Referrals – The Key to Growing Business in a Small(ish) Town

Helping Canberra small businesses to Get Smarter Marketing

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Jean Mc talks about the importance of supplementing advertising with other marketing tactics and how a referral plan can help you grow your business.

I’ve had a few chats this week with clients about advertising.  The comments are always the same:  “I’m spending megabucks on advertising and I hardly get any work from it!”

I’m with them in some ways.  In my view the advertising industry is all about money, money, money and getting as much of yours as possible.  Yes it’s very expensive generally and the return on investment is sometimes difficult to identify but advertising does have its merits.

The key to valuing advertising is not in how much direct business it generates – it won’t usually generate much – it’s in the brand recognition it creates.  Advertising is about getting your target market (the media’s audience) to distinguish your business and understand the value of what you offer them.  That way, when they recognise a need for themselves they are more likely to contact your business over your competitors.

Still, there’s a lot that has to happen between the ad and you getting the business.  That’s why you need to have other marketing tactics working at the same time to make that process much easier.

A Referral Plan

One of those other tactics is a plan to generate referrals for your business.

You can bet that 8 out of 10 customers who are asked how they heard about a business will say “a friend told me” or something like that.  In a place like Canberra we truly do have only two degrees of separation.  The trick in business is to get those working for you.

What Goes in a Referral Plan?

Well, like all good plans you need to start with some goals.

1. Think about how much you want to grow your business by this method, work out what percentage of referrals will lead to business (the effectiveness of your plan will increase this number) and how many referrals you’ll need to get per month and year to achieve this.
2. Then do a SWAT to identify what you need to take advantage of, and what you need to fix in order to maximise your likelihood of success.  The results of this become part of your tactics.
3. Given this, work out what resources (people, money and time) you are prepared to put into achieving the goals and any changes you’ll need to make to have those resources available (eg: training, budget, schedule).

You are now ready to put together your referral plan tactics.

Some Referral Tactics

You know your business best and should be able to come up with some novel ideas to get referrals.  Here are a few tried and tested ideas:

• Revamp your customer service offering – nothing brings people (and their friends) back like getting the service they desire.
• Develop a relationship with others who serve that market – there are other businesses out there that want to be able to deliver a value-added service to their customers.  Get to know them and offer special packages for their customers if they refer them.  It’s important though to keep these relationships going to achieve a good stream of referrals.
• Diversify your service – think of other things related to the services you currently offer that you can offer to your existing customers.  Checkups, end of warranty service, reviews, training etc.
• Referral cards – give out a card to existing customers to pass on to friends and colleagues.  You might consider offering them a discount or a reward for successful referrals.
• Reminders – at every opportunity – every communication with your clients, don’t forget to ask them to refer friends or colleagues to your business if they were satisfied.  It usually takes 3 contacts at least to get people to take the action you want.
• Post service survey – give new customers a survey aimed at improving your service.  Ask if they are likely to refer your business.  You may even consider asking them to provide the name and contact details of someone they’d like to refer.
• Do a contest – Run a “Why I need and deserve….” contest with your customers and recommend they pass it on to people who might be interested.  Collect contact details of potential customers and follow them up quickly. You can select and publicise the answer which best reflects your key messages.

There are loads of other ways you can generate referrals.  It’s just a matter of doing a plan and thinking a bit laterally about how to achieve your goals.

I’d love to hear about other tactics your business has used to generate referrals.

Jean Mc

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Even more branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can find the latest from the Luxgraphicus website.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on website management

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Make sure your website looks like all your other marketing material (follow your brand rules).
3. Make regular updates to your site. (clients and search engines like this)
4. Check your statistics and title tags. (some easy SEO here. That’s Search Engine Optimisation!)
5. Use a local (Australian) and reliable host.
6. Learn how to use the sites CMS. (Content Management System)
7. Use your key marketing messages to direct your visitors to where you want them to go.

7 tips on taming your designer (or getting the most from your designer)

1. Brief your design professional on your audience and messages.
2. Let them offer options and ask them why these options will work.
3. Provide real deadlines. (not just asap, or before lunch!)
4. Provide feedback and amendments promptly. (so they still remember the job. It may even still be up on their screen!)
5. Define the scope of your task in the briefing. (this will allow for costs to be estimated up-front)
6. Provide feedback based on the original briefing scope and direction.
7. Don’t rely on them to spell correctly! (proof read carefully)

5 tips on electronic publishing

1. Save on print costs with on-demand printing from PDF.
2. Apply your brand to everything inc. emails, blogs, PDF downloads, etc…
3. Make your reports available as PDF downloads from your website.
4. Send your brochures or fliers to clients as PDF’s by email.
5. Ask your design professional to make them interactive too!

 

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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Still more branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can find the latest from the Luxgraphicus website.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

10 tips on re-newing your brand for growth

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Research your audience.
3. Ask, why re-brand?
4. Brief your design professional on your messages and audience.
5. Consider a wide range of options.
6. Let go of previous solutions.
7. Package your “stuff” (visual collateral) to keep costs under control.
8. Use the change to promote your business more, or differently.
9. Plan to phase out ALL old material.
10. Ask your design professional for a set of rules for application to ALL your “stuff” (visual collateral).
11. Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

(oops, that’s eleven!)

5 tips on email marketing management

1. Keep your emails short and fun.
2. Allow unsubscribes.
3. Make your emails look like all your other marketing material (follow your brand rules)
4. Use HTML emails (they look better and nearly everyone can see them).
5. Track opens and click throughs on links.
6. Build your database with online subscription web forms.

(still having trouble counting!)

 

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

Read Full Post »

More branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re still disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can also follow these tips regularly on the Luxgraphicus blog.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on design for start-up businesses

If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
Research your audience.
Brief your design professional on your messages and audience.
Get your brand design done before your website, business card and brochure.
Plan ALL your requirements, then get some done now.
Get the others done later by the same designer.
Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

10 tips on re-freshing your brand

If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
Keep all your “stuff” (visual collateral) consistent.
Look to “modernise” your logo (keep it’s shape and intent, change its feel and appeal)
Add some new graphics and text treatments
Compliment your standard colour palette with a few new ones.
Choose a small set of iconic images for your marketing and promotion
Change the format (shape & size) of some material.
Change the delivery method of some material.
Use a quality paper stock for your key material.
Ask your design professional for an ongoing review of your branding.

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

Read Full Post »

Branding and design – get your tips here…

We’re disseminating some of our knowledge to prospective and current clients through email campaigns at the moment. Those on our lists will be getting regular emails with tips on design and branding issues pertinent to small and medium business.

You can also follow these tips regularly on the Luxgraphicus blog.

So that Canberra Small Business Blog readers don’t miss out, I’ll be posting bundled sets of tips here in my regular spot.

Please make comment or feedback on anything you find interesting, confusing, in need of more detail or otherwise worthy of comment. I look forward to developing a dialogue over the coming weeks and months.

7 tips on why branding?

1. Your client’s perception of your business is based on how they see you.
2. They “see” you at every contact point with your business.
3. This impression is created in a second.
4. Their perception is often unconscious.
5. This perception is often not a considered decision.
6. To your client, their perception IS reality.
7. When this perception is positive, potential sales become clients, and clients become advocates.

Why are the best businesses watching their branding?

5 tips on branding your business

1. If design is not your profession, hire a professional.
2. Review your brand and it’s purpose regularly (every 6 months).
3. Apply brand rules across ALL aspects of your business.
4. Apply brand rules ALL the time.
5. Be consistent and stick to a single solution.

5 tips on managing your brand

1. Review your brand regularly (every 6 months).
2. Follow a checklist to make sure everything is considered.
3. Create a system of rules.
4. Make sure everyone follows the rules.
5. Keep all your “stuff” (visual collateral) safe and retrievable.

See you next time, and remember, the best businesses are watching their branding!

Brian Miller
Creative Director
Luxgraphicus Design Agency

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How Afraid Should You Be of COMPETITION?

By Jean McIntyre (Marketing Angels)

Is competition something to be feared, ignored or confronted full on.  Jean Mc talks about the nature of business competition and ways that marketers can help businesses deal with this inevitable consequence of success.

I was reading in the Canberra Times on 28th February about the demise of Brand Depot and DFO. Both it seems are in danger of closing and certainly both have seen a mass closedown of tennant stores.  They put it down to both the GFC and development and upgrading of other shopping centres in the region.

Wikipedia defines competiton in economics as: ” the notion of individuals and firms striving for a greater share of a market to sell or buy goods and services.” Surely with words like “individuals”, “striving” and “share” this can only be considered a good thing.

Certainly Wikipedia goes on to say that economist consider competition to be a healthy thing (as did my economics lecturer at UC) because it promotes “consumer soverienty”.  This means that the greater the competition – the more choice and control that consumers have.

Competition is a good thing – really!

It usually means that prices come down which (in a narrow way of thinking) is less good for businesses than it is for consumers.  The good thing for businesses about competition is that it tends to keep us focused on our brand and continually innovating new products and ways of promoting them to keep our place at the top of the market.

In short – when the customer is king then it makes sense for businesses to think about newer and better ways to meet their needs.  That folks is the essence of marketing.

Dealing With Competition

I talk about competition a lot when I go around the Capital Region talking about marketing.  It’s not that easy to understand.

In some ways, your business is in competition with my business and every other business that people might spend money in.  If we agree that consumers (business, Government or household) have a limited amount of money in their pockets to spend – and even less discretionary money to spend – then in this way each business competes with every other for this money.

Plumbers compete with gymnasiums, with supermarkets, with financial planners and with charities for all the money that households have to spend.  This is probably how accountants see it.

How to Have No Competitors

Marketers see it a different way.  Marketers start with fully understanding the needs of the target market (through research) and how your business could best meet them.

A marketing savvy business works out how their unique resources (skills, knowledge, people, technology, experience etc) can be packaged together to meet the needs of the target market in a way that no other business can match.  Promotion of the business then becomes about building a desire in the market to have their needs met in this way.

An example

Mary has a shoe store.  She conducts some research about how her market feels about shoe shopping.  She discovers that her potential customers look forward to shoe shopping as a way to relax and make them feel special.  With a bit more research, staff input and some customer feedback – she develops a ‘Valet Shoe Fitting Experience’ where customers can come and relax, mingle, drink and eat and have a customer care specialist give them individual attention.

Mary found that women in her market were prepared to pay a premium price to have their special needs met in this way.

You might say “but not every woman would find that appealing”.  That is the whole point.  Mary has specifically targeted a small section of women with specific tastes and values and put all her resources into serving them better than every other shoe store.  Of course she did sufficient research to identify whether there were enough women fitting in to this niche group to be able to support her business.

In this way – having created a need for this valet service among her market – Mary  has removed all the other shoe stores from her competition.  She simply has no competitors in this market.

Research is the Key to Removing Competition

If you would like to be like Mary and remove the competition then the place to start is with research.  You need to research these things:

1. Characteristics of your target market (size, income, location, age, spending habits etc)
2. Values of your target market (what’s important to them, what do they put a premium on?)
3. What they need (needs and desires – fears they want to allay)
4. Where are the gaps in the market?  (Who is meeting these needs and who is not – how are they positioning themselves?)

Once you have a good understanding on what the market needs you can then start to develop products (goods and services) that meet their needs better than other businesses and start to eliminate your competition.

Marketing Angels can Help with Research

If you need help to understand what makes your target market tick – contact Marketing Angels for expert help on marketing research.

I’d be interested to hear about your experiences with competition and how you have managed it successfully.

Jean Mc

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Who needs a designer?

Brian Miller – Creative Director, Luxgraphicus Design Agency

How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

Last week I was asked  – “what would a business person be saying that would indicate that they might need a new business identity or re-branding?”

Chances are that those most in need of new or re-branded identities wouldn’t be saying anything about it at all! Those who would interest a designer as a potential client however might be talking about their marketing plan, or plans they have for growing their business, or entering  a new market. They would be giving off clues that they were proactively taking their business on a path towards success.

Have you had a light bulb moment lately?

I answered a research survey from a personal development coach today. By completing the survey and returning it I identified myself as their target audience. I was clearly ready to begin to accept the help of a coach in my development. All people would benefit from these services but it is vital that they, themselves see that they need and are ready for this help. Like the light bulb which can be changed by the single psychiatrist, so long as it wants to change, I was accepting that I too was ready to be helped. The questionaire survey raised several issues which swayed me in the direction of the coaching help, but just by taking the time and effort to start the survey rather than dump it in the bin, was evidence enough that I was ready to take the first steps with the coach. We could all do well by working with a development coach, but we have to want to. In fact it is often those who most need the help that are most unready to accept that help.

Similarly, all business could do well by working with a designer on the audit and review of their existing visual identity. Ongoing management of its application and access to its components for operational and marketing activities will ensure a consistent message delivery. This involvement can also identify areas for improvement and potential need to re-brand or re-fresh the existing branding details.

Those businesses in most need of this service will probably not place any value on it. They will dismiss the effort and resources required as unnecessary or wasteful. They are not ready for the change. They are not the audience of the designer. The designers audience are managing their business towards success. They have plans and they are carrying out those plans. A marketing plan will be key amongst those plans and the delivery of its messages will rely on visual design.

The business person may not know they have need for new design, but they will accept that doing an audit of their visual material is a worthwhile process, and one which could help them on their path towards success. Like the coach’s questionaire, accepting that doing the audit is not a waste of time is the first step in working with a designer to drive the success of the business.

It only takes one good designer to create a fabulous business identity, but the business has to want a fabulous identity!

Brian.

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Shiny Things!

Brian Miller, Creative Director, Luxgraphicus Design Agency

I realised today, probably belatedly, that I like making shiny things.

If something isn’t shiny, then I like to make it shiny. It doesn’t need to be shiny, it just can be shiny.

Recently I polished the floorboards in our lounge room after ripping up the awful old carpet. I really enjoyed the process. The filling of holes and cracks, the sanding, the numerous coats of varnish with more sanding between each.

It’s now shiny! It looks great. People like to come into the room and walk on the floor. It adds amenity to the space and value too. The floor isn’t a better floor now. I haven’t made it stronger, or more useful as a floor. But people perceive it’s value as greater.

Why? Because it’s shiny!

I’ve also just made some wooden boxes to hold camping gear. (holiday activities you might notice) I’m very keen to add some more unnecessary coats of varnish to these too. It is sure to give them added value, plus I like sanding and varnishing, and looking at shiny things.

Shiny floor!

Making things look and feel shiny, or more polished, or professional, or targeted, or appropriate, or even just easier to read, gives the underlying material more value. Our old lounge room floor was just as good a floor before its makeover. It stopped us falling through to the dirt underneath. We could walk on it, put our chairs and TV on it, but it wasn’t as valuable. We didn’t enjoy walking on it. We didn’t want to show it to our friends. Others didn’t comment on how good it looked, wished they had one just like it, or contemplate doing the same themselves.

Designers like to make things shiny. The basic content, the marketing messages, the delivery method, they may all be created by others and be just as strong, but when a designer polishes them into a beautiful shiny thing, people want to look at it, they want to have one too and they want to show it to others.

Make your stuff shiny too and others will want one just like it.

I’m off to put the next coat of varnish on my wooden camping boxes.

Brian.

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Putting a price on intellectual property of design?

Brian Miller, Creative Director, Luxgraphicus Design Agency

How would you pay for the intellectual property of your business?

Specifically, the visual material which forms a vital part of the intellectual collateral associated with your business.

I’m not going to tell you the best way, or the cheapest way, or even my opinion here. I’m going to pose the question and provide some alternatives, then let you decide, or at least think about, the answers. Of course, if you’d like to discuss your ideas I’d love you to contribute to the blog here with comments and questions.

As designers, we’re creating intellectual property. But who owns it? Our clients commission us to do it. They pay us. (usually!) It’s created to be used in the operation of the business. But on what basis is it sold to the business? Does the initial fee cover the ownership of the intellectual property? Who owns copyright? Who has license to use the material?

Most of these are legal issues of course, which is not my area of speciality, although I do have some knowledge of copyright law and its application. I’m not going to dive into the deep waters of the legalities here!

But, as the owner of a design business, I am interested in how other business owners would be prepared to pay for the material created.

Recently I’ve been working on several approaches to licensing and payment for branding and identity projects. How would you be prepared to pay for the intellectual property which is so important to your business?

Here are some options;

Pay an upfront fee for the design work, and a license to use the work for the intended purpose. (later negotiation required for use beyond the original scope)

Pay a lesser upfront fee for the design work, with an ongoing (monthly or quarterly) fee for the license to use the work. (with outright transfer of the copyright after a negotiated period)

Pay a lesser upfront fee for the design work, with an ongoing premium on subsequent use of the work in designed and/or printed material. (with outright transfer of the copyright after a negotiated value of work completed)

Pay a greater upfront fee for the design work and full copyright ownership of the work. (no further negotiation required)

All have their strengths and weaknesses. There are, no doubt, alternatives too. As well as analogies from other industries.

As the owner of a design business I have my own preferred options, and as an innovator and entrepreneur, I can offer business owners added value through additional services within the licensing options, but which would the market support? (I’ll fill you in on the added value bits in subsequent posts!)

So which would you, as a small business owner or operator, be prepared to accept, to secure the intellectual property of your business?

Over to you…

Brian.

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Is it marketing, or advertising, or branding, or design?

Brian Miller, Creative Director, Luxgraphicus Design Agency

Recently in discussions with business colleagues and clients, an issue of semantics and definition has arisen.

Those involved may not have realised they were entering into such murky waters. The concepts may well be crystal clear in their own minds, but the fact that all were obviously thinking of similar things and calling them different names, or thinking of different things and calling them the same name, raises the issue of definition.

Most business people know the value and importance of marketing. There will, however, be heated discussions as to the value of advertising and branding. And thrown in amongst it all will be talk of design.

When I talk of branding, I’m usually referring to the visual form of the branding – I’m a graphic designer so that’s what I know. But I’m not talking about branding as a strategy or component of a broader strategy.

In marketing terms there are normally three avenues of approach. Advertising, Referrals and Public Relations. Each has it’s own sub categories and associated tactics. A branding strategy will generally sit above all three and create the character and feeling for the different approaches.

So where does design fit in?

Lets start with what it isn’t. It isn’t another sub-category of marketing. It isn’t a sub-category of advertising. It isn’t even a sub-category of branding.

Design is the component that gives a physical form to all the ideas.

All the ideas that are marketing, advertising, public relations, and branding. Design even gives form to referral marketing, where it is required to be more than just spoken words.

Wherever a marketing strategy is meeting with its final audience, design has to give it a form. That may be a press ad, poster or direct mail piece in an advertising campaign. It may be logos and iconic imagery in a branding campaign. It may be this identity applied to written materials or trade show appearances in PR activities. Marketing support from printed collateral or websites need a physical, or electronic form to be available to their audience. All these are created by the designer.

Chronologically, design fits in after the marketing ideas and strategy have been formulated and prescribed. Your designer may help and advise on these matters sometimes, adding subtleties and refinement to the strategy, but their role is not the creation of the ideas initially. This is the role of the business owner and their marketing experts, whether in house or outsourced consultants.

Design is a separate and essential component of the overall business strategy. Not done instead of advertising or branding, and not excluded because referrals or PR have taken its place. Design is crucial for all, or any, of these components to work effectively.

Clearly, design needs these ideas in order to give them a form, and would just be pretty pictures without them. But without design, these ideas will remain just that. Wonderful ideas in the minds of their creators, with no audience to benefit from them, or to ultimately buy from your business.

Want to give some form to your great marketing ideas?

Think design.

Brian.

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