Marketing is so much more than perception, and it’s about utilizing a diverse mix of tools and services that guarantee results in as many areas as possible.  It’s about building programs that actually work and growing relationships with companies that truly care about your business success on a weekly basis.

There are so many options out there; it’s sometimes difficult to decide where to invest those limited marketing dollars with the right companies that actually bring you a return on your investment.  Look for those companies that you can see the activity and the results, not only the ones that build it once then visit you only when there’s an invoice due.  There truly are a number of inexpensive programs that you can actually see the benefits on a weekly basis.  The most expensive options are not always the most effective.  There are also many programs out there that offer trade options and percentage of profit programs.  Don’t put your entire budget into one specific media.  These days you need a strong mix of online, print, and on-premise marketing.  One of the largest entertainment guides in NC, www.ZSpotlight.com offers this to local clients.  The ZSpot approach is “How Can We Do Business Together?” vs. “Why Can’t We?”

Brand advertising is so important, but make sure to give viewers a reason to learn more  when they read your ads/daily information online or in print.  Your logo and tagline may be perfect, but try attaching a call to action with all your ads.  Remember, you not only want a viewer to see your business though advertising, you want them to become interested, come visit, and spend money to enjoy what your business offers.

One of the most valuable marketing concepts is targeting your perfect customer, catering and caring for that target, and enticing that perfect customer to return because of the experience they have enjoyed.  There are two steps to accomplishing this goal:  working hard to satisfy this customer when they arrive and also reminding them why they should return in the future.

If you think about how hard you work to take care of this customer when he/she visits with the group they bring along with them, why wouldn’t you want to continuously advertise with the media that is constantly communicating with this perfect customer?  Top customers and influencers are your keys to stabilizing your weekly business.  This refers to your regulars, your heavy hitters, your leaders that always bring three, five, ten people when they arrive.  These are the groups that can make or break your business in an evening.

Focus on advertising and attracting the group influencers that bring the crowds to spend money in your business time and time again.  You have to consistently remind and share your business offerings with your customer base, and not assume they are always thinking of you when they are ready to invest.  This concept is overlooked by so many managers, and it’s critical to gaining the repeat business we are all looking for.  It doesn’t matter if you are an upscale restaurant, a bar, a salon, or a retail clothing store.  Everything in advertising or marketing we do or don’t participate in has an impact on this attraction both positively or negatively. 

What does every new repeat customer or even more importantly an influencer mean to you in dollars with every visit?  What does it mean if they don’t hear from you on what you have to offer to bring them back each and every time?  $20?, $50?, $200?, $1000+?

Make sure to continuously market your business to them…your competitors certainly are!

Let’s say you have an single professional that has dinner and cocktails once every week with five of his friends and associates after reading one of your advertisements with a local media.  They spend $400 plus with each visit in your restaurant.   On some occasions this influencer brings 10-20 people out to join socially and this averages out to $800 plus in a single evening.  This means there is  a $400-$800 business opportunity that may be gained or lost by making sure to continue to advertise and communicate with this influencer in the media you scored the customer in first place.  The point is, keep the things that do work in tact, and take care of the influencers that can bring you this valuable business over and over again.

It’s sometimes a challenge to know what media refers these customers, so try and build in any program you can to track this activity – contests, trade, events, and simply just taking note of  what influencers bring along this type of business each time they visit.  Then utilize marketing to communicate and inform them of your offers, special events, and daily service.

Once you stop communicating/advertising to your current and new prospective customer base through advertising, you immediately allow your competitors to begin attracting them away with the marketing programs they have in place.  Be smart, be careful, but make sure you have a diversified mix of inexpensive marketing programs that has some type of guaranteed results built in on a monthly basis.  And above all, if it works, don’t stop doing it, no matter how good business gets!

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