May 2010
You are currently browsing the articles from Joe's Marketing Blog written in the month of May 2010.
There are many small business marketing tips and ideas available to you. Not everything will work for your type of business. The trick is to know which types of promotions will work best for your business without spending and wasting a ton on advertising that doesn’t work. Any advertising, no matter how cheap it is, is too expensive if it doesn’t work.
Here are some key ingredients for a Strategic Marketing Plan for a Hair Salon
After you’ve done your business plan you should know what type of clientele you are looking to attract to your salon. Always keep that in mind for everything else you do moving forward. It is important to develop a consistent brand. The reason why is that if it is not consistent your customers will get confused and when people are confused they will not make a purchase.
Choose your location, if you haven’t got one yet, with your target market in mind. Does it need to be trendy, lots of parking, etc. Most salons do not rely on walk by traffic so it is not necessary to pay high rent for high traffic. It just depends on your clientele.
The atmosphere and appearance of your shop is important. Use music and aromas to convey the mood you want. Good lighting and fixtures are important as well.
Develop a Referral Program and Frequent Member Card Program
You could develop a program where your customers get a free haircut, hair product, or spa treatment if they refer a friend. This is such an inexpensive way to advertise and promote your business, and more importantly you are rewarding the person sitting in your chair!
A frequent member card works really well too because it develop a buying habit. Studies have shown that people need to shop at a business three times and then it becomes a habit. You could reward them the same way as the referral program.
Get involved in Local Charity Events and Fashion Shows
Get out there and introduce your business to people who would not be normally exposed to you or even to remind people that you are still there. This is also a great way to develop relationships with potential customers.
Follow Industry Trends
Stay current and continue to take courses on the latest fashion trends. Display and talk about your recent courses. This gives your clientele the confidence to trust you and they will be willing to pay more for your services. They will also tell their friends.
Keep a mental check list of things to promote when talking with your customer. Try to find a need a fill it. Do they have problem hair, need a special conditioner? Would they be interested in any spa treatments that you may offer? Are they getting married or have another special event coming up that they may want extra services for? Get into the habit of promoting other products and services. It’s hard to get into the habit but will have a big impact on your bottom line. That’s why I suggest developing a mental checklist.
A good media mix of internet advertising and marketing, as well as traditional methods work. They feed off each other. Get a website and include great graphics, hours of operation, map, all your services and pricing, and customer testimonials. Also boast about any current courses you and your staff have taken. Maybe even talk about the latest trends.
This is such a service industry and that’s why it is so important to treat your customers like gold. Make them feel special and they will always come back!
Wishing you all the best, Joe.
Written by Joanne on May 31st, 2010 with no comments.
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Not sure where to invest your Advertising dollars to get the best Return On Investment or even A Return? Not sure how much to invest?
Location
Location, location, location. This is the most important thing. If you don’t have the walk by traffic it will be very, very difficult to attract business. I would say this is more important than spending money on advertising.
There is a lot of competition out there! After investing a lot of money in the new arrivals it is difficult to find the money to spend on advertising. You have to make every dollar count. I have seen new businesses that are so excited when they open their doors that they spend their whole advertising budget in the first three months. Then in month four, when the new fall arrivals come, they don’t have money to promote that.
It is very important to plan how and when you are going to promote your business a year in advance. That way you will get a more effective plan and it will cost you less. More bang for your buck.
If you are just starting out contact these local sources of media and ask them to come by for your Grand Opening. They will do an editorial and take picture of your new business, all for free. People are more likely to read that than an ad. They will ask you to advertise with them. Ask them for their rates. With that information you can plan how much you will spend with them. And when placing ads always ask for a discount. They will give it to you, in fact they will expect you to ask. Also, tell them that you want your ad to appear on the upper right page nearest to the front as possible. People will look there first. And lastly, if your budget is tight, only advertising here when you have a sale. If they ask you to advertise here and there, just say no thanks, ‘I have my budget set for the year’. That will take the pressure off of you when they call.
You can’t cater to several niche markets at the same time. Pick your target market, whether it is teens, middle-aged, casual, or business
Set the right mood the second your customer enters the door. Use lighting, music, décor etc to make them feel good and excited about coming into your store. Train your sales staff to smile and greet your customers by asking ‘How can they help’ your customers.
This tool works for this type of business if you use the right offer. Don’t offer discounts, offer dollars off based on your average sale. For more information see the Direct Mail section on this site.
On-line and Email Campaigns
Suzy Shier does this best. Go to one of their stores and sign up for their membership. With that you get a card for special discounts and you are put on their email list. Even if you are a small independent retailer you can do this very effectively. They send weekly emails of their new arrivals and special promotions. It is a low cost way for you to keep in front of your customers. You can choose how often you will do this. Your manufacturers might be able to supply artwork.
When customers come in to shop ask them in a low key way ‘How can I help you?’ I like it when people ask me that as I like the assistance and attention. The number one reason why businesses lose customers is not because of sub-standard product or service, it’s because of customer indifference. Make people feel good and they will come back and tell their friends.
This is becoming more popular. One reason is that it creates customer loyalty. People have been becoming less and less loyal and more price conscious. Just look at the big box and discount outlets. You can set yourself apart from these and become a more attractive business for your customers by giving them personalized service and reward points etc for their loyalty. La Senza, Susy Shier, American Eagle all use membership cards. I have seen small, independent stores use them as well.
Wishing you a prosperous season!
Joe.
Written by Joanne on May 19th, 2010 with no comments.
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Want to Increase the Traffic Through your door? Not sure where to invest your marketing dollars?
There is an awful lot of competition out there. You have to be constantly promoting yourself and making your business stand out! How do you do that? Invest in your business.
Location and Aesthetics
That is the first step. You have to be visible, easily accessible, and where your customers frequent. You have to focus on presentation. If people are not sure about your cleanliness they will not come back. It is absolutely necessary to invest in the restrooms and keep them clean, both in appearance and odour. You will not get a second chance with that. If people get turned off by this they will not return and will tell their friends not to as well.
Colours
Blue is an appetite suppressant. (If you want to drop a few pounds buy blue dishes and table cloths) Ever notice how Mac Donald’s, Wendy’s, Pizza Hut all use red, yellow, orange, and brown? Those are the colours you should use the most. It increases your appetite.
Know what type of customer you want to attract. Use that information to establish your menu, pricing, atmosphere, etc. Present a unified brand or image. When people are confused they cannot make a decision and; therefore, do not act.
Press Releases
Call your local media and invite them to your grand opening. This will get you in the spotlight and it’s FREE. You can also host charitable events at your restaurant to get additional exposure. People get bombarded with advertising and tune it out, but they will look and read about events in their community.
As I had mentioned, people get bombarded with advertising. The average person sees, reads, and hears over 35,000 ads a day! That is completely mind boggling. It must work though, to some extent, or businesses wouldn’t do it.
The best way for a restaurant to increase traffic is through Direct Mail or Direct response.
Take Out
Mail out your menus to your target market. Perhaps that may include businesses or the Neighborhood. Do it as often as you can and to the same areas. Why, because people need to see and advertising on average seven times before they will act.
Change it up a little by adding specials and coupons. Make sure you include your address, phone number, methods of payment, hours of operation, and if you offer free delivery. Maybe you only deliver to certain areas etc.
Check with your local Yellow Pages as well. Some larger urban areas offer the Menu Guide at a very reasonable cost. The ROI on that is very good if done correctly. Work with your Yellow Pages rep or contact Advantage Solutions for guidance on how to put your ad together.
Fast Food
Coupons, coupons, coupons. Use coupons in a direct mail format. If you have Val Pak in your area use that. This way you share the mailing costs with other businesses. Also, your Val Pak rep can guide you on how to design your coupon and what offers to use. You can also contact Advantage Solutions and they will be able to guide you as well. Use a 30-60 day expiry date as well. That creates a call to action.
Sit down Restaurant
Use direct mail coupons for this type of restaurant as well. Offer a free dinner (of equal or lesser value). You will find that your average sale will go up. Sure there will be some people (approx 10%) that will just go for the minimum purchase in order to take advantage of the offer, but you will also find people will now order a drink and/or dessert where they would not have before. They figure that they are saving on the free entre and so will spend more on other items and in the end, spend quite a bit more.
I would also recommend looking into the Menu Guide of your Yellow Pages.
People will always remember how you make them feel, so make them feel important and they will come back and bring their friends!
Website
Get one if you don’t have one! Post your menus, specials, testimonials, and lots of mouth watering pictures. Be sure to include hours of operation, methods of payment, map of location, and of course, your phone number.
Wishing you lots of success!
Best, Joe.
Written by Joanne on May 11th, 2010 with no comments.
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By the end of 2010 82% of all companies will be using social media marketing and their biggest barrier to success in this new medium is a lack of knowledge.
The social media marketing new way of marketing: people are engaged in conversations online and, as predicted by the Cluetrain Manifesto – markets have become conversations.
Recommendation from another person is becoming the most trusted for of advertising today.
Written by Joanne on May 4th, 2010 with no comments.
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Web analytics is a method of assessing the attitude of visitors to a particular Web site. It is the measurement, compilation, assessment and reporting of internet information with the intention of comprehending and optimizing web handling. Web analytics helps a business to increase the customer footfall, retain new and existing customers or to increase the revenue from the customers.
Often used as division of customer relationship management analytics (CRM analytics), Web analytics may include determining the probability that a particular customer will repurchase a service/product, customizing the website to customers who visit it frequently, supervising the dollar number of purchases made by each customer or by certain groups of customers, detecting the geographic areas from where the maximum and the minimum number of customers visit the website and buy particular products, and forecasting which products interest customers the most and are likely to be bought in the future.
Web analytics aims at promoting particular products to customers who are expected to buy them, and to decide which products a particular customer is most probable to purchase. This can better the proportion of revenue to marketing costs.
Web analytics may also include monitoring the drilldown and click-through actions of customers in the Website, determining the sites from where the customers most often turn up, and corresponding with browsers to follow and analyze the respective online behavior. The Web analytics results are presented in the form of graphs, charts, and tables.
There are two types of web analytics:
Off-site web analytics denotes web calculation and analysis regardless of whether you possess or run a website. It comprises the assessment of a website’s prospective audience, amount of voice, and comments that occur on the Internet
On-site web analytics determine a visitor’s entire tour through your website. This comprises its drivers and conversions. For instance, it determines which landing pages persuade visitors to purchase your products. On the whole it measures the efficiency of your website in a commercial perspective. This data is normally weighed against key performance indicators and utilized to upgrade a web site or marketing campaign’s visitors’ response.
By and large the benefits of using Web analytics are as follows:
It improves your advertising drawing more sales
It helps you monitor and understand your visitors and customers better
All the best, Joe
Written by Joanne on May 4th, 2010 with no comments.
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