Business Coaching and Advice Australia

Is Your Marketing Activity Fool Proof?

Is your marketing activity fool proof? Have you put yourself in the shoes of your customer? If you are running a small business and have limited resources, planning, unbiased feedback and a strict process of review will strengthen your message and increase the value of your advertising investment.

By Simon Thomas, Small Fish Business Coaching

I have recently been involved in organising a 40th birthday present for my best mate. I decided to put it out to the wider group that we pool our financial resources and get him an awesome branded piece of HiFi equipment.

I was well down the path of deciding the brand and the product. I had group consensus and the only thing left to do now was contact the “flagship” store to discuss the product being in stock and making the purchase.

On Sunday morning I was playing in the garden with my children while attempting to read some of the Sunday paper. Much to my amazement, on the back of the Sunday magazine within the newspaper, there was an advertisement for our intended brand of HiFi equipment. A full-page colour advertisement that was intended to spark interest in the product, the brand and their innovation. They were advertising an excellent saving on a particular bundled product offering.

‘Quick, come and get it now! It’s a brilliant bundle and we want to reward you with savings! But, be fast, the offer wont last. If you don’t buy this bundle you wont be cool and all your friends will laugh at you for missing out.’

You know and understand the type of messaging and language they use. That type of immediate emotional marketing has suckered us all in. However, while it was not the product I wanted, I was propelled into action.

I immediately called the national 13 number, with the intention of getting my lazy Sunday butt into action to drive around 20kms to the flagship store to go and buy the present. I also had more funds to play with, so I was planning on letting them sell me some additional product for the gift.

The recorded voice directed me to the right state, then the right location and the right store. The phone rang and rang and to my disappointment, kept ringing, then all of a sudden it went to an answering machine. The answering machine had no message just a beep! I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought that they must be busy. I rang back 20 minutes later to experience the whole thing all over again. Guess what…….the shop wasn’t open on a Sunday!

So after feeling disappointed, frustrated and annoyed, I went and made my way to a completely different store. I still had the intention of buying the intended brand but my resolve was wavering. I came across the store by complete chance. They were advertising on their store window a sale on floor stock for renovations. I went in with mixed expectations. I was pleaseantly surprised.

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I was greeted immediately, then quickly asked if I was looking for something in particular, and we moved straight into discussing the intended product. After some very clever questioning by the owner of the store, I was quickly moved to consider another brand. Due to my earlier experience that day, I was all ears. After some loud sampling of awesome tunes, I was completely swayed to a sexier, more capable, more specific and more expensive product. This was not something I would have considered earlier that day. I had been set on my brand and my product but I was let down by a simple process.

Let me be clear, I am a passionate owner and supporter of the brand I had intended for my mate’s birthday present. It is a quality piece of equipment. I did not need to go and buy that present on that particular day. I had a week up my sleeve.

So, why was it so easy for me to go and spend lots of money in another store on another brand? Simple! I was taken on a journey by the full-page colour advertisement that got my emotive purchasing juices flowing. However, there was one fatal flaw in the execution of that strategy by the equipment manufacturer. There was nothing at the end of the journey telling me that they were closed on a Sunday and that their business hours were xyz. All I got was an empty ‘we don’t care about your custom’ beep from an answering machine. Not even a welcome message to let me know who I had called.

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The lesson for me in this experience is the reminder that all businesses, no matter how big or small, should be ensuring that their end-to-end processes are sound and meet the expectations of their clients. If you are running a national marketing campaign on the back page of a Sunday Magazine, then make sure your stores are equipped with the knowledge that people are going to react to that campaign. If individual stores are not open then at least make sure your customers are aware of when they can next get in contact with you. It is very simple to have a warm welcome message on your answering machine to advise people of whom they have called and when your business hours are.

The above example was of a multinational with a series of small businesses hanging off the end of the hierarchy to support the customer. If you are running a small business and have limited resources, I suggest making some basic rules to ensure you have a complete end-to-end process. Make sure that all the relevant people are aware of your activities and campaigns within your organisation so that that they can feedback on the impact and potential pitfalls of that activity. And remember; always, always try to put yourself in the shoes of your customer. What would they do, how would they do it, what would they expect the outcome to be? Get your friends, family and acquaintances to give you unbiased feedback so that you know you have done everything you can to cover all bases.

Good luck and happy planning. Planning is the key to success!

Thanks, Simon, for your helpful advice. Want to hear more from Business Coach Simon Thomas? Give him a call today!

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