Excerpts from the Dave Volpe’s JB Holler  (Continued)

           This means more small business owners popping up and starting a business that may be the same type of business as yours!

           This means less business and fewer profits for the industry, it also makes it harder to close leads because there are more people out their taking your dollars.  With new people in the market they have not figured out what the real costs are doing in business.  They may just be trying to pay the rent and are willing to work for less!  This makes business hard.  Well, no one ever told me running a business is easy.  This is just a fact of business….a good idea, a good business, starts making money, people start realizing that they might want to open their own business doing what you do better, worse, etc… and they start to cut into your market. 

It is the same thing with J.B. Dollar.  A company advertises with us and starts to get good response, other business start to think if I advertise their with my company in J.B. I can get some business too and make money, and so on until we have several of the same types of business in our magazine.  Since J.B. is a business too, our goal is to increase the number of advertisers and increase revenues.  The sales staff’s goal is to increase their income so they can better the life of themselves and their families.  Also there are Unfair Trade Laws that prevent us to exclude businesses, just like the Yellow Pages or Newspapers.

So here we are, we are all in business, and we would all like an exclusive (it would be GREAT to be the only direct mail magazine in Cuyahoga County) but THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!  Where do we go from here?  We could all close our businesses and get a job, we can go on complaining about how things are tough out there and it is the J.B. Dollar Stretchers fault because we have too many competitors, or we have to take responsibility to come up with a creative idea to fight the newer, less sophisticated business that is going to start advertising against you.  They are not just competing with you in J.B. they will be competing with you in Val Pak, Town Money Saver, Gold Clipper, word of mouth Plain Dealer etc…

THEY ARE IN YOUR MARKET THEY ARE COMPETING WITH YOU EVERYWHERE!  EXPECT LESS RESULTS IN YOUR BUSINESS OVERALL UNLESS YOU CHANGE SOMETHING YOU’RE DOING.

The solution is not to hop around with your advertising and do the same old things.  It might mean you send out something in addition to, another area, different offers, add more value to your service, and change how you talk to customers.  It might even mean to advertise in more publications than J.B. Dollar.  If you have one bucket of water and it is full now, but some other businesses are taking water out of it, the solution is not to take the remainder amount of water out and pour into another bucket.  You won’t move ahead.  You have to add more water to the existing bucket and get an extra bucket and more fresh water to get ahead.  And you have to do this consistently and regularly for a long period of time.  Most things don’t change overnight.  Don’t Give UP on a position you have already established.  “Never, Never, Never Quit!”

It’s The Same with Us!

“We can only Control What We Do!  Be more aggressive with your offers, expand your markets or increase your ad size.  Make your competitors pay for being in your market!” 

Newton's first law of motion is often stated as…

             An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

And it is your decision to grow your business that will create the unbalanced force.  I have been asking a lot of business owners this question:  What are you going to do next year to get more business than you had this year?  And what have you been doing as far as advertising that has been blowing your doors off as far as results?  So far I have to say that nothing today is working as well as it use to.  Why?  The best answer I have been able to find is that there is more competition in the market.  There are larger businesses competing for your market share, there are more small businesses competing for your market (partly because large companies are downsizing and closing).  And there are a lot more ways to advertise today than we had 20 years ago.  This means the consumer has a lot more to look at and less time to look at ads today.  With the increase of mail and other mediums (including the internet) the decrease of people’s time, increases of women in the work force.  You know it is just costing us more money and more effort to make an impression today!

http://www1.medialiteracy.com/stats_advertising.jsp

I am sure I have mentioned this before and it relates to the first questioned I asked “so what are you going to do to get more next year”.  It is funny about the gas prices skyrocketing.  Believe me it effect sales people the hardest because we come to you. (P.S. I will be confirming most of my appointments BEFORE I drive out!)  I still will have to pay more in gas if I expect to get more business in 2006, and the same is true for business when it comes to advertising.  It is like gas, you can’t operate without it and you should be smart about it, stronger offers in the same area can help you dig deeper in your market.  Expanding your area is a way to increase your market share, so consider trying additional areas to increase your customer base.  If you are a business that draws from a 3-5 mile radius, in Cleveland Area that is at least 100,000 addresses or more!  Check on line at www.melissadata.com under FREE lookups and see exactly how many people live in a 2-3 mile radius and then divide by 2 for approximate number of homes.  Many business owners don’t advertise to enough homes! 

 

Are your customers going west? 

If you haven’t been to the Crocker Bassett Rd. area or Avon Lake lately there is a plethora of business going up and they have become centers of shopping.  The same thing happened with Strongsville not too long ago.

As these become destination locations, people will be buying from other businesses that are close to these shopping areas because of convenience.  You have to be aggressive to get these buyers coming to you!

As we expand to the Lorain County area, consider drawing potential customers Eastward!

Learning - A mental process whereby we store and retrieve information in a meaningful way.

The mental process of deteriorating ability to recall information easily or accurately over time is called Forgetting.

Forgetting - A mental process whereby we lose the ability to accurately or easily retrieve what we have learned.

Repetition is the key to learning, especially in an ad campaign when you are scheduling message insertions into multiple media in patterns over a timeline. Repetition is frequency, not proximity or insertions. The message must be received to count as a repetition.

You need less repetitions of a message if: audience is motivated, the message is simple the product or buying habits are familiar, it's a hi-involvement purchase, You need more repetitions of a message if: audience is unmotivated, the message is complex, the product or buying habits are unfamiliar, it's a lo-involvement purchase, there is high competition, it's an impulse product.

Below are some advertising tips regarding repetition over a time period and how to enhance and generate learning in your target audience. 

Need at least 3 reps for simple, short term learning in 1 -2 weeks max. (does not equal insertions)

Need 8-12 reps within one or two weeks (month max) for good, long term learning.

Need about 5 times more insertions to reach the target number of reps. (for example, 15 insertions to get 3 reps)

 

Advertise to Reach New Customers.

Your market changes constantly.

New families in the area mean new customers to reach. People earn more money, which means changes in lifestyles and buying habits. The shopper who wouldn’t consider your business a few years ago may be a prime customer now. Remember….20% of families will move this year.

Advertise Continuously.

Shoppers don’ t have the store loyalty they once did. You must advertise to keep pace with your competition. The Retail Merchants states: "Mobility and non-loyalty are rampant. Stores must promote to get former customers to return and to seek new ones.

Advertise to Remain With Shoppers Through the Buying Process.

Many people postpone buying decisions. They often go from store to store comparing prices, quality and service. Advertising must reach them steadily through the entire decision-making process. Your name must be fresh in their minds when they ultimately decide to buy.

Advertise Because Your Competition is Advertising.

There are only so many consumers in the market who are ready to buy at any one time. You’ll need to advertise to keep regular customers and to counterbalance the advertising of your competition. You must advertise to keep your share of customers or you will lose them to the more aggressive competitors.

Advertise Because it Pays Off Over a Long Period.

Advertising gives you a long-term advantage over competitors who cut back or cancel advertising. A five year survey of more than 3,000 companies found…Advertisers who maintain or expand advertising over a five year period see their sales increase an average of 100%. Companies, which cut advertising, averaged sales decreases of 45%.

Advertise to Generate Store Traffic.

Continuous store traffic is the first step toward sales increases and expanding your base of shoppers. The more people who come into the store, the more possibilities you have to make sales and sell additional merchandise. For every 100 items that shoppers plan to buy, they make 30 unanticipated "in the store" purchases, an NRMA survey shows.

 

Advertise to Make More Sales.

Advertising works! Businesses that succeed are usually strong, steady advertisers. Look around. You’ll find the most aggressive and consistent advertisers are almost invariably the most successful.

Advertise Because There is Always Business to Generate.

Your doors are open. Salespeople are on the payroll. Even the slowest days produce sales. As long as you’ re in business, you’ve got overhead to meet and new people to reach. Advertising can generate customers now….and in the future.

Advertise to Keep a Healthy Positive Image.

In a competitive market, rumors and bad news travel fast. Advertising corrects misleading gossip, punctures "overstated" bad news. Advertising that is vigorous and positive can bring shoppers into the marketplace, regardless of the economy.

Advertise to Maintain Employee Morale.

When advertising and promotion are suddenly cut or canceled, salespeople may become alarmed and demoralized. They may start false rumors in an honest belief that your business is in trouble. Positive advertising boosts morale. It gives your staff strong additional support.

Why Am I Spending All of

This Money on Advertising?