So You Wanna Be a Millionaire?

August 23, 2004
It ain't easy. You've started a custom installation business or added custom A/V work to your already existing company. Now you've got to market this aspect of your services to potential clients. Is it hard? Is it complicated? Should you be a rocket scientist? Can you hire Uncle Fritz to do it for you? Stay with us, dear reader. These and many other pressing questions will be answered in short order.

What Is Marketing?

There are probably dozens, no hundreds of definitions, but most begin and end with bringing a product or service to the market for sale. I believe that today many of us define marketing as the process of making a product or service easier to sell--or buy, for that matter. We view marketing as encompassing everything from full-page, four-color advertising, post cards, direct phone campaigns and/or billboards to someone walking up and down the street wearing a "sandwich sign." Additionally, it includes press releases and other publicity-generating activities. And don't forget any and all the things that you do to promote your company as a brand unto itself. Oh my! It just goes on and on and on.

So how do your market your company and its services? Before you even get started, it's really important to define what makes your company unique in the marketplace or, at the very least, better than the competition. Is your service better? Are your design skills and/or the products you sell better? Is your finished product better performing, more sophisticated or easier to use? Is your after-the-sale support superior?

These are but a few of the many measures that can differentiate you in your target market. If you're simply going to compete on price, you can pretty much figure you're going to advertise "sale, sale, sale!" But we'll make the assumption that you're not a big box moving retailer, but a smaller specialty retailer or a custom installer/system integrator.

Your Brand

It's critical to understand that your company is your brand. It has its own identity and persona, and it becomes a living entity within the business world. Who determines what your brand represents to the world? You lookin' in the mirror yet? You better be, because you as the owner exert control over what that brand is and how it's perceived by people who come in contact with it. And every one of your employees and satisfied or dissatisfied customers contributes to your brand image as well.

How? Every element, from the way you and your staff dress to your corporate stationary to the way your trucks are painted to how you answer the phone, has an impact on how people perceive your brand. Think about the jewelry stores in your town. Some advertise and present themselves in a manner that locks them into a price-driven market. Others may position themselves in the middle of the spectrum, and chances are, they advertise themselves or their products and services more and prices less.

Finally, you may have a high-end, exclusive jeweler. Chances are, they advertise in a selective and exclusive manner, possibly promoting very expensive brand names and their services. They rarely if ever advertise prices or sales. You'll also find that the look of everything they do is more upscale, exclusive and higher end. Unquestionably, they're positioning their store brand as up market and upscale. If they have a sale, many times it's closed door or by invitation only. Of course, today in our industry, there's much less straight retail and far more custom installation, so we have to look at other aspects of communication besides advertised sales.

Since we're talking about positioning and branding you must be careful not to go too far in creating a high-end, exclusive brand. You certainly don't want people to perceive your company to be pretentious, too expensive or out of their reach. No matter how much money people have, they don't want to believe they're paying too much or getting taken. There's a fine line between prestigious and pompous.

Finding and Promoting Your Identity

You probably have a pretty good grip on what position your company occupies in your marketplace. But is your perception reality? A practical way to find out may be to get several of your customers together for a little market research. Invite them to a nice dinner at a fine local restaurant where you've reserved a private room. Sit down with them, and ask how they perceive you and your company. The answers may surprise you. At the very least, they will enlighten you. Then you should gather some non-customers and do the same thing. Oh, and when you're done, give them a little gift as a sign of your appreciation.

Once you've determined what market position your company fills, if it fits your desires about where you'd like to take it (not a small task but one we're not going to go into in depth here), it's time to go about letting the world know. It's time to establish, strengthen or re-establish that company brand. You must examine every aspect of your business with critical eyes and an open mind to ensure that it all fits within the model for your market position. For example, I recently saw a plumber's 20-foot box truck that had a wall of words on its side, listing every possible service a plumber could possibly provide. The truck was covered from top to bottom and front to back with this stuff. I simply can't imagine that anyone is going to take the time required to read it. And if the truck's moving, who could read it, even if they wanted to? A simple "We'll Fill all Your Plumbing Needs" would work much better and says it all.

As mentioned before, be sure to examine all of your points of contact with the outside world. All your printed and written materials should look the same, using the same typefaces, colors, tag line and logo. Be very careful to ensure that every aspect of these elements is consistent with your market position and message. You don't want to be using Baskerville Old Face to express contemporary, modern and new. And you don't want to use the same typeface everyone else uses by default (Times/Times Roman or Helvetica/Arial) unless you really believe they're the best choice for you.

There used to be more structure to which typefaces were used in different contexts (body copy, headlines, etc.), but these are much less rigid today. Just be sure to choose typefaces that are consistent with your company, easy to read and not too over the top, style-wise.

Take the time to create standardized templates for all your letters, forms and written communications. And make sure everyone uses them all the time. Also note the quality and type of paper that you're using for customer letters and proposals. It's definitely worth using a little better grade paper for those important customer contacts. And remember, your business card should be consistent in look and feel with all of your other materials, as well.

Networking

Considering the fact that the vast majority of retailing has become the playground of the Category Killers (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.), it's fairly obvious that advertising in the traditional sense is not particularly useful to us. You'll get far better return from networking within the home building/home renovation/architectural/interior design worlds than running ads in your local newspaper. And word of mouth is probably the single most-powerful advertising you can get. But like everything else, it's a double-edged sword, so be careful about dissatisfied customers.

Recently, one of the hottest topics in our business has been how to connect and work with local builders. After all, these folks give us access to a primed market, as they build and sell new homes. Boy, if we could only get them to install our systems as a standard feature, like kitchen appliances. But there are issues to be wary of, as well. Builders don't want to lay out any cash unless they absolutely must. And they may not be interested in selling your add-on because they may not profit as much on your stuff as they would on other upgrades. Finally, it can be a long, drawn-out process to get them to pay you after the sale is complete. So you must be diligent and very careful with whom you choose to do business.

Networking with other trades can open many doors to additional business. Architects, interior designers, alarm companies, electricians, builders, kitchen design companies and IT companies are all involved with or have influence over some aspects of the modern home's information and entertainment technology. Carefully creating mutually beneficial relationships and partnerships with people in these trades will go a long way toward increasing your company's business and market penetration. Some refer to these people as gatekeepers, as they can let us into or keep us out of these segments of the market. So how do you get to these people?

Try approaching their trade associations like ASID, AIA and Builders Associations. Offer to make presentations about what you can do to enhance their business, or at the very least, attend a few of their group meetings. Establishing relationships within these organizations can be the single most-important tool you have to create new business and client contacts. Don't be obnoxious, but don't give up easily. In fact, many of the people in these trades are eager to learn more about the home entertainment revolution and the confluence of computer and entertainment technology that's going on. And home theater is certainly a buzz word they all will connect with.

If you do the things described above, you'll have a good solid beginning on the path to a positive marketing plan for your business. And it'll most certainly help to solidify your company's brand in the marketplace.