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New Statistics on Market Share

I just got back from presenting at the Michigan Downtown Conference in Bay City, MI. Robert Gibbs offered some new statistics on the breakdown of Retail Market Share worth passing along.

In 1955 the Central Business Districts of our cities had 90% of the Retail Market Share. Today the CBD’s have 2%.

The breakdown looks like this:

Power Retail Centers (think Wal-Mart plazas) 37%
Regional Shopping Centers (malls) 31%
Internet 9%
Living Centers (the new outdoor mall type places) 7%
Downtown CBD’s 2%

(I am guessing that the other 14% is in small strip malls and stand-alones that are spread out along the highways, rural areas and non-commercial districts of this fine country.)

That is a major shift in shopping habits. His solution for downtowns to reverse this trend is for downtowns to attract more chain retailers. The chains then become anchors that attract shoppers and raise the tide for all the shops. Unfortunately, that is not a reality for most small cities.

Especially after he told us the 50-50-50 rule for attracting chain stores. You have to have two of these three factors:

  • 50,000 people in the trade area (or more)
  • $50,000 average income (or higher)
  • 50,000 cars driving by daily (or more)

How does your community stack up? I am guessing that 95% of the cities in the US were eliminated immediately.

My solution is far simpler and works whether you’re in a bustling metropolis or quaint little town.

To gain back market share you need to be better than you were in marketing, better than you were in over-the-top incredible customer service, and better than you were in turning your customers into evangelists. Do that and the people will come. You don’t need a national chain store to draw you a crowd. Start your own crowd – a crowd of people who love you.

-Phil

Don’t Eat the Tea!

My friend, Joel, told an interesting story about Tea in England.

Apparently, it was quite expensive and only for the very rich at first.

As Joel tells it…
One woman in the south took a full pound of her expensive cache and sent it to her sister in the north, telling her how marvelous it was. Her sister boiled it, dumped the black liquid off and served it like a vegetable. She wrote back about how terrible it was.

She’d prepared it like a vegetable, which she understood, instead of seeing it for what it was: something entirely new.

Joel used this story to illustrate how some people are approaching the new social media tools with the same old ideas of what advertising is and are eating their tea.

How do you like your tea?
I would argue you can apply the same lesson to all types of advertising. For every advertising medium I show you, you can point to someone who told you how they used that medium and it didn’t work. Or maybe you used it and it didn’t work. All because you (or they) didn’t brew it properly.

That is the purpose behind the FREE eBook How Ads Work Part 1. I want to give you some insight into how to brew your advertising the right way. I’ve eaten the vegetables and brewed the tea, so I know what tastes better.

If you want your advertising to leave a better taste in your mouth, start with the eBook, then email me with your questions. When done right, it’s a sweet tea!

-Phil

Which Topic Next?

I recently published three Free eBooks on my website – Inventory Management, How Ads Work Part 1, and How Ads Work Part 2.

I have two more eBooks I’m working on, but not sure if I have the time to get both done. Which would you prefer first?

One title is Marketing a Retail Store on a Shoestring Budget. It is similar to the non-profit eBook of a similar name, but with a couple distinctly retail-oriented changes. But I’ve done a lot of writing on advertising lately and not sure the motivation is there (unless you tell me that is what you want).

The second title is Merchandising Made Memorable. The goal of this eBook is to give you some tried and true rules on merchandising including plenty of examples of do’s and don’ts. Plus, there will be a couple ways to break all the rules all the way to the bank. Just like Pricing for Profit, I look at merchandising from a customer’s standpoint. And you should, too.

So those are the options… Let me know in the comments which one you want to see first.

-Phil

Free or Priceless?

I’m going out on a limb with my next two Freebies – How Ads Work Part 1 and Part 2.

Pablo Picasso is credited with saying, “Good artists borrow, great artists steal.”

Much of the information in these two eBooks is stuff I stole from Roy H. Williams, aka The Wizard of Ads, especially the mind-blowing Advertising Performance Equation (APE) in Part 2. It will totally transform the way you look at advertising. (I hope he doesn’t mind.)

Part 1 guides you through some of the same discussions I’ve done here – showing you HOW the different mediums work – now all condensed in one single document. Most sales reps in advertising know how to sell their products, just not how to use them. This guide will help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each medium so you’ll know more than your reps. Plus, as a bonus, I dispel some of the most common myths of advertising and share with you the Wizard’s definition of Transactional and Relational Customers – probably the single greatest business concept I learned at Wizard Academy.

Part 2 includes the APE, plus a bunch of ad examples that have a strong impact. Although the ads are copyrighted, the techniques they use are simple enough for you to steal for your own use.

Best of all, both eBooks are completely FREE! You are encouraged not only to download them, but to share them. Send them to all your friends in the industry. Copy them to your Shop Local campaigns. Distribute them to anyone you know who needs help in advertising. Believe me, we all benefit when advertising improves.

You know why most ads don’t work? Because most people don’t know how ads work. These eBooks are your starting point to making your ads work for you.

-Phil

PS Use these two in conjunction with Understanding Your Brand and you will be light years ahead of your competition in understanding advertising and making it work for you. Think of it as a Master’s Degree without the time or expense (or the outdated info most colleges still teach).

Which Would You Attend – Revisited

A few days ago I posted 4 potential classes and asked a bunch of my retailer friends if they could only attend one, which would they choose.

I had two purposes for this post. First, to see how people choose which sessions and trainings to attend. Second, to see if there was one over-riding topic in which everyone was thirsting for more info.

The answer to the first purpose was interesting. There were three basic reasons for choosing which class to attend.

  1. It is the class that you deem most important to your business success (regardless of your own skill level)
  2. It is the class in which you feel your skills are least competent
  3. It is the class that sounds the most fun (of highest interest to you)

Professionally, I would think reasons #1 & #2 make the most sense, but I can also see how #3 plays into the equation. If you aren’t enjoying yourself, you’ll have a harder time staying focused, thus have a harder time learning.

The answer to the second purpose was less clear. All four classes received interest. Including the email responses, there would have been at least two people in each class, but no more than three in any one class. So no clear cut topic emerged. Darn! I was hoping to get some more focus for future posts.

So, in lieu of a single topic, I’ll keep writing a variety of posts on all topics important to retail success. If you have a question, send it along and I’ll respond. Maybe by the 4th quarter you won’t have to attend any classes.

-Phil

Help Me Choose A Workshop

At many conferences we have breakout sessions – three or four different topics and speakers from which you can choose.

I struggle with these because I usually want to attend more than one, and cloning has not reached the level to allow me that luxury. And trying to decide between one session and another is tough.

I need your feedback here…

I’m going to give you four options for sessions you could attend. For the sake of argument, let’s assume all the speakers are well-qualified to talk on their respective subjects and you can only attend one of those sessions.

Which session will you attend and why?

Session #1 – Marketing & Advertising on a Shoestring Budget
Learn the smartest ways to get the most out of your limited advertising resources. This class will show you how to use Social Media the right way, teach you new ways to market your business without spending a dime, how to get a guaranteed return on the money you do spend on advertising, and why you’re not getting the word-of-mouth you think you deserve (and how to change that). Every attendee will leave with at least four inexpensive ways to increase traffic and sales that they can implement right away.

Session #2 – Everyone has Customer Service, You Need Customer Delight
This session will show you how to train your staff to consistently give your customers far more than they expect. Topics covered include how to meet and greet your customers the right way, understanding the different customer temperaments, how to solve their problems, and how to finish each sale leaving the customer happier than when they came in. Each attendee will get a blueprint for training their staff including role-play examples and key phrases to avoid.

Session #3 – Knowing the Numbers, It’s Your Money After All
You can just hand over your financials to your accountant and hope for the best, or you can learn the numbers yourself and make them work for you. This class is for the financials novices who wish to learn simple ways to understand the financials behind their business. You will learn how to calculate important numbers like Cost of Goods Sold, Gross & Net Profit, and the many different ratios that banks use to determine if your business is growing or dying. When you finish this class, you’ll know exactly where your money is, what it is (or isn’t) doing for you and how to make it better.

Session #4 – Cash Flow Basics – How Smart Buyers Make More Money
When is a deal from your vendor too good to pass up? When is a discount not worth the loss of cash flow? How do you know when you have too much inventory? Too little? These and other questions will be answered in this buyer’s workshop including tools you can use to increase your cash flow and make you more money. You don’t need a point-of-sale system to be a better buyer. You just need to know these simple principles of buying that dramatically change your financial picture.

Which will you choose and why?

-Phil

How Much Marketing Does it Take?

Here are some of the ways I have decided to market my new book…

  • Face-to-Face Sales – I do speaking engagements all around the country and get opportunities to sell my book one at a time to attendees. Plus, I sell it in my store. And I always have a few copies with me wherever I go (sold two at a recent birthday party!)
  • Web Marketing – I have it for sale on my website
  • Blog Marketing – Yeah, this is the fourth time I’ve talked about it to you.
  • YouTube – already one video review online about the book, more coming…
  • Facebook – The book has it’s own page, positive reviews starting to come in.
  • Friend Blogging – I have given away a few free copies to influential friends who have blogged about it or at least given it some link love (one of those links increased my blog traffic by a factor of 15!)
  • Direct to Buying Groups – There are retail buying groups made up of independent retailers to whom I am reaching out.
  • Radio – I already did one radio interview, working on setting up more
  • TV – Ditto
  • Newsprint – I will be profiled soon in the local paper as a local author, working on getting profiled in other papers, too.
  • Human Resource Professors – this is tougher nut for me to crack, but I am working on making contact with HR Professors to try to get this book into their hands and into their classrooms
  • Human Resource Professionals – I have been following HR groups on LinkedIn, posting where applicable, getting involved in discussions, and getting to know other people there. Soon I will be enlisting their help in spreading the word.

As you can see from this list, there is a lot I am doing to market one tiny little book on Hiring & Training.

How does this apply to your business? Simple. All of the above marketing techniques are basically free. They only cost me time and a few free books. If you don’t have enough business, then you have enough time to get cranking on any one of them. (Yes, they are all applicable to your business – email me if you can’t see how.)

-Phil

Avoid Ad-Speak in Your Ad Copy

I’ve talked about it before here and here and here.

When your radio or TV ads sound like ads, people will tune you out. We’ve become immune to ad-speak. We don’t hear it. We don’t see it. We don’t believe it. It is the white noise in the background of our lives.

You’ve heard my radio ads and you know they don’t sound like a typical ad. Now I have proof!

Tom Wanek, author of the book, “Currencies That Buy Credibility” has created a new tool to help you check your ad copy for ad-speak.

Go here to read his blog on it (the George Carlin video alone is worth a click), then check out the Carlin Ad-Speak Calculator. I did.

Every single ad I ran through the calculator came up with ZERO Ad-Speak!

Check it out and let me know how well your ads stack up.

-Phil

PS Sorry about all the hyperlinks. Sometimes it’s easier to send you somewhere else than repeat everything here – especially when it’s said better elsewhere.

New Freebie for Non-Profits

I’ve just posted a new eBook in the Freebies section of my website titled Non-Profit Marketing on a Shoestring Budget.

It’s my notes from the presentation I gave yesterday to the Jackson Non-Profit Support Network about simple ways non-profits can improve their marketing without spending a ton of money.

Thanks, Regina, for the opportunity to speak to your group. They are doing important work and I was glad to have this opportunity to support them.

If you’re in a non-profit or know someone running a non-profit, click here to see what I said.

-Phil

PS Printing more than one copy – or distributing the free eBooks electronically – is not only legal, but is actively encouraged. Please share the documents in the Freebies Section with anyone you think would benefit. Pass them along to coworkers, colleagues and friends with my blessing. You may also reprint the text in your own writings as long as you credit the author (me:-).

The 3/50 Project – Are You On Board?

Cinda Baxter had a good idea. A really good idea. An idea that sprouted wings only seconds after she hit “publish” on her blog.

Pick 3 local retailers you would really miss if they closed. Spend $50 in those stores this month. Repeat.

It’s The 3/50 Project and it all started with a blog post on March 30th, 2009. Now, less than a full year later, The 3/50 Project is an international juggernaut with over 17,000 independent retailers registered at her website, over 53,000 fans on Facebook, and a boatload of resources you can download for FREE to help promote your fellow independents.

Cinda came to Jackson last Wednesday night to talk about the project and how it can help promote local Jackson businesses. She gave us the history behind the idea and a laundry list of great ways to bring this positive message to our community.

Ideas like this cross promotion between retail stores and restaurants…

Spend $50 in any/all of these select retail stores this month, get a $10 gift certificate to any of the following restaurants for next month (and vice versa)


Ideas like this window display…

Write on this card 3 locally owned businesses you would miss if they closed. Sign your name at the bottom. We’ll post your card in the window with all the other cards and you’ll be entered to win one of three $50 gift certificates.

(Think of the impact such a display would cause – the reinforcement to the person who wrote the card of supporting those businesses, plus an easy way to cross promote your customers’ favorite businesses to other customers.)

Ideas like this way to create evangelists for your store…

Attach five $5 gift certificates to a 3/50 Project flier with your customer’s name on the back and give to her with instructions for her to pass 4 of those gift certificates on to her friends. Tell her that for every gift certificate that comes back she’ll get entered in a drawing to win a monthly prize.

(Do you think that would get some new business in your store? Of course it would!)

And many more ideas.

It was a fabulous presentation. Unfortunately only about 15 Jackson business owners were in the paltry audience to hear such a message. But then again, 15 is a start. And we have to start somewhere.

Do you think you could round up 15 local businesses to start some sort of cross promotion in your town? Do you think you could benefit from a campaign that encourages people to think about their favorite local stores? Are you one of the favorites? Will you be in the top 3 on someone’s list? (If not, we need to talk. I might be able to help you.)

Do yourself a favor and go to The 3/50 Project. Read all about it. Sign up. Download the freebies. Promote yourself and your local retailers. To steal a phrase from my fellow blogger Jay H. Heyman, it’s a good idea, it’s a really good idea.

-Phil

PS I got to meet Cinda Baxter after the presentation. We had a wonderful conversation sharing ideas. What incredible energy and passion she has for local retailers. I’m a fan. I’ve added her blog to my must-read list. You should too!