Marketing 101

Welcome! As this is the first post, let's start with some basics. 

What is marketing?

Marketing is anything you do to promote your business. From printed materials such as business cards, rack cards, and brochures, to your online presence, to activities, such as asking customers for referrals, encouraging positive reviews, and even providing excellent customer service. I’m marketing my business, A La Carte Marketing, right now, with this blog post. Thanks for dropping by! 

The end goal of a good marketing campaign is for your business to be the first thing that comes to mind when a customer or potential customer needs or wants what you provide. 

What if you’re the only business in the area that provides your products or services? Do you still need to bother? 

Yes, you still need to be actively marketing your business. 

• This allows people new to the area, visitors, and people outside the area to learn about you. For example, I’m new in Roan Mountain and I don’t yet know who to call for what. (Does anyone do car detailing that includes getting salt off the undercarriage?) There are also a steady stream of visitors to the area. Each one is a potential customer.
• You can market sales, special events, and new products or services.
• Active marketing can remind people they need or want something you provide. For example, a restaurant sign or ad for a specialty sandwich might spark a craving. An ad for an oil change might remind me that I’m overdue – I’m always guilty of this! 
• You can share information your customers or potential customers might not be aware of. Products you carry that people might not associate with your business (I had no idea the tire store carried wiper blades until I got there and saw them hanging up behind the counter). 
• Marketing can also be used to promote the things you excel at or even news – excellent customer service, awards you’ve won, an anniversary, safety tips, seasonal tips, maintenance reminders, product recalls, etc.  

What if you already have more business than you can handle?

There’s no guarantee this will last – our economy today is too uncertain. You don’t want to wait for a slump, when your cash flow starts dropping, before you start trying to bring in new/more business. Promote now, while you can easily afford it, and you might well prevent any future slumps.
In addition, if you have more business than you can handle, it might be time to think about expansion. Either hiring, expanding your existing space, opening a second location, or even something as simple as increasing your hours. Or, maybe even streamlining processes or reorganizing how you do things. If one or more of these things are an option, planning and preparation prior to making big changes are essential. A La Carte can help with that, too.

But what if I can’t afford to market my business? 

No matter how small your business is, or how tight your cash flow is, there are always things you can do that are low-cost or even free, as a starting point to future growth. In addition, A La Carte will work with you, regardless of the size of your budget, with the goal of getting you to the point where you can more easily afford to grow. 

How do I know what will work and what won’t?

A La Carte will spend time learning about your business, who your target market is, and what your needs and goals are, beginning with a free consultation. While there are no guarantees, we have decades of experience in growing small businesses and we understand why some things work and some don’t. We’ll offer you a range of suggestions and ideas, explain the costs, potential benefits, and potential drawbacks, to help you decide what would be the best solutions for you. For example, we would never recommend taking out an expensive ad in a glossy publication if a low-cost referral incentive program would work better. 

Have other questions? Want to schedule a free consultation? Reach out!

Thank you for stopping by!