Why BIG business marketing won't work in small business

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BIG Business Marketing
Why it’s so hopelessly inadequate and so dangerously
misleading for small business

If you've read my series of articles on why BIG business planning methods don't work for small business, you already understand some of the reasons why BIG business marketing won't work in small business.

Let's not kid ourselves. BIG business marketing doesn't work all that brilliantly for BIG business, either. That's why all those whizz-bang "loyalty" and reward programs are being constantly trotted out to try to make up for the failure of marketing to create long-term, repeat customers. (Why do they think of customers who accept bribes as "loyal"? Beats me, unless it's just cynical marketers easing the consciences of the bribe-takers?)

As a former Marketing Director for national and multi-national companies, university lecturer in marketing, advertising creative director and strategist, marketing and management consultant, I've had nearly 30 years of BIG business marketing experience.

I've spent almost as long as a small business owner. (Both at the same time, naturally.)

Combining the two over so many years has provided some interesting insights. So I speak with a measure of authority when it comes to marketing products and services, tangible and intangible. And I'm here to tell you that, in my personal and professional experience, BIG business marketing is a grossly inadequate approach that only covers HALF the total context we need to consider in small business.

Let's start with definition.

The traditional definition of marketing is succinct enough... "identify a need and satisfy it."

The heart of the problem lies right there, in that definition.

Needs are rational. Unemotional. They only become emotional when the need isn't being met.

An unmet need is a form of absence of personal control. Since fear is definable as "the absence of personal control over one's circumstances," it stands to reason that an unmet need triggers fear to some degree. This can vary from mild concern to abject terror, depending on the need and the degree of lack of control.

In a previous article I used the example of a restaurant where, when you staggered inside starving, almost at the point of death, they dished up a plate of scraps from the trash can with the assurance that, if you ate it, you'd no longer be hungry.

This captures the marketing dilemma in a nutshell.

The unmet need — absence of control over your food supply — has now been met, rationally and dispassionately. Having eaten the scraps, your need is now satisfied. Your body has the necessary raw fuel with which to sustain life. You're no longer hungry.

Whoopee.

Are you going to race out and enthusiastically recommend to everyone you meet that they should dine at that restaurant?

Hardly.

There's no positive emotional payoff at all. If anything, it's more likely to be negative.

Yet the traditional definition of marketing has been faithfully honoured. You're not about to die of starvation. Heck... they'll even offer you second and third helpings if you wish, at no charge!

Enter a new approach to marketing in the 1980s.

BIG business finally realised that one-off sales generally resulted in losses. The cost of customer acquisition for a one-off sale was simply too high. What was needed were repeat, profitable sales. And the only way to have repeat, profitable sales was to have repeat, profitable customers. So marketing budgets and advertising budgets began to be switched around. The big loser was mass media, like newspapers, radio, magazines and television. The big winner was direct response media.

A marriage between data processing and communications technology was consummated to produce a mutant offspring named "Relationship Marketing."

This was the heaven-sent answer to every BIG Business marketing manager's prayers.

No more wasteful scatter gun approaches. The time of the sniper had arrived.

And, to be fair, the strategy worked. For a while.

Pretty soon, however, people began to realise that, just because a retailer or a bank or insurance company printed their name correctly three or four times in a letter or flyer, it didn't mean that anyone in that business either knew or cared about them. It was just a new twist in the game of parting them from their money, using the ILLUSION of a relationship as the bait for the hook. Before long, the novelty had worn off, and prospective customers were more likely to worry about how you got their personal details than whether you spelt their names right.

And this is the nub of why, when it knows what it's doing, small business has such a HUGE advantage over BIG Business.

Because small business, by its very nature, has REAL, flesh and blood relationships with its customers and prospective customers. The owner is accessible and responsive (we hope). The relationships are genuine... not fake.

Yet small business owners frequently ask me how they can successfully duplicate what BIG Business does with "relationship" marketing.

My answer, always, is "why on earth would you want to?"

Why would you sacrifice the REAL thing in favour of a COUNTERFEIT?

It make no sense at all to imitate BIG Business in its quest to imitate small business.

All it can ever do, using its data processing and communications resources (and money), is to SIMULATE what small business has in reality, then try to convince small business to follow its lead. It's a cunning way to reverse small business' unbeatable competitive advantage.

As usual, small business hasn't a clue about what the right things to do are, or the right things for doing them. This Self-Help Program is intended to help fix that. As part of the strategic development stages, we'll explore the Fulfilment Spiral... a much more productive, profitable approach that goes way beyond the traditional, BIG business concept of marketing.

Instead of its objective being limited to "identifying and satisfying a need", its focus is to turn your BUYERS into your most productive, profitable SELLERS.

It's an eight-stage process that actually encompasses traditional marketing as its FIRST FOUR stages... then uses the FINAL four stages to produce up to 700% higher results – results that traditional, BIG business marketing can never hope to achieve.

Please close this window to return to where you were

©2000. The Profit Clinic. All rights reserved.
This page updated 23 August 2002.


		Why it’s so hopelessly inadequate and so dangerously misleading for small business
		If you've read my series of articles on why BIG business planning methods don't work for small business, you already understand some of the reasons why BIG business marketing won't work in small business. Let's not kid ourselves. BIG business marketing doesn't work all that brilliantly for BIG business, either. That's why all those whizz-bang "loyalty" and reward programs are being constantly trotted out to try to make up for the failure of marketing to create long-term, repeat customers. (Why do they think of customers who accept bribes as "loyal"? Beats me, unless it's just cynical marketers easing the consciences of the bribe-takers?) As a former Marketing Director for national and multi-national companies, university lecturer in marketing, advertising creative director and strategist, marketing and management consultant, I've had nearly 30 years of BIG business marketing experience. I've spent almost as long as a small business owner. (Both at the same time, naturally.) Combining the two over so many years has provided some interesting insights. So I speak with a measure of authority when it comes to marketing products and services, tangible and intangible. And I'm here to tell you that, in my personal and professional experience, BIG business marketing is a grossly inadequate approach that only covers HALF the total context we need to consider in small business. Let's start with definition. The traditional definition of marketing is succinct enough... "identify a need and satisfy it." The heart of the problem lies right there, in that definition. Needs are rational. Unemotional. They only become emotional when the need isn't being met. An unmet need is a form of absence of personal control. Since fear is definable as "the absence of personal control over one's circumstances," it stands to reason that an unmet need triggers fear to some degree. This can vary from mild concern to abject terror, depending on the need and the degree of lack of control. In a previous article I used the example of a restaurant where, when you staggered inside starving, almost at the point of death, they dished up a plate of scraps from the trash can with the assurance that, if you ate it, you'd no longer be hungry. This captures the marketing dilemma in a nutshell. The unmet need — absence of control over your food supply — has now been met, rationally and dispassionately. Having eaten the scraps, your need is now satisfied. Your body has the necessary raw fuel with which to sustain life. You're no longer hungry. Whoopee. Are you going to race out and enthusiastically recommend to everyone you meet that they should dine at that restaurant? Hardly. There's no positive emotional payoff at all. If anything, it's more likely to be negative. Yet the traditional definition of marketing has been faithfully honoured. You're not about to die of starvation. Heck... they'll even offer you second and third helpings if you wish, at no charge! Enter a new approach to marketing in the 1980s. BIG business finally realised that one-off sales generally resulted in losses. The cost of customer acquisition for a one-off sale was simply too high. What was needed were repeat, profitable sales. And the only way to have repeat, profitable sales was to have repeat, profitable customers. So marketing budgets and advertising budgets began to be switched around. The big loser was mass media, like newspapers, radio, magazines and television. The big winner was direct response media. A marriage between data processing and communications technology was consummated to produce a mutant offspring named "Relationship Marketing." This was the heaven-sent answer to every BIG Business marketing manager's prayers. No more wasteful scatter gun approaches. The time of the sniper had arrived. And, to be fair, the strategy worked. For a while. Pretty soon, however, people began to realise that, just because a retailer or a bank or insurance company printed their name correctly three or four times in a letter or flyer, it didn't mean that anyone in that business either knew or cared about them. It was just a new twist in the game of parting them from their money, using the ILLUSION of a relationship as the bait for the hook. Before long, the novelty had worn off, and prospective customers were more likely to worry about how you got their personal details than whether you spelt their names right. And this is the nub of why, when it knows what it's doing, small business has such a HUGE advantage over BIG Business. Because small business, by its very nature, has REAL, flesh and blood relationships with its customers and prospective customers. The owner is accessible and responsive (we hope). The relationships are genuine... not fake. Yet small business owners frequently ask me how they can successfully duplicate what BIG Business does with "relationship" marketing. My answer, always, is "why on earth would you want to?" Why would you sacrifice the REAL thing in favour of a COUNTERFEIT? It make no sense at all to imitate BIG Business in its quest to imitate small business. All it can ever do, using its data processing and communications resources (and money), is to SIMULATE what small business has in reality, then try to convince small business to follow its lead. It's a cunning way to reverse small business' unbeatable competitive advantage. As usual, small business hasn't a clue about what the right things to do are, or the right things for doing them. This Self-Help Program is intended to help fix that. As part of the strategic development stages, we'll explore the Fulfilment Spiral... a much more productive, profitable approach that goes way beyond the traditional, BIG business concept of marketing. Instead of its objective being limited to "identifying and satisfying a need", its focus is to turn your BUYERS into your most productive, profitable SELLERS. It's an eight-stage process that actually encompasses traditional marketing as its FIRST FOUR stages... then uses the FINAL four stages to produce up to 700% higher results – results that traditional, BIG business marketing can never hope to achieve.
		Please close this window to return to where you were
		©2000. The Profit Clinic. All rights reserved. This page updated 23 August 2002.