Working PIby Kelly E. Riddle, Kelmar Global
Having been in business for more than 40 years, I often get asked, “How much money does it take to have an effective marketing strategy?” I usually turn the question around and ask, “What does your business plan call for?” Both are good questions that point in the same direction but often are not considered in our fast-paced lifestyles. First, you need to understand what a realistic marketing budget would be for your current situation. Second, you must determine how much you need to add to that budget to get to the level of business you desire.
Start With a Business Plan
Most private investigators do not go into business with a formal business plan, and thus, just “let things happen.” Even if you are a one-person business and don’t intend to have employees, you still need to outline how you will maintain business, grow at a reasonable rate and, eventually, exit the business when ready to retire.
Business plans do not have to be large or cumbersome but should include what type of investigations you intend to perform, where the market is for these types of services, how to obtain business from this sector, and how to increase your presence in your market area. In addition, business plans should outline company expenses, taxes, insurance, equipment, salaries, database access, licensing fees, rent, phone expenses and all other expenditures. There should also be an allowance for marketing and the various methods and platforms you will use to do so. Using a business plan will help you better understand where your business stands as well as the direction it is headed.
Marketing Overview
Many people use the terms “marketing” and “advertising” interchangeably. In reality there is a difference. Advertising is defined by Dictionary.com as “the act or practice of calling public attention to one’s product, service, need, etc., especially by paid announcements in newspapers and magazines, over radio or television, on billboards, etc.” Marketing is defined by multiple resources as “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.”
To put it another way, advertising traditionally involves paying to promote your product for a specific time frame and in a specific venue. Advertising is a tool used in marketing, but marketing is the overall process of promoting your business over a longer period of time and may also include market research, business planning, community involvement, product and service evaluation, and much more. Understanding the difference enables business owners to promote their business in the short and long term.
Every business must set aside a marketing budget, whether $50 or $5,000 per month. If you do not address marketing on a basic level, you most likely will never grow your business because it is “out of sight and out of mind.” Advertising needs to be consistent and methodical, and brand-building and name recognition are an integral part of the advertising process.
There should be a mechanism for measuring the results (return on investment) of your marketing promotions; however, sometimes this is not possible with branding activities that fit into the long-term goal of getting your company name better known and readily identifiable in your service area. “Name branding” can take on many avenues including public speaking, assisting in local social events, radio promotions and similar non-gradable methods. A good marketing plan should have a mixture of printed, online and media that complement and overlap one another.
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Basic Tracking
Advertising with printed material allows you to code the ad for tracking purposes. In fact, a different code should be used for each advertisement placed. The code can be “mention the name Sherlock to get a 10 percent discount” or mention the code “007” to get a free consultation. If customers do not volunteer this information, you or your office staff need to get into the habit of asking how they heard about you to help figure out which ads are working. Of course, this does no good unless you have some type of document to track the information, so you can examine and analyze the results.
With print and online advertising, you can hire a marketing company that uses numerous web “landing pages” or abbreviated websites that have a different telephone number on each. This is a strategy through which you can measure how many leads you obtain through each landing page or website. These marketing vendors often have a “backend” website where you can log in and review the leads, rate them and adjust your strategy. This is valuable information if you take the time to access it.
Web Design
Websites need to be clean looking and not cluttered with an over-abundance of text. You generally have about three minutes to get your point across, so bullet points are much more useful than long, descriptive text. Good graphics are a must, as people respond to different stimuli, but I would stay away from the stereotypical badge, Sherlock Holmes image, magnifying glass and similar items.
Any good marketing piece should relay basic information customers should know—services you provide, telephone number, email and anything unique about your company or services—as well as include a “call to action” that encourages them to contact you. Some people prefer to scan a website and then pick up the phone and call, while others will prefer to submit an email. You must appeal to both types of personalities. Your website should have a corporate appeal and not be about a single person. Including an “About Us” page on your website is a good idea, but a targeted landing page should have only key information.
We could spend an entire article on what makes a good website, but for now, we will stick to the basics. However, search engines need certain “tags” to keep your site moving toward the top of search results so people can find you. Fresh information always helps with search engine optimization, so some investigative businesses use blogs to generate fresh content. Video, articles, references, upcoming events and similar strategies can also assist in this area.
What’s in a Name?
Having an easily identifiable domain name is also important. A name like Rocket Investigations and Security Consulting resulting in rocketinvestigationsandsecurityconsulting.com is too long for prospective customers to enter into a browser or search engine. Instead, a shorter domain name like Rocket.com or RocketPI.com, which still references the business name and is easier to type and remember, would be more effective.
This is also important when printing on letterhead and business cards. Additionally, to keep with the business appeal and to reinforce branding, you should also utilize corporate email accounts such as rick@rocketpi.com. This projects that you’re a professional and is something that usually comes with websites through the larger domain companies like Network Solutions or Go Daddy.
Visibility
Once your website and emails have been tackled, you need to be visible. Be sure to take advantage of free, basic business listings on Yahoo, Bing and Google, but keep in mind that more robust visibility on these and other large search platforms will cost money. There are also a lot of free search engine submittal sites. Just enter “free search engine,” and they will come up. Many will require you to open and verify an email account, which can be a little time-consuming, but considering it is free that is not too much to ask.
Be careful with “paid search” or “pay per click” listings. Even though you can put a monetary limit on how much you want to spend each month, you can waste money easily via non-verified customers who are just playing around and not really shopping for your services.
To be most effective, you should really hire a company to manage your internet marketing, but again, you need to have a budget to work with. These companies will analyze your geographic market and determine which days of the week have the highest inquiries for your services as well as the times of the day. They will then use your marketing funds to push online ads during these key times to help stretch and manage your budget more effectively. Some services like YP (Yellow Pages) will push you within their own directories but will also do search engine placement as well.
Final Thoughts
Marketing successfully requires some ingenuity and real thought process. You first need to define who you want to target (individuals, corporations, attorneys, adjusters, etc.) and then create a strategy to target each demographic. Not all advertising requires a monetary expenditure, but you must set realistic goals and lay out a strategic marketing plan on how to achieve them.
About the Author
Kelly E. Riddle is the President of Kelmar Global and the PI Institute of Education, training more than 7,500 PIs since 1989. With more than 41 years of investigative experience and author of 16 published books, he is one of only 50 PIs who’s a Texas Certified Investigator. He has been the guest speaker at more than 650 events and has been on national TV, radio and newspapers. Riddle is also the founder and President of the Council of Association Leaders, Association of Christian Investigators, and a graduate of the University of North Alabama where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice.
We’re always listening. Send your story submission/idea to the Editor: kendra@orep.org.
