Friday, April 16, 2010
Small Business Marketing Plan - Increase Your Business Profit Without Breaking Your Marketing Budget
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Most small business owners fail when it comes to their small business marketing plans. They've got excellent technical skills in their line of work, but that just doesn't translate to having effective marketing skills.
As a result, profitability of many small businesses has been declining over the years. Ever increasing competition is making it more challenging in many ways. For those businesses that aren't losing money, most are not producing the profit they could be if they knew how to market themselves properly.
These business owners usually just copy what they see other businesses doing, or they follow the advice of some media sales person. The problem is they copy the wrong types of businesses, and the media sales people typically only know as much about effective marketing as the business owner does.
Without the right kind of marketing system in place, the success of any business is by pure chance. To help remedy this situation, below are seven things a small business can do to increase profits while spending less on marketing.
1. Use the power of free stuff
Everyone likes getting free stuff and you can use that to your advantage. If your business lends itself to giving away free samples of your product, do that. It helps get people hooked on it. Business profits have boomed on this marketing model.As Chris Anderson author of the book titled, "Free: The Future of a Radical Price" says, "You can make make money giving things away." In his book he talks about how businesses are giving away products and services they used to charge for, and in return, a percentage of their customers are buying something else. As a result, they are making more money than ever.
When you give something away, you often activate a universal law called the "Law of Reciprocity." It says that when people get something free, they feel obligated to do something for you. Obviously it doesn't work every time, but it does work enough of the time.
But there is another way to give away free stuff that can greatly benefit your business. When you do it right you get something very valuable in return: customer contact info...which leads us to the next tip.
2. Start capturing customer contact info and use it
One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not tapping their current customer base. They let customers visit their business (online or offline) all day long without ever trying to capture their contact info so they can continue to market products or services to them.
You likely know how expensive it can be to get a new customer. But you can market to your current customers for little or no cost. Capturing and using customer contact info can mean the difference between a profitable business and one that barely gets by.
Your business has more customer value in it than a customer can possibly digest in a short visit so if you aren't continually marketing to your customers, you are throwing money away!
You can make customer contact capture easier simply by using the power of free from tip number one. Simply start a monthly drawing to give away something free and print some registration slips visitors can fill out. Also have people register online on your website.
Tell customers they only have to register once for all drawings and you will contact them monthly via email to let them know who won. Of course you will always include an offer for a product or service!
What do you give away? Anything with a perceived value makes a great free item. Free items do not have to be expensive. Buy something on sale at WalMart or at eBay and offer it. You can also offer free informational reports that help people solve their problems. People are always looking for ways to solve problems they are having.
Of course, once you capture this information you have to do something with it. If you're too busy to take on any more work, then the next tip will help you out.
3. Use automated tools to keep in touch with customers
Once you have a customer list, I recommend you send a minimum of 25 "messages" a year to it. A message could be an email, direct mail piece, fax, or phone call.
If you don't use an automated tool to do the work for you, you'll likely be too busy to get the job done. When you automate, your messages go out regardless of how busy you get (the more messages that go out, the busier you'll get).
One tool you can use is an email autoresponder, which is a web-based system that sends out emails when someone signs up. It sends out emails at intervals you set up. You can also set it up to send an email on a specific day, such as a holiday.
The great thing about an autoresponder tool is that you enter your messages in the autoresponder one time, then it automatically sends emails to your list. You can also broadcast messages any time you want.
Using this tool, keeping in touch with your customers is easy and it will help keep the competition from creeping in and stealing your customers because they've forgotten about you and the services you provide.
4. Stop marketing like you're a big business.
Marketing a small business like it's a big business is something almost every small business owner does. They just copy the marketing they see being done at large companies with big brands. This kind of marketing is called "brand identity," "brand building," or "image" marketing.
This is a HUGE waste of advertising money for a small business. You simply don't have the resources you need to support a successful branding campaign.
Brand advertising typically has no "call to action," (they don't ask you to do anything). They just give you features of the product or service, or they entertain you without asking you to do anything.
Brand advertising is usually benefit free. The viewer has to determine if there is a benefit to them. It may contain a list of features and the user will have to assign their own benefit to each feature. It is usually focused on the product or provider of the product instead if the customer.
A successful marketing campaign for a small business is created around direct response marketing techniques.
5. Use old fashioned direct response techniques in new ways
The kind of marketing plan that works for a small business is direct response marketing. It doesn't require a huge marketing budget to use effectively. It can be used for all types of products and services.
And the good news is that you don't even have to hire an advertising agency to do it since it doesn't require creativity. All you have to do is learn the basic structure of direct response marketing and you can easily increase the sales your business makes.
Direct response sales copy always asks the reader or viewer to take some sort of action i.e. "Call in the next 5 minutes, and we'll include a free set of Ginzu steak knives!".
It may ask for the sale directly if a full "sales presentation" was done (one-step advertising), or it may ask them to request more information (two-step advertising). It will at a minimum, ask the reader to take some form of "traceable" action so you know if it is working or not.
There should always be a headline for written advertisements! Never put your company logo at the top of a direct response advertisement. That's brand advertising.
Whenever you create an advertisement in any form always look at them from the customer point of view. Look it and ask "Who gives a crap?" about everything in it. Do you think the customer cares about your logo. No! They care about what you can do for them. Put in benefits and not features. Let the customer know what's in it for them. A successful direct response ad for a small business includes several things:
- An offer to buy something
- Sufficient information for the consumer to make a decision to act now (or directions on how to get more info)
- An explicit "call to action" sooner rather than later
- A clear way to respond such as a telephone number or web page
- A means of tracking the response.
- Direct response advertising is not just used for mail campaigns. You use it in all forms of media: print, web, mail, and broadcast. Take a look at all the advertising you are currently doing no matter where it is and start making the change now.
6. Use the Internet to advertise for free
Even though websites as we know them have existed since around the early 90s, only 49%* of small businesses currently have a website *9/08, Barlow Research. It's surprising how many businesses do not understand how powerful this marketing tool is. If you don't have a website, get one because there is no better source of free advertising!
The Internet has hundreds of "Web 2.0" websites where you post "content" for free. The content can be text, videos, or audios you create and it can lead people to your business. Plus, it helps establish you as an expert in your field.
EzineArticles.com is one such place you can post content. There was no charge to post this article. All I had to do is write it, post it, and then you found it.
You can put links in the "author resource" section, to drive traffic to a page on your website. The articles you post in EzineArticles can rank extremely well in Google search results with a little help from you.
You also want to get your business listed in places like Google Local if you do local business. Once again this is absolutely free.
Once you learn how to do use the Internet for promotion you'll have a head start on the future of advertising and you get customers for free!
7. Outsource routine marketing tasks so you can work on the growing your business
One of the biggest problems small business owners have is that they get so consumed by working IN their business, they don't have time to work ON their business. So no growth can occur.
When it comes to marketing yourself on the Internet, there are ways to use "virtual assistants" to do most of the work for you. A virtual assistant is someone you hire on a full or part-time basis who does the work for you.
But a virtual assistant is not a direct employee so you don't provide benefits or have the normal hassles of an employee. They are usually located somewhere in the world that has low-cost wages so they are very affordable. That's the beauty of the Internet and the communication it provides.
Virtual assistants aren't just confined to small business marketing plan tasks though. They can do almost anything for you: reservations, schedule appointments, answer phones, customer service, send flowers, buy a present for your spouse, find someone to fix your car, website development, accounting, software development, writing, graphics, or anything you need.
There are lots of resources on the Internet that can help you find a virtual assistant.
For more information go to http://www.fastbusinessprofits.com.
Article Source: Tim Bruxvoort
Labels: business profit, business profits, increase your business profit, marketing budget, small business marketing plan, without breaking
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Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Small Business Marketing Ideas - 4 Inexpensive & Effective Ways to Grow Your Offline Business Online
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If you run a small business, you will probably need to invest some money and time into promoting it. There are a lot of great small business marketing ideas out there - but many aren't cost-effective for smaller organizations. Fortunately, online marketing is a great way to gain wide-spread exposure for your offline business - and all you need to get started is a modest budget and a little know-how.
Here are four incredibly inexpensive, but super-effective small business marketing ideas to help get you started.
1. The most important small business marketing idea is to get your business online if it isn't already. Launching an effective website does not have to be an expensive affair. There are a lot of inexpensive hosting, domain registration and site building options out there. If you already have a functional website, don't forget free resources such as Squidoo and HubPages that can carry your message and expertise to a much wider audience.
2. Another great small business marketing idea is to launch - and maintain - a business blog. Be sure to update it regularly with fresh original content that provides real value to your customers. Today's marketplace is all about establishing and building relationships - and blogging is one of the best ways to create a conversation with your clientele and get the search engines to notice your site. I use and highly recommend WordPress to anyone setting up a blog - it's free and easy to set up.
3. A third super-effective small business marketing idea is to take full advantage of social networking opportunities. Sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook are all free to join and open the door to a lot of networking and marketing possibilities. Here, you can access large networks of friends, family members and potential clients for your business. You can exponentially increase the visibility, credibility and popularity of your business if you approach social networking correctly.
4. Marketing and branding yourself may be one of the best small business marketing ideas out there. Often, people are more drawn to the individuals running a business than to the business itself. If you belong to any reputable community-based organizations, be sure to include them on your website. Customers like to know that the people they are doing business with are responsible and trustworthy members of the community. This can also enhance your image within social networking groups and, in turn, further increase your business and sales.
By following these simple tips, you will find that promoting your business online is both fun and profitable. These small business marketing ideas can raise your business profile and improve your bottom line at very little cost to you.
Article Source: Trish Lindemood
Labels: business online, effective ways to grow, inexpensive, offline business, small business marketing ideas, your offline business online
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Saturday, April 10, 2010
How To Create A Small Business Marketing Strategy That Will Triple Your Profits This Year
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What does a small business marketing strategy mean to you? Some people automatically think in terms of their company's long-term goals. When they start their small business, they create a long-term business plan, including a marketing strategy, that will help them develop their company over time. Others think of a small business marketing strategy as a single campaign. They create a marketing campaign for one product or service they offer, and create a series of marketing tools that will help them sell that product or service.
While both may technically be correct, there is a distinct difference between the two. One creates a stream of income for a short period of time (typically a few weeks to a few months), while the other ensures you have a stream of income coming in on a regular basis.
In order to ensure an effective small business marketing strategy, you must have three things in place.
1. Multiple marketing tools in place. Every day a person is marketed to 60-100 times. You see banners on the sides of busses, advertisements in newspapers and magazines, and coupons in your mailbox. It's easy to see why marketing tends to become almost non-existent in our minds.
But the thing that a good marketer realizes is that he has to use different marketing tools to reach different target audiences. Everyone has a different attention span. Everyone is searching for different products and services at different times. A good small business marketing strategy has multiple tools in place to capture a prospects attention when he or she is ready for our product or service.
The key is to knowing who your ideal clients are. The more you know about them, the more you'll be able to reach them in a manner that's best for them. Good marketing tools are:
* direct mail postcards
* direct mail letters
* advertisements in magazines
* advertisements in newspapers
* neighborhood postcard packs
* door hangers
* flyers
* brochures
* promotional products
* tradeshows
* billboards
* bus stops
* school buses
* regional transportation systems
* sponsorship of school athletics
* and much more
An ideal small business marketing strategy will encompass many of these types of tools, and have campaigns set up using select tools at different times throughout the year.
2. Use those marketing tools over long periods of time. Once you have your marketing tools in place, continue to use them again and again. Probably the biggest mistake a small business owner makes is to grow tired of his own marketing campaign, and abandoning it before it's realized its full potential.
The average campaign takes a person 8 - 12 times of viewing the same material to recognize the information and take action. If you quit running a campaign before you reach the 8 - 12 times average, you won't achieve your desired results.
An ideal small business marketing strategy will provide goals to seek out longevity in marketing campaigns. While nuances of a campaign can change (i.e. changing ad advertisement to showcase seasonal products) the structure of the campaign should always remain the same.
3. Use those marketing tools in many different places. Your prospects come from a variety of different sources, and have a variety of different interests. Mailing your brochure out to prospects is a great way of marketing; but you may also do well by placing your brochure in offices of complimentary businesses. Advertisements may work well in your local newspaper; but they may do just as well in an industry trade publication. Direct mail postcards may inspire a lot of people to pick up the phone and call you; but it may motivate more people to visit your website.
Creating a handful of tools to use in your campaigns provides you with the resources. Getting those tools into the hands of your prospects is what requires a plan.
An ideal small business marketing strategy will be a long-term plan that involves creating marketing tools, putting them into the appropriate places, and leaving them in place long enough to let them work.
Copyright 2006 Vision Business Concepts Inc
Lori Osterberg helps business owners build a successful small business marketing strategy. She consults with owners to show them how to develop a strong Internet presence, and provides many services such as paid search, search optimization, and online copywriting services for websites, press releases, articles and other online marketing tools. Receive her FREE ezine at http://www.VisionOfSuccess.com and http://www.GetKnownMarketing.com
Article Source: Lori Osterberg
Labels: create a small business, how to create, how to create a small business marketing strategy, this year, triple your profit, triple your profits
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Wednesday, April 7, 2010
The Single Most Powerful Small Business Marketing Tool On The Planet
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Let me get right to the point. The single most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet is a marketing plan. Now before you roll your eyes and run for the hills let me clear a few things up.
When I talk about a marketing plan I am not referring to those academic exercises found in college marketing books, or the templated mumbo jumbo found in business planning software. I will not be asking you to determine your share of the market today. Give me a break, share of the market, most small business owners just need to figure out to get ten more customers.
A marketing plan is a simple (in many cases one page) document that specifically answers who you are, what you do, who needs it, how you plan to grab them by the throat, when you plan to do it and how you plan to pay for it...in a way that everyone in your organization, network, and client base can clearly understand.
Now that was a mouthful so let me back up a moment. Small business owners are doers, not planners. While doing is better than, say, mildewing, without direction, it leads to "marketing idea of the week" syndrome and stunts any chance a small business has for real growth.
Take one day, follow these 7 simple steps to creating the most powerful small business marketing tool on the planet, and your life will become a much simpler affair. Flowers will grow where weeds had previously resided, your children will say thank you at the top of their lungs, and your favorite baseball team will finally make that run for the pennant.
Well, maybe none of that will happen but you won't be as irritated when it doesn't.
Step 1: Narrow your market focus
Look at whom you are currently doing most of your business with. Figure out why they do business with you and what it is about them that is unique. Write one paragraph that describes what they look like and what they want out of life. Take a good hard look at the rest of your clients and customers and decide if they fit that description of your best client. Start saying no when the phone rings and it's not your target market calling.
Step 2: Position your business
Figure out what it is that you do best, figure out what your target market longs for and tell the world that you do that like no one else ever thought of. Maybe it's serving a niche, maybe it's a form of service, maybe it's a way you package your products. Here's a hint: you probably don't know what it is. Call up 3 or 4 of your clients and ask them why they buy from you.
Step 3: Core messages
Create several very compelling benefits of doing business with your firm and find ways to work them into everything you say and do. Just remember it's not a benefit unless your clients think it is. Your clients don't buy what you sell...they buy what they get from what you sell.
Step 4: Marketing materials
Recreate all of your marketing materials, including your website, so that they speak only of your core messages and your target market.
Step 5: Never cold call
Make sure that all of your advertising, including yellow pages, is geared to creating prospects and not customers. You must find ways to educate before you sell. Your target market needs to learn how you provide value in a way the will make them want to pay a premium for your services or products. You simply can't do this in a 3 x 4 ad. Your ad needs to get them ask for more information...then you can proceed to selling.
Step 6: Expect referrals
You must create a referral marketing engine that systematically turns clients and referral networks into 24 hour marketing powerhouse. The first step in the system is to make providing referrals a condition of doing business with your firm.
Step 7: Live by a calendar
After you complete steps 1-6, determine what you need to do to put them into action and then schedule them on a calendar. Whatever it is that you need to pick a month and pledge to get it done that month. The mistake most small business owners make is to get overwhelmed when they realize how much they really need to.
If you can begin to schedule one or two activities each month you will look up at the end of six months and find that you have a fully developed referral system, new website, and a lead generation system. Slow and steady wins the race tortoise.
So what will have completed when by the time you read the next issue of this publication?
Copyright 2004 John Jantsch
About The Author
John Jantsch is a marketing consultant based in Kansas City, Mo. He writes frequently on real world small business marketing tactics and is the creator of “Duct Tape Marketing” a turn-key small business marketing system. Check out his blog at http://www.DuctTapeMarketing.com/weblog.php - gets these kinds of killer tips weekly by sending an email to mailto:subscribe@ducttapemarketing.com
Article Source: John Jantsch
Labels: marketing tool, marketing tools, most powerful, powerful small business, single most, small business marketing tool
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Sunday, April 4, 2010
Small Business Marketing - An Essential Step In Success
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Regardless of the size, a small business must focus on marketing, just like any business of a substantial size. Unlike big businesses, small businesses have a lot of factors that make marketing more difficult. Primarily, these efforts are hindered by budgets and resources.
A marketing strategy is a step-by-step process that examines a business situation or environment. The plan identifies a target client/market, key competition, challenges and opportunities in the market.
Marketing is such an important part of the business process. It's what brings consumers and products together in a market place.
When you have a well thought out plan in place, you generate more sales because you capture the attention of the market quickly. Small business marketing often has to be especially innovative to overcome the challenges of the limited resources. Your marketing plan forms the foundation for your business decision making, and acts a reference point for making decisions about direction changes. Marketing plans allow you to work towards your predetermined goal.
Primarily, this type of marketing focuses on developing a product or brand identity. A good marketing plan begins with understanding your company's unique selling position in the marketing place. What is it that makes your products or services unique? Your brand incorporates that unique selling position and establishes an impression of your company in the mind of the target customer.
Many small businesses choose to use some simple methods of marketing their products and brand to their clients. Some methods of marketing include development of a web site, direct mailing efforts such as postcards or brochures, or email marketing campaigns, including newsletters. These marketing efforts are very cost effective - they allow you to contact clients at very little cost and begin the steps of developing brand recognition.
One of the advantages a small business has is flexibility. Although a small company doesn't have an unlimited amount of money to invest in marketing, they have the advantage of being able to make decisions quickly. If a marketing strategy isn't working, these businesses can quickly change direction and respond to the needs of a changing market place. Small businesses do have some advantages over the giants - how many can change their marketing strategy within a week?
Marketing for a small business is something that has to be consistently done, almost on a daily basis. You can easily implement a number of marketing tools, such as daily emails, blogs to your website, flyers on windshields or door hangers, etc.
One option a business has is to partner with another business and stretch marketing. Look for a small business that offers a supporting product or service and try to partner with them. Working in partnership with another company gives you flexibility to share expenses, such as graphic designers, printers, web site designers, etc. By sharing resources and times, you may stretch your budget much farther.
Small business marketing is necessary for success. In many cases, your best marketing tool is word of mouth - from satisfied clients. Marketing is essential part of any small business success. Whether you focus your time on developing a marketing plan yourself, or use the advice of experienced professionals, marketing will help establish your company brand and image.
James Copper is a writer for http://www.marketinglinx.com where you can find help with small business marketing.
Article Source: James Copper
Labels: essential step in success, small business marketing, step in success, success
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Thursday, April 1, 2010
Small Business Marketing - The Power of a Market Review
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Conducting a market review is one of the most important steps in the small business marketing process as it provides together with a business review the information you need to create a dynamic marketing plan. All big businesses conduct these reviews as they know it can save time and money for their business.
A market review does not have to be complicated and a lot will depend on what information you can source. The important factor regarding a market review is to understand the key elements of your market and how these elements can affect your business now and in the future.
The key elements you need to look at when conducting a market review for your small business include:
Size of Market
Your market is simply the overall industry in which you compete. For example if you sell juice then you compete in the Beverage Market. If you sell holidays as a travel agent then you compete in the Tourism Market. Analyzing the size of your market can tell you whether it is growing or declining, help you to identify growth opportunities and for a new small business can determine if the market is large enough to compete in and operate a profitable business. There are many sources you can use to gather information on the size of your market and these include trade magazines, industry associations, search engines and local government websites and resources.
Market Segment Analysis
Segmentation is a process that looks at the total market and then divides the products or services into broad groups that have similar characteristics. In the examples above, whilst the total market is beverages, the segment that is the most important to a juice manufacturer is the Juice Segment. Looking at the total beverage market today throughout the world the leading soft drink manufacturers have entered many of the market segments such as bottled water to expand their business. Market segment analysis also helps you to determine where your small business marketing efforts should be concentrated.
Distribution Channel Analysis
A distribution channel is the way in which your product or service is made available to your customers so they can purchase it. Examples are supermarkets, personal selling (face to face selling), distributors and the internet. Analyzing the sales of each distribution channel in your market enables you to identify which channels are the most important for you to compete in to grow your business.
Market Trends
A trend is any significant change to your market that your business may need to respond to. Examples of market trends include changes to the economy, changing customer demographics, social and global factors (to name a few). If you conduct business in the USA at the moment or are intending to compete in the USA then the concerns about a possible recession and how it could affect your small business needs to be identified so action plans can be put in place to minimize the impact.
Market Seasonality
If a product or service is seasonal it means that the majority of the sales occur at one or a few times a year. Tax accountants obviously have increased sales when the end of the financial year occurs and tax returns and other government reporting are required. Understanding market seasonality factors can lead to your small business maximizing sales through this period and also may highlight opportunities to spread your sales throughout the year.
Competitor Analysis
Your key competitors need to be analyzed in order for you to identify their key strengths and weaknesses and how they compare to your own small business. Reviewing this area means that you can be smarter with your marketing efforts and be proactive against their weaknesses and of course defend against their strengths. One tip that all big businesses do is to have a competitor file with examples of their marketing activities, products or services.
Big businesses know the value of reviewing the market in which they compete and you can to. Remember you can start slowly and just review one section at a time and then put in place activities or make business decisions based on the review to grow your small business.
© Marketing for Business Success Pty Ltd 2008
Author's box:
Susan Oakes, as a marketing coach helps small businesses get and stay on the path of success. One key area of focus is the development and implementing of a customer care program so small businesses can keep their key customers and attract new customers with a simialr profile. For more information visit http://www.m4bmarketing.com
Article Source: Susan Oakes
Labels: a market review, market, power of a market, small business marketing
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