All Posts Tagged With: "marketing"

Over at Copyblogger, Brian Clark had some fun this week with list headlines. Seems every story featured on the cover of a recent issue of PC World featured a list headline. Brian’s a big fan of the technique and has a little exercise for anyone who wants to take part.

Anyway, it just so happens that this week’s Stumbling was jam-packed with sites that feature — you guessed it — list headlines. Let’s get counting, from the most to the fewest:

1. Writing at The Future Buzz, Adam Singer offers “65 Bite-Sized Web Marketing Tips.” The sheer number might seem intimidating, but Adam stays true to his word and keeps his suggestions to single sentences (for the most part), and short ones at that. Lots of useful links.
2. The folks at The Bootstrapping Blog came up with “50 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics You Should Be Using.” Some are a little off the wall — Temporary Tattoos? Sponsor the Homeless? — but most are brilliant. Great suggestions for businesses where cash is at a premium.
3. We all want to know what our competitors are up to, right? But short of breaking in at night or hacking their network, what can you do to get the real goods? FutureNow’s Bryan Eisenberg says there are several strategies, all perfectly legal, to spy on your competition. If you’re comfortable with some esoteric web tools, these look like they could be a lot of fun to play with.
4. Anyone who has read this blog knows I’m a big fan of Google and the awesome tools its provides. Gil’s Method offers “11 Obscure Google Tricks You Didn’t Know Existed.” You can track a UPS package on Google? I didn’t know that!
5. I still admit it: I don’t get Twitter. I’ve looked at it from every direction and just fail to see its usefulness as a marketing tool. But that doesn’t mean other people aren’t taking advantage. Jeff Woelker has come up with “7 Habits of Successful Twitterers.” My mind remains open…

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When the going gets tough, the reaction of many small business owners is to pull back on their marketing and public relations efforts. It’s a quick, easy way to save money.

It can also be a deadly decision. What happens when the economy picks up and customers start spending money again? Will your business even be on their radar screens?

Rather than pulling back, small businesses should pick up their marketing pace when things are slow. But instead of spending gobs of money trying to court news customers, why not concentrate on the one’s you already have?

Aftrer all, you’ve probably already spent considerably time and money wooing them in the first place. You’ve already overcome the toughest hurdle: you’ve gotten them to give you a try. They’ve liked what they saw and they bought.

Now, you want to keep them coming back. Again and again and again.

How do you do it? The easiest way is with great customer service. Anticipate their needs. Solve their problems. Smile a lot and tell them how much your appreciate their business.

Try a customer rewards program. Send your loyal customers a special offer, a discount, a two-for-one deal. Make them feel important as your customer.

Another possibility is a referral program. Give your customer an incentive to introduce friends or family members to your product or service. You win two ways: you thank your loyal customers in a worthwhile, tangible way, and you open your market to new potential customers who are, in a way, pre-qualified by way of endorsement.

How about former customers? Ones who bought from you in the past but, for one reason or another, stopped. Try to bring them back with a special offer designed especially for former clients.

Slow times can be scary for small business owners. But imagine how you’ll feel when things pick up and you’re left behind.

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The other day, I was checking out the InfoUSA.com website on behalf of a client who is thinking about doing a modest direct mail campaign. After choosing criteria and generating a mailing list, I had to register on the company’s website to get a price quote.

I filled out the short form and hit the submit button. At that precise moment, my phone rang. Wouldn’t it be something, I joked with him, if it was InfoUSA calling to welcome me to their database.

Alas, that wasn’t the case.

However, five minutes later I did receive a call from InfoUSA welcoming me and assuring me I would receive personalized attention if I needed it. It made me feel welcomed and appreciated. As a new customer, it made me feel confident that I will be able to get help.

In these tough times, successful marketing is all about relationships. It doesn’t have to be expensive ad campaigns or elaborate branding efforts, although those sure are helpful. For InfoUSA, all it took was a simple timely phone call from a cheerful voice to get our relationship off to a flying start.

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I’ve been stumbling a lot lately and, no, it’s not because I’ve been hitting the bottle a little too much.

Stumble Upon is cool service that helps you explore the Internet in a surprising, entertaining and efficient way. Essentially, you indicate your areas of interest – personal, professional, social – and, with a click of the Stumble button on your browser, you are directed to a random web page that matches your interests. There’s a lot more to it, but that’s all you need to know for now. Here’s a good explanation about Stumble and how to get it set up on your computer.

Anyway, I’ve decided that every Friday, I will bring you my Five Favorite Stumbles of the Week. Most will be related to public relations and marketing, but occasionally I may share a quirky, off-beat site that will make you laugh or cringe. Who knows?

Here are this week’s offerings:
Continued

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I met with a potential client the other day to discuss developing a marketing and advertising plan. He was excited about some specific strategies and tactics he wanted to use. But when I asked him what he hoped to accomplish, he was less than specific.

“Increase our sales a bunch, I guess.” he said.

It was like he had some inherent desire to execute a marketing plan but no clue about what he wanted to see happen. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s pretty likely you’ll make a few wrong turns along the way. And how will you know if and when you arrive at your destination?

When it comes to putting together a marketing plan, follow these five guidelines:

Identify Your Goals. Be specific and include milestones to assess your success. For example: “I want to increase sales by 10 percent in Pennsylvania over the next six months.” Have goals for the next six-months, 12-months and 18-months.

Set deadlines. Establish a drop-dead date for everything and stick to it. Don’t let other projects get in the way. Marketing is the lifeblood of growing a business. If you miss deadlines, it will throw off your ability to measure results against your stated goals.

Acquire the Tools You Will Need. Make a list of the resources you will need to execute your marketing plan. Budget is at the top of the list. Allocate enough dollars to do the job right. Skills are next — writing, graphic design, SEO, printing, etc. There are plenty of freelancers out there who can do those jobs. Unless you are proficient and can afford to spend substantial time on these tasks, consider outsourcing.

Develop an Action Plan. It should be specific enough to get the job done but flexible enough to adapt to rapidly changing markets. Allow enough lead time to create advertising campaigns, direct mail pieces, newsletters and such so they hit at just the right time. A calendar book devoted exclusively to your marketing plan is essential so you can see how various tactics will interact.

Just Do It. If you don’t see results right away, don’t give up. Marketing and public relations plans take time to take root. A well-crafted marketing plan is designed for the long haul, which is why knowing what you are trying to accomplish is so important.

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