Sobel Co. LLC Marketing Blog

I heard this good idea today and thought it might be useful for all of you:  When you are trying to build a meaningful relationship with members of the local media, make an appointment and stop by to personally visit the business editor.  Bring coffee and donuts or something “fun” and drop off a press kit. Share easy ways to contact your company, a brief history about your organization, and a  list of topics that you would be able to address for the paper.  The face-to-face time is valuable - especially considering the deadline pressures they deal with every day.  It gives you a chance to make a connection and saves the editor any disruptions in an already jammed pack schedule.

When you define world class service, do you really have a good understanding of what your customers value most? Do you know what services or amentities are most appreciated? Do you know what aspects of your company drive customer retention?

Instead of “guessing” at the answers, why not form a Customer Advisory Board? This idea has low cost - except for the time commitment and the cost of dinner - and can help you gain critical insights into your customers’ needs.  Identify some of your best customers, and perhaps key vendors, the ones whose advice you trust, and invite them to dinner to share their thoughts with you.  They will benefit from meeting and networking with some of your other “A” level customers and they will have the chance to make a positive impact on you - which, as loyal customers (and vendors), they are probably pleased to do!  You will  find that your best customers want to be asked their opinions and are often eager to share their perspectives.  They may also have ideas on how they can work with you  more efficiently, suggestions which will benefit their company and yours. You can make the advisory board as formal or informal as you choose. You should host an established number of meetings, perhaps four a year, and provide an agenda to guide the discussion. In addition, you may choose to make a contribution to each participant’s favorite chairty in their honor to demonstrate your appreictaion of their willingness to invest their time in you and your company.  The benefits gained from the collective knowledge at your dinner table will more than pay for itself over time!

Exploring opportunities for media coverage is one way for you to manage costs and build name recognition through third party ‘endorsements.’  When your company is quoted in the paper, interviewed by a journalist, has a by-line article published or is spotlighted for an innovative approach, your employees, customers and potential customers are sure to be impressed.  You gain instant recognition as an expert when the impartial press confirms your status!

Perhaps you are observing a new trend in communicating with distributors, have found a way to bundle products or services, or are using new software that improves capturing data leading to better customer relationship management. In a tough economy, maybe you have some ideas about how to maintain high quality service while reducing your own internal costs. You can share this information with your local journalists who may want to do some investigating and write a story on it.

In New Jersey, our weekly business journal is NJBIZ. Additional sources for you are the reporters who cover the business beat for the Star Ledger and other daily papers like the Asbury Park Press and the Trenton Times. No matter where your company is headquartered, there is a local paper that you can contact. The more unselfish you are, the more likely it is that you will build a meaningful relationship with the reporters. These reporters are almost always ‘on deadline’ so those business owners who are respectful of the need for a quick turn around will most likely get called more often.   By the way, the papers have online versions as well, giving you additional exposure!

Most likely your business can benefit from positive exposure in the business press. Carefully consider what you have to offer and look for the e-mail address of your local reporters so that you can introduce yourself and become a trusted resource.

Good ideas are important, but great companies achieve and sustain success because they have a process for executing their marketing communications plan. Implementation is a key ingredient – and one that is often the most difficult to attain.

In order to follow through, you need to assign responsibilities for various marketing tactics to various employees and hold them accountable. You may reward their efforts with public recognition, special perks, bonuses or other incentives, but the point is that you must meet regularly as a team to assess progress and raise questions when little progress is being made.  Peer pressure can go a long way to ensuring cooperation, so hold meetings as often as daily or as infrequently as monthly. Perhaps you can use an excel spread sheet to track activity - and measure success. This may seem tedious and time consuming, but everyone will get the message that it is a worthwhile investment as a way to track progress.

The more direction you provide as the business owner and the more specific guidance you can offer, the better the results will be. It is not uncommon for employees to be confused regarding not only the expectations you have for their role in marketing, but there may be confusion over the actual image the company wishes to promote. Be sure that in your meetings you repeatedly discuss the company’s core values, attributes, unique strengths and culture. Celebrate new customers or special initiatives that have led to higher customer retention. Discuss concepts that will build customer loyalty and share ideas around the table of specific experiences the staff has had during a real ife interaction with a customer or vendor.

Remember that your marketing and branding initiatives are only as powerful as the passion, energy and enthusiasm of your own employees.  

Welcome to the new Sobel & Co. Marketing Communications Blog. Whether you own a small retail shop, are a physician with a mid-size pediatric practice, are the CEO of a manufacturing company, are a sub-contractor or are the executive director of a nonprofit or social service organization, this blog is designed especially for you!!!

Recognizing that owners and senior executives at closely-held, (often family owned), mid-size businesses are looking for one new idea, one good suggestion on how to increase awareness and build sales , we have launched this blog as a way to share marketing best practices with you on a consistent basis.

The first session will start with the basics and we will move on to tactics in subsequent conversations.

Starting at the beginning means having a written strategic marketing communications and branding plan to augment your business plan. The document should NOT be long and cumbersome, but rather just a few pages that act as a blueprint for your company. As you go forward, seeking ways to increase market share, mind share and wallet chare of your best customers, the plan will help you to stay focused and consistent. It will also provide a benchmark for you to measure a successful return on your investment (ROI) whether the investment is dollars, time or other resources.

For the marketing plan to be effective, you should begin with some goal setting. What percentage of growth are you expecting over the next year? Five years? Ten years? How do you expect to achieve this? Will it be organic growth, a merger with a competitor, establishing additional locations or will you grow by launching a new product or service line? Knowing what you want to achieve sets the foundation for how to achieve the results you are hoping for.

Next, you need to think about what you do very well, what you can do that is distinctive in your market. In other words, decide what your company’s unique selling proposition (USP) is. This USP is what you will be promoting to customers and vendors and others who influence your potential buyers.

After the USP comes a competitive analysis – a critical examination of both of your external environment and your internal culture and attributes. Understanding where your strengths and weaknesses lie and having a realistic picture of where new opportunities, as well as potential threats, will arise can help you to stay ahead of the curve.

Armed with all of this, you can then build a plan that recognizes your customer base and addresses their issues through a number of different integrated tactics. Consistently utilizing a combination of tools that may include the media, sponsorships, trade shows, a website, special events, ads, newsletters, direct mail and print materials, can give you a significant boost over your competitors.

Be sure to include a tracking mechanism and a budget in your plan so that you can quantify results and continue to make changes to the plan as your situation dictates.

In future sessions we will discuss a variety of tactics that can help you achieve your strategic objectives for marketing and branding your company while offering your customer base the solutions they need!

To discuss writing a plan or for a complimentary review of your existing strategic marketing plan, please contact Sally Glick, Sobel & Co. Chief Growth Strategist,  at sally.glick@sobel-cpa.com or 973-994-9494, ext. 159.