By Karen Scharf

It seems as if most of the entrepreneurs I’ve encountered lately are looking for the “get rich quick” version of small business marketing. Unfortunately, such a thing doesn’t really exist, but if you’re looking for some tried-and-true marketing principles that can accelerate your success, I’ve got a few to share with you:

Pull Marketing Works Better Than Push Marketing

I’m not sure who coined the terms pull marketing and push marketing, but the idea behind them is simple. With push marketing, the small business pushes its advertising towards its prospects who may or may not be interested. With pull marketing, the small business attracts (pulls) its prospects with interesting content and materials which aren’t strictly advertising based.

Push marketing can be hard. It involves cold calls and advertising and in-your-face and spending lots and lots of money. And yet your prospects are often turned off and tuned out.

On the other hand, pull marketing is fun. It involves sharing your knowledge and creating partnerships and developing relationships. Pull marketing creates prospects who are truly interested in your services and who truly believe you are the best person for the job.

Everything You Do is Branding

This is a hard concept for many small business owners to embrace, but every single little thing you do is sending a message about your business. And I do mean every single little thing. I had a client several years ago who constantly wore wrinkled and disheveled shirts. He didn’t think it mattered since he wasn’t in the dry cleaning business.

But it did matter. It sent the message that he was disorganized and a bit sloppy about his personal appearance. And if he was disorganized with his own wardrobe, how could his prospects trust him to be organized with their roofing project. If he couldn’t plan his wardrobe ahead and get things ironed on time, how could he possibly plan to get the roof repaired before the next big Midwestern thunder storm hit?

The point I’m trying to make is that your prospects are constantly making judgments about you and your business, whether consciously or unconsciously, and they’re basing those judgments on the little details that you might not even be aware of.

And this brings me to my third small business marketing principle…

People Want to Be Aligned with Success

I’m still amazed at the number of small business owners I encounter who, when asked how business is, will tell you that it’s terrible. They moan about how hard things are, they moan about their dreadful clients, they moan about not making enough money, and they moan about not being able to grow the business.

Um, excuse me? If your business is terrible that means people don’t want to hire you. And if other people don’t want to hire you, why in the world would I want to? I want to hire the provider who is going to make me successful (no matter what the service or project is) and if you can’t make yourself successful, you obviously can’t do it for me.

Have you ever noticed how, when a sports team is on a winning streak, their stadium is jam-packed, but when they’ve lost a few in a row, their ticket sales start to dwindle. On when they’re on a down-right losing streak, their stadium is practically a no-man’s land. No one wants to associate with a loser.

That doesn’t mean that your business has to be on a constant, never ending upswing. It just means you don’t want to telegraph it when it isn’t. And that conveniently brings me to my final marketing principle…

You’re Probably Not Charging Enough

We all say we want the cheapest option, but the truth is, we don’t. What we really want is value. Unless all you offer is a basic commodity (a very dangerous business model), then being the low-priced leader can actually be damaging to your business.

And there are all sorts of reasons for that.

First, there’s the psychological impact and the fact that you’ll probably end up resenting your customers (that’s another topic altogether). Secondly, there’s the cash flow issues that you’ll encounter – and it’s impossible to grow a business without adequate cash flow.

But most importantly, there’s the whole pull marketing / branding / success alignment scenario that we just discussed. If your services are less expensive than all of your competitors, there’s a reason for that. Either you’re not very good at what you do, or you’re desperate for customers, or you haven’t quite figured out how to run your business. And in either case, it’s not very attractive to prospects.

If you feel you’re getting push back from prospects on your pricing, and you know your pricing is reasonable, then you need to look at how you’re presenting your value. First, you want to ensure that you’re using pull marketing, so you’re only dealing with prospects who are actually interested in your product or service. Next, you want to ask yourself the following questions:

• Have I developed a target market profile to help me truly understand my customer and what he or she is looking for?
• Do my prospects know exactly what they’ll be getting for the money they’ll be investing in my product or service?
• Have I explained, in plain English (no technical terms here!) exactly how my product or service is going to help my prospect?
• Have I addressed my prospect’s objections in my sales materials?
• Have I created an irresistible offer that includes a no-lose guarantee?

Once you answer these questions and address these issues, you should be well on your way to being able to present your value in terms that your prospect will appreciate.

These Marketing Principles Will Work For You

As legendary marketer Dan Kennedy always says, the five most dangerous words to small business success are, “But my business is different.” If you’re thinking that these small business marketing principles won’t work for you or your business, I urge you to give them a try. I guarantee you will boost your business and increase your bottom line.

Karen Scharf is a small business marketing consultant who helps business owners attract and retain more clients. Karen coaches and trains website owners on various tricks and techniques that have been proven to increase website conversion. She offers several whitepapers, reports and checklists, including her FREE 4 Simplest Tactics for Increasing Your Customer Base and Growing Your Bottom Line. Download yours at http://www.ModernImage.com

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Economic Scene

Cash for Caulkers… Government Spends $2 million to Caulk 7 Homes

WASHINGTON

The one highly visible success of the stimulus program has been the cash-for-clunkers program. It induced a boom in vehicle sales this summer that clearly would not have happened otherwise.

The rest of the stimulus has created a lot of jobs — 700,000 to 1.5 million, according to economists’ estimates. But it has done so in thousands of little ways: scattered construction projects, plugged-up school budgets and the like. Politically, these measures are not popular enough to create a groundswell for more of them.

And the economy still needs help. So White House officials are looking at creating a new version of cash for clunkers — this time for home weatherization.

John Doerr, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, and former President Bill Clinton have separately suggested versions of the idea to the White House. Mr. Doerr calls his proposal, which would give households money to pay for weatherization projects, “cash for caulkers.” Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s chief of staff, told me, “It’s one of the top things he’s looking at.”

The idea has a lot to recommend it. The housing bust has idled contractors and construction workers, who could be put to work insulating homes and caulking air leaks. Many households, meanwhile, would save substantial money — not to mention help the climate — by weatherizing their homes, research by McKinsey & Company has shown. All in all, a cash-for-caulkers program seems like a promising part of the jobs program for 2010 that Mr. Obama has suggested he is planning.

But I would also mention one point of caution: the details of any caulkers plan will matter enormously. Weatherizing a home, as I recently discovered, turns out to be a lot more complicated than buying a car.

This year, my wife and I had an energy audit done on our home. We were interested in finding out if we could save money and, given the attention that weatherizing was starting to get, I figured it could also make for good column fodder. For $400, an auditor spent hours scouring our house, with the help of a big fan he set up in our front door and an infrared camera. He produced a full-color, 13-page detailed report, informing us of the leaks in our house, and he was also willing to tell us which changes were usually a waste of money (new windows).

Even so, we are still trying to figure out which weatherization projects we should do. The whole package would probably cost $4,500 and save us something like $400 a year. We may not stay in the house nearly long enough to justify the investment.

Such concerns are typical. How do you find an auditor? How do you know whether you should seal a few ducts or pay $2,000 for new insulation? Which of the existing subsidies — state and federal — might you qualify for?

Mr. Doerr and Mr. Clinton are well aware of these problems. Mr. Clinton has sent the White House a memorandum written by his foundation staff that lays out the reasons people don’t weatherize their homes. Mr. Doerr, who sits on a board of outside economic advisers to Mr. Obama that is working on a formal cash-for-caulkers proposal, told me that his goal was to “keep it really simple so we can do it really fast.”

The Doerr plan would cost $23 billion over two years. Most of the money would go for incentive payments, generally $2,000 to $4,000, for weatherization projects. The homeowner would always have to pay at least 50 percent of the project’s total cost. About $3 billion would be set aside for retailers and contractors in the hope that they would promote the program, much as car dealerships promoted cash for clunkers. (Mr. Doerr says he owns no stake in any weatherization companies.)

The Clinton plan depends on the reallocation of clean energy money from the stimulus bill that has not yet been spent. It covers not just houses and apartments but also commercial and industrial buildings.

Perhaps most intriguing is its proposal to help homeowners and building owners who are nervous they will end up selling their property before a weatherization project has paid for itself. Under the Clinton plan, they could add the project’s cost to their long-term property tax bill, effectively splitting the cost with the next owner. The New York State Legislature approved such a program on Monday.

All these efforts would lead to more weatherization. But I would be surprised if they were enough to create a program as successful as cash for clunkers. Remember: Many homeowners could already save money by weatherizing their homes. And they are not doing so.

That’s in large part because the projects can seem so daunting. To date, energy experts, in the government and the private sector, have not done a good job of distributing useful information. What does exist tends to be either too complicated or too general. I recently asked various experts what percentage of homes should get new insulation, for example, and several replied that it varied by region — which is both true and unhelpful.

Imagine, though, if the Energy Department put together a weatherization-for-dummies fact sheet and Mr. Obama began promoting it.

It could start by noting that almost all homes should have a programmable thermostat (about $100) to turn down the heat or the air-conditioning when nobody is home. Other simple steps can include wrapping a water heater with an insulation blanket and replacing heating and cooling filters. Next on the list would be sealing easily accessible holes in air ducts, which can cost just a few hundred dollars and pay for itself in a few years. In California, the average duct system loses 30 percent of its heating or cooling to leaks.

Finally would come the more complicated categories, including insulation and heating equipment. Yet some basic information could still help enormously here. What share, say, of Midwestern homes built before 1950 could use more attic insulation? How quickly would the insulation pay for itself on average? Every home is different, obviously. But without any reference point, many people won’t be confident enough to plunge into a project.

The shining example that Mr. Clinton cites is a Houston program in which the local government pays about $1,000 to weatherize any home in a given neighborhood. It works in part because the houses need similar improvements, which makes the program easy for residents to understand.

“Unlike traditional programs that provide an audit and a customized package of solutions for each home,” the Clinton memorandum notes, Houston “offers a fixed set of interventions that include climate-appropriate ‘low hanging fruit.’ ”

The bottom line is that cash for caulkers would be trickier than cash for clunkers — yet would have the potential to do far more good. McKinsey, the consulting firm, estimates that households could reduce their energy use by 28 percent over the next decade. In terms of greenhouse gases, that would be the equivalent of taking half of all vehicles in this country off the road.

And unlike many other climate-friendly policies, it would not cost money over the long term. Done right, cash for caulkers would be precisely the kind of stimulus that makes the most sense: spending money now to save money later.

Ultimate Secrets of Total Self Confidence

What do you want to do?
If you were guaranteed success -
what business idea would you choose?

Think and Grow Rich Action Step #1)
Develop Definiteness of Purpose

Success and progress towards achieving your goals in life
begin with knowing where you are going.

Here is the first question you should ask:

How do I come up with My Business Idea?

If you could pick any business idea -
and be guaranteed that it would be a big success -
what idea would you pick?

So you have a business idea.

Maybe it’s something you have done all your life and you want to do more of it.

Maybe you just lost your job and want a new direction.

Maybe you will do anything to make money.

Whatever the motivation, you have to obey the Law of Compensation.

This “Law” is best explained with the following definition
provided by Earl Nightingale,
the pioneer of self development audio recordings:

The amount of money you receive will always be in direct proportion to
1) the demand for what you do,
2) your ability to do it, and
3) the difficulty of replacing you.

So – you want to be be in a business that
1) is in demand
2) a business where you can perform well
3) and a business that enables you to be indispensible -
where it is not easy to get a replacement for you.

So what do you do?

“When your marketing is done well,
your products virtually sell themselves.”

Joe Vitale – author, Internet celebrity and one of the co-stars of the movie “The Secret” was once homeless and broke.

After those dark days he succeeded as a writer and wrote a book titled “Life’s Missing Instruction Manual” where he advises those who are shy about marketing their services:

“Said another way, if you have something that would truly benefit a certain group of people and you don’t tell them, aren’t you doing them a disservice?

Again, marketing is basically sharing your love, your passion, your belief,
When you share it with someone who welcomes it – more often than not it leads to a sale, naturally, easily and effortlessly.”

So – just by being passionate about your product or service – you don’t have to worry about marketing or selling.

Think of who you can help.

Jim Edwards, also once broke and living in a trailer, now an Internet marketer and personal development coach and mentor explains:

“It always comes back to the basics.

People buy things to:

1. Make money
2. Save money
3. Save time
4. Avoid effort
5. Escape physical pain
6. Escape mental pain
7. Be popular / feel loved
8. Have fun

There are other reasons, but those are the biggies.
Sell people things that solve their problems in those 8 areas.”

Where does your business fit in?
Which of these 8 areas can you help?

You might be able to help in all eight, but one is enough.

Susan Ward, About.com proposes there are

7 Sources of Business Ideas

Part 1: How To Discover a Winning Business Idea

1) Examine your own skill set for business ideas.

To find a viable business idea, ask yourself,
“What have I done?
What can I do?
Will people be willing to pay for my products or services?”

2) Keep up with current events and be ready to take advantage of business opportunities.

3) Invent a new product or service.

The key to coming up with business ideas for a new product or service is to identify a market need that’s not being met.

Look around and ask yourself, “How could this situation be improved?”

4) Add value to an existing product.

Focus on what products you might buy and what you might do to them or with them to create a profitable business.

Part 2: Business Ideas Are All Around You

5) Investigate other markets.

6) Improve an existing product or service.

There are very few products (or services) that can’t be improved.

Start generating business ideas by looking at the products and services you use and brainstorming ideas as to how they could be better.

7) Get on the bandwagon.

Sometimes markets surge for no apparent reason; masses of people suddenly “want” something, and the resulting demand can’t be immediately met.

You don’t want to run with the first business idea you think of; you want to discover the idea that’s best suited to your skills and desires.

Dream, think, plan – and you’ll be ready to transform that business idea into the business you’ve always wanted.

There are many ideas to choose from – which is the best fit for you?

Dan Kennedy suggests in
The Ultimate Marketing Plan

Find Your Hook.
Communicate Your Message.
Make Your Mark.

Well, what is “marketing,” anyway?
My basic definition is that it is getting the right message to the
right people via the right media and methods.

Law #1 of The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling

Create High value – What Problems Do You Solve for Your Customers?

Law #1 of The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing -

It is better to be first than it is to be better.

Discover the 7 Steps to Making Money Doing What You Love and Marketing it without Selling On the Internet right from your home town.

If I were a lawyer, I guess I’d have gotten used to lawyer jokes – after hearing the same ones year after year.

As a marketer I hear jokes about “salesmen” and “puffery” and other negative comments – as if marketing were bad or evil.

What is marketing, really?

And let’s say you want to start a business, or more likely get more business doing what you have been doing, perhaps for years, maybe even decades.

What do you know about marketing?

Were you in a business where you “did“– and somebody else “sold” –
like a union shop or something where you – like in an auto dealership -
the workers are separated from the customer by a salesman

Please think about and answer the following questions:

Do you have a business or a craft?
What do you love to do?

What business are you in?
What business do you think you are in?

What do you do well – can you teach it? What niche do you want to get into?

Do you have a plan to get Slightly Famous?
How about Regionally Famous?
How about World Famous?

If you were famous – do you think you would get more business?

Do you think you can run your business right from your own home or apartment or small business location?

Sometimes the hardest part is knowing what you want – here is a 3 part way to help you determine exactly what you want – this is a critical step to actually getting it.

Do you have the self-confidence to accomplish your goals – to achieve your dream?
Don’t be embarrassed if you don’t.

Napoleon Hill has a Self-Confidence formula to enable you to achieve anything you want from life

Have you always dreamed of doing a certain thing, being in a certain business, living a fantasy day?

Who do you admire in a business or job – is there someone you want to be like or do what they do?

After deciding on a business idea – or the general idea – it is time to decide what to call yourself.

HOW do you come up with Your Business Name –
and HOW do you register it so you can use it on the Web

Step #2 – How do you come up with Your Business Name?

Return to 17 Steps to Success