LRS Consulting Website Design Services

A screen capture video providing a brief introduction of the website design services offered by LRS Consulting. We use the online web builder at www.onlineweb4u.com as one of the tools to help us build and host websites for small businesses. In addition to the web builder, we use other tools to help create customized headers and page layouts, add video, and incorporate online sign up forms to help create and manage your customer list.

Some of the websites we've built include our own LRS Consulting website at www.lrsconsulting.ca, our Restaurant Marketing.ca website at www.restaurantmarketing.ca, The Diplomat Steakhouse website at www.thediplomatsteakhouse.com, and our newest project with Saskatchewan based mortgage brokers The Mortgage Group Prairies Division at www.saskhomebuyer.com.

If you are interested in having us build a website for your small business, send an email to sean@lrsconsulting.ca.

Are you still getting your name out there?

So many creative departments and advertising salesmen sell small business owners on the need to get their names out there. There’s nothing wrong with a little brand recognition, but the goal of marketing should be to get people to buy from you, not to know who you are.

In the dark ages, the only thing you needed to do to run a successful advertising campaign was to tell people you existed. There were so few choices in who people bought from that they had no choice but to choose you. Once people knew you sold something they could buy it from you. Times have changed a bit.

Even if you think you are the only business doing what you do in your local market, the internet has probably provided you with some virtual competition. Most industries are ripe with competition, and that’s a good thing because that generally means there is money to be made. But in order to be successful, you marketing should work to set your business apart from the competition.

Contrary to popular belief, you can compete on more than just price. You know that your business can provide better value in one way or another than your competitor down the street. Your marketing should be telling people about that. Don’t just spew out the same stuff as your competition. Everyone claims to be the lowest prices, with the best service. Tell me something different! If you have good service, tell me why. If you truly do have the lowest prices, explain why you can offer them so low otherwise I’ll just think you sell cheap stuff.

The problem with most ads is they are designed to sound like every other ad. Make them different and make them count.

Sean Stefan is a marketing consultant with LRS Consulting Inc. and is a regular contributor to the Regina Business Blog. Send your comments to sean@lrsconsulting.ca.

When did it Become Wrong to Strike it Rich?

The article about Saskatchewan lawyer Tony Merchant in this morning’s Leader Post set me off a bit. I don’t have much knowledge about the Indian residential schools abuse case that he defended, so that isn’t really the issue. What concerns me is the picture that the whole story paints about our society.

The Merchant Law Group is set to collect $40 million in fees from a $1.9 billion settlement that was awarded to the victims of the Indian residential schools. This is $30 million less than Merchant claims his firm is owed for the case. The firm represented thousands of people in this case.

Now you can argue tooth and nail that that money should go towards the victims and their families. I’m not arguing that it shouldn’t. But if it did, who would have got them the money in the first place? The way our legal system is set up, you need a good lawyer to get that kind of settlement, without one 100% of $0 is what’s left to split up.

I don’t care what you think about Tony Merchant, Lawyers, or our legal system. The point that concerns me is that the public and the media to a greater extent crucify people for making a lot of money. It seems to me that there are a lot worse ways to make $40 million than to defend thousands of people who were abused at the hands of our government. And the last time I checked, we weren’t living in a communist state. People are free to build businesses that make money.

Athletes, movie stars, even political figures cash in on their status and abilities to make huge dollars. Chances are they made sacrifices early in their lives in order to reach their goals and are cashing in on that sacrifice now. That same logic should be applied to your small business.

Anyone willing to take a calculated risk with their time and their money can start a business. Most people do this with the idea of building a business that will become successful and self-sustaining. If you are good enough to accomplish that goal, way to go! But the fact is that the majority of people aren’t interested in taking those risks, so they become employees. There is nothing wrong with being an employee, but don’t expect the same potential payoffs as the business owner.

If you build a business properly, it should be able to work as a stand alone system. If you’re not sure what I mean by that, pick up a copy of Michael Gerber’s book “The E-Myth”. It is a must read for anyone looking to start their own business.

So what’s my parting message with this rant? Don’t get mad at people for building businesses that make a lot of money. If your business isn’t paying you well enough, perhaps you need to evaluate what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.

Sean Stefan is a marketing consultant with LRS Consulting Inc. and is a regular contributor to the Regina Business Blog. Send your comments to sean@lrsconsulting.ca.

So What is a Marketing Hot Button?

Simply put, a hot button is something that makes your customer boil. If you’ve ever told a story to someone about something that happened to you and got the response “Ya, I hate when that happens!” you’ve just spewed a hot button.

When you are writing an ad, you have to include a hot button if you are to capture the attention of the people you are targeting. Let’s look at an example.

We just bought a new vehicle, and we are happy with it and the service we initially received. But after the sale, all we got from the company we bought from was a plain thank you card with a stamped signature on it from a guy that we had never met. Granted this is more than 95% of businesses do for their customers, but this creates a hot button for me the next time we go to purchase a vehicle. And if it sets one off for me, chances are a whole bunch of other people has that same thing ticking them off.

So you’ve probably seen the stock ad for a car dealership. Low Prices! Huge Sale! Free hot dogs and pop for everyone! Ok, with that ad you’ve managed to attract every cheapskate in town looking for a bargain and a free meal.

Now if you were looking to attract a more qualified buyer that is looking for more than just a good deal, you might write an ad like this:

Are you fed up with being forgotten about after you buy a vehicle?
At (insert dealer name here), you aren’t just another sale we’ll forget about at the end of the day. Every new vehicle purchase comes with free oil changes for a year, a $50 gas card, and a free annual 60 point vehicle check for as long as you own the vehicle.

I came up with that ad on the fly and it might need a little tweaking, but you get the idea. People aren’t always worried about price, it’s up to you to differentiate your business by providing solutions to other problems that people have. But it isn’t just about writing an ad, you actually have to follow through on the promises you make.

When you hit on your target audience’s hot buttons, you will get a response from people. You will probably also get a negative response from your competition. If I haven’t explained myself clearly enough, here is an example of some hot buttons to use as headlines for various businesses:

Hate not knowing what’s in the food you’re eating?
At (restaurant name) we include a list of ingredients and nutritional value for every dish on our menu!

Are you sick of shopping the banks for the best mortgage rates?
Our Mortgage Brokers get you the lowest rate available anywhere.

Worried about movers breaking your stuff and not paying for it?
ABC Moving will cover the full replacement cost if we break anything! The other guys might give you 30 cents on the dollar.

These headlines won’t attract everyone. They aren’t designed to. They are designed to get the attention of people that have had a problem that you offer a solution to. People hate running into the same problems over and over again. Give them solutions and they will buy.

Hot buttons aren’t the only part of a good ad. There’s more to come on how to write a good ad.

Randy Stefan is the founder of LRS Consulting Inc. and is a regular contributor to the Regina Business Blog. You can reach him at rstefan@lrsconsulting.ca.

Differentiate Your Small Business

It’s summer time. Slow for some businesses, hectic for others. If you fall into the slow category, take the time to evaluate your marketing pieces.

Open up the Yellow Pages to your own ad and cover up your logo. Now read your ad out loud. Repeat this process with your competitors ads. Other than the logo or the name of the company, is there much difference in what all these different ads are saying?

This ad is probably the same as every other yellow page ad for movers in Milwaukee

“We accept Visa and Mastercard”, “We are #1 for service” and "Family owned since 1935" don’t differentiate your business from your competitors. Whether it’s the phone book, a billboard, or a radio ad you need to differentiate your business from your competition.

Don’t tell people things that would cause them to say “Well I would hope so!” Tell them something that will set you apart and prompt them to take action. Hit your customer’s hot buttons in your marketing pieces and you will outperform the business with the pretty ads every time.

Not sure what a hot button is? More on that in the next post.

Sean Stefan is a marketing consultant with LRS Consulting Inc. and is a regular contributor to the Regina Business Blog. Send your comments to sean@lrsconsulting.ca.

What a Bunch of White Horses Can Teach You About Business Strategy

Many businesses are missing out on an opportunity to make money from people that want to spend it. This became painfully evident to me when my fiancé Katlyn and I took in the “World Famous” Lipizzaner Stallions at the Brandt Centre on the weekend. I just like to take in anything going on in Regina, but Katlyn is quite the horse enthusiast so that’s the real reason why we picked up tickets. It turned out to be a great show even for a guy that doesn’t quite understand the ins and outs of the equestrian world.

When the show first started, my concern was that there only appeared to be just over 1000 people there for the show. I thought to myself “what a failure to draw a good crowd to a cool event”. But by the intermission I had changed my tune.

The narrator for the show keenly put in a plug for a few items available at the gift booth set up on the concourse of the Brandt Centre just before heading to intermission. There may have only been 1000 people in attendance, but judging by the lineups to purchase overpriced plush horses and DVD’s, the 1000 in attendance were nuts about these stallions.

So often we get caught up thinking about sales volume in the wrong context. The number of customers you attract shouldn’t be your biggest concern. If you have created a product, service, or event that caters to a certain niche your primary concern shouldn’t be finding more people in that niche, they’ll find you. What you should focus on first is having a lot of stuff to sell to the people that are nuts about what you offer.

The Lipizzaners did a good job marketing their show using various mediums, there probably just wasn’t any more than 1000 people interested, especially with a Rider game falling earlier in the afternoon. But instead of declaring the event a failure, the organizers had a plan to attract as many people as they could and then upsell, upsell, upsell. Now that’s a great business model, one that isn't reliant on attracting hordes of people.

These white stallions aren’t trying to be everything to everyone. Instead they are trying to be everything to people that love equestrian. In fact, they probably didn’t even want me there because I wasn’t going to buy all the extras they had for sale. They did want Katlyn there though. She was the type of person who might buy a DVD or two about horses (although our upcoming wedding has put overpriced items outside the reach of our budget).

So what are you doing to sell more to the customers that already love what you provide? If you’re any good at what you do, people will buy more from you, you just have to have something to sell.

Sean Stefan is a marketing consultant with LRS Consulting Inc. and is a regular contributor to the Regina Business Blog. Send your comments to sean@lrsconsulting.ca.