Key(s) to a Successful Business

The three keys to a successful business are: location, location, location. Or are they?

If you want to make your business more profitable, easier to market, and attract more customers- you need to differentiate from your competition.

The average American is subjected to as many as 5,000 commercial impressions each day. According to the Media Inter Center, 245 of those impressions are ads. Television accounts for 108 ads, 34 we hear on the radio, and 112 we see in print.

Take a look at your current business/marketing strategy. If you’re doing and saying the same thing as everyone else, how are your potential customers going to remember you and go to you for products/services?

Every business owner I’ve met with wants to improve their bottom line. What many of them don’t realize is the potential to draw customers from many miles outside of their immediate physical location. In fact it is easier to become a “destination” in the minds of consumers from distant locales than it is to hold that same place in the minds of your neighbors. Why is that?

How many of the “tourist traps” in your town do you visit? When something is ever-available and ever-present it is easily taken for granted. (It can’t be that great; it’s in Shawano.)

When on vacation have you gone to see some of the unique attractions that I have? How about the World Famous Mustard Museum in Mt. Horeb, The Southernmost Point in Key West, or the Fountains at Bellagio in Las Vegas? Have you visited the closer to home destination business, Doc’s Harley Davidson? (Check out the exotic animals and the antique car/bike museum; it is well worth the trip. Hopefully it inspires you, too.)

These locations are not easy to forget because they are unique. When your company has a memorable association it’s talked about, it’s sought out and it is successful. What is your signature? Is your brand vision compelling? What makes you so special?

If you want to compete on price, stop reading. There will always be someone that can do/sell what you do for less. If you don’t think you can carry the inventory or offer the vast selection of services that the national chains do, you’re probably right. But if your customers want what everyone else has, let them go to the big-box stores or franchises.

These stores operate under the principle of creating multiple, identical units. Wherever you go, you’ll find the same thing in the same stores. (Incidentally, I hope you don’t go to Wal-Mart or McDonald’s on vacation.)

If your customer can get it anywhere, why get it now and why get it from you? Consumers seek out specialized, exclusive, and hard-to-find items from people that know their stuff. Consumers will travel fifty, seventy-five, even hundreds of miles to find what they think they cannot find anywhere else.

Craft your unique selling proposition, cut out all clichés, be memorable, and not afraid to take a risk. With ease of travel and the Internet, location isn’t what it used to be. The real key to a successful business is becoming a destination in the mind of your customers.

For more information on becoming a destination business you can sign up for Jon Shallert’s Destination Boot Camp (for a hefty price, plus travel). If you want tips to improve your marketing strategy from a local professional (sometimes local is good) call 715-584-6773 or email terra@fletcherfreelance.com.  Your first consultation is always free.

Watch for future blogs on Destination Business Tips, Business Differentiation Strategies, and How to Market to Tourists.

Don’t forget to enter Fletcher Freelance’s Marketing Material Makeover contest.