Four Local Experts Discuss How To Market In A Down Economy And Much More (With Root Beer Floats In Hand)

by Jeremy Nulik

Right now companies gather for their year-end review meetings with goals, analysis and budget reports.  With the poor economy, many business owners are slashing back marketing budgets and media purchases in an effort to weather the storm.
It is under these stormy conditions that four former solopreneurs, Brian Schwartz, Dan Klein, Chuck Hart and David Meyer, formed Spoke, a local marketing agency that focuses on big strategic visions and speedy, effective execution. 

Spoke is a Traveling Wilbury’s of a marketing agency.  Brian was formerly owner of a marketing and technology consultancy, Creative Reason.  Dan was the owner of Avalanche, an outsourced chief marketing officer.  Chuck, the creative director, was the “grand pubah” of Chuck Hart Design, and David was the owner of Admeyer Marketing.

For the past 18 months, these four have been working together in an informal capacity, and only a couple months ago decided to officially become an agency.  As David puts it, they decided “to do the whole live-together-before-we-get-married thing.”
Small Business Monthly sat down with these four marketing newlyweds at The Fountain on Locust to get a better understanding of how business owners in St. Louis should be marketing during our current economic conditions.  With old fashioned root beer floats and scotch in hand, we dove into some of the most frequently asked marketing questions.

What made you guys decide to start up something new with a rough economy and marketing budget cuts?
Dan – I don’t know that our space is hurt too much by the tough economy.  Big companies are scaling back, so smaller businesses will be driving the economy, and there are still growing companies.
David – Even in a down market, there are emerging companies that need help.  I think that is why we got out of a traditional agency model.  We wanted to go where the market growth is.
Dan – It is easier for us to respond to and serve the small and mid-size clients that a traditional agency wouldn’t want to touch.  A typical entrepreneur is going to be moving 20 directions at the same time, and they have a ton of ideas.  We can keep up with the ways that entrepreneurs think, because we think that way. 

How many years of marketing experience do you guys have collectively?
Brian – Chuck’s got a hundred years by himself.
David – Well, agency years are like dog years, though, so it really depends on who’s doing the math. (laughter)
Chuck – We have over 80 years of experience.

How are you marketing Spoke?
Dan – I think we long realized that anybody who didn’t know us was not going to hire us.  All of our work comes from referrals, so we spend our time connecting with people.  The more people we can meet that are willing to introduce us, that is how we market.
Brian – We market in ways that will make introductions.  We network, get referrals, send email introductions and get on LinkedIn and Facebook to make online introductions.  We make connections even if there is no initial value in them for us. 
 (Chuck has already finished his root beer float.  For a moment, we sit in amazement.)
Dan – We share ideas.  Every business is limited by what they know about marketing.  They do the things that they know or that they have seen.  We talk to people about new ideas that they didn’t think of and we will share those freely…without fear.

What marketing strategies should business owners be looking at right now?
Brian – They shouldn’t stop spending money on marketing.  Spending it more wisely is the key.  People that stop marketing during down economies are the people that tend to fail during down economies.
David – If you are in a good industry, now is the time to build market share.  Also, take care of your current customers.  A lot of people fall down on that one.  It is easier to keep the customers that you have than to go get new ones. 
Dan – You have to get more targeted.  People go after the masses too much.  Look around this dining room.  I can’t find a message that will appeal to everybody.  I would rather find the three people that can use my service.  You don’t have to say, “no” to any business that comes your way, but you can spend your marketing money in a more targeted way.

What if I’m scared that if I niche my business too much that I will lose out on other opportunities?
David – Other people will still come to you outside the target.  You have to find the parts of your business that are more profitable and that you are more motivated to do.
Brian – Small business owners try to tell someone about everything that they do.  Finding your niche doesn’t mean doing one thing, but it is finding that one thing that makes you really happy.
Dan – Americans see 3000 messages per day.  They remember 12 of them, and they act on one.  That one thing has to be significant.
Brian – Getting them in doesn’t work with a broad general message of a million things.  It works a lot easier if they can find remember that one thing.

How should the downturn in the economy affect how businesses market?  Is there something different we should do?
Dan – If cable, print or radio worked before, it is less expensive now.
Chuck – The same goes for talent.  You don’t have to pay for an expensive photographer or graphic designer to get good work.  If you know what you are looking for, you can get great talent at a reasonable price…especially these days.

Is there anyone in the local market that has done a remarkable job at marketing?  What made them successful?
David – Schupp Company has done a great job with the St. Louis Blues.  They turned around a brand that people despised.  The good will that they have generated from St. Louis is just awesome.
Brian – They have been able to grow their brand and build awareness for a product that, to be honest, has been pretty crappy.  Actually that gets at something important - authenticity.  It was an authentic message of “we will do anything to win you back.”  They were honest.  They were trying to win people back after years of alienating fans, and they have proven it.  They will have contests where they will pay off your mortgage, big giveaways and lower ticket prices.
David – They are lowering prices constantly.  The team is not playing well, but they have got promotions going that make it a cheap date to go to a hockey game now.  Just the energy of the place is different now that they have packed the house.

Isn’t lowering ticket price an operations or management decision, though, not a marketing decision?
Brian – But, it is something that is out there for the fans to see, so, if they were out there saying, “we will do anything,” but the prices remained high, then the message is inauthentic.  The marketing needs to be consistent with the rest of the business.  That is authenticity.

Does anybody else come to mind?
David – Lumiere Place is another name that has stood out, just in the blanketing of the city, and their use of outdoor wraps and putting stuff on the steps of the Metro station.  They also had great PR.  People were reporting from the venue.
Dan – It looked like they were everywhere.  They had radio, TV and guerilla tactics.  That is where integration comes in.  If you just get an ad, it is not really effective.  But, if your audience saw an ad, then a mailer, then a sticker on the wall, and then they saw it online, each of those builds a better response rate into it.

The mistake that most business owners make?
Brian – I think they are too general or bland.  Either way, you won’t stand out.  Your message will be missed.
David – I see people marketing like they are talking to themselves.  People think that they understand their product.  Really, they have a lack of perspective.  They have an attitude of, “I have been doing this for so long.  This is how it works.”  They don’t get the right message out to their audience.
Chuck –They put too many messages on whatever real estate they have purchased whether that is an ad or radio or billboard.  Less is more, usually, and the more crap you put on it, then you have wasted your media purchase.

What is unique to marketing in St. Louis?
Brian – Every ad has to have a picture of the arch. (much laughter)
Dan – Word of mouth works better here.  It is not who you know, but who you get to know.  You’re generally not locked out of any clubs.  Use that to your advantage.
David – There is a higher level of collaboration here.  We have a few vendors that directly compete with each other, but they get along really well.  I think they realize that in a small market, they might as well help each other out.
Dan – Authenticity is more important here than anywhere. 
Brian – Don’t be one to bad mouth people.  Don’t burn bridges in this town, or it will come back to haunt you.

What about blogging and other new forms of Internet marketing like Twitter and online social networking?
Brian – I don’t think that a small business owner needs to blog unless he has something to contribute to the world at large, and he is going to consistently do it.  If they really don’t have anything to say, it would be better for them to get a profile on LinkedIn and Facebook and just connect with people.
Dan – Small businesses are getting bombarded with all these new technology sources and they don’t get it, and they are buying it left and right.  When it comes to new media, they need to take it slower.  Take a look at your overall strategy before you go out there.
David – They don’t have time to look at it and get perspective.  They only have time to worry about what their sales are going to do.  Most of them, their biggest downfall is they don’t have a marketing plan.
Dan – Most of the time when people come to us and say they need a new website, we say, “why?”  When business owners are looking at any new marketing opportunity, the question is, how does this fit in my overall strategy?  Usually, they don’t have one, and they need to get one…fast.

What do you say to the owner who says that he does not have time for marketing, he needs to just make more sales?
Dan - Rest in peace.