Marketing With Newsletters, Displays, and Referral Gifts - Truck Wash Business Case Study

Good business marketing doesn't always have to include massive advertising campaigns and big budget items to bring in the customers by the truckload. In fact, there are simple ways to do marketing for small businesses that every owner ought to consider. For this case study, I'd like to use a road less traveled and harness your thoughts using the example of a truck wash company. Indeed, I'd like to discuss ways to market truck washing services at truck stops using;
Newsletters
Cardboard or Plastic Stands
Simple Gifts to Fuel Counter Employees
First, the newsletter concept; putting together a quick newsletter of various issues which have to do with your state, and the trucking industry, or information about the area which is of value to truck drivers is not a difficult task. It doesn't take very long to put together three or four stories of value into such a newsletter and to leave these newsletters at the truck stop with your advertising inside. Perhaps you might leave a link to your website, bar-code style mobile website link, a phone number, your hours, and a little map of how to get there. Meanwhile you can entertain them and they have extra material to read while they are part of the night at the truck stop. This adds lots of self-life to your advertising.
Next, let's talk about setting up small display stands. Having a nice cardboard or plastic stand with flyers, brochures, business cards, or your newsletter makes a lot of sense also. Most truck stops like to have this material available for their customers, and even if they charge you a small fee, it's pretty much worth it.
Finally, you need to think about how you can generate continue referrals from nearby truck stops, perhaps rewarding clerks for mentioning your truck wash. In fact, you'd be surprised how many times truck drivers will ask the people behind the fuel counter at a truck stop where the nearest truck wash is.
Therefore, you should know all of the clerks at all of the truck stops by name, treat them with respect, and do a little extra something for them such as giving them a small gift certificate, or something that they can use. They will remember you, and most truck stops do not pay their clerks behind the counter much more than minimum wage anyway, so anything you get to them they will very much appreciate. This means they will also refer the divers who ask them where a good truck wash is - your truck wash!
Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it, and then sit back and come up with your own ideas and concepts to add to your future marketing strategies.

No BS Grassroots Marketing Inconvenient Truth 5 - You MUST Know Your "Money Math" (Profitable)

"Money Math" is NOT simple or easy. But getting it right is essential to winning as a David against Goliaths, to getting more productivity from every invested dollar.
There many important parts to knowing your money math. Most of them are not fun for most small business owners. All of them contribute to greater profits when you know them and know how to leverage them.
Here's one of the most important:
What's a New Customer Worth to You?
It's strange, but many small business people have no idea what a good regular customer is worth to their businesses. By calculating that, you should gain a better idea of what you're willing to invest or risk to attract a good, regular customer.
It also tells you how important it is to keep your existing customers happy.

The cost of retaining a customer and even expanding a customer's value is much less then getting a new customer.

5 Power Questions
To determine what you're willing to invest in marketing, first discover what an average new customer is worth to you. To determine their value, answer the following questions:
1. What is your average sale (transaction amount)?
2. What is the frequency of your average customer? This calculation can be expressed in transactions or visits per week, month, or year depending on the type of operation you run.
3. What percentage of new customers become average regular customers? (We call this the "conversion ratio.") This will undoubtedly vary depending on how that new customer was generated.
For example, someone buying for the first time using an aggressively priced coupon would less likely be a repeat customer than one who bought based on a personal recommendation of a friend.
To be more accurate, you may want to calculate this information based on several different criteria. Then, once you have the numbers for three or four scenarios, take an average.
4. What is the average life cycle of a new customer? That is, once you get a customer, how long will that customer continue to buy from you before he or she moves, gets mad, or no longer has a need for your product or service?
This length of time can generally be expressed in months or years. It may be a more difficult number to get, but do your best.
5. How many new customers are referred to you by your existing customers? When you gather information about a new customer, ask how they found out about you. One possible answer is "referred by a friend."

How to Justify Marketing Campaigns to Your Management: Are You Doing These Three Critical Things?

You know that conducting an upcoming marketing campaign is right for your company. You've talked to some of your best customers and they're interested. You've heard through the grapevine that your toughest competitors are doing something soon. Your sales force has asked if you have anything coming up. And still the boss says, "No."
How do you justify campaigns to management? How do you help them understand that the right campaign, done correctly, can take the company to new levels of success?
1) What Holds Them Back?
When many managers think about marketing campaigns, they remember indiscriminately throwing lots of money at a hodge podge of ads and mailings and seminars and sales contests. You know that those days are gone.
Bad Past Experience
Find out if past experiences are blocking their decision. Ask the following:
• What has been your experience in the past with campaigns?
• What is it about a sales campaign that you think won't work for our company?
• What do you think might have to change for us to be successful now?
• What would you need to know to feel comfortable with us launching this campaign?
Colleague's Bad Experience
While asking questions, you may find that their reluctance is based on the past bad experience of a colleague. You might ask, "What do you think it is that they did or didn't do that kept them from being successful?" Or, "What do you think has changed since then?" Challenge them with, "How do you know that we wouldn't be successful this time?"
Funding
Perhaps what holds them back is a lack of funding. If your company is like many, you have an advertising budget. Perhaps reallocating a portion of the ad budget to a different marketing campaign would be acceptable. To get their acceptance, you need to show your manager that the campaign expenditure will do better than the advertisements. Instead of focusing on the number of leads that the ads bring in, look at the number of sales closed from the leads brought in by the ad. Traditionally, campaigns lead to sales much more rapidly than any other marketing method.
You may be able to show your manager that a request for campaign funding is worthwhile. Do this by creating a proposal outlining the costs and the return on investment based on profitable sales.
No Experience
Perhaps your manager hasn't had any experience in marketing campaigns. Maybe they've come from an industry that didn't rely on campaigns or was formerly in a position where they weren't exposed to campaigns. In this case, you may wish to give a short presentation on the advantages of campaigns in your market. Use your ideas to create a compelling presentation that convinces them that a campaign, done properly, will work.
2) Deliver What Management Wants to See and Hear
Knowing how to sell the idea of the campaign to your manager is a big part of your job. Knowing what words to use and how to make the presentation is important. Here are some ideas that can help:
Show the Big Picture
Most managers want to see the big picture. They need to know how campaigns allow them do what they're hired to do. They don't need to see the specific details of exactly how the program will be executed, at least not in the beginning.
What's a Customer Worth?
Most managers understand that customers are worth a lot of money over the long haul. Savvy companies know that selling to existing customers is five to 10 times more profitable than finding a new customer. Campaigns are a great way to keep existing customers.
Calculate what a customer is worth by multiplying your customers' average sales, with the average number of times they buy from you in a year and the average number of years they buy from you. This resulting figure is the average lifetime value of your customer. Is it worth launching a campaign to find more customers?
How are They Motivated?
When making your campaign proposal, zero in on what motivates your manager. Focus on creating results more quickly and at a reasonable cost.
Listen carefully to how your manager talks about the business. If they want the business to grow, then tell your story about the campaign enabling them to hit their goal more quickly and more efficiently. If they talk about business survival, tell them that the campaign will keep the company alive because you'll keep the old business that your competition may get if you don't stay with the program.
Illustrate Success
Managers need to have a level of certainty that the plan will succeed. If you have friendly competition -- companies that call on your customers, but you don't compete head-to-head -- interview them about their success with similar campaigns. Find out what new business they get and what old business they retain because of their participation. Present these as case studies of sales-campaign success in your industry.
You can also increase your manager's confidence by including an appendix of checklists and budget items that they can review. Include a follow-up action plan that enlists the sales force. Let your manager know that your team is ready to act on the opportunity, guaranteeing success.
Give Them Options
Many managers need to choose from an array of options. Offer them a series of participation options, ranging from a simple program to a complex campaign. Give them price versus payback options.
3) Measure Outcome
Good management never argues with success (if you're arguing that you don't have good management, change jobs). So show your manager your success and you'll create all of the campaigns you wish.
Require that all participating staff submit a single-page report on the campaign. Ask them to write their opinion of the program:
• Was it worthwhile?
• What did you do well?
• What should you do differently next time?
• What are the competitive trends?
• What are the industry trends?
These reports give you a good indication of the success of the campaign.
Track sales from the campaign. Compare the list of customers who buy after the campaign to the list used. It's safe to assume that the campaign either promoted the sale or kept the sale from being stolen by the competition.
Poll participants after the campaign. Ninety days after the program, grab a random stack of leads and give these people a call. Simply ask them, "Did you buy?" If they bought from the competition, you know the list was good, but your product or sales force wasn't doing the job. If they didn't buy, it gives you some indication of the market place. Either way, you'll learn if the campaign attracted buyers or not.
About six months after the campaign, poll your manager about their overall satisfaction with the program. Have campaign expenses, sales figures, media coverage numbers, and after-campaign survey results handy. Make your manager happy with one campaign and you'll do almost any campaign you wish.

Factors to Consider in Retail Packaging Decisions

Packaging decisions are important for several reasons including:
Protection - Packaging is utilized to protect the product from breakage or damage during shipping or handling, and to avoid the spoilage if the product is exposed to air or other contaminants.
Visibility - In a marketplace with tight competition, the retail packaging should not only contain and protect the contents but it should also add to the shelf appeal of a product. Packaging design is employed to capture customers' attention as they are shopping or taking quick look through a catalog or website. This is essential for customers who are not familiar with the product and in situations that your product is put in a shelf with its competitors. It can aid to differentiate your products from those of your competitors. This makes direct price comparisons more difficult for potential buyers, and can amplify your profit margins.
Added Value - Adding perceived value to your products or services is a way of enhancing what you are offering, without necessarily adding to your costs. Packaging design and structure can add value to the shelf impact of the product you are selling. For instance, benefits can be achieved from package structures that make the product convenient to use or consume while stylistic designs can make the product look more attractive to flaunt in the customer's home.
Distributor Acceptance - Packaging decisions must not only be approved by the final customer, they may also have to be agreed by distributors who sell the product for the supplier. For instance, a retailer may not accept packages if they will not conform to the requirements they have for stocking up the products on their shelves.
Added Cost- This can take a significant portion of a product's selling price. The costs involved in developing packaging include: graphic and structural design, production, customer testing, and possible advertising to inform customer of the product's packaging. Wise choices and decisions on how pack up your retail product can help lessen costs and possibly lead to bigger profits.
Timelessness - Deciding on the product's packaging design is a long-term decision therefore you have to make certain that you will come up with a timeless retail packaging design. Timeless means that the design has the quality of not being affected by time so it will still appeal to the consumers regardless of how many months or years have passed. Modifying the product's packaging too often can have a negative effects on your brand since consumers have become accustomed finding your product based on its package and may be confused if the design is changed.
Environmental or Legal Issues - The environmental impact should be taken into consideration when making packaging decisions especially for retail products with packages that are often discharged after the item has been used. Non-biodegradable products could catch the attention of the customers but it could also face environmental or legal issues. Moreover, you have to make sure that your packages do not infringe on intellectual property held by others.

The Critical Mindset Shift Spiritual Business Owners Need to Make to Grow a Prosperous Practice

I lost myself for a while there while I was growing my business. I want to tell you a little about it because it's a place I see many spirit-centered coaches, practitioners and healers stuck in too.
As you have undoubtedly already figured out, there is a plethora of marketing and business-building advice and experts out there to choose from. The problem is that what they have to offer doesn't really address the specific needs, values and goals of the spiritually-oriented practitioner who isn't just out to grow a successful business but who wants to do it in complete integrity and alignment.
I have a strong spiritual core but up until about six months ago, it wasn't showing up strongly in my business. Like many entrepreneurs, I thought that if I wanted a successful 6-figure business, I had to do things the way everyone else was doing them, which effectively meant separating my "real" values from my business values.
It wasn't working for me. I don't mean financially, because as my business and marketing skills increased, so did my income. I liked that very much but something still felt "off" and was making it hard for me to find joy and fulfillment in the growth of my business.
When this discontent got so bad that I was feeling nauseous (literally) every time I sat down at my desk, I decided it was time to do the inner work needed to get to the source of the problem. I realized I was doing "what worked" (according to conventional marketing wisdom), but Spirit didn't have much room to show up.
The lesson here is how easy it is to lose your authentic voice in this process. You're not a cookie, so cookie cutter business strategies aren't going to work for you - just as they weren't for me. Typically, because the traditional marketing paradigm is seen as one of half truths and deception, we spirit-minded people want no part of it. So a lot of practitioners choose not to learn sales and marketing skills. But that's tossing the baby out with the bath water.
Sales and marketing are NOT inherently anti-spiritual. Nor are they separate from your ability to deliver your services. Sales and marketing are simply how you communicate the value of what you do to the people who could benefit most. (Any dishonesty lies in the intention of the marketer, not in the act of marketing.)
This is an absolutely critical mindset shift that needs to happen if you want to grow an authentically prosperous practice that touches many more lives.
Oprah. Pretty successful, right? Is she seen as salesy or underhanded?
Wayne Dyer. Deepak Chopra. Pretty successful, right? Neither is usually considered the epitome of manipulation.
These deeply spiritual people achieved their enormous success because they made peace with the idea of marketing, reclaimed it as something positive and figured out how to communicate with their audience in ways that align with their values. You can too.

Helen Graves, Your Spiritual Business Coach, is a sought-after small business and marketing expert, specializing in mentoring spirit-centered coaches, healers and practitioners to create the inner shifts they need around marketing and money to get big results in their business.