Business Killer 2: Lack of Information – Marketing
Posted by Ryan Volberg at August 22, 2007 1:45 PM
Give your marketing a fighting chance with 6 questions
A business owner picks up a ball and closes their eyes. They spin around a few times until they have no idea which way they're facing. Now they throw the ball...hard. When the business owner opens their eyes they declare what they were aiming at. If they're a "glass half full" type person, they'll declare that they hit their target. If they lean towards cynicism, they'll say they have missed the target. Either way, it doesn't matter because they really had no idea before they threw the ball.
Unfortunately, this is exactly how some business owners determine whether their marketing is effective, or not. Unless you decide what you'd like to accomplish before you run a promotion, ad campaign, or coupon, you could end up like our friend with the ball.
Here are some potential outcomes you could target:
Increase sales
Increase foot traffic
Increase your average spend per customer
Reduce the average time between visits
Improve your market share
Increase the quantity of items sold
Most restaurant and retail owners will point to "Increase Sales" as their goal. But let's take a moment and ask some further questions.
Increase sales ... compared to what?
Increase sales ... during which time period?
Increase sales ... in which categories?
Increase sales ... by how much?
Consider this example. A store owner runs an advertising campaign with the general goal of increasing sales. The advertising ends and they look to see if it was effective. They conclude that their advertising was not effective since sales dropped from the previous month. They conclude that their campaign was not effective.
If we were to look further, we might discover that sales actually increased during the two weeks that the promotion was running compared not only to last month, but also to last year. And sales in the categories that their promotion targeted were up significantly.
The real tragedy is that this business owner has mistakenly concluded that their effective promotion should not be repeated. In fact, not only should it be attempted again, but conceivably, they've found a tremendous vehicle for increasing sales reliably.
As you look at your next marketing promotion, begin with the following six questions:
1. Who am I targeting?
2. What action do I want them to take?
3. Where will they find out about my offer?
4. When is the best time to reach people with this offer?
5. Why should they respond to this offer and why now?
6. How will I measure whether this promotion is effective?
Ryan Volberg is CEO of Vivonet, a company dedicated to ensuring restaurant and retail success.
 Category: Survival Tips
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