Tag: small businesses

Industry Views

Monday Memo: Your Local Advantage

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

imgSmall businesses often underestimate their greatest competitive edge. It’s not price. It’s not selection.

It’s localness. Big companies spend millions trying to sound personal and relatable. Small businesses already are those things – yet they often fail to exploit their advantage.

Common small business marketing mistake: Trying to sound big, speaking in an unnatural tone, a kind of “corporate costume.” It sounds like: “We are committed to excellence” or “Our mission is to provide unparalleled service” or “We pride ourselves on quality and customer satisfaction.” That’s verbal Styrofoam. Nobody talks like this and nobody remembers this.

Local isn’t just location

It’s a feeling. When customers say they prefer to “shop local,” they don’t necessarily mean geographically close, independently owned/noncorporate. Those things do matter, but they’re not the heart of it.

What customers really mean is:

  • “I feel like these people understand me.”
  • “They get what matters here.”
  • “They’re part of this place.”
  • “They care about the same things I do.”

Local is emotional

It’s relational, human. Show that you understand the place your customers live by referencing familiar landmarks, acknowledging local quirks, using neighborhood names, mentioning local events, speaking the way locals speak. Explaining that the advertiser is “just off the rotary at the bridge” tells would-be customers: “We’re here. We get it.” Big brands can’t fake that.

Tout personal service: 

“You can buy the same shed from Lowe’s or Home Depot, cash-N-carry. Buy yours at Lorraine Lumber and Paul Jr. will set it up in your back yard.”

This is the second installment in a 3-part series about optimizing commercial copy, the fundamentals we’re covering in Sales meetings as I visit client stations this spring. If you missed last week’s column, here’s “If It Doesn’t Matter to the Customer, It Doesn’t Matter.”  Next week here: “Anatomy of a Results-Producing Spot.”

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry Views

Pending Business: The 40% Factor

By TALKERS | by TALKERS

By Steve Lapa
Lapcom Communications Corp
President

imThere is something about 40.

40% of Q1 2023 podcast advertisers did not return for Q1 2024, according to Magellan AI.

40% of small businesses failed within the first three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

40% of all workers were prepared to quit their jobs two years ago, according to a McKinsey Study. 43% of email professional recipients open email on a mobile device, according to Statista.

44% of sellers quit the pursuit after the second call according to Scripted. Really? Almost half of the sellers reading this column give up after the second call? That statistic must be wrong.

Consider your typical sales day – prioritized, focused, clear goals established, with all seasonal and timely deadlines plugged in and ready for execution. Successful sellers put as much time and focus into planning and organization as they do into the sales process. So, why quit the process after the second attempt? There are only three reasons any experienced sellers would give up after the second attempt.

1. Poor targeting.

2. Unrealistic expectations.

3. A negative business condition requires a new approach.

Reason #3 is the answer to why I listed the 40% factor. Professional sellers and managers sometimes lose touch with the realities of local business conditions. Attrition has always been the enemy of local sales, yet managers and sellers rarely plan for it. Budgeting and analysis are easy paper exercises. Old fashioned ear-to-the-ground market “research” is equally important. Those who learn to balance the formal and the informal find themselves winning the battle of the 40% factor.

As we approach the second half of the year, with elections, seasonal sports, and major holidays ahead of us, time to sharpen our pencils and tweak the projections for the remainder of the year. And always remember your pencil should have an eraser.

Happy Selling!

Steve Lapa is the president of Lapcom Communications Corp. based in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. Lapcom is a media sales, marketing, and development consultancy. Contact Steve Lapa via email at: Steve@Lapcomventures.com.