Marketing consultants can be important to the success of small businesses. They offer an unbiased, fresh perspective on your business, growth opportunities, and preferred target customers. The right marketing consultant can identify, develop and implement strategies that can successfully grow your business by:

• Increasing market presence in your current market through new approaches.
• Introducing your business into new, profitable market sectors.
• Improving marketing effectiveness and increase return on your marketing investment

 
Selecting and building a relationship with the right marketing consultant is a key step to achieving success for your business.
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• At this point, you might be wondering, “What can I realistically expect from a skilled marketing consultant?” An effective consultant takes the time and works with you to understand the unique nuances of your business. They can create a detailed marketing plan, facilitate the creation of branding/messaging, and identify the appropriate marketing mix to effectively get the message out to potential customers. They can also partner with you to implement the plan, making any needed adjustments as it is rolled out. Finally, they monitor, measure and adjust your marketing strategy as the business grows and prospers.

 
Before hiring a marketing consultant, it is a good idea to review your business goals -- both short and longer term.
In addition, clarify what kind of relationship and personality you are looking for in partnering with your consultant. If you do this, it will make it much easier to identify the consultant with the competencies, experience and communication style that most closely matches your needs.
 
Six questions to ask when choosing your Marketing Consultant:
 
1)Tell me about your expertise -- what is your background? 
This may seem obvious, but there are many self-proclaimed “marketing gurus” out there, so beware. A solid education in Business is a must and an MBA / Masters in Marketing a big plus. Marketing affects other areas of the business and the consultant should be able to grasp the whole picture before recommending marketing plans.
 
Marketing consultants develop different skills and specialties throughout their careers. Look for a consultant with a skills profile that matches your requirements. For example, if you need to develop a strategy for growth, ask about the consultant’s strategic capabilities. If your target market is local, you’ll want the consultant to understand the opportunities in the area.

2)Have you worked with small businesses?
Experience owning and/or working with small business is a BIG plus. Small businesses have many unique challenges larger established companies do not. Understanding those challenges takes “time in the trenches” to fully appreciate. Just as important, your marketing consultant must be able to demonstrate experience and success in solving the types of challenges your company faces.
 
3) What tools or processes do you use in your work? 
Consultants often use business models and other tools. Understanding their approach to gathering information and working through a project may help you determine if it’s appropriate for your situation. It will also show you if the consultant follows a process, versus falling back on "canned" solutions that worked for one firm but may not work for yours.
 
4) Am I comfortable working with this person?
The working relationship between you, your key partners/employees and the marketing consultant is extremely important. Your consultant’s communication style, personal branding/business values and level of commitment should be compatible with yours and your company’s. Do they use words implying themselves as telling and selling or partnering, creating and facilitating? Assess if they are a “hands-on” partner during implementation or more consultative. These are extremely critical expectations that you and your consultant need to understand and agree upon before the relationship begins.
 
5) Does the consultant have time for me?  
Understanding the consultant’s resources/network and client load is a consideration for you. How many clients do they have? Do they have specialists they can call on when needed? Having many clients often sounds good but is not necessarily better for small business owners.  A consultant that is a dedicated partner to a few clients can spend more time understanding and focusing on your business and is always there quickly when needed.
 
6) Can I talk with references? 
Last but not least, ask for references and call them. Check out their LinkedIn profile for recommendations. These references can give you insight into the consultant’s capabilities, working style and character.
 
Choosing the right marketing consultant for you and your business can be one of the most critical and rewarding decisions you make. Asking the questions outlined above while talking with potential marketing consultants will help to ensure a productive successful partnership.

Thanks for reading!  If you have questions on working with a marketing consultant, please contact us! 

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Question 1  -- Do you need a website? 
Yes.  A website is a recommended investment in the success of your business. 
A well-developed website:

• Helps legitimize your business -- most prospective customers will check websites and reviews before contacting a business. 
• Can function as your online brochure, showcasing the products or services your offer and why they would want to do business with you. 
• Can function as the “hub” of your marketing efforts, helping bring in leads, educating and engaging current and prospective customers.
• Can help clarify your vision for the business. The process of developing the website, especially the home and about pages, will help the business owner clarify their values, target audiences and differentiators.

 
Note: There are a very few small businesses that can survive totally on word of mouth or by having a great location. But for the vast majority of businesses, prospective customers will use the website as a verification that you are a real business.
 
Question 2 – how much should you expect to spend?
The answer depends on your business situation - the type of business, the profile of preferred customers and the marketing strategy to attract them. 

1. Do people typically conduct online searches for your type business? Will you depend on search results to bring in new business?  If so, then expect to spend more for a website and search engine optimization (SEO).
2. What customization do you need?  If your business needs special features, like a secure customer portal, then that will add to the cost. Do you expect to sell products?  Then it will be important to invest in ecommerce features that optimize the buyer experience. 
3. Do you have a vision for exactly how you want it to look, function, and communicate your brand?  To achieve this, a custom website may be the way to go. On the other hand, if you’re a new business or feel a unique design isn’t a high priority, a template-based site might be the answer as it will guide you to fill in certain spaces and pages.  
4. What resources do you have? If you know a good website developer or marketing agency, use them.  If not, ask around business networks and check their references. But there are other options. If you are starting out with a very limited budget or just testing the market, you can experiment with template-based sites like Wix, Weebly and Squarespace. These sites are user friendly and when well thought out, can look very professional.  One drawback is their SEO capability, but they are trying to improve that. In fact, Wix is currently hosting a contest for marketing agencies to try to convince them or their to their improved SEO capability.
5. What is your total marketing budget? A small business working with a web developer or design firm can expect to pay between $2K to $9K for a website (depending on number of pages and complexity) and $5K + for e-commerce capabilities. Be aware, you should not spend all your total budget on your website as you’ll need a combination of marketing tactics to attract visitors and convert them into customers.  For example, If SEO is important to your business, you may want to jumpstart your optimization efforts with Google/Bing Ads. But winning the SEO battle takes a continued and diversified effort so you’ll not want to put all your eggs in the SEO basket, so to speak.

Effectively launching or reinvigorating a business goes beyond creating a website and includes developing a  marketing strategy with more than one way to attract customers. So how much you should spend depends on several factors -- look for options that fit your business goals and budget.
 
Thanks for reading!  For questions on websites or marketing strategies to grow your business, contact us.

'Tis the season to thank your customers!
 
Thanking your customers is a simple but effective gesture to let them know you appreciate them. This can be done in many ways. Here are a few:

1. Write a note –  a thoughtful handwritten note and card can go a long way to show your appreciation. This is especially nice if you have good handwriting as it adds a very personal touch.
2. Give a book – is there a book that has been especially helpful to you?  If your customers are other businesses, a book can also be a gift that helps explain your business values or philosophy. Writing a personalized note inside adds a nice touch.
3. Send a treat – nice items to eat are usually a hit -- but be sure to take into account your customer’s food preferences before you do this.  Are they into losing weight?  Vegetarians?  You get the picture.  
4. Take a customer or client to lunch or coffee – or if they prefer, bring a lunch to your customer’s office.  You can include everyone in the office in your invitation.  Make it casual and fun, and ask about their high points for the year. It's a great opportunity to listen and get to know the customer and their staff and you might even learn other ways you can help them.
5. Try a gift card or “raincheck”– for customers who are too busy to take time out this time of year, send a gift card or schedule for January.
6. Reward your loyal customers  – if you are in retail, you can email VIP specials, include small extras shipped with orders. or surprise them with discounts given at checkout.
7. Make them smile – send a funny card, tell a joke, or share a heartwarming good news story with your thanks.

 
Note: However you choose to appreciate your customers, remember to stay consistent with your brand values. 
For example, if your values include supporting the local community, choose treats from non-profits or gift from locally-owned businesses. In the Triangle area, Life Experiences, Inc offers wonderful brownie and cookie trays for your office or key customers.  For those environmentally minded, the World Wildlife Fund has a array of choices. Or instead of gifts, you could donate to a charity of their choice.
 
Do you have some innovative ways your company appreciates your customers this holiday season? What type of customer appreciation do you value most? 
Or if you know of a non-profit with ideas for customer gifts, please feel free to share the links in the comments. 
 
Thank you for reading!  We appreciate our readers and wish you a wonderful holiday season! 

Are you feeling like you need to step up your marketing efforts?
If that’s the case, here are some ideas to consider. Some may be new, but you may also be reminded of ideas that you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had time to implement.
For quick reference, we’ve organized the ideas by category. Take a look and see if any of these would help build your business! 
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​If you're opening a new practice or want patients to find you more easily, put your practice on the map!  Registering to be found is one of the key building blocks to an effective local marketing strategy.

Start by creating a profile that accurately describes your mission, services, and contact information. 
Then claim your profile at these sites:  
 
1) Google.  When you open a new practice, sign up at Google My Business. This is one of the first actions you should take because listing with Google can literally “put you on the map” (Google Maps) and get your practice hours, phone number and location shown on the map results. Once you're in their system, you can add photos and videos to enhance your information. In addition, Google offers the option to add posts to your listing, noting any specials, new services, or events. You can even feature your latest blog. These posts can help your practice stand out -- and you don’t have to pay for this feature. 
 
2) Bing  Though Google is the dominant search engine, 1 in 5 people use Bing, to complete and verify your profile on this search engine as well.
 
3) Yahoo comes in third for search engine usage.  Now Yahoo has partnered with Yext on their listings and they try to confuse you into paying for the Yext service, but if you look closely and scroll down past the paid  options, you can still obtain a free listing. 
 
4) Yelp – a surprising number of people look at Yelp reviews for healthcare practices and providers.
To claim your listing, first check here to see if your practice is already listed.
Then if your practice is not yet listed, click ‘add your business to Yelp’, enter your information and submit.  
Please note that you will need to confirm the email address you provide to complete your business submission. 
If your practice is already listed,   here's how you can claim it.
 
 5) Patient review and rating sites are also important – Check your profiles at sites like HealthGrades.com, ZocDocs, Vitals.com  and RateMDs.com
 
   
In addition, depending on your practice type and situation, there are other sites and organizations that may be worthwhile to consider. If you are willing to pay a fee, local groups may also offer listing opportunities -- for example, listing with your local Chamber of Commerce is usually worthwhile.
  
Remember to verify and maintain accurate information on search sites. This is important whether you're in a new practice or one that's well established.  
 
Once you are registered, set up a schedule to review your listings on a regular basis to make sure they reflect the current state of your practice. Be sure to reflect changes in practice hours or services and check for new reviews.  Four Tips on maintaining your online reputation.
 
For help with creating or maintaining your online presence, call Broad Reach Marketing for more information.
 
Thanks for reading! 

​7. Ways to promote your event:

• List on Eventbrite
• Email your list, encourage any advocates to share the event
• Know some bloggers or influencers? Contact them and ask if they’ll mention it.
• Use social media, for example:
  • Create a custom hashtag for your event on Twitter; encourage your followers to tweet about it.
  • Create an event on Facebook; encourage your followers to respond to the event. Post in relevant groups.
  • If appropriate, post on Instagram and LinkedIn, especially in relevant groups.
• If the promotion targets a local audience, you can write free posts on Alignable.com, Next Door, and other sites that target the local area
• Don’t forget to promote it personally at events and networking and professional groups you may attend. Hand out flyers; post them in coffee shops and other places where your target audience may gather.
• Check if there are local publications that have event sections. Is your event newsworthy? Send out a press release.

 
​8. Photograph Everything
Pictures can document the success of your event. Get pictures of the full room, event branding, speakers, and attendees enjoying themselves.

9. Have a dry run; then relax if everything doesn’t go exactly as planned
Hold a practice session, especially if you have several speakers and have everything in place before the event so you’ll be able to welcome guests. Create contingency plans. Things ALWAYS change – stay flexible and think of alternatives.
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10. Follow-up Immediately

• Upload your photos once the event is over and actively encourage users to tag themselves.
• Get feedback – send a survey or email asking for comments on what participants enjoyed/benefited from and what they would like to see different next time. Collecting and using feedback engages potential customers and helps ensure your next event is even better!

 
Thanks for reading!
 
Special thanks to Evan Carroll of www.attendedevents.com  and Debra Mathias, www.connect-to-clients.com – I really appreciate their willingness to talk with me and sharing their thoughts and expertise.
 

In a conversation about my last blog post on Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM), a business acquaintance remarked:

“It’s interesting how a big brand or shining new business gets word of mouth to work for them.  But I have a reliable small business.  I don’t want to be famous or go viral, but I’d like to grow my referrals. Can I still use WOMM?”
 
“Sure!” I answer. “One of the things you can do is WOW them with your customer service. And a WOW is the key to having great WOMM! When you give your customers or clients excellent service, they’ll say great things about you, driving referrals and supporting your overall business.”
 
“Great! But how do I make sure my service is excellent?” she asked.
 
 By implementing a customer satisfaction feedback process.
 
1) Measuring customer satisfaction can help you understand what people are currently saying, what they really appreciate and what might be improved.
 
There are several ways to do this:
 
Observation - Be aware of your customers’ body language and expressions as they interact with you and your staff. If your business has multiple locations and / or staff, make it part of your routine to discreetly observe your business operating real-time. You can validate your observations by casually asking customers their impressions of the service and environment.
 
Interviews – Interview a sample of customers by asking a set of questions over the phone or in person. The advantage of this method is that it is more comprehensive than observation. The interviewer can take the time to ask follow up questions and learn more about the why of a particular answer.
 
Social media listening -- Some people are reluctant to give opinions verbally, but feel more uninhibited online.  Also, avoid unwanted surprises by asking questions in your postings.  Finally, “listen” to what people are saying by monitoring your business name and keywords on several social media channels. Some tools that can make this easier include:

• Mention
• Hootsuite, Buffer
• Sprout Social 
• Google Alerts

 
Focus groups – This method is also interactive and gathers feedback from groups via dialogs with follow up questions and exploration of situations.  One of the keys to successful, productive focus groups is having a skilled facilitator to make sure the more talkative participants don’t dominate or sway the group.
 
Surveys – Conducting a survey is the most common method used for measuring customer satisfaction. Surveys have the advantage of scale – if you have many customers, surveys give you the ability to get a large sample size to express their opinion in a short time. This can provide statistically viable observations and metrics, although the process can have  a bias towards people with the time, energy and motivation to complete the survey.
 
All of these methods require a clear vision of what you want to learn. So keep it simple and focused – only ask the questions that will provide useful feedback. For example, don’t ask about your location if you’re not willing to move. 
 
Which brings us to the next step in the process:  
 
2) Analyze the information you’ve gained from your customers - to do this, look into these areas:
         What your business is doing well  --  and should do more of
         Where improvement is needed
         Services/products that are needed that you may not provide
       Net Promoter Score – (for surveys) standard measure of how likely your customer is to refer your business.  How does it compare to your industry and expectations?
 
 3) Build an action plan to address any customer concerns, leverage your positives and this will ultimately improve overall satisfaction.
 
4) Measure your customer satisfaction ratings against your action plan on a periodic basis. This way, you will know if the actions you’ve put into place are having the desired effect. If they are, you’ll see your metrics moving in the right direction.  If they are not, adjustments will need to made.
 
“So it sounds like my business could use this but… won’t it take time, resources and cut into my profits?”  
 
According to Gartner Research, companies that prioritize the customer experience are 60% more profitable than those who don’t. That’s an average, but you could look at your own data – what is the cost to acquire a new customer compared to retaining a current customer?
 
To learn more on this topic and how to implement it painlessly, please contact us or visit here.

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Augmented Reality (AR) is an exciting frontier with great possibilities for incorporation into your Marketing Strategy. 

The first most wide-spread application of this new technology has been recently offered by Niantic and their augmented reality game – Pokemon Go.
I’ve tried it – have you?  I've seen kid and adults all over pursuing the virtual creatures.  It can be a good way to get out, get moving and even play as family activity.  
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​But what does this mean for small business marketing?  
It could be the start of a new trend.  According to Larry Kim, CTO and Founder of  WordStream:
“What this means for marketers is that the next time those adults are asked to interact with an augmented-reality interface on their mobile device, it's no longer a foreign concept to them.  They're growing comfortable with it. They even enjoy it. That's super important, because pushing new marketing technology on consumers before they're ready typically spells instant rejection of the concept.
Virtual and augmented-reality devices are expected to become a $4 billion market by 2018. Pokémon Go just ramped up adoption in a massive way, helping pave the way for businesses that will use this technology in the future to connect with consumers.”

This technology as a new marketing tool could be growing exponentially over the next few years and even months, so now is the time to learn, experiment and analyze how it might or might not fit in with your organization’s marketing efforts. 

If you are a consumer-oriented business that relies on foot traffic, Pokémon Go might be a great way for your business to “Lure” in potential customers. You could take advantage of being close to Pokemon “Stops” and “Gyms” by enhancing your advertising and signage with a Pokemon theme.  
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​7 possible ways to use Pokemon Go in your local marketing campaign: 

1. Play the game -- Give game tips and show your participation
2. Reward players  -- For example, message on your social media channels that customers that have achieved level 5 or over get 10% off their lunch or a coupon good on a return visit.
3. Lure ‘em in - Purchase Lures (within the app), but plan ahead -- they are good for 30 minutes.  Post on social media when the lure is active to attract people when it would be most favorable to your business.
4. Host Gym Battles
5. Offer Charging Stations
6. Advertise which rare pokemon can be found in your area
7. Combine several of the above and ask for social shares. Reward players attracted by your other efforts who share their experience and mention or check in at your location.

But while you’re having fun with Pickachu and friends, keep your branding in mind and develop your messages accordingly. For example, if you were a home security firm, you could focus on safety -- remind Pokemon players to keep their eyes on the road when driving or to not venture into dark areas alone. 

Not for everyone?
But Pokémon Go isn’t an opportunity for everyone.  While a family resturant or new business might enjoy the extra traffic and exposure, business and insitutions that have secured areas or security policies might want to opt out of having any of the virtual creatures on their premises.
For example, hospitals, like the Carolinas HealthCare System, are beginning to see new visitors in unlikely places.  Game players may emulate suspicious behaviors, like walking around randomly taking pictures or looking at ways to enter facilities or get in the way of emergency entrances. 

The Academic Medical Centre (AMC) in Amsterdam voiced their request in a clever way on social media:
"There is indeed a sick Pokémon at AMC, but we'll look after him well. Please don't visit him," the Dutch medical center stated in a Tweet that included a picture of Pokémon character Pikachu surrounded by tissues.

To request removal of a PokéStop from the app, organizations can contact Niantic, the developer, and complete a form.  (Select “submit a request,” in the upper right corner and “report an issue with a Gym or PokéStop” in the menu.)

 
But for the majority of organizations, there are opportunites in the growing area of AR. So jump in to learn, experiment and apply augmented reality opportunities like Pokémon Go, keeping your target market and security in mind.   
For example, if you use Google Drive/gmail, as many smaller businesses do, and register to participate in Pokemon Go, you give Niantic access to your entire Google account.  What we did at Broad Reach Marketing Services is use a separate Gmail account for experimenting with Pokémon Go.  Easy solution, but you must be cognizant of safety implications of signing onto Apps and games with your business addresses.

As augmented reality interface options become available for your marketing efforts, remember they are just another tactic – and as with any tactic, consider how the offering aligns with your customer base, branding and service offerings. 
Have fun while you learn about this exciting new marketing development! 

Thanks for reading, 

​Nancy MacCreery