Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on December 3, 2009 at 10:13 am
I read an article called “Secrets of Success in Daily Practice” on a friend of mine’s blog, www.tamiross.com that got me to thinking about my goals and dreams. I think everyone had dreams when they were kids. Some of us wanted to be a firefighters, others doctors or maybe a sports celebrity. During my teens, I really didn’t have a career in mind, but instead I focused on life goals. I set these goals young and they have been the driving focus in my life today, even though I might have lost a little focus on the overall dream for my life. My goals were simple:
- Education – I wanted to have my undergrad before I was 26, my graduate degree before I was 40 and my PhD before I am 50.
- Travel the world
- Marry my dream girl
- Have 2-3 children
- Be successful enough to live comfortable.
Out of all of my goals, I have achieved all but one. I checked them off as I went through each one.
- I finished my undergrad at 30, my MBA at 41 and I have planned on starting my PhD before I am 45. So I feel my education goals are on track or close to completion. Check.
- I traveled the world thanks to the Army. I met that goal even though my military career delayed my education, it was still worth it. Check.
- I married my dream girl Sheri and I have 2 wonderful children with her. Check. Check.
- I have a very good career and business. Plus I can’t complain about our life style. Check.
So, I have achieved all but one of my goals, I’m done, right? No, it isn’t that easy nor should it be. What I have realized is that while I pursued by goals, I lost sight of my dreams. Your dreams may or may not come true, but they are your driving force to get you to the next hurdle. When I was in college, I had big dreams. You could go in my office at my house and see pictures of cars, homes, vacations, and a host of other “lofty” dreams or dream items hanging on my wall and bulletin board. I always kept those dreams in front of me because I knew that if I believed it, I would achieve it. Everything I did in my life was working toward achieving my dreams. I listened to motivational tapes, read books, attended seminars and met with people who I looked up to and aspired to be like. I did all this because I had dreams. You could walk in my house and see what I dreamed of.
Each step of my life from the time I as a teenager was outlined in the goals that I hoped helped me achieve my dreams. Now truthfully, my dreams changed many times as I grew older, but my goals never changed. I adjusted goals on occasion to make them more achievable but I never changed them drastically because I used them as my life’s map. Until yesterday though, I had truly forgotten about my “dreams”. Sure my goals are there and I have achieved all but one, but for some reason I lost sight of the dream. When I lost sight of the dream, I stopped setting goals. For all intents, I was done.
Today, I woke up with this thought on my mind. What are my dreams? What do I really want to do with my life? Where do I want to be in 5 years? All of sudden, I am starting to dream again! As I started to consider my dreams, I began thinking about my goals. I need new steps to guide me toward the dream. At 43, my dreams are a little different from when I was 23, but they all have the same premise and focus.
My plans have changed, but my life’s decisions or dreams really haven’t. My dreams now include my family and our lives together. What I want for them is part of my new and improved dream. Life today is too hard to just go through it on cruise control. Your dreams give you power and hope for a better life or at least a different life than what you have now. Your dreams should be achievable but should be just far enough out of reach to make you stretch and achieve the next goal.
What are you dreams? Write them down, cut out pictures, and then put them in your office or your special book. Look at them often. Ponder or “dream” about them. Now, set your goals. What do you need to do in order to achieve your dreams? Take a good look at your life. Have you lost sight of where you want to be and what you want out of your life? Give this some thought. Sleep on it tonight and tomorrow, write it down. I think it can change your life or at least give you greater purpose than you have today.
Whatever you do, don’t stop dreaming. Where would we be today if people didn’t dream or stretch themselves to go beyond their current situation and reality? Don’t stop dreaming. Reach for the stars and you won’t be disappointed if you only get the moon.
David Beckham
MarketProMBA
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on November 20, 2009 at 7:26 pm
David Beckham, MarketProMBA Consultant
My first and most important tool for our business, THE original basket boutique, is the business card. The business card, while it sounds so common and conventional is actually a very powerful guerrilla marketing tool when it is employed properly. Your business card can be unconventional or conventional. It depends on your business. Ours is unique in that it is a smaller size with rounded corners and has a hole in the center of our “O” in the logo. You can make your card unique by adding full color pictures or logos. Have it printed on glossy, heavy paper as apposed to regular business card stock. Sure it costs a little more, but it’s not so much that it cost prohibitive.
You might also consider a folded card that has traditional information on the outside, but on the inside and back, it might have product information or details about your services. Perhaps you can even put a small map on the fold out so people can find your business. Think outside the box a little with your business cards. Perhaps a magnetic business card would work better for your business. People love magnets and you will find your card on someone’s filing cabinet or refrigerator more often than not.
You could make your business card a design such as your company truck or if you are a painter, have your card created in the shape of a paint can. The only thing I caution you with unconventional size cards are they might not fit in people’s rolodex or through some card scanners. Still, unique shapes are certainly an attention getter and will usually spark a conversation about what you do. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have been in with people about anything other than business and when I flip out one of my business cards, I always get the same reaction, they hold the card up to look through the hole and they say, “Wow, neat card.” Then, inevitably we break into a conversation about what THE original basket boutique does.
Now that you have the “perfect” business card, what are the best ways to use it? I like to think of my business cards as bait. I know that sounds funny, but let me explain. Your business card is your mini-billboard. It gives your business name, contact information and other information, but most importantly it builds your brand. You might think that you don’t have a brand but even if your business is just called “David Beckham, Consultant”; your brand is your name. So my card is my bait and I am a fisherman. Does a fisherman catch a fish every time he casts out his bait? Not likely. If you fish like I do, you drown a lot of worms before you catch something. Using your business card works the same way.
When I am out and about in town, I leave a trail of business cards everywhere I go. Remember, you have to cast a lot of bait to catch a good mess of fish. It’s the same with our business cards. I have left my cards in Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Publics and even Wal-Mart. These places seem like an unlikely place for anyone looking to buy gift baskets, but remember you are fishing. Almost everyone at one point frequents a hardware store or a grocery store. Perhaps the person visiting the store isn’t our “perfect” client, but what if their wife or husband with them is? See where I am going? What’s the best way to catch fish? You fish where the fish are.
If you are at your doctors, perhaps you leave a card in the waiting room. When you are at a restaurant, leave a card with your tip. Write a little note on your card to thank them for their service. You can bet that card won’t be tossed. You can leave your card just about anywhere that people frequent. Your business card does not cost as much as a billboard, so leave them everywhere.
Be creative and think out of the box. Remember, this is guerrilla marketing! You are building your brand, even if people don’t use your service they are still being exposed to your brand so hopefully, one day when they do need your service, they will remember your business brand. Your business card is the first tool in your tackle box. Use it and catch some fish, or I should say customers!
What are some creative ways you have used your business card? Leave us a comment and give us a few of your guerrilla ideas! Happy Fishing!
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on November 20, 2009 at 7:17 pm
In our last segment, Marketing in a Tough Economy – Revisited, we talked about an important business success factor, Customer Retention. As a recap, we know your current customers are one of your most valuable assets. Small business owners need to focus energies and resources on keeping these customers happy. Over time, not only do these customers support your business, but inevitably, the hope is they help you gain more customers through their referrals and testimonials. So, besides your current customers referring business to you, how else do you get your name out to the world? How are you going to get new customers and build your brand?
Many businesses think that getting new customers is a costly venture. When times get tough, businesses will too many times cut their marketing budget when in fact they should be expanding it or at least refining where their marketing money is going. During tough economic times, your competitors are doing one of three things:
- They are closing their doors
- They are scaling back operations or standing still
- They are increasing their marketing budget & growing market share
There is no doubt that t the economy is going to drive some of your competitors out of business. In my town, I can drive down the road and I see one out of every three businesses that have closed their doors. It may be more or less where you live, but the reality is they were there one day and gone the next. Yet, there are some businesses that are holding their own. I have talked to some of these owners and they give me all kinds of stories about how they are cutting budgets, laying off people or taking loans (if they can get them) to stay afloat. Still, there are other businesses that seem to be growing and thriving no matter what the economy looks like. Are they harboring some sort of a secret about marketing that other businesses don’t know about?
The truth is the businesses that are thriving in a downturned economy do know a secret. The secret is simple. Don’t cut your marketing budget. During downturns, some of your competitors could go out of business. Who is going to pick up their market share? If the economy is affecting your business, then isn’t it most likely affecting consumers as well? Current, new and your competitor’s customers could be price shopping or looking for alternatives to your product or service. How are you attracting these switching customers? It is easy to see why cutting your marketing budget or standing still could hurt your business. You could be limiting your opportunity to gain new market share.
So, what can a small business owner do to increase their market share during a down economy? Marketing your business doesn’t have to expensive or cost prohibitive. You can actually market your business on less money than you think. When most people think of marketing, they assume we are talking about advertising. Well, you are partially right. Advertising is part of marketing but it isn’t the only thing. I am a firm believer in low budget / no budget marketing for small businesses. You have probably heard it referred to as Grass Roots marketing or the most familiar term made popular by marketer Jay Conrad Levinson, Guerrilla Marketing.
The definition of guerrilla marketing is loosely defined as; “unconventional methods of marketing that require a relatively low budget or no money at all”. There are hundreds of ideas you can use to market your business and when we are dealing with a downturned economy and budgets are cut, guerrilla marketing may be your saving grace!
Over the next several weeks, we are going to dive into some guerrilla marketing tactics and ideas. As you are reading some of these ideas, jot down your own thoughts and share them with the readers. Who knows, you may be harboring the next great marketing secret and you didn’t even know it! By no means will I be able to teach you all there is to know about guerrilla marketing. As a matter of fact, I highly recommend getting your hands on some of Levinson’s books or do further research on the internet. There are so many great ideas that it will seem a little overwhelming at first, but in time you will find the right marketing tools that work for your business. So let’s look at some tools and get started marketing your business!
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on October 30, 2009 at 9:33 am
David Beckham, MarketProMBA Consultant
Let’s face it; your current customers are your business life’s blood. They are generally your primary source of revenue you should be spending a good percentage of your marketing budget focusing on them. A good rule of thumb is that 60% of your marketing budget should be spent on your current customers or marketing directly to them. Remember, it costs far more to gain a new customer more often that it does to keep a current one.
Take the time to get to know your current customer’s better. Phone calls, visits or emails that just check on them and get to know them better will do wonders for your relationship. Do you have a newsletter for your company? Let your customer’s know what is going on with you as well. Of course, you want to get permission from your customer’s to be put on your email list, but most of them will do this without issue.
Newsletters can also be used to let customers know about upcoming promotions and specials within your company. Online eNewsletter programs like Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or iContact are excellent marketing tools because they give you important measurements like open rates and click-through patterns. During tough times, marketing efforts have to be scrutinized to ensure they are returning results. The analytics from eNewsletter programs helps you justify your marketing expense and gives you data to help you change and adapt your message to ensure maximum impact and sales. If you aren’t using one, you need to seriously consider doing so.
Recognize special events with your customers. Send them a gift basket on their business anniversary date and just say “thanks for being a customer!” Is there a significant date in your customer’s life or an event that is important to them? If you are getting to know your customers you will learn this information, then you can simply send a card or a small gift to congratulate or let them know you are thinking about them.
Holidays are always a great time to recognize your clients. Be careful though about what you send. Don’t just get something off a shelf and think it will make an impact. Remember, other businesses might have them as clients too and how embarrassing would it be to give them the same gift basket from a “big box store” that some other business gave them. Your gift needs to be unique, original and stand out from others to get you noticed. This will help keep your business top of mind with your customers. Also, brand your gift with your colors and logo whenever possible. This also keeps your business top of mind and extends your brand. Remember, your gift could be seen by other potential clients that may be in your client’s office so make sure you are always branding anything you send. (For more information on gifts that stand out, see THE original basket boutique)
Hold a special event or meeting for your current customers. An open house for your customers will give you a chance to know your customers better and offer an opportunity for them to introduce you to more potential clients. Get with your local chamber of commerce and offer to hold their monthly business afterhours meeting. If you are not a member of your local chamber or commerce, then you should certainly rethink that decision. Local chambers are normally very good opportunities for networking and typically have low annual costs. Larger metropolitan areas might have several chambers. Don’t feel like you need to join all of them. Find out which ones are the most active by asking around and talking directly to the chambers. Then you can make a decision that will give you maximum return for your investment.
Referral business is critical to your clients businesses and yours. Initiate a referral program for your clients. When you refer a client, make sure your client knows you sent them a customer. If one of our customers sends you a new client, reward them with some kind of a thank you. This will help reinforce their actions and let them know how much you appreciate the new business.
These were just a few ideas on customer loyalty. There are many more that you might come up with. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. How do they think? If you were your own customer, how would you want to be treated? Sounds easy enough but you would be surprised at how many small business owners lose track of this. As small business owners, we tend to get wrapped up in the management of our day-to-day activities that we sometimes overlook the simple things that help build our business and keep our customers engaged with us.
In our next segment, we will talk more about marketing ideas that are not going to break your budget and help you generate more sales and build brand awareness.
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on October 30, 2009 at 9:25 am
Marketing in Tough Economy Revisited
In light of all that is happening in our economy right now, it only seems appropriate that we should talk more about keeping your business afloat and prospering until our economy makes the swing back up. In my field, I am seeing first hand what is happening to small businesses in our area. There are far too many businesses closing their doors right now. This is not uncommon because hard economic times will weed out the weaker businesses.
When times are good, businesses don’t have to be perfect to do ok, but as soon as a downturn comes along, these businesses don’t usually have the ability to stay profitable. This is where we separate the business people from the people in business. A good businessperson knows what to do and will usually come out on top while those that are just in business will just dissolve away.
So what’s a small business supposed to do? Here are some ideas that could help you stay afloat until the next wave comes along. Over the next several weeks, we will explore these ideas one at a time so you can truly grasp the concepts. Your comments and ideas will also help others, so let us know some of your thoughts on these subjects.
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on May 16, 2009 at 5:48 pm
It has been some time since my last post. I took a little time away to get some fresh thoughts and contemplate the direction that MarketProMBA is going to take for 2009. My article “Marketing in a Tough Economy” has seen a great deal of traffic and I have had many requests for reprint. I am happy to grant those requests as long as you give me credit. It is obvious why this subject is popular with small and medium size businesses right now. We can’t escape what is happening in our U.S. economy. We are facing some of the toughest times since the depression. There are many economists saying that this could be on of the toughest downturns we have faced.
Therefore, with the current state of the economy in mind, the direction I am taking for the most part in 2009 will be to help small and medium size business owners find ways to weather this financial storm so they can come out on top when it is over. I have also asked a few people that I have a great respect for to add some posts this year. These people range from current business owners to directory advertising professionals. This will really add to the diversity of MarketProMBA.
In all, I am expecting this will be a great year for business despite the current economic conditions. The longest lasting recession on record was 16 months long. We are 12 months into this one, so the expectation is we will start to come out of it later in 2009. There won’t be overnight changes, but we can expect to see some recovery. My hope for all business owners is that you remain strong, work smart and keep going forward. You will persevere and come out a stronger business in the end.
Happy Holidays to all best wishes to you for a prosperous New Year!
David Beckham
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on May 16, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Uncertain economic times call for creating marketing ideas. When sales slow and businesses start to struggle, it is usually easy to look at your marketing budget as an easy target for cutting. During economic downturns, your target market shrinks which can result in less new customers. If you cut your marketing budget, you take a chance at losing market share, which means fewer customers. When the market rebounds, your share is still smaller and your competitors might have the edge. Look for ways to market smarter during tough economic times and consider trading out services or products for advertising better known as “bartering”.
Bartering is a simple way to maintain your same level of advertising without physically cut your marketing budget. Every business has something to trade out whether it is tangible or intangible. Tangible products are any goods you can touch and feel. Tangible products have associated values with them such as production or purchasing costs. When you trade out tangible items, it is typical to trade them out at retail costs. Intangible products can be your skills, knowledge, or services. An accountant could trade out accounting services in trade for advertising. It is typical to trade out services at the street value or higher of the product or service you are trading.
When you barter goods and services, you don’t use out of pocket operating money. There are associated costs in products or time, but it doesn’t hit your immediate bottom line. The costs can be defrayed over a set period of time and in return, you will get the advertising you need for your business. Therefore, look for barter opportunities when possible. Bartering will help you maintain your current marketing level and provide you with a better solution than cutting your marketing budget and losing potential market share.
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Posted by David Beckham, MarketProMBA on May 16, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Today in church, I heard a message that really struck me. It was the story of Elijah and the widower with her two sons. Most of you are asking why church has anything to do with business and marketing. As I listened to the sermon, I asked myself the same question. I found this story unique because it struck me that this message has a great deal to do with our businesses.
In a nutshell, II Kings 4:1-7 is the story of the widower who was about to loose her two sons to the tax collector to become slaves. She was left with nothing to pay her debts. Elijah asks her “what do you have in your house?” The widower says she has oil. Therefore, the story goes that Elijah asks her to go to all her neighbors and ask for all the jars she could get. The woman did and as she started pouring the oil, it filled all of the jars she had collected until they were all used. Elijah said to her to sell the oil and pay her debts.
The story was about looking inside your house to find what you need in order to get past your problems. It also talks about going to your neighbors and asking for help. So how does this relate to business and marketing? We all have something inside of us and “in our house”. Too often, we overlook some resources because we consider them insignificant. We all have skills and resources that we need to use to our advantage in our personal lives and businesses.
As I was thinking about this story, I asked what was in my house. Right now, the economy is in the toilet, business is slow for most everyone and every dollar a company has needs to be spent with the highest efficiency. In order to survive, we need to either find the opportunities around us to save money or make money. Too often, business owners look to cut marketing and advertising when times are hard. Don’t cut your advertising, it is like committing business harry carry. Look “inside your house” to find other alternatives to cutting your marketing budgets.
Look at your current business, what do you have that is not being utilized which could be used to improve your business situation. Instead of cutting your marketing budget, perhaps you can sell unused equipment. You could also cross train your current employees to do other jobs instead of hiring new or temporary. Look for low cost or no cost ideas to market your business. Are your employees doing all they can to help promote your business? Talk with them and get their buy-in on promoting the company. It keeps them in a job and helps you gain market position.
As the story goes, Elijah tells the widower to ask her neighbors for jars. In the business world, I associate this asking other business owners or acquaintances for help. Perhaps another business owner has a need for your skills and is willing to trade services. This saves budgets and helps your business at the same time. Our “neighbors” are willing to give, as are we when asked. We all have something to give and the hope is we will receive in return. Trading services can be a low cost or no cost way to get your business additional resources.
Our company, The Original Basket Boutique, trades out gift baskets for radio and newspaper advertising. Trading our baskets serves our need for cheap marketing and the advertising medium’s need for customer appreciation gifts. What products or services do you have that can be traded? You can also trade or offer your skills and knowledge to businesses. Maybe finance or marketing is your strength. You can help other business owners some assistance in return for their services or goods.
Business owners across America are looking for ways to survey this economic downturn. Our history has seen this before and in time, our economy will pull out of this and business will be good again for a while. Our economy is cyclical and always has been. In order to keep our businesses afloat during this time, we have to think outside the box and look for opportunities wherever they exist.
You don’t have to be religious to appreciate this story. It is more about helping those around you and finding help when you need it. We all have resources that we have yet to tap. You just need to figure out what those are. Look inside “your house” and you will find opportunities and resources you never knew existed or have overlooked.
David Beckham
B.BA, MBA Marketing
MarketProMBA Consulting
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