Consistency Part 2

In the Small Business Marketing 101 post consistency was the theme as it portray to a establishing a thought process for marketing. Consistency is such a big part because it usually takes people seeing a name/brand a minimum of three times before that message is remembered. If potential customers can remember a company’s message they are more likely to choose that company when needed either a product or service. But consistency is more that just repetition, it also has to do with message and image.How can small business owners make consistent messages and channel it consistently to their target market? By first creating items that will be used over and over while choosing a marketing medium to focus all efforts.

1. Create a Company Message (logo, slogan, vision)
2. Choose Marketing Channel

These basic marketing pieces are the whole foundation to building a long-term sustainable marketing campaign that will generate long-term business. People ask me the same old question, “if I do this will it get me business?”, and my answer is always, yes.

To complete blog we will use a plumbing company, Big Crack Plumbing founded by JD, as the example.

Big Crack Plumbing was started by a 15 year veteran because he felt he could provide a better service for customers than his previous employer. So armed with experience JD sets off on his adventure as a small business owner. After months and months and making serious headway and bills piling up he decides to focus on other parts of business not really thought of before, marketing.

Big Crack Plumbing starts out by defining the industry in which they operate, plumbing. Topics written down: what tools are used, what type of jobs are there, what is the image of a plumber. Ok now JD knows what industry and has further defined where Big Crack Plumbing fits in it so he can sit down and design a logo.

Logos can be designed by using programs like Publisher, Photoshop, Visio and various online sources. Cooltext.com has many templates to choose from where a user can change color, font, layout and size to custom make a logo. With many different combinations available it would be easy to make something but take a large time investment to get it right. What many business owners choose to do is higher a company to do a logo for them that is personalized and unique. This is the preferred method since a logo is the most important of any marketing campaign. Big Crack Plumbing now a unique logo that visually demonstrates exactly what type of company it is. With that section done JD moves onto create the other parts of his marketing campaign.

Slogan: Catchy, funny and memorable work great here. JD goes through many trials and errors but finally settles on “Big Crack Plumbing…No crack is to BIG”. It is catchy (it is simple and goes well with the name of the company), funny (plumbers crack comes to mind) and memorable (the company name and slogan go well together).

Vision: JD sat down and wrote what his goal was for all his clients and remember why he left his previous employer, JD could do it better. The vision is what a company think Writing out his vision for Big Crack Plumbing JD gets ready to include it on the rest of his marketing which is still a tad grey but getting clearer.

Now comes to the more difficult part, selecting a marketing medium. JD gets going on what he thinks will be an effective strategy and he starts researching printing companies online to see what 1,000 colored flyers would cost. To his surprise it is $390 bucks which is major dent is an already depleted funds. Print was out of the question because if every time a 1,000 flyers were needed it would cost him a lot of cash. So he checks into a website and see that it is a one time cost of $300 and an annual renewal fee of $25.

This seems like the right marketing medium, it is affordable, it can reach more people and it he can learn how to do it himself when not doing plumbing work.

With all Big Crack Plumbing’s marketing pieces ready to go he launches his website, www.BigCrackPlumbing.com, and starts to add his information. He uploads his logo, vision, slogan and adds his contact information. JD spends all his free time building content on his site about the various problems and issues that may be faced by a homeowner or other small business. Big Crack Plumbing wants to be the expert and pull business in from the internet since it is going to be the main marketing medium.

Big Crack Plumbing is now off and running a effective small business that is armed with a marketing strategy that can evolve as the business does. The consistency of Big Crack Plumbing’s message can be seen on every page of the website and it is all organized and looking good so every time someone visits his website they will remember the consistency in message and design because of the simple foundation that was built with a logo, slogan, vision and specific marketing channel.

Let us know what you do to improve the consistency of your marketing message.