The Foxy Marketer Blog

The headline of this is a bit misleading really, because these aren’t just tips, ideas or suggestions to be considered, but absolute MUSTS. If you do not have at least the first 3 in place already, immediately launch a plan of action to do so.

1. Have a website

I was in a small business the other day and asked what their website was since I didn’t see it mentioned anywhere. The girl replied that they were thinking about getting one someday. WHAT!?! Everyone has a website nowadays, it is expected. There is simply no reason or excuse not to have one. They are not very costly at all and add volumes to your exposure. Much more on websites to come…

2. Get feedback

Have a survey or feedback system in place for your customers. You need to know what your customers think. Every national business has an online survey, 1-800 number and place on their website for feedback. This is overkill for a small business. It can be as simple as a form by the register, or a follow-up call or email.

3. Have a newsletter

Whether quarterly, monthly or weekly, have a newsletter that you either snail-mail or email to your customers. Announce new products, upcoming events, anything special that your loyal customers need to know. This can be simple or extravagant, depending on your time and budget.

4. Belong to a networking group

Every town has a chamber of commerce or other professional business organization, and http://www.meetup.com is a goldmine of groups looking to network for breakfast, drinks, weekend networking, card-exchanges, you name it.

5. Have business cards

The days of swapping cards have not yet come to an end, so having your details on a card ready to hand out is vital. Don’t spend a fortune or even a dime if you don’t want to. Visit http://www.vistaprint.com for free business cards. You can have an offer printed on it and hand them out to people you’re in line with at the post office or wherever you are to make natural connections.

6. Know your competition

Make it a point to see what your competitors are doing. What’s new, what’s great, how do their products and services compare to yours? Do you know their prices, how they market? This makes you even more confident and knowledgeable.

7. Have a mission statement

What’s your vision? Why are you doing the things you’re doing? Having a clear purpose, concisely written in front of you will do wonders for clarity. Take the time to do this. It can be just a sentence, no more than a paragraph. 

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The Importance of Truth In Grammartizing

Proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar are CRITICAL to a successful ad campaign. Nothing pulls your plug faster than a faux-pas like an apostrophe where it has no business being or using the wrong homonym. Take this example that’s on a billboard along a heavily trafficked road I drive past every single day: “See why our competitor’s cried about our last ad”.

If you’re wondering what my problem is, read the sentence again in the context they put it in: “See why our competitor is cried about our last ad”. I have been seriously considering contacting the company and gently cluing them in. Unfortunately, that small minor, teeny misstep may be costing them business, A LOT of business. They are in a fiercely competitive industry that is based on 100% commission. Who would want to buy from a place let alone work for one that is willing to pay hundreds of dollars for a big, eye-catching billboard with this big goof-up on it? Does that scream “trust us with your $30,000 because we’re experts” to you???

Not convinced yet? Ok, read on. Did you know that 387,090 people are in a Facebook group called “I judge you when you use poor grammar”? While that may sound like a staggering figure, trust me when I tell you that they are not alone! These are only the ones willing to admit to their judgment on a social networking site. There are more, so many more willing to judge.

You’ve heard the phrase “measure twice, cut once” before, right? With advertising, even measuring twice is simply not enough! Whether you’re investing $1200 on a radio campaign, $4000 on a billboard, or blogging about your biz, how you communicate MATTERS. Triple check, have someone else check, read the thing backwards if you have to. Thank goodness for spell-check, it’s saved many a job for sure. Right before launching this website, I sent it to a friend to preview for me. He thoroughly enjoyed busting us with 2 blaring grammar mistakes my partner and I missed. It’s easy to miss when you look something over again and again, so pull in a fresh eye. Where spell-check falls short though is context, so while there is spelled properly, you may be going for the possessive their.

Yours in proper grammar, spelling, and syntax

-Joy

We’ve all been told and probably generally agree that all businesses must have a plan. Just as it is recommended that a pilot file a flight plan with the FAA prior to departure, having a business plan is not required, just strongly recommended. What would happen if a pilot boarded a plane, started it up and took off with no direction in mind? How smoothly would that flight go? Where would that flight end up? How would the passengers who paid to be on that flight feel about not knowing where they would end up?

Having a flight plan for your business gives you direction and purpose. The sky is vast and launching toward it with no particular outcome is daunting and leaves too much unconsidered. Take pause to craft a plan for your biz, whether it hasn’t yet begun, or if it’s still in its infancy stages, or even if you’ve been around for 25 years. Businesses change and grow, and so should the plans you make. Is there an existing business in your field you can model after? Maybe working with a Score rep from your community is the best way for you. Is there a dusty old binder in the back room somewhere with a plan that needs dusted off and updated?

An easy way to start with your biz plan is with your vision. When you imagine your business at its optimum, achieving what you set out to do when you started, what do you see and hear? Write it down! Put it on your website, hang it on your wall. Need a little inspiration? Here’s what some have done:

3M
“To solve unsolved problems innovatively.”

Mary Kay Cosmetics
“To give unlimited opportunity to women.”

Merck
“To preserve and improve human life.”

Wal-Mart
“To give ordinary folk the chance to buy the same thing as rich people.”

Walt Disney
“To make people happy.”

These are the ‘one-liners’, but each is supported by a set of values that set the performance standards and direct the implementation of the mission.

For example, Merck, a company that produces pharmaceutical products and provides insurance for pharmacy benefits, publicly states the following values:

Corporate social responsibility
Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the company
Science-based innovation
Honesty & integrity
Profit, but profit from work that benefits humanity

Walt Disney:

No cynicism
Nurturing and promulgation of “wholesome American values”
Creativity, dreams and imagination
Fanatical attention to consistency and detail
Preservation and control of the Disney “magic”

Use your vision as the destination of your flight, and craft the flight plan, aka the details from that. Begin now by crafting your vision. If you have one, make sure it’s prominent and still relevant for you. Can your customers see it, do your employees know and live it?

Here’s our vision:

The vision of TheFoxyMarketer.com is to ultra-empower small business owners to pro-actively work to realize profitability by adopting strategies that get results. We make Foxes!

I’d love to hear your vision…post it below, email or call me!