Business directory for the Central Coast of NSW, Australia
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Before you start marketing, take a good long look at your business. Are you running an efficient ship? Are you going to be able to meet the consumer expectations that the advertising and promotions will create.
You will also need to identify who your core market is. Then work out what your product or service does for them (what problem does it solve). Consumers aren’t looking for your product or service, they are looking for waht you product or service will do to solve their problem. Find this out and make sure that you have a unified message throughout your marketing campaign.
Local directories can one of the most effective advertising tools you have. The consumers that are looking for businesses are generally ready to purchase. Just be careful, not all directories are created equal and not all directories will be hitting your target market. Plus some directories charge an exorbitant amount of money to advertise. Always look at what will be the ROI with this advertisement and what flexibility they will give with your listing.
With more and more people turning to the web to find businesses or shop around, having a website is one of the most important marketing tools for you business.
See our post on creating a website for small businesses for further details
Write a blog on your industry expertise. The benefit is that while a consumer is searching for information they are highly likely to land on your site. Once there you educate them on some of the intricacies of you industry. For example is you’re a painter you might write articles about how to choose the right brush, what are the differences in the types of paint, how to prep your room or house before painting, what are the key things to know before getting a quote from a painter, etc.
What all of this does is it brings traffic to your site. But most importantly it establishes you as an expert in your field. When consumers don’t know much about an industry they seek knowledge plus when they purchase a product or service from a business we want to know that we got the right product or service. That’s why people seek out experts who will give them the right advice.
Join the Chamber of Commerce, Business Networking Group, or Industry Association. Depending on your business, this can be a constant source of new leads. It’s amazing how many times people will ask another business if they know anyone who can do x. This plus the fact that there is like 3 degrees of separation with local businesses, it’s likely they know a friend of someone who is looking for the exact product or service you offer.
Create a strong referral program that encourages your strongest brand advocates (your customers) to spread the word and market your business. This is also by far the most cost effective method of reaching new customers.
Write a press release about anything significant your business might be doing. If you don’t feel comfortable you can contact a copywriter who will create the content for you, many will even send it to local media agencies on you behalf.
This is the single most important marketing strategy for every business.
To create food word of mouth you must provide an overwhelmingly positive experience for your customer. What can your business do that other businesses can’t what makes you superior. Whether it’s something as simple as knowing the name of every customer you have or throwing in a free packet of prawn crackers that customers weren’t expecting. These little things help you stand out from the crowd and more importantly, help you remain top of mind with your customer which will help you generate positive word of mouth advertising.
You know it always baffels me the way businesses create these really great cheap offers to entice people to try their service but they don’t do anything to encourage previous customers to come back. Given the high cost of acquiring new customers it’s far cheaper to get repeat business. The thing is to look at whatever ways you encourage people to keep buying from you. It could be as simple as offering 5% off any future purchases as part of a loyalty program or a letter or email with exclusive offers, be creative.
Work with other local businesses to see if you sell complimentary products.
Use all or some of these strategies together to create a total marketing program. While individually each of these strategies will be effective in letting consumers know about your business, it’s the combined efforts of all of these that will have a true impact on the consumer. Telling a consumer a message just once won’t sink in. But tell them over and over again and eventually it will.
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One point I would add is the use of direct response marketing
Posted: Thursday 1st January, by Patrick Zuluaga