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Your customers are your sales team - use them |
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Some of your best advocates are your current customers - who are happy with the products and services that you provide. Your future clients are more likely to believe a recommendation from a friend, than from any other advocate or form of communication. If you can get your current (satisfied) customers to talk about you, it will be of greater value than trying to convince new customers with multi-media marketing campaigns. It also costs a whole bunch less, and gives your current customers a chance to reinforce the positive image they have of you - especially if you reward them for the referrals. Do you have a 'Word-of-Mouth' or 'Incentive' programme as part of your marketing mix? Have you set aside a specific portion of your marketing budget to allow for this? If not, you could be losing out on some really easy, really healthy growth. Make it one of your key marketing priorities! We've found a few examples of good incentive programmes: - Big Yellow give current customers up to 50% off their next 4 weeks storage if they recommend a friend
- Temple Spa offer their consultants £150 or £1,000 worth of free products if they sign on 2 or 6 new consultants respectively, in any given month
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There is no 'magic formula' when it comes to marketing |
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But, there are two essential things you need to get to grips with: 1) understanding what the best marketing for YOUR business is, and 2) that marketing is a process and not an event - it has a beginning and a middle, but no end Keep in mind, your marketing will be different from anyone else who does the same thing as you. Your business is as unique and individual as you and your customers are. This is one of your best assets and will differentiate you from your competitors |
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The long tail of business and marketing |
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We heard someone talk, recently, about the 'Long Tail' of business and marketing. I have to admit that I'd never heard of this before. Since then, I seem to have come across this term a few times in various formats, all of them in the context of 'online marketing'. The concept (if you're not already familiar with it) is around building strong businesses based on marketing to niche sectors and sometimes even providing bespoke products for your customers. This is especially possible for small businesses who operate out of warehouses (or even their garages) and who's 'store front' is online. The great thing about niche marketing is that you can adapt quickly and you don't have to be 'everything to everybody' anymore. Start by looking for specific customers that would most likely buy your product. You may be surprised how lucrative this could be if you position yourself right and use the right online tactics to build awareness for your products. |
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How many times do we face advertisy of one type or another? For example: - plans don't work out the way they were meant to,
- sales just aren't happening,
- a good prospective customer pulls out of the 'race' just short of you signing them on,
you know the deal... The cliche that 'every cloud has a silver lining' can be really empty when you're facing a 'downer' head-on and the only light at the end of the tunnel seems to be an oncoming train. But, the reality is, there are always two ways of looking at a situation. What you focus on, you start embracing! And, yes, everyone needs their down-time, their recovery time, their 'mourning' time. Allow your self that space. But, give yourself only a set amount of time to wallow. Once that time is up, set about focussing on the positive things that could come out of the situation. Write out an action plan and some steps to get you focussed on the positive side of things. They say that hindsight is always 20 - 20. How often have you looked back at events in your life and been really glad that one chance meeting, closed door or conversation changed the course of your life for the better. You never know how this one event/thing could be changing your life for the positive. Life is often measured by your perspective of it - sometimes it is good to look at your life from an outsiders perspective too! |
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It's been said, quite wisely really, that it takes 3 years to get your business from 'Zero-to-Hero'. That's if you don't change large aspects of it along the way (if you do, then realistically you have to start counting from 'zero' again). A good bit of advice, that many experts talk about - if you are going to become an entrepreneur: - if you are employed full-time, try negotiating with your employer to reduce the number of days you work a week. You could then start setting up the company, doing all the research, networking etc that is needed, without having to worry too much about finances
- if your company won't reduce your hours, this may mean resigning from your job. It does take a while for a venture to turn a profit, so if you don't have substantial savings, it may be prudent to find a part-time job
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