Marketing

Back in June, before Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch did their final tap dance, Kelly K. Spors wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal in which she interviewed Stefan Tornquist of Marketing Sherpa Inc. The gist was the importance of small businesses expanding their marketing efforts in a downturn. At the time, I thought it counter intuitive. After all, during a downturn, most people and small business owners are looking for ways to trim the fat, cut costs and otherwise conserve cash. Marketing is usually one of the first places people look to make strategic budget cuts.

Now, after Wall Street has literally been turned on his head, I am starting to re-think that position, and I wonder whether Mr. Turnquist's observations don't make sense after all. It was basically his position that the reason to increase one's marketing at a time like this, is because the competition is usually going to decrease theirs; so it's a great time to really develop a brand, and a great time to get some attention from new and existing customers and rev up sales.

Mr. Tornquist was big on internet marketing as an inexpensive alternative to traditional paid print media for small businesses. However, it seems that he advocates a combination of both forms of marketing. He does not eschew one for the other.

It is not that he speaks of anything that is out of the ordinary, though. Every idea he discussed, most small business owners have probably heard a million times. Fundamentally, a small business needs a website. That's just basic common sense at this point. Check out www.ebranz.com to get ideas of how to optimize your website. Tornquist discusses direct mail - in fact he says that direct mail is still a "larger industry than all online put together." He also talks about "local-search marketing [results that appear where people search for local businesses]" as being a smart investment for small businesses right now.

There is also the pay per click google adsense advertising that small businesses can affordably add to their marketing efforts. If all esle fails, small business owners can start a blog. Just make sure to optimize it.

---------------------------
11/3/08. Here is an additional thought. Have you ever heard the concept of "multi-sensory marketing?" Well, I was browsing through this book called Whiff by C. Russell Brumfied and in it, he suggests that the new direction of marketing is something called "Scent Marketing." He advocates creating a scent that is part of your company's brand and using it in all your marketing materials including business cards, stationary, everything. He says scent marketing is definitely a trend to watch. You be the judge

Bureaucracy

One of the blessings of small businesses, is that they don't tend to get as bogged down by red tape and bureaucratic nonsensicalness like a lot of big companies do. But that doesn't mean they don't have their share of headaches, stonewalling and pettiness that can derail goals, mess up strategy, block vision and otherwise leave the business in flux.

The thing with having bureaucratic red tape in charge of the simplest bottle of white out, is that it wastes a lot of time. And it produces nothing but unproductivity. So one of the goals of any small business has to be to "trim the fat." Make the operation as lean as possible. Cut costs, green up, and always strive to maximize output. Maximize production. Whatever the calculus that is needed to achieve this, get on board and create a conduit.

And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if it is broke, fix it fast but keep the bureaucrats out of the building.