So, if you’re like everyone else (including me), you’re probably sick of hearing about the sluggish economy (cue the groans). Lots of business owners and executives are frustrated by shrinking market share and bottom lines that are bottoming out. Unfortunately, too often, companies axe their marketing budgets to compensate for the short fall, which is a huge mistake.
Lack of cash flow is a real challenge that many companies today face. What do you do with the vicious cycle in which you 1) no longer have enough traffic coming through the door to 2) make enough money to advertise and 3) keep traffic coming through the door? It’s all about the little things. I advise my clients to concentrate on the little efforts, the cheap and free activities, the referral campaigns and relationship building activities.
It’s great to run TV spots and huge orchestrated pay per click campaigns- when you can afford to. They are proven, effective marketing methods. But these costly platforms are a diminishing opportunity for many small business owners today. My advice is to get your business in front as many people as possible using other avenues:
Referrals – begin by working your past and current clients. You may find this to be your best quality-lead generating activity because you gain instant credibility when you are referred by someone who has done business with you. Clean up your database (don’t have one? tsk tsk, start one now!) and start contacting people. Send handwritten “thank yous” or “thinking of yous”, and include a scratch off lotto ticket. Hold an open house, start a newsletter, offer a gift or discount in exchange for referrals, leave a little gift on their doorsteps with your business cards…. There are so many fun ways to do this! Use your creativity.
Newsletters / eNewsletters – this is a great way to keep in touch with your target audience and keep your business “top of mind”. Better yet? This is a great vehicle to position yourself as an expert in your industry by sharing insider opinions and observations on your industry’s trends and changes. If you’re nervous about writing articles, get some help from a decent writer or hire a copywriter to create a final draft from your notes. Some great ways to compel clients and prospects to sign up for your newsletter or eNewsletter is to respect privacy, don’t bombard them with messages, provide both industry information and lighter, more enjoyable reading and anecdotes, and don’t forget to offer newsletter / eNewsletter coupons, offers and specials only available to subscribers.
Get Published – there are quite a few sites out there for publishing your own content like Associated Content and EzineArticles. This could include your own original articles, and reprints of articles written for your newsletter, and blog posts. Each site has their own policies and requirements for your pieces, so be sure to review prior to writing and submitting. This activity benefits you in a couple ways: 1) you gain the credibility of being a published author, again positioning you as an expert in your industry, 2) you will turn up in search engines which means opportunities for new prospects to find out about you and your business, 3) these sites give you the ability to set up a bio about yourself, so be sure to include a link to your website. All the links out there leading back to your website improve your search engine ranking.
Join an Organization- I recently joined ASBA, the Arizona Small Business Association and they are great! The membership is very inexpensive and they offer a wide array of educational workshops, informational seminars, Toastmasters and writing classes, and even health insurance! Take advantage of the many opportunities to network with other business owners for purposes of growing your business and get and give leadership and support. Check them out at ASBA.com. Along these lines, you may also want to check out SCORE, and non-profit volunteer opportunities as well.
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