I will now discuss a typical marketing campaigns for the second scenario posed in the first blog of this series. If you missed it, click here. The situation is this:

An established mechanic finds his business in heavy competition in recent years. Many shops are popping up around his, and he is seeing a steady decline in business and must lower his rates to stay competitive. He doesn’t want to spend a fortune on marketing as his operational costs are significant, but he can’t fathom a 20 thousand dollar a month advertising strategy.

Three key elements of this scenario really stand out as the most important. Once again, we must consider the stated fact that his operational costs are high. Second, the budget is described to be low. The third point, which is that time is of the essence, is perhaps of even higher priority. I will describe these issues in reverse order.

First, time is of the essence. That is to say that no matter the plan, no matter the marketing campaign, no matter the tools used, we don’t have much time. The difference between this example and many others is that while the mechanic cannot spend money like an enormous corporation would, he cannot afford to stay in business very long with the current trends: lowered prices, increased competition, etc. This information is not given, but it comes with knowing the industry. Having had experience in the automotive repair industry, casey troy marketing, has worked closely with clients to develop strategies that would fit their budgets while dynamically adapting to their industry. As such, it has become abundantly clear that there are two ways in which automotive repair/mechanic businesses run. First, they may employ mechanics at an hourly rate. Second, they pay by the job. In either case they face the risk of operating costs running above revenue generated or losing employees if they do not maintain adequate business. In other words, marketing strategies must have a quick turnaround.

Next, the budget must be considered. While we will seek a plan that maximized budget, step one is to determine the type of budget. In this case, the budget is described to be on the low side while taking into consideration the above paragraph’s message.

Lastly, his operational costs are high. This is incorporated in the paragraph above last, but the fact is distinctly important in that the implication that the business needs to see a turn return remains important.

All things considered, a fitting campaign may include the following:

• Guerrilla marketing tactics to hit high yield niche locations and demographics. If the shop is near a school, flyering, direct distribution of coupons, etc. should be inexpensive yet effective.
• Press releases are key if the area is small enough to capture. casey troy marketing, for example has been working with many clients in smaller districts of Los Angeles and its surrounding areas. Smaller area such as Santa Clarita (Valencia, Newhall, Canyon Country, Castaic), Gardena, Santa Monica, Studio City, etc. are areas in which conquering keywords with frequent press releases is feasible.
• SEO… just about always, these situations dictate some basic search engine optimization, search engine marketing, or SEMM.
• Cheap radio/Television publicity. All attempts should be made to gain free or affordable exposure through local TV and radio stations.

These strategies (and others) should give high yields with low costs, fit the industry and business model, and be dynamic enough to strategically change over time.

Stay tuned for more.

Last year I was able to travel to many different countries, and suffice it to say that I was astounded by the differences between marketing strategies across geographical boundaries. Successful pubs in England, for instance, are in a relatively unique situation in which they often keep a customer for life. In Norway and France, however, clubs seem to be hot one week and not the next. Businesses are therefore forced to develop strategies which are truly tailored to their target markets. This is square one, I typically tell my clients. The fact is that Industry A may benefit from strategy A and industry B may benefit from strategy B, but not vice versa. Many business owners are left scratching their heads when they find that their marketing tactics which were successful in previous ventures are slow to have an effect in current ventures.

Now, I will get to the point. In the last month, I have been counseling two businesses in Santa Clarita—Valencia, California to be specific. In my market research I have found that Valencia (but Santa Clarita as a whole—Castaic, Newhall, Canyon Country, etc.) hosts a unique and eclectic mix of consumers. Market trends are actually quite easy to predict in these areas, and captivating the desired audience is very practical. For example, in what is perhaps a perfect microcosms for entrepreneurial efforts, restaurants go through very typical cycles, and when considering their target market, such research leads to a far more likely success.

As a tip to businesses in the area, in my work thus far, I have found SEO (search engine optimization) to be the name of the game in these Valencia businesses. For these businesses, search engine optimization has been the most affordable, most targeted, and most dynamic of strategies. I nearly always recommend that businesses put quite a bit of effort into proper (though ingenious and clever) web marketing, and in future posts, I will go into some more detail about how I have been able to capture the consumers’ attentions in the Santa Clarita Valley.