Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
business builder marketing
As the famous “Cheers” theme song goes: You want to go where everybody knows your name. It’s true. We like familiarity. Yet nearly every growing organization will experience an awareness crisis during its lifetime. If you’ve ever heard a frustrated sales rep return from a new-business pitch screaming, “Nobody knows who we are!” you know exactly what I’m talking about.
As you explore vertical markets, expand into new geographies and reach higher-level executives, your success teeters on one thing: credibility. And your first big test in the eyes of potential customers is, “Have I heard of these guys?” If the answer is yes, congratulations, you can move to the next level. If it’s no, then don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
So how do you make sure the room shouts, “Norm!” with every new-business call? Follow these three “Cheers” Principles of Marketing.
Principle No. 1: Discover — or rediscover — your customers.
Lilith: I’d like you to be maid of honor at my wedding
Rebecca: Shouldn’t that be your best friend?
Lilith: You are my best friend. What’s your name?
Been in business for decades? It doesn’t matter: You can never assume you know your audience, or that they know you. If you’re faced with marketplace-awareness issues, you need to find out precisely why.
Is it because you’re targeting health-care clients when in the past you’ve only worked with financial-services professionals? Is it because you haven’t communicated to your existing customers in such a long time, they now question your commitment to them? Or is it because your chief competitor (think “Gary’s Old Town Tavern”) has added six new plasma-screen TVs while you still fire up the old Magnavoxes?
The best tool for learning “what’s happening out there” is a customer audit. Every year, you discover (through a third-party survey) what people in your target industries need and how your organization can better provide it.
What keeps your customers up at night? What are their concerns for the next one-to-five years? How are they changing? What is your reputation in their industry? What’s your primary strength? Your biggest liability?
An audit not only gives you a scientific reading of the collective customer psyche; it also offers an accurate benchmark from which to gauge your marketing efforts’ effectiveness now and for the foreseeable future.
Principle No. 2: Forget what you’ve done in the past.
Carla: What are you all sitting around here like a bunch of wimps for?
Norm: It’s what wimps do.
One of the biggest barriers to improved marketing is simple inertia. You’ve always relied on word-of-mouth marketing, why change now? You’ve always spent $100,000 on public relations, why raise it? You’ve always positioned yourself as the low-cost provider, why alter the way you compete?
If nobody knows who you are, you don’t need any other reason to change. Glean the trends from your customer audit. They’re worth their weight in gold. If your target customers prefer face-to-face communication, consider scrapping the e-newsletter and sponsoring a golf tournament instead. If you discover that the manager you’ve been courting relies on his CIO’s advice to make purchasing decisions, start marketing to the CIO.
Principle No. 3: Execute a plan, not tactics.
[The Thanksgiving dinner grows cold as everybody waits for the turkey to cook…]
Norm: I think there’s something wrong with your oven, Carla…
Carla: My oven was fine until you stuffed Birdzilla into it!
An awareness campaign — like a good meal — takes planning and execution. A single turkey leg, an ounce of gravy, a spoonful of stuffing…the pieces are meaningless unless they’re delivered as a cohesive, integrated entity.
Every company’s needs are different, but an effective awareness plan will usually comprise various proportions of the same four elements: research (customer and competitive), public relations (media placements, speaking opportunities, events), collateral marketing (brochures, corporate I.D. materials, direct mail) and interactive components (CDs, DVDs, Web- and e-mail-based tools).
One of the biggest mistakes companies make is assuming that one ad, one news release or one trade-show appearance will make the cash register ring. (If it were that easy, Microsoft could have saved a billion dollars launching Windows 95 a decade ago.)
The bottom line is this: You must serve marketing elements in the right proportion, at the right time and for as long as necessary. (Hey, Norm didn’t become a Cheers icon after sidling up to the bar only once.) If you have that magic formula working for you, you’ll achieve real awareness in the marketplace — and see results that move sales.
Final scene: Getting them to shout ‘Norm.’
Sam: You know what, Woody? You just gave me something to think about.
Woody: I’m sorry, Sam. I hate it when someone does that to me.
There’s nothing more frustrating than working until your brain grows numb, developing the absolute best in the industry and then losing a bid because a competitor is more recognizable.
But there is a solution. Launch a complete awareness process that is designed for long-term success.
What will be your reward? The next time your company makes new-business calls, you’ll actually hear, “Yeah, I’ve heard of you guys” instead of “Who are you again?” Or maybe they’ll just shout, “Norm!”
[contact] Ann Garrity founded The Garrity Group Inc. in 1994. Based in St. Paul, the firm specializes in marketing and public relations for technology companies: 651.292.8900; ag******@*************up.com; www.thegarritygroup.com
