Think Small.

If you're in business, then you're in a retail business.

Bring up retail branding and sales marketing to most service businesses, manufacturers, law firms, doctors offices, sales organizations and B2B companies... and they'll kindly tell you (sometimes with a snooty sneer) "we're not retailers." Ah, but you are. You may not have a store front or a cash register, but you do have a bottom line.

If you're in business, you're selling something. If you have a competitor you have a sales challenge. You ARE a retailer. You may be selling to distributors, to governments, to other companies, or even to your sales team, but you're definitely selling yourself everyday.  Welcome to retail therapy.

"Retail" is not a four-letter word. Retail thinking is your ticket to bigger sales, higher profits and better (outrageous!) results. The sooner you embrace your retail-ness, the sooner you can get down to business.

At the end of the day you've got to sell something.

I've always suspected that ad agencies (big and small) can get caught up in being "ad agencies" and forget that ultimately they're trying to sell something. Turn on the TV and you'll see it in nearly every commercial break. Ads that leave you entertained, but at a loss when you try to recall the advertiser. 

I just read an article in Fast Company that puts these suspicions in print:

"...I almost didn't know money had anything to do with the advertising business. You had a meeting, took a brief, made some work. It seemed enormously detached from selling something to people." – Carl Johnson, co-founder of Anomaly.  

The gist of the article centers on "New Idea Agencies" – agencies that are moving away from branding and into actual product creation to help counter falling ad spending. What they seem to be discovering is the very thing they lost – empathy with the client and the consumer:

"...because it's your own money on the table. When it's literally off the bottom line, the best idea must win. You have to be open to people being more expert than you, and that's an alien concept to a lot of folks." – Ben Malbon, managing parter at BBH Labs.

Hmmm... "when it's your own money on the table." As an agency creative director myself this drives me crazy. No wonder ad agencies are just under injury lawyers on the trustworthiness scale.

I'm happy these "New Idea Agencies" are rediscovering the selling process. They may not win as many awards, but they'll win sales, and happy clients. It's something us "Old Idea Agencies" and small business owners can't afford to lose. If we don't move widgets, put butts in the seats and make the registers ring everyday, we're out of business.  

Three things a small business owner must do: Dominate. Dominate. Dominate.

So you've got a small marketing budget. So the big guys spill more product on their floors in a day than you sell in a month. So what. 

Dominate something. 

One of the biggest mistakes retailers make is to spread their marketing budget too thin. They try to do too much, try to reach everyone and end up getting lost. Use the marketing budget you have to own something – anything you can. 

Own your neighborhood. Dominate the shopping center around your location. It doesn't matter if you're on a flyer and yard sign budget, or if you have a budget for TV, you need to dominate first and spread out second.

People are creatures of habit. They watch the same shows. They listen to the same music. They travel the same paths to work. When you dominate an area, a station, a day of the week, etc. these people are going to see you over and over again and assume that you must be everywhere. You've become part of their daily routine. You're getting noticed. You've become a bigger player and you're dominating your competition with your small marketing budget.

What 99% of companies are missing in their marketing.

Let's start at the bottom line: You can't afford "branding." 

That's not a bad thing. 99% of all companies are in the same situation – they don't have the marketing muscle to solely create a "brand" that may, someday, turn into a sale. You're not Coke. You're not Bud. You need your marketing to create sales and generate revenue now. That's a good thing.

You can afford "retail branding."

Hold your marketing budget accountable to sales. Test it. Measure it. Change it if you're not getting a 4:1 return. Every ad. Every flight. Every time. If you're not getting $4 in return for every $1 spent, move on because what you're doing isn't working. That's the retail half of "retail branding."

Challenge yourself, your marketing team, your ad agency... challenge them to tell your story in a manner that generates revenue. It's not easy. The first crutch we all reach for is a sales event (does anyone really care about Columbus Day anymore? Then why do I care about your Columbus Day Sale?). It's safe, and it's completely forgettable.

What will be more challenging (but ultimately more successful) is to come up with is a legitimate, memorable and compelling reason to buy now. Worth Harley-Davidson North's "Employee Pricing" program is a good example of this:

A memorable, repeatable low-price promise. A unique selling position -- "Go where the Harleys are." Tied together with eye and ear candy. This is retail branding and one of the reasons why Worth HD in Kansas City is the nation's #4 Harley-Davidson dealer.

Retail branding works when you challenge your advertising to be memorable, measure your results and hold your marketing accountable to sales.