22% Increase in Sales with a Cup of Coffee

Trying to find ways to grow your sales? Try a free cup of coffee.

One initiative I tried with a QSR client of mine was to give away free coffee during breakfast hours. The restaurant competes directly with QSR breakfast category leader, McDonald's. To make matters worse, the location is down the street from McDonald's and a bit tucked away--not ideal for capturing traffic coming off the highway.

So I recommended they give away coffee for free. That's right. Free.

Coffee is a low cost item for this concept so the cost of goods was not a factor. We utilized a sign waver at the main intersection for a couple of weeks so labor cost increased slightly. But the bump in sales more than compensated for the extra labor.

In fact, the bump in sales was a healthy 22%.

Better yet, the increase in sales sustained beyond the promotion. And if sales dip again, the store is prepared to roll out this easy promotion any time they need it.

For your small business, can you create buzz and traffic with a low cost and high value item? Is there a cup of coffee you can offer your prospects to get them in the door?

Free is a powerful concept. Leveraged well, free can move your business to the next level.

How Far Do Your Loyalists Go?

Every successful business needs some loyalists.

Loyalists are generally satisfied customers, but not always. Friends and family make great loyalists as do suppliers and vendors.

Loyalists move to the next level when they become brand evangelists. Evangelists spread the good word about your product or service. They are the ones feeding the word-of-mouth, generating referrals and recommending your business to others. They drive your passive marketing efforts.

So how far do your loyalists go? Are they evangelizing? Are they willing to take on a permanent tattoo on their body to show their loyalty?

Perhaps few loyalists will go that far, save the ones pictured here.

Nevertheless, the point should be clear: move your business to the next level by creating brand loyalists willing to go to the extreme to express their devotion and willing to do whatever it takes to spread your good word.

So maybe instead of asking "how far do your loyalists go?" I should ask "what are you doing to create brand loyalists willing to go to the extreme for you?"

Which Sign is More Effective?

For many small businesses, signage is one of the most important marketing channels. Yet too many businesses miss the mark with their signs.

A poor sign is overcrowded, lacks visibility or otherwise fails to move the reader to the next level of the sales funnel.

So what makes a good sign?

A good sign is both simple and memorable. To achieve this, start with the objective of the sign. What do you want the reader to understand? What action do you want them to take?

Now focus on that specific objective and make a simple yet memorable sign. Good signage communicates one simple message that can clearly be remembered.

Take these two signs for example. Located on a busy street less than one block from each other, both these signs offer the same deal.

So which is more effective?

Well, the only way to really know is to document traffic counts. You should track traffic with your own signs particularly if you have a storefront. Put up a sign one day and count the number of people that enter based on that sign. Put up a different message the next day and count again. Repeat this and optimize your messages over time. You may find that "2 for 1" draws more business than "Clearance" or something along those lines.

Without the ability to track these signs, I would argue that the second sign is better. Yes, it is crude, unprofessional and incorrectly written. Hardly what many brands want to communicate. But the message is loud and clear.

Simple and memorable.

Move your business to the next level with simple and memorable signage. Proffesionalism is nice as you want your signs aligned with your brand, but if your message is not simple and memorable your sign will miss the mark.

Marketing DNA Haiku

Differentiate.

Target a narrow market.

Add lots of value.

For more on Marketing DNA and how to move your business to the next level, see past blog entries here.

3 Things a Recruiter Can Teach You About Marketing

A good recruiter is more than an expert in Human Resources. A good recruiter is also an expert marketer.

Consider three strategies a good recruiter implements and how they can be applied to successful small business marketing:

1) Extremely Targeted Search: a recruiter has one person in mind to fill a certain position. In order to find that one person, the recruiter establishes a very defined profile: experience, performance, salary, skills, etc. In creating a clear profile, the recruiter narrows the talent pool. Instead of trying to find a needle in a haystack, a recruiter cleans out most of the hay to make the search easier.

Same goes for marketing: narrow your focus. Target a small niche. Recruit only the most qualified customers with your marketing. Unless you're Starbuck's or McDonald's, you don't want to attract the masses. Like the recruiter, simplify your efforts with a clear and defined profile of your target market. It will make your job much easier.

2) Quality is Better Than Quantity: a targeted search will yield more qualified candidates for a recruiter. Less is more for a recruiter: less candidates with more qualifications is always better than more candidates with less qualifications. A recruiter finds less candidates with more qualifications with one simple, clear and direct message. More important, a good recruiter will broadcast his or her search in fewer channels, not more. A clear message in one or two channels will cut down on the quantity and yield more quality.

Same goes for marketing. Too many businesses spin their wheels trying to broadcast a variety of messages across various channels. In this case, quantity will bury your marketing efforts. Instead, focus on the quality of the marketing. Think about the specific market you are targeting and dedicate your energy to one or two key messages to communicate to that market. Find one or two channels for that market and extract quality from fewer channels.

3) Be Romantic: the ultimate test of a recruiter is if he or she can land top talent. This requires ample wooing. Sure, a recruiter needs to paint a real picture of the job, but in order to compete for the best, a recruiter must go above and beyond what everyone else is doing to ensure that his or her company will get the talent they need.

This is no different than marketing. Romance your prospects. Woo you customers. Go above and beyond what everyone else is doing and you will convert leads into paying customers in no time.

In all, recruiting is more like marketing than you might expect. Move your business to the next level by applying some key recruiting strategies to your Marketing DNA.