Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Part TWO

When I first started to learn about marketing, I was introduced to ‘demographics’.

Demographics is the study of people’s age, location, size of their family, income, ethnic background, etc.

In other words, it’s a very basic attempt at grouping people so that you can determine how and where to market to them.

I don’t think it’s really that effective.

GASP! You Think Demographics Don’t Work? BLASPHEMY!

Well, sure… demographics are a pretty good blunt instrument for mass media marketing. If you own a martial arts studio (like me), you put your print ad in a newsletter that goes to high-income 25-49 year old women, rather than the sports page of the local paper.

THAT much I get.. more of the right kinds of eyeballs will be looking at the first and not the second when it comes to teaching junior how to solve his bullying program. Dad’s on the sports page… I’d rather have my martial arts studio right next to healthy recipes. Here’s why: Mommy usually makes the decisions about activities. She’s more likely to be concerned about little Johnny’s grades, or confidence, or fitness level… all which my classes improve.

Plus, she usually drives the kid to class. So your better bet is on the ladies’ mag.

However, demographics are a little too one-size-fits-all as far as I’m concerned.

Remember the Shotgun/Laser principle from the first post in this series? Demographics are kind of the Shotgun approach… shoot in the general direction of what you want to hit and you’re bound to snag SOMEthing.

But to focus in your LASER and be deadly accurate with your marketing message… you’ll need something much more focused than demographics.

psycho demographicsYou’ll need…

PSYCHO-Graphics.

Muahahahahahahahaa…

The new mecca for marketers is no longer in dividing up people by their age, income, location, race, et cetera.

It’s where it always should have been… in discovering shared interests.

A Marketing Epic Fail

Before I give you an example of how Psychographics saved my skin when a big competitor… a much bigger “FISH” came to my little bitty pondand threatened to destroy my window cleaning company…

… let me give you a glaring example of what NOT to do as a marketer.

So you know I’m a healthy guy, right?  I mean, if I’m drinking milk it’s not gonna be from some GMO, antibiotic, rBGH cow…

…it’ll be ‘organic’, non-homogenized milk from a grass-fed, happy cow.

So I get to the bottom of my bottle of  healthy, I-love-the-Earth milk… go to chuck it in the recycle bin and THEN notice!

(dun-dun-dunnnn)

It’s NOT A RECYCLABLE CONTAINER.

Wha..?

Here’s the disconnect, in case it isn’t super obvious: folks that are likely to be concerned with the effects of factory farming, and that go out of their way to buy stuff that’s produced without the influence of Monsanto or Dupont…

… are probably ALSO likely to be concerned with making their carbon footprint as small as possible.

Now, I’m not necessarily over the top ‘religious’ about not impacting the environment. But, GAWRSH!

I’m sure you can see the marketing faux pas here.

It’s about a lack of attention to psycho-graphics.. the study of what really distinguishes one group of people from another, at least in terms of how to market to them:

Their values.

An Epic Marketing WIN

So here’s my Shotgun/Laser Principle at work again, only this time instead of using to find where my ideal customer wasgorilla geographically, I used it to find the ideal customer psychographically for one of my small businesses… in stealthy “guerilla” marketing mode.

In the early 2000’s I got a divorce and had to break up the ownership of my martial arts studio, plus give up huge chunks of assets.

I needed to add a serious boost to my income, PRONTO… and was able to do so by starting a window cleaning business with less than a $100 investment.

As you might have seen in my previous post on Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget (Part ONE), by focusing my marketing efforts in one small, carefully chosen community, I became the big fish in a little pond.

Fish Window Cleaning, with 250 franchises. YIKES.

Fish Window Cleaning, with 250 franchises. YIKES.

That is, until a bigger Fish came in.

Ouch.

Now, this is going to start out sounding like I don’t like Fish Window Cleaning. Au contraire, mon frere… the local Fish franchisee and I are friends. In fact, he refers a BOATLOAD of business to me now.

But in 2002, they presented me with a bit of a problem.

See, I had been using a teeny tiny business-card-sized ad that said,

CRYSTAL CLEAR WINDOW WASHING
No job too big or too small
FREE ON-SITE “EXACTLY’S”… NOT “ESTIMATES”
Call Kurt 719-360-9559

So in 2003 I had a pretty thriving window cleaning company in Monument, CO. Lotsa repeat customers, piles of referrals…

…but you need to have new business coming in all the time. And phone calls from my business card ad mysteriously dried up.

This is how I found out that a “bigger Fish” had come to town: I grabbed a local paper to look and see if my ad was indeed still running. There, opposite my dinky ad was a FULL PAGE AD with all the selling points I’d normally use when a customer calls, all listed out.

My edge was GONE.

But then I remembered the old Shotgun/Laser principle.

I HAD found out a community… Monument, CO… that was a rich source of my kind of customer;

venn shared values

The magical intersection of Likes Pretty Windows/Has Money to Pay For ‘Em/Doesn’t Have Time (or inclination) to DIY… was abundant in the geographical location of Monument.

But now the Monument community had a bigger Fish dominating the market with big-dollar advertising.

I couldn’t compete with them by taking out a series of equally huge full-page ads.

was operating on a Shoestring Budget, after all 😉

So I did a “leedle twist” on my leedle bitty business-card-sized ad instead.

It read:

SCREEN REPAIR
Window Screens and Patio Doors
We Come To YOU!
Call Kurt 719-360-9559

Ya might notice that that no longer was exactly a window cleaning ad.

That’s right.

Because WHY would I place a teeny tiny window cleaning ad in the very paper that was now being DOMINATED by a bigger player?

My itty bitty in-line biz card ad was all but INVISIBLE next to the crisp, clean, no caffeine, full page, trusty logo, bullet-points-long-as-a-well-rope national franchise Fish window cleaning ad.

But, funny thing.

Folks that like pretty windows, have the money to pay for ’em, and not the time (or inclination) to do it themselves also seem to like the screens on their windows and doors to be pretty. And have the money to pay for ’em. And don’t have the time (or inclination) to fix ’em themselves.

psycho profileMy ad was not simply based on DEMO-graphics any more.

It was going out to a proven demographic, yes… the paper that had been generating calls.

But it appealed to a certain PSYCHO-graphic.

SO after after arriving on-site and making torn screens go away… shooting the breeze with my customer for a bit… she would ask who to write the check out to?

“Crystal Clear Window Washing.”

And she would notice the Crystal Clear logo on my shirt, on my business card.

“Oh, this screen repair thing is sort of a side business to my actual ‘day job’… I own a window cleaning company.”

“OH! We’ve been LOOKING for a good window cleaner. Would like to give us a bid while you’re here?”

(pause now for EVIL Laugh: Muahahahahahahahahahaha!)

“Why, yes. I could do that.”

Take THAT, Fish. Because while Fish Window Cleaning would give bids for free… I would give bids AFTER getting paid by a customer. (Ahem!) …a customer that NOW knows, likes, and trusts me. Because I have already done work for her and it was awesome.

Sometimes I would get there late… that is, Fish had already  been there. Dang.

But, guess what? I got paid anyway… and their contact info went in my post card follow up system. Sooner or later I would have them as another kind of customer.

Can’t tell you how many customers I’ve won… CHEAPLY… by using “stealth” advertising to appeal to a certain psychographic instead of the blunt instrument of demographics.

How ’bout YOU, dear reader? Have you ever won the readership, the loyalty, the contact info of an online or offline customer by way of a related subject? Something that appeals to your kind of customer but that has a lower barrier of entry than directly competing for their attention?

DO tell!

I’d love to hear your cross-marketing stories, for both on- and offline businesses.

Put ’em in the comments pretty please.

And til next time,

Keep Stepping!

Kurt

Comments

  1. Brilliant article! Clear and to the point! Thank you for writing this.

  2. I am looking to change my Patio door this year and somebody said that read some blog posts to find out which window company is best and after reading your post I am sure now that upvc door are the best choice, thanks for sharing this awesome post.

  3. Wow that is impressive I wouldn’t have thought about changing the ad to a similar service like that. Stealthy indeed and it sounds like it was really effective as well. Thanks for the ideas.

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      You’re welcome! It worked like a charm. The really interesting thing is that I was getting PAID to give estimates instead of paying out (in terms of time spent, gas and wear and tear on my car).

      Wanna know the kicker? Now Fish Window Cleaning gives out my card in this area for screen repair, and hires me when one of their techs inadvertently damages a screen.

      So adapting to survive in this instance caused my small business to grow bigger than ever, with the ASSISTANCE of a “competitor”.

      Nice.

      I’ve since all but given up chasing new window cleaning contracts. We work for a select group of repeat customers for window cleaning and mainly get new biz for the screen repair angle, which does better cashflow-wise. I actually refer window cleaning TO Fish now.

      The most important thing to remember is that we’re in the business of solving our customers’ needs. Then our own needs will get handled all on their own.

      Thanks for commenting Austin!

      Keep Stepping,

      Kurt

  4. Iain
    Twitter:
    says:

    Love that stealth marketing tactic. It reminds me of, “oh and by the way …”

    Great example. I think this is something that my GF could do with her wedding photography business.

    If she did some free headshots for people, and gave out a card that did wedding photography. It could be a way of building trust with people that could lead to people being interested in wedding photography as well.

    You rock Kurt.
    Iain recently posted…How to add value to your readersMy Profile

    • Iain
      Twitter:
      says:

      That’s a very interesting way of going about your consultations.

      What made you decide to use model for your consultations?

      I passed the information on to her. It definitely perked her interest. I just need to give her that nudge to get her to do it.
      Iain recently posted…How to add value to your readersMy Profile

      • kurtf
        Twitter:
        says:

        Well, I found out two things:

        1) People don’t value things greatly that they don’t pay for.

        2) People don’t want to take the risk that something they DO pay for isn’t what it’s cracked up to be.

        Therefore, I consult with a set fee but don’t charge until after the client is fully satisfied that they got more value from the advice than I charge.

        I can “afford” to do this because SS101 isn’t my only bizness venture 😉

        Actually, so far I have only had ONE human being NOT pay the $101. I think she was looking for me to do everything for her and instead I showed her what she could do on her own to generate sales.I dunno if she got the value she was looking for or not, though I hope she did.

        But others have more than made up for that one lady. If your GF is happy to talk with me on Skype, it doesn’t cost a bloomin’ thang… unless of course she is more than happy and actually MAKES MONEY from my guidance. Then she pays for the help out of the money she made, which otherwise she would not have.

        Groooovy deal, hmm? 😉

        Thanks for writing again Iain! If you want to have more personal convos I am available at kurt at shoestring101 dot com.

        Keep Stepping,

        Kurt
        kurtf recently posted…How I’m Promoting the My Profile

        • Iain
          Twitter:
          says:

          Thanks for the information.

          It was a curious thing, so I felt I had to ask a bit about it.

          I like the system. It makes sense because it isn’t your primary source of income.

          Would you do it the same way if it were?
          Iain recently posted…How to add value to your readersMy Profile

          • kurtf
            Twitter:
            says:

            Heh… NO! I’d charge a durn sight mmmMORE if it was my only source of income! 😉

            Iain, I’m more into the “giving back” phase of bizness now. It would be okay for me even to do it for free, except I’ve learned that services rendered for free aren’t valued.

            As a martial arts instructor, I have NEVER ONCE seen a Student make it to the upper ranks that I was “sponsoring”. I determined long ago to charge for classes, even if I was charging only a teeny tiny amount. If you don’t charge SOMEthing, folks just don’t really pay attention.

            Thanks for the curiosity and especially for meeting me here to chat. I’m putting out some new stuff soon, please stop by and comment some more.

            Keep Stepping,

            Kurt
            kurtf recently posted…How I’m Promoting the My Profile

      • Iain
        Twitter:
        says:

        I agree. If you give something away for free, people will not value it.

        I think many companies do this with product. They start out with a low amount like one dollar. By setting it at that you can see who are qualified leads and who are not.

        If you offer it for free, you will a lot people trying it out but not following up after.

        The people who paid for the product are the people willing to pay to try it out.

        I love the martial arts reference. It reminds me of Christopher S Penn who is a Ninja.
        Iain recently posted…How to add value to your readersMy Profile

  5. Hi Kurt,

    I love your series! I can relate to the benefit of being “the big fish in a little pond” in one small, carefully chosen community.

    I agree with you that simply looking at the demographics may not be the most effective move. I am glad to hear about your innovative way of bringing in new businesses. Test and tweak. This is indeed another timeless success marketing principle.

    With the internet, I believe that building up a “shotgun” business page in Facebook is not a bad idea. I have yet to apply some of your priceless principles and attract more attention to my page.

    Yes, a BIG fish in a small pond! Awesome success tips! Thanks, Kurt!

    Viola Tam – The Business Mum
    Viola Tam recently posted…Stay-at-Home Mums – U for U-TurnMy Profile

    • kurtf
      Twitter:
      says:

      Thanks again Viola. Yup, “Demo”-graphics crudely separate groups of people into broad categories; low-income, high-income, young, old, married, not married, black, white, Asian, Hispanic… and so on and so forth. But “Psycho”-graphics sorts us into the kinds of groups that truly matter; groups that are distinguished by their values, ideas and ideals.

      The more accurately you can describe your own customers, the more detailed and tailored your writing… and ultimately your SERVICE… to them can become.

      Best wishes to you, ya BIG Momma fish in a little pond!

      Keep Stepping,

      Kurt
      kurtf recently posted…Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Part TWOMy Profile

  6. kurtf
    Twitter:
    says:

    I might try doing the following:

    1) Design a free or low-cost introductory lesson with low, low, low commitment. For example, a “class” that’s years long… like mine (5 years minimum to Black Belt) seems like a BEEEG commitment. SO I offer a two-session introductory class for $19.95 and give the child a free uniform. Those two classes build excitement and end with a bang: the child performs five techniques and recites three central values and earns her white belt. Ta-daaa! “Kodak Moment” for Mom and Dad, and they usually prompt ME to take the next step and enroll for a one-year beginner program.

    Consider adapting the above to your classes. I am available to email or Skype as well to brainstorm with you.

    2) Offer free lectures at schools, and be sure to leave promotional materials for your introductory class. It’s hard to get into schools by speaking with the principal; try the school secretary or the teachers of your present Students instead. Say that you would like to give a short class about the environment or yoga. Many teachers want to shake up the boredom of their Students and would be very willing to have you come for a time during the day. During your visit, connect with the school secretary and ask the teacher for whom you are presenting to show you around the school. Shake hands, give cards and brochures, be memorable.

    3) Speak with the PTO organizer for your local school with an idea for a fundraiser. Hold the introductory class for kids at your center for a nominal fee, then donate the whole fee to the PTO organization. Have a ‘graduation’ or certificate ceremony for the kids. They’ll flip! You will make inroads with both the parents and the school’s organizers… the people that are “in the know” and that really make things happen. Become a familiar face and a resource, and connect with your target market: the kids’ Mommas and Poppas.

    Try starting there, Balaka… nothing more Shoestring than calling around and seeing how you can be of service. Be of service to others FIRST… soon they will be crawling all over your yoga/environment classes as paying customers as well.

    Please keep me apprised of your progress, and
    Keep Stepping!

    Kurt
    kurtf recently posted…Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget Part TWOMy Profile

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