You’re Marketing and You Didn’t Even Know It.

I'm fond of saying that marketing isn't just a task you do, it's a living, breathing part of your business. And it sneaks out in the darndest places.

Your Voicemail Greeting.
“Hi, you’ve reached Amber and your call is important to me but I’ll ignore it for several days.”

This is a prime opportunity to give people a 10 second screen shot of your personality. Your voicemail greeting should include, without fail, your name, a thank you to the caller, instructions to leave a name and number, and a timeframe in which you’ll return their call (I like within 24 hours). Infuse some personality. Be happy they called. Then call them back.

Your Business Card.

I know it seems silly, but your business card does not have to be boring. (And unboring doesn’t have to mean that it’s a handheld super video game thing or something). And when you leave one, leave several. It'll be easier for people to pass them along to others and spread the wealth. Cards should always have your name, phone number (direct, please, if you can) an email address, and a website. Don’t ever put generic info@XYZ.com on your card unless it’s supplemented by your real email address. After all, the point is for people to contact you, and if you don’t trust them with your information, why should they trust you?

Your Out Of Office Autoresponder.

This is similar to the voicemail greeting. Be friendly, human, and un-corporate as much as you can. Acknowledge that you’re sorry you missed someone, but that you’ll get back to them in a designated timeframe. If you have an alternative contact they can reach out to, give it to them. And thank them for reaching out. Then RESPOND when you say you will. It’s amazing how much good will a fast response can engender.

Your Email Etiquette

1. Spell check.
2. Double check name spelling.
3. Use proper grammar.
4. Please and Thank You.
5. If sending an email to several people, use the BCC field unless you’re ABSOLUTELY sure they’re all ok with sharing their emails with the other recipients.
6. DON’T USE CAPITAL LETTERS.
7. Skip the emoticons :) in professional correspondence.
7. Remember that email is indeed written correspondence, just without paper. Be open and friendly, but mind the rules of polite letter writing, please.
8. Include a signature that contains your name, phone number, email and website. Keep it concise, and dispense with graphics.

Email is the ubiquitous form of communication right now, and it’s often the only interaction a client or customer has with you for some time (or ever). Take care to make your correspondence professional, open, and conversational so it encourages dialogue. If you have a generic email for inquiries (a la info@XYZ.com), be sure you have a designated real person respond within 24 hours. This whole topic can consume an entire post. Maybe it will someday soon.

Marketing is a perpetual state of mind, really, when you're a small business. Every interaction you have with your customers and prospects is a mini marketing experience, and the small things can do a great deal to elevate your image in the eyes of these people. Be enthusiastic, be human, be polite, and be responsive.

What other small things have you noticed that make a big impact on how your clients and customers perceive you?

It's almost like they were listening.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chicago-sonic-restaurants-jun18,0,306295.story

I still say the preemptive advertising for the last year has done more to piss me off than motivate me to visit when they arrive, but those Tots with Cheese are rather tempting.

More Marketing Miscues for Small Biz

A few days ago I counted off a few of the top mistakes I see in small business marketing. I'm rounding out my list here, and as always, welcome your additions and comments!

#5. Not having a clear objective.
This one may seem obvious. But scatter-shot marketing rarely achieves the results that you need or want, and your customers may even be left totally confused.

To atone if you're aimless: Before you launch any marketing initiative, you need to spell out your goal in 10 words or less. If you can't do that, you're aiming too broadly and your risking dilution. Spend time using the 5 Whys method or something to force you to really get at the heart of what you're trying to accomplish and who you're trying to reach. You might even find that you change your approach or come up with a new, clever one when you're super focused.

#4. Censorship
The introduction of so many mechanisms of communication - both personal and professional - has shown us that sometimes the most amazing advocates for a brand are it's customers, or someone among its ranks that would never before have been given leave to speak about the company "officially". News flash: Your "official" position isn't the one anyone is paying attention to, anyway! It's what's being said about you in all the other conversations. And they ARE happening.

To atone if you're doling out gag orders: Stop and listen. There are people speaking among your own ranks that don't necessarily have titles in communications, PR, or marketing. (The origins of Moleskine's Moleskinerie blog have been well documented in lots of great books. Where would they be if they hadn't been listening?). Hear what they're saying and let their passion for their work help you fine tune your messages, and even be a new voice.

#3. Resting on your laurels.
One great campaign does not a brand make. Nor even one great product. You have to be constantly riding the tide and willing to bend, groove, and shake yourself into new and interesting places. Nothing lasts forever. Ever.

To atone if you're in the easy chair: Get up. Go now, get pen and paper and gather your people and get brainstorming about what's next for you. And for some help, get these nifty cool cards from IDEO. They're masters of breaking down barriers and I love these exercises for fostering new ideas. No, they don't pay me. They're just awesome.

#2. Marketing to yourself.
Don't make the mistake of always vetting things inside your own walls. You drink your own Kool-Aid and you've got your own ideas about how your product/service/idea "should" be talked about. But the people interested in your stuff might be speaking a different language altogether, so it's best to be sure that you're not stuck in a rut by getting some outside perspective. The brilliant Brian Clark talks about Narcissistic Marketing here.

How to atone if you're being narcissistic: Talk to your customers first. That doesn't have to mean fancy focus groups and surveys. It can be as simple as getting a bunch of them together for coffee and talking about your newest adventures to get their perspective. They might point out advantages, exciting benefits, and other cool stuff you never thought of.

#1. Forgetting what you're in business for.
I'm going to admit to already making this mistake. I got so wrapped around the axle trying to get my website perfect and my blog posts scheduled and and and...that I forgot to unleash some of the passion that brought me here to begin with to connect with the people that needed me most. It's easy to get mired in the day to day and forget to tap into the creativity, expertise, and even fun that put you in business in the first place.

To atone if you've lost your way: Go back and read your materials. Do they speak to why you ventured out into the world as a small business, and what keeps you working 70 hour weeks and weekends and putting your all into what you do? If they don't, change them. Passion is contagious.

Non-profit organizations aren't the only ones to have missions. We all have one. To help small businesses communicate better. To deliver an amazing vacation experience. To build the home where someone will raise a family. To achieve what no one thought we could.

Marketing isn't a task you do, it's a living, breathing thing. It's your business' reason for being, but wrapped up in lots of pieces. Remember what you're doing and why, and your marketing will follow.

Related articles

• MarketingSherpa Discusses Small Business and Online Marketing - It's About Time [via Zemanta]
• Brand Personality [via Zemanta]
• Social Media- Talk is Cheap for Businesses [via Zemanta]
• For the Future of Marketing, Look to Social Media [via Zemanta]
• Big ideas, smaller audiences, and too many (or the wrong) metrics [via Zemanta]

Yeah, What He Said.

Many of you who read me know how much I admire Chris Brogan's work and contributions. And he's done it again, so I had to just do a ridiculously gratuitous plug for his post today, which is full of super duper helpful guidelines for branding, especially in the online and social media space, and I couldn't have said it better. So go here and read it.

Five Small Business Marketing Miscues (and how to atone)

I work with several small businesses, and there are enough miscues out there in the marketing world that they warrant a quick rundown. I'm sure these aren't really just for the small guys, but always talk about what you know, right?

#10. Too Much Jargon
Five dollar words aren't usually worth the price. Even in business to business situations, the most elemental philosophy still holds. You're talking to people - humans - and they're the ones making the decisions about whom to work with. Speak to people professionally but humanly, and use words that feel more conversational than those that come out of your graduate school textbooks. Take a breeze through your collateral and see if the text would make sense to someone outside the industry. Necessary technical issues aside, you'll get much more mileage from your conversations with your people if they really believe you're talking to and with them, not over them.

To atone if your'e a Jargoneer: Pick a page (or a paragraph) on your website full of buzzwords and industry jargon. If you can't be an objective judge, have your husband/wife/teenager/friend read it for you. Cross out all the offensive words. See what you're left with, and start there for a rewrite. And go subscribe to Copyblogger and read Brian Clark and the gang's super awesome insights about writing, and writing well.

#9. Viewing Marketing as an Expense
Especially in today's economy (or recession or downturn or icky point, whichever term you prefer), small businesses have a tendency to panic and pull the plug on all things marketing - even brainstorming. I agree with MarketingSherpa today about using this time as an investment in your business and a great time to find those opportunities to really connect with your clients and customers or explore new avenues like online marketing and some of the cool social technologies out there. The market always, I repeat always, comes back around. And when it does, the time you've taken to have great dialogue with your customers will pay off when you're first on their mind.

To atone if you're a Marketing Scrooge: Spend some time with a few simple strategies that won't break the bank but are super valuable. Find the 25 customers that have been with you the longest and take them to lunch. Pick 50 of your best clients and write them a handwritten thank you note for their business.

#8. Mass Anything.
Gone are the days when you can throw 57,212 darts at a board and hopw that one sticks. Yes, ok, if you blast the world with a bunch of form letters, you might get a bite. But how personal is that? Mass email, mass advertising, mass mailings. They're all just a "toss and hope" kind of tool, and you risk alienating the people who are hopeful for personal and exclusive relationships with your company only to be handed a number and a Dear Friend letter. Small business is, and always will be, personal.

To atone if you're a mass blaster: You're much better off taking the money and time from the paper and envelopes and printing and postage and trade mag ads and doing some really great picking apart of your customer base and finding out who they are and what makes them tick. You may find a great deal of interesting information about clients and customers you never knew you had, how they found you, why they love you, what frustrates them. Understanding is the first step. Then you can talk to them, individually, with messages and ideas that are really relevant to them.

#7. Being Deaf
You're the business owner, which means you know exactly what your customers want, right? Are you sure? Are you sending out surveys or collecting comment cards and stuffing them in a drawer somewhere? Do you have a feedback form on your website? Do you insist on having your employees talk to customers about how they found you or what they like or what challenges they're having with your product or service? And then the million dollar question: What are you doing with the information once you have it?

To atone for being deaf: Start listening closely. If you get comment cards, read them, and don't dismiss the negative ones out of hand. Respond to the feedback emails you get - personally - and thank your site visitors for taking the time to share their feedback. And pay attention to the trends. One person lamenting that your return policy is too strict is one thing. A cadre of frustrated people might be pointing out something you need to fix.

#6. Bandwagon Jumping
There are so, so many techniques and technologies out there that it can be supremely overwhelming to decide which you need to use and which you can safely put aside. Some things will never go out of style - personal phone calls, one on one meetings, a personal letter or email to a valued customer. But launching a loyalty program or starting a blog or having an email newsletter can all be incredibly valuable if - and only if - they truly bring something of value to your customers. Small businesses especially need to look closely at what's out there before deciding where your time and money is best spent. Have a look here to see a few of Social Media Today's recommended starting points.

To atone if you're in a rush to hop the next train to techie town: Start by participating and exploring the technologies that you're hearing and reading about so you get a true sense of what they're really doing and who else is participating. Then, spend some time evaluating what your customers use (asking them is a good start) and how they use them. Are they just lurking on Twitter, or do they find it a valuable source of information about resources for their business? Do they have a Facebook page and look for connections from potential business partners? And most important of all, ask them what they love about your website and what they'd like to see on it to help them. It might be a few simple tools, and you're suddenly engaging your customers like never before.

I'll round out my top 10 in another post coming soon!