DEVELOP A MARKETING PROGRAM BASED ON RESPONSES TO SPECIFIC ADS

A subscriber at DGN, wanted advice on starting an email marketing business.  Here is DGN’s reply:  He made good points as usual, and this in particular matched my experience at marketing on behalf of a mechanic in my area.

In most cases, small businessmen are completely uninterested in marketing. It really is worse than this. They resent the fact that they have to do marketing. They don't want to do marketing. They are simply specialists in providing a service. They think that paying attention to service is 90% of what they have to do. They see business ownership as technical. "Pay attention to details, not including marketing, and everything will work out fine." This leads to business failures on a massive scale. Most businesses fail. The survivors go on to develop good businesses, but it is random as far as their marketing is concerned. They are part of that tiny percentage that somehow makes it by means of word-of-mouth. But most businesses never achieve this. 

This too was good.

So, in trying to sell marketing services to a small business owner, you're dealing with somebody who violates the two principles of business. First, the person does not want the service. Second, the person doesn't have any money. So, this is going to be a failure. It takes self-discipline to turn out systematic emails on a regular basis. You can do it for your own business, but it is very difficult to do it for anybody else's business. The person running the business is not interested in communicating with his customers. He doesn't really like to deal personally with customers. He is willing to deal with the person on a face-to-face basis, but usually only when taking their credit cards. 

And this may be the most valuable piece of his article.  The insight is gold:

What would work? Go to the Yellow Pages in your area. Look at all the ads, especially medium-sized ads, for a particular business category. These people are paying money to get zero responses. They have lots of advertising money, and they do not have a clue as to how to advertise. That is the market. These people are willing to do something in marketing, and even pay for it, but they are not willing to monitor it. The monitoring is the key. You have to know what is working. But businessmen don't want to do this. 

And this was good advice. 

It is all right to give away this service to a small business owner in order to learn the trade. Don't expect the business owner to pay you for this. The business owner doesn't believe you can do it, and you probably are not sure that you can do it. Prove to yourself that you can do it, and be sure to get a recommendation in writing from the small business owners you have helped to develop their businesses. This is a form of marketing on your part. 

So, to start, get the Yellow Pages in your area.  Look at the ads, especially the medium-sized ads, for a particular business category.

Gary North asks poignant questions.

Who is the target audience?Why will they care?What is their hot button?How can you get through their secretaries?What will you ask them to do?What is your follow-up after they do it?