You can start putting yourself in the top 20% of small businesses right now—right this moment—by simply adopting a marketing point of view.
Let me explain.
Very often, the most critical factor determining the success or failure of a small business is the marketing factor. This should not be surprising. If ten companies are selling about the same product at about the same price, the company that does the best job of telling its story to the most people will have a big advantage.
And the company that adopts a marketing point of view will have an even bigger advantage. What do I mean by “marketing point of view?”
The Eyes-Light-Up Test
A business owner with a marketing point of view looks at everything about her business, everything she does, and asks, “What impact is this making on the minds of potential customers? Does it make their eyes light up? Does it encourage them to remember us and want to do business with us?”
She applies the Eyes-Light-Up Test to her product packaging, uniforms, business card, stationery, logo, store sign, brochure, yellow page ad, ads in newspapers or magazines or on radio and TV, web pages, online ads, press releases, etc.
She knows that all of these things are marketing, they all make some kind of impression. And she looks for ways to make those impressions as positive and as memorable and as compelling as they can be.
Then she looks for other low-cost ways to get in front of people and make their eyes light up, including: signs on bulletin boards, imprinted gifts, free seminars, sponsoring events, exhibiting at trade shows, T-shirts, signs painted on sidewalks, billboards, and more. That’s a marketing point of view.
I estimate that 8 out of 10 small businesses do not have a marketing point of view. They stay busy running the business, but they are not constantly thinking about everything they do in terms of how it impacts the minds of potential customers. They are not constantly looking for ways to reach more people with their message. They are not constantly thinking about how to make more eyes light up more often.
So if you adopt a marketing point of view and stay with it—consistently and persistently—you’re already in the top 20% of small businesses.
And you are greatly increasing the odds of long-term success.
The X Factor: Your Commitment
Sure, it takes commitment to do this. But let me tell you a story about the value of commitment.
Some executives from a company took a team-building trip to Yosemite and spent several days getting instruction on rock climbing.
For their “final exam,” each executive had to select a rock face and climb it. The climbing instructor was asked, “How do the executives determine which rock face to climb and whether they’ll be able to climb it?”
The instructor explained that every rock face is rated according to its difficulty, and every climber is rated according to his or her skill. “But then we add in the X Factor,” said the instructor, “which is the climber’s commitment and determination to climb that particular rock face.”
In other words, commitment is a factor that can help assure success.
And that’s true of marketing as well. Your commitment to do everything you can to get in front of people and make their eyes light up is a powerful success factor.
Plug into your own sense of commitment, and you’ll get more customers to plug into your business.
Comments on this entry are closed.