Expansion Marketing's Blog

There seems to be a slight improvement in many aspects of the economy, but things are still tough “out there” and it is necessary to have a superior and spot-on marketing strategy to position your company above the rest of the hungry competition.  This is true now more than ever and as the stock market continues to have wide swings up and down, it is necessary to be ahead of the other guy in presentation.

The thing that will give you this edge is, of course, market research, but take a moment to talk about what we DO with the market research data. 

I recently finished up market research for one client and then went over the market research results and our new marketing strategy with her.  In the end, the main reason that people used her product/service was because they wanted to be happy.  Now this was at such wide variance from what SHE thought, that at first she was a little uncomfortable.  I showed her the survey results and the percentages (working out the percentages of types of response is very important in surveying).  Also, she got a thank you letter from a client, which stated (in general terms) how happy she was now that she had the product/service.

Suddenly, my client realized that she had a whole new way of communicating about her product/service that was directly in alignment with what the target market wanted.  The survey also revealed specific things that my client should do to bring about the result and the exact wording to use to communicate to the market.

As you can see, this was not someone coming up with some ideas that might work, this was hard data taken directly from the target market that were not already my client’s customers.

Immediately, we started drafting promotion and presentations with this wording and put together things that we know will be extremely effective.  I’ll let you know the results of the campaign in a few weeks, but it is already starting to work.

You can contact me and I will do a Free Marketing Analysis to show how htis would work for you.

As the technology of our world roars forward at an astounding rate, so does the technology that we need to know regarding marketing.  And believe me, no matter what our position, we do need to know our marketing basics, which means knowing the technology of marketing or at least being smart enough to get someone to do it.

20 years ago, there was no World Wide Web, no web sites and no SEO (search engine optimization).  Social networking was sitting down in an appointment or at a Rotary Club. I personally have built about 15 businesses with telemarketing.

These days, if you are not savvy with the technological outlook on marketing, you are missing out on 75-80% of the market that looks on the web for everything from directions to the best place to eat. 

As I talk to business owners, I find a great deal of confusion about the subject and even I, a person with a marketing company and a consulting company have come to terms with the fact that I need to have a professional deal with technical aspects of things while I deal with the market research and strategy, which is my strength.

I have personally studied and learned a LOT in the past two years, and I could probably learn it all.  I do blog regularly and can create a web site.  But, if I am better at other things, I should let professionals keep me up to date with the technology, the SEO, the Pay Per Click, etc.  In fact, I am adding someone to my marketing team to handle this aspect for myself and for my clients.

 By survey, I have found that the number one thing that business people over 50 would use a consultant for is marketing.

So, take a look at what you have going on in marketing and what you would like to achieve in your business and then get smart enough to delegate those aspects that you do not do well yourself.

Then, call me so I can give you an analysis and get yo the help that you need to define goals and create a strategy to get to those goals.

The economy is doing better.  Things are starting to recover and now is the time to really pour the coals on all of your promotion.  Personal networking promotion is just as vital as sending out mail or Internet promotion. 

• Know your market research.
• Meet people and communicate with them in any way possible.
• Use good researched data in your conversations.
• Follow up with the people you meet to create a favorable impression.
• Stay visible and active. 
• Help the community.

In October of 2009, I started working with Kathleen Redmond at Magnolia Lane.  Kathleen had been in business for 16 years, had been feeling the pinch of the economy, and wanted to get a new product line off the ground. 

Magnolia Lane is a soft home furnishings (pillows, drapes, duvets) manufacturer in South San Francisco.  Kathleen built the company from the ground up and went from a single seamstress measuring jobs and then making them, to a well known supplier of soft furnishings for designers and commercial establishments.

Her passion has been to create a greater awareness within the design community of all things green and sustainable in design products with a larger view to a green and sustainable lifestyle and planet.

To this ends, she created the Eco-Elegance Naturals Collection.  Our marketing strategy was wholly on how to get the Eco-Elegance line promoted and being sold in abundance.

Expansion Marketing  personally surveyed designers to find out exactly what they needed and wanted regarding green products.  Mainly, we found that they needed further education.  So, we got Kathleen out giving talks.  “Lunch and Learns” at her showroom and at San Francisco Design Center.  A Green Radio Shows.  Other talks for various groups.  A newsletter that has resulted in immediate sales.  By May of 2010, Magnolia Lane had done more bids than they had done for 2 years.  Commercial jobs were popping up left and right.  Out of state jobs were calling and Magnolia Lane and the Eco-Elegance Naturals Collection was fast becoming nationally known.

This is the power of doing correct market research and then actually using the data to give the target market what they need and want.  This works for any company.  The key is market research correctly done with the target market.  Expansion Marketing actually goes out and finds your target market to do this.  Then and only then can a strategy based on target market needs be created.

Get a Free Marketing Analysis to find out how this can work for you.

 The Economy is looking like it will recover and now there are a plethora of articles about dealing with the recovery.  Topics of conversation include how to reorganize for expansion and getting the basics back into your business.  If you need help with that, then go to my consulting site at www.expansionsolutions.biz and request a Free Business Analysis.  That is not the topic of this article.

No matter what basic structure or organization you have in your business, the truth is that the competition is coming back and there will be more of a market share to communicate to.  The only problem is that communications that worked two years ago are not going to be the communications that work today.  Well, what does a business owner do about that?

Without trying to sound like a broken record, the WAY to find out how to communicate to your public is to do correct market research. 

I will give you a personal example:  I had a consulting company for many years.  Now I have had a marketing company for the past two years.  I decided to open, additionally, another consulting company.  Marketing is only one portion of the organization, correct? 

I, the marketing person, had a brilliant idea of how I wanted to portray the logo of my new consulting company and got that image created.  Luckily, since I am a marketing person, I then went to a LOT of people and surveyed the look of the new image as well as the image from my marketing business card.  The reaction to my bright idea was confusion to mediocre shrugging.  Hey wait, I’m the marketing person and am supposed to be smarter than you average bear regarding these things….. 

Well, I am.   I surveyed, found out my data and now am getting my survey results translated into am image which will communicate the right message to the market. 

Let Expansion Marketing  get your message straight to communicate into the growing market. 

Casey Curry www.expansionmarketing.net .

Earlier this month there was a tremendous scare on the stock market because somebody made a typo.  All of the sudden, the US market was crashing and the world markets, watching the free-fall, went into a panic and they started falling.  All because of a typo.

This was an artificial (if accidental) manipulation of what was happening in the “real” market, but it actually happens more often than you think, and sometimes not as accidentally as it was the other day.  The markets can be manipulated in a million different ways.

The reporters of bad news say that the month of May closed lowest in a year, and despite the fact that the economy seems to be loosening up, the media will continue to push catastrophe into our faces.

The small business person has got to ensure that there is sufficient promotion going out to overcome such environmental emergencies.  Reacting to these fluctuations actually adds to the problem, and can start a roller-coaster on a smaller scale in the individual business. 

Get good marketing pieces, whether hard copy or on the internet.  Then ensure that your marketing communication goes out, in volume, no matter what the stock market is doing.  Expansion Marketing can help with that.  Request a Free Marketing Analysis at  http://www.expansionmarketing.net/contact.html.

Expansion Marketing introduces Expansion Solutions Business Consulting

 Each marketing client that we have worked with in the past has actually had other needs for the business than just marketing.  Perhaps it is a receptionist that is sending business away so that any leads in will not translate into closed business.  Perhaps the business owner does not feel comfortable or even have time to be the executive.  Each business has a different underlying reason for poor expansion.  Whatever the reason, it affects not only the entirety of the business but also whether a marketing program will work. Casey Curry at Expansion Marketing solves this by providing solutions to handle those “other things” that come up but are not within the realm of a strictly marketing company.  Casey has 14 years of experience in the business consulting arena.  Of course, Expansion Marketing will continue to help get excellent marketing done, but Expansion Solutions will pick up and handle the true underlying barriers to business expansion.  The first thing we do is a Free Business Analysis.  This analysis takes a comprehensive look at you, the business owner, as well as all aspects of the business to isolate the true blocks to expansion.  Then, actual solutions that will open the door to your reaching your business goals willl be presented. We serve the San Francisco Bay Area. Call 415.424.3538 to schedule the analysis.  Web site is still under construction, but you can also e-mail Casey Curry at casey@expansionmarketing.net.

Many business people are so caught up in the sales and delivery of their product that they do not or feel that they cannot make time for marketing, which is an entirely different function.  Going to the networking meeting, meeting with an associate to get referrals, sending out the newsletter, getting your “branding” are all part of marketing.  Market research determines the content of these marketing efforts, but where do we find the time to even DO the marketing, let alone the market research? 

If you do not take the time to do these marketing actions, and do them consistently, you WILL have peaks and valleys in your business. 

The best way to make time for marketing is to compartment your schedule and then be sure a follow the schedule.  The other thing to do is hire a marketing professional to do some of the groundwork.  Of course, Expansion Marketing can help with this.  From market research to full out-implementation of marketing strategy, graphic design, web design, or what will be coming out of your mouth.

Whatever you do, you need to pencil marketing into your schedule and make sure that it gets done, no matter what.  Get help if you need it, but stay on top of your company’s promotional efforts to forestall slow periods in your business.

Poor response from a piece of promotion generally means that the content or the look of the promotion is incorrect in some way.  So, how do your find out what the correct look and positioning for your piece should be?

A lot of people take a look on the internet to see what other people in their profession are doing.  This will definitely give you an idea of what your competition is doing, but it will not tell you what the target market is looking for or what they need.  It does not tell you if your competitors are getting any response from their web presence and it definitely does not tell you how to find that out what is needed by the target market, or even who the target market is.  What if your competitor is going after a different target market than you?

The truth of the matter is, the only way to find out exactly what your target market needs is to ask them.  Personally.  This is the function of market research and this is the data that you should be looking at. 

Of course, Expansion Marketing can help you with this.  You can go to our web site and request a free marketing analysis at http://www.expansionmarketing.net.

BRANDING is NOT your message to the target market.  Some marketing people will tell you that once branding is done, the marketing process will work.  This is a false idea that needs to be dispelled. 

 First, lets clearly define what these marketing tools are: 

1.  Brand: to mark with a brand, to impress indelibly

2.  Branding:  the promoting of a product or service by identifying it with a particular brand.

3.  Target Market or Target Audience: is the market segment, which a particular product is marketed to. It is often defined by age, gender and/or socio-economic grouping. Market Targeting is the process in which intended actual markets are defined, analyzed and evaluated just before the final decision to enter is made.

4.  Message:  That concept or idea that you are trying to communicate to your target market.

Okay.  Many people tell me that they need to do branding before they do any marketing.  I have gone over this concept before.  It IS good to get a logo and a look.  But, shouldn’t your logo and look be something that will communicate with your target market and impress itself indelibly in their minds? 

Many people who do branding look at the trends of what other people in your same profession are doing on the internet and then come up with an idea that will supposedly make your product stand out in the overwhelming glut of internet marketing.  This idea is fine if you were trying to communicate and identify with others of your same profession or business, but those are not the people that you need to impress indelibly with your marketing communication.

You need to impress the target market.  And in order to do that, you need to know what your target market is thinking about your product or service.

I have spoken to many business owners over the years and recently have heard “My target market is _______.”  But, on actual inspection, the target market is not actually what the business owner thinks it is.  Or, as one business owner said:  “I have no idea of how to go about finding what my target market is.”

What is the solution to getting a good brand as well as a good message (and branding is NOT the message) for your marketing campaign so that you get more response from your target market, more leads to sell to, and of course, more of the market share as a result?

The solution is correct market research, leading to a correctly targetted marketing strategy which will reach your market with the correct message and get a response.   This response is a lead for you to go out and sell to.  If your sales presentation also takes into consideration the needs and wants of the Individual, you will wind up with more business and a greater market share. 

Expansion Marketing can help you with this. Request a Free Marketing Analysis.

Make 2010 a fabulously successful year by being smart about your marketing.

Casey Curry, Expansion Marketing