Small Business Marketers often undervalue and misunderstand the third critical element of marketing: People. Remember, Brand is who you are to the customer and Package is how you present yourself to the customer. But the third basic building block in any business is People.

And thats all the people, not just the prospects. All the people means:

• Customers
• Prospects
• Employees

Every small business marketing plan must focus on gaining new prospects. This is marketing 101--find fresh sources of revenue to support growth for the company. Unfortunately, most marketers focus 80% or more of their time searching out new business, pay lip-service to customer retention and cross-sells, and completely ignore employees as a marketing resource.

This practice of prospect-only focusing is just like injecting an anti-profit toxin into your companys bloodstream. Most companies live on recurring profits pumping in from existing customers. And who speaks with those customers, day-in and day-out? Your employees. So, why is it then that most small business marketing strategies barely include employees at all?

Well, for one thing, who has the time, right? Plus, employees are busy working on their daily tasks, so how in the world can you pull them into your marketing planning?

Actually, the key to success in developing customers, prospects, and employees is to focus on that small percentage of each group that contributes the most to the bottom line. All people may be created equal, but they sure dont perform that way in business.

If you can identify the Crucial Few customers that drive the majority of profits (not merely sales), then you can seek out similar prospects. You wont be searching for nearly as many prospects, but you can intensify your hunt by spending more time and money on the very best candidates to become best, Crucial Few, customers.

But what about employees? The answer here is similar: find the Achievers among your small business and then use them as core marketing partners as you develop and implement strategy. These shouldnt all be managers or sales or customer service people. Rather, they must be drawn from a cross-section of your company. Five is a good number, but three to seven is a fine range for most small companies.

This team will become your marketing advisory board; since they will help your company profits grow, we like to call this group the Bloom Team.

When you think of People as one of the three critical marketing concepts, think green. Green is the color of growth. Things that dont grow typically die. Only customers are going to fuel that growth, and only employees are going to nurture those customers. Simple, really.

2006 Marketing Hawks