MARKETING

10 Tips for Smart Marketers
Marketing doesn’t just begin with a great idea … more

Does Your Business Have a Road Map?
When you want to make the most of your advertising dollars, … more

10 Tips for Smart Marketers

Marketing doesn’t just begin with a great idea or a unique product… It really begins with customers — those people who want or need your product and will actually buy it.

Become a smart marketer. Take time to discover who your potential customers are and how to effectively reach them with the right message.

1. Most businesses will get 80% of their sales from 20% of their customers. Know exactly who those 20% are and focus your efforts on that group.
2. Research is a critical part of your marketing plan. Your effort should produce answers as to who your prospects are, and where, why, when and how they are converted into active customers.
3. As your business grows, prepare a strategic marketing plan. Look at how your product or service will meet your customers’ long-term needs.
4. Don’t try to be everything to everybody. Identify your primary customers and target them. Focus on specific marketing objectives, how to achieve them and a timeline of appropriate actions to keep you on track.
5. Get national editorial exposure! Most newspapers, and other types of media outlets, are understaffed and often have significant editorial gaps to fill. They rely on free outside copy that arrives as print-ready articles; prewritten and ready for publication.
6. Consider place-based advertising. Out-of-home or place-based advertising includes everything from traditional billboards and transit advertising to naming rights for community hiking trails. Your messages can be anywhere your customers go!
7. Focus your Web site on your visitors and customers desires, not on yourself. Be sure you address the question, “What’s in it for me?” from the readers’ point of view.
8. Collect customer testimonials and use them in all your advertising and on your Web site. Testimonials provide evidence that your products and services deliver the results you promise.
9. Send a Thank You card. The impact of a hand-written or personalize “thank you” lasts long after the newness of the product wears off.
10. Continually test new marketing methods against the status quo. A good guideline to follow is to allocate 80 percent of your budget to proven promotions and 20 percent to testing new marketing ideas.

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Does Your Business Have a Road Map?

When you want to make the most of your advertising dollars, commit to developing a 12-month marketing plan, or a “road map” for your business. This road map will help you determine where you want to be a year from now, and the path you’ll need to take to get there.

Follow these steps to create a solid marketing plan for your business:

1. Situation Analysis: Take time to learn about past efforts. What has worked? What increased sales? Who are your competitors? How are they promoting their products and services?
2. Objectives: Define your long- and short-term goals. Where do you want to be in six months? One year? Five years?
3. Strategies: Develop a plan to achieve your goals. Increase ad spending? A new public relations campaign? Loyalty cards? Increased product/service offerings?
4. Target Audience: Who do you want to reach? Identify your prospects. Form a mental picture of your ideal customers in your mind. Then go find them. In coffee shops. On the internet. Via hobby magazines.
5. Communication Strategy: How are you going to reach your audience? Radio? Television? Print ads? Internet blogs?
6. Marketing Objective: Develop a method to measure your results. Quarterly sales per product/service? Percent increase in market share? Ten new customers by year’s end? Find a way to measure whether or not you’ve “moved the meter.”

Now, implement the marketing plan and let it work for you!

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