The other day (4/3/2019) I was meeting a friend for lunch and we decided to meet at Delvecchio’s in Plantation, FL. I showed up a bit early for our meeting only to be surprised that they were closed during what would have been regular work hours. I called another location to find out what was happening as many times things happen and the business would reopen. I was told that the owner decided to close this location permanently. The person on the phone simply said they could keep up with it anymore. I found this a bit odd as they are located near a 55 plus community, have office buildings across the street, are next to an elementary school, and down the block from a middle school, and have a high school near by this location. As I went next store to Subway to eat with my friend I started to think about Delvecchio’s and how many other businesses like Delveechio’s close because they do not market daily. I am surprised by how many business owners I encounter who are not open to receive ideas about strengthening their brand and increasing their revenue. So many times a business owner get’s so wrapped up in the other aspects of the business that they forget the importance of marketing and advertising. Surprise, Surprise, Surprise if you are not marketing you are losing a large segment of the market as they are going those that are on the top of their mind. It is imperative to know your community and how to reach the potential customers/clients in your community. Knowing you target audience and how to reach them and have them do business with you is key.
In order to avoid putting the closed for business sign up permanently you need to develop a Unique Selling Proposition. It is important to set yourself apart from every other business in your industry. Think of business and what they became known for and then follow their model in your business. When you think of McDonald’s you think of The Big Mac, when you think of NIKE you think sneakers, when you think All State you think accident forgiveness. The key is having something that you are known for that others in your industry don’t have. Ask yourself what do I have that is proprietary to my business and how can it put me on the top of the mind of the consumer. Then ask yourself how will I market this Unique Selling Proposition.
The key to marketing is to build raving fans that will share your business with others. I remember working at Sinbad Sports back in 2016 and taking fliers to all the sports bars and speaking to General Mangers who allowed me to hand the fliers out to their patrons in return I allowed them to put fliers in the store. This allowed me to share a unique selling proposition as the sports store with all teams available. Another Unique Selling Proposition was the fact that the store had me as a knowledgeable employee able to answer questions while also promoting the store on social media. I remember during football season on Thursdays I would make my NFL Picks and post them on social media. I did this using different merchandise and showing my picks via video. At Sinbad Sports we also had items that you couldn’t find anywhere else thus I made it a point to feature them as well. I share this to emphasize the importance of marketing and engaging your staff in the process.
It is important to get to know your customers and to make them feel welcomed and important. When some one does business with you give them a reason to continue to do business with you. Do unique things like finding out their favorite food and then getting a gift card to a restaurant that serves that type of food to give to them the next time they come in. When you do things for your customers and they feel appreciated they will not only continue to do business with you they will share your business with others. Surprise, Surprise, Suprise, customer service is important. Remember they chose to do business with you so give them a reason to keep doing business with you and to recommend you to others.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise without a structured advertising and marketing plan you will find yourself throwing good money after bad and eventually this takes a toll on your business as many times it leads to closing the business permanently. Sometimes there are other factors why a business closes however one of the most common reasons is lack of marketing. Marketing is very simple find the problem that your business solves and then promote your business to those seeking to solve that problem. Make sure you know your niche market and target your advertising and marketing to them so that you strengthen your brand and increase your revenue. Marketing should be done daily.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise you can not have results if you are busy making excuses. I have heard so many times that oh business is slow I can’t afford to market. My answer is instead of complaining think of affordable ways to market. If you have some down time in your business hop on social media and invite people to do business with you by offering a special. When I worked at Celebrity Sports I would do videos and send them out and post them in groups. On some of the days doing this brought in a few people who told me I didn’t plan on coming y but I saw your video. On days that I wasn’t in the store I was out in the community finding people who liked sports or knew people who liked sports as a result I picked up a few regular customers. My Unique Selling Proposition was that I could do auctions on a consignment basis with non-profit organizations which helped them raise money while putting the store in front of the consumer so that when they needed something sports or pop culture related they though of Celebrity Sports 1st.
Surprise, Surprise, Surprise you need a knowledgeable marketing person who can build your brand and increase your revenue. You need someone who will be proactive and help you stay ahead of the curve so you are the leader in your industry not a follower. It is important for you to empower this person to make decisions. You will need someone who understand your business and has your best interest in mind. You will need someone that seeks and acts upon opportunities.
Avoid having to put this sign up by making marketing and advertising a priority.
In the time I worked with The Liberty I saw the importance of marketing, public relations, media relations, and all aspects necessary to have a successful sports franchise. We went from averaging 300 fans a game to over 500 by the end of the season. I was asked how we did this and the answer was that we had a proactive manifesto. The 1st rule of this manifesto was that we all agreed that we would share The N.Y. Liberty with everyone we came in contact with. We began to do extensive outreach to every media outlet, school, church group, synagogue group, volleyball organization. If there were people to talk volleyball to we were talking volleyball. We came up with a plan and worked proactively to implement that plan making adjustments along the way. We even had a TV contract to show the games on ESPN. 
If you are a frequent reader of this blog you know how deep my passion runs for helping those touched by cancer through my involvement with Relay For Life. I do my best to share Relay with as many people as I can especially businesses that can use cause marketing as a strategy to acquire customers and retain customers. I have partnered with many business like The Tijuana Flats in Tamarac, FL, The Chuck E. Cheese’s in Sunrise, and Skyline Chili in Sunrise, FL to do fundraisers and I have been very successful in bringing people to these establishments who normally would not have gone. As a result several of those involved in Relay have become regular customers at these establishments. I have had mush success with those who understand the importance of cause marketing. The key is to partner with a cause that you are passionate about and then leverage your involvement by mentioning it in advertising, through your social media, and in your media releases. The idea is that you never know who may come into your business because of your support of a cause.
I went to a McDonald’s located Nob Hill Road and Sunset Strip yesterday (4/1/2017) to seek support of Relay For Life and the manager told me you have to call the owner but didn’t have the owner’s number. I thought here is someone who is supposed to be looking out for the best interest of The McDonald’s franchise and should be astute enough to understand the importance of cause marketing. The interesting part of the interaction was that I was going to place and order but because of the manager’s attitude and lack of information to give me to contact the owner I left and went to SUBWAY and bought my meal there as they have supported Relay For Life. Think about it and do the math I would have sent about $8- $10 at McDonald’s but because of the manager’s lack of understanding of the importance of cause marketing another business received my business. The reason I share this with you is to show you that you must empower your managers to make some decisions when it comes to cause marketing because you may be leaving money on the table because of their lack of understanding the importance of cause marketing. $8-10 may not seek like a lot of money to be walking out the door but think about it how many people will see this story and not go to that McDonald’s and do you think I will be going back to patronize that location? 
Two of my favorite cartoon characters are Garfield and Snoopy and my favorite charity is The American Cancer Society. 2016 Marks my 17th year as a volunteer with The American Cancer Society Relay For Life. In my many years of fundraising and promotions I have learned that to succeed you need to be creative thus I developed a fundraising program called The Snoopy VS. Garfield Challenge where people are asked to visit http://main.acsevents.org/goto/jdogg4 and make a donation and put Snoopy or Garfield in the comments and whichever character gets the most votes based on donations wins. It is very simple and easy to participate in. This fundraising triggered a thought about the importance of being creative in your marketing. In being creative you want to have a campaign that is memorable that resonates with your target audience. With the Snoopy VS Garfield Challenge I am looking for people aged 25+ who will know who each character is and who wants to help plant the seeds of hope and healing for cancer patients and their families. In using creativity and cause marketing people are seeing what I am passionate about and learning that when they use my services that they are supporting a cause that most everyone can relate to as cancer has touched almost everyone in one way or another.
Another creative fundraiser that I implemented was The Points For The Cure Football Edition, which helped to raise $21.50 for this relay for life. In having fliers and promoting it across football related platforms other relay participants ran a similar campaign. Now let’s translate this to your business if you have clients/customers that are football fans you can pick a team and do a special price based on the points that team scores or offer a discount based on the points scored. You can then market this across all your marketing platforms and thus generate more revenue simply because you were creative.
