BASIC COMPONENTS OF MARKETING 2

PART 2 OF 2

In last week's issue, we looked at the four basic elements of
Marketing:

1 - What are you selling?

Identifying every element of value that your services and
sklillsets provide to a customer, including emotional intangibles
such as comfort, security, and reduced stress.

2 - How much do you charge for your work?

Properly pricing those services. For the best strategies, we
recommended Michael Stone's legendary book, "Markup & Profit:
A Contractor's Guide". Find it here:
http://contractor-city.com/maprcogu.html

3 - Where are you located?

Your physical location and type of community determines many of
the fundamental driving factors of your market. Your target
customer will have far different needs and expectations if you
are in rural Alaska than if you are in downtown Miami.

4 - How are you getting your message across?

Advertising & Promotion is a tool used to influence the buying
and thought patterns of a customer. It performs this function
through proper targeting and execution, that is, by understanding
who the customer is, what he wants, and then delivering the
message in the way he wants to hear it.

Influencing Buying Behavior and Thought Patterns

To influence a customer's buying and thought patterns, that is,
how he perceives his needs and how he seeks to meet them, your
services must first fall within the context of that need.

In english: to make a customer want what you're selling, what
you are selling has to be as close to what he thinks he needs
as you can get.

For example, it's pointless to try to influence the buying habits
of an individual high-rise condo owner when what you are selling
is your in-ground swimming pool construction service. The condo
owner is up on the 14th floor, he just doesn't need what you
offer. However, the condo association might be a different story -
they might very much need a swimming pool for all their members
to use and that adds value to their community property, making
it more attractive for new members to buy in.

For your advertising and promotion to be effective, you have to
figure out who the real target market is. In this example, the
target market is the condo association, not the individual condo
owner.

Determining Your Target Market

The first thing you have to do is determine exactly what it is
your business does best. By this we mean, what type of things
you do that consistently bring in the most money. Figure out
your best money-making skills and services, your specialties,
and stick to those.

Most contractors do one thing really well and two or three
additional things profitably. After that, your services decline
in profitability in direct proportion to how many things you
try to cram in. Make a list of what you do and figure out what
your specialties are. Listing 25 'specialties' means you're all
over the map, wasting energy and bleeding money. Pick the top
three or four and drop the rest - those top picks are your
company's specialties and what you need to focus on.

Once you've figured out your specialty, then you can take a good
hard look at who actually needs what you have to offer. Where do
your perfect customers live? Do they live in a single family
home? Do they own rental units? How much money do they make?
Long-time homeowners, or just bought in? How old is their house?
Retirees, new families, "married no kids"? Don't slack off on
this important step - take the time to drill down into the
demographics of who needs what you have, because that is your
target market, the people who will gladly give you money.

The more you understand about the people who need what you have,
the more effectively your advertising and promotional message
can reach them on a personal level. The more effectively you
reach them, the easier it is to influence their buying patterns
into buying from YOU.

Matching Your Company Image To Your Target Market

When a customer sees your company name or logo, it should tell
them not only exactly what you do, but also give them an idea
of how you do it, a sense of the personality of your company
as it relates to them.

For example, if your specialty is kid's playgrounds and your
target market is families with children, elementary schools,
and daycare centers, your company name might be "Happy Time
Playground Builders" and your logo might be a stylized stick
figure drawing of a smiling kid on a swingset.

However, if your specialty is luxury spas and your target market
is wealthy retirees, you might want your name to be "Luxury Home
Spa Retreats", and your logo might be a tranquil tropical
waterfall cascading into a premium hot tub where two attractive
silver-haired models sit smiling and drinking champagne.

Decide if it's time to spruce up your image. Identify what you
do best, who needs what you have, and change your image into a
business uniform that gives your target customer what they are
looking for.

Make any image changes *before* you start an advertising campaign.
It takes between 1 to 2 months to complete a change of name
process, even at the corporate level. If you don't want to
change your corporate name, file a DBA (Doing Business As)
with your county clerk, and register that DBA with your state
Department of Corporations.

Take the time to do this. You will have far better success with
"Smith & Sons Professional Home Remodeling" than you will with
"Joe's Construction". Once your image matches your target
market's needs, you are ready to create your advertising &
promotion plan.

Creating Your Maximum Impact Advertising & Promotion Blueprint

Advertising and promotion is about getting your message out to
the public. You want to let people know that you are available
to help them solve their problem, and you specifically want the
people who are ready to pay money for your problem solving
solution to hear your message.

The Core Message Your Market Needs To Hear

To reach a customer, your message must focus directly on the
things the customer is interested in, and answer their core fears.

This may come as a shock, but the customer does not actually give
a diddly about how great you are, how cool your company is, what
awesome customers you have, or how many jobs you pulled down last
year. They don't want to see your cute little six-year-old on
their television telling them how wonderful her daddy is. They
won't "call now!" no matter how adorable she is.

Here's what construction and building trades customers really
want to know:

- Can you do the job that they need done.

- Can you provide the quality you promise.

- Can you do the job on time.

- Can you do the job at a decent price.

That's it. All the rest of it is in your head, not theirs. If it
doesn't tie in to their needs, they'll tune out all the glowing
awesome descriptions of your company and the quality of your work,
your awards, your reputation, etc. If your message doesn't answer
those fundamental three questions, they can't hear you. Those
four are the customer's bottom line.

One more time: What the customer wants to know is, can you do
what they want and do it well, will you not waste their time,
will you charge fairly.

You can know this is true with a simple test: think about when
you go into a store, any store, looking for a specific item.
What do you really care about? Will you buy an item from them
because the company has a million customers, because their
television mascot is so cute and their jingle so catchy,
because they've been in business 40 years?

No. You will buy an item from that store because you believe that:

1) They have what you are looking for, it will do the job you want,
and do it well.
2) They have what you are looking for in stock, so you waste no time.
3) They have what you are looking for at a price you think is fair.

Their mascot IS cute and the jingle rolls around nicely in your
brain. It really IS nice to know that the company is trusted by
millions and has 40 years of experience. But none of that is what
opens your wallet in the end. You give them the sale because at
some point in the process, that store's message reached you, and
convinced you that at the place where the rubber meets the road,
their offering matched your need. The rest is just feel-good fluff.

Had their message not reached you, had you not believed that
they had what you wanted in stock at a fair price, you would
never have walked in the door to begin with, much less given
them the sale. No amount of advertising would have changed
your mind.

To recap: Determine your specialty. Find your target market.
Match your company image to your target market. Make sure your
message answers your target market's bottom line questions.

Next week we continue walking through Creating Your Advertising
Blueprint. We'll be looking at:

- Writing advertising copy

- Why Advertising & Promotion Is Crucial To Business

- When 'Free' Is Not Your Friend

Then, we'll wade into Creating An Advertising Budget for your company, and learn how to calculate the number of
leads you need to generate to meet your income goals, determine
your cost per lead, and figure out your total necessary
advertising investment.

To your success!