Small Business Tips

Low-Cost Marketing Tools You Can Use to Grow Your Revenue

by Andrew Patricio
www.bizlaunch.ca


Some Important Marketing Rules

• * You must develop a marketing plan
• * See marketing as an investment and not as an expense
• * You must be patient
• * See marketing as a whole lot of marketing tools
• * Always measure the effectiveness of your marketing

Tool 1 : Target, target, target

• * Look at your customer base
• * Who are your current clients?
• * Where are they from?
• * What industry are they in?
• * Are they large or small?
• * What services are they buying?
• * What do your customer¡¯s think of your service?
• * Which of your customers are the most profitable?

Tool 2: Image

• * Logo
• * Business card - make it memorable
• * Letter head - use expensive paper
• * Dress like a pro - work on your brand
• * Name tags
• * Premises
• * Staff attitude

Tool 3: What makes you different?

• * Focus on the benefits of doing business with you
• * Are you faster?
• * Do you have a large range?
• * Do you keep unique products?
• * Are you an expert?

Tool 4 : Become a Great Networker

• * Attend the right functions
• * Always carry your 30 sec resume with you
• * Join associations or start your own
• * Develop relationships
• * Collect business cards
• * Follow-up
• * Networking is listening
• * Send regular greetings cards or emails
• * Develop a newsletter

Tool 5 : Develop A Great Database - Gold in your hands

• * You need to work on this all the time
• * The more you know about customers or potential customers the better
• * Collect business cards
• * Buy databases from your local BOT
• * Every person is seperated by 6 handshakes

Tool 6: Generate Word of Mouth

• * How to generate word of mouth
• * High quality, charge reasonable prices, finish projects on time and treat customers with respect
• * Encourage people to refer
• * Cross promote
• * Reward referals
• * Develop good relationships with known referers
• * Use testimonials

Tool 7: Telemarketing

• * Effective in business to business sales
• * Warm-up your telemarketing by getting referrals
• * Plan your entire call
• * Use a script when calling a customer
• * The more you call the more you sell

Tool 8: Pamphlets and Brochures

• * Use an attractive headline
• * Content is very important
• * Focus on benefits
• * Use a picture to illustrate if possible
• * Include information contact details

Tool 9:Public Relations

• * Develop a good relationship with the local media
• * Employ a good writer
• * Develop a PR strategy
• * Get involved in community projects

Tool 10: Free Education Seminars

• * Give valuable information and demonstrate your expertise
• * Advertise your free seminar
• * Even if people don¡¯t buy there and then they could buy later
• * You establish yourself as an authority
• * You gain credibility

Always
under-promise and
over-deliver