Purple Diamond Marketing Blog

As we approach the Memorial Holiday Weekend and the official start of summer many businesses know that this is a time in which their own business slows down because of their clients, colleagues and staff have vacations.  So, what do you do during the slower days of summer which can help to increase sales for your business?

The first thing I recommend is that if you have not had a vacation and you are working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, you really need to take a week at the beginning of the summer and RELAX and ENERGIZE yourself!  Think back to when you were in college cramming for finals and trying to exist on 2-3 hours of sleep a night.  Let’s face it, you became a walking zombie who only got through the week of hell because you knew that there was an end date to exam week and then a vacation break directly after.  As a business owner, learning to recognize the signs of “burn-out” is key to your success and longevity in the industry.  Stepping away from your business and in to a week or two of fun and relaxation will have you refreshed and ready to make the most of working the remaining days of summer with new ideas and a vitality that could be missing right now.

The second thing I recommend to do during the quieter months of summer is to prospect for new business.  Attend business networking groups that are outside your local area, go to workshops and seminars that attract businesses that could be potential clients, and spend time taking key clients that may still be working hard like you out to lunch or for a day of golf as a way of thanking them for their business. Use this time to  reach out to your customers with cards or emails during the slower months which will help with retention and possibly expand your business if you add a “refer-a-friend” program in the newsletter.

Finally, the summer is a great time to meet and do planning for your marketing for the remaining year and in to 2011.  One of the biggest problems that small businesses have is that they are always putting out fires and often do not have time for real planning or creating a strategy for their marketing.  Their websites never get updated, they still struggle with understanding how to position social on-line networking as a way to market their business and they seldom analyze what the ROI is for the advertisements that they are currently running.   The hit or miss type of marketing they have done all year often is a result of being hurried and the summer months allows the time to organize, regroup and make a successful plan.

In addition to these three things, summer is a great time to do an office make-over or have a professional organizer help you to set-up systems that work for your business.  Move your desk,  paint the walls, add a few plants and have an organizer help you to get rid of the piles of paper and watch how fast your sales improve when your work space is one that you are happier working in!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

The past couple of months I have been handling the advertising and promotions of an event that is taking place today and tomorrow and because the client has run this event in the past he has an excellent system set-up with his website registration for finding out where people heard about the event.  This is an advertising agency dream to already have the system in place and ready to go from day one to be able to calculate exact numbers of how people heard of the event.  The radio and TV account executives would be happy to know that though the internet does drive considerable traffic with the on-line social networking sites like Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter and with the help of email campaigns, the TV and radio commercials that aired still got results!

This doesn’t mean that if you are a business about to launch an advertising campaign that you can leave out the internet and just use one of the traditional forms of media like radio spots or a TV commercial, but it does mean that to expand your reach using a combination is the best solution. For instance, if you have created a TV commercial and have placed it strategically on the networks and areas that your target market will most likely view it, be sure to have your web designer add that same commercial to your website!  Make sure that you load the TV commercial to Facebook and share links to your site from other on-line social networking sites and encourage people to check your TV spot out on your website.  Also, use Twitter to drive traffic to your site if you are running sale specials or an event.

The radio commercials, especially on stations that have strong loyal listeners such as talk radio and sports radio stations are key to driving traffic to both your website and your store location. However, this requires an easy domain name to remember since often people are listening to the radio while driving.  With technology being mobile these days, and the streaming radio via the internet, you can see instant traffic to your website after your radio spot airs.  Of course, the message must be appealing and the reason to engage with your site must be part of the commercial spot, but the data is there…..TV and Radio commercials are still working and they are enhanced with the use of the internet.

If you are unsure of what is the best way to promote your product or services or advertise a big sale, consult with an advertising agency or marketing coach to help you define a strategy that will work for you and your budget!

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”

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!”

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!”

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!”

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!!!

When I first got in to selling TV advertising campaigns I was surprised at how many business owners would want to buy the TV networks that they enjoyed watching without much thought of who their target market was and if the network they liked appealed to who they needed to reach.  Emotions verses logic is not the best way to buy advertising.  Though the sales rep might be a nice person or the magazine, newspaper or radio station is one that you really like, you need to determine if there will be a reasonable return on investment for the ads you place. This is when having your own advertising agency or marketing consultant can save you time and money and get you better results.  An agency does not benefit by you choosing one radio station or one TV network over another. Their job is to get your company the best results within the budget you give them and if they do a poor job they will no longer have you as a client.

Unfortunately, many business owners wear too many hats and do not take the time to find the marketing help they need.  The calls from all the community groups to buy ad space in program books and school calendars, sponsors for chamber events and the local newspaper reps or phone directory account executive appeal to their “emotions” and they find that they have taken a chunk of their advertising budget without much thought other than it is what they did the year before.  Every day I meet business owners who have good hearts and struggle with saying “no” when they are solicited to buy sales reps.  However, when I share with them what the sum of all their spending would have gotten them with a more directed advertising campaign placed in the correct media they realize that buying advertising with emotion really can give poor results.

Look closely at where you are advertising your business and why you are making those choices.

All my best to your success!

~Charlene

“Success wears the Purple Diamond!”