Marketing to all 5 steps of the buying process

Some folks ask how fast their marketing will turn into sales & ultimately, revenue. I reply by asking three questions:

What is your time to sale?

What is your level of awareness within your targeted segments?

How many happy customers/clients have you created over time?
Usually, I get puzzled looks as a reaction. A question that they percieved to be simple, was just uncovered as more complicated than they thought.

There is a principle that's taught in business school - one satisfied customer can yield up to 10 more customers in less time than you could build them one by one, all by yourself. Let's explore the "Why":

There are 5 stages to building a satisfied customer. They range from some one having no-awareness of your business to having a full blown evangelist that sings your praises from the roof tops. If Branding is done correctly, you'll only have to go through the initial stages of marketing once or twice to build the initial base of satisfied customers.

This is a foundational principal behind Straight Line Marketing. It helps ensure that you have the strategies necessary to take a potential customer through each stage of the customer satisfaction/buying process.

#1 Awareness:
People MUST be aware of your product/service category, your business and its capability. They buy from you if they don't know you exist. It takes seeing something 7 times seeing or hearing something before the majority of humans will remember it. You must put your company out there it ways that the public will see or hear of you often and repetitively. That's not an opinion, it's science. However, if you accomplish this, many potential targets may still be largely indifferent as they may not see a need for your product or service.

#2 Interest:
Something happens in a potential customer's life or business for them to move from the awareness phase to the interest phase. You must have raised their interest proactively. To raise their interest, you have to push their buttons... to do that efficiently, you must know them. To recap - a potential customers cannot get to the interest phase if you haven't raised awareness of your brand and/or offering and when doing that, you have to raise their interest by targeting your message to their lifestyle, preferences, needs, etc. This is the point of a process where we would qualify a target as a warm lead and nurture them carefully to build their interest into hungry desire.

#3 Desire:
This is the hottest and most volatile point of the marketing and sales process - if you can take a customer through this journey and then identify when they have clearly made it into the "desire" phase of the sales process, then all you have to do is close the deal. But be warned, at this point you have done all of the hard work to build a client's awareness and interest in your product or service BUT if your product or service is not desireable enough (or your competiton is more convincing at this point) then you will lose the sale to someone else and all your effort will be wasted. You must be able to deliver on what you've promised in the first two stages.

#4 Action:
This is the point of the sales process where a customer parts with their money. At this point the decision has already made. Here's a good example of this stage in action: you've heard how men don't "window shop" - - well, when men, traditionally, go into a store, they already know what they are going to buy and how much they are willing to pay for it. If you have built awareness of your top-notch product or service and managed to hold on throughout the process constantly nurturing your lead with care, I would hope that you would be closing your sale here. The trick here is to make this stage of the process as easy as possible. You already have them, don't lose them.

#5 SATISFACTION:
Now this part is most important, once you've gotten a customer through to this point, from a marketing stand point. The reason businesses strive for satisfied customers and not just paying customers is that a satisfied customer is more likely to take the initial step of raising awareness out of your equation for the next round of customers. A satisfied customer will sits around with their connections and makes a recommendation to their peer at a time when their peer is interested and has a need thereby cutting the time investment of the first three stages down substantially. Meaning that they can multiple customers quicker than the natural cycle starting with stage #1.

The sales cycle is intrinsic to every business. You won't invest in marketing and be rewarded overnight, but if you understand the process you are investing in, it can be a much more rewarding journey, as you wont be tempted to give up half way there. Know that it takes time because you are having to lead potential customers on this journey. But if you are proactive and use a proven process like Straight Line Marketing, you can be assured that it will be the quickest that it can be, the most efficient, and the most effective because you are investing in doing it the right way.... scientifically.

Let Reformation Productions help you through the marketing process as a local business. Call Rachel Bennett, Director of New Business, at 404.862.8814.

Branding As Strategy

Few local business owners have the time and resources available to dedicate to their branding they way that big corporates do...at least up to they same level. But there are plenty of things that larger corporations do well that small-business owners should consider implementing as they strive for long-term survival:

1. Establishing strong brand positioning

Defining a market position is the most critical step in developing a brand. You must know who you are before you can get to where you want to be. Brand positioning characterizes the way a company wants its target audience to think about its brand. It is the core message you want to deliver in every medium, and it creates clarity, consistency and continuity in the way the organization speaks to the market. Essential to an effective positioning statement is the concept of narrowing rather than broadening a company’s focus. The secret to a good brand-positioning strategy is a clear message that talks about your strengths and explains to customers why your product is the best in your category or industry. Reformation Productions offers what we call a Identification Session as one of the first steps in the Straight Line Marketing process. This process is so important and so impactful that we offer it at a discounted rate to new clients. As we go through this long, intense session, 90% of our new clients gain a full understanding as to what Straight Line Marketing is all about and how it can work to grow their business.

2. Using market research to create a strategic plan

This is what we call the LISTEN stage. When most of us think of market research, we think of statistics, focus groups and expensive surveys. In most cases, that is overkill. Market research needs to answer only a few key questions — the simpler, the better. Big businesses take feedback and apply it to a strategic plan. They evaluate sales and segment performance, predict sales growth, compile market trends and consumer insights, identify key drivers from the previous year’s successes and failures, set firm marketing objectives for the coming year, estimate costs and craft tactical programs and marketing initiatives to achieve those objectives. Good planning allows companies to continuously measure, refine and optimize their marketing mix. You should demand that all programs have financial benefits and amplify sales. Spend wisely, and know your cost per generated lead.

3. Everything you do communicates, so be consistent across all materials and every aspect of the brand

The perception of your company and brand is defined by the interactions people have with your company and your communications. Your message must be consistent and compelling at all points of contact with customers. Take a look at any coupon, print ad, television commercial or Web site for IBM Corp. Every message is marked by a vivid blue color, graphic elements influenced by the geometric shape of the logo, a single-minded tagline, uniform font type in headlines and the same tone across all printed material. We cannot express how important consistency in communications is to your success. This is part of the THINK stage in Straight Line Marketing. It's evaluating everything from the two previous stages and turning it into a campaign concept that incorporates the right brand messaging.

4. Being unique is crucial, even if you’re coming in second

Companies that grab market share first often grab the glory, but they aren’t always the last one standing. At one time, The Procter & Gamble Co. was second to Union Carbide Corp. in marketing disposable diapers. Dell Inc. unseated Compaq Computer Corp. by marketing to the upcoming college generation. The secret to second-mover advantage: You can’t propose just a me-too idea; you need a unique angle to spin. Me-too businesses rarely survive. They usually end up in price wars because they don’t have anything unique that establishes value in the minds of their prospects. They are left with only one competitive weapon: price. Unless you have a significant cost advantage over your competitors, you will lose. We'll help you determine what your edge will be as part of the IDENTIFY stage.

5. Speak to the consumer and create value

Does your marketing material directly address the value of doing business with your company? Can it answer any consumer’s basic question, “What’s in it for me?” Some companies forget communication is about getting consumers to see brand benefits for themselves. To get that across, a brand must speak from the consumer’s point of view, not the marketing department’s. Remove all those meaningless benefits from your Web site and other communications materials. Replace them with the added value customers are after. Determining which marketing tools you should be using is part of the SPEAK stage. The tools you select, the programs you develop, everything from your website down to your listing in the yellow pages or your ad in the Neighborhood News should be crafted on purpose and with meaning.

Let Reformation Productions help your business function with the expertise and experience of the big corporations. Call our new business team at 404.862.8814 or visit us online at www.ReformationProductions.com today.

The 4Ps

The 4Ps.... taught over and over in marketing school as a way to differentiate your brand. There are always considerations other than price and product functionality in the buying decision. The challenge is to define them. When you do that you are defining your brand. Your brand is not your logo. It is not your slogan. It is something more intangible. Your brand is every part of the buying decisions that is not Price or Product/Service.

What a customer buys when they are buying a product or service is the total package of benefits associated with the selling organization, the people who work there, its image and reputation, and the way it does business. These are much more than the features, benefits, price and tangible aspects of a specific product or service, something that adds value to the transaction. I've worked with many banks and credit unions over the years: Bank Of America, Y-12 Federal Credit Union, Regions Bank, SunTrust, Fleet Bank, MBNA, etc.... so let's use banking as an example - when a customer chooses a bank for a cash management system, he or she buys that bank's experience and track record, the quality of the people who developed and maintain the system, the "image" of how that system is perceived and how easy the bank will be to work with. There are always considerations other than price and product functionality. The most important point is that that what a customer buys transcends the product itself. The challenge for those responsible for sales and marketing, therefore, is to capture the power of this notion and define that "something more: so customers can easily see it and the value it brings to them. It is the "something" that ultimately determines from whom the customer buys and how much is paid. The "something" is at the core of the organization's brand.

These ideas are at the core of the 4Ps model, an important conceptual tool. The 4Ps - Product, People, Past and Process--represent those resources of a company that can be differentiated from one institution to another. Often these differences have evolved over time with little intention or planning. For instance, one bank has a reputation among its customers for being helpful to new businesses. Where did this notion come from? A policy? A particular group of employees? A specific, well-known and publicized incident? With some thought, some veteran employees of this bank might be able to trace how this perception came to be, but most likely they will report it "just happened." On the other hand, if management is aware of the importance of differentiating the bank from its competitors, it can specifically create, develop, communicate and manage notable differences that the customer will perceive as valuable around the bank's products, people, past and processes. (See definition of the 4Ps at the end of this article.)

Plainness and a Promise

The origin of the 4Ps stems from two compelling problem areas in marketing: selling a commodity and selling a service. A commodity is a product that is fundamentally the same from one vendor to another. Steel, potash, sulphur, nails and screws are commodities. A service, on the other hand, doesn't exist at all until it is delivered; it is intangible and cannot be experienced by the buyer in making a buying decision. The commodity exudes undifferentiated plainness; the intangible service presents a promise, an uncertainty. A bank has the unique distinction of offering a number of commodity-type services.

Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School has written a number of articles on product differentiation. (Harvard Business Review, January-February,1980 and Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1981) which have contributed to the 4Ps concept.

What A Product Is: Beyond the Obvious

Levitt has developed a product diffentiation model that opens a new perspective as to what a product is. This model defines a product on four different levels: the generic product, the expected product, the augmented product and the potential product.

The generic product, as Levitt presents it, is the product itself--the cash management system, the letter of credit, the term loan--whatever it is the customer can use to help improve the business. Even though these generic products are found in most banks, they are not necessarily the same. Slight differences in product design may make one bank's lock boxes more attractive than another's. This is the most obvious area for product differentiation as anyone who has ever seen a development team laboring long and hard to generate creative nuances for a new product will report. But there is more to a product than its parts.

The expected product includes those aspects that relate to delivery, terms, support, new ideas for product applications, all of which are one step removed from the product itself, but without which the product simply could not be successfully sold. The augmented product refers to Levitt's notion of adding something to improve or modify the product for a particular customer. Developing a report on how much money is saved using a cash transfer system, for example, is a vehicle for demonstrating
what the vendor will do for the buyer. Augmenting the product goes beyond the product by exceeding the buyer's expectations. Finally, the potential product is "everything that might be done" to attract and hold the customer. This includes making suggestions for technical changes, reporting the results of surveys regarding product usage and attitudes of customers, installing new technologies to better use the product, and advising customers on business conditions, feasibility of business plans and employment of experts in specific technical areas.

Levitt's model is a useful framework for defining the various levels of product a customer can buy. Most important, as a development source for the 4Ps, it introduced the idea of moving away from product as a cluster of defined features, benefits and prices, into a more expanded view of what can be sold. In a bank, the idea of building more value into a loan or a trust account or any product or service is compelling. Every bank has the same products; an expanded view would include the unique value of people who service the product, the manner in which it is installed and how customers interact with the bank as well as the success the bank has had in the past. All these elements can be made to be different from the competition.

Reducing Uncertainty

Most bank products are services provided for customers. This brings into focus the other marketing challenge faced by banks, that is, selling services, and the associated problems of convincing customers that an intangible that customers can’t see, touch or feel will improve their business operations.

Another business writer provided some insight into how intangibles, such as services, can be made tangible. Warren J. Wittreich, in a classic article on selling professional services (Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1966), succinctly outlined the issues. To be successful, Wittreich writes that uncertainties surrounding who the customer is dealing with, how the service will be implemented and whether or not the money is being spent wisely must be dealt with. The degree to which a professional who sells can persuade the customer that he or she (and the bank) understands the problem, has solved similar problems in the past and has a way to do it or process which is logical and easily followed is the degree to which the customer's uncertainty can be reduced. The seller can sell him or herself by demonstrating command of the methods to be used, familiar relationships key people who are resources in solving the problem, and knowledge of and preferably involvement with related success stories. When people who sell do this, Wittreich writes, the "high bidder often wins" because there is much more value in dealing with certainty than uncertainty.

Wittreich's article was a forerunner of the many articles and books written about the service culture, excellence and customer orientation. Today, corporations are attempting to develop new ways to add value to the customer relationship while still maintaining low costs. Consumers are aware of the competition and are attracted to banks that provide what they need with the most added value. Among many examples, combined statements with summary information, account information accessible online and even advice about markets, investments and other specialized knowledge-based services are the kinds of developments banks have to make to give the customer more for his money. In fact, as the age of disintermediation accelerates, the types of services offered and the resources surrounding those services should be more important to banks interested in keeping market share. The concepts provided by Wittreich are an additional essential ingredient of the 4Ps, offering a wider view of
what has to be sold when selling these types of services.

More To It Than Talking Product

As a final resource for the 4Ps, a recent Sales Competency Study (Miller and Maginn, 1987) isolated the activities of high performing sales people in banks. In general, people who excel in selling in banks mention a variety of activities that revolve around themes of specificity, initiative, involvement, planning, focusing and analysis. Of critical importance to these individuals is the concept of selling yourself, of bringing more to the table than the competition, of creating an image of personal value to the customer. From a series of focus groups with these individuals, it became clear that high performers considered themselves a virtual product of the bank, an extension of the institution and behaved in a way that lead customers to recognized them as such.

These individuals were good at selling the resources of the bank, but they were also excellent at selling themselves. In Wittreich's words, they were good at reducing the customer's uncertainty in the way they responded to problems, in the genuine interest they displayed in the customer's business, in their understanding of the customer's needs, in their knowledge of how the bank does business and how resources within the bank work, in demonstrating their experience with solving similar middle market business problems. In the 4Ps model, the Relationship Manager is one of the resources the bank has to offer. Those sales people who recognize this can develop ways to differentiate themselves from their counterparts at competing institutions. A firm knowledge of the bank's resources--the 4Ps--and how to talk about them in sales situations represents a personal strength and an expanded view of what can be sold to the customer.

The 4Ps—A Practical Model

The 4Ps represent a synthesis of concepts from different areas of marketing and sales literature. From selling commodities comes the concept of looking beyond the generic product and into the arena of what additional value is delivered or can be delivered to the customer along with the product. From selling services comes the idea of reducing a customer's uncertainty by making the intangible more tangible--talking
about personal knowledge and experience, the process of working together, and related success stories. Finally, from the Sales Competency Study comes the high performers' conviction that they, as individuals, add value to the relationship by demonstrating what they know, who they know and how to get things done.

The 4Ps model is not a difficult concept to grasp. Yet, when faced with the task of defining what products are really different, what individuals are valuable, expert resources, how doing business is more user friendly than the competition and what success stories are worthy of corporate legend status, many bank Sales Leaders and Relationship Managers struggle. While many of the 4Ps can be tactically defined at the work unit level using local heroes and successes, the real work of defining the 4Ps is for the corporation's directors. It is up to them to clearly specify what the bank should be known for and to clarify how their products, people, process and past are better than the bank down the street. This is one of the primary objectives of what we call the Identification Session. For us, this 4-6 hours session is so vital that we offer it as a first step to companies at an extreme discount. It's our "free oil change" to bring customers in the door. After this session, the value of Straight Line Marketing is without question. Often times the second step within the Identify stage includes a Branding Workshop... to carry what's been identified, defined, uncovered and developed to the employees and preparing them to share it with the customers.

The 4Ps

The 4Ps represent resources of an organization which, when created and managed, become differentiators defining the brand. That is, they describe what the total offering of an organization is.

Product

The features and benefits of the product. This is the baseline of differentiation. To be competitive, the features and benefits of a product have to convey valuable differences to buyers. When there are no or minimal differences, the other Ps in the 4Ps model must be used to differentiate the product or service.

Past

One resource is the combined experience of the organization with the type of issues the buyer is facing. For example, if a customer is having trouble defining the kind of leasing arrangements to use, having a reputation as “the bank that helps small business get started in leasing” is a definite way to reduce uncertainty.

People

The individual or team working with the client represents another facet of the total offering. As a product, the individual or team literally has features and benefits. The level of expertise, ability to get things done, experience with similar clients, and even industry status represent examples of potential features of individuals that can help reduce uncertainty.

Process

How the organization does business is a strong potential area for differentiation. If the actual buying, delivery and implementation process is efficient and user friendly, it can be a major differentiator. Careful definition of this process, especially for intangible services, can bring a sense of security to an uncertain buyer.

References for this blog post:
Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing success through differentiation--of anything." Harvard Business Review, January 1980.

Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing intangible products and product intangibles." Harvard Business Review, May 1981.

Miller, N., and Maginn, M., "Business Development Competencies for Bank Relationship and Sales Managers." Lending, Winter, 1987.

Wittreich, Warren J., "How to buy/sell professional services." Harvard Business Review, March 1966.

The 4Ps are infamous is college courses on marketing. The bring a lot of insight into what branding is and how it can be developed, nurtured, defined, and encouraged. Now the positive attitude in this blog post is optimistic. But there is another side to branding. The scary, dangerous side is knowing that all companies have a brand.... whether they choose to develop, control, and management it or not. I've often defined your brand as "what people say about you when you aren't in the room"... it's the character of your company if we excluded your actual products or services. And left to it's own devices, your brand could be working against you. Everyone has an opinion... what are your customers opinions about you? And how are you responding to is?

Reformation Productions
Contact Rachel Bennett or Jeff Robertson to discuss your company and how Reformation Productions can serve you and your brand.

In It To End It

Most of our blog posts are educational; not this one. From time to time, you'll see our V-logs, where we highlight local businesses we are working with and the opportunities that we've been given to work within the community, helping making it stronger for local commerce.

This blog, I want to tell you about an opportunity we had recently to partner with another local business owner in his efforts to support charity! I'll admit, we were late to the game. Rachel Bennett, our Director of New Business, met Jerry & Judy Pilet, owners of Fernando's Mexican Restaurant, the first restaurant in Dacula to offer Mexican cuisine and margaritas, just last week. In our discussions, he let us know he had plans to hold an event, "Party In Pink," that very weekend and that all proceeds would go towards breast cancer research. We immediately asked how we could help.



Jerry, who also owns Del Rio Mexican Grill in Dacula, has supported charity numerous times before. Through a relationship with a few Avon sales agents, he decided to join the fight against Breast Cancer and support Avon's Walk For Breast Cancer campaign by hosting an event on Sunday, July 12. He decided to talk with local musicians about donating their talent; give out door prizes; have t-shirts made that they could then sell for the charity; and even donate all, gross proceeds from the restaurant during the 5-hour event to the cause! Talk about above and beyond!



Our support came in the form of Public Relations- promoting the event, developing some creative, photographing the event, and then bringing attention to the cause by celebrating what Jerry took on himself to pull together. As you can tell, we were very impressed and inspired by the heart shown by Fernando's and all that contributed to making this event a success.



When we arrived, Jerry and Judy were talking with Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks, who had come out to show support for what Fernando's was doing within the community.



Tommy Knight, a local musician, was just setting up to play his set to a patio full of supporters, all enjoying tremendous Mexican food....all for the cause.







Fernando's staff was extremely well attentive and celebratory. Each wearing the "Save The Ta-Ta's" shirt that Jerry had made for the event. These were for sale to the public as well, with all proceeds going towards Cancer Research.



Door prizes were donated in different sizes and from different community businesses. In between musicians' sets, one of the girls from Avon would call out ticket numbers to announce door prize winners. Supporters could also buy raffle tickets for items, as well as, donate money directly to the cause.





Before too long, Joe and Wade Hall, a duo that frequently plays Fernando's on the weekends, took their turn on the patio entertaining supports and we decided to sit down for our own delightful, Mexican meal.





I haven't been told how much money was raised yet, but the place was packed all day. It seems people from all over the city came out to support Breast Cancer Research and to thank Jerry for putting on the event at Fernando's.






One of the many things that we enjoy about specializing in small and regional businesses, as Reformation Productions, is getting to witness community business owners coming together to help each other and, in this case, coming together for a cause much bigger than our individual selves. It thrills our hearts, as a company, to be able to work with business owners like Jerry Pilet as they seek to serve others and provide in the ways that they can, with the opportunities, resources, and gifts that they've been given.

We encourage you to visit Fernando's at 465 Dacula Road in Dacula whenever you're hungry for some great Mexican food. You can let him know we sent ya! You can also friend them on facebook by at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fernandos-Mexican-Restaurant/121312547918354.

For more photos from this event, you can visit the Reformation Productions page on facebook.

Don't forget to subscribe to our blog on the right. You have a few choices to subscribe: NetworkedBlogs (which is common and via your facebook login) and also via Google subscribe, RSS, etc.)


REFORMATION PRODUCTIONS

Think In Straight Lines

Co-branding bliss

Would you like your product or service to have a stronger market impact? Do you want to reach new customers or reduce the risk of failure for a new product introduction? Co-branding strategies can help you achieve these goals and more.

"Co-branding" is a marketing term that describes the cooperation between two distinct brands to leverage the assets of both brands.In a co-branding strategy, brands work together to create a market presence that neither brand alone could readily achieve.

Barnes and Noble engaged in a co-branding strategy when it began including Starbucks coffee shops inside its bookstores.The company could have developed a proprietary Barnes and Noble brand cafe, serving Barnes and Noble brand latte and Barnes and Noble brand scones. It's certainly a large and powerful enough company to have done so. But the Barnes and Noble brand means books, not coffee and food. A Barnes and Noble-branded cafe would mean little to consumers. The Starbucks brand, on the other hand, stands for certain qualities that hungry or thirsty bookstore patrons find appealing and familiar.

Barnes and Noble and Starbucks are in no way competitors. The association of the brands therefore harms neither, and both have new customers and have extended their relationships with consumers. Starbucks increases its distribution, and Barnes and Noble keeps customers in the store longer. Co-branding benefits both partners in this marketing marriage.

Co-branding can offer a higher return on marketing investment than other strategies such as brand extension. If you'd like your business to offer a product in a new category, for instance, you could spend years building up that product's brand attributes in the marketplace. Adopt a co-brand, however, and you can reduce the time and marketing dollars needed to develop and nurture a completely new product line for your business.

Let's say I've owned an office supply company for 15 years. Over that time, "Edd's Office Supplies" has come to occupy a particular niche, with a brand that appeals to downtown legal firms. One day, I realize that adding a courier service to my business might expand its market presence and extend its relationship with existing legal firm customers.

But "Edd's" means notepads, pens and ink, not couriers. "Edd's Courier Service" would be an unknown for my targeted audience, and it would take a long time and much advertising for the new service to establish its own brand identity. If I reach an agreement with an established courier company that already caters to the same downtown legal firm audience I'm seeking to expand, I've got a built-in name recognition factor to work with. "Edd's Office Supplies Featuring XYZ Legal Couriers" becomes a smart way for two strong, noncompeting brands to expand their businesses - another marketing marriage made in heaven.

Clearly, co-branding can be a shrewd strategy to increase customer access points and distribution, as well as provide additional sales opportunities. If you decide to pursue this strategy, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

Recognize that the co-branding effort must be mutually beneficial to both brands. You want to be certain the association will strengthen customer relationships with both brands and not dilute the brand of either party.

Find a brand that complements your own brand. For instance, "Edd's Office Supplies," which concentrates on the downtown legal firm market segment, shouldn't co-brand with a courier firm specializing in transporting medical records. It wouldn't be appropriate for Barnes and Noble to co-brand with McDonald's, since the bookstore's brand does not communicate the same speed-of-service attributes as the fast-food chain. Instead, it found a brand that complements its book-buying environment.

Think of co-branding as a long-term strategy. Co-branding isn't meant to be a quick fix and should not be confused with promotion. A promotion, such as a limited-time offer of a free Coca-Cola with every hot dog purchase at your diner, is meant to bring in a few extra customers for a short period of time. Co-branding works over the long haul, building your brand and business in a more permanent way.

Anticipate investing time to work effectively with another company. Your firm's culture differs in many ways from that of your co-branding partner, and it's sure to have a different organizational structure and procedures. Both parties need to be flexible and understand these differences for co-branding to go smoothly.

Co-branding is similar to a marriage because it's a union of compatible companies working for a common goal. And like a marriage, both partners gain something by working together that they never could gain separately.-Edd Johns

Contact Reformation Productions to build a proactive strategy that's right for you. Should you consider co-branding? Who would you co-brand with? Give us a call.

Developing a Small Business Marketing Budget

Many small business owners feel like they're running their business on a shoestring budget, and of course, that wasn't the intention when they set out to follow their passion in their own business. Just like many young families have to pull back the reigns on spending and follow a budget, the smart business owner must develop a plan and then stick to the plan in order to become profitable. The Small Business Administration offers some help with budgeting in all areas of business expenses but determining the ideal marketing budget doesn't seem quite as straight forward as other expense areas such as rent or salaries.

You will find many different formulas for the ideal amount to spend on marketing including a percentage of sales, a flat dollar amount, or matching the competition — and of course the ideal amount will depend on your industry, the age of your business and how competitive your marketplace is. But one thing is for sure, everyone know that you have to market yourself in order to stay in business. To be proactive and not reactive, to maintain control of your business and not let your business control you, to be strategic, effective, and smart - you must set a budget for this instead of trying to wing it.

One approach is to determine the value of new clients and how much you're willing to spend in order to acquire those clients:



For example, a physician wants to add a new service to his practice for which he will charge $1,000 (it’s a cash procedure – no insurance.)

This is a one time procedure and we’re ignoring the upsell potential as well as the fact that the patient will likely return over the next few years for other types of procedures. This physician is really good and expects to get lots of referrals from his patients but we’ll assume only one referral for every two patients (0.5). His practice overhead is roughly 50% so his profit is 50%. He wants to perform this procedure three times per week over the next twelve months which means 150 new patients (he’ll take two weeks off for vacation). He only wants to pay for acquiring ONE new patient out of every three (0.33).

This physician can easily see that spending less than $3,500/month to advertise and market this new procedure will net a profit of, at the very least, over $75,000 per year, and he knows that it will be even more when those new patients remain his patients and come back for more procedures. In other words, for every $1 he spends on marketing, he’ll make at least $3.



Now with your number in hand, it is especially important to focus those limited dollars on the most cost effective methods of reaching your prospects — and even more important to track the ROI of those efforts. -D. Hibbs

Reformation Productions specializes in helping local business determine the most cost efficient and yet effective ways to market themselves. It's a process we call Straight Line Marketing. Contact us today to find out more by calling 404.862.8814 and asking for Rachel Bennett, our director of new business.

Confirmed – Social Media has Major Impact on Local Business Search Engine Marketing

We’ve been clear that social media has an impact on local business search engine marketing for some time now, but with social media still being a relatively new marketing tool in its infancy, how much of an impact it’s had in total for businesses has been a bit unclear… until now.

MarketingSherpa, an external research firm and publisher of marketing know-how, recently released and presented the results of their Search Marketing Benchmark Report that included 2200 survey respondents and reviewed best practices to improve search and social media marketing integration. The key finding of the survey per the Company is “search and social media have incredible synergy”.

The survey showed that 64% of the organizations surveyed do indeed integrate social media with search engine marketing, with those organizations in the strategic phases being much more likely to integrate the two. Also, the report indicates that social impacts organic search performance where “search marketers who integrate social media achieve a 59% better rate of conversion”. This is far from insignificant. In fact, it’s quite significant. By integrating social with search, it:

-Provides a means to produce and facilitate more relevant content that’s search engine friendly.

-Gives a means for creating a solid brand with expert status and authority that helps build customer loyalty and perceived business credibility.

-Allows for more traffic via inbound links to a local business website.

-Increases the business’ number of search engine listings.

Now that we have more solid concrete evidence as to how much of an impact social has on search, how can a local business implement a strong social media campaign? Important elements include:

The right content.
Hire a writer or use one of our Social Marketing Media Management services if you need to, but be sure to keep your content fresh, new and relevant to your local business target audience.

Keyword focus.
Be sure to incorporate your SEO keyword strategy into your social media campaign, being mindful of using them as naturally as possible to keep readers engaged.

Consistency in motion.
Blog and microblog on a regular basis to keep this information coming for your audience, and to continue to build your links and search engine friendly content.

Complete profiles and pages.
To successfully build a brand image that states authority, be sure your profile pages, be it FaceBook, Twitter, and so on, are very professional, brand relevant, complete and accurate to support your local business.

Utilize synergy between social media venues.
Take advantage of the synergies available between all of your social media campaigns to boost your inbound links. Post your blog links on all of your social media sites, for example, use your Facebook link in your email campaigns and email signatures, and so on.

If you’re not currently set up on at least Facebook and Twitter, get your local business page set up yesterday so you can be in with the majority of businesses who see results from the social and search strategic integrations vs. the minority who don’t integrate the two.

-Chris Marentis

Ask us about Social Marketing Media Management services available by Reformation Productions.

Marketing is a system, not an event

Small business marketers love the chase. Love the new fangled way to make the phone ring. They love to think of a marketing promotion as a single event. But it's precisely this view of marketing that holds most small businesses back. They fall prey to the "marketing idea of the week" and never fully explore what it takes to create and build a completely functioning, consistently performing, marketing system.


In this article, we am going to outline the basic steps that any business can follow on the way to creating their very own marketing system. But first let's explore this word system in the context of marketing. Small business owners have no problem thinking systems when it comes to say, accounting or hiring. When it comes to marketing though, all bets are off. It's as if they are waiting for magic fairy dust to fall upon them with the next great marketing innovation.


Look, effective marketing is little more than creating and operating an effective marketing system. Now, when I use the word system I mean several things. 1) The system is documented - You can't have a system or a step in a system unless you write it down. 2) The system is built on sound marketing principals and 3) You constantly measure, innovate, and refine the system.


Okay, so on to the system building steps.


1) Narrow and define a target market - Small business owners love to say yes. "Sure we can do that." The next thing you know the target market is roughly anyone they think will pay them. You must commit to a narrowly defined target market and you must focus all of your attention upon serving that market like no one ever dreamed of. A narrow marketing focus might be - Estate Attorneys - as opposed to Law Firms.


At Reformation Productions, this is part of the IDENTIFY and LISTEN stages of the Straight Line Marketing process.


2) Discover and communicate a core message for that market - Until you can show how your firm is different and offers something unique, you will always compete on price. You must find a way to tell your newly defined narrow target market why you have something to offer that they value. Your core message might be - We show estate attorneys how gain all of the business they can handle - as opposed to: We help law firms.


This is also part of the IDENTIFY and LISTEN stages of the Straight Line Marketing process that we use at Reformation Productions.


3) Develop multiple forms of permission based lead generation - No one like to be sold to and more and more advertising is falling on numb ears and eyes. Your lead generation system must be built on several fronts, such as public relations, referral marketing, strategic partnerships, and targeted advertising. Your lead generation message must offer the target market a reason to want to know more. Forget about the sale, look for ways to build trust.


This is brings in the THINK and CREATE stages of the Straight Line Marketing process.


4) Construct a lead conversion and customer reselling process - No amount of leads in the world will help your business if you don't efficiently turn those leads into clients. You must have a plan that maps out what you will do when phone rings, when you make the sales call and when it's time to do more business with the clients you already have. Most small businesses completely ignore this aspect, but this is where the real success of marketing lies.


Reformation Productions offers this as a part of business consulting.


5) Create entertainment or educational based marketing and presentation materials - It's not just for the traditional, glossy sales brochure, you should use your marketing materials to teach how your firm is different, how you solve real problems, how you work, why you work, what you believe and your marketing will be much more successful. Your web site must come from this point of view as well.



This also comes out of the THINK and CREATE stages of the Straight Line Marketing process.


6) Define the most important marketing success indicators - Setting marketing goals for such things as leads, appointments, sales, phone calls, referrals, impressions, mentions and anything else you can think to measure is how you turn marketing into a game and how you keep score of the game. Everyone loves and game and the only way to improve something is to measure how well you are doing in the first place.


This is the piece we see ignored the most. We call it "tracking" or measuring your results. If our process had five stages it would be this one... we'd probably call it MEASURE or EVALUATE & REPEAT.


7) Build an annual marketing calendar and budget and stick to it - Once you have spent the time and energy to think through steps 1-6 you need to commit your plan to a marketing calendar and then allocate (or at least think about) the money it will take to implement your plan each year. Once you create a calendar it is much more likely that you will look at the tasks assigned to each month like a "to-do" list. So, instead of whining that you should do more marketing, you simply scratch each item off your list and plan for the next. It's an amazingly simple but effective device.


This is a major part of the THINK stage at Reformation Productions. After presenting our recommendations for marketing tools and strategies that we base on the information gathered during the IDENTIFY and LISTEN stages, we develop a strategic marketing plan that includes this calendar/chart.


Okay...now the last bit of advice.



Every system needs a champion. Either find someone in your organization who does little else but operate the system or hire marketing professionals like Reformation Productions and charge them with helping you develop, implement and run the system.


Properly fed and maintained, this little marketing system can become the engine that drives your firm's climb to the top.


John Jantsch and Reformation Productions

Contact us at Reformation Productions to discuss your business. 404-862-8814

What is the responsibility of Branding - - really?

Recently a colleague was approached by the professor of a top journalism and advertising program with a question about branding. He wanted his opinion on whether or not branding should be a major point of emphasis in the program. "Don’t get me wrong," he said "it’s been a staple in the curriculum for a while", but they were looking at the idea of making it a part of the degree emphasis for graduation.

Well, here‘s the short answer – heck yes.

Here’s a more thought out answer -
Now, we know that Advertising is without a doubt the one element in Marketing that receives the most attention and the most dollars. It has the responsibility of taking all the other elements in the marketing mix and crafting a persuasive message in a creative fashion that will sum it all up and communicate it to your consumer target. Branding is way more than a function of advertising. It should be a function of business. Because it permeates all elements of sales, operations, marketing, etc..

Let’s look at the traditional 4P’s of marketing and see how they can affect branding:

Product – We all know product is king. It dictates your brand offering. But the way you shape the touch, taste, sound, smell, name or experience of your product is all branding. Calling your Kentucky-based fried chicken company Kentucky Fried Chicken is branding. Changing it to KFC to lessen the negative affects of health conscious consumers is also branding. So is the really cool buckets they come in.

Price – More than just a unit of revenue, your price tells customers whether you are a premium brand, great reward or an inexpensive value brand. You can buy a .99 cup of coffee or a $4 cup. Again, that's part of branding. Depending on your consumer target, free may be a great word to use in promotions or it may be the kiss of death to your brand.

Place (distribution) – The way you deliver your sales experience is also about your brand. The fact that a fast-food restaurant can be found everywhere is branding. Your website’s appearance is branding (the role of websites today are no longer interactive brochures – they are a company’s 24 hour visitor center). If it were not, we’d all have plain type on white backgrounds for our websites. The decor of your store front and the atmosphere of your restaurant are all branding

Promotion – Okay, this is what people really think of when they think of marketing. It includes advertising, direct marketing, online media, events – heck anything that allows you to proactively tell other people about your product/service. The way you say it, the how you communicate, is again branding. A cardboard sign with a handwritten message that says “Fresh Corn” is branding. So is the same message typed out on a digital billboard or neon sign. Which one would you buy from?

Not only should the college advertising program be teaching branding as a major emphasis in marketing, but it should also make its way into other areas of study like public relations, fashion design, interior design, hospitality management and restaurant management. Yeah, it's that important.

Contact Reformation Productions to discuss your company's brand and how it permeates your business. Are all the parts working together for good or do some of the various elements in your business seem to fight against each other? Is your business a unified army of you? Does there seem to be one mission or several? Are you unsure about what you are saying as a company? Do you know how what you are saying is being perceived by others?

www.ReformationProductions.com