Uh-Oh Marketing

“Uh-oh” is the repetitive expletive that carries with it the foreboding, stomach wrenching realization that something is wrong. “Oh-oh” - the sound of doom.

All of us have been known to utter instantaneous expletives (usually four letters like “darn!” or “crap!”) immediately as something negative unexpectedly happens. But the term “uh-oh” usually follows the thoughtful and longer term realization that something is just not right.

The “uh-oh” that I want to address today is the one expressed when we take a good look at our bank account.

“Uh-oh, I spent more last month than I made” or “Uh-oh, we are nearing our overdraft limit”. And along with the sinking feeling comes the elevated heart rate and the overwhelming feelings of desperation. “I need to make some money – and fast!”

Inevitably, the first thing many business owners do is look quickly at their inventory and determine what they can sell or liquidate to bring in some much required ‘cashola’. If the business is a service provider, the owner might take a look at what services they can reduce the cost on and set out on an immediate campaign to sell service bundles at a reduced cost to generate income.

Neither of these strategies is bad – or wrong – especially if there is an immediate need for cash flow. The problem is – many business owners execute a full year of marketing using this method. This is what I call “Uh-oh Marketing”.

In fact for many businesses “Uh-oh Marketing” generates most of the income that they receive during the year – pulling them out of one financial crisis after another. Unfortunately because they are continually offering “Uh-oh sales”, they are reducing the income they receive for the products or services they sell. If they have priced their products to have a 20% profit margin, and then offer a special to generate much needed income, they may eliminate their profit entirely.

In my first business, I addressed every financial crisis in this way. I bought fabric at $3.00 meter and priced it at $6.00 a meter. This was standard for the industry – and gave me a 20% profit after expenses. ($0.60) An ““Uh-oh sale” meant that I reduced the cost of the fabric by 25% - thereby making the cost of the fabric for the consumer $4.50 a meter. This eliminated my profit – and dug into the profits I had made on other items.

Because I continued to practice this method of marketing for more than a year, I suffered a loss on the business – which made me wonder why I was in business at all!

Unfortunately the loss of profit is not the only thing a business will experience as a result of “Uh-oh Marketing”. By using this method to sell product they:

• Significantly raise their stress levels
• Send the message that products are ALWAYS available for a cheaper price.
• Distract customers from the true value of the product or service
• Falsely give the business owner a feeling of well being, thinking they are doing well by rotating inventory quickly
• Set up repetitive roller-coaster income

These are only a few of the results of “Uh-oh Marketing”. The answer is of course, creating a marketing plan to ensure consistent income. But that means business owners must plan ahead.

There are few tools to simplify creating that marketing plan – perhaps the reason no one knows exactly where to begin. The simplest method is to get out the calendar and plan your marketing efforts around events, holidays and seasons. See a great example of a tool to simplify this here. Think about what your customer needs and when they need it – and then market appropriately – in a format and place where they will see it.

Include in the plan how much you hope you hope to increase your sales – and then set a budget. (yes you need to set a marketing budget up) Let the marketing begin! As you execute your plan, keep a close eye on your ROI – and tweak the plan if necessary.

Remember, a client needs to see or hear from you between seven and nine times before they will purchase or inquire. So be sure to be consistent.

There is a time and a place for “Uh-oh Marketing” – but it is not every month at bill paying time! Work smarter and plan ahead.

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