November 2007 Vol. 2, Issue 11

 
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Why not drop by our website to check us out?

Adams Jette Marketing
+ Communications

100 Argyle Avenue
Suite 202
Ottawa, ON K2P 1B6

Tel: 613.235.5445
FAX: 613.235.5514
[email protected]
www.adamsjette.com

 
Marketing department, we have a problem...
A [We chose to bring you a longer-than-usual article this month rather than present the information in two parts. We don't like "to be continued..." any more than you do.]

We've written in the past about the importance of being highly focused in three key areas: who you are selling to, what you are saying to those people and the way you are delivering your message. Now, let's talk for a minute about the order of things.

Everybody with a business interest is out there marketing. They may not be the most sophisticated programs around and the messages may not even be on target. But rest assured, whether those business owners have websites, signage, advertisements or they just talk about their businesses, they are all marketing in some form or another.

We've mentioned before that there are several things you can do right now that will improve your marketing immeasurably such as mining past clients, setting up a referral program or tightening the focus on the three Ms (market, message and methods). But how do you know if your marketing is solid? How do you know if your efforts are worthwhile?

In the absence of measurable objectives (and, unfortunately, so few of us have those), here are a few indicators that things may not be going so well:

1. You are competing on price. This may be an indicator that your customers can't distinguish between you and your competitors. If you are not special, you have no choice but to compete on price. And there is always someone out there willing to beat your best price. Determine how you are different and then sell that.

2. You fall victim to every advertising salesperson who walks through the door. Here comes the Yellow Pages guy. Now it's the local newspaper. A radio campaign? Sure! How about a few brochures? If you don't have a plan, your marketing will be disjointed, at best, and a complete waste of money, at worst.

3. You cannot measure the results of your marketing efforts. Are you just aiming a shotgun into the sky, hoping to hit something? If you can't measure the results of your efforts, how do you know if you're moving forward?

4. Your marketing plan consists of "waiting to see who calls or walks through the door." Unless you are out there in a disciplined, definable way, you are just walking around in the dark, hoping to bump into something.

5. Your customers are here today and gone tomorrow. Repeat customers are among the easiest and least expensive to find. You must develop a plan to keep them coming back.

[There are still four points to cover.
Now might be a good time to top off your coffee.]

6. Long-time customers say, "I had no idea you could do that." If you can't explain to your current customers all the ways you can help them, you'll be hard-pressed to explain it to those who've never heard of you.

7. You don't know the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of all of your customers. This customer list should be at the very heart of your business because nobody is more important to you than those who already know and trust you. (Bonus secret: Take even the smallest portion of your advertising budget and, instead, spend it on keeping current customers happy. Then watch revenues take off.)

8. Most sales leads come from your salespeople. Your marketing efforts should be generating your leads so your salespeople can make the sales, upsell customers and work on referrals.

9. You are not benefiting from customer referrals. We mentioned earlier the importance of asking for repeat business. Another question you should be asking current customers is this: "Do you know anyone else who might benefit from our products or services?" If your marketing program consists of just two things, good repeat business and a solid referral plan, you are already miles ahead of the competition.

Featured client:
Champlain Infection Control Network
CICN The Champlain Infection Control Network is a catalyst for the development of best practices in infection prevention and control in Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley. The area covered by the network contains 21 hospitals, 62 long-term care facilities, three Community Care Access Centers, eight community health centers, nine dialysis centers, a rehabilitation center, a psychiatric hospital, an ambulatory surgical center and a regional cancer center.

The CICN's role is to identify, gather and provide the necessary support and expertise to assist the Champlain District health-care community in the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases.

So, get your flu shot!

What our clients are saying...
Transport Canada

"We really enjoyed working with your writer. He did an amazing job of spinning our text into marketing copy that is easy to understand."

Cyb�le Trottier-Vogelsang
Transport Canda

QuikTip
serial commas -- Serial commas appear just before the word "and" in a list of items. I picked up milk, bread, and sugar. You are not wrong to use them but many grammar experts, us included, believe that they are not always needed--as in the example above--and that unnecessary punctuation clutters rather than clarifies.

There are cases, however, where they are critical: My heroes are my parents, the Pope and Mother Theresa.