May 2003
MARKETING ANGEL ™
Don't let everyday fires consume ambitions
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
| Recent columns by Kimberly McCall: | |
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Pay attention to the cultural creatives (April, 2003) Search engines are the phone books potential customers are using for Web sites (March, 2003) Promotions can extend your reach across many channels (February, 2003)
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For some small businesses, as well as nonprofits, the-day-to-day management (and sometimes survival) of the enterprise is a less-than-strategic endeavor. Well-meaning marketers often see big picture wishes yield to hungry everyday fires. However, if you wish to shepherd your business or nonprofit to long-term success, you'll want to borrow a few strategies from our corporate cousins.
At the University of Southern Maine's Women in Management conference, Kris Dorer, chapter president of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Maine Chapter (www.msmaine.org), spoke about how small businesses and nonprofits can market in a corporate culture. Dorer encouraged attendees to take a lesson from the how corporations market - including the need to do a cost-benefit analysis for marketing, PR and advertising projects. I asked Dorer to speak a bit more about how to use select elements of the corporate business model to outwit, outlast and outplay competitors.
MarketingAngel: In the absence of deep pockets, how can a small business or nonprofit keep itself in front of potential donors/clients?
Kris Dorer: Small businesses and nonprofits can learn a lot from the successes and challenges of "the big guys," or large corporations, while still preserving their own more modest goals and missions. One way is to adopt corporate marketing techniques, including investing in talented human resources, cost-benefit analysis, customer service, accountability, risk-taking, branding, addressing competition, and cause-related marketing. By spending time on a thoughtful marketing plan rather than expending tight financial resources on poorly-researched media buys or inadequate promotional materials, smaller entities can begin to flesh out additional ways to keep their product or service in the public eye.
MarketingAngel: Have you enjoyed an especially successful campaign lately? If so, what did you do and what were the results?
Kris Dorer: The Maine Chapter, National MS Society, recently announced the expansion of our annual MS Regatta into a full HarborFest Weekend in August. We spent time to develop an event which would not only benefit our organization, but involve the waterfront community and the tourism industry. With a marketing plan in place, we've promoted awareness through a successful press conference and campaign, an appearance at the Maine Boatbuilders' Show, and more professional collateral materials (developed pro bono in partnership with local marketing consultants). We've also used "guerrilla marketing," working with statewide marinas to include inserts of our HarborFest brochures in their own local mailings. As a nonprofit, we are sensitive to our expense ratio, and all of these pieces of our plan were created with little or no expense.
MarketingAngel: Many nonprofits avail themselves of direct mail to consistently touch current, past and prospective supporters. Do you find direct mail to be effective?
Kris Dorer: Direct mail is primarily implemented through our national organization and has proven to be effective. It's important, though, to cultivate donors sensitively, i.e. if they're participating in our MS 150 Bike Tour in August, we want to abstain from direct mail that month. With today's database technology, even small nonprofits have the opportunity to create a direct mail strategy that complements their yearly operations plan. It's also important to uphold your professionalism, mission and reputation, so that donors want to continue to contribute to your cause when they receive a direct mail reminder.
MarketingAngel: How important is public relations to nonprofit or small-business marketing efforts?
Kris Dorer: One of my personal missions is to increase the understanding of this importance. Too often, the PR or marketing department's value is overlooked and, too often, it's the first to go when there are cutbacks in an organization. Whether you're promoting a product, service, or mission, it doesn't matter how great it is if no one knows about it. To increase your profit or donor base, public awareness, and the growth of your "product," your organization or business must invest in public relations. There can be challenges, and results can be difficult to track, but PR is a crucial component to growth and success.
MarketingAngel: Any other insights on marketing a nonprofit or small business in a corporate culture to share?
Kris Dorer: Too often, small businesses and nonprofits avoid the terminology "corporate culture," as if it's a dirty [term]. Marketing does not need to be manipulating, sneaky or high-pressure, and it doesn't need to compromise ethics, mission, goals, or budget. Like those "big guys," let's admit it--we are "doing business" and "making a profit." If we come out ahead in revenues (or "profits"), the goal of the corporate world, we can invest in new initiatives, invest in new staff and resources, and establish reserves.
MarketingAngel: Important question for May: Can you explain the whole Celine Dion phenomenon? Any ideas at all?
Kris Dorer: (Hmmmm…I can certainly appreciate the fact that she's a beloved public figure with a respectable musical range. That being diplomatically stated, some vocal frequencies click and some don't — I have a similar reaction to Mickey Mouse! And I mean that in the nicest way...)
Kimberly L. McCall (a.k.a. Marketing Angel™), is president of McCall Media & Marketing, Inc., a business communications and writing company in Freeport, Maine. McCall writes the monthly Sales Force column for Entrepreneur magazine and contributes to inc.com and The Wall Street Journal’s StartupJournal.com. Sign up for her free weekly bulletin at www.MarketingAngel.com or contact McCall at 207-865-0055.