Marketing Lessons for Small Business Owners

Sammy decides to give new processes and approaches a fair shake, since the store is losing revenue rapidly (“bleeding money”) and is headed toward ruin. He’s got nothing to lose (except his pride) and everything to gain. Once Sammy agrees to be open to change, progress comes quickly.

One cousin introduces younger clientele to the store, while another acquaintance decides to use the clothing store as a fashion incubator and retail outlet for an up and coming designer duo. Meanwhile, a local tour guide offers to bring groups to the store for discounted options in exchange for cross-promotion.

A young rapper offers to create rap routines and provocative music videos for Instagram users that immediately take off. This immediately begins to create interest online and attract a younger affluent group of clients the store had never seen before.

The rapper brings in some models to produce other videos in the store that also gain interest (by indirectly promoting the store). A gay nephew brings in a male model who gleefully performs alluring dances in the store window, while crowds gather outside. This in turn brings in even more new clients who might not have otherwise ever seen the store at all.

Another family member introduces Sammy to the concept of cross-pollination (teaming up and partnering with another complementary business owner nearby and piggy-backing on their success) with other, related cross-promotions, special offers, giveaways, and discounts.

Content Repurposing in Action

This is all a form of content repurposing. Content repurposing is taking content you have already created and using it in different, often unique ways, so you can reach more potential customers, more often, more easily.  Most people when they think of content repurposing, only consider written text, but that’s selling yourself, and marketing in general, short. We can use content repurposing along with digital marketing, in ways many don’t consider.

For example, one “old school” way of marketing to potential customers is to put ads in print newspapers or magazines, which can cost several thousand dollars to place even for a brief period of time. Placing advertisements in radio costs even more, while large billboard signs can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, and of course television ads can cost much, much more but potentially read larger audiences. The irony in using these types of marketing is that the minute you stop paying, the ad stops running and any possibly Returns On Investment you may get stop immediately.

When we use digital marketing Returns On Investment usually cost much less but continue as long as the website is active, which can be decades, with maintenance costs again being much lower than traditional marketing while reading a global audience.

Free “old school” approaches to marketing include building partnerships, speaking, hosting events, providing free offers or trial offers.

Repurposing content involves taking content we already have, such as a blog post, and then repurposing it (or changing it slightly) so it can be in a different format so it may appeal to new audiences.

Examples could be taking that one blog post and reading it as a podcast or discussing its topics with a guest speaker. Then you could take that audio podcast and show a video recording of the interview for video sharing sites such as YouTube or Vimeo, then you could create a infographic image of concepts discussed for social media with appropriate links and hashtags.

So from one blog post, we would have a video, an audio offering, and an infographic. Now imagine if we wrote one new blog post per week for 90 days how many more pieces of relevant content we could have to share with readers – and Google.

Sammy’s Store

As a direct result of these new marketing efforts, repurposing content, and trying new approaches to solve old problems, more people are coming into the store regularly.

Some people are coming in to buy new fashions offered through the fashion incubator program, some are coming as a result of the videos or models, others are coming through Sammy’s partnerships with a local restaurant or the tour guide, others are coming in due to a refreshed program checking in on long-time customers (a customer relationship cultivation program), others are coming to see the young rap star, others are coming as a result of a connected stock broker’s invitations, others are coming in from repurposed content that they discovered online, still others are coming in to see the new designs that the designers and fashion incubator program are creating, and this is creating news-worthy buzz and more local media attention, and the steamroller keeps gaining momentum.

Sammy’s business, we know by the show’s one-season conclusion, is going to be fine. They learned how to innovate, embraced change, and were able to adapt before it was too late.

They did this by essentially creating massive amounts of cross-referenced, overlapping content and efforts and programs, encouraging every type of partnership and affiliate program possible, trying new approaches, using social media and digital marketing aggressively.

And here’s the kicker: if they could achieve their goal of saving the business in the ways they did it, anyone can. If they want to and can put aside their pride or need to control.

It’s a refreshing TV show that obviously is not going to have the appeal of “Downtown Abbey” or the captivating themes of “The Walking Dead,” but for small business marketing, it’s a humble, quietly inspiring example of how marketing practiced in an organized, multiple-tier approach (combined with content repurposing) can deliver massive results and resuscitate a failing business.