Friday, November 6, 2009

10 Marketing Tips for Small Business


Take a moment to skim through these 10 thoughts about marketing.

You'll probably forget 9 of them immediately. But one of them will stick with you; it'll strike a chord. You'll say "yes, I've been meaning to do that". Make a point of converting a good idea into action as soon as possible.

Every business wants to do marketing better, but there's always something 'more urgent' that needs attention first. Step outside of that cycle for minute.
Enough! Here are the 10 marketing tips:
  1. Keep to budget - it's too easy for marketing expenditure to get out of control.
  2. Know why people will buy your product - be clear about why people will come to you; what benefit does your product give them? Read more about the importance of understanding why people would buy your product.
  3. Know who your customers are - target your marketing at people who'll buy from you.
  4. Make a special offer to someone who's just bought from you - it's an opportunity to strengthen your relationship.
  5. Offer a deal to all your existing customers - make them feel special by reminding them that their relationship with you has value.
  6. Talk to a customer every day - it only takes a few minutes to telephone and take an interest in what they're doing. Read more about why you should talk to a customer every day.
  7. Partner with other businesses - create a reciprocal agreement; you'll promote them to your customers if they'll do the same for you.
  8. Issue Press Releases - your local newspaper will love them. Anniversaries, changes in key staff, new products - get creative in making news. The worst they can do is say "no", but I guarantee they'll often say "yes".
  9. Use testimonials - a customer recommending your product carries much more weight than you recommending yourself.
  10. Don't give up - marketing is about communicating a message. Stop doing it and people will start listening to the message from someone else.
I could write an entire post about each of those points, and perhaps at some point I will. These are all based on my own experience of marketing with various organisations, from a global IT company to a local start-up.

Andrew Knowles is a freelance copywriter.