By David Sanders, CEO of Creative Business Strategies, Inc.
There are several questions that a purveyor of products or services is trying to answer in today’s economy. Senior among them is, “Where are my customers?”
Many an entrepreneur is inadvertently trying to answer a very wrong question, “Why isn’t everyone my customer?” This is a question that leads mostly to a lot of worry and sleepless nights. Since experience tells us that to survive one must know very clearly where and how to find his customers, let’s take a look at the solution to this modern marketing dilemma.
You probably know someone who started a business with the idea that once he opened the doors, people would see what wonderful products he had to offer, walk in and buy. The large number of businesses that close shortly after they open are testament to the fact that as the economy toughens, this becomes an increasingly unworkable way to go about running a business.
Here is an example I recently ran across. For months a high end coffee shop was materializing on a corner not far from where I live. I mean, this place is high end. They have chandeliers for light fixtures. They are catering to a very special clientele who are willing to pay for extra atmosphere and (I would guess) extra goodies that can be added to their alleged better than average coffee. Unfortunately for the owners, the sparse quantity of customers frequenting this high end café is nowhere close to what it will take to keep it afloat. It is almost embarrassing to walk past the broad glass windows and see the tiny handful of clientele scattered below the elegant chandeliers.
Is there a wealthy silent partner in the background who has always dreamed of opening a fancy coffee house and just now got around to it? Today it is all too common to witness owners dying a slow death, losing a fortune by not knowing what to do to make their struggling business to turn around. This is the business equivalent of the real estate crisis.
Most owners need their business to pay off, and consequently, it becomes quite vital to answer this question, “Where are my customers.” What is the secret?
In a tough economy, the answer is a strong marketing program based on competent Market Research.
The outcome of marketing research can be demonstrated by a very different coffee shop, not very far from our elegant café. By marked contrast, it does not create an exclusive environment. It provides an inclusive atmosphere, even to the point of catering to the dog population by providing sidewalk tables complete with stainless steel water bowls so that dogs can relax along with their masters shaded by the awning and able to drink when they get thirsty. Since the place is not far from a dog park, it makes sense that they want all the pet owners to feel very welcome after they have taken Fido or Fifi out for a romp.
The result is that people linger at this joint. They meet friends, they mosey inside for a special pastry, get engrossed in conversation, stay a couple more hours, and several more trips inside for additional goodies and refills. On certain nights there is impromptu jamming that goes on in the back room. The place is not uncomfortably packed, but it has a good number of clientele from the time it opens until the time it closes every day. At a glance it might appear that there is nothing very special about it — except that it is a complete match for the people who frequent the area. It has not only found its customers, it has made sure that its customers find it.
If your establishment is not on a street and customers aren’t simply the local passers-by, it becomes a lot trickier to answer the question, “Where are my customers.” Nonetheless, to survive it must be intelligently answered. That is where market research becomes vital. Done right, it can effectively answer this burning question and a whole lot more.
As one of our clients at Creative Business Strategies recently said, after the startling success of our market research made him a believer, “Survey, survey, survey.” And he is right. If you don’t ask your potential customers carefully crafted questions, you are marketing your company and products in a vacuum. Marketing can never be successfully done in a vacuum, and here’s your wake-up call. Attempting to do so leads to chandelier-loving coffee aficionados and empty cafes.
Today the market is less forgiving than any time since the mild recession of 2001 or the tougher 1990 downturn. A marketing plan designed for a forgiving, soft-landing economy is your ticket to a very spinney ride. Yet many an entrepreneur has nothing else.
A marketing plan based on unverified theory or hunch today can be quite fatal. A heads-up plan based on really good market research done is worth the investment always. Getting the plan and research done by professionals who know what they are doing is the difference between hitting the vein of gold and missing it, even if you (like many entrepreneurs) are only 10 feet away.
To complicate matters, one of today’s biggest market places has suddenly shifted to a computer screen two feet in front of our noses, and the complexity of marketing there takes a quantum leap. But the Internet’s role has evolved into precisely the activity that has given marketing its name — it is the means by which one brings his products to market in order to mingle with customers, and make sales.
And so, we have come full circle. Next time you see a lonely farm worker on the freeway offering you a bag of oranges for a dollar, realize that you are looking at the most fundamental function of marketing — a means to find your customers and offer your goods in a way that makes it easy and desirable for people to buy. Marketing is a big subject, but a vital one, especially in an economy that is increasingly unforgiving. At Creative Business Strategies, we know the subject and how to make it work for you. It may appear to friends that you just open your doors and people magically walk in. But it won’t happen in today’s economy unless you market smart.
David Sanders is CEO of Creative Business Strategies, formerly Marketing Director of a Beverly Hills ad agency and President of an Internet start-up he took to #34 on the web. Mr. Sanders has been a market researcher and marketing guru since 1979. He can be reached at 727.304.5000 or CEO@CreativeStrats.com.
