Four States Small Business Blog

Buying space in a church bulletin or high school sports program is a great way to support the local community. Some businesses see their sponsorship of a local organization’s newsletter or posting on social media as an inexpensive way to advertise. While such tactics contribute to positive word of mouth, they are not a substitute for advertising and should not represent a significant allocation of your marketing resources.

Today’s recruitment landscape is completely different than it was just a decade ago. Rather than searching the local paper when they’re ready to make a move, job seekers have access to tools and technology that put them in the driver’s seat. They can take their time and research potential employers online, consult social media and review sites like Glassdoor, setup job alerts on LinkedIn, and apply with the click of a button when something good comes up.

Auto repair shops face a lot of complex marketing issues. For starters, competition is fierce, customer loyalty is critical, and winning trust takes time. On top of that, horror stories about unscrupulous mechanics have contributed to an environment of distrust — and social media has made sharing those horror stories even easier.

The number of retail options available to agricultural customers is much greater now than just a few years ago. Between the growth of local retailers and the advent of Amazon, customers now have many different places to turn for some or all of the equipment and supplies they need. Now more than ever, your tractor supply company needs to stand out. And the way to do that is with strategic, well executed marketing.

Everyone understands the power of word of mouth. Your friend recommends a great brand, a family member tells you about a horrible experience with a company, or a coworker shares an awesome — or awful — customer service call. A recommendation from a friend can make a lasting impression greater than any advertisement.

Are you familiar with the adage, you only get one chance to make a great first impression? Customer perspective — that is, the impression customers have of your business — plays a big role in the success of that business. You see, it isn’t enough to have great promises in your Joplin marketing campaigns; that only gets them to the door. And that’s where you only get one shot at convincing customers that your business is worth their time and money.

 When you develop a plan for marketing in Joplin, MO, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, you’re probably ready to do a few things. You’ll define a budget, choose the right channels to advertise on, select a schedule, and lay out what you want the creative to be. You’re just forgetting one thing — how the customer sees things. That’s not necessarily the same thing as identifying your target audience, which you need to do before you select where you’re going to advertise or how to build your message.

Let’s do a thought exercise: A consumer wants to obtain a particular product, and they do the research to determine which brand they’d like to buy and which store to buy it from. They find it’s available from their favorite store, but while they want it right now, they know the store consistently runs regular discounts. Instead of buying it now, they wait until the next discount kicks in so they can buy it for a cheaper price. In this exercise, most of the advertising for the product brand and store worked. The consumer is successfully converted, the product solves their pain points and desires, and a sale is made. So what’s the problem?

And now we’ve come to the third and final installment of our series about achieving small business success by generating powerful results with their marketing. As we’ve mentioned, there’s a three-part formula necessary for producing that success, whether it’s for a nationwide advertisement or local Joplin marketing campaign: branding, a business website, and a 21-52 marketing plan. In Part 1, we took a look at branding for small businesses, and in Part 2, we discussed why you need a strong business website.

As the trend toward social responsibility has grown, brands are discovering that consumers expect them to demonstrate a desire to make the world a better place. A Cone Cause Evolution Survey indicated that, when price and quality are equal, 87% of consumers would switch to a brand that supports a cause. In addition, 95% of college students say they are more likely to pay attention to an ad that promotes a brand’s partnership with a particular cause. Such a partnership can be a win-win, benefitting both the brand and the cause with increased exposure and awareness.