7 Small Business Marketing Tips

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

Must include public speaking! It's a great way to get in front of a captive group of buyers and impress them with what you know. You don't even have to sell! Just educate your audience and they'll be asking you for help on your way out the door. And, just like the above post mentions, make sure to add the folks that saw you speak to your prospect database.

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

There is a dis-advantage with getting so many good tips from all these wonderful people trying to help. They end up being like pieces to a large jigsaw puzzle. It could become a bit confusing when you have so many good ideas.

Where should you start?

This is where you should consider coming up with a Marketing Plan, looking at the bigger picture and drilling it down to the detail of what marketing message, how it is delivered (eg. radio, newspaper) and how often, all the way down to pricing.

1. In the beginning of your plan you need to think about who your ideal client is, its sometimes called your target market, or your niche, I like to think of them as people so I call them my ideal client. Its easy when you look at the profile of who already buys from you e.g. are they married, single, live in the area, age, gender, all depends on your product.

If your a brand new business you can imagine who your ideal client is and revisit your database after 6-12 months and use the data to see who is buying.

This step is vital as it helps you design your marketing message in point (2) below.

2. What's your marketing message that talks directly to these people e.g. the message would be different to a client base of new mothers than to a client base of teenagers.

Design it to educate your clients about the problem and how the products in the market solve that problem, the pro's and con's of the products and how your product could solve those problems better than the others. (You may notice that that message is what a client would think, I have a problem, how to solve it, whats available, whats the difference between them) You will win major points with clients for being so honest.

The answer that you can provide may be a better price, better quality, convenience, you have a guarantee which takes the risk of the purchase away from the client, a bonus offer - buy & get this item as well, other value adding ideas. Not all customers focus on price.

3. Marketing Mix: do you want to use Internet Marketing, Newspaper, Brochures, Direct Mail, etc.
Build a mix of minimum 5 as they have different criteria, and the message stays the same from point (2).

Research each of them to determine the ideal frequency of the marketing (weekly, daily) and then work out the cost of each method. Then implement one at a time and measure the results.
Once your sales start to increase that will provide you with the money to bring on a new method.

Monitor each method closely and figure out a way to use a tracking code so you can determine if it working so you can adjust or drop it if its not working. That could be as simple as a dedicated phone number for your yellow pages add, so you can check the calls coming in, it may sound like an extra expense and not knowing is expensive as well. If you had no calls from the yellow pages in 12 months you could drop it and focus on another method. (Yellow Pages quote global statistics - they don't know how many people call for each category of each advert). You could get a free call number just for the yellow pages.

1. Ideal Client
2. Marketing Message
3. Marketing Mix

This falls into Lead Generation, once set up its semi-automated, very close to automated and where your major expense will lay. You need to consider it an investment, a cost per new client and I'd recommend keeping the figures and drilling it down to a cost per client eg. $1 in marketing per new lead, that turns into $10 per new client (10% conversion ratio - or 1:10 prospect buy) and if your profit from each new client is $50 then you are looking at spending $10 to make $40 ($50-$10).

This equation can feed back into point (3), as some methods are too expensive for the results that they produce. eg TV advert may be too large an audience on the wrong side of town who will not travel.

Once the Marketing Plan has been designed, put it through a testing phase. Always monitor the results of how your Marketing is performing as you are investing money to create leads, so monitor your investment.

You can employ an assistant to manage the system, no need for an expensive Marketing Graduate to design your marketing and spend your money, they may not even take the care you would in monitor the results.

You can discover more about building a Marketing System here...

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

leslieguria;48429 wrote: Don't forget to include public speaking! It's a great way to get in front of a captive group of buyers and impress them with what you know. You don't even have to sell! Just educate your audience and they'll be asking you for help on your way out the door. And, just like the above post mentions, make sure to add the folks that saw you speak to your prospect database.

Public speaking is a great way to get your product name and face out there. Customers are more likely to remember your product if they heard about it straight from the horses mouth

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

7 Small Business Marketing Tips are Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market. Use buddy marketing to promote your business. Answer Your Phone Differently. Stick It. Send A Second Offer To Your Customers Immediately After They've Purchased. Give the free seminars. Send emails to the customers.

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

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..businesses are afraid to send people away from their blogs and end up being very insular. This ignores one of the key things that blogging has been built upon – the link. Blogging is a medium that has grown so quickly because traditionally people have been very generous with their links to other sites and blogs.

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

I am not hesitate to elaborate that marketing is key of success in modern day business world. Valid & solid marketing strategy will ensure success for your business.

Re: 7 Small Business Marketing Tips

Customers who feel appreciated are going to give the love right back in the form of loyalty. give gratitude, make a call, interact with them any way you see fit. Just let them know they are important.