Small Business Marketing Tips

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As a small business, you may feel at odds of how to find your tribe. Your products are out on the market. You have paid for advertising and hired a team to handle your social media. Yet, the anticipated sales you expected are sluggish to role in. This is all the more reason not to give up. Instead, go into the conference room with your team and brainstorm fresh, new ideas to bring in customers. And, take note of the following suggestions to help your business thrive.

First, you may want to host an event. If you have a new product, have your team metaphorically shout it from the roof tops. Invite your clients and customers to come to an event at your company where the product is featured. Draw them in with freebies such as a free bag of samples. Or, if you run an online campaign, give your buyers a promo code so they can purchase your product and try it out. Not only is this the best way to get sales, but the reviews will be overflowing. And, positive reviews ultimately mean more money in the bank.

Another helpful tip is paying attention to how your customers discover you. Let's say you run an online store. Unless you have a craft booth, a hundred percent of your customers and profits come from the website hosting your store. So what can you give your customer? Coupons, gifts and anything to get them to return. Think about Kohl's and their Kohl's cash. You spend a certain amount and you get $10 Kohl's cash to use on anything in the store. They want you to come back and you should be this way with your customers.

It's also important to connect directly with your customers. Anyone can visit a website, but what they do there makes all the difference. If they click on a story but not the advertisement, you're not necessarily making money. Yet, say you have an affiliate program and they click on your ad. Now you're making a percentage of their purchase. Other ways to connect with your audience are to collect their email addresses. You can later use these to distribute an email newsletter with AddressTwo to alert readers of freebies, promotions and your company news.

 On another note, if you want to take your marketing to the next level, try hosting a meet-up. This is an event where you invite your customers out for the purpose of networking. It may be a chance to push your latest product, host a workshop or seminar, or give your customers a behind-the-scenes look at your company. This type of marketing usually is really effective. It helps create positive relationships with clients and buyers, putting them on a first-name basis.

Marketing can be tricky. If you're stuck in your marketing campaign, try one of these techniques to reach out to your audience. Chances are they will more than likely reach back. These techniques will help your business take off and your sales will prove it. 

Weekly Email Newsletter Keeps Your Business Top of Mind

It’s still new and I am still very proud of to have been one of the founding certified coaches in the John Maxwell Team. It’s a designation that means a lot to me because it was not easy and being a member of the John Maxwell Team means that I can bring so much to the business owners and professionals I can reach.

This is important news and I wanted all my clients and prospects to know about it. We all have things that we do or that happen in our business and personal lives that we want to share, but often they get lost as we get back to the work-a-day routine. That’s a big mistake.

New research is saying that it takes seven to 12 touches to turn a prospect into a buying customer. Now some business owners lay out those touches in a structured campaign, but for most of the rest of us, including you probably, it just sort of happens as it happens – and that’s costing you business and sales.

I’m not saying you have to plan out every touch (although that would make it automatic and easy) but

image credit: faysalfaran at 123rf.com

I do want to encourage you to consider some touches you might not have thought about – using your list and email.

You know I encourage everyone to send out a weekly email. It’s tough, I know. Believe me, I know. But it is worth every minute you devote to it. Before you start listing all the reasons you CAN’T do it, let me eliminate some of those objections right now:

You don’t have to solve the problems of the world – just help them see the problems they have that you can solve. Be specific and only talk about one problem at a time.

You don’t have to worry about not having anything to say – see below.

What can you talk about in your emails? For starters, here are thirteen ideas (That is enough for a full quarter’s writing. Rinse and repeat):

1. Problems you have solved for specific clients
2. Interesting stories about your customers
3. Accomplishments – yours and your customer’s
4. New products or services
5. Tell about the people you work with or who work for you
6. Personal stories – about your family, pets, hobbies, etc.
7. Current events and how they relate to you and your business
8. News about your industry
9. New things you have learned – about your industry or about running a business
10. Business professional to business professional – sharing insights, tips, tricks and lessons you have learned “the hard way”
11. Share what you are reading that you think others would benefit from or enjoy
12. Create a survey and ask your customers what they think, want and need
13. Share a funny story or inspirational quote

You don’t have to write a book – choose one thing to write about and let it be as long – or as short as it needs to be.

You don’t have to be a professional writer – just write like you were talking to someone over a cup of coffee or a bubbly drink – just talk. Use spellchecker. Right click on the word (in WORD) and the correct spelling will appear.

Chances are that you know enough about what you do and the challenges you face – and overcome - as a business owner to create a weekly email without the above list. You just have to make the time to do it.

With a CRM like AddressTwo, it’s easy to get an email out to your list. Once you set up the template, you just have to swap out last weeks’ text with this week’s copy and you are ready to go. In fact, you could set up several weeks at a time and just schedule them to go out. (Or you could hire a writer or VA to do it for you.)

However you accomplish the task, keep it consistent. Make those touches and stay top of mind.

To Your Success,

Jack Klemeyer, Grow Your Business Coaching

   

What’s the Best Thing You Can Do for Your Business This Year?

It’s the New Year! Woo-hoo! Yippee!

A fresh start to make a real difference. We all have great hopes and big plans – well sort of.

You may or may not make resolutions, but odds are if you do, you will not achieve them. Now I am not being a wet blanket here – just honest.

I ALSO WANT YOU TO KNOW IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY.

Part of the problem with those big hopes, dreams, plans, goals and resolutions is that they are wishy-washy, nebulous and “just kinda out there.” They feel like “wouldn’t it be nice if…” rather than “THIS WILL HAPPEN.”

Besides making your goals SMART (specific – measurable – attainable – relevant – time-bound), you have to get your mind right and then take action using good tools like AddressTwo.

I could write a book on getting your mindset and beliefs in order (there are LOTS of books out there already), but establishing your own library of John Maxwell books will be the fastest and easiest way to make it happen. Here’s a great one to get you started:

How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life by John C. Maxwell (HARDCOVER)

We all have hard heads when it comes to different things, and developing positive, productive and effective thinking takes years of work and practice – a lifetime! So, it’s never too early nor too late to work on that.

That being said, one of the most remarkable actions business owners can take for their personal development and professional success is to join a Mastermind Group. For the last two decades I have consistently participated in Mastermind Groups. It’s exciting and energizing and makes a real difference in each member and their business.

I facilitate avariety of coaching sessions including the Grow Your Business Mastermind Groups and each one is as powerful as the next for the members. The collaboration, sharing, honest feedback with differing ideas and perspectives, and accountability bring a whole new level of thought – and because of that, businesses shift to new, previously unrecognized, levels. Everyone and every business grows.

So, don’t think, “wouldn’t it be nice if…” when you set your goals this year. Be SMART when you set them, and then join a Mastermind Group to really bring those goals to fruition. That would be the best thing you could do for your business this year!

To Your Success,