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2008 Issue 8
Developing Quality Marketing
Materials On A Budget
Get An Online Share Of The
Mature Market
Fun In The Workplace
Tips For Young Managers
 
Developing Quality Marketing Materials On A
Budget
Although many businesses cut back on marketing
in difficult or uncertain economic times, smart
operators continue to market their products and
services. They know they can gain market share
and cement customer loyalty while their
competitors are losing ground.
The challenge in tough times is to continue to
market your business effectively, but at a lower
cost. However, this doesn’t mean just focusing
on lower cost marketing vehicles. Low cost
campaigns are only low cost if they get results
- if they don’t work they are simply a drain on
your marketing budget. Marketing must be both
low cost and high quality.
Low cost marketing needs to be driven by a high
quality marketing strategy. Fortunately, you can
develop a marketing strategy yourself. Although
you can buy marketing information and specialist
advice, you and your team have the best
understanding of your business and are best
placed to make final decisions on marketing
strategy.
Devising a marketing strategy
Your marketing strategy should grow out of a
written marketing plan. Although you may feel
you don’t need a formal document - and writing
one can be very time-consuming - the process of
putting thoughts on paper can force you to
rethink your marketing in a rigorous way.
For example, you will be required to precisely
define your customers in terms of age, gender,
occupation, income, education and location. The
plan will specify how the features of your
product or service will satisfy the needs of
your (potential) customers. By defining these
features as benefits to your customers, these
benefits will then become the focus of your
marketing materials.
The plan will also identify your best means of
marketing communication, for example, the most
appropriate print, radio and Internet
advertising options.
The better you understand your customers, the
better you can target your marketing materials
and the more efficiently you can use your
marketing budget. Your marketing message will be
more effective because you know your customers’
‘hot buttons’.
A good marketing plan can also be used to
attract investment. Even if it is only for
internal use, it can help your team members work
towards common goals. It will also provide a
marketing overview to give your materials a
consistent look and feel.
So, the first step is to get the big picture
sorted out. Then you can decide where to cut
corners in terms of cost.
It’s unwise to cut certain kinds of marketing
material, for example, company brochures. A
brochure can be a very useful marketing tool,
summing up your company in a few pages, but it
needs to be top quality. Potential customers
will make assumptions about the quality of your
products based on the look and feel of your
brochure. The brochure should therefore look
distinctive, be well designed, have good quality
graphics and be printed on premium stock. All of
this costs money.
Seek alternatives to brochures
However, there’s no need to send out an
expensive brochure if a postcard will do the job
instead. A well-designed postcard can look
stunning and its production costs are naturally
a lot less than a brochure. You can use
postcards for launching new products,
introducing yourself to potential customers and
announcing sales or promotional events.
A postcard may be cheaper and more effective
than a letter. It’s more likely to be looked at
(because there’s no need to open an envelope).
People may not even need to read it - if the
card bears a strong headline you can communicate
something at a glance.
In tough times, you are likely to rely more on
networking as a low cost method of winning
business. Your business card can be a valuable
marketing tool in this area. It’s useful if your
business or company name makes clear what you
do. You can then add a brief tag line to the
card that encapsulates the key benefit or unique
selling proposition of your products or service.
Be careful not to underestimate the importance
of card design. Although you may be able to use
desktop publishing software to design cards
yourself, a good design grows out of the
designer’s skill and experience. A good designer
is trained to optimize and organize information,
as well as having great sensitivity to
typography, graphics and printing.
You may not need professional design input for
all your marketing materials. For example, a fax
cover sheet is an effective low-key marketing
tool and can easily carry a message about your
business.
You sometimes need marketing materials to simply
keep in contact with your customers. Keeping in
touch every six weeks to three months ensures
you stay in their minds. This isn’t costly, as
you can stay in touch through fliers, emails,
faxes or phone calls.
You may find that consistent, low-key contact
with clients or prospects will give better
results than a single contact with expensive
marketing materials. For example, handing out
fliers at the cash register can be a good way to
build repeat business and increase your
customers’ range of purchases.
Giveaways can also be a good way of maintaining
your visibility. Put your logo and a tag line on
giveaway mugs, for example. Or consider putting
your logo on hats, T-shirts, ornaments or mouse
pads - even offer your products as prizes in
radio contests or competitions at local
events.
You can also add value to marketing materials by
including a personal touch. Try including a
handwritten note, where practicable.
Depending on your line of work, consider writing
articles for print or online publications. They
can showcase your business’s knowledge and
expertise, and only cost you time.
The main thing to remember is that, regardless
of cost, your marketing materials are most
likely to be effective when they highlight
benefits to your customers and include a clear
call to action.
The better you understand your customers, the
easier it will be to frame your marketing
messages. When you get the message right, you
will find it much easier to market on a tight
budget. To Top 
Get An Online Share Of The Mature Market
Every 7.7 seconds someone in the United States
turns 50, according to the National Business
Association. The 50+ population controls more
than US $7 trillion in wealth and is responsible
for 50 percent of all discretionary spending.
It purchases 41 percent of all new cars, buys 80
percent of all luxury travel, and is 30 percent
more likely to purchase products online than
younger users.
Yet many businesses, which conduct part or all
of their business online, miss this rich
potential market, because they think older
people are not Web-savvy.
However, older adults are often more “wired”
than you may think, as they get encouragement
from their children or grandchildren to go
online. Once they have logged on, many become
eager Internet users. Internet use is generally
high among those over 50 who work and have
college degrees. Many seniors say it has helped
them connect better to their family and makes it
easier to get information.
According to Joanne Fritz, a US-based specialist
on retirement, there are many ways to reach this
target market. It is very important for
business owners to recognize that seniors are
not all alike.
“They are more diverse than any other market
segment, spanning those at the peak of their
careers, to active, independent seniors, to the
elderly in need of care,” says Fritz.
Fritz gives the following tips for communicating
with and selling to the mature market:
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Do not talk down to them, or treat them as
children, or remind them of their age. Most do
not consider themselves “old”.
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There is disagreement about using words like
“senior citizen”. You should generally reserve
such terms for World War II veterans - not for
baby boomers who started turning 55 in 2001.
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Use realistic but positive images of mature
people. In your advertising you may show people
with wrinkles, but have them doing something
active.
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Stick to the facts about your product or
service. Mature people make more independent
judgments and base their decisions on
information rather than peer pressure.
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Design your communications so that older people
will stick around and read what you have to say.
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Avoid overly busy website design - small type
sizes, garish colors, and gratuitous design
elements such as flash or slow-loading graphics.
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Avoid “hype” - mature consumers have seen it all
and are naturally skeptical.
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You can win mature people over gradually by
gaining their trust.
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Give them content. Older people are avid readers
and will appreciate the information you provide.
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Sell what appeals to the mature audience such as
health products and information. You can give
them tips on managing their retirement assets,
ideas for low cost travel, help with buying
gifts for their grandchildren, the low-down on
the best places to retire, products that make it
easier for them to stay in their own homes, ways
to earn extra income, and opportunities to save
money.
To Top
Fun In The Workplace
Workplaces shouldn’t be all work and no play. A
workplace where team members have fun can
actually be much more productive.
Some employers might snort at the idea of fun in
the workplace. It’s an understandable attitude.
However, it’s also a big mistake, as they risk
losing the loyalty and enthusiasm of their team
members.
All workplaces at some stage face difficult,
brain-taxing and sometimes back-breaking
situations with heaps of frustration, long
hours, and short breaks. In this case, you would
want to try to make work fun for your team
members. They need to be able to joke around and
create a good atmosphere for themselves.
Let them do it, and they’ll be likely to work
their hearts out. Stop them, and they’re likely
to turn up late, find excuses for slacking off,
or even go off to work for another company,
leaving you in the lurch.
The buttoned-down boss of the fifties and
sixties is a dinosaur. To be a good boss these
days, you need to understand the equation of
“fun workplace equals happy team members equals
increased productivity”, and know how to stay in
control without appearing to.
In the US, companies now advertise fun as a
perk, and have been for some time.
According to myprimetime.com, job applicants
“rank a great work environment second only to
pay and benefits.”
People are thinking: “If you can’t guarantee me
a job next week, at least give me a compelling
reason why I should give my best today.” Sure,
they might turn up on time and do their jobs,
but why should they put in a special effort for
you if you might have to sack them next month?
They’ll only do it if they love working for you.
And they’ll only love working for you if - as
Bradford Swift wrote in Human Resources
magazine - you have created “a workplace that is
like a playground of excitement and ongoing
growth.”
Okay, let’s face it. Some jobs will never be
fun. Some jobs will never even be interesting.
They just have to be done. The job you offer
might be one of them. How do you get around
that?
First, realize that fun in the workplace is
about making the work you do fun or letting
people do this for themselves. At another level,
it’s about boosting creativity and problem
solving, and fostering teamwork.
If you can’t make the job itself fun, you can at
least foster a fun work environment.
Sometimes, you don’t have to do anything – your
team members will already be doing it.
Watch the way they might joke around while
they’re working. You’ll probably notice they’re
working very efficiently and having a good time
doing it.
Of course, any joking around has to be
appropriate and within limits. Any form of “fun”
at the expense of other people’s dignity or
well-being is not acceptable.
That aside, Benita Collings, trainer and writer
with Corporate Trends magazine, says it’s
“a proven fact that laughing releases endorphins
and makes you feel great. People who feel good
are generally happy in their work and work more
productively.”
Humorist and business consultant, Jeff Albers,
notes that happy people are healthy people. On
his website, he writes: “Along with a good sense
of humor comes laughter which…generates an
environment that is emotionally and morally
healthy…which, in turn, reduces stress and blood
pressure.”
Albers noticed fewer mistakes in companies that
had a fun atmosphere and concluded this was
because team members felt more comfortable. He
also noticed that such companies enjoyed a
steady increase in sales.
To get some fun into your workplace, try the
following:
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Schedule frequent but affordable social events
such as movie nights, barbecues, picnics, or
paintball skirmishes.
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Play games now and again. Turn hallways into
makeshift bowling alleys. Erect a basketball
hoop in a parking area and hold lunchtime
tournaments.
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Distribute small toys. Research has shown that
manipulating toys frees the mind to be creative.
-
Have a “role reversal” day where team members
can do each other’s jobs instead of their own.
This can foster a greater sense of respect and
teamwork among your team members.
-
Let everyone go home early once a month, or take
them out to lunch.
You want your team members to enjoy coming to
work. For, more often than not, happy teams are
also successful teams.
To Top
Tips For Young Managers
One of the biggest challenges for a business
owner in managing team members is the issue of
jealousy, according to Amanda Stevens, who
started her business Splash Advertising, when
she was only 21.
When a team member becomes jealous of a young
achiever, managers need to act quickly before
the dissent goes through the office, she says.
“Either talk with them openly or get them out,”
says Stevens.
This consistent, open and honest flow of
communication is important to Stevens and
something she suspects comes easier with youth.
Youth does bring with it a set of challenges for
business owners when it comes to managing team
members. However, Stevens says the disadvantages
of youth can often be turned into points in
favor of a young business manager.
Youth, for example, may not sit well with many
traditional methods of autocratic management.
Stevens says she was uncomfortable with most of
the styles in the many management books she has
read.
“It is important to find a leadership style that
you feel comfortable with and fits with your
personality,” Stevens says. “It is not congruent
otherwise. My leadership style is quite unique -
I am friends with my staff.”
One of Stevens’ main aims in managing team
members is to empower the people around her.
Empowering team members means managing from
within instead of giving orders from above.
Stevens says she empowers people through
meetings where everyone helps make business
decisions and bi-annual weekends away to set
longer-term goals for the business as well as
individuals.
Stevens says she has learned to hire people who
are complementary to her style of working and
right for the job involved. She says a common
mistake younger managers can make in hiring
people is to choose someone they like. “The best
staff I’ve got are people who complement my
skill set with different ways of thinking.”
Youth brings energy and enthusiasm that does not
always come easy to older business managers,
Stevens says. Youth also helps a business
manager pick up after a mistake or fall, moving
the team onto better ground, Stevens says.
“Youth used to be a disadvantage for this
company but now it is an advantage. Our clients
want us for our energy and enthusiasm,” she
says. To Top
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