for that mater!), they’ll remember you and your small business. In this way, your marketing is working for you all the time - even when you don’t expect it to.

Finding your small business marketing story

Of course, actually finding your story is the hard part. If you’re having trouble, try brainstorming. Pick up a piece of paper and a pen and write down everything you can think of that relates to you and your business, however tenuously. If you’ve set up a business with your spouse, for example, tell the story of how you met, and tie it up with the line “who would have thought we’d end up running our own business together?” The great thing about using your personal story as part of your marketing strategy is that your story doesn’t even have to be about your small business at all; it can just be about you.

What’s your story?

Amber McNaught is co-owner of Hot Igloo Productions Ltd. - the small business specialists. Hot Igloo offer a range of services to businesses, including website design, public relations, internet marketing, copywriting and more. Visit their website at: http://www.hotigloo.co.uk

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I recently came across an entrepreneur who was very interested in learning where
publicity and marketing strategy fit into the end result of more sales. His question
was very valid as many unintentionally confuse marketing and publicity with sales.

So what’s the difference? Publicity is all about the ”buzz’, the word that
gets out about you, your company, your cause, or the great work you do. It is about
getting the story out. Publicity backs up marketing and sales because it initiates
the whole process of converting the public to your way of thinking. It makes them
aware of who you are. Afterall, how is someone expected to purchase your services
if they do not even know you? Do not fall into the trap of going for the sale without
getting your name known first.

Publicity is just as much about getting your name known as it is about building
credibility. Human psychology states often enough that if others see value in an
idea, your prospects and prospect market will as well.

Marketing on the other hand, works on the presumption that your prospect market
is already aware of who you are. It takes an established and recognized brand one
step further to action for your prospect. Marketing effectively plays to an emotional
or sometimes logical reasoning of why the public should buy what you have to say.

Both of these concepts are essential yet unique in the eventual development of
sales.

In order to make your product/service or organization a household name, you need
to learn and master each phase effectively. Before going off to sell your services,
follow each of the steps in the inverted pyramid.

The inverted pyramid theory works on the premise that all sales or motivations take
place first with getting the word out. In other words, publicity. From there, marketing takes over. It is only once these considerations are in place that sales or
the actual ”closing” of a deal can occur.

Beginning with a strategy of how you wish to brand your organization through to
the publicity you need , all require individual efforts before people begin ‘knocking
down your door”.

Once your satisfied, give some serious thought to the marketing materials you’ll
want to use when people start asking for more information. And above all, never
stop reviewing and testing your brand.

Mark Buzan is the owner of Action Strategies: http://www.action-strategies.ca, a public
affairs & marketing communications consultancy. You can subscribe now to his
monthly PR tips newsletter by visiting and dropping down the “newsletter” menu. You
can also subscribe to his blog: http://actionstrategies.blogspot.com.

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“Goals are dreams with deadlines.”
-Diana Scharf Hunt

When clients come to me for marketing help, the first thing I ask is, “What’s your
plan?” If I’m greeted with a blank stare, then I know we have work to do!

In order to set up a great marketing strategy, you need to write it out in black and
white. I highly recommend a 12-month plan, which you can set up in your favorite
spreadsheet program. Using a computer will allow you to easily move tasks around
as the months progress, and add new ones as you think of them. Simply create
columns for “date” and “proposed marketing activities.” You might also include a
column to check off when you accomplish each goal.

Some of the items to include in your plan might include:

Seeking PR in your local papers (perhaps revolving around a national organizing
holiday, a seminar you’re giving in your community, a contest you’re holding, time
you’ve donated to a local charity, etc.)
Creating a referral program for current clients
Writing/updating your business cards and brochure
Creating/updating a web site
Getting listed in the Yellow Pages
Writing your “60-second commercial”
Investigating advertising opportunities
Investigating networking groups
Investigating partnerships
Investigating new partnerships/alliances
Developing seminars/workshops
Developing new products
Writing tips booklets or a book
Participating in expos/trade shows
Investigating speaking opportunities/improving skills
Creating new ways to stay in touch with clients (newsletters, postcards, etc.)
Investigating ways to thank current clients for past business

You might also include business goals such as creating a follow-up program,
researching business insurance and liability issues, improving business skills,
reviewing your expenses and revenue, and finally, etching out time for creating next
year’s marketing plan.

Sound simple? It is! With a plan, you can get all those ideas out of your head and
onto paper. You’ll sleep better! It’s easy to rearrange, redistribute, add, and delete
with a tap of the keyboard. Go for it!

Copyright 2005 Time to Organize. All rights reserved.

Sara Pedersen, author of the FREE e-zine “The Marketing Fairy’s Guide to Simple Self
Promotion,” is a professional organizer and marketing specialist. She helps small
business owners make their marketing dreams come true. Sign up today at
http://www.time2organize.net to receive your FREE monthly subscription.

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