Smart Marketing Secrets
May 10th, 2010 by yolandi
To outwit, outsmart and win in business you need to sell more products and services. These 7 marketing know-how tips are guaranteed to help you find the customers you need
Greet clients with style.
Voicemail may not seem like a component of your marketing plan, but if a potential client phones and your voice message is curt or the receptionist is not professional, that prospect or client will be gone before you can blink an eye. So get yourself a professional voicemail system (even the phone company offers options) with several boxes so callers can press “1” to hear more about your services, “2” for your web and email addresses, etc.
Focus as narrowly as possible.
Instead of trying to reach all the people some of the time, narrow your target audience to highly qualified prospects. Instead of going to seven networking groups once every two months, go to the two groups with the best prospects every week. Instead of marketing to 5 000 companies, find 100 highly qualified companies and make regular contact with them.
Conduct competitive intelligence online.
As one entrepreneur points out: “As a home-based business in 1978, how would you ever find out what your competition was doing, what they were charging or what kind of clients they had? Today, that information is completely at your fingertips. So find your competitors’ sites and get clicking”.
Offer your help.
If you want to be known as a good businessperson, be helpful. The word of mouth value of someone you’ve assisted is worth its weight in marketing gold. Another way to help out your community and your business is to align yourself with a non-profit organisation.
Cross-promote with other businesses.
Who do you share customers with? Find them and figure out how you can promote one another. If you’re a PR person, hook up with a copywriter or graphic designer for client referrals. Another option is to add a brief note at the bottom of invoices referring your accounting clients to “an excellent computer consultant”, and have that consultant do the same for you
Become an expert.
Develop business know-how into a marketing tool by writing online articles. Write articles to show your talents and give them as fillers to any website owner who you feel is fitting. Not only does it bring you more traffic and potential customers, it also provides you with an international business portfolio to demonstrate your business sense and your product or service
When in doubt, pick up the phone.
Instead of lamenting a lack of business, drumming your fingers on your desk and forming new worry lines on your face, call a customer. Touch base, see how they’re doing, visit their office when you’re running an errand, see if there’s anything you can do for them, even if it’s not a paid piece of work. It will improve your relationship, and you may jog their memory.
