Small Business Talk
The Podcast to Grow your Business Faster
Stop Thinking of Marketing as Selling
- 3 Things to do Before Spending Money on Marketing
Show Notes
Stop Thinking of Marketing as Selling
If you haven’t listened to the first part of this series – finding the Right Audience, STOP
and go back to episode 6 and listen to that episode first.
Now, we have established our audience, now what?
Glad you asked.
Stop thinking of Marketing as Selling. Instead add value.
Think of marketing as relationship building.
Years ago, my Gran had a great relationship with her local butcher. The butcher took the time to chat to his customers and get to know what cuts of meat they liked and how they liked to cook it. My Grandmother was having a BBQ with her sister and my Grandfather. When she told the butcher this, he showed her his best meat that would be perfect for her BBQ. Not only that, the butcher cut the meat into different thicknesses so my Grandfather could cook all the pieces of meat at the same time yet get the 3 different cooking preference for each person.
You see my Grandmother liked her steak – really well done; burnt my Grandfather would say.
My Great Aunt liked her medium and my Grandfather, very rare. The butcher knew this after years of having my Grandmother as a customer and cut the steak thicknesses accordingly.
The butcher knew his customer, made it easy to shop with him and gave great value. My Grandmother continued to shop with the butcher until he retired and the shop was closed after a supermarket moved into the area.
Know Your Customer and Serve Them Well
In this digital age we can get to know our customer and serve them well.
You can’t ask for marriage without courting first. Business is the same, build a relationship; add value before asking for the sale. No one likes a used car salesman.
What problem does your customer have that you can solve? Identify the problem.
Often you will have to identify the customers problem for them as they may not realise what the cause of their issue is.
Notice I said problem, not problem’s, plural.
“Deal with one problem at a time, just like you are helping 1 type of ideal customer at a time.”
Nike’s customers problem is sports shoes.
A cake shop solves its customer birthday cake problem.
Their customer could be a 50+ year old busy lady who doesn’t have the time/skill/knowledge to make a birthday cake to impress her friends.
The cake shop could build the relationship by talking about 5 top flavours in its marketing ideas on birthday decorations. Do a promotion with a balloon hire company. Then they could feature downloadable invitation in their marketing. Now after adding value they can talk about their latest chocolate Fudge Sunday Cake which is their most popular for birthday’s in (add in the relevant month).
That would be adding value and still letting the customer know they had cakes to buy without being pushy and salesy.
Too Many Choices
Recently I went to buy a dishwasher at a local retailer. I have done my research and knew exactly what I wanted. When I got to the store, I became confused I was not only faced with the exact model and brand I wanted but lots of other ones. Now this could have been the end off my journey and I could have left because faced with too many choices the customer will often not make any and leave.
My story however has a happy ending because I was approached by a very knowledge sales assistant who explained that the model dishwasher that I was looking at was that year’s new addition. Then she went on to show me the difference in several other models that were similar including last years model that was missing a few features from the current model. Last years model didn’t have the new child lock features and as I no longer have small children in my house that wasn’t a big selling point for me. Last years model was also on special.
By understanding my needs and asking some questions and what features I wanted the sales assistant not only saved the sale from a potentially confused customer but she also allowed me to save some money. She allowed me to choose to buy. Was I a happy customer – yes indeed!
Add Value to Your Customers Journey
Remember to add value to your customer’s journey and then they will be happy to buy from you. If you haven’t listened to episode #6 The Right Audience, I think you find it valuable to go back and listen to it.
If you are stuck on your exact ideal customer or sometimes called your customer’s avatar, here is customer avatar worksheet to download and you can work through that to help work out who your ideal customer is.
Small Business Talk Podcast
In 2 weeks, I will finish these 3 Things to do before Spending Money on Marketing, talking about STORY, what it is and how to help your customers.
Stop thinking of Marketing as Selling, instead add value.
Think of marketing as relationship building, see you next week on the Small Business Talk Podcast.
