by Scott Howard | Feb 26, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
How’s 2016 treating you?
Are you on target for the year with your business plan?
Or are you one of those folks who didn’t really come up with a plan for the year, just some goals but without a map to get there this year? 
Next week we begin month three of 2016 so you have 10 months to get from here to there.
(If you never created a goal for 2016, you are only one step behind those that created a goal without a plan to get there, so don’t give up.)
Item 5 on our list of 17 Ways To Increase Your Businesses Profitability is: Develop a Business Plan that Makes Sense.
You may need certain professionals who have their areas of expertise in Law (Business Attorney), Finance (Tax Advisor) and a few others.
I can help you with the marketing components. We will begin with a Custom Marketing Strategy. From there I will do what I do best and help you create a SMART Plan.
My philosophy is to help others be successful in business by helping them create a SMART plan:
- STRATEGIC
- MARKETING and
- ADVERTISING plan using
- RADIO and
- TECHNOLOGY
I have been doing this for several of my advertising partners and have room to do this with a couple more this year. Let me know if you want to be considered.
To be clear, the advertising partners that I work with on this level also get recommendations on all forms of marketing, not just what I can offer them. Plus, if I notice something else that needs you attention, I’m not shy about telling you.
by Scott Howard | Feb 19, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Last week I met with an attorney who has reduced her areas of practice over the past 20 years to Elder Care issues.
She has done what I mentioned recently in my article, 17 Ways To Increase Your Business Profitability, item number 4 was: Reduce the Number of Products and/or Services you sell.
Now you may think that this contradicts numbers 2 and 3 which suggested increasing the products or services you sell.
Not really. It all depends on where you are now. If you are a new business and you aren’t sure exactly what direction your business should go in, you may find yourself taking a little of this and a little of that, because they offering you money and you can do the work. 
But as time progresses you will discover that you don’t want to be spread so thin. You may find that there are somethings that you don’t want to do anymore and so you can eliminate those.
By doing this, you become less of a generalist and more of a specialist. By devoting your business to your chosen specialty, you also develop expertise and as others learn this about you, you become the authority.
How does this increase the profitability of your business? Two ways:
- You are now able to charge a premium for your product/service because you are the sought after expert and authority.
- You have stopped selling/doing stuff that are less profitable and are able to devote your time and space to other things, like #1, or perhaps creating more balance in your life between work and non-work.
Interestingly, you get to decide what to keep and what to drop. For me, I decided to focus my time and efforts on helping businesses make smart marketing and advertising decisions using radio and technology. I’ll tell you more about that in the future. I also decided I did not want to sell television advertising, run social media campaigns, or sell print ads, all of which I have either done, or someone wanted me to do.
Do you need to sharpen the focus for your business?
by Scott Howard | Feb 18, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
From the ScLoHo 2011 archives for #TBT:
Last month I was invited to lunch for some marketing brainstorming.
I find brainstorming fun. It is one of the favorite parts of my day, because I get to play detective.
I ask, observe, listen, watch, suggest, and repeat.
This particular brainstorming session was with a hotel manager who is looking grow. His property is not the most expensive, nor is it at the bottom of the heap.
It is mid-market, without anything special or unique. He has spent the past 22 months cleaning the place up, making improvements, and “setting the stage” for more customers. He has improved the appearance and improved customer service.
Several ideas were discussed but the one that I remember the most is an idea that I use in my business. It is a question I like to ask, and in a moment I’ll tell you the 5 magic words.
I discovered that he can devote 15 to 18 hours a week getting out in the community. My advice was for him to go door to door to door to door to every single business within a 3 mile radius of his hotel and offer to help each of these businesses.
See, he estimates that in a year he will have between 10 and 20 thousand guests staying at his hotel. Most of these guests will be from out of town.
These out of town guests will have various needs while they are visiting. Sure there is the obvious like a place to eat, or a drug store. But what about a car wash? A cell phone store? A Chiropractor? A ____________?
As he goes door to door and starts a relationship with his business neighbors, he is offering to give recommendations to his thousands of guests to these businesses. He will collect names, literature, business cards from these businesses and give them his information too.
But he will also use the 5 magic words:
“How Can I Help You?”
These words are the beginning of the Big Give. When you ask that question, you are not asking for yourself, you are asking to help others. You are opening the door to starting a relationship.
“How Can I Help You?” is not used in the same way the guy at Burger Barn speaks when he wants to take your order. It is used sincerely without expectation of immediate financial reward in return.
Most business people won’t have an immediate answer, and not every business will be a good fit, but he is doing something none of the other hotel operators are doing.
Can you apply the Big Give to your business?
by Scott Howard | Feb 12, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
Time to continue with #2 on the list I created last month of 17 Ways To Increase Your Business Profitability is:
Offer Additional Services
Before I give you a couple of examples, let me tell you why this could be an easy way to increase profits.
- You don’t need to buy anything extra
- You are selling to a customer that you already have
- You’ve done minimal work to earn extra
- You’ve created a stronger bond with your customer
Not every one of those may fit your business, but let’s look at some examples.
I work with a heating and cooling contractor that is focusing on increasing the number of service agreements they have with customers. I bought one last year. As their customer, I will get a little bit of savings and priority service and they will also do maintenance on my homes heat pump twice a year to ensure I stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I trust them and they are the only ones we will call.
The business benefits because they are going to make extra money and continue to earn my trust.
I’m old enough to remember what it was like for fast food joints NOT having drive up windows at least here in Fort Wayne. Wendy’s was the 1st I believe and remember the novelty of it when I was a kid. That was a service that revolutionized the industry and forced many chains to follow. Yes, there was some additional expense, but it quickly became very popular and profitable.
What I do for a living has expanded too. Years ago, the advertising sales team at WOWO radio and any other radio or television station were limited to offering our clients ads on our stations with a few add-ons.
Today, I am also able to offer a whole collection of Digital Marketing options that can be used with or without radio advertising. I have advertising partners that are radio only, some are digital only and many use both.
Because the digital marketing services are something that my advertising partners want, and because I am trusted to only offer solutions that work, this additional service makes sense.
I know of a local self-storage company that offers a free truck for customers to use. This service saves their customers time and helps the self-storage company earn more business.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Think about it and come up with at least one additional service you can offer your customers this year. Want help? Contact me.
by Scott Howard | Feb 11, 2016 | Marketing and Advertising Insights, The Not-So-Secret Writings of ScLoHo
#TBT from the ScLoHo 2008 archives:
Want to know if your marketing and advertising are going to work?
Try this simple test.
It’s a variation of the Golden Rule.
Treat others the way you would want to be treated.
I don’t care if you are running a 99 cent store, or a store where the smallest trinket starts at $1,000.
We are so tired of broken promises, screaming, “BUY IT NOW” commercials, and all the hype that we are being fed by so many, especially right now in this political season.
Ask yourself, would I sell this to my best friend at this price? If not, then change.
Are there any business practices they you are involved in that are “questionable”? Stop it now.
Are you always truthful? Do you fix things that go wrong? Do you take responsibility?
These are the the questions you need to ask and if necessary, make some changes.
Cut the Hype and Be Real. That’s the best marketing policy of all.
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