Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad, answered a question about creating buzz in Inc magazine’s October 2008 issue with some profound insight:

Advertising is the tax you pay for being unremarkable.

Robert had to bootstrap his business and didn’t have the money to advertise. His business flourished because of word of mouth referrals. Being remarkable is a surefire way to get people talking about you. Seth Godin reminded us of this in his Purple Cow book.

When you view advertising as a tax, it no longer becomes the standard operating procedure for your company. Just because everyone else does it doesn’t mean you have to throw away your cash on the same thing.

If you embraced the constraint that you couldn’t advertise, what would you do to acquire customers?

Provide outstanding customer service as your marketing?

How about encourage word of mouth referrals?

Any way you’d slice it, you’d have to get creative. In so doing, you will probably even see ways to refine and focus your advertising message should you choose that path.

Your company, product, and service should be so good that you don’t need to advertise. Is that even possible? Yes, it is.

As you read the other day, we dropped our old pest control service Terminix and needed to find a new provider. At this stage of customer acquisition, your company’s marketing would hopefully take over and persuade a customer to choose you.

Word of Mouth

We, like many people, skipped the ad-ridden landscape and asked several of our friends for recommendations. We got a few passionate reviews and some that were just so-so.

One of our friend’s recommendations was:

I would hands down recommend Pflugerville Pest Control. The prices are reasonable and the owner doesn’t advertise because he gets so much work via word of mouth referrals.

This is a great example of what you want your customers to be saying about you!

Personal Service

I called the owner and spoke with him for about fifteen minutes. He took the time to explain their services and answered my questions in detail. I learned more about the pests around my house during that brief call than during the entire four years we had Terminix servicing our house.

Break the Rules

This small business seems to defy traditional logic:

• It has no website
• It’s trucks are not artistically painted
• It doesn’t advertise

Those business practices may seem restrictive, however, this small business is succeeding because of several key factors:

1. word of mouth referrals instead of advertising
2. pricing at 75% of the big boys
3. personable service

Their service is their marketing, that in turn, spawns numerous word of mouth referrals.

What can your company learn from the small, yet successful, Pflugerville Pest Control?

In Purple Cow, author Seth Godin talks about how mass marketing is dead. Blasting out your message to the masses is no longer effective.

Does this mean all is lost? Should you give up advertising?

No! You can go local.

Even in this internet age, you can still reach potential customers through traditional, mass media channels. For example:

During the last college bowl game season, I watched a bowl game interestingly titled “San Diego County Credit Union.” This game featured the University of Utah vs. Navy and was held in San Diego, California.

While the majority of people watching the game on ESPN probably don’t have a local San Diego County Credit Union, a lot of the people at the game did.

San Diego is full of US Military personnel and families, particularly the US Navy. So while the sponsorship of this football game seemed a little out of place, it was an extremely local advertisement. Very clever.

When you choose your mass marketing channel, choose wisely. Choose local.

Your advertisements will only be effective if they are targeted to the needs of those viewing them.

This past weekend we drove through the Hill Country here in central Texas out to a pumpkin patch. We took a small, two lane state road that had its fair share of curves and ups and downs. There wasn’t much traffic out on the road and we did see lots of motorcycles enjoying the ride and nice weather.

The drive was through some pretty remote country and we didn’t really see any development or billboard ads. However, when we approached the city of Marble Falls, there was a big billboard outside of town. It was the first one we had seen for miles. I thought it was kind of odd to be out there in the middle of nowhere. Then I saw what it was advertising.

The billboard was for motorcycle insurance. The billboard’s product may not have applied to my family cruising the Hill Country in our minivan but it was very applicable to all those motorcycle riders enjoying the same road we traveled.

It was not coincidence that the insurance company placed their billboard ad where they did.

Ad Placement

Seth Godin, in his book Purple Cow talks about the death of mass marketing and untargeted advertisements. Billboards could easily fall into the “mass marketing” category. Many companies fall into the trap of paying too much to reach too many people that are not potential customers. However, the example we saw out in the Hill Country was brilliantly positioned and it targeted exactly those people that would be riding by on motorcycles.

Laser-Guided Ads

Online advertisements are easily targeted to your audience. Keywords, search patterns, and user tracking information all allow advertisers to deliver ads with precision. How can you target your offline ads with similar efficiency?

Learn where your customers hang out. Find out what will catch their attention. Once you know, go make yourself visible in those same locations.

Spend Time with Customers

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone that worked for the insurance company was out on his Harley cruising the Hill Country and thought, “Hey, this would be a great place for a motorcycle insurance billboard.” How did he know that? Because he was out with the customers doing what they do and seeing the opportunities that other companies are missing.

A great way to advertise offline is by using promo items like personalized pens and other useful products.

Your customers are seeking validation of their decision to do business with you. Testimonials and case studies from fellow customers can help overcome doubts and close the sale.

Truly powerful testimonials and case studies come directly from customers. If you try to create a case study from scratch without the customer’s involvement, you are missing out on some valuable information.

Gather the Information

Sean D’Souza reminds us that we shouldn’t make testimonials too sugary. To create testimonials with substance, he suggests asking customers these questions:

1. What were your perceptions before you bought our product/service and were you reluctant in any way?
2. How did you feel as a result of using the product/service?
3. What specific results did you get as a result of using the product/service?

John Jantsch on his Duct Tape Marketing blog suggests you ask a client four questions:

1. What solution were you seeking when you hired us?
2. What did/do we provide that you value the most?
3. What has been the result of working with us?
4. What would you tell others who are considering hiring us?

Instead of guessing why a customer chose you or likes to do business with you, you can gather that information straight from the customer. You’ll probably even get feedback you weren’t expecting.

Combine these two sets of questions together to mix and match those that best suit your business and customer base.

Tell a Story

Asking questions of your customers and clients allows you draw out their “story” so you can then retell it to other prospective customers.

Your customers will each have their individual challenges and needs. You can relate situations and successes from previous customers via testimonials and case studies to prove that you can help solve your prospective customer’s problems.

Resolve Common Concerns

If you know your customers frequently have the same questions, you can leverage testimonials to show how others may have had those same doubts and yet your product masterfully delivered what you promised. Imagine the power your “frequently asked questions” page would have if your current customers answered the questions based on their own experience with you!

Your claims carry far more weight and credibility when you can back your statement up with those from real life users.

Prospective customers may not know all the great features and benefits of your product or service. Don’t overlook a simple step in marketing your products: tell your customers why they would want your product.

I was checking some football scores this past weekend on ESPN.com. Before the scoreboard launched, they showed me an intermediate page:

This ad was trying to promote ESPN’s premium service. However, all they could say to entice me was “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

If I don’t know what I’m missing, why would I want to sign up?

Why don’t you tell me I get extra articles and interviews? Tell me I get discounts and streaming online video of games.

Please tell customers what they get and why they should care.

Some customers will be curious and try to find out what they are missing even if you don’t tell them. However, that is the exception to the rule. Most potential customers, oblivious to your great product, will walk on by without further investigation.

First, tell customers about your product’s great features. Second, translate those into how they benefit the customer. By so doing, you’ll paint a picture that the customer can imagine and will compel them to proceed down the sales path.

The more comfortable you are with your customers, the easier it is to ask for referrals.

On our recent family vacation, my wife and I attended a melodrama at the Pickleville Playhouse. The lighthearted show created a very casual atmosphere. It was therefore very easy for the actor at the end to say:

If you liked the show, go home and tell all your friends. If not, then shut up!

If the stage had not been properly set (pun intended), then the customers (audience) could easily have been offended by that statement. Nevertheless, due to the comfortable atmosphere that Pickleville created, they could close with that memorable statement. In fact, the audience laughed and here I am at home telling all my friends about it.

On the flight home, we flew Southwest Airlines. They have always provided us great service in the past and this time was no exception.

As our plane taxied to the terminal, the flight attendant was making the standard announcements. Then she paused and said:

Remember, friends don’t let friends fly other airlines.

Once again, this could have come across as cocky or arrogant. However, the crew had created a very pleasant flight for us and this statement received a chuckle from those listening.

If you want customers to refer their friends to you, just ask. Follow up your great service with an invitation to have your customers tell others about you. Make it funny and they’ll be that much more likely to tell someone else!

Gross Margins are a great indicator of the health of your business. As you may know, you can calculate your gross margin with this equation:

Revenues – Cost of Goods Sold = Gross Margin

Marketing expenses usually come in further down the income statement. Therefore adjusting marketing expenses won’t directly affect gross margin, but would rather impact net income.

Since the Marketing department can do little to change the cost of goods sold, their focus falls on the top line revenue growth.

What are some things Marketing can do to help top line revenue growth?

• Drive increased sales volume to compensate for lower margin products
• Convert more website traffic to sales leads
• Upsell customers to higher margin products
• Communicate product value (not cost) and benefits to customer
• Cross-sell related products with higher margins to customer’s original purchase
• Use Good/Better/Best positioning of higher margin products
• Promote higher margins products over lower margin items

Your product lines will have varying gross margins and your marketing will need to react accordingly.

If you can convince a customer of the high value of your product, cost becomes a minimal factor in the buying decision.

Persuade a customer of your product’s value and they will:

• buy higher margin products
• not ask for or require discounts on a purchase
• buy more products
• become loyal, return customers

All of these customer actions will lead to sustained and growing gross margins.

Are you more likely to buy from a local company than a national chain? What if a local company started in your backyard and then grew to national fame?

Businesses that feel like they are local can have a competitive advantage over cookie-cutter generic national or global brands.

Ice cream shop Dairy Queen has branded itself as Texan. Their catchy little jingle on commericals sings “DQ … that’s what I like about Texas!”

They even go so far as to say their white on red logo is a “Texas Stop Sign.”

By the sounds of it, Dairy Queen may very well be a Texas business. However, they didn’t start here. They started in Joliet, Illinois in 1940.

Despite their non-native status, Dairy Queen has created a powerful Texas brand that sticks in customers’ minds.

Obviously, Texas is a huge market and merits the custom marketing campaign. However, the principles here are sound. Targeting your local population by helping them feel you are a part of their community will influence buying behavior.

Your local small businesses recognize the power of their “locally owned and operated” tag lines. Large corporations see the benefits too.

Remember, customers may not be local to you but they are “local” to where they live. How are you targeting your local customers?

You probably don’t think about termites all that often. I know I don’t. However, on the drive home last week I heard a Terminix radio ad stating that I have a 3 times greater chance of my home getting infested with termites in Austin (where I live) than in other cities.

Terminix’s advertisement triggered my imagination and sent me thinking about the worse case scenarios: Imagine your house destroyed from the inside by nasty little termites. You could face thousands of dollars in repair costs. Ouch!

When to Use Fear Marketing

Some products and services lend themselves to fear marketing better than others. You probably wouldn’t get termite pest control if you weren’t afraid of not preventing trouble. You’d skip the life insurance premiums or the flood insurance if you weren’t at least a little afraid of the unimaginable.

Consider your audience and product before firing off your initial salvo of fear marketing. You could use fear marketing to drive people to action in multiple areas of disaster prevention or mitigation:

• untimely death
• health and illness
• accidents (work or automobile)
• relationships
• safety
• home ownership
• extended warranties

There is an opportunity to leverage fear marketing to your advantage anytime a customer risks losing money, time, property, or life.

When Not to Use Fear Marketing

If your products will make people happy, please don’t dwell on the negative! Focus on all the positive things that will result from purchasing your product. Don’t overshadow your uplifting company and product with negative overtones of doom and gloom.

Not all people will respond to marketing by fear. You may want to balance any fear campaign with an opposite approach highlighting the positive outcomes. A balanced strategy will capture a broader, more diverse group of potential customers.

Fear Marketing Guidelines

Nedra Weinreich gives us several points to make our fear marketing effective:

1. Make sure the portrayed consequence of not taking action is severe, but not exaggerated.
2. Make the audience feel that the problem is relevant to them.
3. Provide a specific action that the audience can take to prevent the portrayed consequence from happening.
4. Ensure that the audience believes that the proposed solution is effective in preventing the consequence.
5. Portray the solution as something that the audience can easily do.

Provide the Happy Ending

You need to paint a picture for your potential customers that compels them to action. You want them to visualize themselves with a happy ending because they purchased your product. Your product becomes a security blanket that helps the customer sleep at night without the fear of a looming disaster.