Why should you never compete on price?

1. You may attract clients who only care about the price of your work, not its quality.
2. Clients who only care about price may be less likely to show loyalty to your business and may shop around for an even lower price.
3. On the flip side, clients who shop for value rather than low prices may be more likely to respect your work and show your business loyalty.
4. Undercutting your own prices – in other words, not standing firm on your products’ or services’ worth – shows clients you undervalue your work.
5. As Duct Tape Marketing founder John Jantsch says, “there will always be someone willing to go out of business faster than you.” Competing on price is truly a race to the bottom.

There are many better ways you can compete with your business – such as speed, customer service and quality. You chose your prices because they reflected your expertise and skills. Educate clients on these points – your unique difference in the marketplace – and you will be able to confidently charge what you’re worth.

• Yelp for Small Business at Fortune Marketing Company
• 5 Ways to Get Rockin’ Reviews from the Duct Tape Marketing blog
• Social Media Grows Up – great interview with Twitter co-founder by Inc.

It’s been great to read about new ways to use Yelp and to hear some Twitter marketing advice straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Have a great weekend and happy marketing!

What are the key ingredients of a strong marketing strategy?

1) Understanding of what your business does

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised. Understanding what your business does and its reason for existence (your Marketing Purpose Statement, Talking Logo and Core Message) allows you to market your business confidently in a way that sets it apart from the crowd.

2) An image of an Ideal Client

No, this image doesn’t have to be an actual picture, but you should take some time and write out the characteristics of your business’ Ideal Client. What do they need? Why aren’t they getting it? How can you help? Don’t fall under the illusion that you sell to everyone. Finding your ideal client will allow you to focus your marketing message for the greatest impact, rather than employing a “one size fits all” marketing strategy.

3) Consistent messaging

Once it’s time to create marketing materials like a website and brochure, what will you say? The first two components should have given you an idea of your business’ direction, plans and internal culture. Now, make sure everything you create has consistent messaging. This means that no matter which of your materials a prospective client picks up, they’ll know it’s your company right away. This goes for design too. Be distinctive and cohesive. New design ideas are always exciting, but confusing your prospects is not part of a strong marketing strategy!

All about the Talking Logo

Let’s think about logos for a minute. You see hundreds of them every day. They’re instantly-recognizable, uncomplicated combinations of words and imagery that represent a business or brand. Like a traditional logo, your Talking Logo should identify and represent your business just as quickly and comprehensively.

Talking Logos are also known as “elevator pitches” and you know what these are – descriptions of what you do that are just long enough to dazzle the corporate guru you’re riding the elevator with. Talking Logos should be concise, snappy and interesting. A great Talking Logo will encourage the other person to say, “That’s so interesting; tell me more!”

Examples of bad Talking Logos:

• “I’m an IT guy.”
• “I design mattress and boxspring configurations.”

Examples of good Talking Logos:

• “I save businesses from renegade computer software.”
• “I make sure every person in town has a good night’s sleep.”

See how the second ones are more intriguing than the first? Get creative – what can you say about your business that will make people want to know more?

All About the Core Message

Now that you’ve designed your Talking Logo, the Core Message is next. It’s like a slogan for your business. It immediately communicates the benefits of doing business with you. Take a look at slogans of well-known companies and think about how they communicate the benefits of those companies. Most often, they’re catchy. Let’s use the two examples above and create Core Messages for them.

• IT company: “Your IT Superhero”
• Mattress design company: “We won’t rest until you do.”

It’s okay if your Core Message is a little cheesy. The most important thing is that it quickly and effectively communicates what you do, and why it’s great to do business with you.

What many people and news outlets have been asking is: If not for Twitter, would young Tanner Bawn have received a mended wheelchair? Tanner’s aunt says that many phone calls to Air Canada fell on deaf ears, and it wasn’t until hordes of people took to Twitter that the issue was resolved.

What can you learn from the Air Canada debacle?

What happened to Air Canada has two very striking lessons for your marketing strategy.

Firstly, the incident reminds us once again of the power of Twitter and social media. You have probably heard by now that a customer is more likely to tell their friends about a bad experience than a good one. Social media outlets like Twitter are all about instant communication. Tweets about the Air Canada incident happened quickly and they caught the attention of a lot of people. This is a powerful tool that can affect the reputation of any business.

Secondly, the incident reminds us that marketing is about more than getting new clients – it’s about the public face you present to the world. If Air Canada truly did ignore pleas to fix Tanner’s wheelchair, this reflects negatively on their brand and their public image. Part of a strong marketing strategy is a strong brand image. It can be tempting to overlook this component of marketing when fielding sales calls or taking delivery of new business cards, but overlook at your peril – your brand is more than your logo.

Branding is, essentially, a name or design that represents your business in the mind of your current and potential clients. It can also extend to your business’ external culture and way of acting. A good marketing strategy keeps branding on a short leash, making sure all decisions align with the business’ brand.

But what about your personal brand?

If you’ve done branding work in your business, it’s probably been focused on the company. But what about you? What is your own personal brand as the person in charge of that company? If this is the first time you’ve thought of it, you’re not alone. Even though strong personal brands can co-exist with strong corporate brands (Think Steve Jobs and Apple, or Richard Branson and Virgin), many people ignore personal branding when crafting their marketing strategy.

Today in the world of Twitter, we came across a link to a great article about personal branding in Rohit Bhargava’s Influential Marketing Blog. The blog post is titled, “Why Personal Branding is so Misunderstood.” Here’s an excerpt:

Is personal branding becoming a catchphrase to describe those who are using social media as a drip pan for their overflowing egos or is it just misunderstood? As someone who has spent considerable time building a personal brand while working at a large company, this is a question I have struggled with before and I believe it comes through to three main assumptions.

He then goes on to examine three fictions and three truths around personal branding. Go check it out, whether you’ve considered your own personal branding or not.

Have you incorporated personal branding into your business’ marketing strategy? What are your thoughts?

From the post:

Besides just having a very powerful message (which can’t be overlooked) it was a fantastic combination of both creative offline and online marketing. Not only did UNICEF come up with a easy-to-understand story, they made their story so shareable on the Web.

It’s becoming more and more clear that online marketing and is growing in importance and popularity. Look to the two campaigns in Flyte’s blog post to get some ideas on how you can integrate offline marketing with online marketing – this will give you more chances to get your marketing message out to the right audience!

Here are some telltale signs that you may be in need of outside marketing help:

• You have no marketing strategy and have no idea how to create one.
• You don’t have time to implement and track a marketing strategy.
• You don’t have the staff to dedicate themselves to marketing.
• Marketing mystifies you and you want someone who knows it well.
• You’ve been sending out marketing collateral but getting no leads.
• You’re fresh out of marketing ideas and want a new perspective.

There’s no shame in asking for marketing help. Marketing experts make a point of understanding marketing strategies that will work best for you and your business. Sometimes it can make all the difference!

How-to posts

Talk about a perfect way to show your expertise! Think of something your business does well or a need it fulfills and write about how people can do it. Kind of like this post, if you think about it. If you want to talk about something fairly complicated, like how to knit a fair isle sweater, break it up into a series to keep your readers’ attention.

List posts

We all love lists, especially when we’re searching for something. A list post is a quick and simple outline of resources or facts for a particular topic, with explanation if needed. For example, a dog training business might make a post listing their favourite local shelters or training resources. Be sure to include links if necessary. And don’t be afraid to promote other businesses who may be in the general area of competition – in the example above, posting links to dog training resources will show that the trainers upgrade their own knowledge and can identify good training when they see it.

Link posts

Similar to a list post, a link post is a great way to show your readers what you’ve been reading. Why do this, you ask? These kinds of posts help build community with other industry bloggers (whether local or across the world) and share resources with your readers. While you may be “allowing” readers to gain information elsewhere, you’re the jumping-off point for this knowledge.

Response posts

Many of those who blog read and comment on other blogs. This is a great way to be part of a community, network and get your blog noticed. However, responding to a blog post on your own blog is another easy post idea. This again demonstrates your industry expertise while allowing your own readers to be part of the discussion. There are two good-faith rules to follow with response posts, however: 1) Link to the post you’re responding to and let that blogger know you wrote it; and 2) Play nice. Your clients want to see a reasoned, educated opinion, not snarkiness and catfighting.

If you have any other quick and easy blog post ideas for small businesses, let us know in the comments! Happy blogging!

• The Referral Engine Free Online Seminar at the Duct Tape Marketing Blog
• Shannon Bowen-Kelsick’s review of the latest Third Tuesday social media marketing event
• Refresh your memory on Inc’s 30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business
• What is Canada’s Brand? at the Globe & Mail

Happy long weekend!