Hat’s off to the marketing pros
By Dino Piccinini

Small business owners don't get the opportunity to wear the marketing hat very often. And, for many, it doesn't fit very well. Since most of them understand that marketing is an essential element of their success, many seek outside help to break the inertia. This is where they fall into the abyss. And there are exactly 5.3 reasons why.

Let's look at how the fictional Ms. Small Business — we'll call her Ms. SB - fell into the deep, dark cavern. Ms. SB, driven entrepreneur that she is, wants to attract more clients with some marketing. Her first stop is a local print shop for business cards, letterhead and envelopes. The nice print shop guy asks her if she has a logo. She stares at him blankly. "I'll be back," she says.

That night, Ms. SB sits down with her laptop to figure out where on earth someone gets a logo. She opts for an online logo creator. She hasn't the foggiest notion what her logo should look like, so she chooses a few images she likes and a color palette suggested by her best friend, a nurse.

Armed with her logo image, she goes back to the print shop for her business cards, letterhead and envelopes. "This logo looks pretty good," says the nice print shop guy. "But I don't think it'll resize very well. Got anything more high-res? Oh, and vectorize it!" Ms. SB's eyes glaze over. With five things to do in the next two hours she has little time to ponder what this means.

Over coffee the following week, Ms. SB asks a friend and fellow small business owner for direction on what to do next. He suggests a direct mail piece, press release, website and some signage. "And maybe a brochure or something to leave behind in sales calls," he adds. Ms. SB delivers her now-common blank stare. "Where do I get all this stuff?" she asks, her throat tightening at the thought of tackling yet another big project.

"Oh, I've got lots of contacts you can start with," he says, splaying a deck of business cards out on the table. He then runs down the list of freelancers, printers, consultants, sign shops and graphic designers he has used over the years to piece together his own marketing campaign. Swallowing hard, Ms. SB resigns herself to the fact that she will be spending a lot of time running from one place to another trying to coordinate her marketing campaign.

Sure enough, over the following months, Ms. SB has to meet with and field calls from writers, designers, product suppliers and delivery companies. Deadlines are missed, a freelancer vanishes with her deposit and the sign shop goes out of business — with her finished signs locked up inside. Ms. SB has fallen into the abyss.

Small business owners rely on an average of 5.3 different sources for their marketing, according to an in-depth study that Concentric Marketing, a Charlotte, N.C. research firm conducted for my company. That leads to inefficiency, stress and inconsistency — the death knoll of marketing and branding strategies. If you find an affordable, reliable source for marketing, hold on tight. The abyss looms below.

Dino Piccinini is the owner of The PRstore in Toledo (www.prstore134.com), the first full-service marketing and advertising retail center created exclusively for the promotional and communication needs of today’s small business owner. Contact him at (419) 842-8580 or via email at dpiccinini@prstore.com.