<p>Small business faces many choices in today's economy. Allocation of financial resources, be it credit or cash, can be life-and-death decisions for a small company. How to market effectively in times of crisis is always a critical decision.</p> <p>By mass marketing for small business I mean postcards, e-mails, brochures, or fliers, sent out to groups of 500 to 5,000 addresses where the sender does not have much current information about the company being sent the information. The specific type of small business that I refer to in this article is consulting services though it is applicable to most small businesses that do not rely on location for driving traffic.</p> <p>Such mass marketing is often used by small business as their core new business development tool. The idea is that reaching a larger market will produce a certain albeit small percentage of results, which will then convert to new business.</p> <p>Consider the use of postcards. Many online printing companies do an outstanding job allowing you to design, print, and distribute a custom postcard to a mailing list. These services are convenient and easy-to-use. For instance, you can reach a client base of 2,000 customers with a 3 x 5 laminated postcard, mailed, for about $1,000. A good deal. In the same vein, you can find printers online that will produce a tri-fold flier for generally the same price. On-line lead generation sites will provide you with a mailing list of those 2,000 clients, categorized by your demographic be it geographic, revenue, or other criteria. Combine these tools and you have an effective mass mailing going out to what should be your specific client demographic.</p> <p>So mass marketing is easy. However, the big question is how effective is it for small businesses to follow this route and allocate assets to this type of marketing strategy?</p> <p>I argue that it is not effective. Every week most of us receive several postcards such as I have described above. We get postcards at our homes; we get postcards at our offices. I myself tend to sort them out at home walking from the mailbox to the kitchen depositing several in the recycle bin as I go by. In the office I only see such postcards if I happen to walk by the reception desk when the mail is sitting there. A gatekeeper, who is a receptionist, secretary, or other person who shields the principal from the public, sorts through the mail before the principal sees it. Most companies have very effective gatekeepers and that is the main reason why I say mass marketing campaigns do not work. I doubt that a mass-mailed postcard would make it past the gatekeeper any better than it makes it past my recycle bin at home. Business fliers, brochures, and letters that are not specifically addressed to a principle may suffer the same fate.</p> <p>E-mail is not in a much better position to make it to your target principle. I am not talking about spam e-mails. If you send out 1 million email ads for Viagra, you'll get your fraction of a percentage who respond. That is not what we are discussing here.</p> <p>Targeted e-mail marketing where you identify addresses of your demographic company owners, put together a tasteful e-mail, and send it out, still have a very low chance of being read. First, if you send it to an "info" or other general username, it probably will not get past that gatekeeper to the principal. Second, even if you have the e-mail address of the principle, spam filters will take out many of your mailings just because you are not in the principle's address book. Third, the principal himself, when he reads his e-mail, may just as quickly hit the delete or move-to-trash button, because he does not recognize you or realize that he needs your services.</p> <p>Other forms of mass marketing like TV, radio, and newspaper may be effective in certain industries where there is a general usage of such mediums. With cable and the wide array of television channels available, there is generally no one channel to reach a market. Radio may be an acceptable medium in a local geographic area assuming you have a target demographic in-line with the radio's marketplace. Newspaper circulation is down almost everywhere and ad costs are so high that it is only valuable to the large advertisers.</p> <p>So the mass marketing tools that I've talked about here -- post cards, brochures, flyers, e-mails, TV, radio, and newspaper -- all have fatal flaws for small businesses looking to access truly new business market and find new clients.</p> <p>The dilemma is that it is easier for some people to use these mass marketing techniques because one does not have to have face-to-face contact with the client to use them. Marketing personnel who are uncomfortable meeting with clients (and that is more common that you might think) often rely on mass marketing with the assumption that at least a percentage will come through. This could be a formula for failure.</p> <p>Even in today's technological economy, sales are still personable. There is still no good alternative to knocking on doors and having "boots on the ground." Small businesses need to develop trust on the part of a potential client. That means a person, in a room, across a desk. How do we do this? As a first step, the information about you, your company, and your product has to be readily available when the potential client looks for it. If a client initiates contact, you automatically are in a good position. Today the easiest way to do that, of course, is to have an effective web presence. This means an easy to navigate website, with easy to understand information about your company and products, with an easy way to request additional information. Small businesses should allocate marketing resources toward maintaining an interesting and effective website that is optimized for search engines.</p> <p>But what about clients who need your services but do not necessarily want your services now? You still need lead generation but should use them for "knocking on doors".</p> <p>Even on the phone you still have to get past the gatekeeper to the business owner. But once there is a voice and a name associated with a product, it becomes easier. Someone has to beat the pavement. You can drop off a brochure, show a sample of the product, or otherwise use a physical visit to determine the interest of the company. There is no reason whatsoever for a company that will never consider using your services to be on your marketing list.</p> <p>Be it phone call or visit, once you have determined the interest of the client, you can put them on your target list. Companies like mine that offer business-consulting services understand that a client might not want you this year but might want you next year. Once you have determined interest, you maintain constant contact. Constant contact does not mean every day, of course. But on a monthly or bimonthly basis you send your postcards, you send your brochures, you send your e-mails. Now that you have a name and indication of interest on the part of the decision-maker, getting past the gatekeeper to the principle becomes a much easier process. Your client has been verified, vetted, and has opted-in to receive information from you.</p> <p>In conclusion, the mass marketing techniques are useful for maintaining a constant contact strategy with your potential clients. However, they are not appropriate for developing a potential client list. You still need to get some sort of initial contact by telephone at least, but preferably by an in-office visit, to determine interest on the part of the potential client.</p> <p>Getting past the gatekeeper is difficult by design. Suspicion and caution are the normal responses by the gatekeeper to any initial contact by any marketing effort. You can overcome this by the winning personality of your sales force. You cannot do it by the impersonal nature of postcards or e-mail.</p> <p>Mass marketing strategies for small business tend to be ineffective and consume much-needed funding and resources for small businesses because they fail to generate sufficient levels of return for the investment. Even in today's world of technology, the only proven way to develop the marketing base of a small business is by contacting potential clients directly and converting their need to their want. This is best done in person.</p> 2009-05-18T14:11:52Z 2009-05-19T15:54:21Z -7.752 284 4659 true 15 32613 difficult-by-design-mass-marketing-for-small-businesses 0 2009-05-19T15:53:06Z 2009-05-19T15:54:21Z

Mass marketing strategies for small business tend to be ineffective and consume much-needed funding and resources for small businesses because they fail to generate sufficient levels of return for the investment.

1 2009-05-19T15:54:21Z