How much of my budget should I devote to advertising my business? This is a question I am asked quite often and the answer can vary depending on the business and what their goals are for their marketing and advertising efforts. However, most of my clients who have been successful in business have stuck with the 20%+ rule. They have devoted faithfully 20% and sometimes more of their budget to advertising which has kept their name out in front of their competitors and allowed them to strengthen their brand and sales.
There is a temptation to pull back and stop investing in advertising in slow economic times, but to attain and maintain customers you need to be in front of them. This means that in addition to investing at least 1/5th of your budget to smart advertising campaigns, you also need to get out of your office and connect face to face with potential clients at networking events and on-line social networking sites to reach potential clients. How much time should you be investing for this? Well, some businesses will need more time since they may have introduced new products or have a new business which needs more exposure, but most successful businesses will regularly use at least 20% of their time to attend business networking groups, connect on-line regularly with their connections and connect with their client base one on one to increase sales. The key is to always be working your business like you just opened your doors. When you cut back on your advertising and you stop attending events or connecting with businesses on-line, the sales pipeline gets smaller and the climb back to where you once were in business is twice as hard.
If you want to increase sales it requires investing in your business and that starts with smart marketing and advertising campaigns!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Advertising in a Recession,
Advertising Strategy,
Business Success
The past few months I have noticed a shift in the business opportunities that are coming my way. Calls from business owners who are asking for help with advertising and they are ready to devote a significant portion of their budget to promote their business on TV and radio and the internet. For an advertising agency that would seem like the norm, but Purple Diamond started March 1st of 2008 and if the company didn’t create an affordable one one-one-one marketing coaching service that November for local business owners during the slow economy their would be no Purple Diamond. Being able to collect data, analyze the trends and make smart decisions based on what you are seeing is part of having a successful business. If you are a procrastinator who is reluctant to embrace change and you are banking on business getting better “some day” without taking steps to make this happen today, you may have a long wait for that “some day”. So, what do you do when your business takes a turn?
For my business the first turn was in 2008 when I recognized that many of the clients who were advertising in TV and radio and on Billboards and other traditional media services had pulled their advertising budgets to pay for day to day business expenses to off-set the drop in sales that were occurring with record unemployment. I used the knowledge I had from working for an internet company prior to Purple Diamond to create a new service because I saw that there was a need for business owners to still actively work on their marketing for their company. I called the service “marketing coaching” and I worked with the CEO on any part of marketing they needed to help their business, but most requested help with social on-line networking on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter and to determine if a Blog was right for their business. This kept the cash flow going for my own business and relationship building throughout the business community, along with brand awareness for Purple Diamond and today my business is healthy with a steady group of marketing coaching clients and many of the traditional advertising clients are ready to launch TV and radio campaigns and banner ads on popular internet sites and the phone is ringing!
So, do you have a new services or product that you can launch today that will sell in this market? Or, have you considered a marketing campaign that expands to a new market that you have never considered? If you have always sold locally maybe looking at how the internet could expand your reach to even an international market? If you have cut away your marketing and advertising budget reconsider this. Doing nothing often gets you nothing and unless that is what you want for your business it is time to get daring and bold with your advertising.
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Advertising in a Recession,
Advertising Strategy,
Business Success,
Procrastination In Business
How do you decide where you should advertise your business each year? For some businesses they are working off an old media plan or schedule that was created over 5 years ago and because of the slow economy they have reduced their advertising budgets which has left their strategy outdated and no longer useful. If your marketing is suffering from the “scattered with no direction” approach and you are working off an old spreadsheet of where you “used to” spend your advertising annual budget, it is time to get a marketing check-up and be willing to let go of the “old” to make way for the “new” and more effective approach!
[note: Hiring a Marketing Consultant or Coach to help you with the following process is highly recommended!]
1.) Look closely at your numbers and WHERE you spent advertising dollars in the past and if the rate on investment was enough to consider that media source again.
2.) Consider what your “realistic” current budget is for advertising and commit to that figure, but look for ways to cut costs in other areas of your business so that you can add to your annual advertising budget during a time you need it the most.
3.) Define your “target market” so that you eliminate wasteful advertising and focus on the best media options for your service or product.
4.) Look at the entire year and when it is key for your business to advertise. If you are a retailer who sells more around holidays you must work this in your budget; if you have a seasonal business then consider how many weeks you need to advertise to have the most impact, but still be affordable; and if you are a business who sells B2B, look to see if your clients buying patterns define when you need to advertise more or less.
5.) Take a survey with your existing clients to see what publications they read, networking groups they belong to, radio stations they listen to and TV shows they watch and if they belong to on-line social networking groups like Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
6.) Look closely at where your competitors are advertising and make a list.
7.) Think outside the box…..look for new ways to reach your target market in a way that will be memorable, still within your budget and offer you a chance to make enough of a splash so that people notice!
8.) Retire what doesn’t work, but replace it with something new. [Ex. If you have spent $10,000 every year in the newspaper, but your target market is no longer reading the paper.....make sure you put the same $10K in to another form of advertising.]
9.) Match your marketing to your territory so that you are not wasting resources with areas that will not bring in sales. Look at targeting by zip code or zones depending on what you have defined as your target group.
10.) Create a spreadsheet that helps you to organize and coordinate advertising and marketing efforts for the entire year so that you can execute your plan and have more time to execute the ad campaigns and negotiate better rates.
Finally, remember that when your efforts are scattered and with little focus chances are your results will reflect the same!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Advertising Plan,
Advertising Strategy,
Business Success
We have all heard that this is the year for on-line social networking and having a blog, but is a blog right for you? To start one requires a serious commitment on the part of the blogger and the time to keep the blog active with consistent postings or it could reflect poorly on the blogger. Blogging can be like dieting!
Like dieting, you understand the importance of taking care of your health and maintaining a healthy weight and eating right is all part of that. Blogs are the same, they can have a tremendous impact for the health of your business in that it allows you to communicate and build a loyal following to the brand of your business without spending money on advertisement that most consumers are trying to avoid. The blog gives you a voice and also consistent traffic to your website that could lead to more business and it also helps your site with popularity ratings which improves your status or ranking with on-line searches. However, not everyone is blogging or those who are may not be consistent and this reminds me of dieting [something I have done most of my life without too much success]. Right after the New Year you meet so many excited dieters who have dreams of fitting in to a smaller bathing suit by spring or losing some weight and feeling healthier. The local weight loss groups are standing room only and the advertisement on TV is filled with the latest and greatest diets and exercise equipment that will bring you instant success on the road to being healthy, or so they claim.
Does everyone fail at diets or having a blog? No! The key to being successful at both is to develop a system that will work for you in that you incorporate the new activity in your daily life. This blog post is being written at 5am and if I went to the athletic club I know I would find people working out before they are heading to work or at the end of their busy work day. For the serious blogger and dieter, finding a time that works for your schedule to include the new activity helps you to be successful. You have to plan for blogging even though the activity does not require much preparation other than having an idea to write about and access to your WordPress account or whatever program you are using for your blog. However, please know that I have seen many serious minded business owners vow to post regularly on their blog and when I check their sites the last entry is far from current because it just has not become the priority to the day to day operation of their business. To blog consistently you have to be willing to schedule time to write the post much like eating healthy or working out at a health club. Unless you have been writing your entire life this new activity will be challenging on days that you are busy [what day are you not busy?] and on days when you are handling big projects with lots of added stress that inhibits your ability to come up with a new blog topic to post about.
The one thing I will say to those who have started a blog and now realize that you just are not cut out for blogging or do not have the resources to hire someone who will write your blog for your business, ask your web designer to remove the active link or tab on your home page to your blog. Having your website indicate that there is a blog and allowing people to click on to the site and see the last entry was 6 or 8 months ago is not helping your business. And, for those who are reading this and want to have a blog you have to know when you will have time to actually write the posts. You may love to work out in the early mornings which shows you can keep to a schedule and are committed to remaining healthy, but when will you write your blog posts to keep you business blog healthy and up to date? The key to success in blogging is having time in your schedule to commit to blogging or being willing, as I do, to get up early in the morning or work later in the evening to create a new entry to my blog.
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
BLOGS,
Business Success,
Marketing Branding,
Success and Balance
This past Saturday my daughter was married at the Crestview in Woburn, MA and as I posted many of the photos of the day to my Facebook page I thought about how we planned the event so that it would be memorable to all who attended. The bride’s outfit and hair a perfect picture for a magical day for all to remember, the special readings at the service, the funny jokes that were said during the vows, the delicious appetizers and meals, the cake so pretty you almost didn’t want to cut it, the white roses that were placed everywhere, the music that got everyone dancing and commenting on what a great selection, and as a lasting reminder beyond the photos each guest went home with a favor gift of a horse and carriage frame that represented the fairy tale wedding that they just attended…..each detail planned for one special day so that the wedding would be one all would remember in a positive way! This is what GREAT marketing is all about…..being MEMORABLE!
How memorable is your business? When you attend a chamber event or reconnect with someone via the phone or on-line do they remember who you are or do you have to remind them of where you met? Can they say your tag-line or identify your brand from a few times of meeting you? Do you get phone calls, website visits, or orders after you have launched a marketing campaign? Though some of us prefer to remain private in our personal life being memorable as a business is the core element to success. You need to share the story of your company in a way that prospects will remember you. The best TV commercials or radio jingles are the ones you hear others recite from memory. When I walk in to a business function and several business owners recite my tagline of “Success wears the Purple Diamond” and they comment on my purple outfit and then ask me about my marketing coaching services or the latest TV campaign I have done for a client I know that I am making a lasting impression. My brand of helping business owners be successful is catching on rapidly for a business that is just 2 years old.
So, if you are wondering if you are memorable as a business, test to see if you are by attending a networking event this week in which you have had an opportunity to say your elevator speech and mingle with other business owners that you have never met for at least 20 minutes. Leave the event with a handful of business cards. Wait a couple of days and then make some phone calls to see if anyone connected with you. If you find that you are spending more time on the phone reminding them of the conversation you had at the networking event or retelling them your name and all about your business then it might be a red flag that you are not memorable as a business or business owner. If this keeps happening you may wish to consider working with a marketing coach to help you create a story about your business that will be memorable and lasting and have people wanting to call YOU!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
*Congratulations to my daughter Nicole and my new son-in-law Richard on their new marriage. The day, 3-6-2010, was one I will NEVER forget!!!
Tags:
Advertising Strategy,
Business Success,
Effective Communication,
Marketing Branding
Two years ago today I started my advertising agency, Purple Diamond! I left a secure paycheck and and a company that wanted me to stay to open the doors to my own business and dreams. I had always done well in the past when I had worked in advertising for other companies and I believed that if I gave that same enthusiasm and strong work ethic to my own business, then success would follow. Success has followed in a big way for Purple Diamond, but there were pitfalls along the way that had me questioning if I was crazy to leave my job to seek entrepreneurship.
The first road block was me! When you are used to seeing a paycheck and being financially independent, it is a humbling experience to ask for help from others until you have a steady cash flow. I was a single mom paying for my 2 kids in college before I started Purple Diamond so my paycheck was that life preserver that kept me knowing I wouldn’t sink. Just a piece of paper with some numbers on it, but I allowed it to define me and hold so much power over me. If the numbers were high I felt I was a success and if I had a week where the numbers were smaller, then I would beat myself up for not doing my best and making the money I needed to provide for my two kids. So, how did I let go of my fear long enough to realize my dream of owning my own business? I met someone who dared me to put a blindfold on while he drove the car home from the Boston airport! My new husband who saw that though I was hugely successful at my job in advertising, I was a control freak who seldom trusted anyone and that I believed it was always up to me to do everything on my own. And, to be a success in business it requires you to let go of fear and your controlling ways to allow people close enough to help you when you need the help. And, since I have always been one for facing challenges, I put that blindfold on and allowed my husband to drive the car and I saw first hand that even when you own your own business you are dependent on others for their support…support financially til your business is making a steady income and support emotionally when you have days that make you question your own abilities and self-worth.
The second road block was the economy in 2008 and 2009 and how the media loved to post stories of doom and gloom so that business owners were afraid to make the important decisions that they needed to survive and thrive. During most slow economies you would see businesses choosing to advertise more so that they would end up with a significant market share when the recession was over, but this was unlike other recessions and the broadcasting of how bad everything was had smart business owners questioning their own marketing strategy and leaving them paralyzed and doing nothing. This was not something I anticipated for Purple Diamond since my business plan was based on creating affordable TV and radio advertising campaigns for local businesses in the Boston market. Thankfully, I had left TV advertising to work for an internet company before starting my own business so I knew ways that people could position on-line social networking, blogs and answering questions as an expert in their field on-line as a no cost or low cost alternative to traditional advertising. So, I created the marketing coaching services and taught CEO’s one on one how to remain leaders in their fields without needing enormous marketing budgets to do so.
Finally, my third and last road block to my amazing 2 years of being a successful new business was to never give up. Thanks go out to my family and friends and clients who constantly remind me of the positive impact my business has had for those around me, but even when you are doing a good job there are times when you scratch your head and wonder if life would be better for everyone if you were doing something else. Long hours and doing without many of the extras you had in your life when you had that steady paycheck can catch you on your low days and make you question your own sanity. That is when you need a support group to help you see that this is all part of owning a business or taking any risks in your life. You need to trust that you are exactly where you are suppose to be and to continue on!
Thanks for listening to my ramblings about starting my own business. As a marketing coach I hear many similar stories from my clients and each have recognized that you might own the business by yourself, but you still need a team of people who help you to build the business and remain strong in your decision to continue!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Business Success,
Marketing Team
Did you know that the 2009 Nielsen ratings showed the largest age group of people using on-line networking for Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter fall in the 35-49 year old age grouping with the second largest being 50-64 year olds?! Two weeks ago when I shared that information with a room of business owners during my seminar on Target Marketing I got many surprised looks. On-line networking is not going to go away just because you do not have the time to work it in to your business marketing plan or understand how to build a following on these sites. One solution for people who do not have many on-line contacts is to consider joining groups and being FANS of various different organizations that will connect you with people who may need your product or know others who could use your services. A quick way to find great local groups to join is to view the profile pages of your contacts and see which ones they have joined. Another is to use the search key to look for information about the topic you are interested in or find one of your competitors and look at their site. You want to be EVERYWHERE that your target market might be and be sure to post comments or questions and use your company logo or the same profile picture so people become familiar with you. Try to post comments on blogs and sites that allow you to link back to your own website. The more you create an on-line identity the greater the chance you have of reaching potential clients.
I do caution, though, that these sites are “social” sites and if you come on too strong with messages just about your business or you bombard your contacts with message updates that are not really important you may find that you lose your own following. The idea is to “connect” and build a relationship and not to try to constantly “sell” them. Since my husband and I met on a social networking site 6 years ago in which I was the moderator of a group, I know first hand the power of on-line networking and building relationships. The key is that you have to understand that social on-line networking is not a commercial or paid advertisement for your business. It is a place where people share ideas and connect and build friendships. Had the first time my husband posted to me on-line he proposed marriage I can guarantee that I would have been looking to drop him quickly from my network and I would have labeled him as “pushy and weird”. This is what you want to avoid. It takes time to develop relationships on-line and in person, but the number of people who use these sites cannot be ignored so create your accounts, look for on-line groups and FAN pages and be sure to make this as important as your other marketing projects by creating specific times during your work day that you check out these sites and post.
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Business Success,
Marketing Tips,
Social Networking
For some of my regular readers to my blog they know I have been missing most of this week because of a death within my family, but if you are new to my blog then you might have wondered where I have been so I decided to post today and share my thoughts. Death is a strange thing in that it is so final and there is no more time to say the things you wish you had or to spend a few extra moments telling the person how much you love them and giving them another hug. You start to make yourself go crazy with the “should of’s” and “what ifs” and “if only…” , but the reality is that none of us have a crystal ball and we are never certain of our day so the best we can do is live with the choices we make and love with all our hearts in this instant and know that for right now we are here and life is to be cherished.
So, what does this have to do with helping your business??? Nothing and everything.
A business, like life, is touched by what is around it. When you have a death in your family or you lose an employee who was a key part of the fabric of your team, your business feels it. If you are a sole proprietorship, do you have a contingency plan for if you get sick or you need to take some time off to make arrangements and attend services for a family member who passes away? Have you developed strong relationships with your customers so that if a tragedy hits your home and your regular business activities are altered that your clients still feel confident in working with you? I have a t-shirt that my friend’s company makes that has a great saying, “Adversity doesn’t build character…it reveals it”. Having been a cancer survivor and not unfamiliar to how life throws you curve balls when you least expect it, I realize that no matter what today brings you must always remain true to who you are and what you believe in. I believe in giving as much as I can to help enrich my life and those around me, both at home and in the office. I care deeply for my customers, their families and their businesses and in return that is the relationship they give back to me. If you are reading this and you have not developed a strong relationship with the customers you service then it might be a time to regroup and consider how you can develop a stronger connection with them. Get to know who you are doing business with and offer more of your self in return. Go out to lunch or coffee with them or take an extra few minutes the next time you are doing a service call to ask them about their life and to get to know more about them and share about you. Be more than just someone who sells them a widget….build a friendship and a true connection.
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Business Success,
Customer Service,
Success and Balance
Targeting your market is simply defining who your primary customer will be. The market should be measurable, sufficiently large and reachable!
LET GO OF YOUR FEAR!
Target marketing cannot work and offer the sales results you need until you let go of your fear. “EVERYONE” is not a target market. The fear factor is one of the key reasons people fail at selling or marketing their product. Most business owners have never worked for other companies as a “straight commission” sales person so they are not familiar with going after the “A” client and optimizing their sales day so that it results in closing key revenue accounts. They have not learned through time and aggravation and small paychecks that you can work just as hard with a small sale as you can a bigger client and that your closing ratio improves when you zero in on a potential market that is more likely to buy the product.
“Sales is a numbers game”. This is something my sales manager loved to say to me when I used to sell TV advertising campaigns and he was right. If I have an average of 8 hours of selling time in a day, who should I spend that time going after? What will be my strategy and who do I “Focus” my time on so that I make the most money and have long-term relationship accounts?
FOCUS…FOCUS…FOCUS!!!
There are only so many hours in a day and so much of an advertising, marketing and sales budget… remaining focused on what you wish to accomplish is the first step to determining your target market.
- WHAT DOES YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER LOOK LIKE?
*Who are they? *Where are they located? How will you reach them?
- WHO DO YOU FOCUS ON AS A POTENTIAL OR “LIKELY” CLIENT & WHERE WILL YOU FIND THEM?
BUY TWO CUPS OF COFFEE & INTERVIEW YOUR CLIENTS!
You would be amazed at how helpful people can be when you just ask them for their help. For most of us we cannot afford to pay a big marketing company to do an in-depth analysis of who are “target market” is so what does a small business do? Buy 2 cups of coffee and ask your clients for 20 to 30 minutes of their time for an informal interview about them.
What you need to find out [if possible] from the interview:
- Age or Age Group?
- Male or Female?
- Socio-Economic or Ethnic Group?
- Education level?
- Marital Status?
- Do they have kids?
- Psychographics??? [Their beliefs, likes, dislikes, personality, why they bought your product, etc]
- Income Level? What do they regularly spend money on?
- Profession?
- Location?
NOTE: before the internet and on-line social networking the location was pretty straight forward to where do they live, work and buy goods and services, but today you need to know if they are tech savy, belong to Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc and if they prefer to shop on-line or at the store directly or both.
- Do they read the newspaper [which one and is this on-line or in print]? What radio station do they listen to and what TV shows do they watch? Are they a member of any local business groups or read any business publications?
- Finally, this is a KEY question to ask them: WHAT SERVICES COULD YOU PROVIDE THAT WOULD MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR THEM???
GO TO A QUIET PLACE & ANALYZE YOUR DATA
Try to survey as many customers as possible either in person or on the phone and then go to a quiet room or place so that you can analyze ALL your data and look for patterns or similarities. Maybe you notice that most of your clients are females ages 35-55 who have a college degree, hold professional positions, have an income of over $125,000 per year and prefer to save time by shopping on-line. Or, the majority of your clients might have children and so they are looking for family oriented activities that are geared for saving money and are good for the environment or their health.
DO YOU LIKE THE GROUP THAT STANDS OUT & ARE YOU MAKING $$$?
Hopefully, the data you get from your current base of clients that help you determine the target market is in-line with your goals for your business. For instance, if you find that you have attracted many customers who are difficult to service because their needs are so unique and you do not feel you are making a profit with the time invested, you may need to discard that group as your target market, but use what you have learned to help determine what you could do either in your marketing material or sales process to reach a more ideal target market and increase your profits!
*CREATE MARKETING MATERIAL, ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS & YOUR SALES APPROACH AROUND THE GROUP YOU NOW KNOW AS YOUR TARGET MARKET!
AIM, FOCUS & SHOOT at the TARGET!!!
LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES & SEE THEM AS AN INVESTMENT!
Target Marketing saves companies both time and money by helping them to know who the best prospect is for their business and how to appeal to them as a consumer. Even the biggest companies have made mistakes in marketing that cost them money and valuable time, but knowing what didn’t work and why, can be as important as what does work!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Business Success,
Sales Tip,
Target Marketing
Taking care of your personal health or dental hygiene with an annual check-up is a widely accepted practice by most people, but how many business owners have hired a marketing firm to look closely at their marketing footprint to see if their marketing message is strong and healthy? Having an outside marketing person who can objectively look at your business and share with you what you are doing well and what needs improvement can give you the edge that your business needs right now. Don’t let your accountant be the only person who hears about your sales challenges by looking at your profit loss statement. A marketing consultant will look at your sales data, compare it with your marketing efforts and offer suggestions on where you can expand business with your current customers to increase sales and discuss with you what marketing tactics worked and didn’t work and what could have improved your results. Don’t wait til you get the “death notice” for your business…having regular marketing check-ups and being proactive and not reactive will keep your business healthy and your bank account growing!
All my best to your success!
~Charlene
“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”
Tags:
Business Success,
Marketing Check Up
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