Liberty League International, Quiz: Where is Your Marketing
Message?
Wondering if your marketing message is dancing in the
spotlight right in
front of your target market or is busy cowering by the punch
table nowhere
near your customer base? Take this quiz and find out.
1. Overall, you would describe your marketing as:
A. Going strong. You consistently get lots of good leads and
sales from your
marketing efforts.
B. Getting better. You're seeing some positive results, but
you're always
looking for ways to improve.
C. Flat. Your sales are neither growing nor shrinking.
D. Don't ask.
E. You don't do much marketing. Or any marketing for that
matter. Customers
pretty much find you.
2. Your last marketing campaign was:
A. A huge success. It exceeded your expectations.
B. No complaints. You're pleased with your results.
C. Not sure. You didn't notice much change with your sales.
D. A waste of good money.
E. You can't remember your last campaign. In fact, you don't
think you've
ever had one.
3. At the last Chamber of Commerce meeting, you bumped into
a woman who you
felt would be your ideal customer. Her response after you
introduce yourself
is:
A. "I'm so glad I ran into you. I've been meaning to
talk to you in more
detail about how your business can help me out."
B. "Oh, I think I remember hearing about you. Tell me
more about what you
do."
C. "Sorry. What did you say you do again?"
D. "Who are you?"
E. "Excuse me. I need to refill my drink."
4. While working out at your health club, you find yourself
exercising next
to your sister's new boyfriend. Even though you know he has
no interest in
your business, he starts quizzing you about what you do.
After you tell him,
he says:
A. "Oh, that's interesting." And changes the
subject.
B. "Yes, I think I've heard about your business."
And changes the subject.
C. "Yes, I think I saw one of your ads in the paper
last week." And changes
the subject.
D. "Oh course. I've been seeing your ads all over the
place." And changes
the subject.
E. Changes the subject.
5. You run into one of your customers at a restaurant. He's
sitting with a
large group of people, but still jumps up to greet you. When
he turns to
introduce you to the rest of the group, he:
A. Describes your business perfectly.
B. Gets it mostly right.
C. Manages to describe one aspect okay, although he got a
couple major
points wrong.
D. Described someone else's business. At least that's what
you think he was
doing. He certainly wasn't talking about your business.
E. Didn't quite get your business' name right. For that
matter, he didn't
pronounce your name correctly either.
6. You feel like you're getting your money's and/or time's
worth from your
marketing efforts:
A. Most definitely.
B. Definitely.
C. Not sure.
D. Don't want to talk about it.
E. You're getting a great return -- after all, you spend
hardly any time or
money marketing so ANY return is huge.
7. Overall, how would you rate your marketing in terms of
meeting your
overall business' goals?
A. Exactly on track.
B. Doing pretty good. For the most part, your marketing is
helping you meet
your business' goals.
C. You're still in business so you guess something must be
working. Although
you're not exactly sure what.
D. Business isn't so hot.
E. What goals?
Scoring:
Mostly As. Your marketing message is definitely the life of
the party. It's
getting in front of your target market and your target
market is responding
to it. Better yet, you aren't wasting your efforts reaching
people who have
no interest in what your business does. Great job.
The only caution I would offer is to not allow yourself to
be lulled into a
false sense of security. Things change. Markets shift. Don't
allow your
current success to blind you to a new competitor or a new
product or a
changing marketing landscape. History is littered with
companies who allowed
themselves to lose market share or even be toppled by a
shift in the
marketplace.
Mostly Bs. Your marketing message may not be the star, but
it's certainly
turning heads. While you could be getting more from your
marketing efforts,
you've definitely accomplished much. Your target market is
both getting the
message and acting on it. You're seeing a slow and steady
growth in your
business.
While everyone would love to the next "overnight"
success, truthfully that's
not terribly realistic. Marketing is about slow and steady
growth – and even
an occasional setback. While huge marketing success is great
as a goal, you
should be very pleased with what you've accomplished.
Mostly Cs. Your marketing message has about half of its
dance card filled.
Your business is flat. Probably as flat as your marketing.
Your business is
certainly not growing and may even be slowly declining.
While there's nothing wrong with holding the status quo,
this is still a
precarious place to be. If you're not careful, you could
find your business
sliding into the "business is not so good"
category.
I would suggest taking a hard look at your marketing
message. Maybe you're
not reaching your target market at all. Maybe you're wasting
your marketing
efforts by getting your message in front of people who will
never buy your
products or services. Or maybe you are finding your target
market, but your
marketing message isn't persuading them to do business with
you. Maybe the
marketplace or your target market is changing. Or maybe it's
a combination
of things.
Mostly Ds. Your marketing message is hiding in the bathroom
and has been
there for awhile. This is not a good place to be, but you
already know this.
If it isn't too late, I would suggest a complete revamp of
your entire
marketing plan. Maybe your target market isn't right. Maybe
you have too
much competition. Maybe you're competing on price (never a
wise selling
point). Maybe you're not differentiating yourself enough
from your
competition. Maybe you're not explaining your product
correctly. Or maybe
it's something even deeper, a major problem with your
product or business.
But don't lose heart! It's still very possible to turn
things around.
Remember, all successful people suffered setbacks (and
downright failures)
at some point in their careers. You can make a comeback.
Mostly Es. Your marketing message is still outside looking
for a place to
park. Many service-based, single-person businesses find
themselves in this
category – for instance consultants, coaches, graphic
designers and (ahem)
copywriters. You never really take the time to put together
a marketing plan
or market yourself in any orderly manner. When work falls
into your lap, you
happily snatch it up. When it doesn't, you find yourself
wringing your hands
a lot.
Yes, I too was in this category. When I first started my
business, I didn't
write down my goals and promoting myself was haphazard at
best. Believe it
or not, I was actually pretty successful for several years
using this model.
I was lucky. I had good, loyal clients who I could count on
for repeat
projects.
However, even with good clients, you still end up with the
"feast or famine"
business model. Does this sound familiar? Work starts
raining from the
heavens, so you hole yourself in your office and focus on,
what else?
Getting the work done. And you're so busy with paying work,
you stop
promoting yourself. When you finish the work, you pick up
your head, look
around and discover there's nothing new waiting for you. So
you rush out,
start networking and contacting people and pretty soon the
work is raining
down again. And you stop promoting yourself because you're
busy and... you
get the picture.
In this model, you aren't really growing your business. You
don't have time.
You're either doing billable work or looking for billable
work. Even if you
use outside help during the busy times, the busy times don't
last so you
can't build your business.
Speaking from someone who's been there, I would strongly,
strongly urge you
to take a hard look at your business, your goals and your
marketing model. A
regular, sustained marketing campaign can lead to regular,
sustained work.
Your cash flow will even out, and you can start outsourcing
certain tasks on
a regular basis so you can start growing your business.
(A note on Question 4 in case you thought I had the answers
reversed. The
point of this question is to find out if you've picked
marketing vehicles
that are reaching your target market or if your marketing is
so scattered
it's reaching people who have no interest in purchasing your
products and
services. Don't waste your time and money driving just
anyone to your
business – target people who have the interest and the means
to purchase
your products and services.)
www.libertyleagueinternational.info
www.libertyleagueconference.com
www.beyondfreedom.com
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