Marketing for Success

I met a woman last week at a party and she introduced me to her business. As we got around to discussing her business and marketing, she seemed to be very closed minded about web advertising, marketing, blogging, and e-commerce. She was very familiar with creating income through her home parties and believed only what she was told by her company, that e-commerce would damage their home party sales. What the company seemed to not grasp was that there are other ways to market online than through just e-commerce. Even so, to rely on one source of marketing for income seems to narrow the potential of what other forms can do for both the brand and sales. Most product and service research is done online. Even product sales online have experienced double-digit growth.

She really didn’t understand that advertising online can correlate with offline sales. After a failed attempt to explain it to her I realized she was just comfortable in doing what she was familiar with. Something I see with people and small businesses daily. They can’t think out of the box, step out of their comfort zone, and realize the potential in something different.

FACT:  Online brand recognition, advertising, networking, and marketing does take a lot of time and effort, but it can pay off greatly for any business. Some time should be dedicated to Internet marketing for both online and offline businesses for survival in the years to come.

TIP:  Marketing of any kind takes time. Just because one form of selling works great for you now doesn’t mean that it will in a year. Be sure to measure what's working and what's not. Make changes as needed. Continually ask yourself what are the most cost effective, yet smart ways to get your name out there through different types of media. As you've probably already heard, putting all your eggs in one basket is not recommended. Make sure to be seen wherever and whenever you can online and off.

Many online advertisers also assume that if they aren’t getting direct sales from an e-commerce site, that it’s not working. But in fact online advertising is just the same as anything else. Just because people aren’t buying doesn’t mean they won’t remember you when they’re ready to make that purchase. Statistics show product and service research is done mostly online. Be sure to think out of the box when creating your marketing plan so your business has great representation when they do!

IN SUMMARY:  It’s good to be found anywhere you think your audience may be and to create an online media plan. Have a budget in mind and weigh the site’s audience, brand message, professionalism, resources, tools, and costs to you and your business.

Even in the best of times we've seen brick and mortar, as well as e-commerce retail businesses miss a number of opportunities to better market their store and products. Nowadays it's absolutely crucial to leverage every asset you have to win customers and sell inventory.

So here are Marketing Communications Think Tank's (MCTT) 11 top marketing tips for retail businesses:

1)  Location:  You've heard it before and it's so true, selecting the right location for your store is critical.

2)  Lighting:  Especially if yours is a clothing store and second only to location, good lighting is your most important investment (and asset). We're not kidding here, you can loose significant business if your atmosphere and product displays are hampered by a bad lighting system.

3)  Website:  Demonstrate you're serious about your business and that you plan to be around for a while. There are many inexpensive resources for creating and hosting a site, so after lighting the cost for creating a web presence should be your third priority. No excuses.

4)  Directory listings:  Make sure people can find you! There are a myriad of online and offline directory options, so before you spend any money on other advertising vehicles cover your directory bases first. Always, always include your website address.

5)  Customer service:  If you're going to be in retail, you had better be prepared to provide good customer service. No one wants to buy anything from crabby people. So unless you are selling something indispensable or buyers cannot get it anywhere else, you and your staff are your most important marketing assets.

6)  Online marketing sites:  There are TONS of options here and this can be a highly affordable way to make your business more visible and sell more effectively. Sites like Girl Shop Spot are a great start!

7)  Social Networking:  If you haven't already, get connected to your buyers, your community—-online and offline. These people are your core market in one way or another. If you or your staff have time, launch a blog and/or forum to develop a line of communication with your audience(s). Look into online professional social networks. Join a trade or local business association if relevant to your business.

8)  Local Advertising:  Perhaps your business can benefit from online and print newspaper advertising, coupon mail bundles, billboards, radio, TV, and other local advertising. These local advertising mechanisms can be very effective for your business, used wisely. Spend time researching your options, the costs, and the projected return for your investment.

9)  Offers:  Depending upon the type of retail business you have, it may benefit from running specials, offering product samples, or inclusion in co-op promotions with other local vendors. The possibilities are endless. Just remember to do your homework before you plunk down your hard-earned money. DO NOT IMPULSE BUY! Create an advertising plan and budget and generally stick to it, bearing in mind that you do want to remain open to surprise opportunities (just remember you will have to amend your advertising budget accordingly). Run your numbers before launching into any sales or specials, to make sure the volume sales you seek offset your costs.

10)  Merchandising:  Organizing, grouping, and displaying your products is very important. Messy or crammed merchandise is a real turn off. An easy to navigate store with clearly designated areas and thoughtful displays enhances the shopping experience and improves sales.

11)  Lighting:  Did we mention the importance of lighting? Never, never underestimate the power of lighting. It can literally make or break a customer's shopping experience. Bad lighting example/clothing store changing room: "OMG, do I really look like that? I look hideous in everything I'm trying on. I'm going home." Good lighting example/jewelery store display: "Isn't that diamond ring gorgeous? Look how the light makes it sparkle? I must have that now."

As promised, here is the second installment of our interview with Sara. This time the main topic is taking the business Green.

From a business as well as social responsibility standpoint, turning Three Little Ziglets into a green operation has been an imperative. What has the transition process been like?

First of all, and because our business caters to children, Three Little Ziglets has been on a mission to produce safe as well as attractive furniture collections. So from the beginning we have pursued suppliers that offer safer materials. Our ultimate goal is to be 100 percent organic.

We wanted to work with sustainable or recycled materials whenever possible. We were delighted to find a supplier who manufactures furniture with Rubber wood. Rubber wood is the basis for Latex. In the past, once the latex material was extracted the trees were simply discarded. Our supplier now takes this discarded wood and recycles it for furniture. It’s a hard and durable wood so it’s perfect for this purpose, perfect for our collections.

Secondly, we now use either low or no V.O.C. paint across all of our collections. We are able to incorporate vibrant and long lasting colors while delivering the lowest toxic product possible.

Our latest quest is for a range of fabrics that a) are manufactured from sustainable or recycled materials and b) facilitate the durability, style, and color for which our collections are known. When it comes to upholstery weight fabric this is particularly challenging; however, with the interest in green alternatives, manufacturers are developing more and more options all of the time.

All in all we’re very happy with our progress and look forward to meeting our goal to be 100 percent organic sooner than later.

Let’s get back to running the business and its marketing. What other observations would you like to share with our audience?

Here are some quick business/operational guidelines. When it comes to small business production, a good general rule of thumb is to plan to spend double the time and cost that you initially estimated in your business plan. Additionally, know that you will end up dedicating more time to production, as opposed to design and management, for longer than you’d planned.

Treat your top performing vendors well. Good and dependable extended partners like these are by no means a dime a dozen. Protecting these relationships will—-in the short and long term—-save you money, time, and anxiety.

Be smart about your customer relations. If a production problem arises and it will in fact impact delivery, let your customer know and always, always be prepared to offer solutions. Find out what is more important to the customer, whether it’s the delivery time or expectations they have about the product. And then let them choose the solution that works for them.

For many entrepreneurs control is an important aspect of having one’s own company. That said owners will continually be tested as to the amount of control they will be able to maintain. So allow yourself the grace of considering less control in some areas in order to keep it in others. And I cannot stress enough that you will put in lots of hours into your business, regardless.

On the marketing front, providing samples is important, if not essential, as a marketing tool for furniture companies like ours. As Three Little Ziglets has over 40 boutiques nationwide, our swatch program is integral to helping our distributors be more successful with sales. Whether you sell furniture, clothing, skin care, or other consumables, implementing a samples program could help you dramatically increase sales.

FINAL THOUGHTS FROM SARA

Please let your audience know that in this economy they may need to remind their client base why they still need their product or service, what the value proposition is.

For example, while Three Little Ziglets products are certainly high end, our clients know that purchasing from us is a prudent investment. Our collections adapt with the growth of their children. Individual pieces can be changed out over time, like replacing a crib with a big kid’s bed, while keeping the integrity of the overall look intact. Desks or vanities can be added once children are in elementary school. Or the bedding and accessories can be changed for a new look. Planned well, our collections can see a child up through high school.

Make your product/service very user friendly. Tell the client that you care about their time, threir convenience, their investment. Make life easy for them and they will appreciate that. Use that in your marketing.

For example, we know our customer is very busy, so it is our goal to make their lives easier. We know this particular client wants a custom look, but doesn't have the time or know-how to put together the look. We do that for them by coordinating bedding, furniture, and portable wall murals. We also made sure that our website is VERY USER FRIENDLY. Our clients are very busy, tired from working, taking care of kids, etc. They don't want to go to several sites to find what they need or to trying to remember where each cute item was. We put our site together like a recipe. We have a picture of the final product at the top, with all of the items needed to complete the room below. Very easy to imagine what you will be getting, and very easy to use.

Best of luck to all of you entrepreneurs and happy selling!

Sara Zigman's business began as a local custom design house for children's furniture. Since then 3 Little Ziglets has grown to offer a range of collections of furniture and accessories, which allows parents one-stop shopping and the ability to create "enchanting environments" for their children. The company now has distribution partners across the country and international expansion is on the horizon. Sara has painstakingly built her business that continually evolves while success milestones and business challenges are met. 3 Little Ziglets is the 2008 Winner of the Dreamtime Design Award from Pregnancy Magazine.

By all accounts Sara's business is a success, and the bottom line is that she loves what she does. What we want to share with you is the reality of what it takes to build a business, and the importance of marketing.

You say that marketing 3 Little Ziglets virtually never stops. Would you care to share with the readers what this means and give them some tips?

Sure. First and foremost, I recommend that you have your business cards with you at all times and share them whenever you can, because you just never know who you will meet that can help your business, who may become a prospect. Generally speaking, you must handle all of your interactions with care, because business opportunities can spring up from anywhere.

The very first thing we did with regard to marketing was build a website, as we believe this to be the cornerstone of any marketing effort.

We knew immediately that it was crucial that we produce a high-quality website, one that properly showcased the quality of our products. We invested a large percentage of our budget in top-notch photography from a renowned national photographer, and we spent 18 months planning and building the site. The end result was well-received and we were very pleased with the results.

What we learned was that we needed to find creative ways to drive traffic to the site. So we pursued web ads, such as Girl Shop Spot, made pitches to target bloggers, and took advantage of other online opportunities. And we continually test everything.

What has been most helpful to me is Google Analytics. It's a great tool. Every night I review the statistics, and find out what's working and what's not, and then amend promotions as needed. I can target by region or even location. In the process of monitoring and streamlining campaigns our page rankings increased from 17 - 20, depending on the search term, to Page 2...in 6 months. You can guess where we're headed from here.

Public Relations is another key component to marketing 3 Little Ziglets, and another activity I have thus far handled myself. PR, and press coverage in particular, is very time intensive, yet very important to helping build the company's credibility and cache. Plus, winning recognition such as the Dreamtime Design Award not only adds to the company's reputation, the personal reward it brings is impossible to put into words. It certainly makes all the hard work worth the effort.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned in the process of building your business?

Probably about the most important lesson I've learned as a small business owner is that I must count on myself, not to depend too much on others. And while it's virtually impossible to do, you must know about all aspects of what you do, however you can. Finding people who are committed to quality work and who have a strong work ethic is a difficult task, so be prepared that you may not be able to delegate operations as soon as you had planned.

Sara, with your work and personal schedule, you said that you generally get about 4 hours of sleep a night. How do you keep yourself motivated? And what closing recommendations would you make to our readers?

Every night I have a ritual that is both relaxing and energizing. At around midnight I take a break AND tune into Donny Deutsch's show, The Big Idea. It runs from on CNBC at 9:00 PM and 12:00 AM, CST. It's awesome! It's a combination of pep talk, business advice, and amazing interviews. About Donny Deutsch: www.cnbc.com.
My dream is to be on that show!!

As for recommendations I would make to other entrepreneurs, I'd say remember that you are your own project. And since running your own business takes so much time and energy, you should have a passion for what you do. In fact, do not attempt it otherwise—-because you live and breathe it 24/7. There is no on and off switch. And there is no time out; your business is always where you are. My iPhone and I are glued at the ear. Also what I have learned about virtually anything related to my business is that quality always wins over quantity.

Everyone must find their own rhythm when it comes to blending work and their personal life. One of the reasons I work late at night is because I devote a lot of day time to my now 11 year-old triplets. These wonderful human beings are also the muses for my furniture collections.

Finally, one other thing I do for myself as well as others is mentor. I mentor college art students (arts of all kinds) on the practical side, i.e. sales, marketing, and business, of their planned creative career paths. I want them to have all of tools for success in their hands, to help them better drive their own destinies.

Next time: Sara will talk with us about the why and how of greening her business.

If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner, you may have a business plan, maybe. But do you have a marketing plan? If you don't, you could be spinning your resource and creative wheels. You could be spending money that will not serve your specific needs. You could be jeopardizing your business and sales goals. You may be spending an inordinate amount of your time on one marketing activity to the detriment of others or more importantly, operational priorities.

Here are three fundamental reasons to create and then monitor a marketing plan for your business.

Reason Number 1

Create a marketing program that maximizes its success rate. Taking a high-level and cohesive approach will assure a more cost-efficient, affordable, and results-generating program.

Having a plan will give you the grace to:

  Implement marketing activities that best suit your business and your budget.
  Consider how well each component compliments the others; how the sum of the parts can produce more       dynamic results.
  Think about how you can leverage results as well as resources.
  Develop a program that is scaled to your needs and helps you amortize your costs.
  Monitor its success and make changes if/when needed in order to keep on course with reaching your goals.

Reason Number 2

Prevent kneejerk or impulse purchases. If you don't take the time to layout a marketing strategy and consider the cost-to-result ratio, you may become prey to impulse buying decisions or kneejerk reactions to competitive actions.

If you don't have a plan and budget to refer to, you might just drop some precious funds on something that will end up having little impact toward your goals or worse cost you more and possibly leave you unprepared to cope with the fallout of an ill-conceived decision. Plus, you divert time and energy from more important endeavors.

Here are some sample impulse marketing decision scenarios:

  You're contacted by a rep for an online directory that has a limited-time offer for a top position sponsored listing and in order to secure this top position the company needs your commitment right now. If you take the offer you'll have to spend some time creating the account, uploading information and perhaps even create an ad you weren't prepared to create.
  You're in Real Estate and you heard a competitor is launching a mobile marketing campaign. Just then you're hit up to jump on the mobile marketing bandwagon by a service provider. You sign up for what turns out to be a very expensive program and you haven't thought through how you will actually field the inquiries or considered how to adapt your online presence to accommodate mobile prospects.
  You hear that social networking is the thing to do, so you decide to dive in and start setting up accounts, initiating a blog, and uploading blog comments...without realizing that you need to carefully orchestrate it all in order to protect your interests.
  SEO. It's out there and you know it matters to your website visibility. A company with Pay-Per-Something just called to make you an offer of a lifetime, but they don't even know what your business does. Do you chance signing up and then hope that you understand how it works and that the claimed "hits" you pay for are legitimate?

And there are many, many more scenarios from local school advertising calls to event marketing opportunities and mobile search sponsorships. The list is simply endless. With a plan in place you are far less likely to make snap purchasing decisions, decisions that can derail your overall efforts and possibly sabotage the results you seek.

Save yourself! Separately SEO, mobile marketing, and social networking could easily become full-time activities. You could find yourself totally sucked into spending all of your time pursuing any of one of these marketing nirvanas. But will they make your business successful? Will they drive sales and on your timetable? Can you keep up with how often the rules change? Can you imagine being able to produce a blog entry...every day, for instance?

Know what you can do yourself and how much time you personally can devote to your selected marketing activities. If you can hire someone else to do some of it for you, it may likely be much more cost and time effective to do so. If you are running your own business you can ill afford to spend a hefty percentage of your time on one marketing activity, let alone several.

So know yourself, know your business, and then spend time laying out a marketing strategy that will help you achieve your goals, protect your resources and assets, best utilize your time and talents, and allow you to monitor progress.

Whether you just built a site or looking to improve what you already have, there's one question that arises after many months of trying to increase sales online. What's wrong with my site?

It's best to look at your website as an interactive book that should serve the purpose of the reader. People visiting your site have a purpose, a want or need they are trying to fulfill. If your site is not serving it well and dishing out all that it's meant to be, your potential customer will leave within seconds. And what about the others who decide to stick around, thinking you have what they are looking for and are interested in what you have to say but can't figure out exactly what it is you do. So, here's a list of some pointers to help you determine what needs fixing on your site, web page, or any advertising for that matter.

  Your home page should state clearly what it is you do or sell, just like the cover of a book.
Does you logo, company name, and tag line speak the purpose of being in business to your audience clearly? What type of message are you trying to send them? How do you want them to feel when they first set eyes on your site? Many company names aren't obvious to customers what it is they do or sell. Spell it out for customers. Be sure to make your tag line and copy clear, interesting, and specific to what is you're selling. There's nothing worse than having potential customers wonder what exactly it is that you're selling.

  Can you navigate easily through other chapters of your book from the home page?
Can all your most important chapters be easily accessed from the home page? Be sure to make all your internal pages relevant to what you're writing about or selling on each page with no grammatical errors or incomplete descriptions. Reducing the amount of page clicks before reaching the check out or desired result is always recommended as well.

  Always update your content.
If you have a potential customer that comes back to your site to make a purchase a month later and you have outdated material, they are sure to leave and never come back. Be sure to update content as needed and on a consistent basis. This is also recommended if you want to keep your existing customers.

  Depending on what your site is for, be sure to go a step further than the other guy.
There are millions of books on "How to be Successful." What makes yours that much better? Where's the proof and testimonials? Express how you are different than the shop down the street or a click away who promises to deliver the same. Your content is always king and should shout out to your customers. It should come alive and reach your audience like nothing they've ever read before. It should be compelling, truthful, and exciting!

  Title tags should be included in your web pages, just as there are sub titles in the chapters of a book.
Treat each title tag like it's a sub title for a book. But it gets even better than that. You can make you tagging work for you. Relevant and concise title tags can bring in customers who were searching for you. Each title should include what customers will find on that page. Off purpose, irrelevant titles will only hurt your sales. Web pages without titles are like reading a book without chapters.

  Make it easy for customers to find and contact you.
There's nothing worse when you're trying to contact customer service or the owner and you have to hunt through the site to find out how. Have a contact us page that is easily accessible from all pages. Always check and respond to your e-mails promptly.

  Offer up a call to action.
You must entice your reader to want react. Picture this, you've just started reading one of the best inspirational books you've ever read and couldn't wait to pick it up and read it again. Throughout the day, it's all you could think about. The writer effortlessly primed you to want to practice the things that were offered in that book. Give your site the same enthusiasm by delivering a call to action. Make your customers see all the wonderful things they will receive in your copy and images when they contact, purchase, or visit. Give them a reason to purchase today whether it is through special offers, sales, promotions, and make it hard for them to forget you when they leave.

Go where there's an audience...the right audience. Traditional marketing is no longer as effective as it once was. That's because there really isn't an audience. Is there anyone that has the time to listen, watch, or read anything they didn't choose to on their own? Can you remember the last print ad you've seen? Recall the company in the ad? These days, people choose what they watch, listen, and read wisely. So, go where your customers are seeking you. Find what's working today.

Niche Marketing - 71% of the population are online but only 30% are finding what they're looking for. A large percentage of these people are women seeking information on products and services. Niche marketing is a marketing segmentation strategy in which a company focuses on serving one segment of the market. A niche is a small distinguishable segment that can be uniquely served. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) If your customer's attention is mostly drawn online, then why not advertise where they are searching for you? If women are a large part of your target audience, then why not advertise on a site specifically designed for today's modern women?

Local Search Advertising - Have you ever entered a destination in a search and retrieved nothing relevant to what you were searching for? That's because the concept of "local advertising" has found its way in some aspects of the web, but hasn't fully been utilized by many companies who it could benefit greatly. Local searches are becoming one of the most common searched phrases on the web today. Local Advertising by definition is any advertising placed by a company, organization, or individual operating in a limited geographical area such as a city or within a state. (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) In the next 3-5 years online local advertising will be the most resourceful, lead generated advertisements purchased online by small businesses. If local searches are becoming one of the most common searched phrases, why not advertise with specialized local search sites?

If you advertise on a site that combines both a local and category search mechanism within a niche specific site, you will receive more qualified and relevant leads. Many women like to shop and find what they are looking for on the web before making buying decisions, scheduling services, or visiting the nearest shop. Too many times, they can't find where to go, information on what they've heard of, and it takes too long to investigate where they can find such information. Shopping is second nature for many women, and GirlShopSpot.com was created to make online shopping a more natural and enjoyable experience. It's a user friendly site that was developed with the customer in mind, getting them what they need, who they need, and where they need to go in one convenient spot.

Why has it become so difficult for customers and businesses to connect? Maybe the reason is so many companies have forgotten why they became so great. They get so big and start thinking they need to change things. Companies new and old begin to forgot one of the most important factors of doing good business, networking. So many new and emerging e-commerce sites are all about the sales and not the meet and greet, top notch customer support, and personable one on one marketing that you can bring to the web.

Why skip the hello, this is who we are, who I am, and what I do? And, what about networking? Could it be the piece so many companies lost and haven't fit back into place yet?