Where Are They?

How do you find your market?

"Find your market" is really just a fancy way of saying "Find the people who want to buy your product". So...who have you come up with? Here are some typical answers:

• Relatives
• Colleagues
• Neighbors
• Friends from my school/church/clubs

OK - let's see. For me, that list would include maybe 50 people. Not because I'm antisocial. I just don't have very many relatives, I work for a small company, don't know my neighbors, and my friends already know what I sell, so now what?

Well...that takes care of that. What does your list look like? It may have a few more people in any of the categories, but the real point is this: Your list is finite. It is limited. If you limit your view of your market to people you know, or even people you know PLUS their friends, you still don't have enough audience to sell more than perhaps 100 products. Sorry...I'm sure you're a delightful and likable person, but you're only ONE person, and you can only reach so many people by yourself.

Yikes - How will I ever sell anything?

You've probably figured out by now that other people will be involved in helping you sell your product. In other words, if you want to "expand your market", you're going to need some help. We live in wonderful times. You can now reach THOUSANDS of people who are interested in your product, and you can do it on a shoestring budget. The world is connected by a network of online forums called Social Media.

Many of you probably engage in some form of online social networking through the main SM forums: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and/or YouTube. There are others, but these are the most universally used. Perhaps you've created a profile or two, and through that, you stay in touch with friends, family and colleagues. Still - that's the same small list we've already discovered.  

Here's what you may be missing. 

Each of these forums has its own 'search engine' through which you can uncover groups, associations and organizations that share your interests. THIS is the market you need to begin engaging with.  For instance: Let's say your product helps people grow better flowerbeds. In each of the SM forums, type in related phrases, like "gardening" or "garden club" and see what pops up. On Facebook, you'll find "pages" or "groups" that you can subscribe to and begin engaging with people. On Twitter, you'll find people who have used the phrase you've 'searched' for, and 'follow'. They're likely to follow you back. The same principle holds true with LinkedIn, Pinterest, and other sites. Find your audience and engage. Try some other search terms, perhaps "landscaping" or "flower arrangements" or "horticulture". Be curious - explore these forums. You'll be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can "expand your market" as you simply connect with a bigger audience.

Yes, some of you will need help navigating Social Media. However, you have nothing to lose by just diving in and playing with it. If all else fails, ask your 12-year old neighbor to help you if you get really lost.

If you decide you need professional help, that's available as well. I'm as close as your phone or email, and it doesn't cost you a thing to ask me a question!

- Mary Beth Smith

North Dallas Marketing Group

214-536-2624

Logic or Emotion? Why People Buy...

How do you convince people to buy your product? 

I've been invited to address the Operation JumpStart class in the Best Southwest Small Business Development Center at Cedar Valley Community College later this month, and that's the topic I've been asked to address.

I suppose business people have been asking that question since buying and selling began. Entire books and courses exist that talk about nothing else. What makes a person or company decide to buy from one company and not another? Are the companies that different? Are the products that different? Many companies offer the same or similar products, yet some are clearly more successful than others. Why is that?

Most of us don't have the time and/or resources to study this exhaustively. There is a new book or workshop every year. You could start reading right now and still not have finished all the books on this topic by the end of the year! Personally, after many years as both a marketer and a professional sales rep, what I believe is pretty simple and straightforward:

Buyer Fact #1: People don't buy what they don't know about.
Buyer Fact #2: Knowing about something isn't the same as being interested in it.
Buyer Fact #3: Most purchases are based on emotion.
Buyer Fact #4: Once emotion and interest are engaged, logic can justify the purchase.

Knowing just these few things about buyers should make some marketing truths pretty clear. If you hope to sell your product, you need to understand these truths.

Marketing Truth #1: You have to find the people who are interested in your product.
Marketing Truth #2: You have to know how to reach them.
Marketing Truth #3: You have to present your product in a way that appeals to their emotion.
Marketing Truth #4: You can usually charge a higher price when people want what you sell.

While there can be some variations on this based on whether you're selling b2b or b2c, there's still a lot of truth to the old saying "People buy from People". Even in a b2b setting, where logic seems to dictate purchases, when all products and prices are similar, emotion is likely to tip the balance.

The Marketing Hat and Small Businesses

Want to read more about "The Marketing Hat"? Click on the picture!

Small business owners wear a lot of hats. In fact, at one time or another, they wear ALL the hats in the company.  One of the most uncomfortable can be that pesky "marketing hat". Marketing can seem overwhelming, and it's not hard to see why. Is it advertising? Is it sales? Is it social media? Is it promotional products? Is it events? Is it postcards?

We've watched small businesses take all kinds of approaches to marketing, including ignoring it all together! Formal marketing education mostly takes the approach that its students will work in large corporations, and the training is quite intense.

We've created "The Marketing Hat" as a one-day crash course in marketing for small businesses. Getting down to the basics, such as how to budget, how to make a plan and how to execute it without killing yourself in the process. You CAN scale good principles to fit your small business, and in the process learn how to find the right customers and maintain it with a good return on your investment!

Mary Beth Smith

NDMG

Dallas, TX 

If you are interested in attending our Dallas class on August 13, email me at mbsmith@NorthDallasMarketingGroup.com
 and I'll send you a promo code that will save you $40 off the registration.  

This is a good deal - you should check it out!

.......................................

Old Home Week?

When I lived in New England, I found the origins of the phrase "Old Home Week". It was a time when people gathered in home towns and celebrated their shared heritage. I guess I always knew that's what the phrase meant - I just didn't know people really did it!

We gathered with several thousand other small business owners at the Dallas Convention Center a couple of weeks ago, and had our own "Old Home Week" in a sense - visiting with and sharing stories among ourselves, seeing people we already knew, and meeting others for the first time.

Being from a small town is different than growing up in a large city. Likewise, marketing for a small business is different than marketing for a large corporation. Spending the day with so many small business owners reminded us why we focus on their special situations, and reinforced for us how much we love it!


Besides storm troopers, we visited with bakers, designers, writers, accountants, lawyers, educators, several chambers of commerce, insurance reps, retail stores, service businesses and more.

Our display was pretty simple - a nice table cloth and plenty of print brochures, along with some great pens, sticky notes and bookmarks. Just like any other 'reunion', we got to talk about the usual things, plus new things, like our book publishing division, Park Cities Press, and our printing company, AlphaGraphics of Park Cities.

It was a festive day, and we look forward to the next "Old Home Week" - You should come join us next time!!