Don't be like Harry Connick!

Yes, I am talking about Harry Connick, Jr., multi-talented jazz musician and actor, but this is really a post about your small business marketing strategy. I will tie the two concepts together in a moment.

I am a big Connick fan, and have been for many years. If you are familiar with his work, you will know that he has two very different musical sides. Sometimes he thinks he is Frank Sinatra, and does a great Big Band belter or gentle crooner, as required. Other times, he thinks he is Thelonius Monk, the
jazz pianist and composer famous for “dissonant harmonies and angular melodic twists” (wikipedia).

My musical tastes are idiosyncratic, so I enjoy both version of Harry Connick. However, when I pick up a CD, I have to study the musical selections to understand which Connick is present.

Connick is very good in both genres, and this approach to the jazz repertoire seems to have worked for him. But, as a small businessman, IT WON'T WORK FOR YOU!!!

You can't afford this bifurcated approach. As a business owner, you have a tough enough time establishing a reputation in one area of operational excellence, much less two or more. And while this may seem counter-intuitive, the smaller your business, the fewer things you should do.

To be specific, I am not really talking about the customer activities you undertake each day, but rather the things you talk about in your advertising and in your various image-building activities.

• Find ONE THING you want to be known for.
• Do that ONE THING very well, and much better than the competition.
• Then, talk about that ONE THING every chance you get, in your advertising, in the phone book, on your business card, in your emails, on your building and vehicle signs, ...everywhere.

That's the best way to build your brand inside the head of your customer base.

If you want to take on customers and activities that are off-message, that's OK. However, your best performance is going to be in the activities that you do the most often. And your reputation won't be enhanced by your successes in those non-core areas. The more you can focus on the ONE THING, and the more you can promote it, the more success you will have.

Is it possible to be successful by doing MORE than the One Thing?

Sure. McDonald's does. General Electric does. WalMart does. And so do dozens of other companies. What do they all have in common?

• They have been in business for a long time, and have well-established images
  
• They have HUGE advertising budgets to put behind each of their market segments.

Does that sound like your small business situation? Probably not. You may not even have enough resources to do a good job of promoting your primary focus, so spending dollars to promote your secondary activities will only detract from you main message and confuse your customers.

Avoid the Harry Connick dilemma. Stay focused.

Practical Tip of the Day:

• Gather all of you printed and electronic media advertising from the past 12 months.
• Analyze the primary message of each ad, and look for a common theme. If there isn't one, Make One.
• Build that one theme into every ad you run in the next 12 months. Your customers will respond.

And if you want to know more about Harry Connick and his music, Click Here.