The Importance of Marketing Consistency!

One Marketing Change… $84,000 LOST… Don’t Make The Same Mistake…

Let me ask a simple question… How important is consistency when it comes to your business?

The answer is simple… Consistency is CRITICAL.

You’d never stand for having an inconsistent product… or service… you work hard to make sure every customer get’s a great experience. That’s why customers come back. They see your product, they know it’s great, and they want more of it.

Here’s the crazy part… many business owners ignore consistency when it comes to marketing. Why, I’ll never know.

I see it over and over again.

Business owners see marketing as a dial to flick back and forth in their business. They turn it up at times, and down at others… and some turn it completely on and off!

It’s one of the biggest problems… small business owners are NOT consistent in their marketing.

You don’t see Coke advertising for a few days then shut everything off for a few months. They don’t do it… and neither should you.

I’ve heard every excuse in the book…

• Long range planning isn’t a strong suit.
• I’m too busy dealing with paperwork
• I’ve got Employee problems
• I have all the customers I can handle.

Excuse… excuse… excuse…

I know one business who shut off their marketing… and it cost them a cool $84,000!

In my opinion, the worst thing that can happen to a small business owner is to stop marketing.

The second worse thing… start and stop your marketing then start and stop your marketing again. It’s painful.

Let me give you a real example…

A few years back, there was a local pizza place with a simple marketing plan. They sent out coupons every week in the mail… to everyone nearby.

Not ideal in today’s technology age, but it was marketing and it worked.

Like clockwork, the coupon would arrive in the mail, I’d take it out and pin it to our refrigerator. Then a few days later we’d make our trek to the pizza joint.

Was it great pizza? Not really…

The place was clean, food was decent, service was OK…

But most importantly, it was convenient. That coupon on the fridge reminded us of just how easy it was to phone in an order… or hop in the car and pay them a visit.

Then something crazy happened…

They stopped mailing out coupons.

So, I stopped pinning them to the refrigerator… and we stopped going to the local pizza joint.

Looking back now, they turned a once a week customer into a “When I thought about them” customer.

I noticed something else strange.

Without the coupon as incentive to visit the regular pizzeria, we started trying other restaurants. We drove further to try other shops… and taste other pies.

To this day, I wonder if the owner realizes what that one fateful marketing decision cost him in pizza sales?

By my figure – $35 a week… that’s what we spent on pizza, wings, drinks, salad… and we were going about 3 times a month… so we spent about $1,260 in a year… on Pizza! (Don’t judge)

Now, we stop in once a month… maybe.

I did a little back of the envelope math, and I conservatively estimate he lost $840 in yearly revenue… just from me… that’s not a lot of money… but, I’m only one customer.

If there were 100 other customers with the same habits… that owner cost himself $84,000 a year in sales!

$84 grand… all because he stopped his marketing.

Could he have done something different? Sure. I think he should have focused on Mobile Marketing. He could focus his best offers to his best customers… on slow days.

Here’s just an idea…

The coupons he sent out were good all week. So, I could wander in on a Friday – his busiest day… and get a discount.

That makes no sense.

Instead I’d look at Tuesday’s. Those are frequently the slowest days in a pizza shop.

That would be the perfect day to run a special… good that day only…

He could send a text message to every VIP customer on his list… letting them know about the Tuesday special.

His marketing would be highly focused. It would drives customers to his store on day’s when his traffic is the lowest… and his efficiency goes up. Best of all, he keeps his customers… saves $84,000 in revenue… and doesn’t spend an arm or a leg for marketing.

Mobile Marketing can be powerful if used in the right way.

Remember Mobile Marketing is powerful to use, easy to set up , and if don’e correctly, incredibly cost effective! Give it a try today.