Index of Small Business Marketing Ideas and Marketing Articles
The Top Experts Reveal Small Business Marketing Strategies
That Get Results In This Economy
Small Business Marketing Strategies and Ideas for More Sales
Small Business Strategies to Skyrocket Sales
Are You Targeting the Right Prospects with Your Small Business Marketing?
Steve called from Minneapolis to ask me how to attract new clients for his auto repair shop. He has been in business for two years and has four trained technicians to keep busy, but he was having difficulty attracting enough new customers.
Steve wasn’t just waiting for people to show up at his shop. He regularly mailed letters to new homeowners in the area. His rationale was that people who had just moved into town would be looking for a mechanic before long.
Steve wanted to know why what seemed like a good strategy wasn’t working. Why was he only getting one or two inquires from each mailing to 500 prospects? He asked me if he was targeting the right people. “Anyone with a car is in my target market, right?”
Good question. In theory, yes, any car owner living in the area is a potential client. But in reality, car owners have very different attitudes towards car maintenance.
Steve was making the same mistake that most small business owners make in thinking about their target market. He was trying to market to everyone who might use his service instead of targeting the most likely prospects. After trying this for a year, he recognized that this marketing strategy was costly and inefficient.
According to Albert Einstein, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Are you getting the number of inquiries and sales you want from your target market? If you’re not getting results then why keep marketing the same way over and over again?
Discover the marketing strategies that actually work for businesses like yours. Use this link >
The alternative to broad based, costly marketing is to target your prospects more precisely and shape your marketing accordingly.
There are three types of people in your target market. First, there are people with immediate problems. These prospects have urgent concerns and want solutions today. In Steve’s case, these are the customers who come in with a flat tire or a blown head gasket.
Second, there are people who have a problem or want to improve their situation and are considering a purchase. They need more information in order to understand why they should use your product or service. They may take more time to reach a decision to buy.
Again in Steve’s case, these are people who need their disc brake pads replaced before they fail and cause more costly damage, or who could be getting better mileage with a properly tuned engine, or who should purchase new tires soon to avoid a potential accident. These are the people who need to be educated in order to make a decision.
Finally, there are people like my dear Dad in every target market. It was a point of pride with Dad to see how little he could spend to maintain his cars. He never took a car to a mechanic unless the broken part could no longer be wired back together or the car just wouldn’t start. People like Dad have blind spots in certain areas.
Is business marketing your blind spot? It doesn’t have to be. You could find out the proven strategies and techniques that can double your business. Get answers >>
The same is true in any business. Some people won’t spend money to fix or repair something even if it’s barely functioning. No matter what you say or do they don’t want to be bothered. Their objective is to spend as little money as possible regardless of whether it costs them more in the long run or not. Know anyone like this?
Even if you have the perfect product or solution for these people, you’re not going to get their business. They either know it all or don’t want to know. Marketing to this group is a waste of your time and money.
You’ll get a much better response by targeting your prospects more precisely. That means marketing to what your prospects are looking for. You’ll end up spending less and making more. Steve needed to focus his marketing on car owners who want to fix a problem or prevent one from developing.
In Steve’s case a few changes to his marketing letter could make a huge difference. With a few questions he could help his prospects identify their concerns and then give them some helpful maintenance tips that involve his services.
Discovering how to target your prospects to get results from your marketing is just one part of The Insider Secrets to Attracting More & Better Customers course. You’ll discover how to attract clients like a magnet. Once you see how many inquires and sales you can generate, you’ll wonder why you waited so long to apply these simple strategies to grow your business.
How to Get Your Small Business Marketing in Shape for Increased Profits
Do you want to attract more leads each week and grow your sales every month? Get your marketing in shape to achieve your goals.
I’ve always exercised a lot and thought I was in pretty decent physical condition. But a year ago, after a long recovery from a serious shoulder injury, I decided I needed expert help to prevent any more injuries. I started working out with Seth Forman, who specializes in sports-specific training,
After a year of Seth’s expert training and consistent practice on my part, I’ve achieved the results I wanted. I’m stronger, faster and I’ve got more stamina. I feel terrific and I’m enjoying the cycling, rollerblading, kayaking and especially skiing do on weekends and vacations.
To improve your small business marketing, you need to do the same thing you’d do if you wanted to become more successful at a sport, whether it’s skiing, golf, tennis or basketball. Get expert advice and put that advice into practice each and every week.
My weekly workouts have had a benefit for Seth, too. In between reps of single leg squats’ and ‘walking lunges’, I give him advice about business marketing. In the year since we began, he has doubled his sports training business.
To help you get your marketing in shape, I’ve outlined a Marketing Workout Program below.
Are you looking to get your marketing in shape so you can earn more with your business? I wrote these marketing tools to show you exactly what to do. Get the details >>
* Your Weekly Marketing Workout Program *
Set Your Fitness Goals
1. Grow your list of qualified prospects by 5% each month. If you can do it your cumulative growth would be at least 100% each year.
2. Get a better response with your ads, sales letters and web site.
3. Increase your conversion rate of prospects to clients.
4. Help more of your prospects get what they want.
5. Increase sales by 5% each month for a cumulative growth of at least 100% each year.
6. Be more successful and have more fun.
Track Your Progress
If you worked out with a fitness trainer, you’d keep track of the amount of weight you were lifting and how many repetitions. Each week you’d track your progress. The same is true with your marketing fitness. You need to track:
1. The total number of qualified prospects on your list. Bigger is better.
2. The number of new leads you added last week.
3. Your conversion rates: including ads seen to leads generated, leads to clients, new client to repeat client, dollar volume of sales per client, etc.
4. Your total income from sales.
5. Your net revenue.
Get your marketing in shape >>
Part I – Warm Up
• Clarify the actions you want prospects to take in response to each of your marketing efforts.
• Review what’s working and what’s not. Then identify the one area where you’d get the biggest benefit if you could get it in shape.
• Simplify your small business marketing effort to help prospects take the action you want them to take.
Part II – Strengthening
• Improve your marketing message. Fine tune existing copy and test alternative copy. With a compelling business marketing message, a simple web page can prompt 15 to 25% of site visitors to contact you.
• Replace weak marketing copy with effective copy that connects with prospects’ concerns. Tap your prospects’ curiosity and impart a sense of urgency.
• Revise ad and web page designs so the visual hierarchy and use of type, color and layout increases the effectiveness of your marketing.
• Use your advertising, mailings, web site and public relation efforts to reach more people each week.
• Build relationships with prospects and clients by sharing one idea or tip they can use every week or at least two times a month. Skip this one-step of your marketing conditioning and you risk losing the leads you’ve worked so hard to get.
• Improve your follow-up system. Each email you send and phone call you make can be improved to increase overall the response rate.
Get your marketing in shape >>
Part III – Cool Down
• Create your ‘To Do List’ of monthly and weekly marketing tasks.
• Delegate these tasks appropriately. Use your time to do tasks that only you can do. Delegate other tasks to qualified employees or to subcontractors. When you need expert advice, get it.
• Schedule your marketing sessions for the next week, even if you are just having a marketing meeting with yourself. Make the time for marketing.
Ready to get your marketing in shape so you can enjoy increased profits? Start working at it at least twice a week using proven strategies and you’ll see results. Week by week, your marketing and your business will improve.
You could keep marketing the way you have been and risk hurting your business or you could get help and discover how to get your marketing in shape. I wrote each of these to give you the tools you need to be successful.
Discover the strategies and techniques that will help you grow your business. Get the details >>
Where To Focus Your Marketing To Maximize Sales
“I have a web site, send out sales letters, run ads and network whenever possible, but I’m only attracting a trickle of new clients. What am I doing wrong?”– Bart, Spokane, WA
When I looked at Bart’s marketing materials, it was clear he was working very hard and had spent a lot of money on his marketing. In terms of marketing activities he wasn’t doing anything wrong, but his marketing was still missing the mark.
Bart’s marketing was modeled on the same approach that his competitors and most small business owners use. It was focused on his company, his products, his services and his credentials. Even though they were all top notch, this approach doesn’t work. No matter how long Bart used this approach, he’d still be throwing away time and money.
If you only learn one thing from this article, understand this. A company-focused, product- and service-focused marketing strategy will not help you achieve your potential in the marketplace. You may get a trickle of clients and referrals from satisfied clients but you won’t attract the quantity or quality of new clients that you deserve. In fact, you may drive away some of your best prospects.
Don’t make this mistake. Discover a marketing plan that works for your business >>
How should you focus your marketing to attract a flood of new clients? Before I give you the answer, let me tell you about a study of babies featured on Livescience.com Researchers found that 10 month old infants tend to “grasp the names of objects that interest them rather than whatever the speaker thinks is important”.
An infant is most likely to learn the name for an object they find interesting, whether or not its what you want them to pay attention to. Instead of “book” or “school” they may learn “dog”.
According to the researcher, Hirsh-Pasek, “We all learn best when things are meaningful”. Makes sense for people of all ages, doesn’t it?
There is only one marketing strategy that actually works to attract new clients. You need to gear your marketing to the way babies, teenagers and adults like you and I learn. Make your marketing meaningful to your prospects.
Want to make sure your small business marketing is meaningful to your prospects and works? There is a simple solution >>
You may find your company history, processes, products and services infinitely interesting, but most prospects don’t (at least not at first – they’ll want to know more about you later in the sales process). No matter how many times they see your marketing materials, your prospects won’t pay any attention to them if they don’t speak to their concerns.
To get where you want to go with your business you need to focus your marketing strategies on your clients’ interests, not yours. It may seem like a small difference, but it will determine everything else you do to market your product and services and how successful you’ll be.
3 Steps to Client-Focused Marketing That Works
1. Start by identifying what your client’s interests are relative to your product and services.
2. Evaluate each of your marketing materials to determine if they lead with an emphasis on your company and your products or on your clients’ interests.
3. Get rid of marketing materials and strategies that don’t work and replace them with a client-focused strategy and set of marketing tools.
Want your prospects’ attention and their business?
Stop wasting your time and resources on a company- and product-focused marketing approach and discover exactly what you need to do. If you want more than just a trickle of new business, you owe it to yourself to use the following link to get the details and see your business grow.
6 Ways to Beat Your Biggest Competitor
“Everywhere I look I’ve got competitors, from the large companies to other independent financial advisors like myself. What can I do to beat the competition and get more clients?”
Martha, Financial Services, San Diego CA
In 500 B.C. Sun Tzu had the answer; “Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
In war or business the key to success is to know your competition and understand the obstacles you need to overcome. Do you know who your biggest competitor is? Do you know who or what is stealing your prospects’ attention and keeping them from buying your products or services?
You may be surprised to learn that your biggest competitor isn’t the other firm in your town or is it the large corporation that sells similar products and services. If you guessed these, you’d be right that they are competitors but they’re not your biggest one.
Who then is your biggest competitor? Before I give you the answer, let me tell you a story.
During his first three years of high school, my son was not the student he could have been. All my explanations and entreaties about needing good grades to get into college fell on deaf ears. My wife and I tried discussions, lectures and everything else we thought might work, but we just didn’t have his attention.
Sound familiar?
The same is true of your prospects. Your biggest competitor isn’t one of the other companies that provide the same products or services. To start with, you need their attention.
Your biggest competitor and obstacle to growing you business is your prospects’ indifference!
Discover how to overcome your prospects’ indifference and generate more leads and sales >>
If your prospects aren’t responding to your small business marketing, you’re not capturing their –
– Attention
– Interest
– Time
– Trust
– Motivation to act
– Commitment
There are hundreds of thousands of people who could benefit from what you sell. Why aren’t they flocking to your door? Why aren’t you doubling your sales every year? Do you have the same problem with your prospects’ that my wife and I had with our son?
Halfway through his junior year, we took my son to see several colleges that were within his reach if he just applied himself. He liked what he saw and got excited about going to college (or was it just the idea of getting away from home?)
We got his attention by showing him the opportunities he could have if he improved his grades. We motivated him by giving him the information he needed to make the decision to work harder in school. The result? His grades went from mediocre to outstanding.
You can overcome your prospects’ indifference too by giving them the information they want in your business marketing. When you do their interest and motivation will soar.
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Use these six ways to overcome your prospects’ indifference.
1. Don’t just shout your name or your company’s name; tell your prospects how you can help them.
2. Before your prospects get distracted by another web site, another ad, or another task, grab their interest by making them curious about how much better off they’ll be with your product or service. In language your prospect would use, map out their concerns and tempt them with the solution you provide.
3. Your prospects want a solution. Use your marketing to demonstrate you can solve their problem. Giving away free tips, ideas or a test drive is one way to earn their loyalty and their business.
4. You want your prospects to trust you, so make sure they see and read great comments from your satisfied clients. Place testimonials throughout your marketing so your prospects can’t miss them.
5. Give your prospects a compelling reason to read or hear your marketing message, to contact you, and to buy from you today. If it’s possible to put off a decision, most people will. Include something in your marketing that will motivate your prospects to act right away, whether it’s an offer too good to refuse, or a time limit on an offer or both.
6. You wouldn’t expect a stranger to entrust you with managing their family fortune the first time they’ve read your name. Use your small business marketing to prompt them to email you, to call you, to get to know you and to trust you. Then help them to make a commitment even if it is for a first meeting or an entry-level product or service.
Your biggest marketing battle is to overcome your prospects’ indifference. Accomplish this, and you’ll attract all the clients you want. Do this, and you’ll be so far out in front you won’t need to worry about the competition.
Find out how to beat the competition and attract more leads and sales every month. I wrote The Insider Secrets to Attracting More & Better Customers and Creating Web Sites that Sell to show you exactly what to do to grow your business.
How to Write Great Ads! Marketing Copy That Pulls in Prospects and Sales
During a recent phone conversation with my client Bob, I asked him what was and wasn’t working with his small business marketing. His response was instantaneous.
He said, ‘My ads aren’t working. Each month I’m paying $500 to run an ad in an online publication read by my target market. Last month I only got 21 clicks to my site from the ad!’
Bob was paying almost $24 a lead and not getting very many of them. He was right to be upset with the response he was getting. He went on to say that it probably wasn’t worth spending money on advertising; that it just didn’t work.
Have you ever spent $500 or more on an ad and gotten a similarly limited response? Have you ever felt discouraged about your advertising campaign and the lack of results?
If you answered yes to either of these questions, you’re not alone. Everyone who has ever advertised has run an ad that failed at least once. Doing it once is educational; running an ad that isn’t working a second time is throwing good money after bad.
If you run an ad and get hardly any responses, running it again and again isn’t going to make it work any better. It’s like trying to pedal a bicycle with a flat tire. You get on the bike and it takes great effort to go a short distance. Is pedaling harder and harder the solution? Of course not.
If your bike had a flat you’d change the tire and get moving. If your ads aren’t working, rethink and rewrite them and you’ll start attracting more clients.
Are you still guessing at what marketing copy and layout gets the best response?
I had one client who was struggling to attract new clients with his ads. Each week he was spending money advertising his property management business in three local papers and getting zero response.
His ad was all about his company instead of about his prospects’ problems. I showed him how to rewrite his ad focusing on his prospects’ biggest concerns. He started running the new ad and within the first three weeks he added nine new clients worth close to two hundred thousand dollars. He’s still running the ad and his phone is still ringing off the hook.
Are you writing your own marketing copy or supervising the person who is? Not sure how to get your prospects’ attention?
You may be an expert in your business and provide the highest quality services, but knowing which words will grab your prospects and get them to contact you can be be puzzling. Frankly, even the professionals in advertising don’t know for sure.
Fortunately the Internet gives advertisers a unique advantage. You can try out different ads and different wording in your ads and test the market response at a very low cost. Google’s Adwords makes this possible.
When I initially told Bob about trying Google Adwords’ pay-per-click advertising, he was apprehensive. His concern was that it would cost too much, that was until he understood the math.
Bob was paying $500 a month for advertising that was attracting 21 to 40 prospects. With pay-per-click advertising, you pay only when a prospect clicks through to your site. If you set the maximum you’ll pay-per-click at 25 cents, for each $500 you spend, you’ll get 2,000 prospects.
Not convinced?
One of the biggest benefits of using Google Adwords is that you can test a handful of ads. Whether you want to test an ad you plan to run in print or you want to find out which book title will pull the best, you can use Google Adwords to show you what your prospects respond to. Within a week and for a cost of $100 or less you can discover which keywords your target market searches for the most frequently and which ad headline gets the best response.
The first step is to setup a Google Adwords ad account and create an ad. After at least 25 people have clicked on your ad, you’ll have a good idea of how well it is working and how it compares to your other ads. It’s like having your own market research firm working for you and costs hundreds instead of tens of thousands of dollars.
Wishing, hoping and guessing have no place in your small business marketing. Don’t keep running ads that aren’t generating leads. Stop guessing at which ads your prospects will respond to. Write client-focused ads and test them. You’ll end up with advertising that works and your phone will be ringing off the hook with new business too.
Ready to start earning 2 to 10 times as much with your web site? You can when you know what information to give your prospects to grab their attention and convince them to buy.
You’ll find out exactly what to do, including a detailed explanation of how to set up your Google Adwords campaigns in Creating Web Sites that Sell. Use this link >>
3 Ways to Stand Out From the Competition and Increase Sales
“There are tons of other people who provide the same services I do. How am I ever going to get more clients?”
Zach, Computer Services, MN
Whether you’re a computer technician, financial planner, real estate broker, copywriter, or other service provider, you’ve got lots of competition. There are plenty of other people in the same business going after the same prospects as you. Like Zach, you may be wondering how you’re ever going to get more clients and take your business to the next level.
One thing’s certain; you can’t expect to stand out from the crowd using the same marketing strategy everyone else does. If you want to transform your business, you need to first transform your marketing.
Imagine you raced cars for fun on the weekend. In accordance with class rules your car and everyone else’s had 75 horsepower and skinny tires. Further more every aspect of your car and driving strategy was highly regulated by these rules. Your acceleration and speed would be limited. Races would be very close and it would be tough to win.
Now imagine that the class rules were suspended and you dropped a 400 horsepower engine in your car, added big road gripping tires, you could modify it any way you wanted and there were no limitations on how you drove and, best of all, everyone else was following the old rules.
You’d have a big advantage. Your car would leap to the front of the pack and stay there. You’d bring trophies home every week.
Marketing the way everyone else does will keep your business stuck in the slow lane. Stick to a typical small business marketing strategy and you’ll get the same results. Want to stand out from the competition?
Stop doing what everyone else is doing and start using the strategies that help you stand out from the competition and get more clients. There are no small business marketing rules you have to stick to; it’s results that matter.
Discover what works to transform your marketing and your sales >>
Here are three ways to distinguish yourself from the competition and grow your business.
1. Target Your Market More Precisely
It’s a common marketing mistake to think that the more types of people you appeal to, the better. The opposite is true.
Your prospects are rarely looking for generalists. They want someone who has the knowledge and experience to provide the solution to their specific problem.
Be precise about the ideal clients you want to you serve. Define your target market by industry, by size, by length of time in business, by the problem you solve, etc. Of course, you want to make sure that your target market is large enough for your business to be highly profitable.
When you are clear about whom your products and services really help, you’ll attract more clients and you can charge more because of your specialization.
2. Position Your Firm As Experts
Your expertise and that of your competitors may be the same. You’ve all had many years of experience and are successful to varying degrees. So how do you stand out?
If you want your prospects to see you as an expert in your field, don’t expect them to seek you out on their own. Demonstrate your expertise and give them a reason to contact you.
Create a free, irresistible offer that shows your prospects how well you understand their problems and can solve them. Offer a free test drive, a free report on a relevant business topic, or a free consultation or estimate.
What are you waiting for? Why not find out the marketing strategies and techniques that will put you out in front of your competition today? Each day that you delay means more business lost due to out dated marketing. Discover the solution >>
3. Build Strong Relationships With Prospects
“Out of sight, out of mind.” Once you’re out the door, off the phone, or your prospect has left your web site, they’re going to forget you. They are going to forget you just when you want them to get to know you, trust you and think of you when they are ready to buy.
How can you make sure you have a stronger relationship with your prospects than your competitors do?
Stay in contact once a week or once a month. Give your prospects ideas they can use that continue to demonstrate your expertise and present them in a personal, engaging way. Your prospects are more likely to buy from the person they know the best.
Take Action to See Results
If you’ve been in business for a few years, you may have heard these three small business marketing ideas. Are you using them to grow your business? For many business people, these aren’t secrets or new ideas, but they have yet to put them into action.
Targeting, Positioning and Building Strong Relationships are three simple things you can do that the majority of your competitors, if not all of them, are not doing. Do these three things well and you’ll add more horsepower to your marketing and stand out from the competition.
Ready to put these marketing ideas and more into action so
you can bring in more clients and make more money? If you haven’t applied these ideas in the past it may be time to get an expert to show you what works and help you take your business to the next level. Start now >
How To Generate Repeat and Referral Sales
What’s the biggest difference between small businesses that are struggling to stay afloat and those that have more clients than they can handle?
If you’ve kept up with these articles you’re aware that your marketing strategy and materials can attract people or send them away. But other than marketing, what separates those firms that are just getting by from those that are wildly successful?
Before I tell you the answer, let me tell you a story.
Years ago, my spouse and I hired a local plumber when we were renovating the sole bathroom in the small house we lived in then. We were without tub or shower for the better part of a week, toting towels and shampoo to friends’ houses every day, while the plumber plumbed.
By that Friday mid-afternoon his work was done except for installing the handles on the tub and shower faucets. It was a sunny spring afternoon, and instead of spending the additional 10 minutes needed to finish the job, he left… taking the handles with him.
Where did he go? He was in his back yard working on his boat when I called that afternoon to find out why he had left us (literally) high and dry.
Twenty years later, I still won’t call that guy when I need plumbing repairs. Have you had similar experiences with plumbers, web designers, and other service providers? Did you ever do business with those people again?
A dissatisfied customer is a major obstacle to your business marketing. Not only do you lose a client but you’re stuck with having to attract even more new ones. And as you know, its ten times harder to sell a new prospect than an existing client.
Find out how to attract clients for life who’ll buy from you again and again. When you know how, you’ll have clients than you can handle. Discover how with this link >>
A couple of weeks ago I woke up to discover our 15 year-old water heater had worn out, flooding the utility room. I called a plumber who’d been recommended to me. Within an hour and a half, the plumber and his assistant were at the door with a new water heater.
By lunchtime the new heater was installed, the utility room clean and dry, and I’d been offered a 10% discount to encourage me to become a regular customer. Now that’s unbeatable service, and you better believe I’ll call them again. I’ve also told anyone who would listen about the exemplary service I received.
The same thing is true in any field; high quality service is one of the best marketing tools you can use.
What this plumber and most truly successful businesses understand is this. The first sale isn’t the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next marketing cycle. What you do after you’ve made the first sale determines whether you get the next one or any referrals.
When your clients are so happy with your products and services that they start telling others you’ll get a lot more testimonials you can use and more referrals. Here’s what happened to one web designer I know.
I worked on several projects with a web designer in California who is extremely professional and a pleasure to do business with. I told many others about her, and I know her other clients did the same. She went the extra mile to make sure her designs were exactly what her clients wanted.
I’d tell you her name, but with all the referrals she gets she is now so busy that she’s booked six months in advance. She has all the clients she can handle and then some.
One of my clients is Westy, a self-storage company with facilities in the New York area. They take service as seriously as my web designer does. They provide storage facilities that are as clean and appealing as a corporate headquarters. The benefit? Westy’s customers come back again and again and consistently refer new customers to them.
What do a web designer and a self-storage company have in common? Both are continually using exemplary service to market themselves and be successful.
Ready to become wildly successful and have all the clients you can handle?
Don’t wait to discover how to help prospects and clients get to know you and trust you and buy from you again and again. Why not find out what works so you can grow your business with less wasted effort? Start now >>
