Thought this might be a good way to stimulate some discussion about what we have difficulty doing in regards to our marketing efforts.

 MARKETING  TO  THE  BUSINESSSES OUTSIDE OF MY   REALM  WHO   WOULD  BUY FROM US IF THEY FOUND US…..    by outside i mean   we are known in the antique and  recycled   worlds in our  region….but   the new  businesses  starting out and needing  fixtures like  salons  and  resturants    and  lots of  different  stores    are   big  target  customers  too…finding them is a big  challenge….right now its mostly  word of mouth…..but when they get here they are real happy and usually  buy a lot…..

the  established ones would have a  facebook page,  so im  thinking of  targeting   them in facebook ads…havent  been too impressed with facebook  ads  so  far….

My biggest challenge in marketing my small business is proving ROI.

I know that we get business from marketing, but sometimes it’s hard to show direct results based on how many hours I put into blogging, writing, presenting and creating videos.

Sometimes I wonder: would I be better served to spend some money on advertising?

@michaelpingree  I find ROI and lead generation the hardest part for my clients. They are mostly Construction company’s with little or no interaction from their email base. With the economy the way that it is, lead generation is all that they care about……

Getting to the decision maker is my toughest challenge. I know they’re busy, and the last thing I want is to come off as an annoying sales call they don’t want to be bothered with.

consistency…. no matter how or what the marketing tactic is, it needs to be “out there” consistently… status updates on facebook, posts on blog, tweets on twitter… monthly coupons … Great question, Michael. Thanks. @michaelpingree

@michaelpingree – I think for me is to get the decision maker to make a decision. I do many meetings, many people are impressed what we offer to them, no one balks at the pricing. I ask for the order after they give me a yes and  I believe that they want to move forward because it is a good choice for them. However, when it comes to getting the order signed, because of the nature of my business, I send them a link to sign up, they don’t. It seems like if they don’t act immediatley right then when I am on the phone with them, they forget about it even after 1 hour. Then they go away and since I don’t see any orders on the report, I  end up chasing them. However, I have solved it that if I have to chase them more then 3 calls with voicemail or live conversation I figure they are no longer interested I even will tell them in my last call that they have my contact information and phone so if they are ready to get started then it is their turn to do the call or email to me, not me.

The other one is posting of social media, do a lot of creating and curating but it seems like many people don’t really take time to learn more, get a ton of people to follow me- like G+ or even FB but no real relationships are formed, and I am interested in forming long term realtionships then just sell them a product/service. 

Scalability & Procedures.

The biggest problem I find with marketing for small businesses is that they are never able to manage the growth that they will achieve from a correctly executed marketing plan.

A well structured business should be able to grow from 100 customers to 1,000 customers without teething problems… and likewise, should be able to shrink from 1,000 customers down to 100 customers without overheads sending them broke.

Also – businesses should have in place adequate sales procedures and follow ups to ensure that when they do attract leads, they are maximizing the value of those leads by achieving ongoing business.

If you spend money on marketing and the customer acquired only buys from you once – you’re wasting your time.