I’m teaching an intensive Fundamentals of Marketing course in Split (Croatia) at the moment. Today being Saturday I decided to take myself off to the pretty little town of Trogir on a boat operated by Bura Line. In theory the boat departs from a quay not far from the harbour masters building but at 9am this morning there was no sign of it. I asked at the information booth and the guy responded to my question by saying: “I’m getting fed up with people asking about the boat to Trogir. I’ve no idea where it’s leaving from.”

I went to the harbour masters office and discovered that it was leaving from a totally different quay some way off. I had just 10 minutes to get there – jumping over cables and zig zagging around people pulling suitcases.

I got there in time.

I was one of three people on the boat.

Now the first thing that occured to me was this – why don’t Bura Line have someone standing where the boat normally goes from to gather people up and take them to where the boat is berthed. And…  leave an A Board saying which pier the boat is leaving from. I’m sure they lost a lot of revenue today because people couldn’t find them.

Always make it easy for your customers to find you.

Remember the mouse trap theory?  “If a man can make a better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he builds his house in the woods, the world will make a beaten path to his door” but as Emerson O.B. Winters remarked: “The manufacturer who waits for the world to beat a path to his door is a great optimist. But the manufacturer who shows his ‘mousetrap’ to the world keeps the smoke coming out of his chimney.”

Make sure you show your mouse trap to the world !

Make sure your target clients know where your boat is berthed !

It really frustrates me when I walk down the street containing a barbers shop in a certain little town in Devon. The interior has been beautifully done out by the owner but… there isn’t a high footfall in the little street where it’s located and most people  walk by on the other side of the road. Every time I walk by I look across and see the door is shut and the lights so dim it’s hard to know whether it’s open or not. So I cross the road just to check and invariably see the owner sat in the corner seemingly engrossed in their smartphone. Brighter lights; a half open door, an A board outside would signal that they were open for business.

Advantage could have been taken of the Christmas season to have mulled wine and mince pies for visitors regardless of whether they had an appointment or were even going to be making one – it would have created a buzz, brought people in through the door and given the owner a chance to hand out a card offering 10% off the first appointment.

I know a few people who are clients – they tell me they’re always the only customer. There’s no loyalty scheme to encourage return visits and no referral system to encourage people to tell their friends.

The Facebook page has few Likes, no information about the owner, no posts, no incentives to Like the page. This could be worked on during quiet times. On Twitter they have just 38 Followers and have produced but a handful of tweets – none of them incentivising people to come in for a haircut.

Yes – it does cross my mind that this lovely salon is at high risk of becoming another statistic – yet another start-up that didn’t make it – but could have.

Here are some of the marketing ideas I would have suggested had my offer of free advice been accepted:

1. brighter lights; a half open door, an A board outside to signal open for business
2. an open day with mince pies and mulled wine to have an opportunity to hand out business cards with a special 10% off offer
3. have flyers in local shops and hotels
4. always remember what Maya Angelou  said: “… people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – always make your clients feel special.
5. as time goes on categorise your clients into regulars and occasional – reward the regulars and encourage the occasionals to come more often
6. try SMS marketing – send regular customers an occasional text message – about a promotion, an event or just to remind them it’s time for a haircut !
7. exploit WOM (Word Of Mouth) – give customers cards to hand out to their friends offering a reduction on their first booking but make sure the card has referred by… so that you know who your evangelists are (and don’t forget to reward them!)
8. make sure local photographers, hotels and wedding venues know about you – invite key staff over for a wine and cheese event so that they can see the salon and meet you
9. make active use of your Facebook Page – a cover picture, information about the salon, details of special offers, open days
10. write engaging content for your Facebook page and post lots of photos and videos
11. run contests on the Facebook Page to attract Likes and bring in customers – e.g. “Take your photo outside our salon and post on our Facebook page, get your Friends to Like it and the photo with the most Likes gets xxx”. This could be a free haircut or 10% off for the next year for example.
12. offer exclusive deals to Facebook fans
13. have a photo taken with your clients and with their consent put them on your Facebook page and if that person is on Facebook get them to share it with their peeps
14. use Twitter if your target clients are using it, follow target clients or sources of clients and then tweet about things that will encourage them to visit, to book an appointment
15. encourage retweets on Twitter – a simple Retweet from one of your Followers can generate referrals. Offer incentives for Retweets such as “The Hair Salon is the trendiest place in xyz – have  $10 off your next appointment by retweeting this post”
16. use hashtags on Twitter for the location of your salon
17. offer group deals e.g. “Come in this Saturday with 2 or more friends and receive 10% off each just by showing this tweet!”
18. consider using Instagram
19. have a website – with an Offers page. Have calls to action to encourage prospective clients to choose your salon.
20. start a blog with hair tips, trends and advice – even information about events in the town. It will eventually brings in visitors which helps with ranking on Google and gives an opportunity to get people to sign up for a newsletter
21. promote blog posts on your Facebook page
22. have a special deal on days that are often ‘slow’
23. network at local networking events
24. set marketing objectives
25. have a marketing strategy and implement it – consistently

Need it be said that if YOU want marketing advice or help developing a marketing strategy for YOUR business I’d be only too happy to help.

Advertising works….

… that’s what the billboard on the side of the bus stop said as I drove out of town.

Naturally I thought about this – like you do when you’re in marketing!

Here’s some reasons why advertising doesn’t work:

• you advertise on the side of a bus stop and few of your target clients drive by
• you’re not actually too clear who your target clients are so you’ve no way of finding out if they drive by
• your ad. is not compelling in terms of the visuals or the copy
• your ad. has no call to action
• you put a phone number but someone driving alone wouldn’t be able to write it down so what speed will they be driving by at? will they have time to read and memorise the number?
• if you put your URL is it short and easy to remember?

Here’s some ways to ensure that advertising does work:

•  you know who your target clients are and you know they drive by the bus stop (in this particular case because you know they work or shop at Tesco’s or they live on one of the estates leading off this road)
• your ad. is compelling in terms of the visuals and the copy
• your ad. has a clear call to action
•  your URL is short and easy to remember
• you write your phone number LARGE
• you use the ad. space at the bus shelter as part of a combined media campaign

Other suggestions ?

As some of you know one of my sidelines is doing up little tables (www.gilliastables.com). I recently took a stall at a craft fair for a week.

Here’s some advice I’d like to share with you:

1. check how many other exhibitors there’ll be and what their products are. Similar stalls isn’t a problem in my view but having totally incompatible things being sold could bring in the wrong type of people – those who wouldn’t be interested in your offering
2. check how the tables will be arranged – if you’re exhibiting things made from glass for example it would be very beneficial to be near a window where a lot of light comes through
3. what are the opening times – if your target clients are likely to be holidaymakers then it’s fine if it’s only open during the day but if they’re likely to be people working in the area then they’d probably only come on weekends or evenings
4. is there a facility for people to pay by credit card?
5. if there’s an option for stallholders to rent for the week or by the day check how many will be there for the entire week – empty stalls don’t create a good impression
6. will the event be well publicised by the venue – where ? Is this likely to bring in your target clients?
7. will there be large notices outside so that passersby know that there’s a craft fair going on?
8. how many people came last year – each day?
9. calculate how much you’d have to sell (after deducting the cost of materials for making your items) in order to pay the rental for the stall. Are  you likely to sell that much  if not you won’t even break even.
10. if you’re selling large items and/or items with a high value then have smaller items to draw people in
11. have some things to attract children – this brings the parents over to your stand
12. be busy – I spent most of my time knitting – knitting things that will be the little items to attract people the next time I do a craft show for my little tables
13. don’t sit there being busy on your smartphone or tablet – you need to make eye contact and look crafter like. I got a lot of conversations going when I was knitting – more than when I was waxing my little tables.
14. do a risk assessment – some local councils will require this. For example I had the idea of waxing my little tables that I’d only just finished painting but then found that the smell was potentially prohibited in public
15. if you’re selling food items ensure you have a food and hygiene certificate from your local council
16. check whether the venue insurance covers you if anything on your stand causes damage to the public
17. consider using heavy duty calico cloth to cover your table – it’s a nice colour, doesn’t show any dust and can be easily folded and holds the fold
18. if you have a load of stuff behind your stand have the calico go down to the floor on one side of the table
19. take business cards, pen, pricing labels, receipt book and also your business cards for your main business (I actually got a marketing client by talking to them when I was there to sell little tables and a j0urnalist who wanted to write about me for a major women’s magazine..)
20. do some of your own promo locally – don’t leave it all to the venue or to people seeing the posters outside the venue
21. have something to wrap your items in – I used massive bin liners for my tables but people were delighted to have something to protect them and carry them home in.

Anything you’d add ?  Let us know in the comments section below.

When you decide to run a live event there are some typical mistakes that you should avoid:

1. be careful when picking your venue – think about parking, is it in a town where your target clients will be; do they host events that your target clients are likely to participate in so they’ll see your flyers; do they have the equipment you’ll need
2. don’t rely on the venue to do all your marketing – do your own too
3. if the venue is going to do some promo for you don’t sit back and leave them to do it unguided – help them to market you appropriately
4. don’t just sell from your website – sell from Eventbrite so that more people will find you
5. don’t assume the press and radio won’t find it newsworthy – make sure there is something newsworthy about it or about you
6. don’t forget to offer an early bird price and/or a price if someone buys two tickets (this is easy to set up on Eventbrite)
7. make a list of all the places to drop your flyers so you don’t forgot somewhere (and to do this you need to be really clear on who yuor target clients are and where they hang out)

Relevant posts:

Choosing the venue for your live event

Marketing your live events

When you decide to do a live event be really careful when choosing your venue.

Here are some essential things to find out :

1. do they have parking ? or is there cheap or free parking nearby?
2. is the venue in a town where your target clients are or can easily get to?
3. does the venue host events that your target clients are likely to participate in so they’ll see your flyers?
4. do they have the equipment you’ll need?
5. you they have good internet connection?
6. how much do they charge and what does this include (some venues charge extra for internet, for equipment set up, for water on the tables)
7. do they advertise the events that they run – where and when?
8. what relationships do they have with local press and radio? could they get you an interview?
9. how supportive will they be in working with you to market your event(s)?

I.m sure you can think about other things – why not share your advice with everyone below?

If you want some suggestions on how to market your live event then check out this blog post I wrote – Marketing your live events

I’m currently researching for a 25 page article on the role of poetry in business and I came across this poem – We Are the Music-Makers – by Arthur O’Shaughnessy.

I think the first verse is so true of entrepreneurs although he was talking about poets. What do you think ?

Putting a list of your seminars up on your website and referring to this on your FB page and LinkedIn status is not likely to sell you many tickets unless you have a tight group of local people following you and in neede of your workshop or seminar.. If you sell through Eventbrite then anyone looking for such an event or training session will check on Eventbrite and find you. If they do a key word search in Google they are unlikely to find you.

Here are some other marketing suggestions for you to consider:

• Get the venue to help in the marketing – after all it’s promo for them too – but … be sure to stay in control of the marketing
  • write the flyer they can put in reception
  • write the blurb they put on their website
  • write a short article for their newsletter
•  if it’s a venue that does a lot of classes and produces  a brochure find out if they’ll produce the next one in time for your event to be included – if yes then write a description of the event
•  if they regularly have classes that attract your target clients negotiate setting up a welcome table so that you can talk to people about your event
• once you agree with your venue what marketing materials they’ll distribute and where they’ll do  some promo make sure you check to see that the e-mails are sent, the fliers are put out, the newsletter is created, etc. Don’t assume that just because they said they’d do it that the tasks will get done.
• produce some flyers and distribute them in local cafés, at the library, the community centre, the local sports centre, lwyers offices, dentists offices, spas – the  places where your target client are likely to be. make sure they grab the attention and provide all the details – name of event, day, time, venue, what people will get by attending, a photo of you and a brief bio
• contact the local press and radio especially if you have a back story that makes you newsworthy or if your why is likely to resonate with them
• promo your event on your LinkedIn status and on local LinkedIn groups that you belong to and are active in

The secret to marketing success is to be very clear on who your target clients are so that you are sure to be offering what they want, at a venue they are willing to go to, at a price they are willing to pay and that you reach out to them in the right place using the right messages.

No-one wants to speak to empty chairs – right ?!

David Newman at Do It! Blog: Marketing for Smart People™ penned a very thought provoking article recently about the difference between an audience and a market.

I fear most of us have an audience rather than a market.

David came up with 17 differences between a market and an audience. I’ve listed some of them below:

1. An audience listens – A market pays attention
2. An audience wants entertainment – A market wants to solve problems
3. An audience values an experience – A market values expertise
4. An audience wants to watch – A market wants to act
5. An audience wants information – A market wants implementation
6. An audience reacts – A market responds
7. An audience wants their questions answered – A market wants their answers questioned
8. An audience wants you to be popular – A market wants you to be right
9. An audience likes your ideas – A market implements your ideas
10. An audience applauds – A market refers
11. An audience says, “Thank you” – A market says, “Thank goodness!”
12. An audience will HEAR you – A market will PAY you

My own view is that having an audience is great if they provide referrals – otherwise it’s better to spend time and energy building a market.

What do you think ?  Would you add anything else ?

Click here to check out David Newman at Do It! Blog: Marketing for Smart People™  He has some great insights, free stuff etc etc