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TOP TEN MARKETING TIPS
Despite confusion about what marketing
is, without it no business can succeed. The best definition of marketing is
anything you do to get OR keep a customer. This means the most important forms
of marketing are customer service and referrals. That's why in my books on
marketing I focus on how to build relationships with customers and potential
customers. You can build relationships in person or online. Even your
advertising and brochures can help build relationships.
Having recently collected almost 2000 ways that real companies and individuals
have marketed successfully, I've picked a few to mention here.
The best methods for you will differ depending on your personal style, your
industry, and your budget. But these should give you some ideas. Despite the
increasing impact of technology on marketing, most of the key things you can do
are still aimed at standing out in your market and building relationships. If I
had to pick the top ten approaches they would be these.
MAKE YOUR ADVANTAGES EASY TO UNDERSTAND.
For instance, Computer Resources International AS originally sold consulting,
for which they used proprietary software. Only when they started selling the
software first, and then customization and consulting as extras did their
business take off. Buying software was easier to understand than the more
intangible consulting. LifeUSA insurance, and many other businesses, focus on
speed in every aspect of their business. They make fun of the slower industry
standards and provide a simple advantage clients understand. Other ways to set
yourself apart are through great service or association with worthy causes.
DON’T TRY TO BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE.
Just as customers screen you, you should decide who you want to serve. Printing
Resources originally took any printing business that walked in the door. When
they realized which kinds of customers they worked with best, they were able to
cut down their marketing costs and make more money. Some computer consulting
firms only work with one customer per industry so they will have no conflicts of
interest. You can bet they select customers carefully, and that customers are
flattered by the partnership approach. Consider creating a checklist of who
shouldn’t hire you! It will help you focus, and may impress the right
customers if you share it with them.
WORK FOR REFERRALS.
Word of mouth is the least expensive, most effective way to get new business.
Barry Farber has new customers write on the back of their business cards why
they bought. These become mini-testimonials. Bob Brassard calls at least one
client a day just to keep in touch. This builds the relationship by showing he
doesn’t just care about them when he wants something, allows him to update
files, and generates referrals. One upscale dentist put up a Web page. He got
about six extra referrals a month because his clients thought it was cool that
their dentist had a Web page.
USE ONLINE MARKETING.
You don’t have to have a Web site like Eastern Mortgage Services to do
business online. You can send personalized e-mail like Michael Swartz of DNA
Software. You can pay only for the leads generated for you by advertising on
many sites. You can research potential clients for better presentations. You can
gather customer input inexpensively as Ritchey Design does. Or you can post free
ads in discussion groups.
DON’T SELL, HELP PEOPLE BUY.
When you truly put the client’s interests above your own, you will become
a consultant, a team member, and a partner for your client. When you’ve earned
trusted advisor status, doing business is no problem. For instance, computer
consultant, Amadaeus Consulting Group, helps its customers make more money by
using computers to help their clients sell more. Of course, the extra business
comes around as the client grows. A small accountant’s client felt they needed
a Big 5 firm to handle their audit because they wanted to go public. Instead of
resisting, the accountant helped the client select a Big 5 firm, thus
maintaining and extending the relationship with the client. Conrad International
added warehousing services near overseas clients so they could afford to buy in
bulk for a lower price. When you put the customer first, you earn long-term
loyalty that is more profitable than a larger quick sale.
PARTNER WITH OTHER COMPANIES REACHING YOUR MARKET.
This might be neighborhood merchants cooperating on a sidewalk sale, or Digital
Equipment partnering with Infinite Technologies to better serve the Bank of New
York. Or it could be you partnering with a charity to create a fund raising
event that brings attention to both of you, like Service Merchandise and
Goodwill did.
SHIFT THE RISK TO YOURSELF AND YOU WILL PROFIT.
A believable guarantee makes it safe for prospects to give you a try. Very few
people will exploit a generous guarantee compared to the extra business it
generates. YoyoDine is one of many companies that guarantee you results from
their online advertising. Even Kaiser, the big HMO, found a money-back guarantee
to be successful.
BE PERSONAL.
To build relationships you have to build a personal connection. A handwritten
invitation pulled great for Frank Candy, president of the American Speakers
Bureau and for restaurateur Murray Raphael. Internet consultant Dan Janal gives
clients links from his page. One nursing home created a waiting list through
great referrals by greeting visiting relatives by name and filling them in on
their loved ones at the start of each visit.
CREATE FREE PUBLICITY.
Our old Construction Computer Applications Newsletter had a hard time
finding reviewers for computer programs of interest to readers. Our reviewers
not only got publicity from their reviews, but we gave them referrals. A large
CPA firm specializes in citrus growers. Every year they do a survey of their
clients’ costs of operations. The survey data helps their clients benchmark
their operations, positions the CPAs as the experts, and gets the CPA firm
publicized in trade articles. Inquiry Handling Services gets regular publicity
from newsletters and articles, as well as a book they wrote for their industry.
And Luxury Limo received major coverage about a special rate created to allow
three regular women to share the commute in a limo at about the cost of
carpooling.
INTEGRATE YOUR MARKETING.
This means that everything you do should convey the same message and
represent what you stand for. Putnam Investments manages $150 billion in assets.
All their literature, and even their office, conveys the same message. Viva
Knight, a script consultant, rents mailing lists from the same magazine he
advertises in. If he also wrote articles for the same magazine, it would add to
the integrated approach.
Whether you use high tech or shoeleather approaches to marketing, the best
methods will be comfortable for you and prospects, build relationships, and
support the setting up of a system that can be done regularly. And perhaps
that’s the main secret of successful marketing to get started and keep doing
something on a regular basis.
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