I’m now sharing all my marketing blog love over here.

Not only will you find more delicious blog articles to help get your business booming…you’ll also discover, if you haven’t already, AUSTRALIA’S #1 MARKETING PODCAST FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS.

Plus, (do the bonuses ever end?!)…you can check out where and when my latest marketing workshops are on.

And if you’d like an immediate injection of small business marketing ideas then my marketing book full of real life case studies is a great place to start.

If you read one article on where marketing is heading in 2010, then this is it. It’s already been tweeted 627 times as I write this into! It’s written by David Garland of Rise To The Top and I think he’s nailed it – from claiming the 30 second is FINALLY dead, to big brands learning from us little guys (check this podcast) to the death of the one-way website it’s an article that will get you (the marketer and / or business owner champing at the bit for the new year to arrive. In fact don’t, start now! Read on.

This whole idea of simplicity in design fascinates me. Especially in regards to websites, whose beauty lies often in the fact that you can rattle on forever about how good you are! I know that’s bad copy, but you can if you want to! The fat is however:

1/ I have no eye for design yet I do love simplicity in design.

2/ However, I just wonder how much simplicity actually sells.

3/ If the end game is simplicity then job done.

4/ If the end game is sales. then job not done. Fail.

5/ My takeaway is that simplicity works for creative types – writers, photographers, designers.

6/ The idea of stripping everything away and hiding it in other sections of say one’s website (eg. hiding social media links in Contacts),  scares the hell out of me.

I’d love to simplify my site…in fact I want a site just like this.

I just haven’t got the guts!

You?

There are many reasons…here’s 5 to kick things off:

1. Marketing is the quickest way to a sale. Great marketing identifies a problem your customer or prospect is experiencing and then provides them with a solution that gives them every reason to buy from you (and not your competition). Think of it like this…the marketer of a business has control of five very big levers labelled Product, Price, Place, Promotion and People. Their challenge is to adjust these levers to positions that make your offer so irresistible and compelling that it’s impossible not to buy from you…that competing with them seems far less desirable.
2. It’s your only (profitable) point-of-difference. Today’s market place (in almost every industry) is one of parity – it’s full of businesses offering the same products, at the same price, delivered in the same way. So how does one stand out? Well, you could be the cheapest…but discounting is a dead-end street as it is quickly copied, and a point is reached where a business can’t be any cheaper or they’ll lose money. Instead, it’s much more effective to be clever in the way you package up product, deliver it in ways that make it easy for them to use it and offer payment options that makes it much easier to say YES than NO!
3. “People can copy what we do, but not who we are” – Martin Daley, the head of People at Virgin Blue, uttered this. In saying so, he was admitting that it was possible for anyone to walk on up and start an airline. That was easy enough! What was much harder for them to do was create a brand that meant something…a brand that defined the business in the minds of its prospects and customers in a way that made them want to be a part of.
4. Great marketing creates a strong brand – A brand is best defined as an emotional attachment. This is not meant in any soppy kind of way. Not at all. The type of emotional attachment we talk about here is one in which you create a brand that clearly demonstrates it understands its target audience. One that shows insight and sympathy for what they are dealing with and provides simple, interesting solutions that make them want to buy from you. Most importantly, once a customer is emotionally connected to your brand it is that much harder for them to look elsewhere as they see real value in what you are offering.
5. Marketing creates a sense of value and meaning – As the previous point indicates, if you spend time building a brand (and remember, you register a business, but you build a brand) then you are inherently creating value for your customers. And a customer, who feels as though they are receiving real value by transacting with you, is generally willing to pay above the odds.

What would you add?

I visited an office yesterday that blew me away.

It wasn’t the most comfortable office…nor the most stylish….clean or functional.

What I loved about it was what it said about the businesses that were in it. It made a statement about their brand that no amount of advertising or PD could do.

These design, layout, materials and location of these offices simply said everything.

In fact, you know what…they weren’t called offices…they’re called Huts. Yep, H U T S!

Occupied by film companies they are literally dropped in to this massive shed down in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct.

Alongside them there’s a large screen and viewing area in case one of them wanted to show their reel to a prospective client…there was a small set with a green screen to film stuff…Oh, and each of the Huts is made from cardboard. That’s what I said…C A R D B O A R D!

Anyway, enough ranting…the point I want to make is that your office location, layout, look actually says mountains about your brand…and who you are. Just ask Google.

What message does your office give to Clients?

Whether or not this shoe (Tweeker!) is real or not doesn’t matter, what I love about it is the tailored offering. It mixes two themes up and creates something special.

Tailored offerings keep things interesting for the business owner and shows your customers and prospects that you’re always on your toes.

I think we sometimes forget that as Marketers we are first and foremost PROBLEM SOLVERS. Our task is to get inside the heads of our targets, understand what they’re thinking, what problems they have and then hit them between the eye with a tailored solution.

When you get it right, man does it feel good.

I’m working on right this minute…I’m going to shake up the way marketing workshops are held…in terms of content, how it’s presented, the location and so much more.

How can you shake up your product offering with the aim of giving people exactly what it is they want… even if they didn’t know it?

I hardly ever listen to commercial radio…it scares me.

However, I happened to tune in today and was reminded why this is the case.

EVERYONE’S YELLING.  The announcers, the ads…the guy in the traffic helicopter!

Is this really what we, us consumers, are demanding? Really?

Would a station that was chilled out, relaxed…fail? Would we all go “That’s shite. They’re not hyped enough?”

I don’t think so.

I have this marketing theory that says “When everyone else is yelling….whisper.” That way you’re more likely to be heard.

Life is busy. The world is often crazy. Surely this presents an opportunity for the odd, brave brand to swim upstream.

What do you think?

I just visited a local graphic designer who had on her office door…By Appointment Only.

It got me thinking how, as business owners, we can have systems and structures in place that actually make it hard for people to do business with us. Here’s four that come to mind:

1. Not making your contact details freely available…they should appear on all your stationary, email signature, website.

2. Not being easily contactable. These days a phone number and email isn’t enough…let people know your Skype, Twitter, LinkedIn handles.

3. Accepting only one, maybe two payment methods…what about Paypal, Moneybrokers, EFT, lay-by, credit, payment terms?

4. Ill-considered opening hours…this is business dependent however I sometimes see a business that is closed when it should be open and open when it should be closed. I just drove past the local GPs and it was closed on a Saturday afternoon. Isn’t this a good time for those who work all week to get things done?

I call these hurdles because they get in the way. In this case, in the way of making doing business with you really easy.

What would add to this list?

I bought a Paddle Pop today…an ice-cream that should have taken me way back to when I was 10 or so.

Instead, all I could think of was how hard the manufacturer had worked at reducing costs whilst still being able to deliver an ‘acceptable’ product.

I’m noticing this  a lot lately…products ‘aint what they used to be. The concept of quality seems to hold a different definition these days. I’m particularly sensitive to this when one of my kids tells me they’ve saved enough money to go toy shopping. My heart sinks knowing that they are more than likely going to buy something that just wont last.

This happened a fe months ago when my boy forked out a whopping $80 for a remote control helicopter…sure enough, within 2-days (not years, days) it was busted.

Yes, this blog post is a ‘shout out’ to product manufacturers to pull their socks up (without the elastic breaking!). It’s also a reminder to the many service providers of us out there to maintain quality standards. Let’s make sure we don’t go the same way as Paddle Pops and remote control helicopters.

I like shopping at warehouse type stores.

Chemist Warehouse. JB Hi-Fi. Bunnings.

You know, the stack ‘em high, sell ‘em low set-ups?

In doing so I actually feel as though I save quite a lot of money.

Unfortunately though, as a general rule, the customer service stinks. Does it really cost more to smile? To look someone in the eye and ask if they need assistance? To advise how long something might take? To say “Have a ripping day!”?

I think not. The only thing I can think is that these businesses are under-staffed, so everyone’s under the pump. But at least that way they can charge less.

What do you think? Am I being harsh?