Smart Marketing

Here’s a scenario. Your "small" business operates in a "major market" but you don’t have the resources to advertise on the "major" media. How do you grow your business?

Answer: It isn’t easy!

I had this question posed to me at the recent NPMA Convention in Las Vegas by someone facing this difficult but very familiar situation. I immediately offered sympathies and understanding, but not condolences. I said it isn’t easy, but neither is it impossible.

First, identify your marketing area. If you can’t cover the entire market in terms of advertising, chances are you shouldn’t be attempting to cover the entire market operationally. Focus your efforts where the largest concentrations of your existing customers are. Get a map of the city and put push pins (or make black dots) wherever you have customers. You should see a pattern indicating where the largest cluster of your customers is located. This is generally a good indication of where you should be focusing your marketing efforts.

USING WHAT YOU HAVE. Next, before you go out and spend scarce dollars on advertising, examine (and exploit) your existing customer base. Determine whether or not you are offering your existing customers everything you possibly can. Are all of your termite customers also pest customers? Vice versa? If not, this should really be your first effort. You already have a relationship. You can offer a deeper discount than you might provide normally because you have no other incremental cost per lead or cost per sale.

Have you asked your longest-term customers for referrals? If not, why not? They obviously like you and you should like them! Offer them a month’s free service for a lead that turns into a customer.

When you service your customers, you should be "clover leafing" (leaving printed information) homes adjacent to and across from their homes. Are you offering your service to neighbors of your existing customers? Why not?

Next, check and see if there’s a cooperative direct mail service operating in your city. Val-Pak, Treasure Chest, RSVP, Money Mailer…there are usually a few dozen of these, even in smaller markets. They split their mailings into neighborhoods and ZIP code zones that bring the price down literally into the pennies per household range. A mailing to 10,000 homes in a relatively narrow area can cost as little as $400. That’s $.04 per household! Again, you can offer a more meaningful discount because the cost per lead and cost per sale are lower.

Check and see if your city’s daily newspaper has a zoned local edition that covers your market area. Ads in these sections of the newspaper, which usually come out once or twice each week, are significantly lower than "run of press" ads that reach the entire city. There are also local weekly newspapers that often are surprisingly well read by people who are neighborhood focused. A single billboard in your market area could also boost name awareness and could drive potential customers to either your Yellow Page directory ad or your website. Hopefully you have one or both of these media working for you already.

All of the above are relatively low cost and highly measurable efforts that can be effective if you execute them properly.

A FEW DOLLARS MORE. Radio, over-the-air television and cable television should also be investigated, although for smaller operators there’s going to be cost and coverage considerations. You don’t have to buy the top-rated radio stations, the network affiliated television stations or entire cable systems. Talk to the lower-powered radio stations that cater to a smaller but older audience. Cluster your commercials into one or two days each week and run only two weeks at a time. As far as over-the-air television, focus on the independent stations and on the times of day when fewer viewers are watching. Ask your local cable operators if they zone their advertising availability or if you have to buy for the whole system.

As with any advertising effort, don’t forget to differentiate your business from others…especially from the "big guys." Sell that your company is local, family owned and operated, has a quick response, is trusted by neighbors and that you try to pay attention to seasonal and biological periods when demand for service is highest. And don’t overinvest in production. Keep your presentation simple and direct. Believe it or not, even in this day of high production values and special effects, people like a straight-ahead message, especially when it’s sincere and contains a meaningful offer.

These are not quick fixes by any stretch of the imagination. You have to hustle when you’re a small operator in a big marketplace. You also have to keep at it and not expect overnight results or miracle level returns on your investment.

Don’t despair that your business is the proverbial small fish in a big ocean. Find a way to make enough noise so that somebody sees or hears what you have to say and responds. And remember, the business that doesn’t advertise, even in some small way, is like the guy who winks at a pretty girl in a dark room. He knows what he’s doing, but nobody else does!

The author is vice president of marketing/public relations for Massey Services Inc., Maitland, Fla. He can be reached via e-mail at bbrewer@pctonline.com or at 407/645-2500.