Positioning in Small Business Marketing

admin — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:22:07 +0000

Babubyname asked:

Positioning is another one of those marketing jargon words that everybody throws around and is important to understand. It’s also important to understand how positioning specifically applies to your small business marketing.

Basically a marketing position describes your unique place in the market. The key word here is unique. What makes you different from your competitors? What features and benefits do you offer your target market that the other players don’t?

Here are a few things that may go into your positioning:

-Price Point – This doesn’t necessarily mean you have the lowest price. You may be the most expensive in town, and that’s OK if you convince your customers you’re worth it.

-Service – Almost every business claims they have great service. If you can provide exceptional service compared to your competitors, your customers will remember you. I’ll never forget calling a surly plumber to try to get him to my house for an emergency on a weekend. he acted like he didn’t want my business and then told me it was going to be $200 for him just to show up, no thanks. I called roto-router who gave me amazing service, a guarantee, and the whole bill was less than $200. I now use them for all my plumbing.

-Features and Benefits – Positioning is not just about what makes you different, it’s also about what you emphasize. Folgers announces to the world that it’s “mountain grown coffee” ( a feature). Guess what? All coffee is mountain grown. Folgers just claimed this feature first. What’s something that none of your competitors are talking about?

-Credibility – Legal Seafood’s clam chowder is served at every presidential inauguration. Many products get celebrity endorsements. Many companies tout how long they’ve been in business. All of these things build trust in the mind of the consumer. What trust-building factors do you have that the competition does not?

-Negative Features – Is there something you don’t have that annoys customers of your competitors? I’m not saying use negative advertising, but just mention the feature and tie it to a benefit. I’m annoyed when I have to pay for parking to go shopping at Mall. Instead of touting free parking, a mall that wants to speak to me might declare, “you’ll never have to pay for parking”. This drives home the pain of shopping with a competitor without going negative.

-Anything Else – Literally anything that differentiates you from your competitors can be part of your positioning strategy – your location, your hours of operation, the way your office smells. Small business owners need to think creatively here.

In a great article by John Jantsch he states that a positioning strategy must answer the question, “why should I buy from you?” This is brilliant in it’s simplicity; it cuts through all the strategic junk that complicates marketing. If you can’t answer this question, your customer is not going to do the work to figure out an answer on his own.

http://www.smallholders.com

Would You Use Meat Loaf in Your Targeted Small Business Marketing

admin — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:15 +0000

Paul Flood asked:

Entrepreneurs know the importance of a targeted small business marketing strategy. Many make the mistake of doing what big advertisers do. Rock icon Meat Loaf is in a great commercial but the product and company selling it are easily forgotten. Learn a lesson on how not to advertise

Remember Meat Loaf (born Michael Lee Aday)? His album Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, has sold nearly 40,000,000 copies and was on the charts for over 9 years. He is also featured in a new commercial that is running pretty frequently on TV.

The ad features Meat Loaf as a dad whose son is begging him to get him a cell phone. He’s singing about how he won’t run up the minutes. Personally, I am a fan of Meat Loaf and I like the commercial. He includes some lyrics and riffs from Paradise by the Dashboard Light, which I’ve always thought was a cool tune.

The other afternoon, I heard the commercial and started singing the tune in my head and realized I had seen the commercial several times and could not think of the company or brand of the phone! Now, I’m thinking this was a fairly expensive production because in addition to Meat Loaf, Tiffany is in the commercial and they are probably fairly expensive talent to hire.

After all of this expense, I couldn’t relate a brand or a product to the commercial! I kept an eye out for the next airing and saw it was for the AT&T GoPhone. Think of all the money spent on the ad. They did a lot of things right like using celebrity endorsements, a good tune and an entertaining spot. But it really made me wonder, why couldn’t I think of the company or the product?

What could you do differently if were considering a similar TV ad as one of your primary small business marketing tools ? For one thing, a bit more focus on the product instead of the production. You could easily think of special offers that would give prospects a reason to buy soon. I’ll bet a contest to have dinner with Meat Loaf or win a free “Bat Out of Hell” concert DVD would attract buyers. You would have a tracking mechanism to see how many inquiries and sales were generated. What if they had a toll free number, 1-800-MeatLoaf, to call and get a special offer and find out how to download the song to iTunes or even a ring-tone? The marketing folks could track response and the ROI on the ad. What if there were a contest to be in a commercial with Meat Loaf?

But instead, the focus was all on creativity and entertainment. I’ll bet the ad will even win an award but I still think ads should be written to sell the product now, not build a brand or win awards. My guess is that you can’t afford Meat Loaf in your ads but remember, when you do advertise, it’s about making money, not building your brand. Brands don’t put food on the table, sales do. When you spend money on marketing, either do it yourself of find a professional whose goal is to increase your profits and is willing to guarantee results, not just earn a commission.

The commercial may not be on TV too long but you can catch it on www.youtube.com. Search for Meat Loaf AT&T. This version is a 90 second commercial that does a better job of naming the product than the spot on TV but it still could have soooo much more potential as a source of REVENUE instead of a brand. When you think about branding as a strategy, ask yourself if you want to get your name out there or sell as much of you product or service as possible and build a strong and loyal customer list as quickly as possible.

For the small business marketing tools to add to your toolbox, go ahead and think about branding. However, your brand needs to be strong and you should strengthen it with incredible products and service or with your Unique Selling Proposition. Build your brand using marketing that creates prospects and leads. It is just as expensive to get your name out there with a compelling offer and reason for a client to buy from you now as it is to just get your name out there. The difference is the ROI. The Meat Loaf commercial offers no way to measure the ROI and small businesses can’t afford to throw scarce marketing dollars up against the wall and guess at the ROI.

Here is a powerful small business marketing tip when it comes to a brand-building strategy: If your financial planner came to you with an idea to spend $10,000 on marketing as an investment, you’d think, “What will my return be?because she is a trusted advisor. Use the same standards with your marketing, advertising and media reps. Ask the question: “What is my projected return and how does it compare to other marketing investments?When the rep tells you the value of impressions, ask for some statistics from other advertisers regarding the ROI of the ads and spots they are running?

After you watch the YouTube video, see if you can help me out. Why is Tiffany holding a leg of lamb when she enters the commercial set? Maybe there is some reference I don’t remember from Meat Loaf’s earlier days. He was quite a theatrical talent!

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Positioning in Small Business Marketing

Would You Use Meat Loaf in Your Targeted Small Business Marketing