Daily Archives: March 26, 2010

Retail businesses have several different options when it comes to marketing their products or services. We’ve all seen yellow pages ads, mailers, billboards, newspaper ads, we’ve heard radio spots and seen televisions spots, but how effective are these marketing methods? They must be somewhat effective or we wouldn’t be exposed to them everyday, but at what cost? The traditional marketing options above can cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars for a yellow pages ad to several thousand dollars for a radio or television spot. In today’s volatile economy it may be time to think about alternative, more cost-effective methods to create awareness about your company. Let me introduce the concept of business to business marketing or BtoB.

What is BtoB? BtoB marketing is essentially making friends and partnering up with your neighboring businesses. As a business owner you need to go hit the streets and get to know your neighboring businesses in your community. You need to wear your swag representing your business and befriend everyone you meet….not just other business owners but all people that cross your path. You befriend the receptionists, the employees, the customers, and so on. In the morning you can deliver doughnuts and bagels. If you’re marketing later in the day you can deliver granola bars, candy, etc. The important thing is giving your self an avenue to get into the businesses and make friends. You learn about their business, what they do and how they do it. It’s important to have a routine schedule when making BtoB sales calls so your new friends know when you’re going to visit and look forward to seeing you. It’s also important to do all your regular shopping in your friends places of business. This shows them that you’re a loyal neighbor and support not only their business, but the community in general. Sooner than later you need to try to refer customers to your new friends and follow up. Everyone in business, especially retail, knows that word of mouth is the best way to grow your business and that’s what BtoB is all about. BtoB is all about building relationships and trust. The types of businesses you visit are irrelevant. You need to visit everyone. Just because you may be in the business of selling phones, doesn’t mean you can’t visit the local tanning salon near your store. Over time, when you know everyone around you and they know you, the referrals will start pouring in. You can even offer discounts to your new friends and neighbors.

There are many ways to maximize the benefits of BtoB marketing. For example, I’ve partnered up with several pizza chains and Chinese delivery restaurants in the past and done joint advertising. My office used to be down the strip center from a CiCi’s pizza. Every time CiCi’s would deliver a pizza, there was a huge coupon attached to the top of the pizza box. I spoke with the owner about possibly splitting the cost of those coupons allowing me to have a huge coupon on every pizza box that they delivered. He loved the idea. He was able to lower his fixed costs and maintain the same level of advertising effectiveness. The real benefit for me was not only that my coupons were on every pizza box, but that the pizzas were all being delivered in my immediate marketing area. I didn’t have to pay the delivery driver, I didn’t have to pay for the whole coupon, and I was able to help my neighboring business owner.

I have a dollar tree store down the road from one of my offices. One of my employees had a friend that worked at the Dollar Tree so I decided to go shopping with my employee. I bought all kinds of stuff like soap, toothpaste, detergent, etc. We spoke with her friend and with the manager about the weather, the past weekend’s football games, etc. We made friends. The next week I went to the dollar tree again, this time bringing Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The manager and employees couldn’t believe it when I walked in their store that morning with fresh doughnuts. I continued the relationship for several weeks before I asked the manager if I could leave some of my coupons by her door for her customers. She was very receptive, she couldn’t have been happier to help me distribute my company’s coupons. In fact, she even told her cashiers to put a coupon in every bag along with the receipt! How about that for advertising! We maintain the same relationship today.