Marketing 365:
Daily Strategies for Entrepreneurs and Small Business
By Lori Widmer
Published by Lori Widmer at Smashwords
Copyright 2012, Lori Widmer.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
You will not use this entire book.
That’s because marketing is a personal thing. What works for your competitor may not work for you. Likewise, all strategies do not fit all businesses or people.
Another disturbing fact – this book will not work for you if you don’t use the advice you do adopt consistently. Successful marketing processes are those that start with an idea, include action, and continue with follow-up. I won’t say they end with follow-up, because marketing should never end. It should become part of your daily business activities, and each process you launch should be one you’re able to follow through with on a regular basis.
What will work for you are those strategies that leap off the page and make you think “I can do that!” Make those your own. Nurture your business by giving attention to those strategies, and by spending plenty of time applying them to your business marketing plan.
I’ve given you a year’s worth of ideas and possibilities – that’s 365 ways to reach customers, to get your business noticed, and to gain client trust. If you read one a day or even one a week and make it a consistent part of your marketing plan, you’ll see results.
Here’s another fact – even a lousy marketing plan, if applied consistently, will net results. The key is consistency. If you keep at it, something will work. You’ll see some results.
However, you want more, don’t you? Then take your current marketing plan and turn it upside down. What falls out? What methods have you used in the past that have netted good results? What have you used that didn’t? Why? Was it because it was the wrong approach, the wrong client, or the wrong application? Did you do it consistently or was your approach a little too hit-and-miss?
Today, start with one idea in this book. Think about how you can incorporate that idea, change it, or reframe it to make it fit with your business and your personal style. Try it. Try it again. Keep using the idea until you see results. Then go back and see why it worked and, maybe more importantly, why it didn’t work all those other times.
No matter what strategies you decide to use, remember this – marketing is not a foreign concept requiring reams of paper and tons of sales pressure. Marketing, if done correctly, is about creating connections with your customers. It’s more about the relationship you’re building than the products or services you’re selling. Earn the trust and the business will follow.
1. Start a newsletter.
Reach out to your targeted prospects by giving them something that helps them improve their business, their lives, or solves a problem for them. Whether by email or print mail, newsletters can increase your contact with potential customers if you do it right.
What to include: newsworthy items that increase their awareness of a problem or trend that you can help with; your company news; industry changes they need to be aware of (such as changes in legislation that could affect what they pay each month); methods of reaching their goals or customers (such as how to put together better brochures or how to increase foot traffic in their stores); and upcoming events, conferences, or Webinars.
Whom you target is as important as what you say to them. Look for clients whose industries are doing well in the current economy, who show a history of buying your products or services, and whose needs are ongoing.
2. Team up on marketing.
A great way to increase your marketing impact is by teaming with another company or service provider. For example, you own a veterinary business. By teaming with a groomer, you can increase visibility for both the groomer and you. Offer to include promotional messages alongside your own in exchange for the same promotional opportunities with the other party.
You can take it a little further, too. If you have complementary services – such as a writer working with a design company – you can negotiate a partnership that allows clients to use both of you for a discounted rate. Or you can refer clients of yours to the design company and vice versa.
Don’t stop at just one marketing alliance. The more companies and providers you can work with to help each other spread the word, the more your own company’s name will get out and the more services you’ll be able to provide to potential clients. It benefits everyone in the marketing partnership to present themselves as a one-stop shop for clients needing several services. You won’t lose your clients needing just one provider. Instead, you’ll project the image of a comprehensive provider who understands what clients need.
3. Mail something.
They can’t work with you if they don’t know you’re there. Develop a plan that includes sending at least three forms of communication to your potential clients. Make one of those a snail-mail communication. Postcards, brochures, and newsletters – if written succinctly and with an eye to what the clients want – can leave a lasting impression. With most communications today being done electronically, you’d be surprised how much print communications will stand out.
Send it to a tightly edited list of potential clients. Remember to research the industries, customer habits, or economic factors needed to know who’s buying and what you can offer them.
4. Write a sales letter.
If the thought of putting together a newsletter is daunting, try writing a letter. Sit down and put together an introductory note to your client. Think of this as correspondence with a friend. You’re describing your business to them, but you’re going to show them the benefits of working with you instead of telling them how great things are going.
Once you’ve edited, send your sales letter to existing and potential clients. Sales letters are more personal than brochures, and a great way to introduce your customers to you and your business at the same time.
5. Add new services.
So you can do A, B, and C, but the customer wants D? If you’re turning down work because you don’t have the experience in that area, maybe it’s time to get that experience. For example: You own a design firm that focuses on website design. However, many of your clients ask if you provide Internet hosting. If it makes sense to your business plan and your current capabilities to do so, consider learning how to do it successfully.
You could also use your current expertise to gain a toehold in a new industry. For instance, if you’re a writer focusing on business writing, what topics have you written on that transfer to a wider audience? If you’ve written articles on helping companies reduce financial losses, how might that apply to accounting, finance, or senior management publications or associations?
6. Sell your sizzle.
If you approach your potential customers by telling them how fabulous you are or how your products were developed, congratulations. You’ve just told them nothing. Fact is no one cares that it took you eight years and thirty-six tries to get that soap recipe just right. The only way to make them care is to show them how that attention to detail will benefit them.
Which would you buy?
Super Soft Soap is an all-natural soap that was eight years in the making. After 36 attempts, we finally got the recipe to where we were satisfied that we’d made the perfect soap. Try it today!
Or
Super Soft Soap is the first all-natural soap designed to work with your body’s unique pH level for a customized cleansing experience. Guaranteed non-drying and hypoallergenic, Super Soft Soap improves your skin’s moisture and helps prevent premature aging.
Show them the benefits of working with you or buying your product or services. The focus of all your messages should be on your clients. Remember, customers don’t buy steak – they buy the sizzle and the taste.
7. Borrow from other businesses.
What companies or service providers stand out to you? What makes you notice them? Research other companies – even those not in your specialty – and see what they’re doing that works for them. What messages are they sending? Can you tell whom they’re targeting by what they’re saying and how they’re conveying it?
How can you apply that same thinking to your marketing? Look at their marketing materials. What language works for you? What about the images? What is that saying to you? Circle or highlight the words or phrases in their messages that capture your attention or compel you to look deeper into the message.
Conversely, look at companies whose messages are falling flat. Why? What doesn’t work for you? Is it because you’re not their customer or they’re not reaching anyone in particular? What can you learn from their mistakes? Again, circle or highlight words that work for you, and this time, put a line through phrases that don’t say anything, confuse, or turn you off.
Customers buy because you’ve touched on an emotion –happiness, success, hipness, inclusion, trust, safety, or fear. When putting together your own marketing message, think like a buyer. What would make you pay attention? What concepts in those successful messages can you introduce into your own messaging?
8. Ask for the referral.
You’ve just finished a great project with your client. You’ve done follow up to ensure satisfaction. Now is the time to ask.
“Do you know of anyone else who might need my services?”
Tap into your customer’s network to expand your own. By asking for a referral, you’re able to spread the word about your business by asking for an introduction from an already satisfied client. It’s word-of-mouth marketing kicked up a notch.
Even if your client doesn’t have any referrals for you right now, make it easier for them to spread the word. Give them a small stack of printed business cards, brochures, or your V-card and tell them you’d appreciate it if they would pass your information along should the opportunity arise. Arming them with your cards, especially in electronic form, helps them to be your advocate.
With each job you complete, remember to request a referral and supply them with the materials needed to get the word out quickly.
9. Guest post on a popular blog.
Want a quick way to attract new customers to your business? Become part of their social networks and provide them with relevant information. By guest posting on blogs where your customers hang out, you’ve A) provided new information to the blog’s readership, B) presented yourself as an authority on the topic you’re writing about, and C) met new potential clients in a more conversational, casual setting.
Before writing a guest post, become familiar with the blogs you’d like to write for. Look for blogs within your own industry or specialty. Befriend the blog owner and comment on posts. By integrating yourself into that community, you gain credibility with both the blog owner, who will be more receptive to your request to guest post, and the blog visitors, who will see you as a community member.
10. Shift your point of view.
Promotion is about getting people to notice you and your company. However, that doesn’t mean it’s your job to talk about yourself all day.
Today, replace all “I” and “me” phrases with “you” and “your” phrases. For example, replace this sentence:
I have established and grown a successful printing business that is now the best in the area!
with something like this:
Our goal is to exceed your expectations through exceptional service, superior customer service, and dynamic results that increase your project success.
11. Increase your knowledge or skills.
The most successful executives and business owners I know are the ones who are constantly improving their knowledge or experience. I know successful writers who have started out writing for magazines and grew their businesses by adding resume writing certification, medical writing expertise, copywriting courses, and editing workshops to their list of professional development skills.
If you have the skills and feel you’re not utilizing them, hire a coach. A good coach can help you uncover areas of your business that are under-performing and help you find ways to overcome your weak areas.
12. Get or update your website.
If you’re in business today and you don’t have a website, you’re at a huge disadvantage. Clients are online. They look for their next service provider online. If you don’t have an online portfolio or business site, they can’t find you.
Hire a designer or invest in premium themes and templates from your ISP to create a strong website that pulls clients in and delivers information that shows your skills and how customers will benefit from them.
Likewise if you have a website, evaluate it from a different perspective. Is it attractive to the eye? Is it static and ordinary, or have you incorporated enough color, information, and cohesiveness to make visitors stick around? Ask your colleagues or peers to give you an honest review. What works for them? What doesn’t?
When in doubt, hire a designer to give you the look you need to stand out as the professional clients need to do business with. Don’t forget to focus on your message – are you communicating effectively? If not, hire a professional writer (even if you are a writer, sometimes getting someone who isn’t close to the copy is a great idea). Make sure you have an online presence and that it reaches the right people in the right way.
13. Advertise.
It seems like a no-brainer, but so many small businesses seem to avoid advertising beyond social media and traditional ads. There are so many ways to reach clients who are looking for you. Try online advertising methods like Google AdWords that allow you to position your ads in front of people using specific search terms.
Other great ways to advertise include Craig’s List, which is free and reaches any number of potential clients. You can also buy ad space on blogs and websites that are reaching out to your targeted clients. Many bloggers offer advertising on their sites for a nominal fee. Choose those bloggers who bring in plenty of traffic and have lots of comments. Those are active communities with engaged readers – exactly the people you want to reach.
Also, use your industry blog community to increase awareness of you and your business. Include links in your comments (only at the end and never the subject of the comment – to do otherwise will turn off the very audience you’re trying to capture). Use your website link in your email signature and on every invoice and communication with your clients and potential clients.
14. Learn SEO.
SEO – search engine optimization – is a much used, often misunderstood method of attaining high rankings in search engine results. Used properly, you can bring your website closer to the top of a user’s search results.
Plenty of websites and blogs exist that can teach you how to use SEO to your best advantage. Finding the really good ones is simple – do a search and pay attention to sites that have a good number of user comments or are written by SEO specialists. Look for free advice from experts – not from content farms or article mills – places that pay writers bottom dollar to string together or revise existing articles on various topics. (Note: Content farms are easy to spot – they offer a wide range of articles on all topics, including such articles as “How to wash your dog”; are often poorly written or revised versions of someone else’s original content; and exist only to drive their own search rankings to the top.)
Integrate what you’ve learned into your own website and marketing materials. Find those keywords that best describe your business. Remember to use SEO keywords with care. No one wants to read a 400-word blog post or online brochure that repeats the words “finance expert” twelve times.
Most of all, be patient. SEO campaigns take time. With consistency and understanding of what words best represent your business, you’ll see a better search ranking over time.
15. Join a forum.
Forums are a great way to interact with your targeted client base. Because of the informal nature of a forum, you can mingle with potential customers and ask questions about their issues. What better way to learn how to please them?
Also, forums are a great way to introduce yourself to a new industry. You can learn from the masters – those clients who are moderating, commenting frequently, and offering advice. It’s a great way to get up to speed in a new industry or specialty, plus it introduces you to an entirely new set of potential clients.
16. Use social media to interact with potential clients.
People love communication. Moreover, they love personal connections. Thanks to social media, networking and marketing have never been easier. In one day, you can connect with any number of potential clients.
Use Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ to find people whose work or interests align with your business. Use Twitter to join quick discussions, pass on news of others, and ask for work. If you have a blog, make sure to tweet your blog posts and invite comments.
Use Google+ and Facebook to start conversations. Post interesting news that prompts discussion. Ask opinions. Share the news of other contacts. Create pages that allow users to follow and receive your news and learn about new promotions.
Join LinkedIn to introduce yourself to new clients and to show your knowledge and commitment to their industries. Connect with new people in your industry. Reconnect with colleagues and past clients.
Social media can be used to find new clients in a more targeted group. With Twitter, you can use hash tags to find people talking about things that interest you. For example, you can find conversations going on about “skydiving” by using your Twitter reader search tool and typing in “#skydiving.”
Another great Twitter-related tool is Twellow. Twellow is a directory of Twitter users who have registered themselves by category. Think Yellow Pages for people.
No matter what tool you use, make sure to use it wisely. Don’t invite every potential client to every group you join, and don’t send out identical messages that are all about you. Social media works best in moderation, and when you’re sharing the news of others alongside your own.
17. Offer a package deal.
Sometimes it takes just a little more for a client to buy. If your client is purchasing one product or service from you and is having troubles deciding, give them a reason to say yes. For example, if you’re a writer and your client is close to signing your brochure project agreement, sweeten the deal. Offer say a newsletter and brochure package for one price. Make it a discount – not a buy-one-get-one-free deal, but something like a 20-percent discount on the total package if your client agrees to those two projects completed within say six months.
Another way to sell a package deal – offer discounts on multiple project orders. If your client orders a newsletter, secure ongoing work by working up a discounted price for twelve newsletters. You get the signed agreement and guaranteed work for a year. They get a great product at a discounted rate.
18. Revamp your purpose.
It’s surprising how many business owners have no idea what their purpose is. Yet why you’re in business is as important to your clients as the services you’re selling. You may sell widgets. However, clients can buy those same widgets from anyone. What makes yours so special? Is it the widget itself or is it something you offer – services, support, or extras – that make you the clear choice?
Call it a mission statement if you will, but know that it’s your reason for being in business. A good purpose statement will define your business succinctly and define your target client.
If you haven’t written out your purpose, do so. If you have, review it. A purpose statement tells you and your clients why you’re the better choice. For example, this is how online printer VistaPrint explains its purpose:
“VistaPrint offers small businesses everything they need to market their business. We offer high-quality printed marketing materials, promotional products and marketing services such as copywriting, design, websites and postcard mailing.”
What is it you have to give to clients that makes you stand out against the competition? Are you targeting the right clients based on that purpose?
19. Introduce one more communication piece.
Bored with your current marketing method? Getting nowhere fast? Try adding one more method of delivery to your routine. If you send emails, try mailing brochures. If you call clients, try following up with a newsletter. Use at least two different forms to reach your clients. Ideally, you should have three or more ways you’re reaching out to customers. Not everyone reads email. Some people hate answering the phone. Others can’t stand getting “junk” mail.
Whatever methods you introduce to your current marketing plan, make sure the message and the appearance is consistent with all your other methods of communication.
20. Meet a client for dinner.
Your client hires you only when you contact her. She likes you, but you’re not top-of-mind come hiring time. Or you talk with the potential client in email all the time, but he stops short of hiring you. Break through that barrier by spending one-on-one time with your client.
If your client is local or if you’re in the same area as the client – be it for conferences or on business or pleasure trips – extend the invitation to your client to meet for lunch or dinner. Use that time to ask questions about the client’s business, and listen to the answers. Then reiterate your own successes in that area. It’s a time to sell, but it’s also a time to listen. Clients respond well to people who don’t push for a sale, but who take the time to understand them and offer sensible solutions. You don’t have to come up with answers right there, but promise to mull over possible solutions.
Don’t forget to pick up the check. You invited the client, so it’s your business expense.