I recently presented a lunch and learn for a South and East Des Moines chamber member meeting that was so popular I’ve been asked to write it down. So I thought you might enjoy it, too.

I coach clients everyday about what they could be doing to improve their marketing. Though there are endless marketing opportunities I see, they almost always fall within the following five steps to marketing. Though they’ll seem basic and common-sense, the hard part about marketing isn’t knowing what to do. It’s doing it. And, doing it well. Fully. Over and over again!

5 (deceivingly) simple steps to great marketing:

1) Know who you are: Discover what makes you special, interesting, and worth seeking out. Then determine what makes you relevant to the customer. Why do they need you, especially at this time? This process is called brand discernment and development. A strong, well-defined brand is crucial for the next three steps.

2) Know who you’re going to market to: Unless you sell toilet paper, “everyone” is not your customer. Determine who the “right” customer is for you. Hint, they probably look a lot like your best (ie most profitable) customers now. Right customers understand the value of what you offer and are willing to pay for it—often! Do your research to find who those people are and where they live and/or work. The more targeted your prospect list, the more personalized and effective your marketing will be.

3) Talk to those people: Reach out to those “right” customers. Talk to them directly. Use snail mail, social media, email, and personal communication. But remember, if you’re not using their name, it’s not direct communication. And then use indirect communication to catch those right customers you may not have meet yet. Be as targeted as you can be. Even very indirect communication like signage and a shopping experience can be designed to resonate strongly with a particular audience. The opportunities in this step are great. Use them to talk not just about who you are and what you sell, but how you are a part their life and community.

4) Let them talk back: Be accessible by having several ways for customers to reach out to you. Be sure they know they’re welcome to email, post on your business Facebook page, or leave blog comments. Or take your best customers to lunch and ask them how you’re doing. Hand out feedback cards with a coupon or even hang an old-fashioned suggestion box. Better yet, do all of the above. But most importantly, read the comments you receive and respond to them. Some feedback may be unflattering, so you may want to have a plan for how you acknowledge criticism.

5) Repeat. All of it. Go back to the beginning and go through every step. Look at each with a fresh eye. Is there more you could be doing? Now that you have some feedback, do you need to make some changes? Is the message right but not getting through? Are you focusing on the right customer? You’re not sacrificing new customers at the sake of current ones are you? Are you talking to them in a way that’s being heard? Are they responding? If not, why?

Don’t be afraid to try new things. What worked last year may not work again this year. Study companies you admire. Can you take a page from their playbook for your own marketing efforts?

Overwhelmed? Let us help you work though these steps and build a marketing plan that makes the most of your limited resources (and who’s aren’t limited!). We can help point out opportunities you may have overlooked and help you with execution, tracking and follow-through. Our design expertise can craft for you a customer brand experience that is second to none.

So, know what you’re saying, to whom you’re saying it, say it, and then let the recipient respond. That’s how marketing has happened since before MBAs started calling it marketing. It’s still the same, even in today’s virtual and global business environments. It’s simple to embrace, but full of excitingly complex options to execute.

I am not an “early adopter.” So, the fact that I’m writing this blog in a coffee shop hundreds of miles from my office on my first iPad isn’t that blog worthy. But what is stunning to me is how computing has blended my work with the rest of my life.

I’ve always been kind of a workaholic. Not that I’m that super driven, I just respect the muse. I get excited about ideas, inspiring me to work at odd hours, in odd places.

That’s exactly why I bought my first laptop.
I purchased it just before a business trip to Florida, I remember using it to organize meeting notes in my room at night and design logos in a cabana on the beach one afternoon. I felt untethered and free, even though battery life was no more than three hours and Internet access was only through Ethernet. I started to work outside the office more and used the computer to organize my personal as well as business life. Business and personal computer use was starting to blur.

This new iPad is similarly liberating. I use the app Upad to sketch and mark up emailed pdfs. I use Pages to take meeting notes and write copy. Daylight Touch handles my account management and Designsoft tracks our time. We’re even planning to build an iPhoto version of our portfolio for it.

In addition I can use my Google Voice account for texting without phone service and FaceTime for meetings.

On the other hand, I already have six new books on my iPad, and I’m halfway through two. I store my photos on it, and my music. And my daughter loves to play games on it.

I barely even need my trusty iPhone anymore.
Wait, did I say that? If I don’t have constant access to Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and regular texting through my smart phone I start to sweat. Being without the internet is like being without electricity these days. When Bin Laden was killed I learned of it, not through traditional news media, but through Facebook. Social media is my filter for the world, critical to my business and personal relationships. And I think it is for a lot of people.

That’s why social media and internet-based communications are so critical to corporate marketing plans, now. Businesses must be a part of their customers lives, and those lives are on the web now. If businesses want word-of-mouth advertising their conversations have to take place online.

Ten years of toting a computer
I was cleaning and getting ready to recycle some old computers a couple of weeks ago when I found that old laptop. I was shocked at how heavy and bulky it was. The screen is nearly the same size as this tablet. And the hard drive wasn’t much bigger than the memory on this iPad!

It was my first laptop, and ever since I’ve been dragging a computer around. But I think I’ll keep the old one. It helps remind me of the freedom I first experienced then and the promise to be able to work anywhere—even in a coffee shop.

Getting someone to pay for your ideas gets rid of a lot of fuzzy thinking.

- Tim O’Reilly, O’Reilly Media

This month the designers and I are creating posters to sell at a benefit for cycling called ArtCrank. It’s the second year we’ve participated in this event and it’s always a good time for a cause we love. But it’s also a challenge.

Thirty designers are chosen to create posters with a cycling theme. Designers print thirty posters to sell for $30.00 each at an opening night gala and for a few days following. The benefit group is always a supporter of cycling and they get a cut of the poster sale. Then the organizer, ArtCrank, takes a cut and the designer gets the remainder, about $13 per poster. Thirty posters with a budget of $13 gives each designer $390 to play with—if we sell all our posters!

Lots of freedom, not much money

Posters can be as large as 20 x 26, which is great, but even archival inkjet is pricey at that size. Here at Cooper Smith & Company, last year Robin turned to archival inkjet, Matt self printed with screen-printing and I relied on traditional offset. My poster was way over budget, but they sold out opening night. Since it was offset, it was easy to print a longer run of 75 posters. That allowed me to sell additional posters following the show. I’ve sold about ten more posters at full price ($30 or $35 with shipping.) With those proceeds added in, I’ve more than covered my costs.

But spending a little extra was worth it for me last year. This year I’m trying screen printing, and I’m still over budget. I’m nervous. This year, the opening night is on a Thursday instead of a Saturday and it only hangs for four days. The chances of selling out will be much more slim.

The cost of love

Two years ago my husband had a serious accident and was nearly killed while riding a bike. After months of grueling rehabilitation he relearned to walk and eventually ride a bike. I was enormously grateful for the cycling community who helped us so much during that difficult time. It was his desire to get back on a bike that kept him going.

Eight months after his accident I designed Cupid’s Crossbow. Subtitled From the Seat of My Pants to the Bottom of my Heart, it is a very personal representation of my love and gratitude for the bike.

Cupid’s Crossbow – Sally Cooper Smith

This year the bike brings me to a different phase in my life. It has been a difficult year personally topped off by a long hospitalization (a persistent spontaneous pneumothorax.) So, titled Better Days, this ArtCrank poster is subtitled The Road Ahead to symbolize my hope for the future.

It is always my belief that when we genuinely share ourselves others pick up on it. Maybe that’s why last year’s poster Cupid’s Crossbow did so well even in national design shows, with acceptance in Communication Arts Design Annual and Creative Quarterly design review.

Will Better Days do as well? I don’t know. But I feel the same kinship with the image that I did with Cupid’s Crossbow. I’ll post a comment to this blog after the show to let you know how it goes.

Freedom is not a license for chaos

ArtCrank places no restrictions on a designer except theme and size. We have no one to please but ourselves…and a bicycling-friendly consumer. That’s rare in our world. (Everything Cooper Smith & Company creates is strategically built to support a discerning client’s brand and business goals.) For over a month, we design and tweak, then redesign and critique, then tweak some more. In the end, we rarely feel like we’re finished, we just run out of time to tweak any more.

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Better Days – Sally Cooper Smith	.	Ride DSM – Robin Wasteney
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Spoke Folk – Matt Dirkx

As we’re working, our thoughts continue to circle back to “will any one else like this thing enough to pay real money for it?” We believe great ideas, beautifully produced sell. Art is full of a lot of fuzzy thinking, but it’s true, getting someone to pay for it, focuses you. For me, ArtCrank gives me the opportunity to focus on how I’m really feeling. It is delightful to discover that others feel the same way.