Marketing is About The Extra Step

by Bryan Lefelhoc

If you are a small business owner, or any size business for that matter, you have to have a marketing plan. That means you have to have a fancy logo, a cool website, social media ads, and a budget. Or does it?

The single best form of marketing is in the work that you do. Marketing is simply “setting expectations”.

People spend thousands and millions of dollars a year in advertising, messaging, search engine optimization, radio time, billboards, and everything else that gets the message out.

What are you doing to set expectations from the inside?

When a potential customer is in your store or is inquiring about your service capabilities and pricing or maybe is a current customer, pay attention to their experience.

You must realize that the experience your customer has in direct contact with your brand has a tremendous impact on how they feel about your product and service.

It is what separates you from the competition.

When you take a little bit of extra time to say “thank you,” that is marketing. When you do not take that step, understand that is marketing, too.

When you take the extra step to clean up that corner mess, that is marketing. The same goes if you do not straighten the store, that speaks to customers as well.

The way your menu looks is marketing, as is how the food tastes, service is performed, how clean the floors are, and how the bill is paid.

This form of marketing doesn’t require a marketing director or an ad budget.

It is not as easy as it sounds, however. You may have employees you pay to do the work that directly impacts your customer experience. Be sure that they “get it.” They must understand your mission and feel like a part of your team so that they will take the extra step as well. That extra step is marketing.

What every business owner needs to understand is that marketing is happening every time someone interacts with your brand. Their experience with your service, your store, your employees, and your product sets an expectation for more of the same.

Setting expectations is “marketing.” What expectations are you setting?

Bryan Lefelhoc is founder and president of Bryan Media Strategies LLC, a boutique “company of one” marketing firm. Learn more about Lefelhoc and his expertise at https://bit.ly/3FqMBfl Email Lefelhoc at bryan@bryanmediastrategies.com