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.

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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

Competition

Who are those imitators trying to muscle you out of the game? They are called competitors. Just like large conglomerates and corporations, small businesses are going to have competitors. If you don’t have competitors, maybe you are not really in business?

But how to deal with idea-stealing imitators who try to one up you at every juncture? Well, you start by protecting your intellectual property by seeking copyright, patent and trademark protection where you can. But to some extent, you are not going to be able to eliminate your competitors completely. They will muscle you out of business with price wars, aggressive advertising and marketing, and bigger budgets and balance sheets.

Entrepreneurs understand that competition drives innovation and invention. Innovation and invention drives fiscal success. So competition is good. Healthy competition is good. The trick is not to let your competitors run you out of business with superior products and services in the market place. The way to avoid that is to constantly look at trends, nurture your own and others’ creativity, adapt and change when needed, and have a true passion for whatever it is you do.

Study the competition also. Maybe there is something they do that is better than what you do, and by studying them you can improve your own game. It is probably error to be an imitator only, however. A successful business person, to some extent must be able to blaze their own path, stand out. Be a Seth Godin “Purple Cow.” And ultimately, the aim is to better the competition at each juncture, while, contemporaneously, being the best that you can be.