What is your value proposition?
This is the single most important question of the bunch. If you can't explain--in three, jargon-free sentences or less--why customers need your product, you do not have a value proposition. Without a need, there is no incentive for customers to pay. And without sales, you have no business. Period.
What differentiates your product from the competitors'?
Few companies can rely on--let alone afford--clever marketing schemes to separate themselves from the competition. Yes, Starbucks made people believe they wanted $4 caffeinated concoctions, and Louis Vuitton lulled people into shelling out $1,500 for denim handbags, but those are the exceptions that prove the rule. If you want to win in business, you need to offer something tangibly valuable that the competition doesn't.
How much cash do you need to survive the early years?
It doesn't matter how much money your business might make down the road if you can't get out of your garage. Plenty of business plans boast hockey-stick-style financial projections but run out of cash before the good times kick in. (Remember all those busted dot-com companies from the tech boom?) Three words: Mind the cash.
What are your strengths?
How big is the threat of new entrants?
If you're smart enough to spy a profitable business opportunity, you can bet competition isn't far behind. Some barriers to entry--patented technology, a storied brand--are more fortified than others, but eventually someone will find a way to do what you do faster, cheaper and maybe even better. If not a direct competitor, then a substitute technology might take a chunk out of your hide. (Think what digital film did to Kodak.) The trick: building a loyal following before that happens.
How much power do your suppliers have?
Convincing customers to buy your products is tough enough without suppliers breaking your back. Basic rule of thumb: The fewer the number of suppliers, the more sway they have. Take the steel industry, which relies on a handful of companies for its iron feedstock. If two of those big guys should get together have been discussing--they would have significant pricing power, potentially crimping steel producers' margins. On the flipside, beware getting hooked on low-cost providers who don't keep an eye on quality. ("Lead-laced" Barbie, anyone?)
Does the business scale?
Bill Gates plowed piles of money into developing the first copy of Microsoft Office. The beauty: Each additional copy of that software program costs next to nothing to produce. That's called scale--and it's the difference between modest wealth and obscene riches. What models don't scale? Think service businesses, where the need for people grows along with revenues.
What price will your customers pay?
Get this answer wrong and you could leave bags of money on the table--or worse, send customers running into the arms of the competition. When Apple sliced the price of its iPhone by a third after only two months on the market, even loyal customers screamed, forcing chief Steve Jobs to apologize and offer a partial rebate. Consultants get paid handsomely to help companies arrive at the right price. For more affordable advice, check out .
How committed are you to making this happen?
An audience member asked what life looked like at the helm of such a colossal firm. Prince responded that, save for a few exceptions, every evening for the next five months was already accounted for. Fair warning: If you want to run the show, get ready to give everything--and then some.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Right Moves
Procedures, Protocols, and Processes:
Right now, because of the surge in business, we are doing a bad job of entering and fulfilling orders. We have to move our fulfillment out of house and learn to manage service companies. We also have to get our accounting and customer service departments working more smoothly. We need a VP of operations - someone really good and very detail-oriented (because we aren't) - and we need that person ASAP.
Based on that quick assessment of the business, it was easy for us to see the importance of hiring two more superstars - one to help us get operations in order and the other to take a lead in marketing so we can grow our prospect file as it needs to be grown. If we make it a priority to fill these two positions, we can have it done in 30 to 45 days, and then begin the process of integrating and educating our new people. In six months, if all goes well, we will be ready for the next step up - to the $5 million level.
Companies fail for a host of reasons. Bad luck plays a role, sure, but disaster usually strikes because of a more fundamental flaw--in the original idea, the strategy, the execution or all of the above.
When it comes to building a business, even Warren Buffett would agree that no one can spot every opportunity or anticipate every threat. There are simply too many variables. And in an increasingly competitive global economy, those variables are changing faster than ever before.
What entrepreneurs can do is ask the core set of tough questions that govern the fate of any enterprise. Armed with those answers, they stand the best chance of beating some fairly dire odds: Studies estimate that just two-thirds of all start-ups survive the first two years, and less than half make it to the fourth.
Make no mistake: Digging for those answers is a grueling exercise--one that takes serious intellectual and emotional honesty. With any hope, the process begins long before money's been spent, products are built and customers are lost.
Right now, because of the surge in business, we are doing a bad job of entering and fulfilling orders. We have to move our fulfillment out of house and learn to manage service companies. We also have to get our accounting and customer service departments working more smoothly. We need a VP of operations - someone really good and very detail-oriented (because we aren't) - and we need that person ASAP.
Based on that quick assessment of the business, it was easy for us to see the importance of hiring two more superstars - one to help us get operations in order and the other to take a lead in marketing so we can grow our prospect file as it needs to be grown. If we make it a priority to fill these two positions, we can have it done in 30 to 45 days, and then begin the process of integrating and educating our new people. In six months, if all goes well, we will be ready for the next step up - to the $5 million level.
Companies fail for a host of reasons. Bad luck plays a role, sure, but disaster usually strikes because of a more fundamental flaw--in the original idea, the strategy, the execution or all of the above.
When it comes to building a business, even Warren Buffett would agree that no one can spot every opportunity or anticipate every threat. There are simply too many variables. And in an increasingly competitive global economy, those variables are changing faster than ever before.
What entrepreneurs can do is ask the core set of tough questions that govern the fate of any enterprise. Armed with those answers, they stand the best chance of beating some fairly dire odds: Studies estimate that just two-thirds of all start-ups survive the first two years, and less than half make it to the fourth.
Make no mistake: Digging for those answers is a grueling exercise--one that takes serious intellectual and emotional honesty. With any hope, the process begins long before money's been spent, products are built and customers are lost.
The P Game...
Programme: B+
We have a good idea how to make the initial sale (where to go to find prospects, how to intrigue them, how to sell them the first time) and how to sell them after that.
Product: A
We have great products. Really great products. Walt creates them, and he understands what makes a product great.
Prospects: C
So far, we are only scratching the surface in terms of identifying good media for our advertising. We are gradually expanding our marketable universe each month by about 2,000 prospects, but we should - and will one day - be growing our prospect file by 10 times that number. That is something we have to work on in a serious way.
Proposition: A-
The offer - what you charge for your product, the payment terms, and the guarantee - is critical to any business. In Walt's business, we have a very good idea of what that should be. That idea is based on my experience - more than 10 years in the industry - and from being able to see what our competitors are doing. There are certainly things about the offer that we can test - particularly in the area of continuity sales - but, for the most part, we believe we understand how to form our selling propositions.
People: B-
The employees that we have are very good, but to do a better job of expanding the business's marketable universe and improve operations we will need two more superstars. Getting them is our top priority right now.
Promotions: A
feel confident that you have the creative power to produce good promotions now and in the future.
We have a good idea how to make the initial sale (where to go to find prospects, how to intrigue them, how to sell them the first time) and how to sell them after that.
Product: A
We have great products. Really great products. Walt creates them, and he understands what makes a product great.
Prospects: C
So far, we are only scratching the surface in terms of identifying good media for our advertising. We are gradually expanding our marketable universe each month by about 2,000 prospects, but we should - and will one day - be growing our prospect file by 10 times that number. That is something we have to work on in a serious way.
Proposition: A-
The offer - what you charge for your product, the payment terms, and the guarantee - is critical to any business. In Walt's business, we have a very good idea of what that should be. That idea is based on my experience - more than 10 years in the industry - and from being able to see what our competitors are doing. There are certainly things about the offer that we can test - particularly in the area of continuity sales - but, for the most part, we believe we understand how to form our selling propositions.
People: B-
The employees that we have are very good, but to do a better job of expanding the business's marketable universe and improve operations we will need two more superstars. Getting them is our top priority right now.
Promotions: A
feel confident that you have the creative power to produce good promotions now and in the future.
Money-Making Business
"It's almost like a management report card. By getting a valuation done on some periodic basis, it can give a business owner a sense of how much their business increased or decreased during some certain time period."
BB, the legendary copywriter and one of my biggest clients, is a constant articulator of powerful, business-building ideas. Recently, in a memo to his senior executives, he discussed the difficulty of starting and growing new businesses, and offered a brilliant synopsis of "what it takes to make
(such) businesses work."
"You have heard about the Four P's of salesmanship: Promise. Picture.
Proof and Payoff.
Those are very effective guides in creating sales packages that produce. But I have five more P's I'd like to share with you.
These could be helpful in launching and/or growing your business."
BB's Five P's of business-building are...
1. Programme: You need a business model that works - one that can produce reliable, long-term profitability with an acceptable level of investment and risk.
2. Product: You want to sell products that are easy to sell the first time and even easier to sell thereafter. In other words, you want to sell products that give people what they are looking for at a price they can rationalize.
3. Prospects: You need people to sell to. And you need a sufficient number of them to meet your business's long-term goals. They have to be plentiful.
And they have to be profitable. Where do you find such quality customers?
Mailing lists? Websites? Keyword searches? Telephone calls? Finding potential buyers is a big part of any business.
4. Proposition: Every market is unique. So is every product. Figuring out the optimum way to sell your unique product to a given market segment is your first and most important priority. Until you do that, you can't produce profits.
5. People: Every business, no matter what it does, where it's located, or how automated its processes are, depends on people to create and maintain its profits. Taking a business to the next level - even to keep it from falling backward - is most easily accomplished by the hiring, promotion, training, and nurturing of a team of key people who can work skillfully and efficiently. You have to find them and then motivate them and then hold on to them.
To BB's very good list, I would add four more P's that you have to pay attention to...
6. Promotions: Discovering the right proposition for your business is the first - but only the first - priority of selling. To be able to keep your business profitable, you have to be able to produce a continuous flow of successful, customer-grabbing promotions (sales offers that attract attention, offer benefits to the customers, and persuade them to buy your products). A business that can't produce breakthrough promotions on an ongoing basis is a business that is doomed to mediocrity or even failure.
7-9. Procedures, Protocols, and Processes: If you get the first six P's working right, your business will never suffer from a lack of sales. But if you don't have effective operations - order-taking, fulfillment, accounting, and customer service - your profits will always be half of what they should be, and your stress will be double what it needs to be.
"It's almost like a management report card. By getting a valuation done on some periodic basis, it can give a business owner a sense of how much their business increased or decreased during some certain time period."
BB, the legendary copywriter and one of my biggest clients, is a constant articulator of powerful, business-building ideas. Recently, in a memo to his senior executives, he discussed the difficulty of starting and growing new businesses, and offered a brilliant synopsis of "what it takes to make
(such) businesses work."
"You have heard about the Four P's of salesmanship: Promise. Picture.
Proof and Payoff.
Those are very effective guides in creating sales packages that produce. But I have five more P's I'd like to share with you.
These could be helpful in launching and/or growing your business."
BB's Five P's of business-building are...
1. Programme: You need a business model that works - one that can produce reliable, long-term profitability with an acceptable level of investment and risk.
2. Product: You want to sell products that are easy to sell the first time and even easier to sell thereafter. In other words, you want to sell products that give people what they are looking for at a price they can rationalize.
3. Prospects: You need people to sell to. And you need a sufficient number of them to meet your business's long-term goals. They have to be plentiful.
And they have to be profitable. Where do you find such quality customers?
Mailing lists? Websites? Keyword searches? Telephone calls? Finding potential buyers is a big part of any business.
4. Proposition: Every market is unique. So is every product. Figuring out the optimum way to sell your unique product to a given market segment is your first and most important priority. Until you do that, you can't produce profits.
5. People: Every business, no matter what it does, where it's located, or how automated its processes are, depends on people to create and maintain its profits. Taking a business to the next level - even to keep it from falling backward - is most easily accomplished by the hiring, promotion, training, and nurturing of a team of key people who can work skillfully and efficiently. You have to find them and then motivate them and then hold on to them.
To BB's very good list, I would add four more P's that you have to pay attention to...
6. Promotions: Discovering the right proposition for your business is the first - but only the first - priority of selling. To be able to keep your business profitable, you have to be able to produce a continuous flow of successful, customer-grabbing promotions (sales offers that attract attention, offer benefits to the customers, and persuade them to buy your products). A business that can't produce breakthrough promotions on an ongoing basis is a business that is doomed to mediocrity or even failure.
7-9. Procedures, Protocols, and Processes: If you get the first six P's working right, your business will never suffer from a lack of sales. But if you don't have effective operations - order-taking, fulfillment, accounting, and customer service - your profits will always be half of what they should be, and your stress will be double what it needs to be.
Private Money
12 More advantages of private money…
1. The ability to get money fast often allows you to snap up good deals at a discount.
2. There are no credit checks, and the loan doesn’t show up on your credit report.
3. You have access to a potentially unlimited source of funds.
4. Since you set the rules, you’re in control - not the bank.
5. You can help your friends and family make extra money, and meet a great network of people.
6. You can get some of your profit when you buy property by borrowing more than the cost of the property.
7. You’ll have the flexibility to do deals that banks might question (like my no-furnace bargain).
8. You can make offers with confidence. No worries about bank delays or being denied financing.
9. You can structure quick and more profitable exit strategies.
10. You’ll save money on the deal in the short run and long run.
11. Private money loans are cheaper than investing with a partner.
12. You can build the foundation for a very profitable brokerage business.
Best of all, if you treat your private lenders right, they’ll be there for you again and again when you find hot opportunities in the future.
Many investors have watched a deal slip through their hands while they waited for a bank to approve their loan. Once you have private money available, that won’t happen to you. You can make an offer knowing you can go ahead and set a closing date… and leave your competition wondering how you did it so quickly.
************************************
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need five things:
1. A product that delivers a benefit people already want at a price they’re willing to pay…
2. A strategy that puts your sales copy in front of your best prospects…
3. Great headlines and lead copy that compel them to read your sales message…
4. Sales copy that convincingly presents the reasons why the prospect should buy and overcomes any objections he might have, and…
5. A quick, easy way for him to order.
1. The ability to get money fast often allows you to snap up good deals at a discount.
2. There are no credit checks, and the loan doesn’t show up on your credit report.
3. You have access to a potentially unlimited source of funds.
4. Since you set the rules, you’re in control - not the bank.
5. You can help your friends and family make extra money, and meet a great network of people.
6. You can get some of your profit when you buy property by borrowing more than the cost of the property.
7. You’ll have the flexibility to do deals that banks might question (like my no-furnace bargain).
8. You can make offers with confidence. No worries about bank delays or being denied financing.
9. You can structure quick and more profitable exit strategies.
10. You’ll save money on the deal in the short run and long run.
11. Private money loans are cheaper than investing with a partner.
12. You can build the foundation for a very profitable brokerage business.
Best of all, if you treat your private lenders right, they’ll be there for you again and again when you find hot opportunities in the future.
Many investors have watched a deal slip through their hands while they waited for a bank to approve their loan. Once you have private money available, that won’t happen to you. You can make an offer knowing you can go ahead and set a closing date… and leave your competition wondering how you did it so quickly.
************************************
To be a successful entrepreneur, you need five things:
1. A product that delivers a benefit people already want at a price they’re willing to pay…
2. A strategy that puts your sales copy in front of your best prospects…
3. Great headlines and lead copy that compel them to read your sales message…
4. Sales copy that convincingly presents the reasons why the prospect should buy and overcomes any objections he might have, and…
5. A quick, easy way for him to order.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
"How can I grow this thing and make it strong?"
1. Understand that money fuels growth
even for non-profits. You need money to get started and money to expand.
2. Recognise where that money is coming from.
For the most part, it will come from two different sources: affluent do-gooders and governmental agencies. These, then, are your "customers." For the first few years, you will have to spend most of your time and effort "selling" them on donating money to your non-profit. Most non-profit entrepreneurs don’t do that. In the early stage of their venture, they spend the lion’s share of their time developing programmes - more programmes than they need to get the money
.
3. To get government money, it’s a relatively simple process:
Investigate grants that would apply to your concept, and apply for them. It will be cumbersome and time-consuming - but if you are willing to follow the rules, you should be able to get some funding.
4. Will that government funding be fast enough and big enough to float your boat?
Probably not. And that’s where private money comes in. To get private sources to fund your dream, you are going to have to come up with a very engaging USP (unique selling proposition). In other words, you’ll have to come up with a concept that is in some exciting way new and different from that of other, similar non-profits.
5. To come up with that USP, I’d recommend that you find out as much as you can about organisations that support young girls in urban centres.
There are probably hundreds (if not thousands) of them. Find out who they are and which are the most successful. Call the people heading up the most successful ones and interview them. Be gracious. Make friends. They will help you later.
6. Study the theory behind organisations like these.
Be able to quote persuasive data in casual conversation. Give yourself the goal of becoming one of the world’s top experts in the niche you are entering. If you spend 5,000 hours studying and talking to professionals in your field, you will rise to that level.
7. Locate affluent people in your community. Find out where they socialise.
Find out where they work. Meet them at parties and events and chat them up. Send them personal letters. E-mail them. Your initial goal should not be to raise money. If you come at them directly, they will back away. Remember, wealthy people are always being hit up for donations. They are good at refusing - but less so when they are being asked by someone they like and trust. You have to become that someone. How can you do that? By developing relationships with them that are based on them talking to you.
1. Understand that money fuels growth
even for non-profits. You need money to get started and money to expand.
2. Recognise where that money is coming from.
For the most part, it will come from two different sources: affluent do-gooders and governmental agencies. These, then, are your "customers." For the first few years, you will have to spend most of your time and effort "selling" them on donating money to your non-profit. Most non-profit entrepreneurs don’t do that. In the early stage of their venture, they spend the lion’s share of their time developing programmes - more programmes than they need to get the money
.
3. To get government money, it’s a relatively simple process:
Investigate grants that would apply to your concept, and apply for them. It will be cumbersome and time-consuming - but if you are willing to follow the rules, you should be able to get some funding.
4. Will that government funding be fast enough and big enough to float your boat?
Probably not. And that’s where private money comes in. To get private sources to fund your dream, you are going to have to come up with a very engaging USP (unique selling proposition). In other words, you’ll have to come up with a concept that is in some exciting way new and different from that of other, similar non-profits.
5. To come up with that USP, I’d recommend that you find out as much as you can about organisations that support young girls in urban centres.
There are probably hundreds (if not thousands) of them. Find out who they are and which are the most successful. Call the people heading up the most successful ones and interview them. Be gracious. Make friends. They will help you later.
6. Study the theory behind organisations like these.
Be able to quote persuasive data in casual conversation. Give yourself the goal of becoming one of the world’s top experts in the niche you are entering. If you spend 5,000 hours studying and talking to professionals in your field, you will rise to that level.
7. Locate affluent people in your community. Find out where they socialise.
Find out where they work. Meet them at parties and events and chat them up. Send them personal letters. E-mail them. Your initial goal should not be to raise money. If you come at them directly, they will back away. Remember, wealthy people are always being hit up for donations. They are good at refusing - but less so when they are being asked by someone they like and trust. You have to become that someone. How can you do that? By developing relationships with them that are based on them talking to you.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Learn to Market More Creatively
Knowledge of your industry can bring originality to your business.
The Nestle Corporation in Geneva, Switzerland, asked Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago, Illinois, where creativity came from. The answer was revealed by asking the same question to artists, dancers, writers, musicians, poets, engineers, and architects. All gave the same answer to the question. They said that creativity comes from knowledge. The more knowledge you have, the more creative you can be. Applying creativity to the arts listed above has the purpose of human enjoyment. Applying creativity to your business has the primary purpose of generating profits. If it doesn't generate profits, it's not creative.
Don't ever go down the garden path of beauty and creative expression in marketing. Sure, it's a plus if your audio and visual materials look and sound great. But that's not their job. Generating profits is their job. Get your artistic kicks in the concert hall. There's no place for them in the boardroom.
The Knowledge You Need
Direct your creativity towards the accumulation of knowledge you need. The path to that knowledge is illuminated by research, the start-up point for the start-up guerrilla. That training as well as your own adventures as a guerrilla marketer starts with information you've really got to have. Much of it is published on the internet. Lots of it is yours for free at your local chamber of commerce. Bookstores and libraries are bulging with just the information you need, and professional associations and groups will share it with you. Our favorite is the University of Google.
There's only one thing that accessible information lacks--specific information about your customers. It's laden with data about groups, but as a guerrilla, you're more interested in data about individuals.
Research Your Consumer
The best way to get that data is to get it yourself. Do your own research. Prepare customer and prospect questionnaires (a different one for each group) that ask a lot of questions. Have a notation at the top of the questionnaire that you're sorry to ask so many questions, but the more you know about them, the better service you can be to them.
Ask Specific questions
With answers that open new doors, such as what is your favorite sport? Favorite rock group? Favorite baseball team? Do you have a hobby? Do you have any pets? The answers to these questions can help you add immense power to your e-mail and website. There is an old proverb: "It is better to know something specific about your spouse than know everything about marriage." The same holds true for buyer-seller relationships. The "something specific" is what you get with research and the way to switch a start-up marketing campaign into a higher gear.
If you want a place to exercise your creativity, it's in your customer questionnaire. Most business owners know most of the right answers. Guerrilla business owners also know most of the right questions. Knowing the right questions to ask and then asking them is one of the arts of the start-up guerrilla marketing campaign.
Examine the Answers
Processing what you learn is what it's all about because that's where the action begins taking place. You notice a great number of customers in three zip codes. That spurs a mailing to those codes. You must be doing or saying something right. What can it be?
There are still many other areas deserving of further exploration. First on that list are your prospects, those people who for some silly reason haven't yet purchased from you. Hey! Hold on a second. Maybe it wasn't a silly reason. Maybe it was you doing a silly thing or missing an important detail in customer service.
Always look at it like this:
If your prospects aren't your customers, there's got to be a reason. Find out what that reason it and then correct it. Be relentless. Be pig-headed and single-purposed, but do everything you can do to transform all of your prospects into customers. That may not happen exactly. But your efforts won't go unrewarded. My boss and idol Leo Burnett said, "When you reach for the stars, you might not get one, but you're not likely to come up with a handful of mud either."
The best marketing builds confidence and invites a purchase. Best and most unique of all, the best marketing gets through to people.
That's why knowing a lot about your prospects will help you stand apart from your competitors and shine in the minds of your prospects and customers.
Once you've learned all you can about your customers and your prospects, what's the next area worth researching? A smart place to focus is your own industry. Research that industry--how did the world function before Google?--and get a feel for what the winners are doing, the latest trends, and for signs of any competitors you might have.
Look at Industry Winners
One of the secrets to market domination is knocking yourself off. NOT cloning yourself, but creating a new unique selling proposition in the same market.
That's why Toyota created Lexus. It's why McDonalds started Chipotle. It's not just big companies either; it's just as true with "little" guys on the internet. In some of the most competitive markets imaginable, you see 11 real ads on the first page, and most people don't know that two parent companies might be responsible for five or six of them.Hey, if you've successfully gained a foothold in one market--and you understand that market deeply--and want to grow your business why go to the trouble of learning a brand-new niche?
Do something in the one you're already in. Create a new offer that's so appealing, it takes its place along with the other top dogs: New product, new website, new Google account.
Don't ever forget that on the any search term there's a whole spectrum of tastes and desires that the keyword represents. One website and one ad can only cater to a handful of them. There are still others you're not serving. But you can.
Do Field Research
As lush and fascinating as the internet may be for research, we can't help but point you in the direction of trade shows where you'll not only get a state-of-the-moment feel for your industry but you'll also get a lot of inside information not yet published online. The networking at these shows may be more valuable than anything on the trade show floor.
The product or service you offer also merits abundant research time. The better you know your offering, the better equipped you'll be to talk about it, understand it, market it. Eventually, you'll be called upon to prepare a benefits list, that actual in-writing list of the benefits people gain by buying from you. We urge you to put a lot of effort and creativity into this list because it's what you'll be communicating to your prospects and customers. They'll then make their decision to purchase (or not to purchase) based upon the benefits you do (or don't) convey.
Understand Your Competition
Your next point of research will be your competition, which you'll already know pretty well because of your forays into studying your industry and your product. Learn what they say and where they say it. Maintain vigil here because they'll tip their hand frequently by how they adjust their message and their media. You don't want to copy them but you do want to be aware of what they're up to. You can be sure that they're checking up on you. You might even buy the product of the leader in your industry. Get to see firsthand its sales presentation, display, packaging, follow-up, and product itself. Learning from leaders is a guerrilla strength.
Explore Media OpportunitiesDon't fail to research life outside your own industry. Get to know the media, online and offline available to you. Get to know the internet on an intimate basis within your industry. Start-up guerrillas engage in a monthly half hour surf of the internet to catch the best that's online--in and out of their industry. The research you put in looking for media opportunities for your company will pay off every time.
Study the Latest Technology
That research should include researching the latest technology that might empower your business. The move in entrepreneurship is toward automation. Happily, automation is not expensive. Your company can give off the vibes of a huge, lavishly funded corporation with a constantly busy staff, when the truth is it's just little old you pushing the right button on your automated customer profitability center. Technology can help you in the areas of marketing, production, finances, distribution, and a whole lot more. Skip it if you don't need it, but don't miss it if it can contribute to your profitability. It probably can. More people earn money while they sleep than ever before.
We didn't explore a totally different kind of research, one that we applaud and respect. But assuming you aren't yet a wealthy and thriving company, we nudge you in the direction of free research, which has been outlined above. Later, when you've taken this advice and are a wealthy and thriving company, look into paid research, which takes over the entire research function, from asking the right questions to analyzing the answers. The right question can be the making of a company.
Knowledge of your industry can bring originality to your business.
The Nestle Corporation in Geneva, Switzerland, asked Leo Burnett Advertising in Chicago, Illinois, where creativity came from. The answer was revealed by asking the same question to artists, dancers, writers, musicians, poets, engineers, and architects. All gave the same answer to the question. They said that creativity comes from knowledge. The more knowledge you have, the more creative you can be. Applying creativity to the arts listed above has the purpose of human enjoyment. Applying creativity to your business has the primary purpose of generating profits. If it doesn't generate profits, it's not creative.
Don't ever go down the garden path of beauty and creative expression in marketing. Sure, it's a plus if your audio and visual materials look and sound great. But that's not their job. Generating profits is their job. Get your artistic kicks in the concert hall. There's no place for them in the boardroom.
The Knowledge You Need
Direct your creativity towards the accumulation of knowledge you need. The path to that knowledge is illuminated by research, the start-up point for the start-up guerrilla. That training as well as your own adventures as a guerrilla marketer starts with information you've really got to have. Much of it is published on the internet. Lots of it is yours for free at your local chamber of commerce. Bookstores and libraries are bulging with just the information you need, and professional associations and groups will share it with you. Our favorite is the University of Google.
There's only one thing that accessible information lacks--specific information about your customers. It's laden with data about groups, but as a guerrilla, you're more interested in data about individuals.
Research Your Consumer
The best way to get that data is to get it yourself. Do your own research. Prepare customer and prospect questionnaires (a different one for each group) that ask a lot of questions. Have a notation at the top of the questionnaire that you're sorry to ask so many questions, but the more you know about them, the better service you can be to them.
Ask Specific questions
With answers that open new doors, such as what is your favorite sport? Favorite rock group? Favorite baseball team? Do you have a hobby? Do you have any pets? The answers to these questions can help you add immense power to your e-mail and website. There is an old proverb: "It is better to know something specific about your spouse than know everything about marriage." The same holds true for buyer-seller relationships. The "something specific" is what you get with research and the way to switch a start-up marketing campaign into a higher gear.
If you want a place to exercise your creativity, it's in your customer questionnaire. Most business owners know most of the right answers. Guerrilla business owners also know most of the right questions. Knowing the right questions to ask and then asking them is one of the arts of the start-up guerrilla marketing campaign.
Examine the Answers
Processing what you learn is what it's all about because that's where the action begins taking place. You notice a great number of customers in three zip codes. That spurs a mailing to those codes. You must be doing or saying something right. What can it be?
There are still many other areas deserving of further exploration. First on that list are your prospects, those people who for some silly reason haven't yet purchased from you. Hey! Hold on a second. Maybe it wasn't a silly reason. Maybe it was you doing a silly thing or missing an important detail in customer service.
Always look at it like this:
If your prospects aren't your customers, there's got to be a reason. Find out what that reason it and then correct it. Be relentless. Be pig-headed and single-purposed, but do everything you can do to transform all of your prospects into customers. That may not happen exactly. But your efforts won't go unrewarded. My boss and idol Leo Burnett said, "When you reach for the stars, you might not get one, but you're not likely to come up with a handful of mud either."
The best marketing builds confidence and invites a purchase. Best and most unique of all, the best marketing gets through to people.
That's why knowing a lot about your prospects will help you stand apart from your competitors and shine in the minds of your prospects and customers.
Once you've learned all you can about your customers and your prospects, what's the next area worth researching? A smart place to focus is your own industry. Research that industry--how did the world function before Google?--and get a feel for what the winners are doing, the latest trends, and for signs of any competitors you might have.
Look at Industry Winners
One of the secrets to market domination is knocking yourself off. NOT cloning yourself, but creating a new unique selling proposition in the same market.
That's why Toyota created Lexus. It's why McDonalds started Chipotle. It's not just big companies either; it's just as true with "little" guys on the internet. In some of the most competitive markets imaginable, you see 11 real ads on the first page, and most people don't know that two parent companies might be responsible for five or six of them.Hey, if you've successfully gained a foothold in one market--and you understand that market deeply--and want to grow your business why go to the trouble of learning a brand-new niche?
Do something in the one you're already in. Create a new offer that's so appealing, it takes its place along with the other top dogs: New product, new website, new Google account.
Don't ever forget that on the any search term there's a whole spectrum of tastes and desires that the keyword represents. One website and one ad can only cater to a handful of them. There are still others you're not serving. But you can.
Do Field Research
As lush and fascinating as the internet may be for research, we can't help but point you in the direction of trade shows where you'll not only get a state-of-the-moment feel for your industry but you'll also get a lot of inside information not yet published online. The networking at these shows may be more valuable than anything on the trade show floor.
The product or service you offer also merits abundant research time. The better you know your offering, the better equipped you'll be to talk about it, understand it, market it. Eventually, you'll be called upon to prepare a benefits list, that actual in-writing list of the benefits people gain by buying from you. We urge you to put a lot of effort and creativity into this list because it's what you'll be communicating to your prospects and customers. They'll then make their decision to purchase (or not to purchase) based upon the benefits you do (or don't) convey.
Understand Your Competition
Your next point of research will be your competition, which you'll already know pretty well because of your forays into studying your industry and your product. Learn what they say and where they say it. Maintain vigil here because they'll tip their hand frequently by how they adjust their message and their media. You don't want to copy them but you do want to be aware of what they're up to. You can be sure that they're checking up on you. You might even buy the product of the leader in your industry. Get to see firsthand its sales presentation, display, packaging, follow-up, and product itself. Learning from leaders is a guerrilla strength.
Explore Media OpportunitiesDon't fail to research life outside your own industry. Get to know the media, online and offline available to you. Get to know the internet on an intimate basis within your industry. Start-up guerrillas engage in a monthly half hour surf of the internet to catch the best that's online--in and out of their industry. The research you put in looking for media opportunities for your company will pay off every time.
Study the Latest Technology
That research should include researching the latest technology that might empower your business. The move in entrepreneurship is toward automation. Happily, automation is not expensive. Your company can give off the vibes of a huge, lavishly funded corporation with a constantly busy staff, when the truth is it's just little old you pushing the right button on your automated customer profitability center. Technology can help you in the areas of marketing, production, finances, distribution, and a whole lot more. Skip it if you don't need it, but don't miss it if it can contribute to your profitability. It probably can. More people earn money while they sleep than ever before.
We didn't explore a totally different kind of research, one that we applaud and respect. But assuming you aren't yet a wealthy and thriving company, we nudge you in the direction of free research, which has been outlined above. Later, when you've taken this advice and are a wealthy and thriving company, look into paid research, which takes over the entire research function, from asking the right questions to analyzing the answers. The right question can be the making of a company.
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