Is 'Accidental Marketing' the way you play the game?

I’ve had many conversations with small business owners in order to brainstorm quick, fun and easy events to do in order to bring in new clients, sell more products and generate more referrals. Most of the ideas we've come up with have been fairly simple, inexpensive and would be easy to execute.

As we discussed various campaign ideas, I found myself saying over and over something to the effect of, do x, y, or z and you will bring in new clients (or sell more products) “just by accident.”

I was starting to feel a little embarrassed at the lack of strategy reflected in the statement until one small business owner clued me in to this fact: the majority of you – small, independent business owners – are in fact  doing marketing ‘by accident.’

The truth is, when asked, many small business owners consistently and confidently assert, “I’m already doing marketing.” When asked what you are doing you reply that you are doing “word of mouth marketing.” When pressed for definition, you reveal that what this means to you is that you feel you are so incredible in the practice of your craft, your product is amazing or that you believe you create such an amazing experience for your customers that they simply can’t wait go and tell everyone they know about how wonderful you are (regardless of whether or not that is actually happening). 

This isn’t word of mouth marketing – this is accidental marketing.

To give you an idea of how effective it is, would you do accidental bookkeeping, hoping customers would remember to pay you (and would pay you the right amount) without giving them a bill? Accidental accounting? Accidental tax reporting? Would you provide services to your clients by accident – without consultation, without education and without strategy?

These are some of the things you approach intentionally, many of which you perform on a daily or even an hourly basis. You know there aren’t shortcuts for these mandatory tasks and you dedicate the time and energy required to do them properly.  But somehow, when it comes to your marketing, your actions reveal that you don’t truly believe marketing is a legitimate, mandatory part of your business planning. Marketing should receive the same level of focus and attention that all of the components of your business do – from your professional education to your bookkeeping and billing to your technique – but it rarely does.

Are you employing the type of ‘strategy’ where you open your doors and wait for the phone to ring, wondering where all the customers are? Where you invest thousands of dollars in superior retail products which end up sitting on the shelves collecting dust waiting for a chance to “sell themselves?” Where as a booth, kiosk, business park or mall store renter, you wonder why your landlord isn’t out there getting business to walk in the door for you? Where you launch a website or Facebook page and then promptly ignore it for months on end?

You are, in fact, not marketing; you are simply hoping to achieve accidental success.  Meanwhile, those of you who are actually consistently engaging in the marketing activities needed to build your business know that it takes actual, intentional action in order to produce a result. (And you are leaving those ‘accidental marketers’ in the dust!)

Accidental marketing is not a valid word-of-mouth marketing strategy. To generate word of mouth referrals, invitations, and buzz, you have to do something that is, in fact, buzz-worthy. Waiting for business to come to you accidentally might feel safer and more comfortable to you, but it’s just about the least effective strategy you can employ to build your business.

Try one new thing this month. Hold one event. Offer at least one special, compelling, time-limited promotion.
Set up your Facebook page and post something every day for a month. Set up a blog and post one new short article each week. Tell the story of your business in a series of Facebook or blog posts. Share your posts on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Communicate with your customers proactively rather than waiting for them to contact you. Send ‘thank you’ emails to your most important customers (this implies that you are collecting emails and building your contact database) at the end of each day, genuinely and personally thanking them for their time and their business. Let your current clients and the public know you are accepting new clients, and that you would be honored if they would consider referring a friend or co-worker to you. Create a referral rewards program and feature it on your business cards, website and Facebook page—you just might ‘accidentally’ get a new customer!


Elizabeth Kraus - www.12monthsofmarketing.net
Author, 365 Days of Marketing - available on amazon.com [click here]