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What is Marketing?
What is Marketing? It seems like a stupid question. Most people think of marketing as a glossy flyer, a business card, an advertisement in the telephone directory or a sign out front of their store. After years of fine-tuning my business, my definition of marketing has changed.
Marketing is everything you do. Its the uniform you wear, its the way you talk, its the bag you carry, its how many rings it takes for you to answer your phone, its everything. We now live in a world where we don’t trust a business just because it has fancy brochures and a guy in a suit; consumers are much less trusting now.
I’m sure many of us have come across a shady salesman who looked immaculate, his sales pitch was great but there was still something not quite right. It might have been his cheesy smile, his beat up car parked around the corner or the fact that their phone line redirects to some other country; but something turned us off. The funny thing is, that sales person will probably think it was his pitch that made you not do business with him when its really something he didn’t even think about.
You need to look at your own business from the outside in and see what can be improved because it is the “whole picture” which makes up how your business looks to customers. It is often a good idea to get an outsider to suggest improvements for your business because after a few years you becoming blind to things which may be extremely obvious to your customers. Ask them to be brutally honest because even though it may be painful while they are telling you how you do things wrong, its worth it in the long run when more customers feel comfortable doing business with you.
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I’d love to hear more on this subject in particular. We’ve been spending the majority of our afternoon exploring new marketing methods, including craigslist, twitter, a facebook page, and a local group on livejournal.
Thanks again for another great write up!
One specific example that I’d like to throw in is, if at all practical, don’t let the phone ring more than twice. Three times is the most anyone should let the phone ring. Any times more than that means you’ve lost some business.
If you have to, excuse yourself to answer and take a message if you have a client in your presence.
Also, your mood could be a deal maker or breaker, especially over the phone. Your mood will always carry over on the phone or in person. It’s not always possible to be in the best of moods, but always try to be in the best possible, your clients expect and deserve no less.
Wonderful post and responses! I do what I call “marketing runs” that use the glossy flyers and business cards. I never stopped to think about the finer details you mentioned. Also, I never stopped to look at my mood when dealing with a customer / potential customer. Technibble is an awesome resource!
I posted on Craig’s List, but I have only received referrals to Craig’s List alternatives. My method right now is to order a few hundred flyers at a time and rubber band them to door knobs like Chinese Restaurants do. My flayers have the same theme as my website and on the back list some services. The most important thing I try do is point people to my website and glance at the special. I will be running a very ambitious special at the end of the month aimed at February.
Another thing I am doing is a little different than what I typically see people do. I have two mentors who I learn from. My Mechanic is the first. He has the best customer service I have ever seen anywhere. I have scheduled several consecutive dates that he approved of, just to sit with him and learn about customer service, processes, employee and vender interaction. I expect to learn a lot from that experience.
Another thing I was considering was getting accredited with the BBB. They have already called me and said I meet the accreditation requirements. Have any of you been accredited (signed up and paid the fee). If so, is it producing clients?
There are a couple big ones that have contributed to my success, which can be called marketing, but also fall under the ‘good business idea’ category.
Get involved with your local Chamber of Commerce. If you can impress some people within the Chamber, good word-of-mouth can spread like wildfire.
Find out if there’s an Angie’s List chapter in your area, and then talk to past satisfied clients to see if they’re members and if they’re willing to write you a review. I get several leads per month from Angie’s List with a very insignificant investment of time and a couple dollars a month for coupon placement in their listings.
Get top-ranked on Google Local. I get 80% of my non-word-of-mouth referrals from people searching for computer repair royal oak mi on Google. This means getting reviews from your clients, so if you’re good, this should be cake.
Great points here! I think a lot of people overlook these fine details of their business, not realizing that every little thing they do is a reflection of their business.
What is marketing? Everything, at least thats what the ads lead me to believe on sites.
IMO a good looking website is absolutely crucial, I’ve had a ton of people call me solely because they liked my site. And its understandable since I do the same thing, if I’m looking online for a product am I going to buy from someone whose site looks like it was from 1995 or from someone who has a well designed modern site?
Go on craig’s list and check out some of these techs websites, all center justified text with a low res gif of a computer tech. Call Bob at 555-7777!! Yeah ok.
First off, I need to wash my car.
I aim to answer all calls on the first or second ring. If I can’t make it, I do have my voicemail set up to greet them with, “…I’m unable to take your call as I’m giving my current customer my undivided attention.”
Everything we do is partially marketing. After all, why look bad when you can add 10% more effort and look much better, with the same factual outcome.
This is one of the simplest question that I ever seen and also the hardest to answer as well. Overall, the world is moving because of marketing.
I’d say it’s what we need to do more of.
I’ve been reading some of your Tips and Tricks about month ago, as I started my own business as a freelance technician. I’ve been receiving alot of works onsite until now, thankz on those advise also.
Greatly written, and awesome notes. The conclusion would be, marketing is you!
Great post to make you think. Websites are important, looks are important, and unfortunately for some, the way they look will far outshine the talent they have. Don’t forget attitude as well. If you are going to leave a stack of business cards with a client and make sure they don’t end up in the trash, you must talk to your client and not down to them. Remember, if they knew as much about computers as you do, and they were so inclined, they wouldn’t need you. So treat them with respect and understanding and you will see your referrals skyrocket.
as Branson said, marketing is you. I see that marketing yourself, not just company really helps. Clients like to deal with the person, not just anonymous company. I always think about building long-term relationship.
Great again! You are a great writer! Keep up the great work!
We are more and more amazed with WWW marketing based on seeing the way the the current generations operate with the world with technology. My 11 year old daughter just took me a website they had put online to organize popular topics for their online friends. They were asking about the best way to generate some advertising on the site to generate income. I am so happy.