ED-Central


In This Issue


In the last two newsletters we have provided you with an extensive overview of social media and eCommerce marketing efforts. In this issue we are going to shift focus and return to “the basics”, concentrating on what can be done locally to promote businesses, products, services and organizations.



This idea is designed to help you discover what types of marketing methods work best for your business. Consider running a promotion that lasts exactly one month.

In the last two newsletters we have provided you with an extensive overview of social media and eCommerce marketing efforts. In this issue we are going to shift focus and return to “the basics”, concentrating on what can be done locally to promote businesses, products, services and organizations. It is easy to get caught up in the fast-paced world of technology and let traditional marketing efforts slide. While you should be doing everything you can to take advantage of marketing opportunities available online, these efforts should be made in conjunction with the traditional marketing efforts discussed in this article. Part II of Best Marketing Practices for Rural Areas will focus on word-of-mouth marketing, advertising with local newspapers, radio stations and joining organizations such as chambers of commerce, convention and visitor’s bureaus and business alliances.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is the most important form of marketing that your business or organization can have. Traditionally WOM meant the passing of information from person to person verbally. Now, WOM marketing includes all types of media from the spoken to the written word. One person with a You Tube video or blog can reach millions of people with information about your business or organization and you have no control over how they portray your business. The best way to combat negative WOM and help ensure positive WOM is to make sure that every customer who comes in contact with your business experiences superior customer service. Great customer service involves treating customers with respect, valuing their time, and making sure your employees, services and products are top-notch. It is extremely important that you communicate your commitment to excellence in customer service quality to your employees, as they interact directly with customers. Working hard at providing your customers with high levels of quality customer service will help make certain your business’s WOM is positive, rather than negative.

Local Newspapers & Radio Stations

Most local businesses still rely on advertising with local newspapers and radio stations. Despite reports of decreasing audiences due to the increased availability of news sources online, newspapers still reach significant audiences daily. Traditional radio stations also enjoy a regular following despite satellite radios and the increasing use of MP3 devices in vehicles. However, if the local newspaper appears online, or your radio station has a website, ask your sales representative what it would take to have your ad featured on the website, as well as in print or on air. You may choose to let the advertising representative design your ad, or run one you designed. Many radio stations will record your ad for you once you have written the copy, or you can go to the studio and record the ad yourself.

Most advertising experts agree that there is no need to make sure your newspaper ad runs every day of the week, instead they recommend running ads three times a week for maximum return. For radio ads make sure your ads run at peak listening times, such as early morning, lunch time and after work, when people are most likely to be in their vehicles listening. Many people simply skim newspapers; when you are flipping through the paper how many times does it take you to find and locate your ad? Make sure your ad stands out and is eye catching, so that even the most cursory readers can spot it easily. Often many newspapers will place your ad directly next to that of a competitor (usually accidentally), so ask the sales representative to make sure there are no competing ads directly next to yours. Research has shown that using a coupon and a radio teaser ("look for our coupon in the Sunday paper") usually generates more business than just a coupon in the newspaper.

Chambers of Commerce

Another “Best Practice” includes joining your local Chamber of Commerce. Visit http://www.chamberofcommerce.com to find information about your local Chamber of Commerce. The website has contact information and includes links to chamber websites. Chambers of Commerce are dedicated to providing support for local businesses and they accomplish this through membership fees. They provide services such as working towards creating a strong local economy, providing networking opportunities for small business owners, serving as a liaison between business and local governing bodies and assisting pro-business candidates with elections. Chambers of Commerce are often engaged in economic development activities as well. Contact your local Chamber today to find out what opportunities await you.

Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus

Convention and Visitor’s Bureaus (otherwise know as CVB’s) are directly responsible for promoting travel and tourism in an area. They are responsible for bringing meetings and conventions to your area, as well as conducting familiarization, or “fam” tours. A “fam” tour is a tour for travel agents designed to familiarize them with the offerings of a location. Does your business boast the best chicken fried steak in a 100 mile radius? Perhaps you should contact the CVB about making your business the lunch stop on the next “fam” tour. The CVB also serves as a centralized location for tourists to stop at to pick up maps, brochures and gather information about the activities in an area while they are visiting. Consider asking the CVB to display a brochure, flyer or special coupon for your business. You can keep track of how many coupons are used to get a general idea of how much traffic the display is generating for your business.

Business Alliances

Are there any local small business alliances that you can join? Is there a partnership you could create with a business that complements yours? Alliances often offer a wealth of expertise on a variety of topics including financial management and marketing. Business alliances help smaller businesses capitalize on the combined buying power of several businesses. Business alliances can work together to create packages for tourists. For instance, a museum and a hotel could partner together, advertising for each other on location, as well as offering reduced rates of admission to the museum with one night’s stay at the hotel. Individually each business may not be able to afford large ads in the newspaper, but splitting the cost and sharing the ad can result in increased exposure for both. It is a win-win situation. The agreements will vary from business to business but the possibilities are limitless. If your area does not have a business alliance, consider creating one.

Sponsorship

Consider sponsoring local events or sports teams. Often youth sports leagues need sponsors and in exchange the business name is featured in the team’s name or on uniforms. This type of sponsorship creates positive word-of-mouth marketing for your organization and helps people make positive associations with your business. Often youth organizations, such as dance teams, sell sponsorships for their teams. In exchange your name appears on various marketing materials and you receive a team photo to display at your place of business identifying you as a sponsor. These types of sponsorships may serve to inspire loyalty with customers who have close affiliations to these youth organizations. You may choose to sponsor or donate in-kind materials in exchange for a booth at a local event. Use this booth space to promote or demonstrate your products and services to potential clients or to distribute samples or coupons. Large events have the potential to increase regional marketing efforts, as people from surrounding towns and communities, who might not otherwise hear about your business, will attend the event. Remember; only affiliate yourself with events and causes that align closely with the values of your organization in order to protect the reputation of your business.

*Bonus* Twitter

In the previous newsletters, we introduced you to several types of social media and how these tools can be useful in marketing your business online. Twitter, a social networking site, has been getting a large amount of media attention, so we wanted to include an overview here.

"Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?" After you create an account you can invite people to follow you on Twitter, you can restrict your followers to people you know or allow anyone using Twitter to see your status. Updating your status is commonly referred to as "tweeting." A status update is referred to as a "tweet." Users can comment on other peoples "tweets" as well. There is a free download for Twitter called TweetDeck that allows you to update Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites all at once, as well as view others' posts. TweetDeck has a function that allows you to create groups, or organize searches based on key words. For instance, if you own a clothing store in Dallas, Texas you can set up your TweetDeck to notify you when someone "tweets" that they are shopping in Dallas, Texas. You can then comment on that person's "tweet" and provide them information about your business. You can "tweet" when new products arrive at your business, or "tweet" about a new service that you offer. Consider using "tweets" that offer discounts or coupons, or to make customers aware of current sales and specials. You can visit http://twitter.com/ to get started today.

About the Author: Alyssa Webb is the Communications Coordinator for AdventGX, an economic development and tourism consulting firm located in College Station, Texas. She is currently pursuing her graduate degree at Texas A&M University in the Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences with an emphasis on community event planning and tourism marketing. Alyssa can be reached via email at alyssawebb@adventgx.com

Conduct a Little Market Research

This idea is designed to help you discover what types of marketing methods work best for your business. Consider running a promotion that lasts exactly one month. Place coupons at the CVB, on your business’ website, in the local paper and run an ad on the radio offering, for example, a free appetizer when you “mention this ad” (or “present this coupon”, for print sources). Each coupon should be for the exact same offering (whether it is a free tire rotation, 10% off an oil change, free nail polish, etc…), but make sure that it is easy for you to identify the source of each physical coupon; newspaper, printed off from the website, or picked up at the CVB. Have your employees keep track of how many people mention the radio ad and count how many of each type of coupon is redeemed. At the end of the month you should have a pretty good idea of which advertising method is giving you the highest return on your investment and be able to narrow your focus to those methods that generate the most business.