More often than not, a small business owner has trouble articulating what separates them from their competition. “Better quality” or “better service”: to the rest of us sounds like empty jargon. If your company has not found its soul, chances are your prospective-clients cannot articulate your differences, and this quickly leads to “commodity land”, a gloomy place where you are forced to compete on price.

Finding the soul of your company might sound fluffy, but it’s really about understanding your unique offering, the mix of your core competencies and core values. What does your company possess and value that truly helps your clients? It might be your voice or style (think Virgin America versus United Air), a unique service (a financial planner who offers clients free car detailing during appointments), or a product that makes your clients’ lives easier (like Dyson’s innovations on existing products). No matter what it is, your company has a little somethin’ special that will help your target clientele, and clearly identifying it will translate into every aspect of your marketing.

Google’s early days are a great example. The founders held a strong, core belief that search should be free of noise, both in its results and advertising. After initial success, pressure came from financiers to include pop-ups and other visually-noisy advertising in order to generate revenue. But, Google resisted—an incredibly refreshing change for the internet in that day—and they attracted a slew of loyal customers. Yes, their technology was incredible, but we also resonated with their soul: I should not have to be bombarded just to look something up.

If you or your employees cannot clearly articulate your company’s core values and competencies, you might be in commodity land. To get off the beaten path, get with your team and identify your company’s personality. What do you do naturally as a team that others don’t bring to the table? In 25 years, what are the top five things you want to have accomplished? Who are the people you want to help? What is most important to you?

It’s important to be authentic; don’t simply hone in on what sounds good. We’ve watched clients establish defining core values with great intentions, but in reality, they weren’t willing to do the work required to provide that service. We’ve all experienced a company that touts excellent quality, only to refuse backing their product when it breaks.

Finding your company’s soul is about identifying those things that are so ingrained into your very being that you can’t help but express them. The things you will naturally work and fight for, regardless of who is looking or paying.

Find your soul, and in doing so, you’ll attract exactly the clients—and employees—who need and resonate with what you have to offer.

With roots deep in South Alabama, I write this with all love. Plus, I’ve had my fingers plum covered in worm guts and have been elbow-deep in a catfish, so I guess I got rights.

There’s a lesson we can learn from a true angler. I’m not talking the professional kind with sponsorship money and all the free time in the world to fish. I’m talking about Joe, the patient local who knows the place to fish today.

See, all things being equal, Joe’s a true marketer.

• Joe clearly knows his target market.
  He knows the fish he loves to catch and he knows everything about their eating, resting, mating, and congregating habits. Those are the details that help him catch more fish. Today it’s brim (or bream, or crappie, depending upon where you’re from—those tasty little morsels of fried-incredibleness).
• Joe knows what the fish are looking for.
  Crickets! Brim love little, active crickets—not nasty, plastic, glowing worms.
• He knows where to find them.
  Brim love warmer water, not too deep, near the shore. Put little, if any, weight on the line so the bait stays closer to the top. They like to come toward the surface and surprise-attack!
• He knows the right way to connect with them when they do engage. 
  Don’t jerk the line too hard. Let ‘em nibble, nibble…patient…then, just when you feel they are taking the bait, pull. Not too hard, or you’ll lose ‘em; not too soft, or you’ll lose ‘em.

Joe also knows that fish move around. Even though he caught a mess of brim today in that perfectly quiet spot, under the shade tree, near shore, next week the fish may not be there. They will still love crickets, and they will be in warm, shallow water, but he’ll have to look in a different spot.

Marketing is just as fluid. It’s part art and part science, and as in fishing, success comes from knowing your market and patiently finding the best place(s) to connect with them.

If Joe just showed up like a tourist with a cane pole and a plastic worm floating near the surface in the middle of the lake, he wouldn’t catch one fish. You won’t catch a brim in cold, deep water. Your target market might not be very active on Facebook.

So, go and market like a redneck! Study your market to truly understand what they are looking for, where to reach them, and what message to use when you do connect with them. They may move from place to place, but once you understand their core needs, marketing will become less of a mystery and more about catchin’ a mess of fish.

It’s never too late.

With Harriett Bronson, author and first wife of Charles Bronson, at her book signing. Photo credit: David LaPorte (davidlaporte.com)

In our era of 20-something millionaires, it can be tempting to feel like you’ve lost your spark if you haven’t “made it” yet. The truth is, in the last decade, the barriers to create have been pulled down like the Berlin Wall in ’89. Publishing a book, filming a short, recording a track—all financially and technologically accessible to the masses. Assuming great content, the differentiating factor is marketing.

So, go: create your business, write your book, paint your passion. But, make sure you employ marketing before you launch your product. People have to hear about the incredible things you were put here to produce.

P.S. Here is the link to Ms. Bronson’s book, should you or a movie-buff in your life be interested in reading reviews or purchasing:

Charlie & Me

Then, alas! It’s Day 1 again! Take out a fresh sheet of paper. You’re gonna spark your business this year.

1. Put down your shotgun. Pick up your arrow.

Use an arrow to hit your target market.

This one’s key. Many small- to medium-sized businesses communicate with shotguns: their messages go all over the place, they really don’t know who they’re talking to, and they hope to hit something—anything.

To improve your marketing effectiveness (aka ROI) this year, go back to the basics. Step One: clearly define your target market. Describe them, on paper, as thoroughly as possible. Include their job title, industry, age, sex, budgets, fears, needs, adversities, and more. Put yourself in their shoes, pretend you are trying to solve their problem.

A sample might go something like this:

Our ideal client is Tom, a business owner or executive who has an understanding of investing concepts and values strategic planning. He has $3-10 million in investable assets and is three to five years from retirement. He self-invests about 50% of his portfolio, but is thinking of retiring and wants the help of a professional. He is concerned he won’t have enough cash-flow to last. He is most likely to find a professional through the referral of a trusted source. He also reads several online financial publications. He likes facts, data, and, as a business owner or executive, is willing to make a decision; he does not freeze.

You can almost picture Tom, can’t you? That’s the goal. By identifying these types of demographic and physiological attributes, we have a better understanding of how to address his true concerns, solve his real problems, and know where he is looking for answers.

2. Talk with Them, Not at Them

Once you clearly define your target market(s), everything about your marketing strategy can become more focused. Instead of talking “at” them, listing all the great things you can do, switch your messages and communicate how you can help them solve their current problem.

If I’m an investment manager with a target market of executives looking to retire in three to five years, my message might switch from:

We are comprehensive investment managers who have been in business for 20 years.

to:

If you retire today, will your money last? We can help create and implement a plan to help your hard-earned money last until age 100. Call us for a free Retirement Planning consultation.

Help them solve problems and your marketing message will, pun intended, hit the mark.

3. Create a Marketing Plan and Budget

If you’ve been winging this one, chances are you have wasted marketing dollars on last-minute, emotional decision-making (Sales are down! Let’s run an ad in the newspaper—now!).

A budget rule-of-thumb: allocate 10-15% of your gross revenue to marketing.

Planning becomes much easier once you’ve identified your target market(s): You have a better understanding what they are looking for, how you can help, and where to reach them. If you don’t have time to create a plan yourself, look for a marketing consultant (ahem, we know a few) who can help you draft a solid plan that includes targeted, online and offline marketing efforts. You’ll want to consider areas such as:

• Content: Is your website full of great content that appeals to your target market
• SEO: Do you have core SEO elements, such as keywords, meta tags and links, in place?
• PR: Press releases and other low-cost press solutions can be great on the budget
• Social Media: Increasingly, consumers get their information through social media. Make sure you are reaching them there.
• Marketing Materials: Now that you have defined your target market(s) more clearly, do these need a refresher?

4. Go Ye Therefore and Publish!

One of the largest marketing shifts over the last few years is the emergence of content marketing. As consumers, we now fully expect to get a wealth of information and advice for free. How does this fit into your marketing strategy?

1. Publishing helps drive traffic. The more keyword-rich content you create, the better the effect on your organic (non-paid) search engine results. For limited budgets, consider switching some of your advertising dollars to creating content. Blogs, web pages, articles, guest-blogging: all help with your organic search results.
2. Publishing builds trust and credibility. When you give away valuable advice, your prospective clients learn more about your strategies and they learn they can trust you. Both are key in the sales process. In our increasingly-online marketplace, content is now part of the lead-conversion process.

5. Track Your Results

Make sure Google Analytics is set up on your website. Look at it and your other data monthly. Where are your leads coming from? How are visitors finding your site? What is your email newsletter open-rate? Which pages are best converting? If you’re not sure, put systems in place this month to track your results. The data will help you adjust and refine your ongoing marketing plan to create a highly-efficient marketing engine for your business.

We’re wishing you much success in 2012. Now, go SparkIt!