Now that your business is up and running and you have made a name for yourself in your local community, you might feel the need to leave the comforts of home and venture into a world of greater opportunities. Now mind you, this does not necessarily mean a physical move. Whether you decide to move from home-based business to leasing a business space is not the discussion here. Rather, this chapter discusses making a move toward a more effective marketing strategy. Marketing is an important factor in business establishment and operation and plays a valuable role in business expansion. Improved marketing equals greater success. If you have decided that you have reached a plateau with your wheatgrass business and you want to move up higher and mingle with the big growers, it is time to make a marketing change, and just as you did when you first set up your business, you must plan.
Extending the Plan — An Addendum
When you decided to start a wheatgrass business you created a business plan and, within that plan, an outline of your marketing strategy. Now that you are expanding your business and tailoring your marketing strategy, it is necessary to create an addendum to the original plan. An addendum is an addition to a document that has already been created. In your marketing strategy addendum, you should do the following:
• Restate your business message and identify your new target market.
• Set objections or goals; define what you want to accomplish.
• Solidify your identity; re-evaluate the effectiveness of your logo; obtain a professionally produced one if you have not already.
• Review your marketing material; obtain business cards, stationery, and a business brochure using your logo; set up a website if you have not done so.
• Determine your visibility and decide which advertising channels you will use to emphasize visibility.
• Strengthen current customer relationships; consider a way to keep them informed about the business.
• Review your budget; determine which funds are available for new marketing strategies.
• Establish a schedule; set a time for accomplishing each of your new goals.
Integrated Marketing Communication
Communication has always been an important part of any thriving relationship, and it is still a vital strategy in the overall success of any business. However, today, communication must be implemented on a greater level. Gone are the days of mass marketing skills and business expertise through a singular medium to secure a solid customer base. This scattered marketing strategy is not effective today, in a time where media is no longer dominated by newspapers, television, and radio. A more focused approach is required to achieve long-term business success, and an increasing number of companies are adopting the principle of integrated marketing communication (IMC) as part of their corporate identification. IMC is a strategic marketing concept that uses two or more areas of marketing communications to establish a business brand through consistent interaction between the business and the target market. The concept emerged in the mid 1980s and has been used effectively by successful businesses to create and establish a visible brand or image of their business, product, and services in a competitive marketplace. “The shift toward the IMC perspective has been hailed as one of the most significant changes in the history of advertising and promotion … and as the major communications development of the last decade of the 20th century,” wrote Dr. George Belch and Dr. Michael Belch in the study “Evaluating the Effectiveness of Elements of Integrated Marketing Communication: A Review of Research.” During this evaluation, Belch and Belch explore the effectiveness of IMC campaigns through the traditional IMC tools of advertising, sales promotion, public relations/publicity, direct marketing, and interactive media. If you are going to forge ahead and integrate IMC strategy into your marketing plan, you will need to familiarize yourself with these tools and how they operate.
Advertising
Advertising is very important to the growth of your business. Effective advertising generates sales and increases public awareness of you, your products, and your services. Use traditional advertising methods to direct potential customers to your website for detailed information about your products and services. Traditional advertising includes campaigns that promote brand awareness and advertising in trade journals. As a small business owner, you might not have the budget for elaborate advertising campaigns, but there are free and affordable ways to advertise your business. Consider the following method of advertising:
• Put up a sign at your business location with the business name and website address.
• Place a bumper sticker or magnetic sign on your car advertising your business.
• Put your logo on T-shirts and distribute them among friends and neighbors.
• Create a flyer and post it on public bulletin boards.
• Always carry business cards and leave them behind in appropriate places.
• Place an ad about your business in all the local newspapers.
• List your business name in the telephone directory.
• Use e-zines (electronic magazines) and free classified on the Internet.
• Include your business Web address in your e-mail signature.
• Place a flyer or business card in all outgoing mail.
Sales promotion
Sales promotion is another tool of the IMC strategy. It entails employing media and non-media marketing strategies for a limited, predetermined period of time to promote the sales, usage, or trial of a company’s products or services. The promotion could be directed at the consumer, staff, or local or wholesale distributors, but its purpose is to generate interest in the product. Sales promotion is particularly effective with the introduction of a new product or service. It can also be used, however, to revive interest in an old product. One of the challenges of sales promotion is differentiating yourself from other marketer promoting their products as well.
Popular sales promotion activities include the following:
• Discounted prices
• Product demonstrations and point-of-sale materials
• Contests and games
• Vouchers and coupons
• Free samples or give-away items
• Sweepstakes
• Buy-one-get-one-free (or half off)
• Refunds and rebates
Public relations
Any business interaction with the public, apart from customers, is considered public relations (PR). This includes vendors, local charities, journalists, and other public figures or groups. Business owners can get exposure for their products and services by building relationships with these individuals or organizations. PR differs from advertising in that it is basically free marketing that gets the media involved in what your company is doing. Somehow, they have learned about you and your product and are interesting in helping you promote it. Many times, PR is more effective than advertising. It reaches a wider audience than advertising and helps your company to be remembered for a longer period of time. It helps build credibility for your company, influencing customer decisions about you and your products. It might take some time and effort to establish your business through PR, but it is a worthwhile endeavor. Being known as an expert in your field is one of the rewards to PR marketing. To get the ball rolling in this direction, consider the following:
• Make sure you know everything there is to know about wheatgrass including wheatgrass growing, wheatgrass usage, and wheatgrass selling.
• Volunteer to speak at health functions, gardening shows, charity events, school programs, church affairs, or anywhere else where people might be interested in what you have to say.
• Contact trade publications in the health, gardening, or agricultural industry and volunteer information or offer to write an article about the benefits or wheatgrass or other pertinent subject.
• Offer free health seminars or workshops or participate in a job fair. Give out samples of wheatgrass or wheatgrass products.
• Become familiar with the local radio and television stations and try to appear as a guest on one of their talk shows.
• Learn how to write press releases and how to present them to different media outlets.
A public relations campaign is something you might want to add to your business plan. As with the marketing plan, identifying your target market is key. It is also important to identify your target media. Which newspapers or radio stations would be the best outlet for what you have to offer? Develop story ideas that you can pitch to them concerning your business and product. Create a positioning statement that differentiates you from other wheatgrass growers and include it with all correspondence to the press. Do not get discouraged if your story idea is rejected.
Direct marketing
Direct marketing pertains to the distribution of marketing material directly to the public. It is a vital aspect of a company’s promotional plan. A direct marketing campaign includes methods such as database marketing, direct mail, and mailing list options. For each of these options, you will need to have a mailing list. You can compile a mailing list yourself, starting with your current customers. Match your list with a list from a professional database business and compare customer and prospective customer demographics. It is important that your list is made up of people who might have an interest in your product. It is also important to mail your material to the right person in the right department. Do some research and find out the name of the decision maker. Otherwise, your material will go unheeded and become junk mail. Follow up all mailings with a phone call.
Doing a test mailing to a select audience can help you determine whether your direct marketing strategies are effective. Consider these points when marketing directly:
• Learn how to write a direct mail piece.
• Obtain testimonials from current customers that you can use in the piece.
• Determine whether you will use postcards, traditional letters, or a sales brochure.
• Distribute business cards, brochures, and flyers throughout the community.
• Make your mailing stand out from other direct mail pieces by using bright-colored post cards or handwritten envelopes and applying third-class stamps instead of metered postage.
• Use first and last names of recipients and correct spelling.
• Keep your look consistent.
• Join your local chamber of commerce to connect with other business owners who may be interested in your product and services and distribute your literature among them.
Visit eSmallOffice (www.esmalloffice.com/SBR_template.cfm?DocNumber=PL12_1400.htm) for instructions on writing a direct mail piece.
The advent of social media
In recent years, the interaction between society and the Internet has brought about interesting data. There is a great buzz in the online world today concerning social interaction. According to a December 2008 research study from 16 industrialized nations, it was reported that adults spent “a third of their leisure time online, belong to two social networking sites and have regular contact with 16 people who they have ‘virtually’ met on the Internet.” Citizens of the United States and most European countries make up 30 percent of those who spend one-third of their time online. Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) represented 40 percent.
“The immense popularity of social media enabled by today’s Web 2.0 has opened many promising new conference marketing opportunities,” observed Gary Rottman, principal and creative director of The Rottman Group. “Gradually, sole computing will impact almost every role, at every kind of company, in all parts of the world.” The six basic types of social media include social networks, wikis, blogs, podcasts, forums, content communities, and microblogging. As a growing business, you could get involved with any of these media types and find a connection with someone, but we want to focus on connecting through social networking.
Social networking
The Internet is the most popular form of social networking today. There are hundreds of active social networking sites worldwide, supporting a variety of interests and practices. Some sites cater to a diverse audience, while others focus on a particular nationality, language, or religion. The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication defines social network sites as “Web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.” The journal also distinguishes between the term “social network sites” and “social networking sites,” the former being characterized by individuals reaching out to those they already know and the latter involving individuals making new connections. With the understanding that social network sites can sponsor networking opportunities, academic and industry researchers are increasingly “intrigued by [the sites] affordances and reach.”
You can make use of any social networking site to promote your business. Networking sites can be used as free business tools that can help you maximize the exposure and interaction of your business. They allow you to share your products and services with people all over the world. The key to effective marketing with these tools is knowing which tool is most useful for your business. In her article “Your Guide to Social Media Tools and Uses,” Maisha Walker, president and founder of Message Media, presents these tools in several categories. They include directories, social bookmarking, video sharing, photo sharing, and blogging. The most popular sites are found in the categories of directories and blogging. The most popular social networking sites worldwide are Facebook (directory), Bebo (blogging), and Twitter (blogging); MySpace and LinkedIn (directories) are most widely used in North America. As society becomes increasingly “entangled in the Web,” it can be difficult to ignore social media tools and how they can work within your relations communication strategy. You certainly do not have to embrace all or any of these prevailing media tools, but it might be beneficial to the growth of your business to choose a source that you can merge into your marketing strategy based on how you and those that work with you choose to communicate. If you own a business, it would be profitable to use social media tools to advance your business.
Making social media work for you
Social media sites can be used to share expertise, establish a brand, hire workers, and/or build business communities. You should choose your media site based on your target audience and the site that is most specific to your industry. Who are you selling to and what sites are they using? What is the most used site for a health and/or gardening business? You also need to set goals in order to market to your targeted audience. Specifically, what is it that you want to achieve? Are you looking to drive more traffic to your website? Do you want to solidify your brand and set yourself apart as an expert in the wheatgrass growing field? Do you want to generate more leads for sales of wheatgrass or wheatgrass products? You might want to revisit your business plan and integrate these new goals with those already established in the early days of your business.
You also need to become familiar with the different tools surrounding social media. Viral video, blogging, and RSS feeds are all important aspects of the media system. Even if you do not incorporate them into your marketing strategy, you should at least know what they are and what they do.
Once you have chosen your media site, set a few new goals in place, and become familiar with the various tools of the social media system, you can create your profile and begin marketing. Make certain you understand the site policies or terms and conditions before joining and actively promoting. Also, it is very important to remain active once you join the site. Consistency and determination are key factors in accomplishing the goals you have to grow your business. Building and maintaining relationships with customers is also key.
Building your brand using social media sites
Name branding through social media is a great way to grow your business. Media sites such as LikedIn, Facebook, and Twitter allow you to create a business presence before your current customers as well as reach a vast number of potential clients. Engage in conversations via the sites, join chatrooms and forums, and always be willing to share your expertise. Your customers get to know and trust you through your presence, so be professional, straightforward, and sincere. You want to appear as a leader in your field and your audience wants know that you are. They will be more willing to purchase your products or services once they are sure who you are. Your wheatgrass business is sure to prosper once you have established your brand using social media sites. Refer to Mashable (www.mashable.com) for the latest in social media news and step-by-step guides for getting started using such tools as Facebook and Twitter.
Generating leads through social media sites
One of the main goals of a business is to acquire more sales. This also can be done through social media sites by generating leads online. It was mentioned in the previous section how important it is to share your knowledge through the various communication channels online. Another important aspect in media marketing is getting in tune with your audience and listening to what they have to say. You do not want to appear as a know-it-all or a boastful business owner. Listening is an important skill and if you can hear what your audience is saying, you can serve them better by tailoring your products and services to their needs. Read the forum posts and carefully analyze what is being said before posting a reply. Search for viable conversations in your field via Twitter and pertinent keywords through indexing sites such as Reddit or StumbleUpon. Once a general conversation is established through the media, you can zero in on prospective clients and avail yourself to them for further conversations. If you effectively generate leads through social media sites, you might find that your audience will do a great deal of the marketing for you by word-of-mouth and link sharing.
For help on getting started with Twitter, visit Web Strategy (www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/02/08/for-the-professional-how-to-get-started-on-twitter), a site that discusses how to get started on Twitter and making Twitter work for you.
Creating more traffic with social media sites
As a business owner, you should really put your website to work for you through social media marketing. Social media marketing is a great way to build your Web presence and attract website traffic from a variety of sources. Increased traffic means an increase in sales. A social media campaign can increase your popularity and build your reputation. It will also increase awareness of your product, service, and brand. Social bookmarketing techniques can alert individuals, businesses, and search engines about announcements, new content, or other relevant information placed on your site. It is also helpful in creating backlinks and inbound links that will increase confidence in your brand. If you would like to be more active on the social networking scene and do not have the time or personality to “get connected,” consider having a social media company such as Search Engine Optimization (www.searchengineoptimisation.com/social-media.html) set up and monitor the entire process for you.
Connecting with other wheatgrass growers
As with any individual that forges out on a mission, having a support group to challenge and encourage you is important. Being a new business owner and building a fledgling business is no different. The process can be lonely and even frustrating at times. You might suffer even more if you have left a big company of office parties, health benefits, and a steady income to forge out on your own. Do not despair. Also, do not think that you are alone in this situation. As mentioned in Chapter 10, thousands of individuals have taken up the challenge of starting a business at home. Many have succeeded and are more than willing to share their experiences with you. The Internet makes it possible to connect with wheatgrass growers all over the world. It is only a matter of finding them, and social media, once again, can help.
You can also meet other wheatgrass growers at trade shows and other events. Be sure to exchange contact information so that you can keep in touch and “follow” each other online. Most importantly, reach out through your own online profiles. Make your expertise available to others, and keep your business approachable. There might be someone out there in cyberspace who needs to get connected with you.
Establishing your own virtual community
Following the purpose and structure of these popular sites, a number of smaller community sites have developed offering a more personalized experience to users by focusing more tightly on a specific interest of the membership. These specialty sites, or “niche” sites, have prompted a move from large and small businesses alike to set up their own site to stay connected with employees and customers. There are many avenues to be explored with the decision to develop a social media site. What is the purpose of the site? Who will develop and host it? What legalities are involved? Who will work out the logistics? Who will manage the site? A professional programmer or designer can help you answer these questions and work with you on the building of the site. You can also subscribe to Ning (www.ning.com), which is a program that allows you to create your own social network site. Ning sites are a good way to stay in touch with a specific group you are working with, be it your employees, customers, or others in the industry.
Marketing and communications is key to moving your business from one level to the next. Although advertising, public relations, sales promotions, and direct sales are great tools for creating this elevation, today’s businesses have broadened their marketing strategies to include a more interactive approach to growing a business. Social media is the latest in the history of communication tools. Social media strategy incorporated into the marketing and communications plan completes the communications puzzle.
Forging ahead
Once you have gotten your new marketing and communications plan underway, there is little more you can really do but forge ahead. You are bound to face many challenges, but remember there are others who have started where you have started and have gone on to become quite successful with their business endeavors. In several of the case studies presented in this book, you can find prime examples of business success — from growers of wheatgrass to distributors of wheatgrass products or tools to health services utilizing wheatgrass. And yet, there are many others across the globe who have created headlines with their wheatgrass endeavors.