Lynchburg Business

Hidden Marketing Opportunities

Issue: June 2010 by David Norcross in Marketing & Sales

Within the confines of every business, there are hidden marketing opportunities that exist. When I speak of opportunities, I am referring to assets that will help your business reach the next level. Typically, once uncovered, these hidden assets provide immediate growth in a short period of time and cost very little money.

By now you are probably saying, “Wow…sign me up!” At least, I hope you are saying that, because so often these hidden opportunities center on fundamentals that are simply overlooked. In last month’s article, I talked about your marketing message, and in previous articles, we have looked at the importance of developing a marketing plan. Each of these elements is crucial to uncovering hidden marketing opportunities that exist in every organization. However, the assets that I am speaking of here are far greater than your message and your plan because uncovering these opportunities is paramount to your marketing success.

So how do we uncover this so-called gold? First of all, I should clarify that this is not going to be easy. It is going to require effort, upper level support and everyone in your organization singing from the very same sheet of music. Most of all, in order to find these assets, you must ask yourself some questions and give some honest answers. I call this an opportunity analysis—or simply stated—a marketing self-evaluation.

Let’s look at some of these questions that will be sure to uncover holes in your marketing. Last month when we talked about the Unique Selling Proposition, we touched on a few of these questions. However, I would like to take this step to another level starting with this question: If you privately asked five of your employees to describe your company to a prospective client in one to two sentences, do you think they would all deliver the same message? Is your message consistent throughout your organization? If it’s not, then it should be clear to you that those within your company do not recognize the benefits of the job that they perform.

Another question to ask: Do you know why customers buy from you? Please do not say it is because you are the lowest price because someone will certainly sell their product for less to compete. Have you asked your best customers why they buy from you? Have you then incorporated their feedback into your current marketing, advertising and sales campaigns? It is critical to look at the response from your existing customers and compare your assets with your competition. Certainly knowing and understanding your competition is vital to your sales and marketing efforts, and so is capitalizing on what makes you different and sets you apart from your competition.

Examining your existing customer base is vital towards uncovering marketing opportunities. Who is your ideal customer and what makes them special? Do you have clients that are sometimes too much trouble and, as a result, are not profitable for your company? Many times businesses do not focus on their target market because they just do not know who their ideal customer is and what sets them apart. Wouldn’t it be great if you could replace those difficult customers with limited profit with those special clients that are profitable and who love doing business with you?

Finally, it is very important to examine your existing sales process. Certainly, as previously mentioned, it is critical for your sales team to all clearly speak your marketing message. However, there is much more to developing a sales process that is effective and ties into your marketing efforts for your company. For instance, how many prospects does your sales team target on a daily basis? If you do not have a sales team then through your own marketing efforts, how many prospects are touched each day? This information is critical towards growing your business and increasing your sales.

Within your sales process, contacting prospects is key; however, so is contacting your existing customer database and following up with those clients. Here, you must closely look at your database of customers and determine if your database software is able to help you to develop a sales system that just happens in the background with minimal effort. When looking at your sales system, if one exists, it is critical to determine what your sales process looks like. Most importantly, does everyone involved in sales work the same way, make the same amount of follow up phone calls, send the same number of sales correspondences, etc.?

Let’s face it—sales people are an interesting breed and you will hear tons of reasons as to why something did not happen. However, in order to capitalize on this critical marketing asset, a means of accountability must be put into place. Of course, these are just a few of the main opportunities that exist for hidden marketing assets. To be able to truly delve into every area of your business, a thorough audit of all of your marketing processes must take place.

Once you begin to ask yourself these hard questions, your hidden assets will begin to clearly reveal themselves to you and will unveil the potential for considerable growth without spending any more money on your marketing budget.

Until next time, make marketing your mission…everyday!