Sales used to be about catalogs, cold calls, doughnuts, lunches and lobby phones. But, not anymore, now sales is about the post choice, transactional components; how many, how much, by when, shipping methods, warranties, etc.

Everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING is marketing. Check the new American Marketing Association’s definition in Rob’s recent ( 2/5/08 ) post. Marketing is no longer a “function”, but a process that includes every nook and cranny of an organization. Marketing is about “information”, both good and bad, that is available 24 X 7 X 365 to anyone with a computer, an internet connection and a friend.

“Marketing”, by this new definition, plays a much bigger role in terms of how goods and services get specified and purchased. Yet the sales and marketing budget components, which are their % relationships to one another, and their individual relationships, as a percentage of gross revenue haven’t really begun to change much. Why?

To me, this is because few see that Marketing is the new Sales. Fewer still see that Marketing is the best sales person they will ever have…

This is great news for the few business owners, executives and managers, particularly in the small, medium enterprise ( SME ) sector, who are attuned to this vision, and can make effective use of the significant competitive advantage this concept represents. This is great news too for marketers in all disciplines that can settle into a distinct leadership role, and the long-term commitments necessary to educate and guide clients along this essential path.

But now what? As a business owner that doesn’t perhaps think from a marketing perspective, and wants to try this on, what do you do? Here are two relatively simple things that can get you started:

First, define your core offer at the highest level you can think of. For example, a school that helps men and women get their state contractors license, could be considered to be in the construction industry. But at a higher level the school really provides knowledge that in turn helps people improve their lives. So, the schools core offer is knowledge. Another example might be a contract manufacturing company that specializes in the machining, forming and finishing of sheet metal, and light electromechanical assembly. This company also has specific equipment, knowledge and practices that enable this work to be extremely high tolerance, or said another way, very low overall deviation from part to part, and done very quickly. Some might say a quick turn machine shop. But, at a higher level the company provides peace of mind relative to the speed and accuracy with which it can produce custom parts and assemblies. A fun exercise you can facilitate with your team is continue to ask – “What is so great about that?” – in an attempt to keep bubbling the conversation upward.

Next, define your touch points. These are the places where your desired audience, prospects, and even customers come in contact with your company. These touch points could be anything from front line phone answering, to websites, faxes, quotes, service calls, invoicing, emails, seminars, trade shows, etc., etc. ALL touch points MUST CONVEY THE CORE OFFER. Period.

In our first example, if the school doesn’t provide new student inquiries with enough “knowledge” to make a clear, no pressure decision to become a student, they are not living up to their core offer. In the second example, if the company is too slow in the customer’s mind to turn quotes, they can’t be counted on for “speed”, and as such they are not living up to their core offer either. These breaches, while they may sound trivial, essentially break trust, short circuit critical word of mouth referrals, and limit the abilities of your best sales person ever – Marketing – to help you grow your business.

Should the small, medium enterprise ( SME ) sector advertise?

Should large enterprise advertise? A much different question, but from a directional perspective the following test can be both fun at parties, and quite telling. Ready? But, first you have to agree that checking your TiVo is cheating, and Coke and Budweiser don’t count, because they actually are brands.

Deal? All right then, Go! - Name three companies that advertised during the Super Bowl, and what products / services they advertised?

If you are like most people, you won’t remember the companies, or the products and services. However, if you do happen to remember the company, you probably won’t remember the products and services. Lack of memory is NOT a brand, it is a symptom of being “brand-less”, a place where core promises are forgotten, or perhaps more accurately, never really seen, or heard in the first place.

“Branding” has become an all too common term for a whole host of things that are not necessarily brand building, particularly for SME; owners, executives and managers accountable for revenue growth.

A recent dialog with one SME client went something like this:

Client: “I’ve just got to start advertising.”

Me: “Who are you specifically trying to reach?”

Client: “More customers.”

Me: “OK, let’s outline a typical transaction for your business, and see what we can see.”

It turned out that there were actually two, potentially viable business building approaches. Advertising was one, and direct sales calls, the other. But, not just any type of random sales calls, we arrived at the need for specific calls designed for the holder of transactional power within the demand chain. This direct approach when looking from a “holistic business” perspective was the lowest cost, and potentially the highest return given the “investment” the business could make. Good, old fashioned, relationship development, as opposed to a potentially VERY costly endeavor that may have produced an operational capacity drain, and additional cash flow issues for the business.

Don’t get me wrong. I am NOT anti-advertising. It’s part of our offer, and I advocate for advertising in situations where it can really, effectively fuel business growth, and more importantly profitability growth. These five keys may help you make your own assessments regarding any one, single market strategy venue:

First, is it a “holistic business” venue? Meaning, does the strategy potentially; add, subtract, or render neutral any of your current operational practices, or market strategies? If so, take a step back to rethink this new plan and perhaps do some concept testing before just jumping in.

Second, what is the expected return on investment ( ROI ) multiple? Optimally, hard dollars in should exceed hard dollars out by 4 to 1, or more. For example, $40K in new revenue, and $10K in expense.

Third, what is the anticipated operational burden? In other words, what does the soft dollar perspective look like? Companies, of any size, can ill afford to consume precious operational production time in a non-productive way. In the dialog above this represented, for example; a fairly time consuming educational process ( awareness building ) amongst potentially “non-qualified prospects” on “why” they might consider needing the product / service ( interest generation ) in the first place. This all sets the tone for a potentially costly trial sale, which may not result in profitable repeat sales, or true, long term brand building experiences for these new customers.

Fourth, is it brand consistent? Does the venue allow for an acceptable expression of the brand image? Often opportunities come up where there is need to compromise the; look, feel, tone, or manner of the graphic / linguistic expression to “fit”. Opportunities also come up that potentially compromise, relative to your desired audience, “who” you can actually reach, setting up a “bank shot possibility” rather than a direct, relationship building opportunity.

Finally, if any one of these is a cause for pause, or you find that you and your team don’t have some pretty solid answers, or at least grounded speculations - NOT “build it and they will come HOPES - then take a step back and get into a holistic business thinking and design mode!

Today, we are all a bit blind when it comes to how we are doing relative to fundamental marketing goals, such as; Generating Awareness, Building Interest, Facilitating Trial Sales and Sustaining Repeat Sales.

So, like Ray, we are looking for “signals” from which we can design. But, how do we get those signals? In many cases there simply is no wrist from which to assess the situation, or even check for a pulse. Much has been written over the past several years about the unparalleled power customers now have, and it may seem to owners, executives and managers that are trying to grow businesses, that their desired audience is actually hiding and doesn’t want to reveal themselves.

Customers and members of a company’s desired audience are not the only ones with new powers. Desktop publishing, the internet, eMail, video and a variety of other new ways exist for companies to attempt to “connect” within a variety of venues relatively quickly and easily. But, which is the best?

Ultimately, like Ray, we need to design ways in which we can receive and interpret our own signals to develop a keen sense of how we are doing in our efforts. Within this, a constant effort to really understand your customer’s / desired audience’s concerns, and effectively address them is essential.

From this perspective, here are four ideas to help alleviate some of the dillemas produced by these new found powers; First, figure out “who” your desired audience is. Demographic profiles can be very helpful, and developing customer characterizations can be fun.

Then, spend some time discovering “what” this group, or groups care about. Sometimes it is easier to get this process going by listing what you, and your team know they don’t care about. It is also important here to understand economic drivers and value perceptions.

Follow this by doing some concept testing. Actually ask customers, and members of your desired audience what they think about your message. Include questions that relate to message style and platform. This doesn’t have to be fancy and expensive. You just need to have a few people you can trust, that fit the considered set(s), give you honest answers. You also need to use some common sense. For example, don’t start with your most important customers, and DO NOT SELL in this process. Instead listen, observe, and don’t extrapolate, or “stereotype” what you hear. Most importantly note what people “do”, as this is often different from what they say.

Finally, based on the responses, move the message components; positioning, look, feel, tone and manner, or change the audience demographics until things begin to resonate with what you think is a large enough transaction pool (actual purchasers) to make your financial pro forma work.

Sound daunting? It is a bit of work, but well worth it, and perhaps important to remember that Thomas Edison didn’t invent the carbon filament light bulb on his first try. Instead, he simply designed a way to continue development and assess directional improvements that ultimately led to success.

A kind gift some might say, and I thought so too, until I began to percolate on it a bit, and speculatively explore the relevance between the gift and the clients brand building strategy. Then, the more I percolated, the more I came to the conclusion that there was no relevance.

The knife was nice enough, and truth be told I was recently thinking about how nice it would be to have a nice knife by my side, you know, when I’m out in the yard, tending to yard things. It seems like I always need to cut something open, or separate one thing from another, knife kind of things. I even went so far as to go by the knife case in the local hardware store, and take a look at what I might get myself, you know, as a Holiday present, a sort of celebration gift, because I’d already been thinking about knives. But, I didn’t do it, I didn’t purchase. Then the box came, and I ceremoniously opened it to find…Chatchkey!

Now, let’s fast forward to December of 2008. You have budget control, and have the dubious distinction of “getting something interesting, getting something memorable” for friends and loved ones to remember the business by. So, what do you do, get some chatchkey, smatchkey thing that doesn’t quite support ( size wise ) the logo / tagline lockup, and perhaps betrays the brand strategy?

NO! In instances like this it is often better to do nothing at all.

Some companies, in some industries, have to chatchkey.

However, if your really trying to build a brand, you need to think a bit deeper and do the following: First, look for something that supports your market strategy, and provides value to the client base and desired audience. You don’t want items that are going to take a nice vacation in someone’s kitchen catch all drawer before a one way trip to the landfill.

Second, include in your considered set, items that fully support the brand strategy, can carry the logo / tagline lockup with consistency, and don’t betray the brand’s look / feel / tone & manner. For example, if your a manufacturing services company trying to build a brand positioning for; quailty, speed and consistency - don’t get a mass produced knife that needs to have the logo / tagline folded up to get it on the handle.

Third, purchase items that are different, yet have parallels to your offer, and are consistent with your budget, and / or industry “gift” guidelines. For example, we used to attend a big yearly show, and host a small, invitation only hospitality suite. We were in the custom manufacturing business, and made the invitations out of stainless steel, in a numbered series, with one of four avant-garde images we had developed to portray the brand character. These became so popular that people would collect them, ask for specific numbers and put them up in their cubicles.