Many elements go into the success of small businesses. The three elements I pay particular attention to are sales, marketing, and advertising. When these three are running on all eight cylinders the odds of business success are greatly improved. And due to the economic times we are currently experiencing it becomes even more critical to do everything correctly. In this article I want to examine each element and how to blend them together to create a more successful business in 2013.

Marketing In 2013
My business card is advertising. Deciding who to give my business card to is marketing. So marketing is defining my ideal customer as exactly as I possibly can. I look at their lifestyle demographics. How old are they? Their income. Are they homeowners? Married or single. What newspapers and magazines do they read? What TV shows do they watch? What radio stations do they listen to? I can’t create an advertising message if I can’t identify who I’m talking to.
If market research reveals that my ideal customer is a one-legged Norwegian, that resides in a one-story house, on the north side of the street, and speaks Spanish, then I have a very specifically defined customer. Reaching that ideal customer will cost less because I can match my market to the best advertising methods to reach that exact customer. So it stands to reason that the more clearly I can define my best customer the easier and less costly it will be to reach that customer.

Profitable Advertising In 2013
Once I have my target customer defined I must create an advertising message that will trigger a response from that customer. I know that customers respond to emotion more often than they respond to logic. If things in this world were based on logic then the pet food aisle at your local grocery store would be stocked with mouse flavored cat food. But instead there is the more emotional turkey and giblets in gravy.

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make in advertising is trying to make the sale with their advertising. If you are advertising a sale this is certainly possible. But in the day to day operation of your business the purpose of your advertising is to create a need in the mind of your customer. If you need tires then you are going to be looking for tire ads. What I would like to see is an ad that is strong enough to make you go outside and look at your tires. That’s an ad that will invoke an emotional response that will lead to a sale.

Sale and Sales Training
After all your hard work and expense in market research and advertising costs it can all go down the drain when your salesperson comes face to face with your customer. I worked with a large electronics retailer which was experiencing diminishing sales. After watching the salespeople for several days I found that they were simply not in touch with the customer that was coming into the store. It was not the fault of the sales people it was the fault of management.
The store was running ads targeting specific types of customers with a specific emotional need but they didn’t educate their sales people about these ads. Now you could make a case that the salespeople should have informed themselves about the stores advertising but in most cases they don’t. In addition the sales people were also unaware of what competitive products were also being advertised.

I created a morning discussion about all the products that were being advertised in newspapers, TV or radio that day and why they were being advertised. We reviewed other ads from competitors so we could be aware of shoppers that might have looked at similar competing products. We also looked at products priced above and below the items that were being advertised to give customers a range of features and price options. As you can imagine, this improved sales because the now informed salespeople had a purpose, and a plan for their day and it also improved their confidence and closing ratios.

Be Honest
Last but not least, be sure your advertising is honest. Don’t advertise yourself as an Outback Steak House if you are a McDonald’s. Nothing turns a customer off more than failure to meet their expectations. All facets of business must work together as a team for success to be achieved. There is no question, 2013 is going to be a very challenging year for small business owners. Use these three elements correctly and 2013 will be very profitable.

Check out Tom’s Weekly Radio show at http://kmmsam.com every Saturday from Noon to 2 PM Mountain Time – Follow Tom on Facebook at facebook.com/smalltownmarketing and on Twitter @smalltownmarket  Photo Gwen Dodge