| Ethan Migliori speaks about marketing. |
Ethan Migliori is the director of the Small Business Development Center in Price. David Cassidy is the professor of marketing and business at the College of Eastern Utah together they gave a marketing workshop at the recent Castle Valley Economic Summit.
Cassidy said marketing is all about place, promotion, price and product. What is your product’s quality level. Price cutting is not always the right thing to do. Your price can be too low and that takes away from the product.
The place where you get a product is important. We don’t have luxury car dealers in our area. But, if that’s the kind of car you want, you will find the place where it’s sold. On the other hand, you don’t want to drive to Provo to get a gallon of milk. So place is important.
A pie has different ingredients, the key is getting the proportions correct. We must adjust as the products and markets change. We can use outside factors, but we cannot control outside factors. Who is in competition with us for the consumer’s dollars. Is it a direct or indirect competition? The consumer chooses where his dollar goes. They have choices.
What is the economic focus? When the feds lower the interest rate by a half point, it gives people a rosier outlook.There are good times to start a business and bad times to start a business. During the depression, things were very difficult for businesses. Things are looking good now for businesses.
The political faces can also affect what you are doing as far as gaining permits and new technology. Use technology, use the internet. The internet can make your small business a world wide business. A small business in a small town which depends on walk-ins is tough. But, the internet with a nice web page can open up your business.
You may be operating out of a closet, but the internet can make you more than you were in the past, said Cassidy.
Migliori said advertising is not marketing. When you put out an ad, you want people to react and promote a response. An ad should be a call to action and prompt people to come into your business. People buy products for the benefit not the features. Every product has a benefit.
You need to track your ads to see what return you get. In your advertising you need to create a plan to know if it’s drawing people in. Advertising is not just running one ad. You need to be consistent over a long period of time. Tell a story with your advertising.
Create an emotional attachment. Create imagery, ads with cute dogs or cute kids. Create an image in their heads. Prompt an emotion. Your business name needs to tell what you do. Who is your target market?
Find a unique selling proposition, find a niche; you should state a benefit derived from using your product, no hassel, open 24/7, you call, we’ll haul; your advertising should be aimed at and appeal to your target market.
The Business Expansion and Retention project has been interviewing local business owners. One of the things the interviewers hear time and again is that the community must be built from the inside out. Find out who needs your business and resources. Show benefits, know the benefits the customer will reap from buying from you and not the guy down the street.
Migliori told some popular sayings from products like Nike: Just do it and Mazda: zoom, zoom, zoom. There’s no crying in business, just get in and get it done. Don’t try to market to everyone, know your market. Know your market potential, you must know your market potential to understand if you will grow or remain stagnant. Make a list of your competitors, both direct and indirect.
Migliori told statistically a person will spend on average $1,644 per year eating out. In Carbon County, that is 31.2 million in sales each year. This restaurant he was speaking of had, $560,000 in sales which was 2 percent of the market share. “There is a huge potential for that business to grow,” said Migliori.
Migliori said businesses with an internet presence have 30 percent more sales than businesses without an internet site. Research shows that if a visitor spends longer than one minute at your site, he will end up buying something.
“You need a marketing plan. You need to have a plan to get you through the rough times. Businesses get stuck on trying to cut their bottom line, but you can only cut costs so much and still produce a product. Grow the topline instead of trying to cut costs. If your focus is always the bottom line, the business will stop growing. Increase that top line,” said Migliori.
“If business is going well and you want to grow your business at some point in time, you are going to deal with bankers. If you want to keep your bankers happy then feed them paper. They want consistency, they want their money back. Bankers like to know financial statements and ratios and inventory. They want to know how healthy your company is. Know your business, know what you need. Know your credit score, you are the borrower. The bank will want a personal guarantee for the obligation on the loan,” concluded Migliori.
Migliori said they are offering more classes on marketing and to contact him for more information.