Addtional Articles:
Marketing in the Next Millenium:	The ultimate goal of every marketer is customer intimacy. It yields efficiency, profits, market share and for maybe the first time, a real choice of who to market to in the future. MORE...
10 Common Ad Flaws:	1. No offer or a weak offer 2. Too much copy/cluttered 3. No visual or too many visuals MORE...
13 Reasons Businesses Get Into Trouble	1. Changes in the marketplace MORE...
20 Good Reasons to Say "NO" to a Sale	1. The overhead. Or, put another way, you're in over your head. You could pull off this sale if you had an unlimited credit line, more space, triple the staff, and ... MORE...
Are you an eagle?	Eagles not only take risks, but they are. MORE...

Marketing Workshop to Benefit American Red Cross Relief Fund

In the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Michael Loschke of Integrated Marketing Concepts wanted to do something to help.  What he came up with was an innovative idea that will not only aid the relief effort, but be a big assistance to local business owners as well 

On Saturday, October 20, Loschke will lead a three-hour workshop entitled “How to Market Your Business in Times of Adversity,” from 9 a.m.-Noon at the Red Lion in Modesto.  All proceeds from the event will go directly to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

The workshop is designed to help small businesses and professionals who may experience challenges in the coming months as a result of the attacks and a declining economy.  Included are tips on the best ways to market yourself and your business and tactics on the best ways to serve and keep loyal customers.

“The terrorists want businesses to fail and America to suffer,” Loschke says.  “This is the best way for business to strike back – with a plan and success!”

As an added benefit to participants, the cost of the workshop has been cut in half, to just $50.  There are 150 available seats, so early registration is strongly encouraged.  A breakfast buffet will also be available 

To sign up for the workshop, call Integrated Marketing Concepts at 572-2271 or
email Michael Loschke at info@imc-1.net.

---

Loyalty Marketing Can Drive New Business

CASE STUDY:  A small medical-based business that relies on referrals recently completed their new loyalty program launch.  Am micro database of less than 500 customers and prospects was developed.  Over twelve weeks, the database received a combination of email, fax, mail, and phone calls introducing the program.  An incredible 59% responded.  14% requested presentations and an astonishing 100% of those appointments happily agreed to participate.  Compare that with the national average response for direct mail at less than .03%.

HOW IT WORKS:  Remember the Pareto Principle?  When applied to your business it is more commonly referred to as the 80/20 Rule.  20% (or some small percentage) of your clients are responsible for as much as 80% of your business or more.  If you don’t know exactly who that 20% is by name address, phone, email, etc. you need to start collecting that data now. 

More importantly, you should learn why they buy from you.  Then you must reward and recognize them to keep them buying and referring.  Why?  You can’t afford to lose these people.  Plus, it makes sense mathematically.  By concentrating your marketing resources on this precious 20%, you can more than double your revenues from you most profitable customers in as little as four years!  Here are a few more reasons why I love loyalty programs.

Loyalty programs continue to garner media coverage because of their effectiveness and public appeal.  Everyone likes to feel special, get discounts and free rewards.  One of the oldest, largest and most successful programs is “frequent flyer miles.”  Buyers are rewarded with air miles that have become a form of alternative currency or lingua franca.  Your program doesn’t have to be this large or even complicated.  Better still – you can get free publicity (referrals) from your top customers touting their newly found status.

ANTI SPAM:  Another plus for loyalty programs is the safety hedge they provide against the new state and federal anti-spam laws going now in effect.  Loyalty programs by definition are officially anti-spam since the participant opts-in when they sign up, you may have to offer additional discounts or incentives.  Either way, their personal preferences and contact information are necessary to build and maintain a successful loyalty program.

Finally, using email for your loyalty program can literally save you tens of thousands of dollars annually by reducing print, postage, and mail house services like folding and stuffing.  When combining email with traditional direct mail, phone and fax contact, loyalty marketing can double or triple effectiveness of your campaigns while cutting the response time in half.

BOTTOM LINE:  Even after factoring in all the costs for the campaign, the owners expect to generate a whopping 16:1 return on their initial investment.  And if only half the prospects actually deliver on commitments (to stay loyal and refer customers just like them), the business doubles the number of precious Top 20% clients and reaches their target goals easily.

Michael Loschke is President of IMC Consulting & Training, a California based full-service management consulting firm specializing in planning, marketing and organizational development.  For more information or questions you can Visit www.imc-1.net or Call 209-572-2271 x101 or Email info@imc-1.net

---

Adapting to Change - The New Competitive Advantage

Interest rates are beginning to climb. Has your economic bubble burst? Are your employees ready for change? Maybe they don't even know that they need to change? While change is necessary to stay competitive, the more difficult task is communicating and implementing change with employees. Helping them adapt to change can actually create advantages for them and your organization. The first step is always creating an awareness of the problem. One solution we always find successful is sharing a copy of the 1998 bestseller, "Who moved my cheese?" by Spencer Johnson, MD. For thos of you with no time and patience for reading, it is available on cassette too. It is the story of Sniff and Scurry (mice) and Hem and Maw (people), who must seek the "new cheese" to replace the "old cheese" that has disappeared. "Cheese" is a metaphor for those things we want and need in life. The characters discover that, "their cheese has been moved." finding "new cheese" becomes the new mission. Along the way they are reminded that things change and in order to survive, we must adapt.

So how adaptable is your organization? We are almost half way through the year. Is it just how you planned? Will you make layoffs or hire? Will you increase prices, push sales, or cut costs? Here are seven points to consider. Prepare now and you will be more rewarded with more focus, more efficiency and more effectiveness. Do you have that written business plan yet? It's not too late. If you do, are you meeting your goals? Do you need to modify your marketing, your tactics, and/or your budget? Have you scheduled the annual summer planning session to renew organizational vision, evaluate new issues and outline a course for long-term success?

Do your employees have updated job descriptions and have you scheduled their quarterly reviews? Yes, I said quarterly. Are you helping them achieve personal goals? When was the last time you shopped your competition? Who is new "in business" or "out of business" and why? Where is their pricing, service and marketing compared to yours? How about creating that customer satisfaction survey? Do we know where they live, work, why they buy from us, why they love us? Would they "refer" us? Do you communicate good/bad news, problems and changes regularly with your associates? Do you correct problems quickly? Remember, failing to correct negative behavior is the same as rewarding.

When you reward and recognize for achievement, is it significant? What is the incentive for change? Basically, if people are comfortable and/or ignorant to problems, they will not be motivated to change. My mother would often say, "time waits for no one." Take just one of these areas and run with it now. If you get stuck or need a hand, just call. That's why we are here.

Michael Loschke is President of IMC consulting & Training, a California-based full-service management consulting firm specializing in planning, marketing, and organizational development. for more information or questions you can visit www.imc-1.net or e-mail info@imc-1.net.

Merced Chamber of commerce
July 2004
business journal

---

Planning to Win or Racing to Fail

OK, so you bought the software or read the book but you still can’t get your marketing plan together.  You’ve crashed on a dozen promotional ideas and nothing really works.  Don’t despair.  Take a pit stop for a plan. Commit to this exercise and you will SAVE yourself both TIME and MONEY.  You might think of your marketing plan like this.

The marketing plan is to a business plan, what an engine is to a car.  You would never buy one without the other.  You must maintain performance with frequent and consistent maintenance.  The plan must always have fuel (budgets) in order to propel the business forward.  How far and how fast you go is dependant on many variables including the environment, the distance, the conditions and the driver. 

Research and answer these seven questions and you could be on your way to success faster than you think.

1. What are my marketing objectives and goals?  These might include increasing floor traffic, making the phone ring, or building your database.
2. Who is my target audience?  Consider their age, income, education, gender and race.
3. Where is my market today…next month…next year?  Describe it geographically, demographically and psycho-graphically (their perception of themselves.)
4. Who are my competitors and what are their strengths and weaknesses?  Think about their location, workforce, geography, industry and pricing strategy.
5. How much money is in my marketing budget?  Formulas for creating budgets include percentage of sales, meeting/beating the competition, or basing it upon accomplishing your specific objectives.
6. Which marketing programs match my objectives and targets most efficiently?  Direct mail, public relations, the internet, trade shows, advertising (buying time or space), and direct sales force are some of the most popular.  Most businesses don’t do many well.
7. When should the campaigns run?  You should consider before sales, during sales, during peak buying periods and of course, just to keep in touch.

Whether this takes you thirty minutes or thirty days, you will be planning to win at marketing rather than racing to fail.  Still stuck?  Give us a call.  Good luck and remember to have fun!

Michael Loschke is the principal and founder of IMC Consulting & Training, Central California’s leading full-service management consulting firm.  IMC works with small and medium businesses to grow their people, profits and service.  They are members of the prestigious Institute of Management Consultants.  Call them at 209-572-2271 or visit them at www.imc-1.net

---

Eleven Major Marketing Mistakes

Over 20 years of sales and marketing management experience has allowed me to accumulate a list of major marketing mistakes. You may have made some of these mistakes. Given a few minutes, I can easily show you how any one of these could be costing you millions of dollars in revenue over the lifetime of your business. Maybe it's about time to think about changes that can really take the gamble out of new business development. Now, when I say marketing, I don't mean advertising. Advertising may or may not be part of your marketing strategy. Marketing is an ongoing process that educates and persuades the customer to choose your business. I have successfully pinpointing marketing weaknesses in many businesses using the simple exercise that follows. From here, you will be able to design and implement successful sales and marketing programs with innovation, creativity, and commitment to metered change.

Why not take a few minutes to put your marketing programs to the test? How many of these could be costing you millions in revenue over the life of your business?

1. Failure to determine and address your customers' and prospects' needs

2. Not testing price, package, and approach with actual customers and prospects

3. Using institutional ads instead of direct results advertising with a strong benefit driven message

4. Not developing a unique selling proposition (USP) to differentiate yourself

5. Not measuring the lifetime value of a customer (LTV)

6. Only selling and not educating the consumer why your business is better

7. Failing to make doing business with you easy, appealing, desirable & FUN!

8. Failing to tell your customers WHY when it comes to your price, delivery, service, etc.

9. No focus on the customer- this requires reverse thinking from the previous perspective

10. Not developing and marketing to previous customers- So many referrals and add on sales

11. Not sticking with the marketing campaign long enough to accomplish objectives

Michael Loschke is principal and founder of IMC Consulting & Training, a leading sales and marketing management firm based in Modesto. IMC provides research, planning, consulting, and training services for growing businesses in CA, Mexico, and Central America. Send your questions to or call (209) 572-2271