Case Study: Marketing is Necessary

This is a case study on how the lack of marketing can result in a failed business. It is vital to any business to market itself if it hopes to survive. No matter what the size of the company, zero marketing means zero business.

In this case study, we're going to take a look at a business which recently closed up shop in our area. This is a large international corporation that stayed in town for less than two years before liquidating and shutting the doors. We will show from a customer's standpoint what wasn't done, and what should have been done to help this store succeed.

Despite the easy go to answer, the current economy can not be blamed for Office Depot in Asheboro, North Carolina closing down. It's very easy to see that this was not the case when you look across the street at their competitor Staples, and take note of a parking lot that was half full throughout the store's business hours. Both retailers were in the same area, selling to the same market. One continued to thrive while the other, which even had a larger variety of products, retained an empty parking lot.

On a major highway intersection, what could have been the cause of the failure of one store? Here are three major mistakes that we believe were direct causes to why this business was forced to close down.

Small Street Sign

A street sign is the sign that stands outside of the building with your business name and logo on it. Think about the giant Golden Arches that McDonalds uses.

Problem
Staples has a very large, easy to see and read sign that displays their name. It's big enough to see from the intersection itself. Office Depot had a sign that was so small that you could not make out what it said from the store's front doors.

Solution
A much larger sign should have been used. I'm sure that when making the decision to put a store at that location, the corporate office must have noticed the giant sign the competition had across the street. They also should have noticed how busy the highway was with knowledge that it would soon be widened for increased traffic as well. A larger sign should have been one of the top marketing priorities.

Lack of Local Awareness

When you own a business, it is your job to make sure people know about you. Businesses use marketing geared toward letting potential customers know of their existence. For example, we send out emails and information packets to our potential client base to let them know who we are, what we do, and how we can help.

Problem
Small businesses are the clientele of office supply stores so they need to know that you have the products and services they need. With a large office supply store already established in the local area, it would be prudent to let your client base in the area know of that you are there to attract their business.

To show an even bigger example of the lack of local awareness, customers were still unaware of the stores existence, even during its liquidation. This kind of red flag screams a need for change in the way the marketing is done. Simply putting a sales flyer out each Sunday does not tell customers that a store is in their local area.

Solution
A key component of the marketing tactics that should have been put into place would have been to send a brochure of some kind to every small business in the target area. Each one of them should have at least received a letter from the corporate office explaining that the store was new in town, and invited them to visit.

Do it cheaper: Use Email as a Solution

Locating email addresses for small businesses would have been much more cost effective and a great way to target the clientele who use technology.  We send out emails to possible clients all the time. It allows us to instantly target and alert our prospects to what we have to offer. It lets them know we exist, and that we are here to provide a great service.

New Services that no one knows about

When you offer a new service to your customers, it's a good idea to let them know about it, especially if it's one that your competitors offer. Telling your customers about new things that are going on in your business makes them aware of what you're doing that can help them. It's directly related to the previous topic on awareness.

Problem
Like Best Buy's Geek Squad, Staples offers the Easy Tech PC repair and upgrade service. For a very long time, Office Depot did not offer any PC repair services. Late last year, they started offering Tech Services, but did very little to roll out the announcement of the service to the customers.

Solution
When you offer a new service, let everyone know. Send out newsletters, email, or a brochure of the services offered to everyone you can. Don't confine yourself to the customers on your list. You have to actively search for more. When you're rolling out a brand new service that is not remotely close to what you were doing before but your competitors have been doing for years, not making every effort to tell potential customers of the service is the worst thing you can do.

Staples took the correct approach to alerting customers of their service. They placed a large banner on the side of their building that simply read "We fix computers". Short, simple and big enough so customers can see it. Office Depot placed a 4 foot sandwich board on the sidewalk next to the building, hundreds of feet away from the street. It was impossible for customers who were not headed into the store to see that sign and know about the service.

Conclusion

You have to keep your business in mind, otherwise you will be forgotten. Let as many of your potential customers know about your services as you possibly can. Find a marketing niche that works in your favor. It's possible that a direct mail campaign may not work, while a simple cold call will. The point is, you have to do something to let everyone know about your services and your business if you want to remain in business. Otherwise, you will be closing your doors as well.

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About Dave

I am the founder of Asheboro Creative. I'm a PHP and MySQL developer that thinks CSS is the greatest thing since the knife that sliced bread. I am a stickler for validating our websites and love to check out design galleries.

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