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You have an established, respected hardwood flooring business, but you've been having too much downtime. How do you get more jobs.
How do you let potential customers know what you do and how well you do it. How do you convince them to do business with you? These are all good questions, and the answers to them hold the key to your success. Thriving businesses don't just happen, they are built one customer at a time—over time—and require a well-thought-out plan to gain new customers while retaining existing ones.
Advertising as a building block
A key aspect of building your business is how you manage the advertising for your company. In order to get the most for your money, you first must answer four questions about how you currently handle your company's advertising.
1. Do you find yourself simply taking last week's, last month's or even last year's ad and only making a slight change? Is most of your current advertising prepared about an hour before it is due to the newspaper, magazine or radio representative? If you answered yes to both questions, you need to stop repeating useless ads that are created "on the spot" and are not part of a unified advertising campaign.
2. Have you thought in terms of producing an advertising campaign rather than just a series of ads that are not related to each other? An advertising campaign is a unified and consistent series of ads, publicity and word of mouth that contains the same message repeated over a long time frame—usually at least six months. It is a good idea to create a six-month calendar that details every ad you will be running (including information on what media will be used, what message you will convey, the cost for the ad and other details).
3. How do you determine how much you will spend on advertising? An advertising budget is a must. Determine how much you can afford to spend on advertising before you begin your plan. Most businesses spend 2 to 4 percent of annual sales on advertising. This is an investment in your business, not an expense. As a rule of thumb, the less foot traffic your location generates, the more you will spend on advertising. In addition, make sure you don't throw your ad dollars away trying to make a down period busy. Remember one of the oldest lines in advertising: "Fish when the fish are biting!" Spend the most amount of money during your best revenue time. If your best month for sales last year was November, spend a proportionate amount of your ad budget in that month.
4. What is the message you wish to convey to your customers? A good advertising campaign always contains a simple benefit statement that tells the customer why they should do business with your company along with a "call to action" compelling the customer to act on the message. Most businesses can't afford only "image" advertising; you need to drive customers to your business with the ad. It is rare that customers simply wake up in the morning and realize they need wood floors installed or refinished. Oftentimes, advertising has to encourage them to act with a special offer or promotion. Remember, price is not the only way to offer a deal. Consider offering free additional services instead of discounting the entire job.
The secret successful businesses know is that you have to create and deliver a precise and cohesive communication plan—one that tells customers why they should do business with you. This plan begins with a simple, easy-to understand idea that you want your customers to know about you.
Customers do not have time to listen to or process complicated messages. The shorter and more succinct your message is, the better. Think in terms of the well-known phrases "Just do it!" or "You deserve a break today." What do they have in common. They are simple, easy to remember and have been repeated thousands of times in Nike and McDonald's advertising.
Also, keep in mind that a great advertising campaign is not only about paid advertising, it also is about publicity and word of mouth. You have to be able to manage these three key communication strategies and make them work together to increase your business.
A good campaign
About 50 years ago, a famous advertising executive said, "I know that half my advertising does not work, I just don't know which half." I am sure this is as true today as it was 50 years ago. Advertising is the lifeblood of most businesses—it is the way we maintain the business we have and gain important new customers. Advertising is how we tell customers about our company and get them to do business with us. The definition of advertising is: "The activity of attracting public attention to a product or business, as by paid announcements in the print, broadcast or electronic media."
A good campaign takes advantage of the strengths of each available media:
• The newspaper is a good place to tell a story. You can and should use pictures and graphics to reinforce your message. The newspaper also is "immediate," as it has a short lead time. It also has a short read time; however, it often reaches a broad audience. Take note that this audience is not always made up of your target customer, so there often is a significant amount of "waste" in the reach. Check with your local paper for their readership profile. Use newspapers to get your message to the customer and make sure there is a compelling reason for customer response in the message, such as a special price or additional service if the customer responds right away.
• To increase the power and reach of your newspaper ads, pair them with radio ads. Radio is even more immediate than the newspaper, often reaching a broader audience. When combined with a newspaper ad, radio vastly increases the recognition of your message.
• Your Web site should contain the same message/image that is in the newspaper, as should your windows and in-store signage. A successful advertising campaign is the repetition of the same compelling message in all media and in-house signage. Make sure you carry the message into your showroom and that every member of your staff is aware of your advertising message.
• The most personal media of all is direct mail. It can be targeted at specific customers. You can either use your own list, which often is the best because it contains customers who have already done business with you, and/or you can purchase a list that you pre-select with customer characteristics that match your requirements. With direct mail, the same rules apply: make it a compelling message and give recipients of your message a reason to act.
Keep on talking
There are two other ways to tell customers about your business—publicity and word of mouth. Unlike advertising, these avenues often cost nothing. They sometimes are uncontrollable, however, which means you cannot guarantee what is being said about your company.
Publicity is a great opportunity to get recognition for your business. It should be a carefully planned part of your advertising campaign. Publicity can be achieved by submitting press releases to your local newspapers, radio and television stations. These releases should tell a compelling story about your business. Local media are always looking for success stories about local businesses. When you get a new line of products, introduce a new service, hire a new staff member or have some general news about the company, let your community and industry know about it. Also, if you host customer appreciation nights, sponsor charity functions or do anything that helps your community, then tell the media. Take a reporter or editor out to lunch or dinner, and tell them about your company. But remember, you cannot control publicity. The reporter will write what he wants, so be careful what you say.
Word of mouth happens when your customers tell their friends or family about your company. Of all the forms of advertising, word of mouth is far and away the most powerful. People listen to and trust family and friends, and a positive recommendation by a family member or friend can be compelling.
Positive word of mouth can increase business like no other means of promotion. Word of mouth, however, can go both ways. If there is a customer spreading negative word of mouth, it can do serious damage to your business. To build word of mouth, you have to look at strategies that amaze your customers. For example, does every one of your crews take the time to completely clean up after every job? Do you call customers after installation to make sure that they are completely satisfied? What can you do to impress your customers? Ask your staff; they probably have some great ideas.
Avoid advertising mistakes
Any business that does not have a strategy for how it is going to communicate with its customers is in trouble. Again, all communications you have with your customers must be carefully planned and presented in a simple, convincing and easy-to-understand message. Following are five reminders about common mistakes to avoid:
1. Choose your media carefully. Don't use radio or billboards for complex messages, and don't use newspaper, radio or billboards when speaking to very specific customers. Use trade publications or direct mail.
2. Don't just run ads. Create a campaign that really tells customers who you are and why they should do business with you.
3. Never run an ad that does not provide a benefit to the customer.
4. Don't try to accomplish too much with any ad. A simple message that is received and understood is better than a complex one that is not.
5. Don't go for quantity over quality. Choose the best media you can afford, and instead of trying to cover the entire market with one ad, cover your primary trade area with five or 10.
Advertising is one of the most important jobs of any company. Treat it seriously, start with a strategy, set a budget, create a campaign, execute wisely and enjoy your increased business.