Businesses all need to market. Marketing should include multiple strategies, working concurrently, even working together for the best results. However, many businesses focus on just one or two strategies. For best results, a business should have as many strategies as they can manage and implement.
Selecting marketing plans can be overwhelming. There are options for radio, television, local newspapers, regional papers, neighborhood papers, flyering, direct mail, in-person networking, and many, many others. Choosing, designing and implementing any of these strategies requires a good amount of work, research and knowledge.
While we focus on direct marketing (postcards, letters, brochures, and door hangers), we also take the approach that we should one be one of the many strategies a business should use. In our consultative approach, we discover the current or planned strategies a prospective client may be using, and work through if our services would complement them.
In some cases, direct marketing strategies may not work. And when we discover that, we let the prospective client know. When there is a fit, we work to ensure what we develop is consistent with their other strategies, but can perform and be measured independently.
Going into a meeting, you may have a good idea what you’re expecting, or we may have an idea what we initially think may work. What we’ve discovered in our many meetings, what the client or we may have in mind initially changes as we brainstorm. Sometimes the changes are minor, other times, they are significant changes.
One last thought about selecting marketing strategies is that over time, the effectiveness of any strategy may change. Those that have been the “bread-and-butter” strategies may start to falter, while those that didn’t work in the past may generate great results when you try them again, in a different market.
In short, try many things, measure the results, and try some more. When one strategy stops working, or the results start to trail off, try something different. Always be marketing and know how it works for your business.
Several months ago, a few of us decided to partner with the best business people we know in several industries. With a variety of businesses involved in the group, from merchant services to website development, marketing design to insurance, promotional products to information technology, we joined together to become a one-stop shop for small businesses. We became The Small Business Specialists. Our goal is to help start-up and small businesses grow.
Each of us are experts in our own niche. Coming together allows to leverage our knowledge and experience. In running our own businesses, we found it to be most efficient to focus on using our skills and hire or outsource the other aspects of our businesses. Even running our group, we refer to each other for ideas and brain-storming.
An auto mechanic best uses his skills repairing engines, not mopping the floor, filing papers, or running his payroll. Non-profit employees and volunteers should provide their services, not fold and stuff envelopes, or create small give-away items. A veterinarian should be seeing people’s pets, not fixing computers or updating his website.
In reality, any business owner should focus on just one thing: running his business. Everything from payroll and accounting to marketing and office cleaning should be done by a hired employee or an outsourced contractor.
That’s where The Small Business Specialists come in. We provide the essential services to running any business. By working with one group, a business owner can streamline the entire process or selecting other vendors. Due to the familiarity we’ve developed with each other, we can easily work together to meet the needs of the client as quickly and painlessly as possible.
If you are, or know, a small business owner thinking of starting a business, talk with one of our consultants to see if we can help get you jump started. Visit our website or call one of our consultants at (303) 731-4363.
These final tips for a great retail sales season are for those stores, and their owners, that either haven’t started their holiday marketing or want to ensure their best season ever! Using these in the next few days or weeks will help you create a profitable holiday sales season.
Once you follow these steps, see what the response is and continue. If you have the time, resources, and inventory, continue the process with other customer segments. Bringing in your current customers, along with new ones, will ensure you have a great holiday sales season!
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll see the emphasis on retail stores and the upcoming holiday season. I glanced back and found I forgot to mention anywhere that many retailers see up to 40% of their annual revenue in the 2 or 3 months leading up to the holidays. This year, some are worried about what may happen. Here are some tips to help reach and surpass last years revenue.
While these seem simple, many retailers have forgotten the basics of marketing. I’m currently helping a few retailers who have received the final shipments of their inventory make sure they sell most, if not all, of it this holiday season.
Ever wonder why you see the same offers on most marketing? The simple answer is that it works! Whether you call them direct mail offers, sales offers, or calls to action, they should exist on every piece of marketing.
So, what are the offers that get results? Here are the most effective:
In your next marketing campaign, try one of the five offers above to make your direct marketing more effective. These top 5 generate the most response and should generate more sales and/or attract more customers.
You may be thinking these are so traditional, they won’t work anymore. Part of the reason they have been used so much, is they work. Traditions, of any type, become traditions because they work.
When you use these in your marketing, let me know how they work. If you’ve been running your marketing campaigns without any offers, you’d be surprised how much more effective it will become.