Small Business Marketing: Influentia

How to add new customers without alienating existing ones

Note: This blog has moved! For continued updates about small business marketing, visit my new blog Manizesto, or subscribe to the Manizesto feed.

Your business will never grow unless you're able to add new customers on a consistent basis. Targeting those new customers is a must, but when doing it, be careful not to alienate your existing customer base.

Case in point: Scion, one of Toyota's (NYSE TM) brands, recently gave a makeover to their wildly successful xB econo-box, which is a good thing. But the changes have been so drastic that many people who loved the quirky, stand-out car with lots of room in a small package are finding the newer generation too big, too mainstream, and too much like their dad's car, which is a bad thing (See comments on the new design).

So here's what you can learn:

• Changing something successful is good, but not if you change too much
• Broadening your target audience is good, but adding a new product might be better than reformulating one that is already successful with a customer base.
• Researching why people are not buying your products is good, but deciding to target that group and the one you already are may not be the best approach.
• Building up a new brand with a strong target audience is good, but don't suddenly target a different group when you already have loyal customers.

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When to tell people you're going out of business

Note: This blog has moved! For continued updates about small business marketing, visit my new blog Manizesto, or subscribe to the Manizesto feed.

Three taglines, three strikes.

After years of battling and losing to big box retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City and Wal-Mart, yesterday CompUSA announced they are closing or selling all of their remaining 103 retail stores. Following continual losses and after investors dumped $2 billion into the company, CompUSA's parent company, Mexico-based US Commercial Corp. SA de CV has decided enough is enough.

You would think an announcement like this would be best made after the holidays because doing so beforehand would have obvious problems. Who wants to buy a computer from a store that will only be out of business in a month and be left without customer or technical support?

But actually, announcing this now is probably the best approach, if not from a customer relations (CRM) perspective, from a financial standpoint. I would imagine when closing up shop, one of the biggest expenses is unloading inventory, so what better way to cut down this cost than to offer strong discounts and decrease inventory during the shopping season?

I anticipate CompUSA having deep, deep discounts right up through Christmas, so if you're in the market, now is the time to take advantage. Or wait until after Christmas for even bigger discounts.

Hopefully they will have a customer support architecture in place once the doors are closed.

Source: PC World