If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed, even confused, about where to focus your marketing energy, you’re not alone. The options seem unlimited. Just ten years ago, a fine strategy for a business owner’s marketing and promotional plan likely included some direct mail, print, broadcast and outdoor advertising options, some type of community outreach program, compelling sales materials, and a brochure-style website. Today, we can engage with prospective customers almost anywhere, so businesses include interactive websites, blogs, mobile apps, social media, digital advertising, video channels, email campaigns, and more. Luckily for most of us, just because we can [try to] do it all, doesn’t mean we should. It’s very easy to spread yourself too thin, which can actually dilute your message, reach fewer customers, and exhaust you and your resources in the process.

Where do you start and how do you select the most appropriate avenues for your business? How do you do it with clarity and confidence? First and foremost, be selective. Be critical and objective. Don’t be dazzled by analytics unless you’re seeing an impact on your bottom line. Make a plan. Build your plan on a foundation of the basics. Make sure you keep your core vision in mind. What do you do for your customers? Who are they? Where do they get their news and entertainment? Why do they choose you over others?

Interested in a guide to help market your business? For a modest fee, Stone’s Throw provides MarketingCare, a custom marketing plan roadmap to get you started. Click here to learn more, or contact Deanne at 609-395-0650.

You’ve received an RFP. Great. Fantastic.

Oh, wait a minute…now what?  While helping clients weigh their options, and determining the value of responding to RFPs ourselves, we’ve come up with a few guidelines that help make this process a bit less stressful.

1. Scan for response deadlines.  Sometimes RFPs offer flexibility.  Don’t allow scheduling conflicts to dictate an instant no thank you response.  Before calling for extensions on deadlines or for alternate arrangements for pre-bid meetings, finish the Go/No Go decision process.

2. Scan for scope.  Do the services requested fall within your company’s core strengths? If the majority of services requested are peripheral to your primary area of expertise, or would have to be outsourced, this contract may only be right for your company if the industry, or particular client, fulfill other business growth objectives.

3. Scan for contract value. If the services requested appear to be out of line with the contract budget, you may not be the only respondent to notice.  If the scope of the contract otherwise appears to be aligned with your company’s core services, feel free to call the RFP contact (often the Contracting Officer) for confirmation of the facts presented. If your understanding is correct, you can choose either to decline or to modify the scope of services or the budget in your proposal. Including a succinct rationale for the revision in your proposal will underscore your professionalism and experience. It may also disqualify your proposal.

4. Scan for client industry, type and location. Do you have set parameters for appropriate clients? Audit current clients for industry, type and location. Edit the resulting list as a guide for business development. Add industries, business types and locations in which you’d like to grow business; delete industries, types and locations that have proven less desirable.

Okay, the RFP captured your interest. Should you respond? Can you respond well?

5. How did this prospective client learn about your company? Compare referrals from a trusted client to contacts made “blindly” through advertising or business directories. One of the comparison points should be the conversion rate (from proposal to signed contract to ongoing client relationship) of other companies contacting you in the same manner. Keep in mind that government agencies and some other organizations are required by law or institutional procedure to request bids from several resources.

6. Does the prospective client’s RFP process match your company’s standard process? How much customizing will the proposal require? What investment will you be required to make to deliver a quality proposal package consistent with your company’s image? (Employee time, resources, expenses, etc.)

From this point, you can either trust your instincts and your understanding of the project and its demands, or, if you’re still not convinced, use a simple rating process to help tip the scales.

Rate the following statements from 1 to 5 based on their accuracy. Award a 1 for statements that are not at all true and a 5 to those that are absolutely spot on.

__ The timing is right.

__ The services requested speak to your company’s core strengths.

__ The budget allows for the smooth and timely completion of all service requirements, advancing the client’s objectives, and providing positive revenue for your company.

__ The potential client requesting the proposal would be a good match with your company’s mission, culture, philosophy, industry focus, defining values, etc.

__ The RFP makes sense. It asks for information in a way that reveals good things about the potential client (intuitive, articulate, complete, industry-savvy, process-oriented, etc.)

__ Your company can follow its standard process for responding.

Once you’ve given each statement a rating, add ’em up.

A total of 24-30 means the RFP in question should likely get a green light. The client and scope of work sound like an excellent match for your company and its services. You should take the next step, which is to read the RFP thoroughly to ensure that the opportunity is as good as it appears at first blush.

A total of 20-23 may mean you need to dig a little deeper. RFPs that score in this middle zone may either require considerably more work to prepare, or require your company to make requests for alterations in budget, scheduling or approach. If alterations are not possible, or if they’d put your proposal at a disadvantage, RFPs with this score may not be a good match.

A total score of under 20 means there are too many red flags. These RFPs may not be worth pursuing unless special issues are at play. If you choose to say no thanks, be sure to decline by letter unless otherwise directed.

© Stone’s Throw, Inc. All rights reserved.

How do you know where you are and if what you’re doing is in alignment with what you’re trying to achieve? We recommend an audit – not a financial audit – but an audit of your current marketing practices. And I know that some people think that they don’t have marketing practices to audit, but they do. (See “I don’t do marketing”.)

When we’re called into a prospective new client, we typically walk into a scenario in which the firm owner or company leadership sees the need for better marketing and doesn’t know where to start – or restart – or doesn’t have the internal resources to sustain the effort necessary to create forward momentum. The company may even have exhausted its internal team already and cracks in performance are beginning to show, either because the internal resource is crying uncle or opportunities are being missed.

A scenario we encounter less often is when the company owner believes that better marketing will help grow her business and to that end she’s been marketing the firm herself. She doesn’t want to invest more money in marketing, or any money in marketing, but she believes she’s willing to invest her own time in the process.

And, still, another scenario is when the company leadership does not believe that they need to improve their marketing efforts, but internal forces (sales people, business development folks) are demanding some kind of action or support.

In all of these situations, we ask the same questions in order to quickly audit the company’s marketing status. We ask questions that inform our internal assessor and judge. But first we ask them to show us or tell us what they’re currently doing to market the firm. Let’s list what we’re talking about so you know what to put out on the table in front of you.

• Your company name
• Your logo
• Your tagline, if you have one, or often-used “brand” language
• Website
• Social media accounts
• Advertisements
• Email marketing
• Letters and communication to clients and colleagues
• White papers or blog posts
• Capabilities package
• Sales materials
• Videos
• Etc.

All of this should be collected and put out in front of you in some way.

Now, we ask:

What do you do? What markets do you serve? Who is your ideal client or customer? Describe her workstyle, education, type of business or industry, etc.

Why does that client prefer to work with you? What makes your relationship work? As we ask these foundation business questions, we look and read the current marketing materials against the answers. Do the answers to your questions appear in your marketing materials?

Ask further: What feedback have these materials garnered? Do prospective customers respond to any of your marketing tools? How? How are you measuring the success of your marketing materials?

Right away you may be able to see where there’s accord and traction, and see where there’s a disconnect. That should begin to give you insight into your next steps.

This is something that any business can do for itself, whether you’re a solopreneur or run a fully staffed team: audit your marketing. Do this audit and be honest with yourself.

Do you market? Some business owners see marketing as something to be sidestepped as bourgeois or unflattering: “I don’t want to give the appearance of looking for customers.” Even as they protest, they make clear what amounts to a marketing strategy. How do we come to that conclusion? Marketing is a broad term describing our efforts to make our prospective customers aware of our services or products, and help convince them that we are an unparalleled choice for those services or products. It’s not a prescription for strategy or tactics, which are very specific to each business. For those who want to refrain from the optics associated with crass commercialism, as in our opening example, they may choose to focus on community projects, conferences, open houses, awards, and scholarships, rather than broadcast and billboard advertising. Anything that you use to develop business or sell your wares can be called marketing. Given that description, is it easier to answer the question, do you market? No? Perhaps you get all your business from word of mouth and have a constant stream of assignments and purchase orders from one mega-customer, certainly you aren’t marketing, are you? The truth is, if you’re in business, you’re marketing. The moment you have an interaction with a customer, you’re marketing with the very tenor and quality of your communication. The way you greet each other is marketing. Your business name is marketing. It’s all part of your brand, which is the bedrock foundation of marketing. Knowing that it’s all marketing will empower you to ensure that your marketing (perhaps previously unintentional) is in alignment with your business objectives.

Leverage our customized marketing plan roadmap to get you started.

Spend more time on what works and less time chasing white rabbits. MarketingCare provides smaller to mid-size organizations with insightful feedback and step-by-step recommendations for marketing with impact.

You’ll receive:

•  A one-on-one interview with a marketing professional who knows the right questions to ask to help determine what your business or organization does, the market(s) it serves, where it’s been and where you’d like it to go

•  A brief overview of your company background and general marketing objectives

•  Recommendations for marketing and promotional activities geared to your business’s objectives

•  Step-by-step suggestions for creating presence, softening the market, and building relationships with your clients, customers or members

•  A review of your customized plan with a marketing professional

•  An easy-to-follow guide

Use the plan in whatever way works best for you.
•  Develop your marketing materials and promotional activities on your own.
•  Contract Stone’s Throw for the support and services you need to develop and execute one or all of our recommendations. On request, we will provide you with pricing for creative and other services at no obligation.

“Clients get overwhelmed with the day-to-day demands of running a business or organization. Marketing can become a grinding necessity or is guided by bursts of energetic focus after weeks of neglect. It’s part of our job to help them feel some relief. When that space opens up, we can see clients becoming excited again. Everything begins to click.”

We’ll provide the careful devotion to the details.

For more than 20 years we’ve worked closely with clients in fields that range from professional services to education, and from biotechnology to healthcare. We understand the unique dynamics of working with smaller companies that have the ability to react quickly to shifts in market climate or sudden business development opportunities; you want to work with a team that will help you rise to the occasion. You also value a creative partner who provides checks and balances between planned activities and expectations.

Contact us for information on our flat fee for the entrepreneur and small to mid-size businesses and organizations.

Beyond a marketing plan, how can we partner with you to move your business forward?

For a select number, Stone’s Throw provides virtual CMO support, functioning as the business’s marketing department. As a Chief Marketing Officer would, we initiate and guide marketing plan recommendations and develop communications strategies that align with the company’s overall growth objectives.  As a marketing manager and department would, we also provide the creative services, design and copywriting, art direction, production and programming that bring the company’s marketing plan to life. From broad goal setting, to day-to-day marketing tasks, we work side-by-side with you to build forward momentum. It all starts with a plan, even if that means determining a few loose parameters now, and establishing more focused guidelines later.

Over the course of nearly 25 years, we’ve had the privilege of working with many fine businesses and organizations. Those most successful at engaging their target audiences – and manifesting brand language that resonates with customers– have one important characteristic in common; they understand the power of planning.

Strategic marketing communications for your business are just a stone’s throw away.

Consultation  •  Strategy  •  Writing  •  Design  •  Integrated marketing programs  •  Individual projects

© Stone’s Throw, Inc.  All rights reserved.

For a smaller business, you’re probably not going to invest in a national television ad campaign; you’re going to TARGET your efforts to more likely potential customers. Do you have the tools to do that?

Those tools may fall into three major categories:

This first category: these are the kinds of tools that lay the foundation or help you create a presence for your firm that appeals to your target audiences:

• A revealing logo
• A tagline
• A CRM to track your customer and potential customer contact and contact information
• A website

The second category: these are the kinds of tools that help you reach out to your target audiences:

• Advertising
• Email marketing
• Direct mail
• Press releases

The third category: these are the tools that help you build stronger relationships with clients:

• Trade show or conference participation
• Blog contribution or white papers
• Capabilities materials, like PowerPoint presentations, a quick snapshot of your capabilities, a brochure – all the things that you might send to prospects to help them better understand how you make their lives easier

Do you see any obvious holes in your marketing toolbox? Missing any tools? If you want to reach members of a particular trade organization, have you joined the association? attended functions? sponsored events? taken advantage of member outreach? What tools do you need to support those efforts? You’ll need tools from each category. Once you’ve identified any disconnects in your messaging (see “ Are you avoiding a marketing audit?”) and any missing tools in your marketing toolbox, it’s time to develop a communications strategy. A communications strategy serves as a guidepost to ensure that your messaging stays on track and is exposed to the right audiences in order to help meet your business objectives. Learn more about a simple and fun technique to get started. (See “What am I?”)