8 Building Blocks to Attracting Customers
Successful Marketing Takes More than Sales and Advertising

By Julie Chance

Are you frustrated by the lack of return from your promotional
efforts? It may be that your plan for attracting customers is
built on a foundation of sand

Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a one person shop,
to be successful, you must have a plan to attract customers
and you must implement it consistently. However, it doesn't
have to cost a fortune and you don't have to be a creative
genius.

The key to attracting customers is developing a marketing
strategy that forms a solid foundation for your promotional
efforts. Implementing promotional activities such as
advertising, direct mail or even networking and one-to-one
sales efforts without a marketing plan is like buying curtains for
a house you're building before you have an architectural plan.
How would you even know how many curtains to buy or what
size they needed to be?

To develop a strong marketing foundation:

Define your product or service: How is your product
or service packaged? What is it that your customers
are really buying? You may be selling web-based
software tools but your clients are buying increased
productivity, improved efficiency and cost savings.
What problem does your service solve? What need
does your product meet? What want does it fulfill?

Identify your ideal customer: Everyone or anybody
might be potential clients for your product. However,
you probably don't have the time or money to market to
Everyone or Anybody. Who is your ideal customer?
Who does it make sense for you to spend your time
and money promoting your service to? You might
define your ideal customer in terms of income, age,
geographic area, number of employees, revenues,
industry, etc. For example a massage therapist might
decide her target market is women with household
incomes of $75,000 or more who live in the Uptown
area.

Differentiate yourself from the competition: Even if
there are no direct competitors for your service, there is
always competition of some kind. Something besides your
product is competing for the potential client's money. What
is it and why should the potential customer spend his or
her money with you instead? What is your competitive
advantage or unique selling proposition?

Find a niche: Is there a customer group that is not
currently being served or is not being served well? Are
there customer wants that are not being met? A niche
strategy allows you to focus your marketing efforts and
dominate your market, even if you are a small player.

Develop awareness: It is difficult for a potential client to
buy your product or service if they don't even know or
remember it exists. Generally a potential customer will
have to be exposed to your product 5 to 15 times before
they are likely to think of your product when the need
arises. Needs often arise unexpectedly. You must stay in
front of your clients consistently if they are going to
remember your product when that need arises.

Build credibility: Not only must clients be aware of your
product or service, they also must have a positive
disposition toward it. Potential customers must trust that
you will deliver what you say you will. Often, especially
with large or risky purchases, you need to give them the
opportunity to "sample", "touch", or "taste" the product in
some way. For example, a trainer might gain credibility
and allow potential customers to "sample" their product by
offering free, hour long presentations on topics related to
their area of specialty.

Be Consistent: Be consistent in every way and in
everything you do. This includes the look of your collateral
materials, the message you deliver, the level of customer
service, and the quality of the product. Being consistent is
more important than having the "best" product. This in part
is the reason for the success of chains. Whether you're
going to Little Rock, Arkansas or New York City, if you
reserve a room at a Courtyard Marriott you know exactly
what you're going to get.

Maintain Focus: Focus allows for more effective
utilization of the scarce resources of time and money.
Your promotional budget will bring you greater return if you
use it to promote a single product to a narrowly defined
group of customers and if you promote that same product
to that same customer group over a continuous period of
time.

Before you develop a brochure, run an ad, implement a direct
mail campaign, join an organization for networking or even
conduct a sales call, ask yourself this question, "Do I really
know who my ideal customers are and not only what they
need but also what they want?" If you can't honestly
be built on a foundation of sand.

Julie Chance is president of Strategies-by-DESIGN, a Dallas
based firm that helps businesses professional services firms
to specialty retailers Map A Path to Success by bridging the
chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer. For more information or
to sign up for our free Marketing Tips Newsletter go to
www.strategies-by-design.com or call 972-701-9311.

C 2003 Strategies-by-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits
and contact information.