Question: Most of my business has come from word of mouth. Most people don’t understand what we do! How can I market my company without going broke on advertising (read: productively)? I have already spent thousands.
Lori’s answer:
For you, weaving marketing into your work is important and when you do this well, such that you can then put much of your marketing on auto-pilot, you are going to feel—and be—both productive and successful.
In your mail you identify an obvious niche….
… and it is challenging to get the attention of your market and your competitors are also after them.
You feel your marketing dollars are not being spent productively… you want an ROI (and fast payback!)
Ok, so here’s what I’d like you to do:
- Think as the contrarian. This is also called negative marketing. I want you to think of the objections, dislikes or pains the customers being won by your competitors are feeling—still after or because of how your competitor handles that business.
- If you cannot come up with an objection, then you need to discover a different niche…and adjust your marketing message accordingly.
- If you do come up with one or more objections, then how you do things differently is what makes up your USP (unique selling proposition).
For example…
A daycare might target parents that are nervous about leaving their child in a general daycare where they simply play with blocks or watch TV. Their USP might include that they offer a very low child to teacher ratio, teaching kids to read by some young age, and cameras that track activities throughout the day (w/a website the parents can access at any time).