noelward
Well-known member
Growing Your Business
Marketing is like commercial fishing
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
In response to one of my stories some readers suggested ways of expanding a business. This is good! The things they provided were good starting points but were positioned as marketing even though they were mostly advertising or ad-tracking. Close, but nowhere near a cigar. To be fair, all the things mentioned are better than not doing anything, but you should do multiple things to keep the wolf from the door while also bringing in new customers. Not necessarily easy, but running a business has rarely been easy.
Marketing is like commercial fishing
The problem with advertising is that people tune it out. You probably do this every day. To get on people’s radar you need to cast a wider net.
Marketing, which may include advertising, is an overall strategy that reaches people in a different way and can be more effective. Think of marketing as commercial fishing: marketing is the fishing boat, the navigation system, fish finders, the crew, the giant spool of line, and other gear. The fish know you are there. Advertising is the hooks and baits on the line. Sales is when the fish opens wide and bites down. Your salespeople still do the heavy lifting; the equivalent of baiting hooks, laying out the line, reeling it back in—and getting the order signed.
My pro fisherman neighbor tells me it starts in knowing where the fish are. Likewise, you probably know your customers, prospects and market well. With that knowledge in hand, marketing is really about the branding and name recognition that get the fish to think the bait on the hook is worth chomping down on. You need both marketing and advertising to be noticed.
Marketing matters
Here are a few examples or ideas that may be useful for local or regional marketing. You may be doing some of these already. The main idea is getting your business name in front of a lot of people as part of building a community of customers. Advertising does not do this. Doing things outside of advertising helps get you past the advertising BS detector and immunity most people have developed. Marketing helps increase your name recognition, the first step to bringing in new business.I know you’ll have ideas of your own, probably better ones than these. Please share them here!
It may be that your business comes from all over the U.S. and that your local marketing will be lost on them. Maybe so. Chances are though, much of your business still comes from customers in your zip code, county or state. This means a chunk of your marketing efforts should aim at that audience. Talk about what you do on your website, in your newsletter (which can have local and national versions thanks to digital printing) so all customers and prospects see what you do. Prospects from a distance will see these too. This is okay. It is a softer form of marketing that educates customers and prospects while showing you care about your community and do more than deliver great printing.
Finally, make sure your sales and marketing people/teams are on top of all this stuff. They need to be because they have to talk about it too. There may even be room for some customers to be involved in your marketing activities. Customers that support other events/activities may need what your company offers. There may be ways to partner with them. Look for ways to make them part of your community of customers.
Marketing is like commercial fishing
By Noel Ward, Editor@Large
In response to one of my stories some readers suggested ways of expanding a business. This is good! The things they provided were good starting points but were positioned as marketing even though they were mostly advertising or ad-tracking. Close, but nowhere near a cigar. To be fair, all the things mentioned are better than not doing anything, but you should do multiple things to keep the wolf from the door while also bringing in new customers. Not necessarily easy, but running a business has rarely been easy.
Marketing is like commercial fishing
The problem with advertising is that people tune it out. You probably do this every day. To get on people’s radar you need to cast a wider net.
Marketing, which may include advertising, is an overall strategy that reaches people in a different way and can be more effective. Think of marketing as commercial fishing: marketing is the fishing boat, the navigation system, fish finders, the crew, the giant spool of line, and other gear. The fish know you are there. Advertising is the hooks and baits on the line. Sales is when the fish opens wide and bites down. Your salespeople still do the heavy lifting; the equivalent of baiting hooks, laying out the line, reeling it back in—and getting the order signed.
My pro fisherman neighbor tells me it starts in knowing where the fish are. Likewise, you probably know your customers, prospects and market well. With that knowledge in hand, marketing is really about the branding and name recognition that get the fish to think the bait on the hook is worth chomping down on. You need both marketing and advertising to be noticed.
Marketing matters
Here are a few examples or ideas that may be useful for local or regional marketing. You may be doing some of these already. The main idea is getting your business name in front of a lot of people as part of building a community of customers. Advertising does not do this. Doing things outside of advertising helps get you past the advertising BS detector and immunity most people have developed. Marketing helps increase your name recognition, the first step to bringing in new business.I know you’ll have ideas of your own, probably better ones than these. Please share them here!
- Have a professionally designed logo. Make sure it is easy to read. This is important: There is a fine bakery down the street from me that has a lovely logo on a small sign. It is illegible when driving past at 40 mph. Oops!
- Sponsor a local sports team like little league, football, baseball, or softball. You don’t have to be the top sponsor but maybe you can provide cold drinks and fruit at a game. Be sure some signage tells your part: “Refreshments provided by ABC Printing.”
- Can you sponsor a local pickleball tournament? Being one of the first in your area to do this probably won’t be forgotten. How about letting players practice hitting in your parking lot when you are closed?
- Be a sponsor of a local road race (the YourTown 10K). Put your cool new logo on the race shirts and the distance markers you printed.
- Contact local bicycle shops/clubs to see if there are events you can support. Many shops do regular group rides or races that can use support or refreshments. See what else you can do that will fit their needs and provide a branding opportunity for you. If you print t-shirts (bearing your logo) for a race they put on, donate them or provide them for a couple bucks over cost. Add other sponsors to the shirt and look for ways of partnering with one or more of them.
- Print menus for a restaurant with a spot for your business name and logo on the menu. (Be sure to include a QR code for cell phone access to your website by restaurant goers.) Give the restaurant more copies than they need so they have extras and so menus can leave with patrons. Printing these can be an easy short-run job on your digital press.
- Are there local issues your company can get behind? Word of your involvement matters and is noticed.
- Print materials for a local concert or other event with your business name/logo and QR code on the materials.
- Find out how local chambers of commerce, charities, and professional associations can use your support.
- Support local events like cars & coffee, garden clubs, openings at art galleries, art and craft shows. Other businesses may also be involved: get to know them! Having coffee, soft drinks and snacks at some of these events is easy to do and inexpensive. Talk with other businesses about sharing sponsorships. Such networking can pay off.
- Is there a local business that does a different kind of printing than you, like silk screening, printing pens or coffee mugs? Are there ways you could partner with that shop and refer business to each other? Such alliances are commonplace but may be worth pursuing if you aren’t doing so already.
- Can you write (donate) a monthly column in a local paper that helps readers better understand print-related issues, even ones of their household MFP. As a local expert you bring credibility to the party, Talk about color, page sizes, paper conditioning, advantages of variable content, toner vs. inkjet, and more. As a local expert your words have value. Don’t like to write? Have a freelance writer who knows about these things do the work.
- Produce a quarterly newsletter that goes out to customers and prospects that tells them things they don’t know in a context that gets them nodding. Strut your knowledge and expertise. Readers may not need what your company offers but they will be interested in about how you saved a customer’s bacon. Tell that story to show how you can address customers’ needs.
- Use a professional writer to interview for and write the customer testimonials used on your website, newsletter, brochure or newspaper column. You come out looking better because pros make a difference.
- Continually talk with and learn from customers about their businesses, even about the parts that may not work so well. This human touch is important and can be extended in many ways. As a business owner you very likely do this already but it is part of marketing and can be instrumental to other activities. It can even become part of the talk track used by your sales team. Your chamber of commerce may be one place to get this started: some chambers have forums for local business leaders.
- Persistence pays off. You do not have to be a perennial sponsor of any event. But being visible once or twice a year can become part of your brand and bring in customers.
It may be that your business comes from all over the U.S. and that your local marketing will be lost on them. Maybe so. Chances are though, much of your business still comes from customers in your zip code, county or state. This means a chunk of your marketing efforts should aim at that audience. Talk about what you do on your website, in your newsletter (which can have local and national versions thanks to digital printing) so all customers and prospects see what you do. Prospects from a distance will see these too. This is okay. It is a softer form of marketing that educates customers and prospects while showing you care about your community and do more than deliver great printing.
Finally, make sure your sales and marketing people/teams are on top of all this stuff. They need to be because they have to talk about it too. There may even be room for some customers to be involved in your marketing activities. Customers that support other events/activities may need what your company offers. There may be ways to partner with them. Look for ways to make them part of your community of customers.
