1

HOW TO MARKET,ADVERTISE ANDPROMOTE YOUR

BUSINESS ORSERVICE IN

A SMALL TOWN

By Tom Egelhoff © 1998 Eagle Marketing

2

©1998 By Eagle Marketing All Rights Reserved

ISBN Number 0-9671055-0-1

Published By Eagle MarketingP.O. Box 271 Bozeman, Montana 59771-0271406-585-0219Toll Free 1-888-550-6100Bozeman, Montana City Business License # 45916

email: tommail@smalltownmarketing.comwebsite: http://www.smalltownmarketing.com

Requests for permission or further information should be ad-dressed to the Permission Department, Eagle Marketing, P.O.Box 271, Bozeman, MT 59771-0271 or email to:tommail@avicom.net with Permission as subject.

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyondthat permitted by Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United StatesCopyright Act without the permission of the copyright owner isunlawful.

All International Copyright Laws Apply. Any commercial useor duplication of this copyright material without prior licensingis forbidden by federal law. Violators may be subject to civiland/or criminal penalties, (Title 17, United States Code, Sec-tions 501 and 506).

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authorita-tive information in regard to the subject matter presented. It issold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged inrendering legal, accounting, or other licensed professional ser-vices. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, theservices of a competent professional person in your area shouldbe sought.

©1998 Book Cover designed by Tom Egelhoff

3

HOW TO MARKET,ADVERTISE

AND PROMOTEYOUR BUSINESS

OR SERVICEIN A SMALL TOWN

By Tom Egelhoff

© 1998 Eagle Marketing

All Rights Reserved

4

He who finds a wife finds what is good andreceives favor from the Lord.”

- Proverbs 18:22 NIV

To my best friend in the world, my wife Janet. For

standing by me all these years and always having

absolute faith in me when, at times, no one else did.

Special thanks to Professor Mike Reilly, Marketing

Department of Montana State University for writing a

wonderful preface and for encouraging me to jump into

the deep end of the pool and write this book.

Mike and I met while presenting a marketing seminar in

Bozeman, to a convention of Montana Educators in

1993. I had just moved to Bozeman. At lunch I men-

tioned that I had been toying with the idea of writing a

small business marketing newsletter.

Mike, in a special style he has, pointed out that a

newsletter was a lot of work, “Why don’t you just write

a specialized book on marketing?” he said. Sure, just

write a book. About what? Marketing has been done to

death.

The Small Town 101 chapter of the book details how I

was inspired to write about small town marketing. I

hope you enjoy it.

5

Table Of Contents

INTRODUCTION...................................................7SMALL TOWN 101..............................................10SECTION ONE: CHAPTER ONE

THE SMALL TOWN MARKETINGPLAN................................................................19

CHAPTER TWO:STEP 1: BUSINESS RESUME:WHO ARE YOU?............................................22

CHAPTER THREE:STEP 2: S.W.O.T.?...........................................29

CHAPTER FOUR:STEP 3: SALES FORECASTING..................31

CHAPTER FIVE:STEP 4: WHO AND WHERE ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS? .................................60

CHAPTER SIX:STEP 5: HOW TO CREATE A PLAN& WORK IT ...................................................67

CHAPTER SEVEN:STEP 6: HOW TO POSITIONYOUR BUSINESS..........................................73

CHAPTER EIGHT:STEP 7: WHAT DO WE SAY, HOW DO WESAY IT AND WHERE DOWE SAY IT?....................................................81

6

CHAPTER NINE:STEP 8: DESIGN A MARKETINGCALENDAR..................................................171

CHAPTER TEN:STEP 9: EXECUTE YOUR PLANOR PLAN YOUR EXECUTION..................174

CHAPTER ELEVEN:STEP 10: IS YOUR PLAN WORKING?........................................................................175

SECTION TWO:SMALL TOWN SUCCESSPRINCIPLES.................................................177

SECTION THREE:SMALL TOWN ADVERTISING................181

SECTION FOUR:SMALL TOWN PROMOTION...................184

SECTION FIVE:HOMEBASED MARKETINGSUCCESS PRINCIPLES...............................188

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS..............................207WORK BOOK PAGES & NOTES...................208ORDER BLANK.................................................217

7

INTRODUCTIONBy Mike Reilly

Professor of Marketing - Montana StateUniversity

When Tom Egelhoff asked me to write thepreface to his new book on Small TownMarketing, I had no idea he was actually goingto blame me for the whole project. However,while reading the introduction I discovered thathe attributed the notion to write a small townmarketing book to a conversation we hadseveral years ago. While I don’t rememberhaving that conversation, and therefore canplausibly deny all responsibility for the endproduct, I was interested in reading themanuscript.

I can bluntly say, as a marketing professor forover 20 years, that this is the most practical andusable help for people to market smallbusinesses in small towns that I’ve ever seen.By using lots of examples and talking in non-technical language, Tom has made the secrets ofmarketing a business in a small townintellectually available to a wide audience.There are lots of good ideas here, even for folkswith lots of experience.

8

As you read through the book, I wouldencourage you to apply the concepts to yourbusiness.

While you’ll find some outstanding ideas thatyou can apply immediately, the real benefit ofthe book will come from better understandingthe perspective that is needed to successfullyoperate any business in the challengingenvironment of small towns. As Tom clearlypoints out, small towns typically don’t provide acontinual flow of new customers. Tactics thatwill work successfully in larger cities often failmiserably. Market research data, information onthe audience of media, demographicinformation, economic data, and a variety ofother resources that can help guide decisions inmore populated areas are typically sketchy orabsent in smaller towns.

Despite this, small business owners makemarketing decisions daily that can havesubstantial positive or negative impact. Prior tothis book, there has been little in the way ofguidance. I am very familiar with most of theacademic and popular literature on marketing,and find little of it to be of much use for most ofmy small business consulting clients, because itis broad, general and frequently describestactics that may be appropriate for a large

9

manufacturer, but difficult to translate to a smallbusiness scale.

Tom’s book does an excellent job of adaptingtraditional marketing thought and technology tothe unique problems of small towns. If you’remarketing a small business in a small town,there is no better source of informationavailable.

I intend to distribute this manuscript to smalltown clients for whom I provide marketingconsulting service. I think you’ll find it to behelpful and informative.

Mike ReillyProfessor of MarketingMontana State UniversityBozeman, Montana

10

Small Town 101

The Miracle Mile

This book was conceived, in part, because of aPowerball Lottery winner and a Rand-McNallyRoad Atlas. You may remember the name LeslieRobins, the teacher, who won the $110 millionPower Ball Lottery. It seems that Robins liveswithin walking distance of a lottery winners“Miracle Mile” in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.This “Miracle Mile” has produced more than$150 million dollars in winners.

Upon reading this rather interesting article, Ipulled out the Rand-McNally to see exactlywhere this town is located. I was amazed, whenI reached Wisconsin, to discover that there areso many small towns on the map that theybarely fit within the borders of the state.

After finding the miracle mile, I quicklydecided not to jinx those already living there bypacking up the wife and moving to Fond duLac. Instead, I continued to look through theRand-McNally to see if other states had similarnumbers of small towns. To my surprise—manydid not. California, for example, is the mostpopulated state in the country, but they have a

11

much lower ratio of small towns to large onesthan say Illinois or Missouri. Eastern Kansashas many towns; western Kansas relatively few.My home state of Montana has the highestconcentration of towns in the Western portion ofthe state.

OK, so what? Every state has a higher numberof small towns than large towns, and whatdifference does it make where they’re located?Well, the size of the town, and how it is locatedin relation to larger cities, can have a greatinfluence on your business success or failure.

How Small Towns Work

Let me use my own hometown of Bozeman,Montana as an example. In larger cities,throughout the nation, goods and services areavailable in large numbers. If you want carpetfor your home, just open the Yellow Pages andthere are many to choose from. In a small townthe choices are more limited. If there is a largecity nearby, I need to make a decision. Is itworth it to me to travel to the big city to makemy purchase? If it is, what about service? Willthe company come out to my little town if Ihave a problem? How much service will I needand is it worth it? Are the savings, if any, worththe drive?

12

Drive a lot, Save a little?

Bozeman is a town in southwestern Montanawith a population of 32,600; During the summerthe town shrinks to 22,000 when Montana StateUniversity is not in session. The nearest largecity to the West is Butte, 82 miles away,population 37,000. To the East is the city ofBillings, 142 miles away, population 88,000, thelargest city in Montana. Do people make thelong drives from Bozeman to shop in thesecities? Yes…They Often Do!

Before you question the sanity of Montanans,keep in mind that distances in Montana areperceived differently than other areas of thecountry. With 147,000 square miles and apopulation of only 800,000 people, the freewaysare virtually empty by most big city standards.That’s 5.4 people per square mile. This makesthe drive a family outing and the scenery onboth drives is, to say the least, spectacular.Many business people must travel to thesetowns to meet with manufacturers andsuppliers. It’s the only way they can do certaintypes of business.

The point I want to make is this. In a small townthere is a certain amount of isolation and thatcan be very good for business. If you have thegoods and services customers want and they

13

feel they can do business with you, they will notmake that drive, regardless of how beautiful itis. Best of all, the amount of competition isreduced. On the other hand, if you don’tmanage your business effectively they may welldrive down the road to the bigger city.

The Social Graces

Another important point to keep in mind, smalltowns are more “socially oriented” than largecities. You not only know your next doorneighbor, but probably everyone on your blockincluding all the kids.

There are positive’s and negative’s to this. Thepositive is that many neighborhoods treat newarrivals as a great excuse to have a party. Cakesand cookies are baked, cookouts organized anda block party breaks out. These are the peoplethat will help you ease into your new businessenvironment. They will be happy to take you totheir service clubs, introduce you at churchfunctions and help you “fit in”.

The negative is that some areas of the countrysee newcomers as more crime, more traffic,higher housing prices, more government and thedeterioration of their once peaceful village.Forgetting, all the while, that at one time theymay have been new in town themselves. Some

14

of these people will have to be “won over.” Hereare some suggestions:

1.) Find the friendliest person in town and buildon him or her.

2.) Don’t say anything negative about yourtown or the neighborhood. Be positive aboutyour new home.

3.) Don’t tell people how good everything wasin your last hometown. You may be invited togo back.

4.) Learn as much about the town as possible,before you move, so you can take part inconversations. Subscribing to the local paper isa good source of information. Don’t quote thenewspaper. Although nearly everyone reads thepaper, few will admit the paper fairly representstheir side of any issue.

5.) Avoid talking about politics and/or religionuntil you know your listeners quite well. Findways to get involved in the community as soonas possible. Join clubs such as the Rotary,Kiwanis, Lions, Elks, etc. Attend the church ofyour choice regularly. It’s not the purpose ofthis book to espouse any religious ideology, butin my opinion, this is the most non-threateningplace in any town to make friends. The whole

15

purpose of church is to welcome you to the foldand help you.

If you have special skills, make sure the localChamber of Commerce knows about you. Everyday people contact the Chamber forrecommendations of goods and services.

Can you teach your skill? Contact the nearestAdult Education organization. They are alwayson the lookout for qualified business experts. Iteach classes in sales, computer layout,marketing and advertising, business cards andbrochure design. Each of these classes has ledto business contacts and jobs. I also makevaluable business contacts with class members,whose expertise and contacts in their specificareas can be valuable to me in the future.

Expertise…Have you got it?

If you’ve owned or managed a business in alarge city, the chances are you will have ahigher level of expertise in your field than mostof your local peers who have not operated abusiness in a large city. Before those of youwho own a business in a small town throw thisbook across the room, let me explain that laststatement in more detail.

16

I don’t mean to imply that just because youhave a business in a small town you don’t knowwhat you’re doing. There are plenty of verysuccessful business owners in small towns. It’sjust that there are certain advantages in largercities that just aren’t available in smaller towns.

Let me use a sports analogy here. The tougherthe competition, the better a team becomes overthe long haul. The very fact that toughcompetition exists forces a business owner toget tough and lean, or cease to exist. The levelof competition is almost always higher in largercities. There are more stores providing the samegoods and services at lower prices. Theemployee pool is larger and more experienced.The advertising options are more extensive. Thepromotional opportunities are better. And, thesuccessful business owner can quickly learnmarketing secrets from some very talentedpeople who don’t make a lot of mistakes.

Does this mean if someone from a city opens abusiness you should close yours? Of course not.An established business will always have someadvantage over a new one unless thenewcommer is a national chain or well knownname that can generate a quick customer base.

17

Learn the ways of a tiger.

So, how should I compete against all thisexpertise? Well, I could move your business to amajor city for a couple of years and then moveit back. A better idea might be one a collegeprofessor of mine taught and it’s very simple.“To catch a tiger, learn the ways of a tiger.”

In other words, learn as much as you can aboutyour business, your competitors and yourcustomers. One of the best places I know of istrade magazines. Whenever I would read abouta marketing consultant in a business magazine, Iwould call the person and talk as long as he orshe would stay on the phone. I remembertalking to a business consultant in Hawaii forover two hours. The expense of the phone callwas a small price to pay for the knowledge Ireceived.

Another great way is talking to any sales peoplewho call on you. Remember, they also sell toyour competitor and may let valuableinformation slip during casual conversation.Business today calls for more and moreexpertise. One thing is certain, small town orlarge, knowledge is power.

18

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Read as much as possible about your businessor profession. Will Rogers once said, “All lknow, I read in the newspaper”. And he made aliving telling it to audiences around the world.

Subscribe to as many trade magazines as youpossibly can and take the time to read them. Agreat many are free to qualified companies. “Idon’t have the time to do all the things I need todo now, let alone read magazines”. Well, that’sOK. When your business fails you’ll haveplenty of time to read. Find the time. If youspend just 20 minutes a day reading somethingabout your industry, in one year you will knowmore than 75% of the people in that industry.

Talk to a knowledgeable expert in your industryat least once a month. Learn the ways of a tiger.

Now lets get started on your marketing plans.

19

Section One: Chapter OneThe Small Town Marketing Plan

Getting Started

Now that we’ve established a small townperspective, from the Small Town 101 section,let’s create some marketing strategies for yourbusiness.

What is a marketing plan anyway? “I thought Ijust needed a business plan.” A marketing planis a part of your overall business plan. I usuallyrecommend that 30% of your business planshould be devoted to how you are going tomarket your business. Your marketing plan isone major area that investment bankers take areal close look at before lending you anymoney. They are very curious how you willattract customers, make sales, make a profit andpay them back on their investment in yourbusiness.

You will use some of the information from thebusiness plan in your marketing plan, but themarketing plan is usually its own entity withinthe business plan.

If you don’t have a business plan started yet, dothat first. S.C.O.R.E. (Service Core of RetiredExecutives) can offer free help to get you

20

started. Find them at the Chamber ofCommerce. Also, check out your local SmallBusiness Development Center. If you are in asmaller town that lacks these advisory groups,create your own set of coaches by taking retiredbusiness leaders out for coffee and pick theirbrains in a methodical manner.

Once you have your financial statements andprojections together you can move on to themarketing plan.

Where do we start? We start with you. You needto sit down and really look at yourself and yourbusiness as you never have before. This is themost difficult part of the marketing plan. Wenever let anyone really see the “real us”. Youmust be completely honest with yourself aboutwho you are and where you’re going.

A little information is a dangerousthing.

Before customers enter into a relationship witha business, they quite naturally, want to knowsomething about that business. That’s where amarketing plan starts.

Who Are You? Why would I want to dobusiness with you? In addition, you need toknow every aspect of your business before you

21

can prepare your advertising and target yourcustomers. Here’s how to start.

If you were looking for a job and saw an ad inthe classifieds, what questions would you askyourself? The first question would probablybe— “Am I qualified to do this job based on thejob description.” If the answer is yes— you puttogether a resume and request an interview topresent your qualifications to your prospectiveemployer.

Business is no different. You need a resume (orcomplete description) of your business that canbe presented to qualified customers (your targetmarket) in the form of an advertising message.This “resume” is sometimes referred to as abusiness review or background review.

In the next chapter, I’ll give you suggestions fora few things that should be included in yourbusiness resume.

22

Chapter Two:Step 1: Business Resume:

Who Are You?

Ask yourself the following questions as thoughyou were a customer of your business.

1.) How long have you been in business? Ifyours is a new business, what experience doyou have in this field? As a customer, would Ifeel comfortable that you can do the job, orprovide the level of service I am accustomed to?Are special machines needed in the productionof your product? Could importing materials putthe company in jeopardy if they weren’tavailable? Will training be required ofemployees to produce the products? What arethe company’s -long and short- term goals? Arethere existing sales goals? What is your missionstatement or company philosophy?

2.) Who are the principals in the business? Whatqualifies them to start or operate this business?What special skills do they have? What is theireducation or training in this industry? Are theymembers of any associations in this industry? Iscity or state licensing required for this business,and if so, have they complied with all localregulations?

23

3.) What purchase rates or buying habits arerelated to your product or service? Would I buyit once a week, a month, a year? What is thedemand for your product or service? Is itseasonal? Is it hard to use? Are there multipleusers? Are there going to be heavy users of yourproduct? What percentage of your total saleswill they be? Is your basic industry growing orshrinking? Is the customers base in your city orcounty growing or shrinking? Is your product aluxury or a necessity?

4.) What about awareness and attitude aboutyour product or service? Does your productharm the environment in some way? Is it fun oruseful? Is your product well known or will thepublic need to be educated about how to use it?Are you the next Hula Hoop or Pet Rock?

5.) Most businesses have some form ofcompetition...how about yours? Who is yourprinciple competition? (Ask all the questions in#2 above about the competition.) How big arethey? What can you do that they can’t do? Canyou specialize in areas they can’t? If you arecompeting against a large public company (i.e.Wal-Mart, Costco, etc.) buy some of their stock.You’ll receive their annual report, and as astockholder, a lot of information will beavailable to you. Warning: Do not skimp or

24

gloss over this business resume section. It willbe very valuable later on when we deal withpositioning your business.

6.) How’s your pricing compared to thecompetition? Can you be competitive or are yougoing to have to ask a higher price? Is thelowest price always the best? Of course not.Customers place a value on products based ontheir perceptions of that product. They basethose perceptions on the information they getfrom you and other sources and comparisons. IfI said, CD player, a dollar figure jumps intoyour head based on advertising you’ve seen orinput from friends or any of 100 differentsources.

7.) You can’t have a business without customers.You must identify your target market. Who arethe people most likely to use your business?Their age? Sex? (Most books refer to this asgender... Gender is language, not people...sex ispeople...look it up). Occupation? MartialStatus? Home Ownership? TV shows theywatch? Newspapers and magazines they read?Average household income? Education?Lifestyle? Number of children? All the stuff youfind on a warranty card when you buy a vacuumcleaner or a blender. In addition, do somesecondary research. For example, if you are

25

lucky enough to be in a town large enough tohave a library, it should have censusinformation for your state and county. This willgive you a profile of the average person livingin your county.

The Chamber of Commerce may have thedemographics of your city. Start with these andbe prepared to adjust your business as needed. Agood library will have a copy of the Rand-McNally Commercial Atlas and MarketingGuide. You’ll find retail sales data for your stateand county. What did people spend on food?Housing costs? Clothing? Automobiles? It’s agreat thumbnail source of information aboutpeople in your state or county. I’ll cover how toreach these folks in the advertising sectioncoming up later in the plan.

Who are the “end users” of your product? Forexample, I ask my wife to pick up some beerwhen she goes to the store. She makes thepurchase, but she is not the end user of theproduct, I am. If I recommend a brand name Iinfluence the purchase, if not, she will probablyget something “light” or on sale.

8.) How much business is really out there? In asmall town this becomes very important. I grewup in a small farm town in Illinois. Thepopulation was 5,200 people. Yet, in a three

26

block area, there were 6 gas stations. Thesestations all stayed in business during my gradeschool to high school years. That’s twelve yearsin business. When we create a business plan wemust know if there are enough payingcustomers to support our business. Forget thecompetition (not entirely) for the moment. Eachone of those gas stations shared a customer baseof at least 5,200 total customers to survive.Some customers only went to one station for all12 years, some went to all stations for 12 years,and the rest a combination of the two. The pointis; each station needed X number of customersper day, week, month, year, to survive in thismarket.

Could a seventh station go in this market andsurvive? The answer is yes. Would it be easy,the answer is no. If you were going to open anew gas station in this market you would needto know the answer to three questions:

One: Can you develop new customers who donot go to any of the other stations? (New peoplemoving to town, people just turning 16 andgetting a drivers license.)

Two: Can you take customers away from yourcompetitors? (People unhappy with the service,

27

unhappy with the quality of the product,unhappy with price.)

Three: Can you develop enough of both to makea living?

If the answer to all three questions is yes, Iwould advise you to continue constructing themarketing plan. Please keep in mind we areonly in Part One of a 10 Part Plan. Thisexample with the gas station is greatlysimplified for demonstration purposes. Thereare a lot more things that have to happen forthat seventh gas station to survive than justthose three questions . If the answer is no, then Iwould advise you to stop and regroup.

This process is commonly called a Sales andMarket Share Analysis. How many sales; andhow many people for the business to survive? Iwill tackle this in more detail as I go throughthe rest of the marketing plan.

9.) Next, let’s talk about distribution of yourproduct or service. What is your service area?The whole town? The whole county? The state?Is it delivered? Do customers pick it up? Can ordoes it need to be shipped? Will you needdelivery vehicles? A shipping budget? FedExaccount? UPS? Is it an intangible item: LifeInsurance? Office cleaning? Groomed dogs? Do

28

customers come to your place of business or doyou go to their home or business? In smalltowns you may be required to travel to rural orfarm areas for business. How much of this willbe necessary and what is the cost of that travel?

10.) How is the product or service going to besold? Where do customers of your product shopnow? Will this change in the future? Will youneed to hire salespeople? Will it be sold off theshelf in stores? Mail-order? Internet? 800number? Do you know what the cost of sales ofthe product or service will be? If you have topay a commission to a sales person, that willcertainly take part of your profit.

11.) If you are in a common industry like shoestores, or construction companies, CPA’s, realestate, etc. start studying how these companiesare advertising in your area. Are they on radio?TV? Newspapers (what section what days?) InSan Diego (not a small town, I know),construction and remodeling companiescomprised almost all the ads in the weeklynewspaper TV listings. Why? Because it hungaround the house all week.

Now that we have the answers to thesequestions, it’s time to move on to Chapter Threeand find out what we do with this informationand how to begin to construct our marketingplan.

29

Chapter Three:Step 2: S.W.O.T.?

Congratulations, you’ve finished your businessresume and its time to see what we’ve got towork with. As you analyze your resume youshould notice that you have Strengths,Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.(S.W.O.T.)

Let’s look at each part independently. Take onepiece of paper for each of the items you listed inyour business resume. Principals of thecompany, product awareness, competition, etc.Draw a line down the center of the page and liststrengths and weaknesses on one side andopportunities and threats on the other. You needto go into great detail here. You mustobjectively look at every possible aspect of yourbusiness.

This will help you organize each component ofyour business and let you capitalize on eachstrength/opportunity and deal with eachweakness/threat. The first part of our resumeasked you to look at the people involved withthe company. Are there problems? Lack ofexpertise? Experience? If there are problemshow can you solve them or are they something

30

you must live with. Can you deal with theproblem immediately or are you going to haveto wait for a solution?

Example: under product distribution, yourproduct may be expensive to ship. This maycause a reduction in your profit. Is it aweakness? Arranging a contract with a localshipping company may be a way to make thisarea a strength. Or perhaps you will have tolimit the expense by shipping only once a weekwhile growing your business.

What challenges are short range, long range?Maybe you’re working out of your basementand space is already a problem. How long will itbe before you can afford commercial space?Can you trade services for commercial space? Acleaning company may clean the building inreturn for a space in the building.

These first two sections are by far the mostimportant of the entire marketing plan. Inthe coming months, you will refer to thesesections over and over again, as your marketchanges. Keep these work sheets in a handyplace. Add and delete strengths and challengesas your business changes

31

Chapter Four:Step 3: Sales Forecasting

First Things First -(How does the selling process reallywork?)

Before we move into setting sales objectives, Iwant to spend a moment showing you how thesales process actually works. Do you realize, inthe academic world, there is no fully accreditedtextbook on selling that fully defines both theknowledge and skills needed to sell a product orservice? There are no actual degrees in selling,nor are there measures of competence based onskills for the licensing of a person in the sellingprofession.

The life insurance industry has long had areputation for having the best sales training ofany industry. Life insurance companies aresupposed to have the best-trained sales people.In 1965, over 80% of all life insurance was soldby fewer than 20% of the sales people. In 1990,80% of all insurance was being sold by fewerthan 15% of the sales force. Sales competenceis actually decreasing rather than increasing.

32

Sales Competence

Every sales program has the same goal - toimprove the competence of salespeople. Yet, todate, no books, training programs, or any otherefforts have shown any overall measuredimprovements of salespeople’s competence.

This should be the time you point out to me thatyou don’t have a “sales force” so all this isn’treally applicable to you. Wrong! If you deliver aproduct or service to anybody, you sell! And ifyou plan to be successful against yourcompetition you better learn how the processworks, and how to make it work for you.

So, why are most salespeople worse instead ofbetter. One possible answer is two sales mythsthat I would like to debunk right now.

Myth Number One: If you want to make moresales, make more calls. Hustle is the name ofthe game.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I willagree that if you make 5 calls per day, day inand day out, to the right target market,something is going to happen and you will sellsomething. Let me show you a better way.

33

How to measure sales

Several years ago I worked for Victor BusinessMachines. At the time they were the numberone manufacturer of adding machines andcalculators in the country. They had a verysimple sales philosophy. Every Monday, make75 cold calls to businesses, door to door. That’sa great way to start your week, huh? Myobjective of the 75 cold calls was to find 20businesses that would allow me to place amachine in their business to try for a couple ofdays. Of the 20 machines placed, the nationalsales average, at that time, was 5 sales. seventy-five cold calls nets 20 placements equals 5sales.

If I’m working this system, what are myobjectives? Do I want to make 75 cold calls ordo I want to make 20 placements? Right, I wantthe 20 placements. My goal is to make the 20placements with as few cold calls as possible.That’s where the real secret of selling comes in- Measurement.

Each Monday I would measure how many coldcalls it took to make the 20 placements. If I gota “no”, before I made the next call, I wouldreview in my mind what happened with thatcall. What could I have done differently? Howcould I have overcome that objection? I had to

34

constantly improve my initial presentation.Over time, I found I was only going to hearabout a half dozen real objections. As I learnedto overcome those my placement rate improvedand I had to make fewer cold calls.

Next, I was expected to make 5 sales out of the20 placements. At first, I was inexperienced,and I wasn’t doing that. Once again, I had tomeasure what was going on with eachdemonstration and close. As my presentation,overcoming objections and demonstrating valueimproved, my closing ratio improved. So, whatwas my objective here? To make 5 sales ormore than 5 sales? Very good, more than fivesales is what I want to do.

So am I making more calls or am I workingsmarter? Go to the head of the class - Yes,working smarter. Only two things will improveselling competence: Increased specializedknowledge and information (productknowledge) and more productive selling skills(measuring what is going on with each sale).

Myth Number Two: Sales people work for youand company goals and monetary incentiveswill improve performance. Wrong! There isn’t asales person alive who works primarily toachieve the sales quotas of any company.

35

Salespeople work toward their personalindividual monetary goals for themselves andtheir families: Sending kids to college, payingthe mortgage etc. If the benefits to the companyconflict with the benefits of the employee,which do you think will be most important tothe employee? The company or their family?

Find the real motivation

If you want to motivate a salesperson positively,find out what they are interested in. What istheir one overpowering burning desire? It maynot be money. Some people just want to beappreciated for their efforts. What about thehourly clerk in the retail store? More money perhour to go to a job where your efforts areignored by the boss? What’s that worth? Mostpeople, if given the choice, will give up cash forappreciation of their efforts. Hundreds ofstudies support this position. Read Tom Petersbook, “In Search of Excellence”.

Get Personal

Get to know your employees on a personallevel. Support them and help them achieve theirgoals and they will move mountains. Encouragethem to measure their efforts and teach themhow to improve performance as a way ofobtaining their personal goals. You’ll keep good

36

employees and develop a sales force to bereckoned with. Even if your sales force is onlyyou.

1 Inch Drill Bit??

Why would I ever buy a 1 inch drill bit? So Ican display it over the fireplace for all myguests to see? No, I buy a 1 inch drill bitbecause I want a 1 inch hole. I don’t want thedrill bit I want the hole! I want the benefit of theproduct. I don’t buy a copier, I buy 1,000,000copies over a seven year period. This is howyou need to see your product or service beforeyou present it to your customers.

Lets look at the Seven Selling Steps and howthey work:

Step One: Greeting andAcknowledging the Customer

Your customer can purchase from you or yourcompetitor and how you interact with them canhave a strong impact on their decision. If youtook a survey comparing the friendliness ofpeople in small towns versus big cities, smalltowns would probably win hands down. It’s anational perception that people in small townsare generally more friendly and go out of theirway for folks. People in New York City, bycontrast are perceived as rude, and for some

37

reason seem to be proud of it. Courtesy is a skillyou can perfect into a productive habit.Courteous persons have practiced beingcourteous and perfected that skill into aproductive habit and are not even aware theyare being courteous.

In contrast, aggressive and pushy people haveformed those habits and are not aware they areaggressive and pushy. It is physically andemotionally impossible to be polite andcourteous and aggressive and pushy at the sametime. You can’t be polite and courteous at workand not at home. It is either a habit you haveperfected or it isn’t. Start being as polite andcourteous as you can all day every day for thenext 21 days. Research says if you dosomething at the same time in the same way for21 consecutive days, it becomes a habit.

How’s Your Climate?

How is the climate in your town. No, not theweather climate. The friendly climate. What isthe “standard average” level of people whereyou live? Polite and courteous or aggressive andpushy? For example, here in Bozeman, on ascale of 1 to 10 with 10 being so friendlystrangers would loan you their cars, Bozeman isprobably a 6. The population here turns overabout every 7 - 10 years (mostly due to the

38

weather). Every 6 or 7 years some -30 degreeweather convinces some folks Arizona might bebetter. We get a lot of folks here escaping thebig city for the “friendlier” small town. Theysometimes bring the aggressive pushy attitudethey learned in their former home to their newhome.

Businesses here want to maintain a standardfriendliness of 7 or above. If they can do thatthey know the majority of customers will takenotice and hopefully remember how well theywere treated compared to other businesses. In alarge city, because of the large customer base, acompany can lose a few customers and still dowell. In a small town, with everybody knowingeverybody else, it’s much more important tomake and keep customers. If you are anemployee of a company and are reading thisbook, show the next few sentences to yourowner, boss or supervisor.

Be a good listener

Listen up business owners: Customer servicestarts at the top. It doesn’t start at the counter orthe sales floor. It starts with you. How do youtreat your employees? I promise you this - youremployees will treat customers in the exact ratioas they are treated by you. If you constantly findfault with them, that attitude will be passed on

39

to the customer. If they are proud of theirposition and performance and are appreciatedand encouraged by management, that is alsopassed on to the customer. The better they feelabout themselves the better they will treat yourcustomers.

Have you ever eaten in a McDonald’sRestaurant? Let’s suppose you’re on vacation.Someplace you’ve never been before and youspot a McDonalds®. How confident are youthat if you go in its going to be pretty much thesame as your hometown McDonald’s®? Why,because all McDonald’s® operate from thesame manual of how they should look, sound,and cook. We expect a certain level of servicefrom some businesses. We always expect ourbankers to be in white shirts and ties. We don’texpect the same from our mechanics. Whatshould your customers expect from yourbusiness?

Question: How would you treat your very bestfriend if they walked in the front door of yourbusiness? Treat everyone that way because I’llbet your competition doesn’t.

Last, but certainly not least, get the person’sname if you don’t know it and use it frequentlyduring the initial interview. Most people aren’t

40

extended the courtesy of hearing their name at abusiness. Make yours the exception. As DaleCarnegie said, “A persons name, is to thatperson, the sweetest and most important soundin any language.” If you don’t believe that, trycalling someone Bob who’s name is actuallySteve, and see how quickly they correct you.

Step Two: Discovering CustomerNeeds

How much can I stress the importance of thisportion of the selling process. If you don’t havewhat the customer needs you are wasting yourtime and theirs to continue with the process. Ifyou don’t discover customer needs immediately,it is costing you money in the selling process.Here’s how:

I sold furniture for eight years. Early in mysales career I was taught many valuable lessonsabout the sales process. For example, when acustomer asked to see a dinette set, 9 out of 10salespeople took them to the area of the storewhere all the dinette sets were and start showingthem to the customer. The correct way to makethis sale was to first discover the customerneeds by asking questions.

The type of questions you want to ask are called-open ended- questions. Open ended questions

41

can’t be answered by a simple yes or no. Theyrequire the customer to provide information.

What kind of dinette set do you have now?What do you like about it? What don’t you likeabout it? What about size? Shape? Color?Natural Wood Grain? Formica top? Vinyl seats?Fabric? Price range? As we collect theinformation we are adding and deletingmerchandise in our minds that will fit thedescription of what the customer is telling us.Once we have that information we can say tothe customer, “Based on what you’ve told me, Ihave three dinette sets that will meet yourneeds.” “If you’ll come this way we’ll take alook at them.”

What have you told this customer using thismethod? I’m not here as a store tour guide. I’minterested in you and I’m taking my time to findthe right set for you. I don’t want to waste yourtime showing you things that don’t fit yourneeds.

Step Three: Selling MerchandiseBenefits

Remember our drill bit. I don’t want theproduct, I want the benefit of the product.Before we looked at any products I askedseveral questions and decided on a choice for

42

them. They hopefully are thinking, “At last,maybe this salesperson has what we want andwe can stop shopping.”

Now, as I demonstrate the product, I will pointout how the product fills each need, within theprice range they said they wanted to spend. If Igo to a product that is higher in price than theywanted to spend, then I need to justify the extraexpense with some form of benefit that is ofvalue to them.

Step Four: Addressing Concerns(More commonly know as,Overcoming Objections)

Let’s go back to measuring for a moment.Remember, I mentioned to measure whathappens each time you make or lose a sale? Ifyou are getting a lot of objections you are notdoing a good job in Step Two: DiscoveringCustomer Needs.

There are two kinds of objections:Valid and Invalid.

No salesperson should make an effort toovercome a valid objection. A valid objectionmeans the person does not have any need of thebenefits of what is being sold or that the costcannot be made to fit within his or her budget.This person is not a prospective customer.

43

An Invalid Objection on the other hand isalmost always a request for more information.“Well, it looks good but I need to think about itbefore I spend that much.” Translation: “Youhaven’t shown me enough benefits to justify theprice.”

Objections should be welcomed. They arebuying signals. “Help me buy your product.” iswhat the customer is really saying. You haven’tshown me the value yet. Don’t ever show ortalk about a feature unless you have a realbenefit for the customer. There’s an old adageamong attorneys - Never ask a witness aquestion you don’t know the answer to. It’s thesame with customers. If you don’t knowsomething, admit it, and get the answer for themas soon as possible.

Step Five: Suggesting AdditionalMerchandise

Most people at this point would probably gostraight for the close. But this is an ideal time tosuggest additional things that will enhance thesale for the customer. You can also useadditional merchandise as a closing question.I’ll tie the two together in Step Six: Closing TheSale.

44

What types of merchandise can you sell yourcustomer? One of the most common inappliance sales is the dreaded “serviceagreement”. That extra coverage to make surethe product performs as it’s supposed to afterthe product guarantee expires. When I workedat Circuit City®, the national appliance retailgiant, a percentage of our total sales had toconsist of service contracts. The interestingthing about service contracts is, some peoplealways buy them, some people never buy them,and everyone else falls somewhere in between.

To sell a service contract, we didn’t start at theend of the sale as an add-on to the sale. Weplanted seeds during the sales presentationabout service and how great the service is and italmost became an assumption that the customerwould want the service contract.

In the car business, it was undercoating. Inwomen’s clothing it’s the matching handbag,belt, shoes, etc. Add-on selling is certainlynothing new and can be almost automatic ifdone correctly. It is also commonly referred toas “suggestive” selling. Keep in mind that insuggestive selling, just as the other steps above,there must be a value or benefit to the customerto any add-on. Also keep in mind we don’t wantto cheat, manipulate, mislead or pressure the

45

customer to ever purchase anything they don’twant. If the value and the need is there, whywould the customer not purchase?

Step Six: Closing The Sale (AskingFor The Order)

Now is the time to close the sale. This is themost difficult function of the selling process forthe inexperienced salesperson and probably theeasiest for the professional. The overwhelmingreason most people give for not buying aproduct - No one asked me to. No one asked meto buy the product. I almost fell over the firsttime I read that. Shouldn’t that be a no-brainer?Shouldn’t we be asking customers to buy ourstuff?

Fear of rejection is pretty powerful. We will risklosing the sale before we’ll face the disgrace ofrejection. The reason for this is mostsalespeople wait for the customer to buy and ifthat doesn’t happen they blame the loss of thesale on price, delivery options, any excuse theycan think of except the real one: They did notask for the order.

Let’s explore how to ask for the order. The firststep in the closing process is to make yourselffamiliar with what is called the “trial close”.These are non-threatening questions you can

46

ask the prospect that indicate where you are inthe sale process.

An example of a trial close questions might be:“Would this color work in the room?” “Are youthinking of trading in your present car?” “Howsoon will you need this installed?” If this colorwon’t work then asking for the order is useless.You need to return to Step Two: DiscoveringCustomer Needs and get better colorinformation and re-evaluate your productchoices for this customer.

However, the customer exclaims with greatenthusiasm, “This color would be perfect!”,that’s a pretty strong buying signal. You maywant to go straight to the close here, or if youstill think there are questions, ask another trialclose question. If you get yet another positiveresponse then the customer may just be waitingfor you to take control of the sale.

My wife will tell you I hate to spend money onstuff we really need even if I know we need it. Iwill buy her clothes all day long and never thinka thing about it. But buying a shirt or tie formyself, that’s another story. I always justify thatI can get by a little longer with what I’ve got.

My point is, I’m the type of person who wantsto buy but if you don’t ask me, you’ll lose the

47

sale. What can you do that will move me off thefence and get me to say Yes. Yes. Yes!

The most popular types of closes are:

1. The Assumed Close: Or Order BlankClose.

In this close you simply assume that you have asale and begin to fill out the sales order. “Whatis the delivery address?” If the customer givesyou the address, without objection, they havebought the merchandise.

2. The Major/Minor Close:

In this close, the customer makes a majorpurchase by answering a minor question.“Would you prefer delivery on Tuesday orThursday?” “Thursday would be better for us.”You just made the sale.

3. “Answer the objection” Close:

In this close you answer the customersobjection and go to close one or close twoabove.

4. “Third person” Close:

This is a very strong close if the customer wasreferred to your business by a satisfiedcustomer. You can relate how happy the friend

48

is with the product, the service, the delivery andits a natural progression that they want the samelevel of satisfaction.

5. The “Ben Franklin” Close:

In this close the sales person takes a sheet ofpaper and draws a large “T” on it. On the leftare the negatives of the product and on the rightare the positives of the product and the reasonsthe customer should buy. Take notes during thequestioning phase of Step Two: DiscoveringCustomers Needs and put the very items thecustomer asked for on the right. The customercan quickly see that the advantages of havingthe product far outweigh the disadvantages ofnot buying.

6. “Yes Momentum” Close

Picture a huge boulder rolling down a hillside.At first it starts rolling slowly and graduallybegins to pick up speed until it’s rolling atbreakneck speed. The increased speed ismomentum. With our customer we don’t wantto increase the speed of our speech, but we dowant to create a momentum of the customersaying yes, yes, yes, to a series of questions. Weare looking for agreement from the customerthat the benefits of the product will fill theneeds and the momentum confirms that.

49

7. “What does it cost?” Close?:

In the case of an automobile, a refrigerator, or afax machine, there are costs that are required tokeep the product in operation. An automobilecustomer may be looking for the best gasmileage. What is the monthly cost of electricityto operate a refrigerator? Can your model cutcosts? A fax machine will need toner cartridgesand the cost per fax may be cheaper for thecustomer with your model. We all want to savemoney as long as we don’t have to sacrifice thebenefits of the product. So show value and youwill have a sale.

8. “Bonus” Close:

Some customers just like to get a littlesomething extra. Some type of bonus, such asfree delivery, extra service, or some otherincentive may make the difference for thesecustomers.

9. “What will it take to get your businessclose?”:

“Mr. Customer, I know this product will do thejob for you.” “I know you’ll like it.” “What dowe have to do to get your business?” Shut upand listen. In many cases it might be someminor concern that you can easily take care of.

50

The other advantage: it lets the customer havesome limited control of the sale. It also showsthat you are willing to work with the customerand gives you added credibility in their eyes.

10. “Reduction to Ridiculous” Close:

If the customer is anything like me, you need toshow me that my objections are just a smokescreen. I want the product but I just don’t wantto say yes. Don’t insult your customer by sayingtheir objections are ridiculous. You can showthat in an implied manner by detailing eachobjection and overcoming it. Hopefully, theywill see how silly they are being and make thepurchase.

In the long run, what you’re always trying to dowith customers: Show them the disadvantagesof not buying.

Step Seven: Assuring Satisfaction

Ever have buyers remorse? That sickeningfeeling in the pit of your stomach that youmight have made a mistake in your purchase?You paid too much? Should have gotten theother one you looked at? Sometimes buyersneed you to reinforce to them that they madethe correct decision.

51

Operating a business in a small town demandsthat every customer must be a satisfiedcustomer. There is a two-edged sword called“word of mouth” that can make or break a smalltown business. Positive word of mouth can bethe best possible advertising you can get. If youreact too slowly negative word of mouth can putyou out of business quickly and permanently.

Follow-up on every sale is crucial. Make surethe customer is absolutely satisfied in everyway with your business. Make it easy for yourcustomers to complain about anything they’reunhappy with. Most of us want to avoidcomplaints and confrontation with angrycustomers and we take the “They aren’t goingto get the best of me” attitude.

There always seems to be the fear that theunhappy customer will demand free product orservice from you for life.

You must face these folks and resolve theirproblems and show them you are a fair andhonest business they can have confidence in.These problems must be addressed as quickly aspossible. If you ignore them they will fester andescalate into negative publicity or possiblelawsuits.

52

However, customers rarely want to rip anyoneoff. If they feel they have been wronged, allthey usually want is to be heard. They seldomhave unreasonable demands.

Ask them to explain exactly what the problemis, then shut up and listen. Don’t interrupt tomake your points until they are finished. Restatetheir complaint back to them so they are sureyou understand and have heard what they aresaying. Then simply ask, “What would you likeus to do to resolve your problem?” If you listenand refuse to argue you will find in many casesthey will apologize to you for flying off thehandle and thank you for resolving theproblem... and you have retained a customer.

Nothing is more valuable than a satisfiedcustomer, and they will help your business likenothing else can, by asking them for referrals toother customers. Can you use them in your adsor commercials? Testimonials in small townsare very powerful. The more respected theperson the more powerful the testimonial.

Now that we know the basics of selling let’s getback to sales forecasting.

53

Sales Forecasting

What are sales objectives? In a nutshell, theyare what must be done to keep the doors of yourbusiness open. If you don’t do enough sales youare out of business (unless you’re thegovernment). According to your businessresume, that you did at the start of this plan, yousay you can do certain things and have certainabilities. The next step is to translate thesethings and abilities into sales.

Determining Sales Objectives

How do we determine our sales objectives? Ilike to start at the end and work backwards.Remember the Victor Business Machines storytold earlier? Seventy-five cold calls for 20placements equals 5 sales. Our sales objectivesmust be based on the end result of what weexpect our business to accomplish monetarily.

Our objectives must be challenging, yetattainable. The market must be of sufficient sizeto support the business (remember the 6 gasstations). All marketing programs are based inreal time. We must set time specific goals forour sales objectives to be completed. We needboth short (1 year) and long term (3-5 years)objectives. We must also consider projectedprofits. We must make sufficient plans to realize

54

enough to pay the bills and hopefully payourselves.

Now, if you’ve been in business for a number ofyears you can use past performance as anindication of how your business is growing ornot growing, as the case may be. Speaking ofgrowing, I can’t tell you how many businessowners I’ve talked to who have told me, “Ireally don’t want to get any bigger.” I’ll let youin on a little secret. You don’t have a choice. Iknow you think you do, but believe me youdon’t. Your business will eventually take on alife of its own and it will do the dictating to youas to what you will or won’t do. You will do itor you will be out of business.

Make some projections.

If you haven’t been in business before, you aregoing to have to make some educated guessesand get some outside help. One place to start isthe public library. You can start with theEncyclopedia of Periodicals. I don’t care whatkind of business you’re in, there is a trademagazine or newsletter that covers it. Thesefolks survey their subscribers about a host oftopics. How do you advertise? What’s youradvertising budget? How do you promote yourbusiness? What are your business projectionsfor the next five years?

55

Subscribe to as many trade magazines aspossible. Some of them can be expensive. Writeeach one and tell them you are in the businessand ask them for the qualifications of a freesubscription. I have free subscriptions to TargetMarketing, Direct Marketing News, BusinessMarketing, NetWeek, and Publish, just to namea few. It’s in their best interest to provide freesubscriptions to serious people in the businessbecause those are the exact people theadvertisers are trying to reach.

If you are new in business, another goodresource is the Small Business Source Book.Your library should have a copy. If not they cansurely borrow it from another branch. This bookhas helpful information about a large variety ofbusinesses with ratios, budgets and otherhelpful information.

Next, the library also has a list of Associations.Again, almost any industry you can name hassome kind of association. And what’s thepurpose of any association? To work for thesuccess of the members of the association, ofcourse. These people are also at your disposal toassist you with market research regarding yourindustry. You can also meet successful people inyour industry who are more than willing to helpyou (unless they are a direct competitor of

56

yours). Look for another city similar to yourhome town (preferably in another state). Thenext town is probably your competitor.

For Bozeman, Montana I use Boulder, Coloradofor business information. It’s approximately thesame size as Bozeman, a college town, similardistances to other cities, similar housing costsand taxes, and forms of government.

If you were going to open a bakery for example,you would get on the phone and call somebakeries in Boulder and see if they would sharewith you what they feel the next 1 to 3 years aregoing to be like. Some will talk with you andsome won’t. Talk to the ones that will. Savetheir time, and yours, by making a list of thetopics you want to talk to them about and godown the list. The conversation will go fasterand the person called will appreciate yourconsideration of their time.

Business Costs

Next you are going to have monthly fixed andvariable costs of operation. Fixed costs remainthe same whether a single sale is made or not.Variable costs increase or decrease based on thenumber of sales made.

Fixed costs are things like the rent or equipmentleases. Variable costs might be monthly

57

shipping charges, cost of supplies, salescommissions; any expense that changes frommonth to month. If you aren’t sure which theyare, consider them fixed. Remember otherthings like insurance, maintenance, payroll,utilities, auto, and advertising costs to name justa few.

Break Even

When you have your costs under control youneed to consider a break even analysis for eachproduct or service you provide. The break evenanalysis assumes that average variable costs aregoing to remain constant for each product orservice. This analysis is strictly internal. Itdoesn’t consider things like competition ormarket demand.

What’s the formula?

Are you sure you’re ready for this? OK, staywith me here. Total profit equals the number ofunits sold multiplied by the selling price less thenumber of units sold multiplied by the totalvariable cost minus the total fixed cost. Prettysimple, huh? If P is profit, p is price, U is unitssold, V is variable costs and F is fixed costs theequation would look like this:

P=U(p-V)-F

58

So, assume our bakery produces cakes andwants to sell them for $10.00 and we want tosell 1,000 of them. For this example our totalfixed costs are going to be $7,700 and our totalvariable costs are $4.50/unit. (These numbersmay not be accurate for the bakery industry)Our formula would look like this:

P=1,000($10.00-$4.50)-$7,700=$5,500-$7,700= -$2,200

What happened?

Instead of making money we have just lost$2,200. At break even the $2,200 numbershould be $0. We can’t make money at 1000units so how many cakes must we really sell tobreak even?

We know our fixed costs (F) are $7700, and theprice (p) is still $10.00 and our variable costs(V) are $4.50/unit we do this:

(p) price minus (V) variable costs divided into(F) fixed costs or$10.00 - $4.50 = $5.50 divided into $7700 =1400 cakes.

If we maintain our price and expenses we needto sell 1400 cakes to break even. If we raise ourprice or reduce expenses we can sell less.

59

Some points to remember. The break evenanalysis does not show profitability. It willshow some levels of profit at various levels ofsales but sometimes profits must be thrown atcompany problems. Even though a productbreaks even (or makes a profit) if all othergoods and services don’t, you could be introuble. This is a guide to get you started. Goodaccountants are worth their weight in gold. Takethis basic information to them and have themtailor it to your business.

Once you have the information as to how muchit will cost to keep the doors open and thebusiness viable we can move on to the next partof the marketing plan

60

Chapter Five:Step 4: Who And Where Are

Your Customers?

Finding the target

In this part of the plan you must identify thetarget market. Who are the people most likely touse our product or service. The smaller the townthe easier it is. If you live in a town of 1,000people or less the demographics of your citymay have similar percentages of age, education,home ownership as large cities but the numbersare in double digits not per 100,000 population.If you live in a town of 1,000 or less and 750are over the age of 70, on fixed incomes, andyou’re selling life insurance, you may be introuble. They may want to buy but can theyafford it? Can you sell enough to the other 250to make a living?

Demographics of a region are very important toyour business health. There must be enoughpotential customers in your city or county of theright age, income level, education, etc. tosupport your business. I worked with acompany in San Diego to erect a sports complexwhere Major League Baseball players couldconduct clinics for kids during the winter. TheSan Diego Union newspaper had a demographic

61

study of the entire county. We were able topinpoint the zip codes that had the largestpopulations of kids 8 to 13 years of age.Advertising targeted to those zip codes andthose parents produced more customers than wecould imagine. Several clinics had to be added.

Can you sell to the world? We have manybusinesses in Bozeman that don’t make a dimeselling to anyone in town or even in Montana.The majority of their business is done out ofstate. They just enjoy living here. If you live orhave visited San Diego, California you mayhave gone to see a ball game at QualcommStadium. Qualcomm has an office in Bozeman.Ross Perot’s old company EDS has an officehere. Gibson makes some of the finest guitars inthe world here. If you play your local or statelotto, chances are the machine that prints theticket and records your numbers was made hereby Powerhouse Technologies.

As you can see, it doesn’t really matter whereyour target market is as long as you know whothey are. That’s what it’s really all about. Whoare these people? Very simply they are a groupof people with common characteristics.

The first step in target marketing: Determineif the primary target group will include

62

purchasers, users, or both. Which uses theproduct the most? Who actually buys theproduct?

Step Two: Does your target group’sdemographics coincide with your presentcustomers? Do adjustments need to be made?

Step Three: Is 67% of your business done by33% of your total customers? If so, then the67% users become your primary target market.The 33% your secondary market. For example:67% of the beer drinkers are men but only 33%actually go to the store and buy it. Their wivesdo the shopping and purchasing. The menwould appear to be the secondary market from apurchasing standpoint but they are actually theprimary market. Confusing? That’s what makestarget marketing so much fun.

Have you bought an Arch Deluxe lately? What’san Arch Deluxe you ask? How quickly weforget. It’s the McDonald’s® flagship adultsandwich that once again proves there’s no onein the cockpit flying this plane. McDonald’s®spent billions becoming the family restaurant.How much are the playgrounds in the front ofthese places? When I see the playground outfront, do I think I’m going into an adultrestaurant? The Arch Deluxe, the MacLean

63

burger and other adult fare are dying a slowhorrible death. You would think they wouldhave learned from their “light and healthy”salad menu a few years ago, which also died aslow horrible death. People who eat healthywouldn’t be caught dead (excuse the pun) inMcDonald’s®. They’re going after a targetmarket, that past experience says, is the wrongmarket. What’s next, the diabetic menu? Itdoesn’t matter if you’re big or small, the wrongmarket is the wrong market and in a small townthe wrong market will end your business.

Let me show you the right way to do this.

1. Look at your total market:

Continually identify all types and categories ofpeople, industries and others that might useyour product or service.

2. Break It Down:

Break down your list of potential markets intogroups that have common characteristics. Forexample, list people by professions orindustries.

3. Analyze your markets:

Discover as much as possible about the groupsyou have segmented. What do they like? Not

64

like? What do they want? What do they fear?Who do they buy from now? Why do they buyfrom them? How much potential does this targetgroup have? How can you sell them?

4. Study the competition:

How do your competitors do it? What are theydoing that is working in your market? Can youdo something similar? Can you acquire some oftheir market share?

5. Prioritize:

Rank market segments by priority. Primarymarket should be the easiest to reach with thelowest investment and greatest expectation ofreturn.

6. Do an in-depth market analysis ofyour top markets:

Uncover as much information as you can aboutyour most likely customers, including what theyread, what trends they are concerned about, andhow they think. Who do they consider best inyour field and why?

7. What forms of marketing are mostsuccessful?:

Studies show if people hear about your businessor service four or more times they perceive you

65

as credible. The fewer resources a companywastes (marketing to people who will never beprospects) the more it can invest reaching andselling to its genuine prospects. “How did youhear about us?” can help zero-in on ways toreach new customers. Flash-in-the-panadvertising is usually a waste of money.

8. Test Your Markets:

King Schools, in San Diego, California, is acompany which sells video tapes that assistpilots in passing their pilots license exams.They sold the course for around $250.00because that price beat out $199.00 and $159.00in a test of three different markets. Customerswho received information on the $159.00 and$199.00 course thought it was too good to betrue, at that low price and didn’t buy. You mayfind, what you thought was your best market,may be your second best market.

9. What do you have to do?:

How many customers must walk through yourdoor or how many sales calls must be madebefore a sale takes place?

10. Choose your markets carefully:

Keep in mind that it’s not how many targetmarkets you can identify and open - its how

66

many you can profitably penetrate, market to,and serve. Treat your target market as an openended question, always changing and providingnew information.

Finding your target market is a top priority. Ifyou aren’t selling to the right people you won’thave a business long. The smaller the town thesmaller the total customer base the quicker thedeath.

67

Chapter Six:Step 5: How To Create A Plan

& Work It

Now that you know your target market the nextstep is to develop the marketing objectives andmarketing strategies to reach them. Let’s startby defining the two terms.

1. Marketing Objectives:

A marketing objective is what needs to beaccomplished. It must be specific. It focuses onone singular goal. It must be measurable. Theremust be a specific time period: 30 days? 6months? 2 years? Whatever the time, it must bespecific. Objectives can also relate to specificparts of the marketing plan.

2. Marketing Strategy:

A marketing strategy details how an individualmarketing objective will be achieved. Itdescribes the method of accomplishment.Strategies are descriptive and tell how theobjectives will be met.

Another example might be a football game. Theobjective is to win the game. The strategies arethe plays we use to accomplish this. Theobjective has a specific time: the length of the

68

game. It focuses on one specific goal, win thegame. The strategies on the other hand changeas the game goes on due to injuries, weather,score of the game, field position, the play clockand other variables.

Suppose you have a baby products store andyour sales objective is to increase dollar sales10% over the previous year. We have a specificand measurable goal, 10% - one year.

Some of the strategies we might useto accomplish our goal:

Your primary target market might be pregnantwomen and new mothers with infants up tothree years of age. One possible secondarytarget market might be new grandparents. Soyou’ll want to focus your advertising efforts onreaching these two groups. You need to knowfrom your target market research whatnewspapers they read, TV shows they watch,magazines etc. Also keep in mind that you can’tignore your existing customers, you must keeptheir loyalty.

Put your marketing department, which mayconsist of only you, to work on a marketingplan to reach the target markets. Perhaps amailing to all new mothers in the area. How doyou find them? Birth records at the county court

69

house. Plan a big sale for the month most babiesare born in? If you didn’t know, its September.My personal theory is that September is ninemonths after Christmas and New Years Eve,when we all seem to love each other the most.

You could package a ready-made baby showerplan with everything needed to put on asuccessful baby shower. More people mightgive showers if there was some indication theywould be successful.

Next, can you lure any customers from yourcompetitors? Can you develop new customerswho have never purchased baby productsbefore? As you can see, the 10%, objective, cancome from a variety of sales strategies.

In order for this section to be successful youmust have very specific objectives. There mustbe no gray areas. The more exact and specificyou can be about your objective, the greaterprobability your strategies will be successful.Some areas of strategies might be:

Regional Strategy. George Bush made a visit toMontana during his re-election campaign. Theonly problem was, his aids didn’t do theirhomework, and scheduled his visit on the firstday of deer hunting season. George Bush or a10 point buck? A lot of folks missed seeing

70

George that day. Is your business regionspecific? No one makes sales calls toaccountants in March or April. After the 15thmight be OK.

Competitive Strategy. What can you do aboutthe competition? Examine your businessresume: Do you have an opportunity or achallenge? If your competition has theadvantage, move on to another area. Don’tdwell on the things you can’t do anything about.Unless your competitors have 100% of themarket you still have other strategies.

Pricing Strategy: Can you be priced lower thanthe competition? It’s not a good idea to be thelowest price in your market because peopleequate price to value. The lower the price thelower the value. You may end up having todefend your lower price much like your higherpriced competitor must justify their higher one.

Wal-Mart has been very successful in the lowprice arena but mostly on their own brands andsome specials. For example, Tide is very closeto supermarket pricing in Wal-Mart, as are othername brands.

71

Tell Them:

Publicity Strategy: Do you know how mostpeople or businesses end up in the paper? In themid 1980’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was oneof the very first Hollywood blockbuster moviesreleased on home video. At the time, I wasworking for a video rental chain in San Diego,called Video Library. The local news mediacame to our main office to do an interview withBarry Rosenblatt, the owner, about the film’srelease. Why did they come to us? Because wecalled them and let them know this “newsevent” was about to happen. We were all overthe news in San Diego that week and manycustomers were under the mistaken impressionthat we were the only chain that had the movie.

That one bit of publicity brought us untold newcustomers who had never rented from us in thepast but became loyal customers.

As you can see, the use of objectives andstrategies can really make or break yourbusiness. Remember the two rules: 1. Set clear,concise, specific objectives with a goal and timelimit. 2. Describe the strategies to reach thosegoals in great detail and follow your plan tosuccess.

72

List the steps you’ll take to create your plan and thesteps to make it work.

Step One:

73

Chapter Seven:Step 6: How To Position

Your Business

What is positioning? How do you position yourproduct so the target market will buy it.Positioning is nothing more than a perception ofa product in the mind of your target market.This is where your fortune will be made or lost.

Let me explain it this way. If I were to ask youto name a brand of ketchup, most people wouldprobably say Heinz. If I said soup, most peoplewould say Campbell’s. If I said Honda, mostpeople would think automobile. If I saidcomputer brand most people would say IBM.Copier, Xerox. Soft drink, Coke. Fast Food,McDonald’s. Etc.

When I say, “Name a brand of soup.” To somepeople the store shelves may pop into the mind.For others it might be a childhood memory ofwatching mother make tomato soup and grilledcheese sandwiches and picturing the soup canon the counter. For another it might be AndyWorhall’s famous painting of the Campbell’ssoup can.

The result of positioning is what pops into thecustomer’s mind of a product versus the

74

competition. When we mention soup, and yousay Campbell’s, suppose we go one step furtherand ask for a soup other than Campbell’s. Youmight say Progresso, or Heinz. Heinz? I thoughtthey made ketchup? So, if Campbell’s isnumber one in America it must be number oneall over the world...right? Wrong! If you went tothe United Kingdom you would find that Heinzis the number one soup in England. So what’sthe problem here? Don’t the Brits’ know goodsoup when they taste it? No, the two soups arethe same here that they are in England but theminds are different.

How about this?

If you went to Japan and told a Japanese personyou had just bought a Honda, he wouldprobably ask if it was your first motorcycle. InJapan, Honda is best know as a motorcyclecompany. Would you buy a Harley-Davidsonautomobile? Maybe? Would you buy PennzoilCake Mix? Betty Crocker Motor Oil? Howabout an IBM lawnmower? Why not? They’regood companies aren’t they? The name mustmean IBM would make its lawn mowers withthe same care and technology as theircomputers. If you saw the IBM lawnmower sideby side with the Lawnboy which would you feelmore comfortable buying?

75

Are you beginning to see how powerfulpositioning can be? How you position yourproduct can be the key to success or failure foryour business. You bought this book because ofhow it was positioned on thesmalltownmarketing.com web page or in someother type of ad or promotion. You felt theunseen information was worth the price andmade the investment.

So, if I have a soup company, is there no hopefor me because of Campbell’s domination of themarket? No, and that’s the real beauty ofpositioning.

For this next example, I’m going to defer to agreat book on this subject and I suggest you runright out and buy it. It’s called “Positioning:The Battle For Your Mind” by Al Ries and JackTrout (Warner Books ISBN# 0-446-34794-9). Ithas the best examples of the next point I want tomake and that is how to compete with theCampbell’s and Heinz’s of the world. How thisall relates to positioning in small towns willfollow. But first, a history lesson.

Who’s First?

In their book Trout and Ries ask, “Who was thefirst person to fly solo across the AtlanticOcean?” Most of you should say Charles

76

Lindbergh. Who was the second person to flysolo across the Atlantic Ocean? How quicklywe forget the household name of ...BertHinkler? Yes, good old Bert Hinkler. He flewthe distance in a shorter time than Lindberghand used less fuel. Who was the second personto walk on the moon? Second tallest mountainin the world? If you’re second to yourcompetitors are you are in a deep smelly place?No, and here’s why.

Be first where you can

Their book goes on to point out, “Who was thethird person to fly solo across the AtlanticOcean?” If you didn’t know the second personhow on earth could I assume you would knowthe third? Well, you do. It was Amelia Earhart.But even better for you, Amelia wasn’tremembered as the third person to fly soloacross the Atlantic — She was what? Exactly,she was the first woman to fly solo across theAtlantic Ocean.

What this means is you can position yourselfaway from your competition into a categorywhere you have less or no competition. Thanksto Al Ries and Jack Trout for pointing out theobvious.

77

I positioned my company,smalltownmarketing.com, as a place forbusinesses in small towns to go for businesshelp instead of just another marketing companyon the Internet promising the same old stuff. Isearched the Internet extensively for any kind ofmarketing help for business in small towns andfound nothing. That doesn’t mean there isn’tany, just that I didn’t find any. There are nobooks on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.comdevoted to small town marketing. This will bethe first.

Are we alone?

So for the time being I’m alone. As my successgrows, more and more imitators will comealong and try to lure market share from me. Asthat happens, just as with any business, mysuccess will depend how strong my position asthe authority on small town marketing is in theminds of those who visit the web site orpurchase my marketing books, articles andnewsletters.

What makes positioning in a small town sodifferent than in a large metropolitan area?Mostly two things:

1.) In a small town more people know you andmay have already formed a perception of you

78

before you even start your business. If thisperception is that you don’t know the business,you will have a challenge in this area. If youbuy a pizza business, and have not been in therestaurant business in town before, people maygive you the benefit of the doubt and supportyour business. Or, they may stay away becauseyou couldn’t possibly make a decent pizzabecause of your inexperience. They don’t knowthat for four years at college you worked in apizza parlor to support yourself and while thereyou learned the pizza business and that’s whyyou bought the store in the first place.

2.) Because positioning, by its very nature, ismind control of sorts, once people in your smalltown perceive you in a certain way, it is anuphill climb to change their minds. Plus in asmall town word of mouth spreads rapidly.

If you position your product incorrectly in alarge city, you have a large enough customerbase to overcome that obstacle. You justreposition the product and continue on. In asmall town the customer base is more limitedand once the damage is done, it’s done. And soare you.

How do major businesses in the your industryposition themselves?

79

Set yourself apart

Let’s go back to our baby store. How do babystores in large cities position themselves? Callsome up and ask them. Where and how do theyadvertise? How do they set themselves apartfrom their competition? What are your strengthscompared to your competitor?

You could position yourself as the baby expertstore. Bring in pediatricians for seminars. Rentor sell videos on child rearing. Or maybe you’rethe place to get those unusual baby things thatordinary stores don’t carry. Sort of the SharperImage® of baby products.

When it comes to positioning most smallbusinesses make two major mistakes;

First, they assume the customer thinks likethem, acts like them, and has the same interestsand motives. They don’t do the research. Theyadvertise on radio stations they listen to insteadof the stations the target market is listening to.

Second, they assume the consumer willcompare similar products logically and make adecision based strictly on the merits of theproduct. There is an old axiom. “When emotionand logic come into conflict, emotion alwayswins.” We decide by emotion and use logic to

80

justify our emotional decision. Do yourself afavor and take yourself out of the equation.Rely on facts that your market research hasuncovered.

Once again, I can’t stress the importance of thebusiness resume in Step One of this marketingplan. Ask yourself every conceivable questionabout your business and its products. You mustknow your business and its market inside andout. Your positioning must be right-on in asmall town. The smaller the town the moredifficult the task and there is virtually no marginfor error.

Consider the following. Studies have shown theaverage number of people who attend a funeralis 250. Your sphere of influence is 250 friends,neighbors, co-workers, and relatives. If you livein a town of 5,000 these people are 5% of thetotal population. If you have to reposition yourproducts or service, start the process with thesepeople. You need to encourage them to spreadthe word and neutralize the negative position.

81

Chapter Eight:Step 7: What do we say, how do

we say it and where dowe say it?

In order to develop your advertising andpromotion strategies you have a few morequestions that need to be answered. There aresix areas of business that deal with your productor service. You need to define and decide if youwill or won’t use them in your advertising.

I’ll do the products first, then the message, andhow we will deliver it.

1. Tangible or Intangible - Products orService

Tangible products are those we can see, feel,touch, taste, etc. Intangible products are unseen.For example, insurance or clean carpets, (youcan touch the carpets, but you can’t touch thefact that they are clean). Intangible products arealmost always produced by service businesses.If you have a intangible product yourdescription in your advertising must create apicture in the prospects mind because you don’thave a product they can touch. Using insuranceagain, usually the message is peace of mind that

82

insurance will provide for the family in case ofemergency.

Promote Both

Michelin Tires sells a tangible product, the tire,but use infants in their commercials to promotehow safe (an intangible) you will feel with theirtires on your car.

Who Are You?

Once again you need to return to Step One andStep Two of the marketing plan and look for thestrengths that need to be included in yourmessage. Are you going to include pictures ortestimonials of the staff, management, orcustomers in your ads? Should experience beincluded? Is there anything I, as a customer,need to know about you that will influence mybuying decision?

2. What’s In A Name?

If you are introducing a new product there’s aneed to create a brand image. Tide, Xerox, IBM,Apple. All spend tremendous amounts of moneyon promoting their brand names.

The reason we think of these brands first is dueto the constant bombardment of their names by

83

advertising day in and day out. Will we forgetthem if we don’t hear about them? You bet.

Has it been awhile since you thought aboutIpana Toothpaste? Bucky Beaver? Most of youhave never heard of Ipana at all. It was a majorbrand name in the fifties. Now sold only in oneor two midwestern states.

Look at your competitors. How have theypositioned their brand names? Are you going tobe a second or third choice of the customer? Or,are you going to position your name in adifferent category?

Don’t judge a book by its cover

Ever buy a book or magazine based on thecover or the hype and discovered afterwards itwas not what you expected? Brand names arecertainly important, but so is something else,packaging. The physical look of the product. Abox of Tide for example. There is tangible andintangible packaging just like the product orservices mentioned on the previous pages. We’lldeal with that in just a minute. Let’s go back toour box of Tide.

3. How do we compare?

When they package that box of Tide, which willbe displayed with their competitors, how they

84

look next to them becomes critical. Color,typestyles and design are what attractscustomers to the product. The message on theproduct causes them to either logically oremotionally evaluate your product and make apurchase. Or they return it to the shelf and buythe competitor’s brand.

Intangible Packaging

Probably the best place to see examples of thisis in the yellow pages. Here, similar competitorsare all displayed together and studies show thebigger the ad, the more response that ad gets.I’ll cover the Yellow Pages in more detail later.

Pick a section of the Yellow Pages and study it.The largest ads are usually personal injuryattorneys. They are half to full page ads. Howdo they position themselves? How do they setthemselves apart from their competition? Whatpoints do they stress?

You don’t need complicated logo’s, fancytypestyles, or electric colors. Keep it simple butmake it effective. If you’re not sure of yourdesigns, bring in a group of family members orcustomers and ask them to evaluate sample adsand packaging ideas. Ask them what they likeor don’t like about each one. Make a check listof 1 to 10 on several points. “On a scale of 1 to

85

10 what do you think of ...?” Don’t ask whichone they like best. You’ll just put undo pressureon them that there may be a wrong answerhidden somewhere. Make it as easy as possibleto be honest and anonymous. They will providemore information if they are unknown.

4. Pricing

Are you going to publish pricing in youradvertising? In sales and promotions, maybeyes. As a general rule, probably not. Why?When there is only price with no describedbenefit or perceived value customers becomeskeptical. When I worked at Circuit City, intheir video department, we had a sale thatstarted every Thursday and ended every Sunday.We always had a low priced sale on TV’s,VCR’s, camcorder’s, etc. Customers wouldcome in and ask to see the sale item. The firstquestion was usually something like, “What’swrong with it?” or “How come it’s so cheap?”

Price has to be attached to real benefits before itbecomes a consideration. Every feature of aproduct must have a corresponding benefit tothe customer. If the feature is not a benefit, it isuseless information.

The more features to benefits the product hasthe less consideration about the price and the

86

more valuable the product is in the eyes of theconsumer.

5. How do we get it to the customer?

How do you get your product to the customer?And how do you say that in your ad? Does thecustomer pick it up? Does it have to beshipped? Mailed? Delivered? FedEx? How doesyour distribution stack up against yourcompetitors? Are you faster? Slower? Cheaper?More Expensive?

All customers expect a timely delivery of theproduct. In the furniture business, I would muchrather sell something in stock rather than specialorder. The sale is completed almostimmediately. The delivery is scheduled and thecustomer has seen what they are going toreceive. With special orders there is time for thecustomer to find something they like better andcancel the sale. If they already have themerchandise there is less chance of acancellation.

Effective distribution is a huge customer salesplus. The more effective you are at deliveringthe product the better your business will be.

87

6. Who contacts the customer?

Are you going to use direct selling in yourbusiness? In other words, does a commissionsalesperson physically sell the product to acustomer one-on-one. Or, do they order it bycatalog or buy off the shelf at your location? Isit a self service operation? What selling aids doyour salespeople need? Catalogs, price lists,computer, order forms, etc. What are the costsrelated to these activities?

Many car dealers tout in their ads the length oftime some of their salespeople have been withthem. For many people, length of service is apositive and feel they will be better taken careof by someone experienced.

If you are an Internet business, you don’t havemuch of a track record because the Internet isstill in its infancy. So the customer may bewilling to forgive your inexperience because themajority of Internet businesses areinexperienced.

Some people dislike salespeople. They wouldrather look on their own. However, if you havea crack sales staff, talk about them. In manycases the crack sales staff will be you.

What are your sales strategies? Remember theVictor Business Machines story? Seventy-five

88

cold calls, 20 machine placements, 5 sales. Thatwas their sales strategy. Do your salespeopleneed to be certified or licensed? Will they needspecial training at schools or seminars?Reaching the customer is the focus. If we can’tsell the customer, the business is destined forfailure.

Rule of Two’s

Fred E. Hahn and Kenneth G. Mangun in theirbook, “Do-It-Yourself Adverting andPromotion” (John Wiley &Sons, Inc. ISBN #0-471-15442-3) define the “Rule of Two’s and the“Rule of Three.”

The Rule of Two’s simply means, “See an adonce, it’s a test; see it twice it’s a success.”Look at where you’re competitors ads arerunning. If they start to advertise anywhere on aconsistent basis, they must be getting some ROI(Return On Investment) from the ads.

What are your competitors doing. Quick point.Don’t become obsessed with your competitor’smessage. You don’t want your competitors toalways dictate how and where you advertise,but there are some things to look for.

Monitor your competitor’s ads and look for aresponse request. Is there a “Call To Action?”

89

“Half -Off!” This does not qualify as a call toaction. “Bring this coupon and get Half-Off allweek-end” is designed to bring customers toyour competitor’s location. If there is no Call ToAction how can your competitor know the ads’drawing power?

Key your ads. (I’ll cover this in detail later.) Butin a nutshell, keying your ads means that the“call to action” message in that ad will let youknow which media the ad came from. It mightbe a code number printed in a corner of acoupon. Or an “Ask for John”, or ask forextension 200 as a phone call. Using thismethod you can evaluate the power of the adand decide if it’s worth running again. Don’twaste advertising money by running ads thatdon’t pull customers. If you’re running a newseries of ads, make sure you allow enough timebetween ads to evaluate the effectiveness of thecampaign.

The Rule of Three

According to Hahn and Mangun, the “Rule ofThree” says, An ad message must appear threetimes in media that is seen or read by the sameaudience before you can expect it to be noticedonce. Studies show that it takes 9 impressionsof an ad before people have the confidence totry your business. Applying their “rule of

90

three”, you will need to run your ad 27 timesbefore it becomes effective. This type ofadvertising is useful in name recognitionadvertising. It also explains why advertisingdoesn’t always work immediately. And why youneed to pay attention to the “rule of two.”

Not sure where to advertise?

The public and university libraries haveS.R.D.S. (Standard Rate and Data Service)Directories. They are guides to the full range ofoptions on advertising to a specific audience orin a particular field. They contain detailedinformation, field by field, on nearly everymedium that accepts advertising. For moreinformation, check their website at http://www.SRDS.com or write them at S.R.D.S.,1700 Higgins, Des Plains, NY 60018, or call(847) 375-5000.

Next, The Message: Who to andHow?

Have you ever wondered, “What makes a greatad?” John McWade, is the founder of PageLab,Sacramento, CA (916-443-4890), the firstdesktop publishing studio. Here are some of thethings he looks for:

1.) We all like surprises. Can you state anordinary message in an unusual way. Not

91

comedy, but differently. Commercials done thisway are the ones we talk about at work the nextday.

2.) Keep it simple. Don’t let the designoverpower the message. The idea is the mostimportant part of the message.

3.) Get me involved. Shock me, make me mad,make me happy, make me cry, but don’t boreme and leave me cold.

4.) Make me curious. Isn’t the real purpose ofan ad to make me want more information? Grabmy attention and hold it.

5.) They command answers. They demand thatyou respond to the ad. They are like anunanswered question that must be resolved.

6.) Draw your own conclusion. Isn’t thestrongest conclusion the one we drawourselves? An ad that brings me to a conclusionis powerful indeed.

7.) The headline and the image tell the story.The headline should never tell you what is inthe picture. Only what you don’t see. Theheadline and picture create the story.

8.) They never brag. I keep coming back toYellowstone Harley-Davidson in Belgrade,Montana. Their billboard at the edge of town

92

proclaims, “The largest Harley-Davidson Dealerin Belgrade!” A town of 3-4,000 people. Theyare also the only dealer in over a hundred miles.Just a fact, not a brag.

9.) Great ads are always well executed. Theyhave good design that doesn’t overpower themessage. They have sharp photos, goodtypefaces, etc.

10. They Sell. The most important function ofany ad. What good is an ad that wins awardafter award if it doesn’t sell?

Apply the rules

We know our target group and we know ourproduct. Next, we’ve got to get our message outto our target group at a cost that’s within ourbudget. Let’s look at the five most popularmethods of getting the message out.

1.) Promotion: First order of business, Goals.As with everything else I talk about in thisbook, you have to know what you want yourpromotion to accomplish. You can’t begin todecide how to promote if you don’t have anexpectation of the end result. Perhaps youexpect to bring X number of customers into thebusiness the first week, month or X number of

93

phone inquiries. If you know the goal, it’s mucheasier to create the promotion.

Small Town Advantage

Promotion is one area where being in a smalltown is an advantage to business. You arereaching a small area and even though you havecompetition you have less than in most largecities. You should have a certain amount ofmoney allocated to advertising and promotionin your business plan. Your business may live ordie depending on how you spend this money.

Getting Started

To promote your business there are a host ofthings you can do. Coupons, contests andsweepstakes, sales, or rebates all shouldincrease traffic to your business. Which one orcombination depends on the goals you set.Which will accomplish the goal mosteconomically?

New Business?

If you are a new business, the first item ofbusiness is the promotion of a Grand Opening.(I think every retail business should have anannual Grand Opening.) New people move totown, and they may not know about yourbusiness. Established residents will begin to

94

look forward to your yearly event and promoteit for you by word-of-mouth.

Dealing with the media

Contact the local media about your GrandOpening three to six months before youropening and see what options are available toyou.

Is your store opening a news event? Have youmade your business unique in some way? TVstations may want to cover your opening or atleast do a story about the business. Radiostations love to do live remotes at newbusinesses, but are usually are not free.Newspapers featuring an article on your newbusiness is worth much more than any grandopening ad. Many papers have a “People InBusiness” section where you can put a smallannouncement about your business. It’s notalways easy to reach these media people andconvince them you are genuine news and nottrying to con them into doing some freepublicity.

Newspapers, TV magazines and radio usuallyhave reduced rates for new or first timeadvertisers. You may need to sign up for acertain amount of ads or spots to get thereduced rates.

95

Mailing Lists?

One of the least expensive ways to get yourmessage out in a small town is direct mail. Thefirst order of business is to create a mailing list.You could purchase a list from a mailing listbroker but this is sometimes prohibitive for asmall town because you need to purchase aminimum number of names.

I did a promotion for a spa dealer in Bozeman.One of the criteria we needed was an annualincome of $40,000. The listing company had a3,000 name minimum at a price of $35.00 perthousand. To get enough names with thatincome we had to expand the list to include fiveother counties. Because of servicing costs thespa company would only sell in two of thosecounties. The cost was only a little over $100.00but had to purchase a lot of names they’d neveruse, just to get the names in Bozeman and thesurrounding area. It was faster than creating aspecialized list which I’ll cover next.

Check at the chamber

Pick up a membership directory from your localchamber of commerce and create a mailing list.Sit down and hand type the mailing labels.Many chambers have a list in mailing labelform they sell. If you can’t afford that, make

96

your own from the directory. You can also getmailing lists from the post office. You can buyspecific postal routes for specificneighborhoods. You can send postcards (.20¢each = $20.00 per 100 Cards) or letters/brochures (.33¢ each = $33.00 per 100) forspecific neighborhoods announcing your GrandOpening. What about bulk mail? Isn’t it lessexpensive than a first class mailing? Yes, it is,but there are some strong disadvantages to bulkmail. The first disadvantage is bulk mail is notalways delivered in a timely manner by the postoffice. It is included with other mail as volumepermits. It could possibly be delivered afteryour grand opening is over. Seconddisadvantage - customers look through the mailover the waste basket and many bulk mailpieces go directly into the trash without evenbeing opened. That’s why I like postcards. Theyare 1¢ more than bulk mail rates, they aredelivered with first class mail. If you include“Address Correction Requested” under thereturn address the post office will update yourmailing list free, and finally they are almostalways read by more than just the person theyare addressed to.

97

Key Your Postcards (Give customersa reason to keep the card and bring itin)

As a key to your mailings, ask your customersto bring the postcard as an entry to asweepstakes or drawing for free gifts. Keep themailing lists and mail to these people two tothree times over the next six to eight months.Why? Because you need to develop a “namerecognition” with your customers.

Name Recognition

You are a new business. Customers need tolearn your name and associate it with yourbusiness. If they only see your name once howare they going to remember your business?How many people have you met one time andremembered their name? It’s the same with yourbusiness. The customer needs to hear your nameover and over to reinforce the name in theirminds.

Established Business?

If you are an established business, you haveestablished customers. Build your business onthem. Have a special sale or event for thesecustomers who have supported you over theyears. Show them that you appreciate theirsupport and they will promote your business for

98

you. A referral from an existing customer is themost powerful type of business contact.

“John Smith sent me in.” is much morepowerful than, “I saw your ad in the DailyJournal.” Remember, your good name is whatyour business survives on in the long haul. It’simpossible to place a value on this kind ofpromotion.

2.) What’s your advertising message?: Whenwe talk about advertising we are talking abouttwo basic concepts. Advertising informs and/orpersuades your customers to do something. Ifyou’re a new business, you will use bothconcepts. Inform (name recognition/productexistence) and persuade the customer toconsider the purchase of your product orservice.

Advertising Objectives:

Just like your sales objectives, you need to setadvertising goals and objectives. What will youradvertising accomplish? How long will it take?What will it cost? What type of strategy are yougoing to use?

Benefit

What benefit will the target market receive fromyour product? What problem will be solved?

99

What assurance can you offer that the risk oftrying or using your product will be minimal?

Oh, What A Feeling!

What is the feeling your advertising conveys tothe customer? For example: If I’m selling usedcars I may do a lot of shouting and exclamationof our great weekend car sale. If I’m from afuneral parlor, I’m going to have a much moresubdued and refined delivery. I’m not going toyell and scream about our weekend casket sale.

How to execute

If you’re spearheading the advertising yourself,there are some things you need to be aware of.

1.) How your logos and business name arepresented in the ad. All your ads, brochures, TVspots, radio should maintain a certain “familyresemblance.”

2.) Are legal disclaimers required and how arethey shown in the ad?

3.) What product lines are included? Does thecustomer need to be educated about your line?

4.) Store name, phone, address etc? Where dothey appear? How large?

5.) Colors? Typefaces? Ad placement location?

100

6.) Co-Op advertising? How are othercompanies logos used? What hoops do youhave to jump through to get your co-op money?

Your advertising goals and target marketinformation will make it easier to decide on thetype of media to use to get your message out.

How to choose the best media mix foryour message.

In a small town you will probably start with thelocal media choices that are available to you.This can be both good and bad. New businessesare tempted to advertise in all available media.Everything from the local newspaper to a spotin the back of the high school yearbook. Youwant to get the message out but your advertisingbudget is probably limited and you must besmart in how and where your message ispresented. As your company grows, moreadvertising options will be open to you. Fornow lets concentrate on the basics. As Imentioned above, you want your advertising tohave a “family resemblance.” In other words,your newspaper ads should “resemble” yourbrochure, and other print ads. Unseen ads likeradio should send the same message as thenewspaper and brochure. Each time an ad isexposed to one of your customers it isconstantly reinforced by another ad in another

101

medium. The customer starts to feelcomfortable with the message. Let’s talk aboutfour points you must deal with in choosingwhere to put your messages.

1.) You want to be noticed by the largestsegment of your target market. From the targetmarket section of the plan you should have afairly accurate idea by now of who your targetmarket is. The questions then become: Whatpercentage listen to what radio stations, readwhat newspapers, etc?

2.) Use your advertising dollars in the mosteconomical way. For example, you might useTV as a short time media to promote yourGrand Opening. But the cost of TV might beprohibitive for your day-to-day advertising.

3.) You may have primary and secondary targetmarkets. You need to be sure that the media youchoose will reach the key groups within yourtotal target market.

4.) When using different media, you must stayon top of your advertising. Be sure there isconsistency of image about your business.Make sure your spots are running when they’resupposed to and with the correct message.Running a sale ad after the sale is over is a pooruse of your advertising budget.

102

Frequency, Reach, Impressions,Rating Points, What does all thatmean?

Let’s look at each one.

1.) Frequency - This term refers to the numberof times one specific customer actually seesyour ad. It may play 100 times, but if only oneperson sees it one time, your frequency is 1.

Use frequency if you are trying to:

A. Capture the same market as your competitor(McDonalds vs. Burger King)B. When you want customers to order theproduct then and there.C. Customer must act within a certain timeperiod.There’s not a lot of difference between you andyour competitors.

2.) Reach - This term is often presented withfrequency because they are “first cousins”.Reach is the total number of householdsexposed to your message over a specific periodof time. The best example of Reach I can thinkof is The Super Bowl. The frequency is once ayear and the reach is a good portion of theplanet. Remember, when you run a newspaperad, it reaches a lot of people. Many of those

103

people are not your customers and never willbe. So Reach is important to look at.

Go for greater reach:

A. Introducing a new product to a broad massmarket and want as many as possible to knowabout it. The greatest commercial ever made(according to Advertising Age®) ran only onetime — during the 1984 Super Bowl. It was thead announcing the new Macintosh® computerfrom Apple Computer®.B. If the message is so good customers willreact immediately.C. When the product is newsworthy (CancerCure), and will demand attention all by itself.

3.) Impressions - The total of all exposures ofthe ad to all people that see the ad. For example,a newspaper has 10,000 readers per day. Ofthose, 8,000 read the sports page on a regularbasis. If you run an ad in the sports pages everyday for thirty days that’s 240,000 impressions.30 ads X 8,000 readers.

4.) Ratings Point - These are measures ofselected TV and radio audiences used toequalize in the customers eyes how oneprogram relates to another and they base theiradvertising pricing on these numbers.

104

Media Objectives

If I were to write a media objective for my radioads it might look like this:

The ad should reach 75% of my primary targetmarket an average of 5 times and 40% of mysecondary market at least three times in the first30 days. So, if I’ve defined my target marketcorrectly and place my ads with the correctmedia I should expect favorable results.

In large cities, advertising agencies would takecare of all this for you as part of their services.But in a small town you’ll have to do ityourself. Let’s look at how you do it.

Selecting the right media.

Now that you have your goals and objectives ofwhat you want your advertising to accomplish,it’s time to pick the advertising media(s) topresent your message.

1.) List and review as many sources andpossibilities as you can for reaching yourtarget audience.

Don’t be concerned about cost at this point. Youwant a list of as many ways to reach yourmarket as possible. For example, if I wanted toreach senior citizens, I might want to look at

105

Senior Golf Journal and Modern Maturity.Many seniors own motor homes so maybeMotor Home Magazine would be aconsideration. Many seniors are housebound, sothe local edition of the TV Guide or the TVlistings in the newspapers should be considered.List as many as you can and don’t limit youroptions. One of the best ways of finding outwhere your customers get their information is toask them. Ask how they heard about you. Mostpeople enjoy talking about themselves - so ask.They don’t need to know you’re doing research.Have them fill out a Satisfaction Report Card.Warranty cards are another good source ofinformation.

Radio, TV, magazines and newspapers will eachhave demographic profiles of their readers,listeners and viewers. Start by matching up theprofiles of the various media with the profilesfrom the target market section of yourmarketing plan. The library will have listingsand addresses of magazines that may be popularin your area. In Bozeman we have MontanaMagazine, many Bozeman businesses advertisethere.

Start with the biggest media first and narrowyour choices as you go. I mentioned above thatTV might be possible for a grand opening or big

106

sale, but not day-to-day. The same withnewspapers. The ads might be bigger for a hugesale but smaller for name recognition.

2.) Get a media kit from each potential mediaand study it.

A media kit will have all the necessaryinformation about the readership of a newspaperor magazine, or the viewership or listenership ofradio or TV. It should contain the demographicsneeded for your customer demographics.Billboard companies should also provide youwith pricing, availability and location ofavailable billboards.

3.) Form a relationship with your advertisingrepresentative.

These are the people who have the greatestinfluence as to where your ad may be placed orwhen it’s aired. In small towns the sales repmay also be the general manager at the radio orTV station. They can help you — make friendswith them and let them know you appreciatetheir efforts. Although most are paid oncommission and are always trying to sell youmore than you may need; they can often providespecial deals and promo’s that may cut costs.

107

4.) Choose a combination of media with the rightimpact

Remember, your goal is to pick the least expensiveadvertising with the “biggest bang for the buck.” Thisrefers to your whole package, not each individual part.A radio and newspaper ad may cost less and reach abigger segment of your target market for a longer timethan a one time TV spot on prime time. Make youradvertising pay.

5.) How time-sensitive is your advertising?

If you are going to run a magazine ad, it may takethree to six months before your ad will see thecustomer. This is fine if you know in advance whatyou’re going to run and for how long. Remember,magazines tend to hang around for weeks, months,even years in some doctors’ offices. If you need aquick result then magazines are not your best bet. Forshort time ads, use radio, newspapers, and TV. In mostsmall towns it will be radio and newspapers.

6.) Frequency and Exposure

We defined frequency as the number of times aspecific customer sees your ad. It has also beendefined as the total number of times an ad is run in aspecific media. Going back to our comparison of time.Ads in the daily newspaper often end up on the bottomof the bird cage before the day is done. They are seenonce and the paper is in the trash. Your ad is gone.Conversely, people tend to hang on to magazines thatare devoted to their interests and the ad stays around a

108

little longer. Using this argument, a dailynewspaper would require more frequency than amonthly magazine.

Be consistent in your advertising. Placing an adthree times in the same media in the same placehas a much better chance of being noticed thanthe same ad once or twice. Six to nine times andthings can really get exciting. I can’t stress thispoint enough. There is no “instant gratification”in marketing or advertising. It takes time to sowthe seeds and reap the harvest. Put yourmessage out there consistently and get itworking. If you invest in the stock market, thereis always a chance the market will go down andyou’ll lose money. If the market goes up youmake money. Advertising and marketing are nodifferent. They are investments. They are nottoo expensive. They aren’t an expense at all(although it may seem that way when you signthe checks for it.) Advertising, if done correctly,is an investment in your business and yourfuture.

Many marketing books will tell you thatrunning an ad too many times in the same placewill bore people and the message loses impact. Idisagree with this thinking, because as a societywe are not a stagnant pond, we are a whitewaterrapid. We are constantly on the move and we

109

dismiss many of the thousands of dailymessages that bombard us. We move from placeto place more than any country on earth.Bozeman changes its entire population every 10to 12 years mostly because of the winters.People were predicting Montana populationwould reach 1 million people by 1975. We’restill at 800,000 for the state.

Several years ago my wife and I attended anautomobile show in San Diego. We both fell inlove with the Mazda RX-7 but we could notrecall seeing any of these cars in the San Diegoarea. However, we were amazed on the drivehome they seemed to be everywhere. We musthave seen 15 to 20 on our drive back to thehouse. “Why hadn’t we seen these cars before?”They were obviously there.

We decided that all cars, except for those in ourimmediate path, were blocked out of our mindsas unimportant in our lives at that time. As longas your ad is producing customers let it run. Idon’t care how boring it is to you and youremployees, it’s new to a lot of people who willbe seeing it for the first time. If it is not workingafter a reasonable period of time, then it may betime for a new campaign. Campbell’s Soup hasbeen using “Mmm-mm Good!” for a long time

110

and Budweiser has been the “King of Beers” fora long time.

7.) Demographic numbers - How do I knowthey’re right?

Radio, TV and newspapers all fall under formsof self industry regulation. They have taken itupon themselves to do their own policing andkeep their industry clean. They use independentoutside sources to conduct audits on variousindustries.

For TV, it’s the Arbitron Company and A. C.Nielson Company that audit viewers and reportwho’s watching what, and when. Magazines useBusiness/Professional Advertising Association(BPAA). Newspapers use the Audit Bureau ofCirculation (ABC).

What should advertising cost?

Advertising costs are going to vary dependingon where you live and the competition in yourmarkets. Here are some things to consider asyou look at the pricing in your home town.

If the price of producing the ad is more than theactual cost of running the ad, something iswrong. Either you have a great ad and aren’trunning it enough or you’re running it in thewrong place.

111

Another way sales reps look at the cost ofadvertising is the good old price per 1,000listeners/viewers to a particular show or spot inthe program lineup.

Your interest should be in the cost per customerof your advertising. If I buy 3 spots for $10.00each ($30.00) and that produces one customerthat spends $20.00, what just happened. Youradvertising has suddenly become an expense,not an investment. You want to reach people butif your advertising is producing non-payingcustomers it’s useless.

Reduce advertising costs

So, can you reduce the cost of advertising untilthe buyers start coming? Yes, here are a coupleof ways:

Co-op advertising -

Companies will pick up part of your advertisingtab if you include their logo and product in theads. For example, a paint store can run an adfeaturing Benjamin-Moore Paints and the paintcompany will pay for a portion of the ad.Caution: Submit the ad to the co-op companyfor approval first. If you don’t use their logoand copy within their guidelines they willdisqualify you for the funds. Also, be patient inwaiting for the co-op money. It is almost always

112

paid after the ad has run. Sometimes weeks,even months may go by before the checkarrives. One way to speed up payment is byoffering to accept payment in the form of adiscount on your next order.

Joint and Cross Promotions -

Can you join forces with other companies andcombine your advertising dollars? Video storesand pizza parlors? Our paint company with apaintbrush company?

Combining products will sometimes make bothproducts stronger together than they were apart.Advertising them together is more economicalthan separately.

Which media is best for you?

Next, we’ll look at the different kinds of mediaavailable to you and examine the strengths andweaknesses of each.

Newspapers

Newspapers are mostly standard size (like theNew York Times) or Tabloid size (like theNational Inquirer). They are daily, biweekly,weekly, and in rare cases monthly. Somestrengths of newspapers are:

Speed: ads can be produced quickly andinfluence your customer immediately.

113

Local markets: Many small towns have someform of daily newspaper. They are one of thebest ways to reach local and small markets.

Sections: If you’re a stock broker you can be inthe business section, shoe store the familysection, grocery store the food section. Bewhere your customers are!

Budget: Newspapers have ads in a variety ofsizes that can fit most small business budgets.

Some weaknesses of newspapersare:

Short life: Sometimes they’re on the bottom ofthe bird cage by 10:00 am. Even worse, ifsomeone misses the paper one day, they missyour ad.

Ad placement: Where’s a good place to haveyour ad? How about next to the dailyhoroscope. Even people who don’t believe in itcheck it often. But, even if you request thatlocation, you may not get it. Your ad can be lostamong others on the page.

Demonstration: If your product’s story is besttold visually, newspapers have some realrestrictions. Even photos require a good sizedad to make them visible. TV might be a betterbuy here.

114

It’s news print: The quality of newspaperscompared to magazines leaves a lot to bedesired. The paper used is called news printpaper. To produce that kind of quality, on goodpaper, the daily paper would cost upwards of$5.00 or more per day.

Dealing with Print Ads

If you have the computer hardware, you maywant to create your own print ads. If you do,here are the things I do when I create an ad:

First, start with all the elements that must be inthe ad. These include: your logo, address, phonenumber and any other items that mention namerecognition. After I have those in place, I canthen see how much space I have left for themessage.

Next, I want to combine a strong visual with avery brief, but powerful, message about thebusiness. The purpose of the ad is not to makethe sale, the purpose to the ad is to entice thecustomer to call or come by or write to you.When that happens the sales process can begin.

I also want to stay about 1/8th to 3/8ths inchaway from the edge of the ad. Why? Because Iknow my ad may be clumped in with a lot ofother ads and this little area of white space will

115

help my ad stand out from the others. Don’t feelyou have to fill every available inch of spacewith your message. The same is true inbrochures and business cards. These itemsaren’t intended to make the sale. Their purposeis to alert the customer to your business andeducate them about a need they might not knowthey had.

Color?

If you can afford color, use it! If you can’tafford it, do the best you can for now. Fourcolor ads get a much higher response than adswith no color at all. One or two colors arealways better than just black and white. At leastprice color when talking with your media reps.

Caution: Sometimes color will only be used incertain sections and on certain pages of thepaper...be careful of placement of your color ad.

Size?

Make your ad as large as you can afford. Here iswhere advertising and marketing is aninvestment. If you go with the size ad you canafford now you are safe. Advertising is not arisk for you. But if you go with a larger ad youshould receive more calls and more businessand the ad pays for itself. I would suggest you

116

go with an ad one step above what iscomfortable for you.

Newspaper Ad Position:

To avoid being unhappy with the placement ofyour ad, make sure you will be in the correctsection of the paper. Economy, sports, editorial,etc. In some cases you may be able to pay extrafor special placement of your ad. The bestplaces to be in the paper, best to worst, are:

1.) page 2 or 3 of the news section,2.) the back page of any section (exceptclassified ads),3.) the first three pages of any section (exceptclassifieds),4.) pages 4 and up in the news section

Better placement and value:

Many local businesses like the weekly TVsection. In San Diego, this section was filledwith construction people, advertising homeremodeling and room additions. The TV sectionstays around all week while the rest of the paperended up in the trash.

Regional Sections:

In Montana, the Billings Gazette is available inmost cities in the state. The Gazette often

117

includes a regional section in their paper forBozeman, Butte, Missoula, and other citiesaround the state. The regional sections may beavailable at a lower price but mostly containclub and organization news of little interest tomost readers. You may not get the biggest bangfor your buck in this section. Contact businessesthat are currently in these sections and see whatkind of responses they are experiencing.

Special Events Sections:

Many newspapers have special events sectionsduring the year. Car shows, boat shows, bridalfairs, home improvement, etc. Before placingads in these get a copy of the previous yearsedition. If it’s mostly ads, with some stockarticles as filler between those ads, it’s probablynot a good investment of your advertisingdollar.

Advertising Inserts:

Take an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper, create anadvertising piece and have the newspaperinclude it as an insert with the paper. It’sdramatically cheaper than an ad of the same sizein the paper and can be color, or at least oncolored paper. You can also have it included incertain newspaper routes. If you are selling ahigh ticket item you may want the flyer to onlygo to the more affluent parts of town.

118

Key your ads:

How will you know if your ads are bringing anycustomers to your business? Put something inthe ad that will let you know where they saw thead. The most common key is a coupon. If youhave coupons in lots of places, put a code ofsome kind on each to show where it came from.If it’s in the Daily Gazette in the first week ofJune, your code might be DG1/6. If you get alot of coupons you’ll know that medium isreaching your target audience. If you don’t,consider changing the ad or going with anothermedium.

Other keys: Call and ask for Jim; Ask about our“Special Offer”; Ask for your free brochureabout “your product”.

Newspaper Cost:

Newspapers base their pricing on circulationnumbers (how many people subscribe), size ofad, color, and any kind of special placement ofyour ad. Frequent advertisers get better pricingthan once-in-while advertisers.

Final thoughts on newspapers:

Not every small town has a great paper. But,even with their weaknesses, the newspaper is a

119

great buy in most small markets and smalltowns for most companies.

Magazines:

Almost every kind of business has some kind ofmagazine devoted to it. It never ceases to amazeme, as I travel around and meet businesspeople,the variety of trade magazines that are availableto small business. You can take almost any tradename or industry and add the word “Today” onthe end and you’ll have a trade magazine.Concrete Today, Mobile Homes Today, BirdWatching Today, the list goes on and on.

Magazines are classified by content, geography(Montana Magazine), and whether they arebusiness to business, special interest or forgeneral public consumption.

Magazine Strengths:

Long life: As I mentioned above, somemagazines stay in doctors offices’ for years.Your ad stays there with it. Great for namerecognition.

Narrow Target Market: If you have a narrowtarget market, this is an excellent way to reachthose people. They are seeking out this type ofinformation and will pay more attention to the

120

ads than a casual reader of “People Magazine”would.

Versatile: Have you ever scratched off a spot ina magazine to sample a perfume fragrance?Ever seen a fold-out in a magazine? Specialinks? Heavy paper? There are a lot thingsmagazines can do other media can’t.

Credibility: Remember Good HousekeepingMagazine? Every company wanted the GoodHousekeeping Seal Of Approval on theirproducts. Some magazines have excellentreputations and an ad transfers that reputation toyour company in the eyes of some loyal readers.

Magazine Weaknesses:

Long lead time: It takes a while to get your adto the magazine. To advertise my website forChristmas, I’ll need to have the copy in by theend of June. I’m not sure what the website willlook like in December. Certainly different thanit looks now.

High Cost: Many national magazines are priceprohibitive. A national ad in “People” canexceed $100,000 per page. Many nationalmagazines produce regional issues and thoserates, though still high, are more reasonable for

121

small business. TV Guide is a good example ofa magazine that offers regional advertising.

Size and Color: Magazines offer great color(for a price, usually high) that other media can’ttouch.

Limited Space: Magazine editors don’t wantthe ads to overpower the content of themagazine. Except in the case of “People”special issues where the ad pages oftenoutnumber the content 2 to 1. It’s easy for yourad to be lost in popular magazines because theyare crowded.

Low frequency: Monthly magazines are 12 peryear. You may need to have other advertising inplace to reinforce your magazine advertising.

Magazine Ad Placement:

The best places to put your ad in a magazine,best to worst, are:

1.) The inside front cover,2.) the back cover,3.) the first few pages of the magazine,4.) directly across from the cover story or thefeature story,5.) the inside back cover,6.) the first 25% of the magazine,

122

7.) the next 50% of the magazine,8.) the last 25% of the magazine.

These may vary from magazine to magazine.One way to find out what’s successful inmagazines is to look at back issues. If the samecompanies keep showing up in the same spotmonth after month, you know it must beworking.

Some final thoughts on magazines

If you can afford magazine advertising,especially in color, it can be very rewarding foryour business. It stays around a long time asopposed to other media and has the power to bethe most professional and eye catchingpresentation.

Radio:

Radio has three categories: Local, used by mostadvertisers in small towns, for 30 or 60 secondcommercials; Spot, ads that are sold to nationaladvertisers for local markets; and networkwhich reach all stations in the national network.

Radio Strengths:

Reach and Influence: Radio reaches a lot ofpeople quickly and radio reaches a largeraudience than any other media. Homes often

123

have multiple radios. Car radios, portableradios, and radios in the workplace expose yourbusiness to countless thousands every day.

Production Costs: Radio commercials are lessexpensive to create than TV commercials. Youcan create a “word picture” on radio that wouldbe cost prohibitive to produce on TV.

Cost per thousand: (Review page 111, Costper customer) Radio is priced at cost perthousand listeners. It’s one of the lowest costper thousand available.

Formats: Radio station formats include talk,rock, new age, rap, country and contemporaryto name just a few. Each station has its owndistinctive audience. Match your target to theright station and radio is a great advertising buy.

Anything you can imagine: Several years agoStan Freeburg made a commercial touting thepower of your imagination in the use of radio.In the commercial, Lake Michigan had beendrained and filled with hot chocolate and aplane towing a giant marshmallow was flyingover to drop it. Can you picture this in yourmind? With today’s computer enhancementsthis would be easy to create on TV but the costwould be astronomical. On radio just paint a“word picture” and you’re done.

124

Radio Weaknesses:

Short Shelf Life: Unlike newspapers andmagazines, once the commercial airs it’s goneforever. It’s not around to refer to later. Radiorequires lots of spots on different stations toreach the majority of the listeners.

Visuals: If your customer needs to see yourproduct to appreciate it then radio is verylimited. You could use radio to direct thecustomer to a product demonstration.

Listener loyalty: Radio is a very competitivemarket. In Bozeman we have several stationsfor all of Gallatin Valley. Most listeners are veryloyal to their stations. To reach the majority oflisteners it may be necessary to advertise onseveral stations instead of just one or two.

Broad Range: If you’re selling to businessowners, for example, your message will belargely ignored by all non-business listeners.

Background: Many listeners have the radio onat work at a low volume for background musicand never hear your commercial.

Message content:

A radio message usually has three majorcomponents:

125

1.) An attention getting introduction. Distinctivemusic, sound effects or “jingles” canaccomplish this.

2.) The main message of the commercial whichshould create interest in the product or service;and

3.) A call to action. “Come down today.” “BuyNow!” Etc.

Check em’ out:

Do a little homework. Get the listings of radiostations in your area and start listening to them.Pay particular attention to who is advertising onwhat station. Does the “tone” of the commercialfit the station? You might not find a commercialfor the upcoming symphony season on a rapstation.

Target Market Match:

When picking a station you will need to matchyour target market to the station. Here are someways to do it:

From your target market profile, when is yourtarget market most likely to be listening? Dothey go to work early? Do they work nights?Weekends?

126

Match your product to the stationsprogramming. For examples, Cadillacs andinvestment shows, lawnmowers and gardenshows.

Radio Ad Placement:

The best placement for radio ads (best to worst)are:

Morning and evening drive time: On the wayto and from work, you have a captive audiencesitting in traffic with the radio as a diversion.

Weekend mornings: Sit down with a cup ofcoffee and the paper, and flip on the radio tocatch up on the weather, news, etc.

Work hours for certain kinds of stations:Jazz, easy listening, and classical stations areused as background music in many businesses.Although this is not the ideal place to put yourads they still receive exposure in a lot of retailestablishments.

Specialty Shows: Tie your product into a themeshow. For instance, your camping equipment toan outdoor show or your car painting businessto a car show.

127

Guidelines for Radio:

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind whenusing radio.

1.) Running several commercials per day over aperiod of weeks is better than spacing them outover a period of months.

2.) If you’re in a group of commercials at thetop of the hour, ask to be the first commercial inthe chain. Listeners will still be focused on theshow and you can keep their attention.

3.) Ask to have your commercials placed in themiddle of the show rather than the beginning orthe end. Once the program ends the listener mayturn off the radio and go do something else.

4.) If one of the announcers is well respected inthe community you might want to ask for themto read your commercial live. This practicecontinues the “tone” of the program and is morelikely to keep the listeners attention.

Final thoughts on radio:

All things considered, for the small or newbusiness, radio is the best value available forreaching large numbers of customers quicklyand easily. Radio spots can be produced and on

128

the air in a matter of hours as opposed to daysand sometimes months for other media.

Television:

Most small towns don’t have local televisionstations. However, I’m going to cover this areabecause the time may come when your businessreaches a size that you’ll want to advertise onone of the stations that reaches your community.And the television industry is the most powerfulmeans of reaching mass numbers of customersquickly.

Television has gone through several transitionsin the past 10 years or so. For years, networktelevision, had a lock on all TV viewers. ABC,NBC, and CBS did virtually all of theadvertising in the nation. In the late 1960’scable started to emerge and siphon off some ofthe network viewers. Cable movie channelsbegan to offer what every TV viewer dreamedof...an uninterrupted show with nocommercials.

Then came specialty channels that did carryadvertising; ESPN®, Weather Channel®,Discovery®, Home Shopping Network®, TheSci-Fi Channel®, The Comedy Channel® andyes, even the Golf Channel®. With cable thebusiness advertiser could now pick and choose

129

which channels to be on and when. Packagedeals became available. An advertiser could beon several channels each day for less than asingle spot on a network prime-time show. Inradio, as I mentioned, people tend to stay withone station most of the time. In TV, people“channel surf” through the selections until theyfind something that interests them.

What else is coming in the future? How aboutHigh-Definition TV? Better picture, bettersound and the Internet right on your TV screen.You will be watching a show, see someone in asuit or dress you like, choose it, and after theshow you can go to a “cyberstore” on your TVand get the price, sizes and order the articleright off the TV with a credit card. Men wouldlove to shop this way but I think the jury’s stillout on the women.

Strengths of TV:

It reaches everyone: Not everyone reads thepaper, or magazines, but almost everyonewatches TV some portion of every day, eitherfor entertainment or news or just relaxation. TVcan reach and influence better than any otheradvertising medium.

It’s visual: If your product requires some kindof demonstration or instruction, TV is your

130

medium. Could magazines and newspapers havesold the Hula Hoop as well as TV did?

Uses both sight and sound: Radio is hearing,newspapers and magazines are seeing. TVcombines not only sight and sound but,depending on your imagination, taste and smell.Ever see a food ad and your mouth startswatering? You can almost smell the hot rolls orpie.

Using Actors: In national ads, people like GeneHackman, Ed McMahon and others make agood living as spokespersons for certainproducts. Advertisers feel that we perceive thesepeople as honest and sincere and we’ll be morecomfortable buying the product from them. Goin the store and tell them Ed sent you. In a smalltown you probably aren’t going to get GeneHackman to do the commercials for your storeor service but, there are local folks that havecelebrity status on a local level. Radio DJ’s arethe most well known and if they are credible,use them if you can.

Brand Identity: If you are trying to establishyour logo or package design, TV is verypowerful. You can see the product in use, andsee the colors of the package.

131

Weaknesses of TV

Cost: Even in small markets, TV is expensive.Production costs, time, locations, ideas, re-shoots all add to the expense. One way to savemoney is to use national ads that have alreadybeen made at corporate expense and add yourname (called a “tag” or “tag line”) and addressat the end of the commercial. If you’re a paintstore, maybe Dutch Boy® has tapedcommercials you can use and they will pick uppart of the cost as co-op advertising.

Here today and gone today: Like radio, oncethe message is done, it’s gone.. Newspapers andmagazines keep your ad around but yourcommercial is gone and the next message is onthe way. However, with VCR’s it can be seenagain when the tape is replayed and can bepassed along to others.

Reinforce Your Message: Due to the thousandsof messages our brain receives every day, TVspots must be seen often to be effective.

Successful TV Commercials

Have you ever seen an ad in a magazine thatlooked just like a scene from the TV ad for thesame product? A good test of a TV ad is; couldyou take a single frame from your TV ad and

132

make a magazine ad from it? If you can then theimage is successfully telling the story.

All good movies have a beginning, a middleand an end. It’s the same with TV. Get theviewers attention, tell the story, reaffirm themessage and call for some kind of action.

Placing TV advertising:

Chances are you will be placing you own ads onTV. This can be a dangerous activity for yourbusiness. It isn’t that TV is more difficult thanprint or radio, the problem is the cost of amistake. One mistake, your message in thewrong place or wrong target market can be veryexpensive.

Some final thoughts on TV

The most economical form of TV advertising is“spot” advertising. Local spots in your area areavailable on the Super Bowl. Not at hundreds ofthousands of dollars for each minute but at localpricing based on viewership. The Super Bowlwill be higher in price than normal local ads,but it may still be a bargain for you.

Keep in contact with your local sales rep forupcoming special programming that mightattract your target market. Local sports is agreat way to get some exposure for your

133

business. Don’t wait until your local team isready for the Championship game to buy yourspots. Make a deal at the beginning of theseason that if the team reaches the finals and TVcoverage is planned that you will commit to acertain number of spots. That way you’ll belocked in and others will be locked out.

Run ads several times over a period of weeksinstead of months.

Try and run commercials in the middle of theshow rather than at the end of one show and thebeginning of another.

If you are going to run several spots in the sameevening or during the same show, have two orthree variations of the same commercial readyso the audience won’t get bored seeing the samemessage over and over.

If you can afford TV in your market and youcan make good spots, then use it. Nothing ismore powerful for reaching large numbers ofcustomers and building name recognition.

Yellow Pages

The most used way to find a service or businesson a local level in the United States is by far theYellow Pages. “Let your fingers do thewalking”, says it all. If you think you don’t use

134

the Yellow Pages that much, put it in thebasement for a month and see how many timesyou reach for it. If you are in a service business:carpet cleaning, plumbing, carpentry or acontractor or electrician you’ll get a lot of callsfrom the Yellow Pages.

For some unknown reason, the term YellowPages was never copyrighted by anyone, so yousee it used by all sorts of local telephonedirectories. Here are the strengths andweaknesses of the Yellow Pages:

Strengths of the Yellow Pages:

Buyers: By the time a person gets to the YellowPages, they are already sold, they are lookingfor the place to buy.

Credibility: Most fly-by-night companies don’tgo to the time and expense of a Yellow Pagesad. If a company has a Yellow Pages ad, there isa perception, that company is probably honestand capable.

Classifications: If your business wears manyhats, you can advertise under several headings.For example, a company that sells copymachines may also sell fax machines and wouldwant to be under both listings and increase yourcustomer base.

135

Free copy: Every person and business in yourselling area that has a phone gets a free copy ofyour ad. Yellow Pages are used by 89.9% of alladults. It gives you total market coverage.

24 hours a day: It’s ready to go and if you’re a24 hour business, customers are ready to buy.

Cost: The cost per thousand is relatively lowcompared to other media. (Remember to trackcost per customer in your ad).

Extends the reach of other media: “See our adin the Yellow Pages under widgets.”

Yellow Pages Weaknesses:

Naked to the world: I turn to your YellowPages ad and there you are — with ALL yourcompetitors. There is a chance I might call acompany with a bigger ad, or one that says theyprovide the specific service I need.

Long lead time: You need to have your adready almost six months before the new phonebook comes out.

No Updates: Change of address, phone, newservices, discontinued services? Sorry, noupdates until the new phone book comes out.

No Coupons: I was working with a videocompany in San Diego at the beginning of the

136

video store boom in the early 1980’s. We madethe major mistake of putting a two-for-onemovie rental coupon, with no expiration date, inour Yellow Pages ad good at any of the 15stores we had at that time. This was during theearly days when the average rental price was$5.00 per night.

People got coupons out of phone booths,offices, no phone book in the city was safe. Foralmost 18 month we gave away thousands ofdollars in free movie rentals. It was a verypainful lesson. Before you start to feel too sorryfor us, we did go on to build 42 stores in SanDiego and eventually sold the chain toBlockbuster Video for $12.5 million.

The final word on the Yellow Pages:

I think the consensus here is clear. If you canafford to be in the Yellow Pages, do it. When Ifirst opened my marketing business in 1985, theprofit from my first call paid for my YellowPages ad for the year. However, I placed alarger ad in a regional Yellow Pages and neverreceived a single call from that ad. I’m notsaying don’t advertise in regional books, butyou may want to ask similar businesses howtheir ads are doing. When in doubt, do what Idid...Test an ad and find out. If it works nexttime buy a larger ad. Two good Yellow Pages

137

resources to help you design and buy ads thatwork are: “Advertising In The Yellow Pages”by W.F. Wagner, and “Getting The Most FromYour Yellow Pages Advertising” by BarryMaher.

Internet

The Internet itself is an entire book. Maybe mynext book will be on this, it is a fascinatingmedia. Here are just a few of the predictions ofwhere it’s going.

According to Dataquest (GartnerGroupCorporate Headquarters, 56 Top Gallant Road,Stamford, Connecticut 06904 USA +1-203-316-1111, a research firm), Internet connectionsincreased 71% worldwide in 1997. The Internetpopulation is expected to grow from 22 millionin 1995 to 117 million by the year 2000. TheWorld Wide Web (a segment of the net) willgrow from 14.3 million in 1995 to 110 millionby 2000.

Forrester Research predicts that by the year2000 Internet-related services will generate$45.8 billion in revenue and an additional $46.2billion in assets will be managed through theInternet.

138

Consumer Attitudes and Behaviorsabout the Net

Seventy-six percent of the U.S. public identifyon-line services as “the wave of the future.”(Project WOW!, 1995)

Twenty million of your friends and neighborsconsider the Internet “indispensable.” (Harper’sIndex, 1997)

Twenty-one percent of American householdshave access to the Internet (Internet WorldMagazine, February 1998)

How people learn about websites

Friends and other webpages (links): 96%

Magazines: 64%

Newsgroups: (People with similar interests thatpost information about their industries) :56%

Other sources: 36%(Georgia Institute of Technology, 1995)

Fifty-one percent of U.S. adults think theInternet, e-mail and on-line “chatting” makepeople more social, while 41% say it makesthem anti-social. (Luntz Research for MerrillLynch, 1997)

139

Ninety-five percent of America On-Line usershave purchased something from an on-lineservice. (Direct Marketing Association, 1997)

Percentage of consumers who own theequipment to get on line: 66%; spend at least 3hours per week or more using on-line services:35%; spend 3 hours or more per week using theInternet: 28%. (Metromail Corp, 1997)

How People View Internet Users

Trying to get ahead: 91%Successful: 90%Family-oriented: 78%Similar to me: 76%Nerds: 52%Boring People: 35%Couch Potatoes: 33% (Project WOW! Survey)

According to Commerce Net/Nielson, whatbusiness people are using the net for:

Gathering information: 77%Collaborating with others: 54%Vendor support and communication: 50%Researching competitors: 46%Communicating internally: 44%Customer service and support: 38%Publishing information: 33%

140

Purchasing products or services: 23%Selling products or services: 13%

Profile of the average Internet User

(Source: Doublebase Mediamark Research Inc.1997)

Males: 41.7% - Females: 58.3%18-24 years old: 17.1%25-34 years old: 28.0%35-54 years old: 47.5%55-64 years old: 5.6%65+ years old: 1.8%

Professionals: 22.7%Executives: 20.5%Clerical/Sales: 27.3Precision/Repair: 4.9%Other: 11.2%

Homeowners: 69.9%

Post Graduate: 16.3%College Degree: 47.7%Attended College: 37.4%Graduated High School: 12.4%Did Not Graduate High School: 2.5%

Household income of $75,000: 40.2%Household income of $60,000: 57.4%Household income of $50,000: 67.9%

141

Household income of $40,000: 79.3%Household income of $30,000: 87.9%

If you did your target marketing sectioncorrectly, you should be able to match up or notmatch up your target market with the averageInternet user I’ve just profiled. I think it’sinteresting that the people with the householdincome that could most afford to use theInternet is the lowest group, (by percentage) inthe profile.

Should you be on the net?

So, are you on the net yet? Do the prices ofcreating a web site scare you? If you aren’ttotally committed to this new medium yet here’ssome discussion to get you up to speed.

Do you sell to the world or do you do businesslocally? Local business can benefit greatly froma web presence if there are enough computers inyour area. The cost can be prohibitive in somesmall towns.

If there is enough computer use in your area,you can put your brochure, catalog, price lists,maps and anything else you can think of onyour page. Realtors, Travel Agents, Crafts, loveweb pages. Look at http://www.santalady.com

142

for a global example and http://www.billiondeal.com for a local example.

Can you create your own web site? I created myentire site in Adobe PageMill 2.0. (160 pageuser guide and very easy to use) and softwarecost about $65.00. I created one simple pageand took it to my Internet service provider (ISP)to make sure it would work before I did thewhole site in this program.

The cost of the site at $60.00 per hour had Iused a web page design service would havebeen approximately $6,500.00 to $10,000.00! Apretty good savings. Can’t afford the software?Free web pages are available at: http://www.geocities.com and http://www.cybertown.com. Finding ways of gettingyour message out while saving money is whatwe do here.

Am I a computer wiz? No, I’m a marketing wiz.The difference is, I sat down and forced myselfto learn how to do a website.

Do you have the time to maintain the site andkeep it up to date? Nothing will turn people offmore than a site that never changes. Why keepcoming back if there is no new information? Ifyou’re going to have a site you must make itinteractive with your potential customers.

143

Here are a few strengths and weaknesses of theInternet:

Strengths of the Internet

Look, I’m BIG: You can look as big asMicrosoft, Coke or anybody else out there. Noone can tell by looking at a web page how bigthe company is.

Cost: (You’ll find this in the negatives too) Ifyou can create and maintain your own website(I did mine, so how hard can it be?) the cost isless than any other media. It is literally penniesfor the vast numbers of potential customersyou’ll reach. No other media can reach theentire world 24 hours a day, 365 days a yearwith your message.

Size of your message: My website located athttp://smalltownmarketing.com has 40 pages atpresent. By this time next year it will have wellover a hundred. I recently read about a gamemagazine site that has over 600 pages. Somesites have over 5,000 individual pages. Trykeeping those all linked together.

If you have a catalog of products, where elsecan you have a full color catalog of your entireline available anywhere in the world? What is

144

the cost of printing 1,000 full color catalogs?How about updating that catalog?

You can put your brochure on line. Movingimages to demonstrate your product; sound,music,...if you can imagine it, it can be done onthe net.

Compliments other advertising: Put your webaddress on every piece of literature you have.Business cards, stationary, brochures and everyad you run in any media. Does your localChamber of Commerce have a website? Seeabout a listing or banner. Use all your resourcesto direct people to your web site. Use your website to call them to action and order yourproducts.

Business Help: If you don’t have a web site, orhave no desire to have one, I would stillencourage you to get Internet access at home orwork. The amount of FREE helpful businessinformation is overwhelming. The SmallBusiness Administration has business plans andmarketing information. Individual industrieshave web sites to help you with almost anyquestion.

Weaknesses of the Net

Size: The very thing that makes the Internet soattractive to business is also one of it’s biggest

145

weaknesses. Twenty thousand sites per year jointhe Internet family. It is so big it’s easy to belost in a sea of information.

Cost: If you aren’t able to create and maintainyour own site the costs involved can be high.Website design can range anywhere from$30.00 per hour to several hundred dollars perhour. The Internet provider (think of it as theswitchboard at the phone company) will chargea monthly fee for hosting your site. Usually thiscost is based on the size (amount of computermemory required) of the site. The more space itrequires the higher the cost.

ISP (Internet Service Providers): It neverceases to amaze me how people look at the costof a service. I was talking to a businessman whowas bragging about how little he was paying forhis site.

ISP’s are businesses just like any other, theyneed to show a profit to survive. The expense ofan ISP is very, very HIGH. Will your low costISP be able to stay in business cutting theirprices? Will they be able to maintain theequipment? The answer is usually NO. If theygoes under then what?

If you can’t get your site out of their system youmay have to pay to create it all over again. In

146

addition to that if you change providers, youcan’t use the same address. You’ll need to put a“We’ve moved” page up to direct people toyour new home.

Make sure you look at more than price whenselecting an ISP. They must have the bestavailable equipment, be up all the time, andoperate flawlessly.

According to Boardwatch Magazine, therewere 1,447 Internet Service Providers inFebruary of 1996: in August 1997, there were4,133. Be very careful in selecting an ISP. Priceis the very last consideration I would have. Askto speak with some customers who are doingwell with the service. Talk to them and see ifthey are satisfied with the customer support.

Register a domain name

A domain name is a name you own and onlyyou can use. For example, www.nbc.com isexclusive to the National BroadcastingCompany. It will help your advertising greatly ifyou have either a distinctive or descriptivename. Something easy to remember. Theaddress to register a domain name is: http://rs.internic.net/help/domain/new-domain-reg.html

147

My site name is www.smalltownmarketing.com.(if you just type smalltownmarketing.com, I’llcome up). It’s easy to remember and it describeswhat you’ll find at the site. If I didn’t have myown registered name my address would be:www.avicom.net/smalltownmarketing/index.html. How easy is that to remember?Leave out or mis-type any part and youwouldn’t find me. This is a major problem withfree page sites. The address must be in front ofthe customer. They couldn’t possibly rememberit.

Hits / Visitors: This is more amisunderstanding than a weakness. We readfrom time to time of a web site getting 1,000hits a day or 10,000 hits a day or a 100,000.

What is a hit? Most people think it’s a personwho came to your site. No it isn’t. A hit is anexposure to an element on one page of your site.

When a person visits your site and goes to aspecific page on that site that is 1 hit. If the pagehas 3 graphic elements on it, each graphic onthe page counts as a hit. So now our visitor hasseen one page and we have 4 hits (one for thepage and one for each of the elements). Theymove to the next page and bingo, 4 more hitsand so on. If we have enough pages, and they

148

stay long enough, they may do 1,000 hits bythemselves.

There is nothing deceitful about telling folksyour page is getting a lot of hits. Just make sureyou aren’t inferring that hits are individualvisitors. New websites talk about hits andestablished sites with lots of traffic talk aboutunique visitors.

Search Engines: The most popular way forsomeone to find something on the Internet is togo to a “Search Engine.” Type in a word, (suchas “spider”) and the search engine will find allthe sites that deal with spider for you. Then youcan scroll through the pages and pick a site byclicking on it. A point to remember whensearching; If you enter the word “Coffee” with acapital “C”, the search engine will only returnpages that have Coffee with a capital C. If youenter the word “coffee”, the search engine willreturn all instances of both “coffee” and“Coffee.”

Websites are usually submitted to searchengines by your ISP (Internet Service Provider).They have the knowledge and are familiar withthe procedures. You can submit your site tosome search engines yourself. One popular siteis http://www.submit-it.com/. They will submit

149

your site to a certain number of search enginesfree or more for a fee.

There are six major search engines. They are:Excite, Infoseek, WebCrawler, Lycos, AltaVistaand HotBot. There is also one other, the mostpopular, called YaHoo! YaHoo is a special casebecause it’s not a search engine at all. It’s anindex of sights in categories that is written andupdated daily by editors.

So what’s the weakness here? Try and pictureyourself wanting some information and youwent to a warehouse with one giant yellow pagebook with all the businesses in the world. Howwould you find what you’re looking for? Find aheading and look at businesses alphabetically?How fair is that to people in the “Z’s” Sorry, thenet doesn’t work that way.

A search engine looks at a combination of 5things: There are other variables, but none ascrucial as these five.

1. The title tag of the site. When my site comesup the title is “Small Town Marketing.”

2. The first paragraph of the site’s HTML(hyper text language) text.

3. The rest of the text on the pages.

150

4. The number and occurrence of certain words(marketing, for example). This entire book is onmy site. If they are looking for marketing, I’mthere! (Did I mention this is a marketing bookabout marketing.)

5. And for some, but not all, “meta” keywordsand “meta” description tags. These are writtenin a specific way (by software or ISPprogrammers) so search engines can find them.

The weakness is that the importance of thesefive elements varies from one search engine toanother. And they can vary from month tomonth.

Also notice, there is nothing about graphics inthe five steps above. A site loaded with graphicsis nearly invisible to a search engine. If youcheck out my site, you’ll see graphics are at thebare minimum. Large graphics take time to load(come up on the screen). If your page loads tooslowly, your customers will leave.

Last but not least, it can take anywhere from afew days to several months before your listingbegins to appear on the search engines. YaHoo!receives over 8,000 submissions every day. Ifyou have a site up and nothing is happening,maybe this is part of the problem. Be patient,

151

they will start to show up and your traffic willincrease.

Credit Cards: Are they safe on the net?: I gointo a restaurant, enjoy a nice meal and give thewaitress my credit card. She takes the card,processes it; at closing it goes to whoevermakes the bank deposit, then to the bank to ateller, then to someone at the credit cardclearing house, then to another teller at theissuing bank; to a dumpster in downtownPhiladelphia and finally to a landfill. How safeis that?

This is so ridiculous I am reluctant to waste thepaper to discuss it. The restaurant argumentabove is the very same one that went aroundwhen the first credit card was introduced in themid 1960’s. People were sure clerks in storeswould steal the numbers and they would beliable for the purchases. People would nevereven consider giving a credit card number overthe phone.

Do you really believe there is someone out therewith the equipment needed and the expertisewaiting to get your card number? To do what?Buy a Rolls-Royce? Most of us don’t have acredit balance large enough to buy a tank of gas.If you want to tell me a hacker wants to break

152

into CitiCorp and steal 10 million credit cardnumbers, that I’ll believe before I’ll believethey’re laying in wait for me to make atransaction. If you are really concerned, get acredit card with a small limit and only use it onthe net. Under current law you’re only libel for$50.00 on a stolen credit card.

“Sorry, the system is down”: Does yourprovider have multiple connections? Forexample, if they are exclusive with MCI andMCI goes down - guess what - you’re downtoo!! With multiple connections you areprotected from the failure of a single carrier.Ask.

The last word on the Internet

Internet commerce is on the move and you maywant to consider being a part of it. Doespromotion of your web site pay off? Considerthis:

In 1994, for every dollar direct marketers spenton Internet advertising, $4 in sales weregenerated. By 1997, ad-to-sales ratios havealmost doubled—for every dollar directmarketers spend in advertising on-line. Onaverage, $7 in sales are generated, according toa report entitled “Economic Impact: U.S. DirectMarketing Today—A Landmark

153

Comprehensive Study, 1997.” I don’t knowabout you but I could live with those numbers.

If you’re interested, the study wascommissioned by The Direct MarketingAssociation conducted by The WEFA Group.The complete study may be purchased bycontacting the DMA’s Book Distribution Centerat 301-604-0187.

What can I say. The net is good, it’s bad, andeverything in between. I guess the question toask, should you be on it? Here are somequestions to ask yourself:

1.) Do you print and distribute large amounts ofmaterials to customers?

2.) Do you provide documentation orspecifications to customers?

3.) Would customer service and support costs bereduced if information was available ondemand?

4.) Do you sell by direct mail or mail order?

5.) Can your business be easily described by akeyword?

6.) Do you ship products to customers?

7.) Do you sell directly to the customer?

154

8.) Is there something that makes your productunique?

9.) Can your product be easily shipped to acustomer?

10.) Do you produce catalogs of merchandise?

If you answered yes to 8 or more, you shouldconsider a net presence.

Summary of advertising in general

If there is one mistake small town businessesmake more often than any other it’s “What everis left over, we’ll use for advertising.”Marketing and advertising is an investment, notan expense. I know it sure seems like anexpense to me when I’m writing the check, buttrust me it’s not. Without enough money putaside for advertising your sales can go downand you suddenly have less and less to promoteyour business.

When do you advertise the most? For mostbusinesses it’s the first day of business. Don’tyou have a Grand Opening, balloons, flyers,ads, on-site radio remotes, contests, and prizes?Did the income from sales pay for that? No, itdidn’t. You have no sales yet. You advertisemost when you need business. You advertiseeven more when you don’t.

155

An average cost of advertising is usually 1 to5% of gross sales, which can vary according tolocation, local advertising rates, and yourparticular industry. Car dealers need moreadvertising than funeral homes.

Let’s look at the four basic strategies ofsuccessful advertising:

1.) In order to be successful, your advertisingmust provide a consumer benefit or solve aproblem.

2.) That benefit or solution must be wanted bythe consumer.

3.) The product or service you are offering mustbe tied directly to that benefit or solution.

4.) The benefit or solution must be distinctlycommunicated through media advertising. Inother words, be clear, forget the advertisingglitz and make sure the message isn’t lost in thead.

A small-budget advertiser doesn’t have the‘’deep pockets” to develop big advertisingcampaigns. Sometimes you need to break therules to be noticed. Avis did it by admitting theywere “Number 2” in the car rental business andthat campaign took them from 6th place to

156

second place. When they stopped that campaignthey dropped back to 6th again.

Budget conscious advertisers must achieve topresults for their advertising dollar. Expand yourdollars by adopting some creative techniques.

Here are 25 tips I’ve used over the years to helpsmall businesses get a jump on the competition.I hope these will help you:

1.) Radio, newspapers and magazine specialistswill frequently give free help in developing anadvertising strategy. Things like demographicinformation, and money-saving ways to produceyour ads etc.

2.) Place your ads in off-hours or in unusuallocations for less. Many times you can stillreach your target market with these spots.Instead of a one-time big splash ad, beconsistent with frequent small ads that work.We did this with the video store in San Diego.Several small ads in each section of the paper.

3.) Monthly magazines sometimes have unsoldad space at the end of the month they will sell ata discount.

4.) If you have an 800 number, put it in every adfor immediate response and feedback. Alsowebsite and email addresses.

157

5.) Test advertising consistently in theclassifieds. These ads may draw morecustomers than more expensive display ads.

6.) Can you barter for the cost of ad production?Maybe the newspaper needs painting inexchange for an ad about your paint store.

7.) Piggyback advertising are the ads youreceive with your MasterCard bill. Is theresomeone in your town that sends out a lot ofbills? Can you put a small flyer in with theirbills and split the postage? Or pay a small fee?Help them pay the postage.

8.) Split advertising costs with the people whosell to you. Vendors and manufactures arealways looking for exposure. Let people knowyou carry their products and have the vendorpick up part of the ad cost.

9.) Are there up-front advertising discounts forcash?

10.) Consider advertising in regional issues ofnational magazines. The costs are lower andyou can still reach your target market. TVGuide is a good choice. It stays around for atleast a week. Time, Newsweek, and US Newsand World Report may stay in local doctorsoffices for years.

158

11.) Share ad costs with neighbor business.Video stores and Pizza parlors are naturalpartners. Have coupons to each others stores orshare the cost of flyers.

12.) Try reducing the size of your ad (not in theYellow Pages) or length of your radio spots. A60 second spot is not twice as much as a 30second spot but you won’t get twice as manycustomers for a 60 over a 30. Going with smallads or shorter spots will allow you to do moreads which normally pulls more customers. It’sbetter to be there every day with small ads thanevery month with one big one.

13.) Develop tight production controls tominimize the need to reject finished ads. Themessage is more important than the messenger.Don’t try to produce ads that win awards,produce ads that sell.

14.) Who are your very best customers? Aimyour ads to talk directly to people like them.

15.) What will suppliers give you in the way ofpoint-of-purchase materials (Posters, stand ups,handouts, etc.) Some have excellent displayracks you can use.

16.) Some national chains like Coke and Pepsiprovide outdoor signs for businesses. There are

159

also indoor lighted signs you write on withspecial markers to advertise your special offers.

17.) Can you sponsor a community event? Afun-run, golf tournament, or other event thatwill be well publicized in the community. Yourname may not be prominently displayed butsometimes the positive exposure in thecommunity will bring in new customers.

18.) Small businesses can seldom affordsaturation advertising. You must be selective inthe media that reaches your customers. Pin yourad reps down and make them show you exactlyhow their media reaches your target audience.

19.) Exploit the media you choose. If yourmessage is verbal, you don’t need TV. Use thestrengths of radio, billboards and newspapers tothe fullest.

20.) Consider direct mail. A letter and brochurebefore customer contact can increase business.An IBM study concluded that selling time canbe reduced from 9.3 to 1.3 total hours withdirect mail advertising. A Sales and MarketingExecutives International Study showedsalespeople went from eight orders per 100 coldcalls to 38 orders per 100 when direct mail wasused.

160

21.) Try an editorial style ad. These are ads thatlook like actual stories in the newspaper. Theywill have “advertisement” shown at the top ofthe article. Develop a good headline, and 50%more people will read the article than wouldread an ad of the same size. Most will miss theword advertisement at the top.

22.) You can’t match larger competitors dollar-for-dollar but, you can use unusual approaches(like the Avis idea), but color, music, slogans,humor (but be careful), or media selection towin your market away from the big guys.

23.) Due to the high costs of conventionaladvertising on radio, TV and newspapers, manycost-conscious business have been forced tolook for lower cost methods. Can you advertiseon parking meters, taxi boards, balloons, blimpsand grocery shopping carts? Or on communitybulletin boards, movie ads and weeklynewspaper shoppers?

24.) Key your ads. Put something in the ad thatwill let you know which media it came from.On coupons, put a code that will record thepaper and date of the ad. In radio or TV, havethem mention the ad to get the discount. Askevery customer how they found you.

161

25.) Plan for a rainy day. During the year put asmall amount aside each month foremergencies. You never know when you’ll needto react quickly to whatever the competition isdoing. You must be able to capitalize onbreaking national events or news regarding yourindustry. If negative things happen in yourindustry you may need to respond quickly tomake sure the right message is presented.

26.) Always give the customer more than youpromised and more than they expected. This istip number 26 of the 25 you expected. Maybethis last one is the one you needed.

I hope these tips will help your business grow.Not all may be relevant to your particularsituation. Hopefully, they will illustrate theimportance to plan and control your advertisingbudget.

One more time before we leave, Advertisingand Marketing are what? Very good. AnInvestment -invest wisely and reap the benefits.

Publicity:

The last topic of the media mix is publicity.How to get it and how to use it. Here are somethings you need to do immediately if youhaven’t already:

162

1.) Most newspapers have an “assignmenteditor”, who assigns the stories to the reporters.Write him/her a letter explaining your expertisein your industry and that if a story about yourindustry comes along, you would be happy toprovide information to them. Enclose a rolodexcard with your name and address, phone, etc. Ifyou don’t have a rolodex card you can buyblanks at most office supply stores. If you can’tfind one enclose a business card.

2.) Contact civic groups in your area. Manyhave weekly or monthly programs. Most won’tlet you do an infomercial for your company butthey will allow you to talk about your industry.For example, I’ve spoken at many of theKiwanis Clubs in the San Diego area. What wasmy topic? “How to Market Your KiwanisClub”, of course. Do you have a fear of PublicSpeaking? We all do. Take a Dale CarnegieCourse, that was my answer. Your local AdultEducation Office may offer public speakingcourses also.

3.) Most newspapers and magazines have whatis called a “masthead” near the front of thepublication. This will list the publisher, editor,and specific editors of various sections of thepublication. For each publication and radio/TVstation in your advertising area, start a record ofthe following: Name and title of the contact

163

person; publication or station name; if radio,type of format (rock, talk, country); address,phone and zip code; the areas of interest theyare responsible for (city news/county news/features/sports); publication demographics asthey pertain to your business; deadline dates, ifany; any past articles that have to do with yourindustry or business in general; any past articlesabout your competitors; and a record of allletters and discussions with each media.

4.) Have some press photos done. Always use aprofessional photographer. Don’t save moneyby doing it yourself. Take pictures of your staffand key employees, your business, products orservice (in use if possible, action shots sell), andyour building or storefront if you have one. Foryour portrait shots use a light background ifpossible, it will reproduce better in thenewspaper. If news breaks and you need to“seize the moment”, you need to be ready withthe info the media needs or they will find itelsewhere.

Press releases: What are they andhow to use them?

Press releases are announcements sent tonewspapers, magazines, radio and TV stationscontaining newsworthy information about yourcompany, service or industry. They are written

164

in a very specific format which I will cover in amoment. First, let’s deal with the steps ofpreparing the information for a press release.

1. It must be news: No media is going to run afree commercial for you. There is a thin linewhere news ends and a commercial begins. Thepaper or station wants to stay on the news sideand you want to be on the commercial side. Ifyou can’t explain why it’s news then it may notbe and they won’t print it.

2. Who gets the release: Remember the list Iasked you to make earlier. That’s the group whogets the final version.

3. No more than three pages max: An editormay receive several press releases in a day. Ifthe article is too long, it probably won’t even beread. Be brief and to the point. Mark Twain isquoted as having said, “I’d have written you ashorter letter but I didn’t have the time.” Takethe time to be concise.

4. Who, What, When, Where, Why andHow?: The news release should answer all ofthe above. Who did what? Who does it affect?How does it affect them? Why does it affectthem and not someone else? When will it affectthem? Where will it happen?

165

5. Quotes: Experts in your industry add weightand credibility to the story but don’t over use.

6. Can you write?: Many small businesses willhave to write their own releases. If you don’tfeel comfortable writing the release yourselflook for a professional to help. If none areavailable look to the English department at thenearest college or university.

7. Prepare a media kit: If there are studies,illustrations, pictures that support your storyinclude them. They may not be used but if thestory is used they will strengthen your position.Have all the photos, brochures, companyhistory, past news articles, awards and anythingelse you can think of that will enhance yourimage in the eyes of the press.

8. Prepare your staff: There is nothing worsethan having a reporter show up on the day youare gone and get some off-the-wall quote fromone of the staff. Make sure people at yourbusiness either make an appointment when youcan meet with the reporter, or have a designatedspokesperson to act in your behalf who isfamiliar with the press release and what youwant to accomplish. Make sure all employeesare familiar with the media kit.

166

9. There are no guarantees: If the paperdecides to run a story on you, there are noguarantees that it will appear when you wantand where you want. Your story may be buriedback by the classifieds somewhere. Worse yet,they may have gotten “the other side of thestory” from your competitor. They may glossover your best stuff and just print some statisticsand not even mention your name.

10. Follow-up: For a newspaper, follow-up inone or two days. Don’t ask, “When are yougoing to print my story?” Instead ask if thereare any questions you can answer. Is there anyadditional information you might be able toprovide?

What should a press release looklike?:

A press release has a very specific format. Sincethis is a download type book, and some peopleare going to have to download a text onlyversion, I will have to verbally describe thepress release.

The cover page is usually on companystationary. If you don’t have any, typeset thecompany name, address, zip and phone in theupper left hand corner of an 8 1/2 x 11 page.Margins should not be less than 3/4 inches or

167

more than 1 inch from all sides. In the upperright hand corner type the following:

NEWS RELEASEContact for Editorial Information:Your Name, Your TitlePhone Numbers

The first line flush left, all capitals should be:

FOR RELEASE ON (Insert date) orFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Next, announce the news with a clear simpleheadline, in upper and lower case type, centeredon the page, such as:

NEW BOOK DETAILS MARKETING PLAN

FOR BUSINESS OWNERS IN SMALL TOWNS

Start the news with the location and currentdate. And the first paragraph would look likethis:

Bozeman, Mont. - July 6, 1999 - Small TownMarketing.Com announced today a new bookentitled “How To Market, Advertise andPromote Your Business Or Service In A SmallTown” by Tom Egelhoff. The book is aimed atsmall businesses in locales where marketing andadvertising agencies are either unavailable ornot affordable. The book provides a step-by-step marketing plan designed for the special

168

challenges of marketing a business or service ina small town. Also included are chapters onsmall town business promotion, small townadvertising, small town success principles andhomebased business success principles. Thisbook is available for immediate download athttp://smalltownmarketing.com.

Tell the story in the first paragraph

When you write the first paragraph, keep inmind that it may be the only part the paper uses.The first paragraph should be able to standalone without any of the rest of the release. Useadditional paragraphs for additional points inorder of importance and priority.

Each paragraph is flush left, no indents, put adouble space between paragraphs. If the releaseis going to continue to the following page(s)place the word (More) in parenthesis centered atthe bottom of the page.

At the end of the release, put three numbersymbols centered on the page.

###

The news release alone is enough to write anentire book on. Visit the public library andyou’ll find several books on the subject. Checkwith the local newspaper. Sometimes they will

169

have prepared a news release outline that detailsthe way they would like to receive a newsrelease.

A few points to keep in mind. Can you tie yourbusiness image to any national event? WorldSeries, Olympics, or the Super Bowl? Whatabout something going on in your state? Do youhave an unusual product or service? Do any ofyour employees have a personal story thatrelates to your business?

Damage Control

There comes a time in every business whensomething negative will happen. As Imentioned, my parents were in the floristbusiness. I remember a time when our dog bit acustomer. Fortunately for my parents, this wasduring a time in the country when peopleweren’t looking for a reason to sue each other.We treated her on the spot and gave her somefree merchandise and an apology and that wasthe end of it.

In today’s society, we would be looking at asignificant law suit, the certain death of the dog,and possibly the end of the business.

You are never going to know what will happenor when. We couldn’t have foreseen that dog

170

bite, but we could foresee something like usingpesticides on the flowers injuring someone, adelivery person hitting a pedestrian. I don’twant you to get paranoid that you must considerevery possible accident that could possiblyhappen in the universe. But, look at yourbusiness. Are there specifics of your businessthat could be a potential for bad publicity?

Many companies create hypothetical situationsand create the necessary media response eventhough they have no reason to believe it willreally occur. It’s the boy scout motto: “BePrepared.”

The last word on publicity:

The advantage of a small town is you won’thave several thousand businesses trying tooutdo each other in the quest for news space.You’ll only have a few hundred.

Take a good look at your business and what’sgoing on around you and make some news.

171

Chapter Nine:Step 8: Design A Marketing

Calendar

Set up your marketing andadvertising calendar

Now that you have all your marketing stepscompleted, it’s time to set your calendar for thefirst six months of the year. By the first sixmonths, I mean start now, don’t wait until nextJanuary to start this.

Use a piece of 8 1/2 x 14 legal size graph paperwith boxes that cover the page. 14 inch side willbe the top. This size works best and is easy tofile and work with. Divide the paper in halfhorizontally. Create a graph that shows the 52weeks of the year across the top. On the leftside of the top half, list the sales, promotions, orevents your business has planned for the nextsix months. On the left side of the bottom half,list the various media you intend to use over thenext six months. Radio, TV, newspaper,magazines, flyers, billboard, etc.

Now you can start to set up your calendar. Ifyou are a retail store, list things like; half-offsale, anniversary sale, or Mother’s Day saledown the top part of the left side. Let’s say you

172

have the half-off sale scheduled for the firstweek in March. Place your finger on “Half-OffSale” on the top left side and move to the rightacross the graph until you are under March,place an X in the box for the first week ofMarch.

Next, go to the second half of the page to themedia you have listed. Let’s say you will dosome newspaper ads to promote your half-offsale. Let’s also say, since the half-off sale willbe the first week of March we want to promotethe sale in the last week in February.

So, go down the left side of the page tonewspaper, move to the right until you areunder the last week in February and place an Xin the box. If you have a spread sheet programlike Excell or Lotus 1-2-3 this is easy.

What you want to be able to do with thiscalendar is go to any week of the six monthperiod, start at the top and go down and seewhat promotions are coming up and what mediamust be contacted and ads prepared. Then whatmerchandise to order, what signs to have made,and how much advertising to budget eachmonth, all on one sheet of paper that can beposted in your office. It also keeps employees

173

updated on what’s coming up so they can startpromoting events to your customers.

This is a very important part of your totalmarketing plan. It will keep you on track andact as a constant reminder of where yourbusiness is and where you want it to go.

174

Chapter Ten:Step 9: Execute Your PlanOr Plan Your Execution

This will be the shortest chapter in this book.The title says it all. You have finished yourmarketing plan, now it’s time to put it to work.You have your objectives, your target market,the types of promotion you will use, and themedia you will use. All that remains is toexecute the plan as you have designed it.

One point that should be made as you executeyour plan, some things may not go exactly onschedule or happen as you hoped they would.Radio spots will be skipped, ads will be runwrong, or on the wrong days. Things like thiswill happen and as the plan is being executed,you need to be ready to react if something goeswrong. Anytime you place responsibility in thehands of anyone who doesn’t have a vestedinterest in your business, Murphy’s Law(Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.)may take over. The best advice I can give you isbe ready for anything.

175

Chapter Eleven:Step 10: Is Your Plan Working?

The final step is perhaps the hardest of all. Anhonest and objective evaluation of how the planis or is not working. When you are close to yourbusiness, and these are your ideas, and theyaren’t working, even though every fiber of yourbeing says they should be, it’s tough on somepeople’s egos to regroup and try anotherdirection.

Keep in mind that no one knows how the publicwill react to anything. The Pet Rock pretty wellproved that. They should come to our store butthey aren’t. Why not? What have we missed?Chances are you haven’t missed anything. Thechances are you haven’t waited long enough.

Marketing takes time to be effective. It is trialand error and testing, testing, testing. Most goodmarketing promotions take anywhere from sixto nine months before results are noticed. Youare asking people to do something new.Consider your product or service instead ofwhat they usually do. That process takes time.

Talk to anyone who has run one newspaper adone time and then tells you newspapers don’twork—nobody came in. It’s like playing

176

baseball for the first time. You take one swing,miss, and then decide you can’t hit so why play.

The best way to evaluate the plan is to do it inpieces, not as a total entity. Look at the variousobjectives you have set. Sales objectives: Howare your salespeople doing? Are sales edgingupward? Staying the same?

What about your marketing objectives andstrategies? Are they on track? Is yourpositioning strategy working? Any feedback onpricing, packaging, or your brand name? Areyou getting any publicity from your newsreleases? Are the advertising media producingany traffic? As you can see there are many areasin a marketing plan that must be evaluatedbefore the plan is scrapped is favor ofsomething else. Your plan will be in a constantstate of evolution as you evaluate and improvethe various components. Don’t panic if resultsaren’t immediate. The sales of this book weren’timmediate. The marketing plan has to grow. Itstarts as an infant and grows into a self-sustaining entity.

177

Section Two:Small Town Success Principles

The very strength of a small town is the key toyour success in it. What is the strength of asmall town you ask? It’s people. Small townshave people, large cities have numbers,constituents, inhabitants—they are the public.People in small towns not only know eachother, they go out of their way to meet eachother and introduce their friends to others. Ifyou are a “people person” you will have a toughtime failing in most small towns.

Small town people were “networking” witheach other long before is became the buzzwordof the 90’s. Small town people are forced toknow each other by county fairs and churchsocials, funerals, their kids, civic events andtown meetings. They also understand that, inmany cases, they are going to be together for along time. Most of these folks would hate citylife. Given a choice of living in New York forthe same price as their small town, for mostfolks its a no-brainer. They might like to visitNew York—But Live There? Not a chance.

If you are just moving to a small town here aresome things to do to help your success:

178

1.) Start meeting people. The local churches arethe best place to start. These folks will welcomeyou with open arms. If they don’t, then it’s notreally a church, is it?

2.) You are in business, where do the businesspeople meet? In the small town of Jerseyville,Illinois, where I grew up, a group of businesspeople used to meet every morning at a biground table in the back of one of the localrestaurants. In Bozeman, where I live now, thelocal Rotary Club, Lions Club and KiwanisClub have a lot of the movers and shakers intown. The Chamber of Commerce has“Business After Hours” meetings once a monththat are very popular with business people. Jointhese groups and meet people.

3.) If you have a problem meeting people, findthe friendliest folks you can and build on them.Ask them to introduce you to some of theirfriends. And ask those friends and so on and soon.

4.) Many successful business people are happyto share their good fortune with the communityby their involvement in the United Way orScouting. These groups are usually supportedby the better and more successful businesses intown. Join these groups and let them know, you

179

also, are a person who wants to help your newcommunity.

If you are long established in your communityhere are some things you can do to add to yoursuccess:

1.) Become the new welcome wagon for yourtown. By that I don’t mean go around with giftbaskets and welcome each new resident. Whennew businesses open or people are in your town“scouting” for a business location, meet asmany as you can. They are your new customers.

2.) Support and encourage those around you.Whether you are the boss or the employeeyou’ll go farther as either with this attitude.

3.) Be as optimistic as possible all the time.You’ll find if you do this it’s contagious. It’seasy to sit around and gripe about everything inyour life going wrong. Nobody wants to hear it.Be positive and customers and employees willsee you as positive and they will follow you.

4.) Show courage in your business and yourpersonal life. We don’t name highways or buildstatues to cowards. Be a leader in yourcommunity.

5.) Don’t be afraid to seek the advice of others(provided they are qualified to give that advice).

180

Don’t ask some guy you just met in a bar toevaluate your business. Be selective in who youask for help.

6.) Always act, think, and talk like aprofessional. You will never be one unless youcan see yourself as one. When we look atsomeone, we can’t see their pedigree. We don’tknow what we’re getting until we see somepositive sign that shows this person is OK.What do you call a person who got the lowestpassing grade in medical school? You call himDoctor.

As you walk or drive around your small towntomorrow, take a really good look andappreciate what you have. Then set your siteson making it better. The rewards you receivewill be 100 fold.

181

Section Three:Small Town Advertising

I covered the basics of advertising extensivelyin the Media Mix Chapter of the marketingplan. What I want to do here is touch on a fewpoints that are specific to small towns and somefinal points to keep in mind as you put the wordout to the world.

1.) Big city messages don’t often work in smalltowns, so be careful of using pre-made ads fromlarge companies. An ad that shows a family onthe front steps of a New York City brownstonemay work great there, but no one in Judith Gap,Montana is going to relate to it. Use the idea ofthese ads and have them redone with a farmfamily on the back steps and you’ll have awinner.

2.) Small towns are people. In your ads, speakdirectly to one of those people, not the wholetown. Each person will feel you are speakingonly to them.

3.) Small town people are often portrayed asbackward hicks or uneducated. They aren’t.They are you. And you must be truthful and

182

absolutely believable in your ads if you wanttheir business.

4.) Screaming and yelling may be effective inlarger cities but seldom works in small towns.

5.) Talk is cheap. If your product is good you’regoing to have to prove it here.

6.) Many small towns have retired folks andsenior citizens. Make sure your ads are readableto these people. Type should not be smaller thanten point (12 point or larger is preferable).

7.) Small towns are bombarded bytelemarketers just like large cities. You maywant to consider a coupon or a return card withyour ad instead of an 800 number. Studies haveshown many people feel they are going to get a“high pressure” sales pitch at the 800 number.

8.) Unlike a large city, small towns have moregeneral demographics. A large city may have alarge area of Eskimos you want to reach. Youmay want to create an ad just for them. In asmall town your message must be moreconsistent in the different media you use or itcan be lost in the clutter.

9.) Testimonials are very powerful in smalltowns. If you can get an influential local personto endorse your product or service, your

183

competitor is out in the cold. He’ll have to findanother influential person to combat yours. In asmall town that’s not always easy to do. Line upseveral people, if you can, and shoot thecommercials as fast as possible. They can bereleased slowly over a long period of time.

10.) Keep every promise you make. Keep themeven if you didn’t make them. I tell the story ofthe lady who returned the set of tires toNordstrom’s. Nordstrom’s doesn’t sell tires,they sell clothes. They took the lady’s tires andcheerfully refunded her money. This kind ofservice separates them from their competitors.

Advertising in a small town is dealing with real,honest, sincere people. They haven’t beencorrupted by the cutthroat tactics often used inthe big cities. They look for the best in peopleand expect the same in return. If you plan to dobusiness in a small town give your customersthe level of service you’d expect. You’ll be gladyou did.

184

Section Four:Small Town Promotion

How to bring them in

When you think of a promotion, most peoplethink they’re going to get something free. Thatisn’t always the case, but people view apromotion as something good.

Who does promotions? Car dealers are probablythe world champs, followed closely by CircuitCity® type stores, and finally furniture stores.Why promote? It gets people in your store in abuying frame of mind. So what makes smalltown promotion any different than anywhereelse?

The main difference is population numbersversus the cost of the promotion. A large citypromotion may draw thousands while a smalltown promotion may only draw a few hundred.What those few hundred actually purchase maynot even cover the cost of the promotion, muchless leave a profit. Any promotion is tricky butsmall town promotion is even more dangerous.

Why do a promotion? What is the objective thatyou want a promotion to accomplish? Onereason might be to stimulate business during aslow time of the year. Perhaps a Christmas sale

185

in June might draw some attention. If you areintroducing a new product or service to thecommunity. Show off the new facility after amove or remodel.

When considering a promotion, the first item ofbusiness is almost always cost. How much is itgoing to cost us to “buy” these customers? And,make no mistake about it, you are buying them.You are giving them either a value or the chanceat a value (such as a raffle).

The least expensive promotion, in my opinion,is the cross-promotion. Get together with a non-competing business and share the cost of thepromotion advertising. This way you bringcustomers into both locations at half the cost.

Depending on your products, a drawing isprobably the next best. Perhaps themanufacturer of the grand prize would bewilling to provide some co-op advertising help.Be careful here, you may not see the co-opmoney for some time.

The most important thing about any promotionis proper exposure of your business or service tothe right customer. There is nothing worse thanspending a bundle in advertising, then seeingyour store so full of customers that no one caneven move much less see anything.

186

You can’t always control the amount of peopleyou’re going to draw, but be prepared to movethem through your business in an orderly andefficient manner.

Also remember, it’s OK to sell things during apromotion. Sometimes business owners get socaught up in the celebration of the moment theyforget that it’s a business, it’s OK to make alittle money. Give them the store tour anothertime. Put them in front of the merchandise andclose the sale.

Holding a drawing is a great way to generate amailing list. I know what you’re thinking,“That’s pretty underhanded, don’t you think?”

Keep in mind that these people are at thepromotion because they have an interest onwhat’s going on there. They may not be buyerstoday but keeping them informed with mailingsmay turn them into buyers in the future.Everyone likes to save money. Many of themwill appreciate knowing about upcoming salesand promotions in the future.

The main point of promotion I want to makeclear is, make sure you know what yourobjective is. What do you want the promotion toaccomplish? Set a measurable goal. Is it thenumber of customers you attract? The amount

187

of sales? An increase in sales from currentcustomers to create increased sales after thepromotion? All of the above?

Set goals and measure what happens. If thepromotion is successful, you may want to run itagain later in the year. Promotions helpmaintain a customer interest in your business.Good luck with yours.

188

Section Five:Homebased Marketing

Success Principles

The scenery never changes

Homebased businesses are vastly different thanstorefront type businesses, in that, you arealways at home. The scenery never changes.You get out of bed and walk a few steps andyou’re at work. There are good and bad pointsto this arrangement.

Discipline yourself at home

Self discipline is the heart of success in myopinion. If you can’t make yourself do the workand ignore the little outside things that interferewith your goals, you will not be a success inany field. The key ingredient to that selfdiscipline is your dream or goal.

Successful people are successful because theyhave a dream or goal and they will not bedenied in their quest to make that goal or dreama reality. They work unbelievable hours,overcome hardships and set backs and persist,no matter what.

Every successful person from Bill Gates toMother Theresa got to where they are because

189

they had the vision to see the goal and worktoward it one step at a time, one day at a time.

Three Steps to Success

In this section of the book I want to cover theareas you need to recognize and deal with tomake your business a success. There are threeinitial areas. They are: 1. Forced Discipline, 2.Associations, 3. Vision of the Future. Lets takethem one at a time:

1. Forced Discipline. To understand forceddiscipline we must first understand the majordifferences between fear and desire. Fear is anextremely powerful motivator and inhibitor.Fear will keep you from achieving your goals.Desire will propel you toward your goal.

Fear of failure.

In his book, “The Psychology of Winning”, Dr.Dennis Waitley, Ph.D. uses the followingexample. Suppose I placed a board two feetwide and fifteen feet long on the floor. I put a$100.00 bill on one end and asked you to walkthe length of the board and pick up the $100.00bill, would you do it? Of course you would.There is nothing to fear. Odds of failure arealmost nil.

190

Now suppose I put one end of the board on topof a twenty story building and the other end onan adjacent twenty story building. I’ll put a rockon the $100.00 just to make sure it doesn’t blowaway. Now would you walk the board? Whathave we added here? There is a very highpenalty for failure isn’t there. Twenty storiesstraight down. The $100.00, is suddenly, not asufficient reward for the task that is asked.

Studies show more people fear public speakingthan fear death. We fear what our friends willthink of us, so strongly, it affects our morals,standards and principles. The fear of businessfailure and our friends laughing at us if we fail,stops most people from even consideringstarting a business.

This isn’t high school anymore folks. If thesepeople aren’t helping you put food on the tablefor your family and don’t support andencourage you, they aren’t your friends. It’s thatsimple. Lose em! I guarantee if you’resuccessful they’ll be gone anyway. They aren’tgoing to hang around with a successful personand have to explain why they aren’t successful.It just isn’t going to happen.

People who make $100,000 a year don’t hangaround with people making $18,000. So get on

191

with the only life you’ll ever have and startmaking something happen for you and yourfamily.

Desire - Just do it

Desire on the other hand is just as powerful asfear, but in a different way. Desire fights fear.When I was about 6 years old, I was at aswimming pool with my parents. I was playingin the shallow end of the pool and I suddenlyslipped on the bottom of the pool and wentunder. From that day on I had a terrible fear ofwater. I never went into the water for anyreason. You can imagine growing up in a farmcommunity where every one had a pond orsome body of water nearby. It was years laterwhen I was in high school when I finallylearned to swim and my fear of watermiraculously went away. I thought to myselfhow stupid I had been. And all the fun I hadmissed by not taking the steps to overcome myfear.

My desire to learn to swim and be with myfriends (girls primarily) finally pushed me to thepoint I had to overcome the fear. Desire was theanswer. Once my desire became more powerfulthan my fear, the fear disappeared and my goalwas achieved. That is also how business successis achieved.

192

Let’s get back to forced discipline and you’llsee how this all comes together. Forceddiscipline is fear. Self discipline is desire.Here’s how they work:

As a kid growing up we lived under the shadowof forced discipline. Our parents made alldecisions for us, and if we didn’t abide by thosedecisions, there were consequences. “Clean upyour room or you can’t go out and play.” “Mowthe yard or no car this weekend.” “Be home bymidnight or you’re grounded.” At school, “Doyour homework or you won’t pass”. At work,“Be on time or you’re fired.” “Your evaluationwas low, no raise for you till you get the scoresback up.” “I’ve got my eye on you.” Mostpeople will stay where they are, in a job theydespise, than face the fear of finding somethingbetter or more rewarding that may not work out.Better to stay with a sure thing than have no jobat all.

The government, “Pay your income, property,sales, estate, excise, federal, state, city, county,and gas taxes or it’s jail for you.”

Is it any wonder we let fear overpower us? It’s alife long habit we’ve acquired. Fear is quiteliterally a way of life for most people. Go

193

through your normal day tomorrow and see howoften you must confront and overcome fear.

Forced discipline is easy. You have no choice inmost cases. Fear is always an easy excuse.That’s why the majority of the Americanworkforce spends all its time making someoneelse’s dream come true instead of their own.

Self discipline, on the other hand, works toovercome the lifetime habit (and fear) of forceddiscipline. It’s the only way to overcome it.

If you want to own your own business, youmust have self discipline. There is no other way.You must have a goal and work toward that goalevery day. The goal or desire must be the totalfocus of your life in order for you to besuccessful. In some cases, this may take a tollon your family. The extra hours of starting andrunning a part time business is going to infringeon their time. Writing this book took time awayfrom my family. I didn’t wait until everyone inthe house was asleep to begin writing. When Idecided to write this book I sat down with mywife and outlined the sacrifices we would bothhave to make in order to make the book areality. I had to set a writing schedule and withfew exceptions I stuck to it. Here is a short

194

example of how I used self discipline to writethis book:

Self Discipline Plan

Goal One: What is the result I want? Sell 5,000copies of this book. In order to even write thebook you must have a goal of what’s going tohappen when it’s done. I wrote down exactlywhat I wanted and expected from this book. Isee, in my mind every day, 5,000 books sold.

Goal Two: What am I willing to give in returnfor the 5,000 books sold. I am willing and willspend at least 15-20 hours a week writing andresearching for as long as it takes. In this caseabout three years

Goal Three: Establish an exact date for goalnumber one. In this case, New Years Day, 2000.By setting this date in my mind, mysubconscious mind will work every day to makethat date happen. I will be pushed to market,advertise and do whatever is necessary to have5,000 books sold by New Years Day, 2000.

Goal Four: I created a definite plan of how Iwas going to sell those books. I wrote acomplete marketing, promotion and advertisingplan to make my dream happen.

195

Goal Five: I wrote out a clear concise statementof the first four goals in as much detail inpossible.

Goal Six: I read the statement created in goalfive every morning and every evening. As Iread the goals, I saw in my mind that they hadalready happened.

This is how self discipline really works. Yoursubconscious mind can’t tell the differencebetween what is real and what is vividlyimagined.

Don’t we create imaginary fears in our minds?If we do, then why can’t the opposite be true? Ifwe imagine positive successful things, ourminds will go in that direction, and we willwork toward fulfillment of those commands.

Desire for success is the only way to overcomefear of failure.

Associations

It was the best of times, it was the worst oftimes. Excuse me as I paraphrase CharlesDickens, “Tale of Two Cities”. For purposes ofthis book, let’s change the quote slightly to,“They were the best of people, they were theworst of people.” In a small town or in therelatively small world of the home based

196

business we know a lot of people. Strange as itmay seem a lot more people know us.

There’s good news and bad news. The goodnews is, the expertise of people who know yourfield or can help you, probably will. The badnews is, people with absolutely no expertiseabout your business who couldn’t possibly helpyou, probably will.

Friends or Foes

Remember the old saying, “Birds of a feather,flock together.” We tend to associate withpeople who think the same way we do. Smokersgravitate toward each other, bowlers, golfers,hunters, readers, bird watchers, gang members,all “flock” together. So, are friends bad? No,friends aren’t bad, unless they try to give youinformation they are unqualified to give.

If you want to learn to play golf, do you join thelocal bowling league and start asking bowlersabout golf? There may be some golfing bowlersbut doesn’t it make more sense to go to the golfcourse, ask to see the golf pro, and take somelessons? Does it matter that the golf pro may bea complete stranger to you? The golf pro has theneeded knowledge to assist you inaccomplishing your goal...how to play golf.

197

Would you ask a friend who has never playedgolf before in their life to teach you. Why not?They’re your friend aren’t they? They have yourbest interest at heart, don’t they? They want tosee you succeed, don’t they? Do you see wherewe’re going here? The road to the hot place ispaved with good intentions.

When my father decided to start his floralbusiness, he drove to the next town, met florists,made friends, and hung around as long as theywould let him. He watched how they designedthings, what they charged, who the supplierswere and how they ordered products. Helearned from people doing what he wanted todo.

Some people he didn’t ask: his father, hisbrother, his sister, his best friend. The reason hedidn’t ask any of them? ...they weren’t qualifiedto advise him. They, as he, had no experience inthe floral business. Asking them would be awaste of time.

But, I always ask my father...

I know, I know, you always get your dad’sadvice in every major decision. When I boughtmy first car I asked my dad for advice. He hadbought a lot of cars. He had more experiencethan I did in that area. Same with our first

198

house. But for legal advice, guess what, herecommended an attorney to me. He didn’t tryto give me legal advice. He knew he wasn’tqualified to do that. Even your best friends willtell you, “Get a lawyer and sue the SOB.” Theydon’t say, “Let’s go to court, I’ll represent you.”

Doesn’t it seem strange that with something asserious as your business, the way you providefor your family, that your friends are more thanwilling to explain to you why your businessideas won’t work. Worst of all, they do it underthe guise of saving you from yourself. “Wedon’t want to see you go down in flames.” Ofcourse, they don’t know anything about yourbusiness, how it works, or your vision for it.They can’t see it so it can’t possibly work.

Look at any great leader of business or industryand I’ll guarantee you somewhere in thisperson’s life they were ridiculed and laughed atby people who didn’t understand their vision.

Whether you love him or hate him, Bill Gates isa perfect example of a man with vision whorejected family advice, endured all the computernerd jokes, to rise to the pinnacle of hisindustry. I can imagine the IBM boardroomafter signing the licensing contract with Gatesfor the DOS operating system. “Well I hated to

199

take advantage of that young man”, theyprobably said. In fact when Gates arrived for hisfirst interview with IBM, he was so younglooking, he was mistaken for a mail boy andsent to the mail room in the lower areas of thebuilding.

If you feel you must ask your friends for theiradvice or opinions then do so. However, makesure you also get some advice and opinionsfrom people who have done what you want todo. Ask someone who’s been there. They willgive you the good and the bad. Then you canmake a qualified decision and move yourbusiness forward.

Vision of the Future

The third area of homebased business successprinciples is being able to see into the future.None of us truly knows what’s around the nextcorner. Otherwise why would the PsychicFriends Network have to ask for your creditcard number? Shouldn’t they know thatalready?

If you are a parent, think back to when yourchildren were about 6 months old. You’rewatching them crawl around on the living roomfloor. Do you picture them at 30 still crawlingaround in diapers? Probably not. You picture

200

them educated, with promising careers, happilymarried with the world at their feet. Everydecision you make, as they grow, is based onwhere you want them to be as an adult. Startpicturing your business as your child. What doyou see as its’ future?

The Future Is NOW

I know it’s hard when you look over in thecorner of the room and there’s a card table and atelephone and that’s your business. Pretty hardto picture a threat to IBM isn’t it? You need toget over that kind of thinking and do it now—The future is today. Your child didn’t become anadult in a day and the same will be true withyour business.

The second area of concentration is toreprogram your mind to see the business as youwant it to be every time you make a decisionregarding your business. “How will thisdecision affect my business 5 years, 10 years,20 years from now?”

What is the destination?

An airline pilot flying from New York toLondon can’t see his destination for almost 99%of his flight. The secret is knowing what youwant the business to be, a plan to make ithappen, knowing where the destination is...and

201

moving toward it. Success has been defined as:The progressive, day by day, realization of aworthwhile goal or dream.

Move day by day toward the dream or goal ofyour business, seeing your business as you wantit to be and act like it’s already there. Let merepeat that. Act like it’s already there. Everydecision, every sale, every contact says toclients and customers, this is a business on thegrow. See your business, see the future.

Around the house...

If you’ve never had a homebased businessbefore, here are a few points to keep in mind.

1. If customers come to your home for yourservice make sure it’s the kind of place theywant to come back to. For example, if yousmoke, stop, or start smoking outside. Nothingwill turn some customers off faster than stalesmoke smell. The front yard. Keep it mowed,trimmed and as well manicured as possible. Youshould have the best looking yard on the block.Your front door. Get a nice looking front door, asmall expense. If you can’t paint the wholehouse, paint the front and tell customers you arein the process of painting the rest. No weirdcolors. Make sure the room customers enterfrom the outside is neat and clean. If they have

202

to walk through the house make sure they arewalking through clean rooms.

2. Dress. “Hey! One of the reasons I wanted towork at home is so I wouldn’t have to dress upanymore!” Dress says who you are and whatyou think about your business and yourself.Dress says I’m a success, even if I work athome I’m still a professional. Dress doesn’tnecessarily mean a coat and tie or a dress andheels. It means neat, clean and professional. Putyourself in the customers shoes. Is the businessin this house a business I want to deal with? DoI want to give this person my money? Am Iconfident that this business can do the job?

Remember, working out of your house has thestigma of not being as good as a storefrontbusiness. Although this attitude is becomingless and less prevalent as more and more peoplework at home.

3. Kids. There is only one answer for kids.Shoot em. OK, OK, don’t shoot em. Rememberthe old saying, Children should be seen and notheard. This is a business statement etched instone. Children should not come in contact withyour customers...period. Children do not go towork with their parents in conventionalstorefronts and the same should apply at home.

203

If you need to meet with clients for extensiveperiods, arrange for someone to come in tohandle the children or arrange for their caresomewhere outside the home. Don’t assumethat your customers probably have kids andthey’ll understand.

Look At Me

I’ll never forget going to a house in a nearbytown to look at some crafts a woman wasselling. It was beautiful work but as soon as wewalked in the door, her three children beganyelling, running, asking us who we were andwhat were we going to buy. “Look at me.” onesaid as he tried to climb up the wall. It was anightmare. We did place an order and I dreadedhaving to come back to pick it up. I wanted tohave the check already written and to leave asquickly as possible. Don’t get me wrong, kidsare great. They’re God’s greatest gift. You’reused to them and how they act. Yelling andrunning is the normal things your kids do. Toother people these activities are like fingernailson a blackboard. Unless it’s absolutelyimpossible, keep kids out of business situations.

4. Phone. While we’re on the subject of kids. Ifthey answer the phone, teach them to do it in aprofessional manner. “Who is this?” “My nameis so-and-so and I’m three.” is not very

204

professional. If you have one line into thehouse, make sure everyone who answers thephone knows a potential customer may be onthe other end at any time. If you have two lines,make sure only you or designated personsanswer your business line.

5. Fax Think you don’t need a fax machine?Consider the following. Contact customers andask if they would like to be notified of certainchanges in the company. Faxes are a veryinexpensive way to contact current customersabout prices changes, new products and otherinformation. One call can reach severalcustomers using broadcast fax technology.

Use the fax as a substitute for the phone. Longdistance and fax rates are lower after 5 p.m. andbefore 8 a.m.. Send faxes during these hoursand save money. If you live on the East Coastyou can reply to a client or customer on theWest Coast, who simply needs a yes or noanswer, after 5 p.m. (at lower rates) and its stillmid-afternoon out West. You can place orders tosuppliers this way too.

6. Image. In the past 10 years a new industryhas emerged...the image makers. These arepeople who are paid to make sure people andcompanies put their best foot forward in the

205

business community. You probably don’t needone of these folks yet, but you do need animage.

Image is easy on the Internet. Some kid in hisbedroom can look and sound as big and good asIBM or any other big company. With $65.00worth of software and a few key strokesanybody can be a force on the net.

If you aren’t on the net, that’s OK. Look intothe best stationary and business cards you canafford. If that’s black ink on white paper, do it.You don’t need fancy logos or unusualtypestyles. Keep it simple. Make sure that if youneed to send a letter to a supplier for credit or acustomer regarding payment that you lookprofessional.

Brochures

If you have brochures make sure they tell yourstory briefly but with enough detail to make thecustomer hungry for more information. If priceis a consideration, qualify people asking forinformation. Contact them by phone and makesure they are legitimate customers and not justsomeone collecting information who may neverbuy anything.

206

Send postcards to potential customers with“Address Correction Requested” under yourreturn address. Postcards cost one cent less thanbulk mail. There is no minimum that can bemailed. They are delivered First Class instead ofthree to four weeks with bulk mail. You willreceive corrections to your mailing list free ofcharge. Bulk mail will cost .32 cents for everycard returned with a corrected address. Onceyour mailing list is clean. Send brochures withthe confidence that they will reach the personthey are supposed to.

Making a homebased business a success is oneof the hardest jobs anyone can undertake. Manypeople will dismiss your job as a “hobby” andnot really legitimate. Others will make fun ofyou and make it a point to ask, in front ofothers, if you’ve made your first million yet.

You have made the first steps in startingsomething they can only dream about. Thatdream will never come true for them becausethey fear the one thing that will bring themsuccess.: taking the first step, and then thesecond, and the third.

You are taking those steps now. Don’t lookback, they will all be out of sight soon

207

Some Final Thoughts

Well, congratulations, you’ve persevered to the veryend. It’s that kind of resolve that makes successfulpeople who they are. If I have any last words ofencouragement, they might be a quote from one ofmy favorite books, “Think and Grow Rich” byNapoleon Hill (Ballantine Books ISBN #0-449-21492-3) He claims, “Every adversity, every failure,and every heartache carries with it the SEED of anequivalent or GREATER BENEFIT.”. In otherwords, build on your mistakes. Measure andimprove with growth and you are unstoppable.

Thanks for taking the time to read this book. Isincerely hope the tips and ideas I’ve presented willhelp you build a successful and profitable business.

I’d really like to hear about your business successesand challenges.e-mail me at tommail@smalltownmarketing.com

Visit the Small Town Marketing Website at:http://www.smalltownmarketing.com

Or write to:Tom EgelhoffSmall Town MarketingP.O. Box 271Bozeman, MT 59771-0271

208

209

Worksheet ForChapter Two: Business Resume

1. How Long In Business? ____________

2. Business Experience (pg 22)_________

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

3. The business principals are: (pg 22) __

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

4. Special Skills: (pg 22) ______________

__________________________________

__________________________________

5. Purchase Rates/Buying Habits: (pg 23)

__________________________________

__________________________________

6. Awareness/Product Attitude: (pg 23) _

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

210

Worksheet ForChapter Two: Business Resume

(Continued)

7. Competition: (pg 23)______________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

8. Pricing: (pg 24) __________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

9. Target Market: (pg 24-27)

Age: _____________________________

Sex: ______________________________

Marital Status: ____________________

Own Home: _______________________

Children: _________________________

Income: __________________________

Education: ________________________

Newspapers/Radio etc: ______________

_________________________________

211

Worksheet ForChapter Two: Business Resume

(Continued)

10. Demographics: (From Chamber ofCommerce/Census:: ________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

11. The end users of my products are: _

_________________________________

_________________________________

12. I will use these methods to distributemy products or services: (pg 27) ______

_________________________________

_________________________________

13. I will use these methods to sell myproduct: (pgs 31-52) ________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

212

Worksheet ForChapter Two: Business Resume

(Continued)

14. Who can I contact who is successfullydoing what I want to do?:

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

15. Where is my competition advertising?

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

16. I will complete this business resumeon or before:

Date: _____________________________

Signed: X _________________________

Witnesses: ________________________

_________________________________

213

Worksheet ForChapter Three: S.W.O.T. (pg 29-30)

1. . The strengths of my business are: __

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

2. The weaknesses of my business are: _

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

3. These are my opportunities forsuccess:___________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

4. These are the threats to my businesssuccess:___________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

214

Worksheet ForChapter Four: Sales Forecasting

1. My sales objectives are: (pg 53) _____

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

2. My short term (1-year) goal is: (pg 53)

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

3. My long term goal (3-5 years) is: (pg53) _______________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

4. My sales projections are: (pg 54-59) _

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

215

Worksheet ForChapter Six:

How To Create A Plan And Work It

1. These are my marketing objectives:_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

2. These are my marketing strategies:

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

3. My competitive strategies are: ______

_________________________________

_________________________________

4. My pricing strategies are: _________

_________________________________

_________________________________

216

Worksheet ForChapter Eight: What do we say, howdo we say it and where do we say it?

1.. Direct mail: (pg 95) ______________

_________________________________

_________________________________

2. Co-op advertising: (pg 111) ________

_________________________________

_________________________________

3. Newspapers: (pg 112) _____________

_________________________________

_________________________________

4. Magazines: (pg 119) ______________

_________________________________

_________________________________

5. Radio: (pg 122) __________________

_________________________________

_________________________________

6. TV: ____________________________

_________________________________

217

If you enjoyed this book, getTom’s Second Book

“The Small TownAdvertising Handbook:

How to say more and spend less!”

Order Yours Today!!Toll Free 1-888-550-6100 or

Please mail ( ) autographed copy(s) to:

Name:_________________________________________________

Address:_______________________________________________

City:_______________________________ St:____ Zip_________

Credit Card Orders Must Include The Following:

Full Name: ___________________________________________________________________

(as it appears on card, or if different than above)

Address: _________________________________City______________ St.________ Zip________

Card Type: (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover):____________________

Card Number:_________________________Exp Date:___________

Phone:___________________________________________________

Or, mail check, money order, for $19.95plus $4.00 shipping and handling for each copy to:

Smalltownmarketing.ComP.O. Box 271 • Bozeman, MT 59771-0271

218