But “Tibor” I hear you say ” how can I be more effective in my marketing if I have so much work to get through?”

Well it is all about setting up a system or systems of finding the right customers you wish to serve and then setting out to get them. This is done by way of your marketing plan and – system so that you have some involvement but not overwhelmingly so.

It is generally assumed by the public that professional services firms deliver a quality job so how do you make it easier for them to decide to choose you?

Here are some common errors that professional services businesses make:

1. Unrealistic expectations for the marketing tactic used and results obtained.

2. Spending money on campaigns that are “vanity exercises” or don’t produce ROI.

3. Relying on one tactic only, e.g. local paper advertising.

4. Lack of decision making to implement marketing tactics.

5. Poor implementation, e.g. weak copy

6. Not sustaining a marketing effort over the longer period.

7. Not communicating value in their marketing pieces.

8. Not nurturing leads or dropping them.

9. Poor planning for lead generation.

10. No or poor marketing integration tactics.

These errors can often be overcome with a proper plan and implementation process. This process, if implemented well, will ensure that you will always have clients and more importantly, the clients that you want.

For more on professional services firms growth, please call or e-mail Tibor Mackor. if you would like a free copy of our 101 Marketing Tips and Tactics for small businesses then please send us an e-mail at tibor@bbstrategies.co.nz.

Most business owners and managers keep a fairly close eye on their marketing budgets.

And nothing throws a budget out of whack faster than advertising.

Advertising, or paying good money to get your message in front of your target market, still has a place in your marketing mix, although it’s not quite as effective as it once was.

If you’re going to advertise, you need to be smart about it — or you can quickly find yourself with a blown budget and not much to show for it. Below are seven questions to ask yourself before writing out that check.

1. Do you need to generate customers/traffic/leads/etc. right away? If so, then you better pull out your wallet. Advertising is hands down the fastest way to get your message in front of your target market. (You’re paying for placement after all.)

2. Do you have another way to get the word out about your business? For instance, do you have a customer database or an e-zine list? If so, then you might be better off sending an e-mail (assuming you have customers’ e-mails). Although technically e-mail announcements fall under advertising, I’m not counting it in this particular case because it’s more or less free (or very low cost).

Perhaps you have a good news angle and a good relationship with a reporter. Or you have a high-traffic Web site and/or blog. Or maybe you’re an active volunteer with a large organisation and can use networking to get the message out.

But if none of those really apply, then you’d better take a closer look at advertising.

3. Do you need to augment your other marketing efforts? Maybe you have articles featured on a Web site targeted to your customer base. Great when your article is front and centre and not-so-great when your article is buried in archives. A little advertising on that site can keep you in your target market’s sight all the time. Or maybe you struck gold and got a big article written about your company in the perfect trade publication. Fantastic for that month and not-so-fantastic for the other 11 months of the year. Or maybe it’s taking you longer than you’d like to drive traffic to your Web site. Advertising is good for speeding things along.

Frequency is king when it comes to marketing — if you’re out of your customers’ sight, you’re probably out of their mind when it comes to buying time. Advertising is a good way to beef up or speed up what you’re already doing.

4. Are other marketing methods not appropriate in this situation? Let’s say you want to have a sale. But your customer database is small (or non-existent). Your Web site has minimal traffic. And you aren’t going to get any bites from the media since having a sale isn’t news. What do you do? Run some ads.

5 . Would you rather save time than money? Let’s face it. Running an ad is easy. Other marketing methods are more time-consuming. If you want your marketing to be easy, then advertising is about as easy as it’s going to get. (Now there is a caveat to this one, because you can hire people to do some of those marketing tasks, such as updating Web sites, running PR campaigns, etc. However, not everything can be hired out so you still might be stuck spending time you don’t have.)

6. Are you planning to test a new campaign or a new product/target market? Running small, inexpensive ads can be a good way to test certain marketing aspects before launching big, expensive, time-consuming campaigns. If you want to penetrate a new market or if you have a new product to launch or a new marketing message to try, buy some ads and see what the response rate is. Another strength of advertising is control — you have total control over your test.

7. Do other marketing approaches never quite measure up? It happens. Advertising in one or two specific media outlets seem to generate more sales and more leads then anything else you’ve tried. If that’s the case, then don’t mess with it. As the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Creativity Exercise — Advertising and your business

Is advertising right for your business? Try this exercise and see.

1. What’s your biggest marketing challenge right now? Write it down.

2. Go through the above list of questions and ask yourself each one. Does it apply to your situation? If it does, write that down too.

3. Do some brainstorming. In what ways can you use advertising to solve your marketing challenges? What media would work best? Online? Print? Radio? Television? Direct mail? Something else? Make up an ad for a variety of media.

Now do the exact opposite. Think of ways advertising WON’T work for your business. Brainstorm at least 25 reasons why advertising won’t work for your specific situation. Be silly. It’s a good way to loosen you up.

4. Go back and reread both your pro and con lists. Now read your ads. Do you like what you came up with? Do any of them resonate with you, even now after coming up with your list of objections?

You may have just come up with your next advertising campaign.

If you need help with your marketing and advertising then please call us.

Companies large and small are scrapping plans to introduce new products and cutting back on marketing. This is exactly the wrong thing to do. Now is the time to be bold and take action to grow your business.

Think about it. When are your prospects more likely to see and respond to your marketing – in boom times when they’re being bombarded with advertising and promotions, or in lean times when your competitors stop contacting them?

Now is the best time to grow your business. Your competitors are hunkering down. They won’t be contacting your prospects or even their own clients as often. Now it’s easier for you to get attention with PR, ads and emails.

If you paid attention to everything you saw in the news about the economy it could drive you to drink. But before you give up on your future, remember the majority of people in NZ – over 96% of them – still have jobs and are earning a steady income. Even if things get as bad as some pundits predict, 89% of people will still have their jobs,similar to the recession of 1982, which most people have already forgotten.

That’s the good news, and it gets even better. In a down economy, many, if not most people, have more disposable income. They get spooked and put off major purchases, like a second home. That means they have more money in the bank for everything else.

You’ve got a choice.

You can hunker down with your business and try to ride out this recession. If you do, there is a very good chance you’ll be making less next year.

Or you can take this recession as a challenge, as I am. You can use it to transform your marketing and your business and come out on top. Which is it? Are you aiming to be a winner or…?

Here are 7 ways to generate more clients and grow your profits

1. GENERATING AWARENESS: Introduce yourself to you prospects telling them what you do and how you can solve their challenges.
2. MOTIVATING PROSPECTS TO ACTION: Use your advertising material to stimulate contact or a conversation. Give them a reason to contact you soon.
3. ESTABLISHING CREDIBILITY: People won’t buy from you unless they feel confident about you. use your articles, books, interviews and testimonials from clients to establish your credibility.
4. CLARIFYING YOUR VALUE: People won’t buy from you unless they can understand, in their own terms, the value you are providing to them.
5. GETTING A COMMITMENT: Whether you are offering something for free or your product or service, you need to ask for and get a commitment.
6. PROVIDING SERVICES THAT INCREASE REVENUE: IF your products or services solve or satisfy a need, then you will sell.
7. MAINTAINING THE RELATIONSHIP: Remember to contact your customers on a regular basis so as to keep them informed of new products or services.

For your FREE e-book on the above, please contact Tibor Mackor via e-mail at tibor@bbstrategies.co.nz

If you would like to grow your clients, profits and business then call us now.

There isn’t anything more frustrating than getting a business card and not being able to tell what the person does when you look at. It just seems like such a waste of time, money, paper, energy (theirs that went into creating it and yours trying to remember who they are), and it does nothing to support the bringing about of more business.

So if your business card just says your name, phone number, and website, it’s time to raise the bar!

If your business card matches your branding that’s great, but that does NOT need to be the first priority. I have never, ever, ever heard of ANYONE saying, “Oh, I couldn’t hire that person because their business card just didn’t match the rest of their branding.”

Holding yourself back from networking or using your business card in any way because it does not “match,” is speaking more to an inner block that’s operating for you than anything else. This is an excuse. So let’s shift this energy from excuse to execution and look at ways this card will work marketing magic for you, ok?

All that matters is that your business card serves as an attractor factor to your ideal client. Sometimes all you get is that one, quick opportunity to ‘speak’ to your ideal client. I would highly recommend you make it compelling. It’s as simple as that.

Here are some ways to have your business card speak (and work marketing magic) for you:

• Be sure your title speaks about what you do.

• Ask a compelling question that speaks directly to your ideal client.

• Dare to use the words: You, Your, You’re and the like on your card.

• TELL the reader to go to your website.

• TELL the reader what they’ll get when they get there.

• TELL them it will be for free.

• Use the back of the card.
• Use embossed print (make it physically stand out).
• Assure the reader that you can solve their problems, e.g. “you can”, “guaranteed”, “promise”, “be assured”, etc.

Better Business Strategies Call To Action:

Take your business card in your hand.

Look at it.

Does it truly speak of YOU and all the uniqueness that you offer in your business? Does it look different from all the other cards out there or the same?

Now, how do you FEEL when you look at your card? Do you feel the energy of your business’ Core Value Offer?

Do you feel proud when you hand someone your card or do you instantly apologize?

Make whatever changes you need to make to this simple, highly effective marketing tool, so every time you hand your card to someone your heart sings with the joy that is your business and then let that energy jump-start every ideal client match.

For more help on your card or other marketing help please call us now.

For clarity I am talking about street smart marketing skills and a cohesive, integrated, well thought out marketing plan that aligns with your businesses strategic and operational objectives.

Most business owners acknowledge the importance of these skills on an intellectual level. Yet when one examines their business, the picture is often very different.

Why is this so?

Well the reasons are many and varied and include:

1. Business is family run and they may not have the expertise to identify the businesses requirements in the marketing area.
2. The view of marketing is restricted to a limited number of media or channels e.g. Yellow Pages and TV ads.
3. The “marketing budget” is insufficient or “does not really exist or worse is seen as an overhead instead of an investment to further growth and profitability
4. There is no cohesive, well thought out marketing plan. It’s just fly by the “seat of the pants” decision making.

So you may ask, “Well Tibor, where do I start? I feel so overwhelmed and it seems such a big task.”

I recommend developing a Marketing Plan.

The purpose of this plan is to develop strategies and tactics to sell your product and services to your target market.

There are many important elements of a good Marketing Plan.

These include (list not meant to be exhaustive):

1. Your Goals
2. Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP) or Unique Buying Advantage (UBA)
3. Your Target Market – do you know who they are?
4. Market Research – this should underpin/confirm the strategies and tactics you propose. Your research should include the qualitative and quantitative. Remember – the numbers tell a story and they don’t lie!
5. Articulating the Benefits (not just features) to your target market
6. Your Competition – who are they, what are they doing & what can you learn from them?
7. Your Marketing Tools – how will you promote your company, product and services to your market? Will you use networking, telemarketing, direct mail, media (paper, radio, TV) advertising, Press Releases; E-Newsletters etc
8. Your Marketing Budget: important because it helps you monitor and control your investment. (As an aside many companies allocate far too little to their marketing budget or worse still don’t have appropriate measures in place to monitor results of various campaigns)
9. Your Sales Channels – will you use in-house sales force; distributors; an online business etc
10. Your Merchandising: are you creative and adventurous (market maker) or a dull and boring (market follower). [Research indicates that 77% of impulse sales can be traced directly to merchandising]
11. Your Pricing: are your prices appropriate. My experience tells me that many businesses are doing themselves no favours in this area.
12. Your Positioning: how is your business perceived by your target market, your staff (& importantly your sales team) and/or your competition? Cheap, expensive or great value for money. Are you happy with how you are perceived or is their work to be done in this area?

Phew? I can hear some of you say – that’s a lot of work.

Indeed, a good marketing plan is not thrown together overnight. In fact it should be a “living document” and one that is constantly being reviewed. Why? Well since your marketplace is constantly changing must your strategies and tactics then be constantly reviewed in light of these changes? In fact market makers often anticipate or create the demand in the marketplace for their goods and services.

[An excellent thought provoking book about "demand creation" among other things is, "Unlimited Wealth" by Paul Zane Pilzer.]

So if you need help in this area stick up your hand and ask. After all, you would be far better concentrating on what you are good at and maximizing the return on it – rather than trying to do it all yourself

Now for a laugh

(Thanks to Noel Whittaker for this gem!)

Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the

family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune.

One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. ‘I may look like just an ordinary man,’ he said to her, ‘but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit $20 million.’

Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at estate planning than men

Next time I will talk about an important part of business, namely available capital and it’s importance in business growth.