The digital revolution has changed communication in big ways but think small for a moment. It’s now possible to market affordably to six area high school principals or to a woman in Kokomo who runs the little league fund drive. Some call it micro-marketing. Whatever your term, it’s big, and brings enormous new power to small business marketing.

Why Important?
Let’s face it; small businesses struggle to achieve consistent, effective, affordable marketing. For some, marketing barely happens at all, forced to the back burner by today’s urgent to-do list. For others, marketing is up-down, stop-go, with strategy determined by the effectiveness of dueling single-media sales people hawking their “right answer.” In either case, it’s far too common that the real purpose of marketing is lost in the chaos.

A Clearer Understanding of Marketing’s Strategic Purpose
A room full of marketing experts wouldn’t agree on much, but they would likely agree with this: The role of marketing is to systematically convert Strangers into Loyal Customers. Advertising may attract Strangers; giving us a shot, and that’s an important component. But there’s a long road between a browsing shopper and a client who becomes a word of mouth advocate.

Now let’s step up on the soapbox. Customer loyalty is crucial to long-term success. Harvard’s Fred Reichheld has proven it by rigorous study as presented in his loyalty book series. We can see the importance in live case studies all around us. And it’s just plain common sense that loyal customers buy more, quibble less about price, are easier to serve, and give us all important referrals.

A Major Hole in Small Business Marketing
read full article »