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in this issue
Cover
Marketing Matters:
A Fairy Tale: Story of the 3 Budget Bears
and Lady Lucks
Design Matters:
Know Your Design Options
MarketingMatters.biz archive
Guerrilla Marketing: Secrets For Making
Big Profits From Your Small Business
Jay Conrad
Levinson
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Marketing Matters:
 A
Fairy Tale: Story of the 3 Budget Bears and Lady Lucks
Once
upon a time in the business jungle there where 3 bears – a large bear,
a middle bear, and a baby bear.
One
morning as they were preparing to start the day, there was a knock at
the door. It was Lady Lucks and she was very distressed.
“I’ve been wandering through the jungle,” she said “trying to market my
business to success. But now I’m lost; the lions are stalking my
clients; and the buzzards are circling. I need help.
“I
don’t have a big budget,” she said to the large bear; “and I’m not sure
where to spend it anyway.”
The 3
bears looked at Lady Lucks and realized she was not properly armed to
survive in the jungle. “You’ve come to the right place,” they
said; and they invited her in for a bowl of porridge and some cost
saving advice.
The
large bear started. You’re wasting a lot of time and energy
wandering without a map; without a focus, wandering down this path and
that. No wonder you’re lost. It doesn’t take a lot of money
to find the way to your goal; you just need to redirect all that time
and energy to some low cost, high impact creative thinking.
The 1st
thing to understand, said the middle bear, is that every business,
large or small, has a limited amount of money to spend on marketing
matters. Therefore it is crucial to spend your money wisely with
the best possible return on your investment.
The
easiest market to sell to is your current clients; people who know you
and have confidence in you and the product or service you provide.
They are your best source for repeat sales and referrals. And
statistically it costs six times less to sell to this market than to
seek and sell to first time buyers. Once a business is
established, more than half of its sales come from this market.
Therefore 60% of your budget dollars should be
spent on this market, said the big bear.
The
next market to concentrate on is your prospect list, the people and
companies you’ve identified as qualified potential prospects.
They may know you, have met you, heard about you, but have not yet
purchased from you. 30% of your budget
should be spent on this market, said the middle bear.
Don’t
forget the rest of the world, said the little bear. There are
people and businesses out there who just haven’t found you yet. You’d
like to find them but the return on your investment isn’t as great.
So only spend 10% of your marketing dollars
getting the word out to them.
Lady
Lucks thanked them for their wisdom, bade them a good day, and hurried
off to implement their advice while the 3 bears sat back down to relax
in their rocking chairs.
The
moral is: to survive in the jungle, you’d better be armed.
Using time, energy and imagination aimed at the right target can be a
real cost saver and money maker.
Design Matters:
Knowing Your Design Options
The
key to an effective marketing strategy is to exploit each sales
opportunity while spending your time and money wisely. Our experience
tell us to factor in your “hidden cost” and “lost opportunity” when you
plan a marketing budget. Assuming you have already developed your
company Identity (logo and unique
message) here are additional measures to extend your marketing reach
with an eye on the bottom line.
When
I do seminars I find many participants ask how much it will cost to
have an item professionally or commercial produced. In this article, I
have included some cost/pricing information to provide general or
relative guidelines. In addition I have provided tips on how to choose
between do-it-yourself vs. professionally produced options or between
short-term (flexible/prototypes) or long-term designs.
Business Cards
-
Print
Business Cards with online printers
at
$70
per 1000 and pass them out freely, this is the
least expensive advertising you can buy. When you calculate your
hidden cost (perforated business card stock, ink/toner, wasted stock
and your time) you will quickly see the value in $70 for commercial
printing. Print a 2-sided card and list your services (or products).
The more you print, the cheaper the per piece cost. However if your
contact information will change soon, then run the lowest quantity
recommended by the printer. It’s not a savings if you throw it away.
Stationery
-
Commercial Offset Printing - If you
send out many formal letters and packages then it is most cost
effective to use commercial offset printing and order the full set,
letterhead, second sheet and #10 envelopes. Reduce your printing cost
by sticking to a design that can be produced with 1 or 2 spot colors
and avoid bleeds (colors touching the edge of the sheet). Assume you
will need to print at least 500 of each piece and that your cost will
start at about $300 for one item (quantity 500). Print your entire
order at one time and you can significantly reduce your unit cost.
-
Desktop Printers
– If you don’t use stationery items in bulk then invest in an
ink jet color printer, the prices are very low. When selecting this
device consider the price of consumables (toner and paper), this is
where you will spend the most money over time. Now instead of
printing letterhead, use your logo files to create digital stationery
(letterhead, memo and fax cover sheet) or Microsoft Word template
files that you can customize for your business needs. If you don’t
know how to create templates, then hire someone to create the
templates for you. Make sure they show you how to edit the files for
future use. Another alternative is to buy imprint-able stock that
compliments your logo and business image through a source like
Paper Direct or
Paper Presentation. The downside to
off-the-shelf items, is at high quantities this will cost more then
custom items. Also you might run into other businesses using the same
stock. How many times have you seen the green marble background? An
alternative is to make custom imprint-able stock.
-
Labels vs. Envelopes
- In my business I don’t use #10 envelopes (standard
business size) frequently, so I decided to print custom 2-color
labels with my business logo and information on them. I use these for
envelopes, boxes, CD labels, etc. I ordered them from a
local printer with my other
stationery items and the cost was around
$300 or do a 1-color label for $100.
The Internet
-
Reserve your
Domain Name with a ‘coming soon’
page and one email account for as low as
$50 per year. Print
your stationery with your branded domain name (web site address) now,
build the web site later. A professional Email Address suggests
credibility and does not change when you switch Internet Service
Providers (ISP). Avoid selecting a domain name that is too long, too
hard to spell, or too hard to say.
-
Email Signature
should include your contact information and a short “commercial.”
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Email Postcards
eliminate the cost of print and postage. Send out 2000 postcard
announcements for about
$30/month using an email
blasting service. These services can be set-up in 2 days and offer
great reporting tools so you can tell who is reading what.
-
Turn “cold” leads
into “warm” leads with E-Zines or
E-Newsletters. This cost the same
as an E-postcard, the volume of content, or the frequency of email
does not increase your cost. Does this sound like too much work? Hire
a professional to do the heavy lifting involved in set-up, then take
it in-house to maintain over time.
Graphic Matter will set up, then you
can just write the monthly newsletter and click send. The blasting
service will do the list management automatically.
Brochures
-
Inserts & Imprint-able Sheets
A new business (or a business with a new service or product) often
needs to “get out the kinks” before settling in on the final copy and
message. Consider using a more flexible option like “imprint-able”
sheets which include your logo, and background image, then use them
like letterhead and second sheet in your desktop printer. Create a
template file in Microsoft Word and print onto the sheets as needed.
This allows you the flexibility of customizing or editing the copy
for each client or situation.
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Alternative Binding Options
Instead of a bound brochure include several inserts in a matching
pocket folder with a custom label on the front. Or use a binding
method that lets you change out pages. For
The Idea Network we created
a brochure with a Chicago-screw, which allows the client to update a
single page (like the team biography) and insert it into the existing
brochure. For
The Pilates Center the
sheets are bound with raffia, reinforcing the “day spa feel” of the
piece, while allowing them to update the pricing pages.
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Chicago-screw
This
brochure was bound with a chicago-screw.
The printer drilled a hole in the upper left-hand
corner of the pages. |
Raffia Tie
This brochure was bound with two holes drilled on
the left margin and raffia (string) tied through the holes. |
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Smart design improves the
impact of a small marketing budget and produces big results.
When designing your marketing program, start with the end goal in mind
and design your solutions to fulfill the needs and your budget
constraints.
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Graphic Matter, Inc.
Creative Services for Small Business
www.GraphicMatter.com
908-359-8760
Beverly Rossi, President
Graphic Matter accepts Credit Cards
Enhance your company’s
professional image by ensuring that each client-facing
communication is high caliber and on the mark. Graphic Matter
offers graphic design, web site design, and instructional design
services with a focus on assisting the Professional Services
Industry. Together we design and produce high-profile
communications through an array of services typically offered by
corporate creative services departments. It’s like having the
convenience of your own in-house creative group, without the
hassle.
Do
you need help with a "do-it-yourself" project?
Let us do the hard part and get you off and running.
Visit our website and
click through our on-line portfolio and see what we’ve done for
others.
For a free estimate for
your next project or to discuss the topic in this issue contact Bev
at
brossi@GraphicMatter.com. |
ESA Marketing
Illuminating Copy; Electrifying Ideas, Brilliant Results
www.ESAmarketing.BIZ
908-781-2001
Ellen Silverman, President
ESA Marketing accepts Credit Cards
It’s a fact: you
cannot succeed in business without marketing. And in order to
engage in successful marketing
-
You need a MAP (Marketing Action
Plan)
-
You need to be aware
of what roadblocks are standing in your way
-
You need to analyze
your marketing competencies and strengthen those that are holding
you back.
If you need help creating
Your MAP
Your Uniqu-YOU-Ness
Writing copy that “sells”
ESA can lead you
down the path to Success
Ellen Silverman, owner
of ESAmarketing, is a marketing strategist, copywriter, and
Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach. Through her coaching practice
and workshops, she teaches small businesses how to reap big profits
with limited budgets. With an emphasis on taking action and a
bottom line on profitability, ESA constantly propels you toward
your goals.
For a list of
guerrilla marketing strategies you can implement in your marketing
program, go to
www.ESAmarketing.BIZ/brightidea.html.
To jumpstart your
profits, email
Ellen@ESAmarketing.BIZ
and request a 30 minute FREE coaching session. |
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