Archive for July, 2011

The Process of Change in Marketing Approaches

In a world economy that is in constant flux and undergoing turbulence, more companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their customer base. An even more important realization is the need to satisfy the whims and fancies of these customers in order to survive in these increasingly competitive markets. Organizations that do not act on this dictum have suffered the loss of market share or worse, total annihilation. Such dire consequences have awakened many organizations to rethink the way they see marketing. Thus, there is urgency for an organization (be it products or service providers) as a whole to develop appropriate holistic customer-focused strategies to ensure that the customer remains at the core of their organizational thinking.

With the rapid advancement of information technology (especially the rise of the Web) and the increasing difficulties of meeting customer’s needs and wants (for example, their expectations of 24 / 7 customer service especially for online transactions), there is a shift from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing. Many organizations and marketing consultants are emphasizing the need to allocate more funds to apply new-found knowledge of consumer behavior in new products development, build better customer relationships through customer loyalty and retention programs.

This purpose of this paper is to raise the awareness of the need to concentrate marketing efforts towards the customer rather than the inward-looking traditional product-focused arrangement. And more importantly, the paper will shed light on how an organization could go about in making this important transition in this current competitive market.

Marketing Approaches Explained:

Before I proceed to discuss the shift in the marketing approach, it will be appropriate to explain briefly the two marketing approaches separately for greater clarity.

Traditional Marketing-The 4 Ps of Marketing:

The marketing mix or what is commonly known as the 4 Ps is a framework for marketers to implement a marketing concept. It consists of a set of major decision areas that a company needs to manage in order to at least satisfy consumer needs. According to Kotler et al. (1999), the mix is a set of “controllable tactical marketing tools [...] that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market” (p.8). Hence, in an effective marketing program, all of those elements are “mixed” to successfully achieve the company’s marketing objectives.

The traditional marketing mix contains four major elements, the “4 Ps of marketing”. As defined by Kotler et al. (1999):

1.Product: Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. In includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.

2.Price: The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.

3.Promotion: Activities that communicate the product or service and its merits to target customers with a view to persuading them to buy.

4.Place: All the company’s activities that make the product or service available to target customers.

With the rapid changes surrounding organizations, the traditional marketing mix of the 4 Ps has been criticized for being too myopic in this current market situation. The traditional marketing mix has also been disparaged for being too product-focused and for taking an overly inward-looking strategy with regards to the organization’s resources and capabilities in production matters. This is antithetical to attending to the more important organizational goal of satisfying the desired needs and wants of customers.

In addition, the Web and E-commerce revolution has played a major role in alleviating customers’ ability to shape their relationships with the company. This has led customers to expect companies to market their products and services in ways that reflect more directly their individual needs.

These changes have prompted enterprises that wish to stay ahead of their competitors to shift their traditional marketing approach to customer-targeted marketing.

Customer Targeted Marketing:

In customer targeted marketing, the customer becomes the central focus of the organization’s strategy and activities, rather than the product itself (which is the prime concern in traditional marketing). The organization’s paradigm shift in marketing requires a company to build a commitment to quality and to listen critically to the customer to determine the market needs and how the company can meet those needs more effectively.

One of the major characteristics of the approach is to focus on each customer’s interests and interactions with the organization to deliver targeted, personal messages. This would require the company to be constantly gathering information about their customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to retain them as loyal customers. As suggested by Peppers and Rogers (1998), the organization would need to use various techniques and strategies (possibly with the help of information technology and the Web), such as focus groups, in-depth interviews, customer surveys, attitude testing and so on to obtain information about consumers for more effective marketing of a product or service. With these customers’ data and feedback, the organization will apply the knowledge to develop more customer-centric products and services and/ or to improve existing ones. In addition, the information will be shared within the organization to encourage employees at all levels to focus on creating maximized customer value and loyalty.

Why Customer-Targeted Marketing?:

In order to have a competitive edge and to satisfy increasing levels of customers’ desires, companies realized that they have to see their customers as individuals rather a homogeneous mass of similar tastes, values and buying behaviors. Due to such transformation, companies need to be more customer-focused in its overall marketing strategy. This has resulted in organizations adopting a customization strategy to increase customer’s loyalty to their products and services. For example, in banking and insurance industry, there has been a move towards greater customization. Standard products/services have been given way to a varied menu of features from which customers may select their own preferred combination.

In view of these changes, companies that understand the asset value of each customer, and that tailor their marketing efforts (and their costs) to acquire and sustain the highest-value assets, will win over less-adaptable traditional marketing approach of the 4 Ps.

The Process of Transition:

In order to strategically change from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted marketing, an organization must be aware of these following areas:

Paradigm Shift. A company must fully understand that customer targeted marketing requires a shift in the organizational mindset, and not just structural organizational changes. They must realize that their sole purpose is to continuously satisfy customers’ needs and wants. Thus, to ensure a smooth transition from a traditional marketing approach to customer targeted approach, an organization must reflect and ask itself questions as to what areas need to be analyzed and to understand the ramifications of such a transition in the organization. On the other hand, an organization needs to realize the negative consequences for not willing to be a more customer-focused marketing organization.

Customer Targeted Planning. As in any organizational change initiative, proper planning is needed. The objective of planning customer-centric marketing strategies is to find win-win opportunities with customer and to identify the best mutual opportunities for your customers and your company. This requires the organization to see the issue(s) from the customers’ perspectives and to strategically plan the organization’s resources around them.

In short, the organization’s shift to customer-targeted marketing should embrace these three important points:

1.Planning should focus on customer wants and not looking inwardly at company goals

2.Focus on the honest feedback and suggestions through creating different channels of communications. Listen to the customers, rather than forcing them to listen to you.

3.Integrate your customers in every aspects of your business, from new product design to after-sales services and more.

Organization-wide Responsibility. For the approach to be successful, members need to understand the new philosophy of marketing and embrace it organization-wide. Many organizations tend to underestimate the degree to which every facet of the enterprise needs to be involved in the process and to be integrated into the actual customer relationship.

Organization Redesign. An organization has to assess the roles of all functional departments interacting with customers to ensure that they add value to customers instead of increasing the costs. By reorganizing the company with the customer as the focus, many departmental roles and responsibilities will have to be redesigned. And when that happens, the employees will have to adopt new work processes that would be more customer-centric in nature.

Human Resource Training. There is a need to develop customer-focused human resource through customer behavior training, across the functional departments. By investing in such training at all levels, the members will be more knowledgeable, more autonomous, and more efficient in anticipating and meeting the needs of the customers.

Use of Information Technology. With the advancement and increased affordability in information technology, more companies are able to collect available data on customer purchase behavior more efficiently. For example, technologies ranging from checkout scanning to Internet cookies are commonly used to track customers’ buying behaviors. Companies that employ such technology will be more adept at acquiring new customers, retaining existing customers, and cross selling than those who do not.

Enhanced Customers Communications. With the use of the Internet as a medium for targeted communication, this allows companies to be in touch with customers at less than one-hundredth of the cost of more traditional snail mail, brochures or flyers. Communication through emails with the customers is almost free, and the customers can retrieve communications almost immediately. However, this has also resulted in customers having 24 / 7 service expectations of these companies.

Customer Targeted Measurement. An organization must be able to measure and evaluate the success of their customer targeted marketing strategy. In most cases, traditional measurement techniques such as profitability, market share and profit margins are used to measure the success. There should be an added emphasis given to developing measures that are customer-centric and which are able to assess the marketing strategy. Customer acquisition costs, conversion rates, retention rates, customer sales rates, loyalty measures and customer share within a brand are some examples of customer-centric measures than a customer-focused organization can adopt

Conclusion:

The need for survival has provoked many organizations to shift from traditional to customer targeted marketing. The market conditions surrounding us will continue to change at an accelerating rate and customer’s expectation will continue to rise. Hence, without any doubts, more and more companies will adopt a customer-targeted marketing strategy with increased intensity.

About The Author

Dr. Alvin Chan is an Innovation Research Specialist in Asia. He has consulted for and aid in the development of managerial innovations and effective learning methodologies in several organizations. Currently, Dr. Chan is the Senior Research Consultant at FIrst Quatermain Centre of Collaborative Innovation (www.firstquatermain.com).

Please email to Dr. Chan at bizguru88@hotmail.com as a courtesy if you are reprinting the article online or in print.

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If you were to visit your local bookseller, or browse through an online bookstore, to peruse their selection of marketing titles, it would be quite easy to become confused and overwhelmed. The volume of information on how to improve your company’s marketing strategy increases exponentially every week. As an entrepreneur or small business owner, how do you cut through the noise to determine how to effectively bolster your marketing efforts?

What constitutes effective marketing?

In developing your marketing strategy, you could focus on any number of functional areas. Does effective marketing mean concentrating on raising brand awareness? Perhaps, but branding is a long-term play that requires attention on an ongoing basis. Moreover, focusing only on brand awareness does not help you convert brand recognition into actual sales.

What about concentrating on increasing market share? Building market share is also a longer-term strategy, but allocation of marketing investment and opportunity costs need to be considered. It is conceivable that you may need to sacrifice profitability in order to gain the market share you are seeking.

Is a strong competitive strategy equivalent to a sound marketing strategy? Maybe. You should generally be aware of what your competitors are doing. However, it would be difficult to remain on the leading edge of innovation or to grow effectively if you are constantly looking over your shoulder at what your competitors are doing. An excessive focus on competitive strategy could also have the unintended consequence of your products and services losing differentiation within your key markets and looking fairly similar to the products and services of your competitors.

Certainly, market education would be important and teaching key decision makers the benefits of using our products or services? Not to the degree that some companies practice this. An exclusive focus on market education should make you question whether your company is focusing on a profitable market segment. Traditional wisdom recommends that you address an existing need, rather than trying to persuade the market to purchase your product or service. Should you choose to adopt this approach, you should be prepared to invest a significant amount of time and resources to achieve this objective.

What about improving internal marketing coordination? This should simply be considered part of your day-to-day operations, rather than a strategy to incorporate into your marketing plan. This also happens to be arguably one of the significant shortcomings of professional services marketing. Firms that focus too much on coordinating marketing programs instead of addressing actual market needs tend to lead a company’s focus away from its clients. Why waste your time and resources on marketing programs that do not directly support your clients or end up benefitting your company over the long-term?

What matters most in marketing is your company’s ability to continually generate revenue. Everything else should be aligned with this superordinate goal. This may appear to some to be stating the obvious but we cannot emphasize this strongly enough. It is a strategic imperative for small businesses to find the right balance between creating marketing programs designed to achieve both long-term and short-term benefits. Ultimately, it does not matter how clever your marketing programs are. If you do not find ways to attract new clients or bring in the cash, you are sabotaging your business’s viability.

When Marketing Fails

Successful companies with strong marketing strategies abound. However, to drive home the risks of mismanaging your marketing program, we have selected an anti-case study – an example meant to illustrate the perils of ignoring marketing fundamentals.

Two of our team members spent a significant amount of time working with a company that provided business-to-business advisory services in Asia. We will refer to them as ACME Risk Solutions Limited [1]. This company made a number of elementary mistakes that severely impacted their ability to deliver value to their equity holders.

• ACME Risk Solutions’ Head of Business Development failed to coach or lead its marketing team. Led by a former lawyer with no marketing or business development experience, the team was blind to the needs of the market. Most of the team members lacked expertise in setting firm strategy. Instead, the department head had them focus on tangential functions, such as research, public relations, events, and publications. He also failed to providing education or support in their development. As a result, the department head and the team failed to capitalize on opportunities for increasing revenue.
• The team’s myopia was evidenced by the unsuccessful launch of marketing strategies that made numerous promises, but which failed to deliver and ultimately disappointed their clients, as well as senior executives in other departments.
• Marketing programs were rolled over from one fiscal year to the next, even though they were not meeting performance measures and not contributing to the bottom line. Aside from a modest budget, there was no profit and loss accountability or expectations for the marketing team to support sales or clients service.
• Because of a combined lack of leadership and marketing experience, the team overlooked traditional marketing tactics that would have demonstrated a return on investment (ROI) in implementing their programs. This caused the programs to quickly lose focus and momentum.
• Having lost credibility, the marketing team ignored clear financial data indicating declining profitability for ACME Risk Solutions.

While we found ways to support revenue generation, these tactics are slightly beyond the scope of this article. The core message behind this anti-case study is that, without proper focus and coordination, it is easy for marketing initiatives to lose their efficacy and to miss the objectives set by your company.

Evaluating your marketing campaign

Building an effective marketing strategy or campaign does not require rocket science. We have laid out below a set of five diagnostic questions for you to use as a starting point in keeping your marketing initiatives on track:

1. Do you have the right team? Do you have an accountable leader? Does the team include experienced marketing professionals?
2. Is the initiative truly client-focused? Are you responding to market needs or internal pressures?
3. Does the initiative directly increase revenues? Does your marketing program help you to actually earn money for your company within a specified time period?
4. Are you able to track marketing ROI? Have you set the appropriate performance measures that show how you are allocating your marketing spend and the returns you are generating?
5. Are you capitalizing on changes in market trends? Are you aware of the current changes in the market? Are you close to your clients? Have you sensed any opportunities from changing trends? Are you being honest with your evaluation?

Crafting your marketing campaign does not have to be complicated but you do need to ask yourself hard questions. How are we generating revenue? How effective are we at generating revenue? Who are the clients that contribute the most to our bottom line? What can we do to deliver more value to them in a way that also helps us to become more profitable as well? Simplify where possible. With a dedicated focus and the right team, you can ensure a continual path to profitability for your small business.

[1] DISCLAIMER: “ACME Risk Solutions Limited” is a fictitious reference used to disguise an actual company. Any resemblance of this reference to any existing entities is unintended and purely coincidental.

For related articles, kindly visit our Venture Marketing Blog at http://www.catalyst.hk.

GERARD ESCALER is Managing Director of Catalyst Innovation Group, a venture marketing boutique that partners with small businesses to craft socially-responsible and results-driven marketing strategies. A Chief Marketing Officer with a fourteen-year track record, his experience includes marketing investment, growth strategy, competitive strategy, brand strategy, media relations, integrated marketing communications, client relationship management, advertising, event and sponsorship planning and marketing research development. Gerard serves as a non-executive director for TrendsFormation Capital, a Hong Kong-based investment company. For more information, kindly visit: http://www.catalyst.hk

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Using a Marketing Calendar Template

Owning a small business isn’t easy, especially if you are running it alone. Between moving products, taking orders, paying bills, and taking care of family, it is easy to lose track of everything you need to do. Using a calendar template to organize and manage your marketing strategy will ensure you don’t drop the ball with one of the most important parts of your business.

Developing a Marketing Strategy

First, research and identify who your target clientele is, and what characteristics they share that make them valuable to you. If you have developed software that organizes and manages an online calendar, you probably will not want to target 14-year-old skateboarders. But it is not enough just to identify an age category or an activity your target market shares – you need to consider socio-economic status, buying habits, and potential for up-selling. I may be in Porsche’s target age group, but I am definitely not in their target tax bracket!

Second, after identifying who you will be targeting, research and explore venues for your advertising message. The demographics of your desired customers will play a key role in deciding which venues to pursue, so don’t forget about them. Examples of marketing venues available to you include newspaper ads, bus stop banners, sports team sponsorships, online marketing (including pay-per-click campaigns and search engine optimization), local television spots, and, if you’re feeling extra ambitious, the Super Bowl.

Finally, after identifying your desired customers and selecting which marketing venues you will pursue, create a marketing calendar. Calendar templates are available online for download and use. A calendar template typically divides time into weeks, providing a space each week to record what event or marketing method you are focusing on; how much money has been and will be spent on the activity; deadlines, contacts, and important notes; and what the results of the marketing ploy were. Once you have these three facets in place, you are ready to invest some real money into promoting your company.

Implementing a Marketing Campaign

With your marketing calendar template in hand and wallet in pocket, you are ready to invest in the marketing campaign you have designed. The nice thing about using a marketing calendar is that it takes what could be the impossible task of keeping track of and following up on all your marketing endeavors, and it breaks it up into one week chunks. This feature allows you to focus on each marketing activity and the results it produces.

The prospect of launching an online marketing campaign, billboard and bus stop banners, and newspaper advertisements all at the same time is formidable at best and impossible at worst! Unless you absolutely cannot afford to wait one more week to launch them all, try phasing them in one at a time. The marketing calendar template will help you keep track of what is going on, and where you need to turn your attention next.

Evaluating Your Campaign

During and after every marketing endeavor you perform each week, fill out the important spaces on your calendar template. When you receive the results of that specific campaign (i.e. more visitors to your site or more customers purchasing the advertised product, etc.), compare it to other advertisement venues or practices you have tried. Was it more or less successful? Did it produce the desired result? What was your return on investment for this particular campaign? Did it improve your bottom line? Without keeping careful track of each activity and its results it would be difficult to answer these questions. And if you can’t answer these questions you’ll never know if you’re throwing money away each month, or under-investing in advertising that could be giving you a huge ROI.

In addition to constantly evaluating the specific advertisements and marketing campaigns you run, it will be helpful to systematically reevaluate your target audience. As your business grows and develops throughout the years, the products you sell or the services you provide may evolve from one demographic to another. Never get too comfortable with your marketing strategy – be alert of changes in technology and techniques that can benefit you and your company and take advantage of those resources.

Launching a successful marketing campaign for your small and home business can be difficult, but it is not impossible. Properly creating, implementing, and evaluating your marketing strategy may be the last three steps you need to take to move into Porsche’s target demographic.

Nick Smith is a client account specialist with 10x Marketing [http://www.10xmarketing.com] – More Visitors. More Buyers. More Revenue. For organizational software that includes a calendar template [http://www.gobinder.com/calendar-template.aspx], check out Agilix GoBinder.

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Does your company have a marketing plan and do you know where it is? If your marketing plan is sitting on a shelf, if you aren’t getting the new business results you want, or if you have a plan and don’t know what to do with it – read on. A well-developed marketing plan can help the “good times roll” in these not-so-good times.

What a Marketing Plan Is

A well-defined marketing plan is your company’s road map to results. It will guide you from your current situation to your target destination. It should be a document that is used and revised as needed (no one says you have to live and die by what you decide to do today). You can develop an effective marketing plan by following a tried-and-true series of steps.

What a Marketing Plan Is Not

A marketing plan isn’t some fancy, intelligently written (although it should be clearly communicated) 100-page document that “wows” people. It isn’t a document that will take months to create, and isn’t going to take the latest and greatest desktop publishing software to create. A marketing plan that works isn’t something that only the marketing director or VP understands.

Where are you now?

• Define who you are as a company.
• What is your company’s business philosophy or approach to business?
• What are your company’s competitive strengths and weaknesses?
• What differentiates you from your competitors? Knowing your key differentiators is integral to developing your marketing message.

Use these guidelines to write several paragraphs that summarize where your business is now. Be sure to determine if this is how “outsiders” see your company. Ask a few vendors, customers or business referral sources to give objective feedback on your company’s reputation. It’s important to know if you think you are the “tiger” of your industry and your target market sees you as a “sheep.”

Where do you want to go?

• What do you want to accomplish? (Increase new lines of business? Expand existing business? Both?)
• Do you have name recognition in your market? If not, do you want to build that?
• Do you know to whom you want to market? Do you want to target a new market?

As Microsoft says, “Where do you want to go today?” A fun part of the marketing plan process is opening your mind to limitless possibilities. Working in your business instead of on your business works well for tunnel vision – not marketing. Thinking about the future will get you back in touch with what you “dreamed” your company could be many years ago. Or, it may open up new dreams. As you proceed through this phase of plan development, outline your goals and be very specific. To hit a target, you need to know exactly what you are aiming at. It’s nice to say you want to be the most well-known company in your city, but a more specific goal could be for you to be the most well-known company to your target market and increase sales by x percent in the coming year. And while you should dream big, it’s good to be realistic – the best marketing plan in the world won’t double new business in one year. Finally, once you have your goals on paper, it’s time to prioritize them. Put them in order starting with those with the greatest importance.

Research, Research, Research

Research may not be your cup o’ tea, but it’s critical to the success of your marketing plan. Once you have your targets on paper, you can focus your research to find out if another company is already the market leader in that arena, or test your company differentiation against other local offerings. You may decide that you would rather tackle another area in which competitors don’t already have such a strong foothold.

You also need to understand your target. What do they want? What do they value? A good place to start is American Demographics Magazine (www.americandemographics.com). The magazine’s Web site offers articles on various consumer and business market segments. Associations and publications catering to your target market can be useful, too. Web sites for those sources also are readily available. It never hurts to enlist the assistance of a pro. Often, the investment more than pays for itself in time savings.

Profile your target market with the information you gather. Include the percentage of people in your town that would fall into your “target” market. What is your target’s need for the services you offer? Do they appreciate the services you offer? Where do they currently go to buy these services? How easy/difficult will it be to lure them over to your company? The more specific your profiles are, the more they will help you hit your target.

Hitting Your Target

This is the most important part of your marketing plan! For each goal, you need to develop a strategy that incorporates your key messages and outlines the tactics you need to accomplish to reach your goal.

There are many tools for you to use to convey your message, including:

• Newspaper
• TV
• Magazines
• Direct Marketing
• Campaigns
• Newsletters
• Public Relations – events, speaking engagements, sponsorships
• Business Alliances

For each goal, write your strategy with the key message and the tactics you will take to realize your goal. Here’s a sample: Strategy: Position Bob’s Widget Company as the unique provider of low-priced, high-quality widgets in Any City, USA.

Key Messages: Bob’s Widget Company offers low-priced, high-quality widgets and is committed to serving the citizens of Any City, USA.

Tactics: Propose a story to the local business journal that shows how Any City, USA’s citizens now have access to the most affordable widgets in America. Attend trade shows where you can meet retailers who serve your target market. If Bob wanted to take his widgets straight to his target market, he also might consider developing a direct mail campaign.

As you outline each goal, make sure you keep asking yourself, “Why should I do this?” Also, be realistic. If you don’t have a lot of money to pour into marketing, it doesn’t make sense to list tactics that require a large budget. Marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money if you are willing to invest time and creativity to achieve your objectives.

Once you have all your goals broken down into smaller sub-goals, set a deadline for each sub-goal and a timeline for the larger goal. You want your marketing plan to be a win for you – set practical time deadlines.

Let’s GO!

Guess what? That’s it! You now have your marketing “map,” a well-developed “to do” list that was researched and is highly focused to get the results you want. It is based on facts, not hunches, and it will take you from point A to point B. More than that, it will continue to move you closer to meeting your company goals.

As you complete each goal/sub-goal, be sure to document the results you realized. Use this analysis to tweak and improve your marketing process. We think you will be amazed at what you can do in just three months if you take your marketing effort one goal at a time.

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http://www.one80group.com

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Affordable Spinal Decompression Marketing in a Tough Economy

The economy is rough right now. Marketing Spinal Decompression Therapy to patients, particularly when this is a service not often covered by insurance, is getting more difficult by the day. For many practices the knee jerk reaction is to scale back on everything; including spinal decompression marketing. This can be a fatal mistake for a chiropractic practice, or for any healthcare practice offering spinal decompression.

You need to fight the urge to push that “panic button”. You need to fight the instinct to save dollars by eliminating marketing and advertising. As scary as it might sound, during these tough times you actually need to maintain, or even increase, your marketing efforts!

You might be thinking to yourself, “Why would I want to spend more money on advertising when I have less money coming in?” The answer is obvious. When money gets tight, patients often cut back on care or drop out of care entirely. This is even more true with something that is often not covered by insurance, like spinal decompression therapy. You need more new patients to pick up the slack. You’ll never get them without increasing your spinal decompression marketing efforts.

Now hold on, I said increase your spinal decompression marketing; I didn’t necessarily say you had to spend more on it! You need to market smarter rather than simply throwing more money at the same old advertising campaign. Although it may sound difficult to believe, you can actually increase your spinal decompression marketing efforts without spending more money! In fact, if you really take the time to plan your marketing strategy wisely, you might even end up spending less!

Let’s take at look at how it is possible to successfully market your spinal decompression services in a tough economy, without breaking the bank! I’ve broke this down into 10 easy to follow steps:

1. Analyze your Current Marketing.
2. Ditch the “Duds” and Keep the “Killers”!
3. Make Changes!
4. Look to the Internet my Friend!
5. Take Advantage of all the FREE Spinal Decompression Marketing Available.
6. Re-Acquaint Yourself with Internal Marketing.
7. Use the Power of the FREE DVD and Other Free “Stuff”
8. Ask Yourself, What Makes YOUR Decompression Practice so Special?
9. Get Ready to Spend a lot . . . of Time NOT Money!
10. Continually Monitor and Re-Evaluate your Efforts

Let’s take a look at each step individually.

Step 1: Analyze your Current Marketing.

In this step you need to take a critical look at ALL of your current marketing efforts. Before you can successfully plan any changes to your marketing plan you need to know where you stand. You have to know where you are at before you know where you are going!

This step can be painful at times, but it is absolutely necessary for future marketing success. Take a look at how your various types of marketing are doing. Carefully examine your marketing budget and your 12 month marketing calendar. If you don’t have any sort of marketing schedule NOW is the time to start.

Step 2: Ditch the “Duds” and Keep the “Killers”

Now that you have examined and evaluated your marketing efforts you need to act accordingly. Ditch the duds. Take whatever marketing isn’t working and get rid of it. If that old stale local newspaper ad hasn’t brought in a new spinal decompression patient in months, why would the next 3 months be any different? Stop throwing money at what isn’t working and keep those killer ads. A killer ad is simply those ads that work! It is amazing how often we overlook something so obvious. If an ad isn’t working we need to do SOMETHING with it, which brings us to step 3.

Step 3: Make Changes.

Now that we know what isn’t working, we need to do SOMETHING about it. This something will depend on your marketing budget. At times we need to kill an ad and put that extra cash toward running what is showing a return on investment. Sometimes we just need to look at the ad and reformat it. Making some fresh changes is often all that is needed.

In my opinion making changes that fail is more desirable than simply letting a “dud” ad continue running unsuccessfully. If you make changes to an ad, or run an entirely new ad, at least you have made some effort. Odds are that new ad will get noticed. Even if the new advertising isn’t effective at least you have learned something. Take notes, make changes, and keep moving!

Step 4: Look to the Internet my Friend.

The internet is really taking over as a dominant form of advertising and marketing. If you think you can survive against your competition while ignoring internet marketing you are dead wrong. The days of the local paper newspaper and hardcopy yellow page books will eventually be gone. This is probably not as far off in the future as most of us think! Although marketing decompression on the internet is a challenge, it is also vital for survival.

Internet marketing is a challenge because it is such a dynamic medium. Things are constantly changing and it is a real challenge to keep up and stand out among a sea of competitors. However, if you want to succeed it is a challenge you must continually meet.

If you don’t market your spinal decompression practice on the internet regularly, you need to start NOW. If you already market on the internet then you need to DOUBLE your efforts now. Take your presence on the internet at make it KNOWN. This is not too difficult and often requires you invest little more than time. That’s right, some of the most beneficial and effective internet marketing is absolutely free!

Step 5: Take Advantage of all the FREE Spinal Decompression Marketing Available.

There are a ton of opportunities for FREE spinal decompression marketing available that most doctors miss! In step four I praised the internet. Well here I go again. Open your eyes doctor! Have you paid attention to any newspapers, television shows, or radio broadcasts lately? I challenge you to go a single day without hearing something about MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Friendster, LinkedIn, Twitter, or one of the other hundreds of free social networking sites. These are opportunities to connect with colleagues, potential patients, and fellow businesses! These are opportunities you need to sieze!

Post a video of your practice on YouTube or MySpace. Create a short infomercial or introduction to spinal decompression video clip which you can also link to from your site’s home page. Offer to ship a free spinal decompression DVD or free information kit.

Email marketing can be free as well. Write an e-book which you can offer for free to those who provide their email address. Offer a free monthly email newsletter on health topics to members of your community. The possibilities with the internet are seemingly endless and they often cost very little but a lot of time!

Not ready for internet advertising? Then take advantage of old fashioned free advertising. Get out in your community. Meet people and introduce yourself and your services. Establish yourself as a local authority on non-surgical relief of back pain. Write an article for the local newspaper. Hold free workshops and lectures on preventing and treating back pain.

These are just some of the FREE advertising available. When the marketing budget gets tighter you need to expand your mind, step out of your comfort zone, and take advantage of the free advertising you have available!

Step 6: Re-Acquaint Yourself with Internal Marketing.
We often get so focused on external marketing that we forget about marketing within our practice. The best source for new spinal decompression patients is often your existing practice members. Keep your patients happy and educated!

When you have happy patients who understand the benefits of spinal decompression, then you must encourage them to tell others. Try implementing patient testimonials in your spinal decompression advertising.

What are other methods of internal spinal decompression marketing? Hold free health care classes and spinal decompression information classes for existing patients. You might also pass out free spinal decompression brochures or loop an educational spinal decompression DVD in the waiting room. You can also pass out free flyers or leave a stack of free spinal decompression audio CDS on the checkout counter. We have products to assist you with all of this!

Other good ideas are holding frequent drawings or contests for existing patients. Holding annual or semi-annual patient appreciation days is also a great idea. With happy patients you will see many new spinal decompression patients as word spreads. This effect is often two-fold when you openly an actively ASK for referrals from your existing patients, so don’t be shy!

Step 7: Use the Power of the FREE DVD and Other Free “Stuff”.
People don’t like to feel like they are being aggressively sold a product or service. We don’t like pushy salesmen and neither do our patients. Offering a free spinal decompression informational DVD or free spinal decompression information kit is a great idea. This allows you to market your services in a non-aggressive but effective manner. More importantly, who doesn’t enjoy getting something FREE? Advertise these free products in your ads and online!

Step 8: Ask Yourself, What Makes YOUR Decompression Practice so Special?
The truth is spinal decompression isn’t all that uncommon anymore. If you don’t have any immediate spinal decompression competition in your area your practice is the exception rather than the rule. Spinal decompression practices are popping up everywhere. You need to ask yourself the same thing patients will be wondering, “what makes YOUR practice so special?” Is it your low fees? Your experience? Is your main advantage late evening and weekend hours?

Once you have your answer, tell prospective patients about it in your advertising! If you can’t come up with an answer then you need to MAKE your practice stand out. Maybe you need late evening or weekend hours. Perhaps lower fees are in order? Although these changes may not be fun at first they are often all that is needed to jump start your practice to the next level.

Step 9: Get Ready to Spend a lot . . . of Time NOT Money!
I won’t lie to you, smart and affordable spinal decompression marketing is a lot of work. When you are trying to maintain or increase your spinal decompression marketing while spending less money you are going to need to put your working hat on. You’ll need your thinking cap and a lot of other hats too!

To save money you are going to be wearing a lot of hats. You’ll probably be designing, editing, and coordinating a lot of your own marketing. If you are new to social networking and other free online advertising there is a bit of a learning curve. It all requires a commitment of your attention and time, but the end result will be worth your effort! Don’t worry, when things pick up and your hard work is rewarded with an influx of new spinal decompression patients you can always delegate a task to someone else.

Step 10: Continually Monitor and Re-Evaluate your Efforts.
You need to constantly monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing. In a way you are starting all over again at step one. You should be analyzing your marketing no less than on a monthly basis. Make changes, keep what works, and change what doesn’t!

There you have it: a 10 step crash course on affordable spinal decompression marketing in a bad economy. Now you have a basic understanding of how you can actually maintain or increase your spinal decompression marketing in a slow economy. Plan carefully and seize those often missed opportunities for free advertising. Hopefully you have come away from this article with some great tips and hints on successfully marketing your spinal decompression services. For even more help with affordable spinal decompression marketing and patient education, visit our site at: http://www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com. In the meantime get out there and start making the changes needed to market your very beneficial services to patients who need it ; without it costing you an arm and a leg!

At ClinicallySignificantProductions.com we have a wide variety of tools and resources to help you affordably and effectively market your spinal decompression services, while simultaneously educating your spinal decompression patients
From our feature packed full spinal decompression marketing kits to our “mini” decompression marketing kits and spinal decompression waiting room dvds; we have a tool to fit any budget. Our spinal decompresion products are priced from under $30.00 to just $300.00. On top of this we offer totally customized spinal decompression marketing and patient education featuring your practice information and photos of YOUR practice and equipment. New and prospective patients alike are sure to be impressed when they see your marketing totally customized with your photos!

We also offer chiropractic specific patient education and marketing resources. We are also your source for affordable cold laser patient education and marketing.

We now offer hand painted chiropractic works of art as well! All of this at insanely affordable prices. With our focus on customer satisfaction you are sure to be a happy repeat customer.

Check us out today at:
http://www.clinicallysignificantproductions.com

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What?!? Sabotage your own success? Who would do that? Well, you’d be surprised how many small business owners think they are effectively marketing their business, when in fact they are cutting their own throat.

Yes, they may be running ads that are pulling in leads or customers. And yes, they may be writing a regular column for their local newspaper so they are perceived as the expert in their industry. And yes, they may even be doing a pretty good job of marketing on a regular basis to their prospect list.

So if they are doing all of these things “right,” how are they sabotaging their success? Well there are lots of ways.
Following are just a few of the ways small business owners unknowingly sabotage their own success.

(1) They have not taken the time to develop a marketing plan.

A plan focuses your efforts and allows you to make the most of your marketing budget. Unfortunately, you can market without a plan. Yes, you read that right. You can do it, and people do market without marketing plans everyday. But that does not mean you should.

To make the most of your marketing efforts and budget, make sure you take the time each year to create a plan.

(2) They don’t have written goals.

Smart business owners have written goals and objectives for what they want to achieve with their business and for each of their marketing activities. I know this sounds b-o-r-i-n-g, but it’s a fact. There is proof that people who put their goals into writing have a higher success rate than those who do not. Plus, how can you develop a plan if you don’t have concrete objectives?

You need a clear vision and target to aim for. You can’t possibly determine what marketing or how much marketing you need if you don’t know what you are aiming for.

(3) They have a short-term attitude.

They are reactive in nature, and while on the surface it appears they are doing a lot of marketing, they are not doing anything consistently or long enough to make an impact. Running an ad or sending out your newsletter a few times and giving up when you don’t get immediate results is worse than doing nothing at all.

How so? Because at least when you do nothing it doesn’t cost you any money. Pulling the plug too soon costs you money. And statistics show it takes somewhere between three and 10 exposures to a message for the average consumer to notice it and take action.

So it is quite possible your audience was just beginning to take notice right about the time you threw in the towel!

(4) They don’t know their USP.

Probably the worst way business owners sabotage their marketing efforts without even realizing it, is to NOT have a clear Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The greatest marketing plan in the world will not be effective if you have not clearly defined why someone should buy your product or service instead of all the other products or services available to them.

If you have not figured out what is unique and better about your product or service, and found a compelling way to communicate this in everything you do, you can market ’til the cows come home and you will be wasting your time and your money

10 Tips to Banish Marketing Sabotage.

(1) Develop a marketing plan.

Make sure you make it your number one priority to develop a marketing plan every year.

(2) Write objectives.

Write at least one objective that states what results you would like to achieve with your business over the next year. And, write at least one objective for every marketing activity you undertake, that states what results you would like to achieve from that activity over the next year.

(3) Stay the course.

Check in on your progress toward your objectives every three to six months, but give your plan a good nine to 12 months to work.

(4) Determine your unique selling proposition.

And make sure it is represented clearly and in a compelling way in everything you do.

(5) Don’t try to be “everything to everyone.”

Focus on a few specific benefits and a specific audience.

(6) Track all of your marketing activities.

It’s the only way you’ll know exactly what is working and what is not working. Use this knowledge to make smart marketing decisions.

(7) Don’t rely on one marketing activity.

Employ a mix of several marketing activities to reach more people more times.

(8) Create a system to help you stay on track.

Your marketing plan will do you no good if it’s filed away in a folder. Make sure you have a system to stay on track with your marketing activities every month and to help you plan ahead for future activities.

(9) Create a realistic budget.

Your budget should be based on a percentage of your projected revenue or the dollars you have available for marketing. Whatever budget you decide to allocate to marketing, stick to it. Marketing is an investment in your business. You have to spend enough to make progress but not more than your business can financially support.

(10) Understand your environment.

The economy, competition, the strength of your particular industry, your prospects’ situation. You have to understand them all so you can create an effective plan to either overcome obstacles or take advantage of opportunities.

Follow these guidelines and your business stands a much greater chance of succeeding. All of these activities are part of a good marketing plan. And no business that wants to succeed should be without one.

© Copyright 2005 Debbie LaChusa

Debbie LaChusa created The 10stepmarketing System to make marketing your own business as simple as answering 10 questions. Learn more about this unique, step-by-step system and get a free 10-week Marketing E-Course when you subscribe to the free, weekly 10stepmarketing Ezine at http://www.10stepmarketing.com

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Marketing Communications – How to Setup and Automate Your Marketing System?

What if you discovered how to use the power of marketing communication to make money online? Do you want to know what it takes to spread your marketing message online quickly and easily? The purpose of this article is to show you exactly how to market your products easily on the web that makes you you profits in return. Here are 5 simple steps to get you started on the right track spreading your marketing messages online.

Step 1 – What is exactly marketing communications?

Step 2 – Email marketing is the most powerful form of marketing communication.

Step 3 – Automation is extremely important to boost your profits from this type of medium.

Step 4 – Use the massive power of autoresponder to automate your marketing messages.

Step 5 – Various other types of marketing communications in place.

The purpose of this article is to get you started today making massive profits step by step. Here are step by step details that you can apply quickly and easily.

Step 1 – What is exactly marketing communications?

Marketing communication is the medium of providing information to the clients to market products and services. The definition looks simple but it is quite complicated to apply this strategy into any business if you do not possess the adequate knowledge to do the same. This article will show you how you can implement a simple marketing communication strategy on your website to boost your Internet profits. The key to market your products and services is using e-mail marketing.

Step 2 – Email marketing is the most powerful form of marketing communication.

E-mail marketing helps you to provide your marketing message to your clients in the most efficient way. This is the most powerful form of marketing communication in place online and is one of the most efficient ways to promote any products or services. Here’s how to automate your e-mail marketing campaign and make profits on autopilot.

Step 3 – Automation is extremely important to boost your profits from this type of medium.

You can automate the entire e-mail marketing campaign using tools like autoresponder. This helps to load your e-mail messages at one central place and helps to market your products and services by giving quality content to your clients. Here’s how to use autoresponder to its fullest extent.

Step 4 – Use the massive power of autoresponder to automate your marketing messages.

All you have to do is set up simple quality content e-mails in your autoresponder system and this system will sell your products and services on autopilot. Set up a simple squeeze page and get your visitors to opt in to your list where they get inside your autoresponder system and receive these messages on continuous basis absolutely automatically. This makes you money by selling your products using a powerful e-mail marketing campaign. Here are some other types of marketing communications in place.

Step 5 – Various other types of marketing communications in place.

Use blogs, content website, ezines and newsletters as well as writing and distributing articles are some of the more ways of using this type of medium to spread your marketing message.

Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed a brand new free guide.

Download it free here: Internet Marketing

Do you want to learn how to use articles like this to drive targeted traffic to your site?

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Sean Mize teaches coaches, consultants, and small business owners how to package their knowledge and sell it in high priced coaching, consulting, and online class packages, and is an expert at using articles like this to drive traffic to his website, and has taught hundreds of clients his secrets. Sean says “If you have an existing marketable service or skill that you can teach others, I can teach you to package it into a high-priced class or coaching program, guaranteed”

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An Overview of Business Marketing

Business marketing involves marketing products which usually includes services to other companies. Business marketing also includes communications, by any means, about a product or service that encourages the recipients of the communication to purchase or use the product or service.

But business marketing does not include communications that are made by a covered entity such as; for describing health care providers and health plans participating in a network, the services offered by a provider, or the benefits covered by a health plan; for the individual’s treatment; or for case management or care coordination for that individual, or directions or recommendations for alternative therapies, health care providers, or setting of care to that individual. The purpose of these exceptions in to the definition of business marketing is to smooth the progress of those communications that enhance the individual’s access to quality health care.

Small business marketing draws on the same ideology that guides big business operations, with a few key exceptions. Most of these pertain to how resources are managed, with recognition that smaller businesses may be constrained when it comes to the leads they pursue. The goal is to use limited resources wisely, and to stretch them so that they go the distance. This nature of business marketing is similar in approach to what you find with larger companies. You must plan your strategy carefully and pursue leads aggressively. Assets must be managed judiciously and directed toward the most fruitful opportunities.

Business marketing is a brilliant way to increase revenue and streamline advertising operations. With good professional guidance and a well crafted strategy, you will find that you can increase profit margins substantially. The single best marketing strategy is one that is customized to meet specific business needs, a philosophy that applies to large-scale corporations and small businesses alike.

In business marketing, the way that you can use in order to avoid miscommunication is, you must carefully word your message and structure your ideas according to how your target audience wants to receive the information. Do not assume anything about your audience. Base your actions upon solid research and knowledge about your prospective buyers, rather than guesswork.

It is important that you avoid prejudice in your message. Your own personality will affect the way you present your business marketing message, but be careful about prejudices or stereotypes. Before putting anything together, you’ll need to understand the recipients’ outlooks. Their own biases will be influenced by what they already think or know about your company.

Next in business marketing is that you must know what image you want to create in their minds. This is a bridge to future sales. Each requires a different mental image. You will need different words and graphics in your ads for each audience. Some of the images used in business marketing already exist in their memories, while you’ll promote others with your business marketing strategy. The wise way to do this is to know your target market inside and out. Both primary and secondary research is necessary to learn the most you can about your market so that you can effectively target them with your marketing message.

In order for your business marketing to be a success you must have a strategic marketing plan. The term business marketing strategy might sound like it is esoteric or stratospheric, so let’s take the mystery out of it so you can devise and implement your own business marketing strategy that fits in to your small business plan. Strategy comes from a Greek word “stratagein” meaning “to be a general”.

Think of a strategy as an overall plan of action needed to win a war. The smaller, detailed actions are called tactics. You can have tactical plans which help you achieve your strategic marketing plan or overall business marketing strategy. This is simple, right? A business marketing strategy is an overall plan of marketing actions you intend to take in order to accomplish a specific goal for your company.

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