The Proper Small Business Marketing Focus

I'm not going to go on and on, Wikipedia style, about small business marketing. That's because I see one big mistake most small business make. It starts when the responsibility for marketing is turned over to the sales guy. A sales guy is concerned with selling a product or service and is typically incented to do so with quotas tied to a periodic accounting time slot.

Two things occur when this happens. First, the emphasis becomes getting a product sold and not the proper message for small business marketing. Second, the least profitable customers are targeted because they have the shortest sales cycle; which benefits the sales guy when a quota has to be met. So we end up getting emails about products and features hoping that a few hits will be made to get them over the hump.

Thinking strategically...

The Sales guy is tactical, not strategic. I don't care what they say. So don't expect them to step up a notch when it may not jive with their thinking...which is driven by their incentive program (see above).  Let's take the example of a CRM value added reseller. Yes, that's pretty much how I've operated for over 15 years, so it's only fair that I pick on me. I'm tasked with selling software, so add-on services can be tagged onto the end of the sale. So, what is the best message for me as a small business marketing kind of guy?

"Our Business Intelligence Has Pretty Gauges!"

Now, I can definitely see why a small business owner would lose sleep over not having a way to quickly understand the competitive situation. The sooner you have information, the sooner you can make critical decisions. Taking the time to compile this information manually is a waste of time because it's simply not timely. Make sense?

So what is the real obstacle preventing small business' from buying business intelligence software? It's the COST! Take a look at that headline above. Do you see "what's in it for me" anywhere? All I see is a feature of a product I've never heard of. Obviously, this guy is trying to get me to buy his software. Immediate push back. And since most people spend a fraction of a second evaluating headlines, you need to make it count.

So the best tip I can give you on small business marketing is to make the most of your effort by putting customer benefits in the headline!

Finding Benefits for Small Business Marketing Messages

I can't remember which marketing guru I learned this from or I'd give him a mention here. But, the lesson is this. Ask yourself "So?"

• Saleslogix can generate Quotes. So?
• Well, you won't have to do it in Word. So?
• It will be done right in Saleslogix. So?
• It can take advantage of all the data you've collected automatically. So?
• It will reduce the time it takes to generate them by 90%. So?
• That will save you time and money. So?
• If it takes less time, your competitors don't have time to beat you to the punch and you'll win more business, and keep more customers.

That's a simple example of how you can find the benefit of a feature you are talking about. The last three items are pretty good benefits that will align themselves closely with the pain of a potential customer. The fact that Saleslogix can generate quotes is going to get someone riled up. But, the ability to increase a close rate on new and existing customers could be something a business is struggling with.

Now let's go back to the business intelligence example. What would be a good headline? OK, how about just a better headline because I'm not going to claim to be a genius at marketing headlines.

"Powerful Business Intelligence for Pennies on the Dollar"

Obviously, the message here is to send the message that the worry over spending a lot of money on business intelligence is unfounded. This assumes that they have already been educated that business intelligence is something they need. It's possible that you need to educate them on the need for business intelligence first. But I'm getting off track here.

I'm not entirely convinced that these headlines are actually benefits. So you'd want to determine where the push back is in your marketing and go through that "So?" exercise. Here are some realities that could drive that process:

• Data Warehouses can take months or years to build with expensive consultants
  
• Data Warehouses require expensive in-house talent to maintain
  
• BI tools using a Data warehouse require expensive in-house talent to use on a daily basis.
  
• BI software using data warehouses costs millions of dollars

Again, these would focus on customers who already know the benefit of business intelligence, but who don't feel they can afford it. If your product (and I happen to have one in mind called QlikView) can deliver at a lower cost and more quickly, this is something that would be worth focusing on.

"Business Intelligence too Expensive? Not Anymore"

What if you could get all the power of the expensive Business Intelligence tools:

  - At a Fraction of the Cost
  - Using Your Existing Staff
  - And Do it in Weeks instead of Months or Years

Sound too good to be true? Click here to learn more.

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Small Business Marketing should always focus on benefits, whether it's a cost type of benefit as I've outlined here, or if the benefit is something like "Get Quotes Out the Door 90% Faster Than Your Competition". Take a look at what you are currently doing and make the appropriate adjustments. Continuing to focus on features will simply continue to ratchet down your credibility.

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