The Marketing Mix in 2020

As we emerge from the COVID Pandemic, now's the time to re-visit the marketing basics:

1. What is your core product or service?  Does it satisfy a real consumer need?  Will people pay for it?
2. What's your price?  Does it provide value?
3. How do you create awareness, consideration and preference?  Online has been the flavour-of-the months for the past 15 years but there are other ways to reach people
4. How will your place stand out, online and/or in the physical world.

These are deep questions and you may need to talk to specialists.  Use the marketing mix template below to frame the conversation...and ask better questions:

Until next time...

Marketing Tips For Small Business

It's challenging to market your business while running your business.  I know...I've tried!  Through trial and error, I found that my particular secret sauce centred on product/service promotion.  I created a limited-time offer (not always price) and used  Facebook Ads to get the word out.  I also sent emails on a regular basis to the database I had built up over time.  These two tactics proved most effective for me.  For more tips on how to market your small business, check out this infographic:

Until next time...

Chris Morales

Crisis Preparation for Small Business

The last thing small business owners think of is being prepared for a crisis.  "I don't have the time";  "I don't have the money";  "It'll never happen to me".  When a crisis hits, most small business owners are not prepared...many don't survive.

A recent guest speaker at the Small Business Course I teach at George Brown College shared his strategy for dealing with crisis in his 30 year old prosperous small business:

• Be on top of your cash flow.  The most important thing for a small business owner and even more critical in a crisis when revenue slows but expenses don't
• Have a contingency.  Cash is best.  Build up a reserve that allows for 3 - 6 months of operation without any revenue coming in
• Analyze your receivables.  Collect as much as you can now;  make deals with those you can't;  plan for write offs

Other strategies to build up your crisis preparation are in the infographic below:

Until next time...

Chris Morales

Upside Down On Your Car Loan

I'm angry with the auto industry!  Not with the vehicles but with this specific selling practice:  Burying old loan balance into a 'new' loan.  This practice is used when a customer has an outstanding balance on a vehicle loan and wants to purchase a new vehicle.  It's called being 'Upside Down'.  Both the customer and Dealer/Finance company are at fault in this crazy transaction:  The customer for not paying off one vehicle before purchasing a new one;  The Dealer/finance company for actually writing the loan agreement!  The end result is that the customer pays way more and for a longer period of time!  

Here's a real example:  An associate just buried $20,000 into a new vehicle lease on a new vehicle that had a capital cost of $50,000.  Total indebtedness:  $70,000 on a vehicle worth $50,000!  She has the same monthly payments as before due to a longer lease term.  But hey...she got floor mats and an extended warranty thrown in for 'Free'!

This should be criminal!  It breaks one cardinal rule of sales:  There is no customer benefit.  I can already hear the howls of protest:  'But the customer wanted it and she gets to drive a shiny new vehicle'.  No comment!

Come one people...put on your big boy pants!  Don't buy something you can't afford especially when it depreciates faster than you can pay it!

If you are upside down, here's how to get out from under it:  Facts about underwater car loans.

Until next time...