Posts Tagged ‘marketing ideas’
Sometimes the Simplest Marketing Ideas are Simply the Best
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
What exactly is grassroots marketing?
The name gets tossed around a lot but not many people really know what it is or how you do it. That’s because grassroots marketing encompasses a variety of promotional ideas. However, they all have one thing in common - getting involved (really involved) with potential customers. Here are some grassroots marketing techniques that have been successful for both startups and established businesses:
Free samples - Many business owners think, "If I could just get people to try our products I know they’d be hooked!" If you feel the same way, then think about ways of getting your products in your customers’ hands. Trade shows, festivals, events and in-store promotions are all great ways to interact with your customers and let them sample your offerings. Even big companies employ this idea: Did you know that every time a new Coldstone Creamery store opens, the entire first day is devoted to giving away free samples? If done right, free samples are a great way to get your community excited about your business.
Mascots - Having a mascot outside your new store can really help to grab people’s attention and bring in customers. For example, let’s say you own a company called "Liberty Tax Service" and you’re located on a high-traffic street. Why not have a couple employees dress up as Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty and happily wave from outside your storefront? Enthusiastic and friendly mascots can bring smiles to drivers’ and passersby’s faces - and that just might be enough to turn them into customers.
Create a unique (and inviting) atmosphere - One way to draw in customers (and keep them coming back) is to offer them an "experience" as they browse through your store. What about singing and dancing ice cream scoopers? Or offering tea and biscuits to your herbal shop customers? Be creative and you’ll find that the payoff is new customers, repeat customers and buzz-worthy word of mouth!
Talk to potential customers - While cold calling or in-person visits may not be a good idea for some businesses, for others the results can be astounding. If you are an insurance adjuster, visiting damaged homes and businesses after a hurricane can be a terrific way of getting new business. If you own a cleaning business, you might find that cold calling home or business owners and offering them a special deal may result in new business. This type of grassroots marketing has been used for centuries - because it works!
One of the biggest parts of grassroots marketing is being creative and tailoring ideas to fit your particular business. With this form of promotion, business owners are in complete control of the campaign and should carefully plan out every stage. In order to create some buzz about a new business, you should remember that marketing repetition is very important. You need to keep your business’ name in the minds of your potential customers. Keep thinking of new ways to get the word out - day after day, week after week. Soon you’ll notice that your front door is swinging open a lot more often!
Tags: advice, Carrie Hinkel, grassroots marketing, Marketing, marketing ideas, Marketing Your Business, promotions, tips
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Using Testimonials to Grow Your Business
Monday, November 26th, 2007
There’s an old saying that the best form of advertising is “word-of-mouth”, and this is particularly true for any small business. You can have the best advertising team with a healthy budget working for you; but at the end of the day, the best form of advertising will still be the recommendations your customers make. After all, you’re more likely to trust the opinion of someone you know, as opposed to someone who’s being paid to advertise a product or a service in the first place.
One excellent way of getting the same results as word-of-mouth advertising is to use testimonials on your website. These recommendations of your company’s services or products can go a long way in persuading someone to shop with you. However, there are some pitfalls you need to avoid, not least because many people often look at testimonials rather dubiously. Have the right kind, though, and you’ll see how much of a sales partner a good testimonial can be.
Use Realistic and Beneficial Testimonials
Testimonials that show results are usually looked upon more favorably than ones that simply state how great your company is. This is understandable - after all, how many times have you looked at a gushing testimonial and thought that it was fake? Therefore, if you are using testimonials, use realistic and results-centric ones. Good examples include how you’ve provided excellent customer service, or how you saved someone money compared to your competitor. These will be of far greater interest that ones that simply state how great your company is.
Keep Them Short
One of the biggest mistakes that most people make when placing testimonials on their website is making them too long. Although you might want to have as much praise about you as possible, people will lose interest after 4-5 lines, so keep them short and compact, and they’ll have far more impact this way.
Include Personal Information
Another way that many companies make mistakes with testimonials is when it comes to who provided the testimonial. For example, if you’ve ever received one of the numerous spam sales pages in your email, you’ll notice that the testimonial merely says J.B., Alberta. Alberta’s a big place, and there could be any number of J.B.’s living there, so you can see why this type of testimonial isn’t taken seriously.
When placing a testimonial on your site, or even in a company brochure, make sure you have as much information as possible about the source. This includes first and last names, and what city they live in. Having this amount of information will make even the briefest of testimonials more effective and valid.
At the end of the day, a testimonial won’t make or break your business - however, with the right approach, it can make a difference when it comes to how many new visitors turn into customers. Make sure you’re not missing out.
Tags: danny brown, Growing Your Business, Marketing, marketing ideas, Marketing Your Business, public relations, testimonials
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Effective Ways to Market a Home Based Business
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
With every business, one thing is true: each one of them needs great marketing in order to succeed. This is especially true for home based businesses. There are many different ways to market a home business, and which marketing route you take depends entirely upon your marketing budget. Here are some of the most effective ways to market a home business.
Build a Website
This is a great way to market a business. You are able to do several things with a website including reaching out to customers you may not be able to reach without one. One of the most important things you can do with a website is to build your credibility. By placing "about us" pages and listing your services or products, you get the word out about your company. When you are visible to more customers, you have a better chance of getting more sells or sign-ups. The cost of a website is different depending on where you purchase one from, but you can get a site and hosting for as little as $10 a month.
Place a Classified Ad
This is very useful for gaining local customers. Most people who are looking for a service will look through classified ads at one point or another. Check your local newspapers or trade papers. These are great places to list your business. The price of a classified ad is different depending upon where you live, but the average cost of one is around $10 a week for a basic text ad.
Yellow Pages
Even with the decrease in the use of phone books to find information, having a listing in the yellow pages is still essential. More people search online and through their yellow pages for companies than with any other resource. One great idea is to place a full page ad if budget allows. This is a better way to get the potential customer’s attention. Check with your local yellow page publisher for pricing information.
Direct Mail Marketing
This can be a very effective way to market your home business. When a customer has your company’s name and information right there in front of them, they will be more likely to contact your company than another of the same kind. When a potential customer receives your mail it may even remind them of a service or product that they need. Your direct mail marketing campaign can be as elaborate and reach as wide a base of customers as you want. This will determine the price of your campaign, but you can run an effective one for about $50 a month. For more information on using direct mail, read our recent article Effective Use of Direct Mail to Market Your Business .
Ultimately, your budget will determine what sort of method you can use and to what extent. One of the best things you can do for your business is to define who your target market is. By knowing who your target customers are, you will be able to determine the best marketing plan and save money by only marketing to those you want to reach. You can determine your target market by researching companies who have products similar to yours, or you can research your own existing customers to find out all kinds of information, such as:
* Where they are located
* Gender and age group
* What products they purchase the most from you
Knowing this information will help to hone your marketing strategy and further the success of your company.
Putting together a marketing plan for your home business can be a fun and creative process. Even though you might not have a large budget, there are still lots of great ways to promote your business without breaking the bank.
Tags: advice, home based business, Marketing, marketing ideas, Marketing Your Business, tips
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Marketing Today
Tuesday, July 24th, 2007
Q: Steve - I always enjoy your inexpensive / innovative marketing ideas. Do you have a favorite?
Sharon
A: What surprises me actually is just how many different ways there are to market yourself or your business today. Whenever I give a speech or workshop that includes a marketing and branding component, I almost always end up learning something new from one of the attendees; something they have tried and used that I had not considered previously.
So while no, I don’t have a favorite per se, I do have a bunch of new favorites, such as:
YouTube: I recently had the opportunity to do a shoestring marketing workshop with about 200 people. As we went through my usual suspects (co-op ads, pay-per-click, etc.) one gentleman told me how his consulting business exploded after he started posting on YouTube.
Here is what he did: Once a week he creates five, minute-long consulting tip videos around various topics he specializes in. Each video ends with his URL. He then posts one of these videos a day on YouTube. Cost: $0. Impact: Apparently high.
e-newsletters: Let’s say your target market is women who are about to get married. Sure, you could advertise in bridal magazines, but that is not cheap. Consider this alternative: Research the most popular bridal websites and find one that you like and which seems to match your desired clientele. The site almost assuredly will offer a free e-newsletter, and quite possibly more than one. Find the e-newsletter you like (and which contains ads.) Buy space in that e-newsletter.
Advertising in that e-newsletter should not only be highly effective, but pretty inexpensive to boot. Yet even so, you will be reaching a highly qualified list of brides-to-be who opted in to this newsletter and who look forward to getting it every week. Moreover, because you will be associated with this website, you gain instant credibility.
You could use this method with almost any industry.
Publishing your own e-newsletter: If you have valuable information to share, an e-newsletter allows you to:
�Stay in touch with your prospects and customers
�Create credibility
�Develop brand awareness
�Build future business
�Sell space to advertisers (see above!)
Local e-marketing: Of course we all know the power of Google ads these days, but sometimes left out of the equation is the ability to use not only Google but many other sites to advertise locally. Many businesses think they can’t really use Google ads because they do not sell nationally. The good news is that, not only can you confine your online ads to a specific geographic region, but doing so is very cost-effective because the reach of your ad is limited to your area.
Here are just a few places to explore local online ad opportunities:
�Yahoo Local Listings
�CitySearch
�AOL’s CityGuide
�Craigslist
�Local.com
�YellowPages.com
The publicity stunt: Maui Beverages changed the name of the title of its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to "Chief Entertainment Officer", and from its Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to "Chief Tasting Officer." The result? Plenty of good press.
In 2000, Half.com paid Halfway, Oregon $100,000 to rename the city Half.com for a year. Halfway also received new computers for the local school and other financial considerations. Half.com received immeasurable worldwide publicity.
The ability to build a brand and get ahead without spending big bucks is greater today than ever before.
Today’s Tip: A few months ago I reported that, according to Part I of Intuit’s Future of Small Business Report, a new breed of entrepreneur is emerging in this country, and maybe not who you would expect.
According to the latest installment of the report, success tomorrow will depend even more on your ability to adapt to, and adopt, technology. "Tomorrow’s successful small business owners will be far more reliant on technology than their current counterparts. They’ll be more connected in a mobile world, market to customers in ways only imagined today, and blur the lines between the virtual and physical worlds."
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world’s leading small business experts. His latest book is the Small Business Bible. A lawyer, author, and public speaker, Steve has spoken around the world about entrepreneurship, including at the United Nations, and he has been on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, The O’Reilly Factor, and many other television and radio shows. If you would like Steve to speak to your group, help your business grow, or if you would like to sign up for his free newsletter, "Small Business Success Secrets!" please visit his website - www.MrAllBiz.com .
Tags: e-newsletters, expert advice, Marketing, marketing ideas, Marketing Your Business, MrAllBiz.com, small business expert, Steve Strauss, tips, youtube
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