The Top Experts Reveal Small Business Marketing Strategies
That Get Results In This Economy

The 5 Marketing Principles That Lead To Prosperity

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

The marketing approach that I use with clients is based on two fundamental ideas. These are giving value and building a network of clients and prospective clients. Put these two things together effectively using the marketing principles detailed below and you’ll stand out ahead of the competition.

What are our clients biggest concerns?Key Marketing Principles
For a house to stand tall it needs a firm foundation. Similarly with your marketing efforts, solid principles provide the foundation. The following core marketing principles are fundamental to the development and implementation of an effective marketing strategy, a strategy that results in a steady stream of clients.

• Market Solutions
• Build and Maintain Your Network
• Use Your Passion
• Give Value
• Ask for Referrals

1. Market Solutions
Most service professionals are proud of their expertise, their approach and the products and services they offer. While competence is a key to doing the work, most clients’ primary concern is getting problems solved and having their spoken and unspoken needs met. Instead of marketing your expertise, what you know and how important you are, your processes or methodology, market the solutions you offer. Marketing is about making connections, e.g. making the connection between a client’s unmet need and the solutions you provide.

Use every resource in the toolbox, from web research to your network to clearly identify the common problems your clients experience. And use every opportunity, every phone call, every contact to sharpen this understanding. Instead of focusing on your services and methodology, use questions to understand clients’ specific needs. Lead with an identification of clients’ needs and follow with a focus on the solutions you provide.

Start attracting more clients with a comprehensive marketing strategy >>

2. Build and Maintain Your Network
Think in terms of a lifetime approach to marketing and develop a strategy that focuses on building long-term relationships and gradually growing your network of potential, present and past clients.

Memories are short. Once we hit middle age most of us can’t remember what we had for dinner two days ago much less the host of services various people provide. In most cases its safe to assume your target market has forgotten you exist or lost track of the range of solutions you offer.

Make sure to stay in touch on a monthly or at a minimum quarterly basis with your target market. And when you contact people be clear about the action you want prospective, existing and past clients to take.

3. Use Your Passion
As an independent professional or consultant with a management consulting firm you’ve hopefully picked your career based on a personal interest and conviction that you can provide value to clients. Let this passion show through in helping others with your ideas as you do your marketing.

“Nothing, not all the armies of the world, can stop an idea whose time has come.” Victor Hugo

4. Give Value
For service professionals in particular a key ingredient to a building a relationship is the development of trust, something that takes time and repeated contact with prospective clients to develop. The best way to open the door with prospective clients is by giving clients a test drive.

The objective is to regularly let prospective clients experience the value of your expertise Use newsletters or workshops or a free session or via shared ideas found on your web site, etc. Over time demonstrating the value you provide will convince prospective clients of your ability to solve their problems and help you position yourself as a trusted advisor.

5. Ask for Referrals
Many service professionals rely on referrals to grow their business. Enlisting others to serve as your referral network is one way to dramatically increasing your sales force at little or no cost.

Whether you are looking for referrals or for people to use your services, remember to ask for referrals. And if you’re satisfied customers aren’t providing referrals, ask them why and then give them what they need to feel more comfortable in generating referrals.

Start attracting more clients with a comprehensive marketing strategy >>

More Marketing Ideas and Strategies That Get Results – Free Access!

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Small Business Lead Generation Ideas & Tips

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Small Business Keys to Success

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Use of Articles and Marketing Ideas

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

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The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Ideas eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing strategies you can use at: Small Business Marketing Ideas

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing strategies you can use at:Small Business Marketing Strategies

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps independent professionals and small business owners attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing tips you can use at: Marketing Plans for Small Business.

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and grow their businesses. Sign up for the Free Marketing eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing strategies you can use to increase profits.

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Charlie Cook, helps small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and grow their businesses. Sign up for the Free Marketing Plan eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing tips.

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

The author, Marketing Coach, Charlie Cook, helps small business owners and marketing professionals attract more clients and be more successful. Sign up for the Free Marketing Guide, ‘7 Steps to get more clients and grow your business’, full of practical marketing ideas you can use to be more successful.

2010© In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.

Charlie Cook is President of In Mind Communications in Old Greenwich, CT and can be contacted via www.marketingforsuccess.com. To get the Free Marketing Guide and the ‘More Business’ newsletter, full of practical marketing tips go to www.marketingforsuccess.com

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Marketing Ideas to Help You Generate Leads and Increase Sales

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Which Comes First In Bringing A New Product or Service To Market?

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

I was at my desk writing my next small business marketing manual, when I got a call from John from Chicago with a chicken or egg question. John is starting a new business providing technology management services to small to mid-sized businesses. He’s identified a promising niche and is working diligently on his business plan. He called to ask when he should start thinking about strategic marketing.

If you are developing a new business or a new product, should you complete your business plan before you start thinking about marketing strategy?

Isn’t it important to clarify your business objectives and processes before you pay attention to your small business marketing?

This is a which came first, the chicken or the egg question. Obviously, you can’t market a product or service you don’t have or can’t deliver. On the other hand, one of the biggest mistakes people make is developing a product or service without a clear understanding of what their prospects want and how to market their products or services. You don’t want to make this costly mistake.

Discover how to get more people to contact you and buy from you >>

Over the Wall Marketing Strategies

Several decades ago, the auto industry had a simple process for planning, building and selling cars. First, the design department would create a beautifully drawn plan for a new automobile. Then they’d “throw them over the wall” to Engineering. Engineering would study the plans and discover that certain features couldn’t be built as drawn, and they’d throw the plans back to Design.

After a few trips back and forth, the plans might finally get to manufacturing, where the same thing would happen all over again. After looking at what the engineers had drafted, the manufacturing department would shake their heads and toss it back, saying, “We can’t build this as drawn”.

After numerous delays and cost overruns, the new model car would be built and marketing would be called into action. Some of the larger goofs that were handed off to marketing to sell include the Edsel and the Pontiac Aztek.

Can you imagine trying to sell a product that your target market doesn’t want?

Marketing can’t succeed when marketing communication and business planning are compartmentalized, no matter what the size of the business.

Integrated Planning
Most manufacturing companies currently use an integrated planning approach. Business marketing has a seat at the table during the design phase to insure that the final product reflects what customers want, and engineering and manufacturing are included to ensure that products can be built efficiently and reliably.

Discover how to integrate your site into your marketing strategy so that it helps you achieve your business objectives >>

Whether you want to grow your business, launch a new product or service or start a new business venture, you need to make sure you have a current clear understanding of your client’s needs and wants.

Ask existing clients or prospects:

• What are your goals for this year?

• What are your biggest concerns (relative to your product or service)?

• What one thing would make the biggest difference to helping you improve your business or your life?

Don’t depend on the limited response you’d get from an email; pick up the phone and call prospects and clients you know. Use the above questions to get them talking about their problems and concerns.

Use the common needs you learn about to drive new product development and as themes for planning your small business marketing strategy. For example, if your are in the business of technology management and you hear repeated complaints about computer crashes or lost data, and concerns about computer security, use these to generate both your services and the language you use to market them.

Tony, an old friend who lives in England, takes this marketing research approach to the extreme. Tony writes and self publishes training guides for the education market. Instead of writing a book, publishing it and then waiting to see if it sells, Tony sells his books first and then writes them.

Yes, it’s true. Tony’s product development strategy is as follows; he sends out a mailing promoting a handful of titles. Based on the orders he receives, he decides which book to write.

Tony immediately responds to his customers with a note letting them know there will be a delay in shipment and offering them one of his previous overstock books for free. Then he works like a fiend for six or eight weeks to research, write, publish and ship the new book. Not my cup of tea, but Tony makes a good living with this small business marketing first strategy.

Don’t get stuck with a chicken or egg approach to your small business marketing. Integrate your business planning, product development, market research and marketing planning. When you do you’ll find your marketing and your products and services working together to attract more clients and customers.

Create Your Own Small Business Marketing Breakthrough

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Do you ever get frustrated with your small business marketing plan? Are you putting in a lot of effort but not getting the results you want? Don’t you wish you could just hit a switch and get a better response from your mailings, sales calls and web site?

You hear a lot about breakthroughs; is it all hype, or can you really create a breakthrough in your marketing and sales? I know that you can.

I spent last weekend skiing in Vermont with my wife, nephew and his finance Sonia. We were all having a great time on the slopes, except Sonia. Sonia doesn’t have as much experience as the rest of us and was struggling to keep up. Her problem wasn’t one of effort. She was working much harder than the rest of us, fighting each turn and slowing her progress down the hill.

In a few minutes, I showed her how to tip her skis to make an easy, graceful S shaped turns that took advantage of the new shaped skis. After making a run or two, she was skiing twice as fast with less effort, and having more fun.

You too can experience a breakthrough in your skiing, golf swing or in your small business marketing. If you are like most business owners, you advertise, send out mailings, make sales calls and have a web site. This is what you do to market your business; the way you do these things will make the difference between success and failure.

Discover how to create a breakthrough in your small business marketing and sales >>

What would constitute a breakthrough in your business? Like Sonia, you may be inadvertently working harder than you need to be to get the results you want. With a few changes to your small business marketing strategy and techniques you could be getting a lot more attention, generating more qualified leads and converting more prospects to clients and having more fun.

Here are five ideas to get your marketing plan headed for a breakthrough:

1. Focus on your target markets’ primary concerns in your sales calls, your brochure, your ads and on your web pages. Your prospects’ problems and wants brought you together; use
this to keep prospects’ attention.

2. Use questions to get the conversation going. Whether you’re on the telephone, writing web page copy or writing an ad, ask your prospects questions to get them thinking about what they want and how you can help them.

3. Give something away that your prospects need. The more helpful information you give away to prospects, the more business you’ll receive in return. Give away ideas they can use and help them understand when and how to use your products and services.

4. Build a mailing list of people who want more of your ideas and information. Use the list regularly to stay in touch and you’ll increase your credibility the perceived value of your goods and services, and your sales

Create a breakthrough in your web site marketing and increase sales >>

Other Breakthrough Marketing Ideas
• When people are at the point of purchase, prompt them to buy additional products and you can double your revenue.

• Call people who have bought your products after a couple of weeks to get feedback. There is a good chance they’ll be interested in buying additional products or services.

Whether you want to become an expert at small business marketing, skiing or cooking, the key is to let go of methods that aren’t working for you, and learn and apply the techniques used by the experts. Nine times out of ten, the problem is in getting the basics right. You can achieve a breakthrough in sales when you understand and apply these proven marketing principles and techniques.

Setting The Stage For Sales With Your Web Site Marketing

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

Most web sites are more like stage sets than real buildings; they make a good impression and they look substantial at first, but when you open a door, you end up back stage in the dark. They don’t generate large numbers of leads, help build relationships with prospects or generate the desired volume of sales.

Is your web site helping you get attention for your business?

Does it prompt prospects to contact you?

Is it helping you build long-term relationships?

Does it generate the volume of sales you want?

Building a web site that works should be more like building your dream home than constructing a stage set. You want to build a solid structure to support the growth of your business, not a flashy facade. First, you’d talk with your partner about what kind of house you want and how it fits into your long-term plans.

You’d discuss your budget and the location, style and size of the house, as well as the functions of the rooms and the flow between them. When you were in agreement, you’d seek out an architect to help you plan your home.

The architect would consider your ideas and objectives, create a coherent plan to meet your objectives. You’d review these and then she’d produce drawings and blueprints to guide the construction.

You’d need a contractor to build your house, and the contractor would hire specialists to complete the job; carpenters, electricians, masons, roofers, etc. Once your home was completed, you’d need to maintain it; even a brand new house needs periodic attention.

Discover how to use your web site to attract prospects, generate leads and increase sales >>

Building or Renovating Your Dream Web Site
Can you imagine building your dream home without careful planning, or a clear sense of how the rooms would work together, or a blueprint?

Before you built your web site, did you define how it would function, how it would get attention, and how it would generate leads and build profitable relationships?

Did you have an internet marketing blueprint?

A web designer is like your building contractor. They will assemble your web site, but they can’t tell you what the site is supposed to accomplish or how it fits into your overall marketing plan. Before you use a web designer you first need to understand what you want your site to do and how to structure it to convert prospects to clients.

Diane Varner, a successful web designer in El Granada, California, asks prospective clients a series of questions about their marketing before she starts work for them. She wants to find out what their overall marketing strategy is and how their web site fits into it. Her expertise is web design; if a prospect needs help defining their web-marketing plan, she refers them to me.

4 Steps to A Web Site that Sells

1. Create Your Internet Marketing Plan
Before building or renovating your web site, you, too, should identify how your web site fits into your marketing strategy. Clarify and delineate the actions you want visitors to take and how to structure your site to get prospects to contact you and buy your products and services.

Organize site content and pages to mirror prospects’ decision-making process, moving them step-by-step towards a sale. Write content that motivates prospects to continue reading and browsing your site and includes appropriate use of keywords to help boost your search engine rankings.

Discover how to create a web site marketing blueprint for your web site >>

2. Hire a Web Designer/ General Contractor
Once you have a plan and the supporting marketing copy ready, find a web designer who can put these elements together to create an easy-to-navigate site whose overall look and feel supports your positioning objectives. Many web designers function as general contractors and will sub-contract the programming required to create forms, manage databases, email or online shopping cart systems.

3. Market Your Web Site
Most people make the mistake of waiting until their site is built to think about marketing it. If you started with the previously defined web plan, you will have avoided this money-losing blunder. But don’t assume that people will find your web site on their own.

Use free promotional activities such as distributing your articles to get attention. Consider advertising in newsletters and/or using pay-per-click advertising.

4. Maintain Your Web Site
Just like that dream house, a web site needs regular upkeep and updating. Allocate the time and money to see that the site is well maintained, whether you learn to update text yourself, have someone in your company do it, or give the job to an outside professional.

The beautiful home you carefully planned and built creates the physical context for you to eat, sleep, relax and enjoy family and friends. Your web site should create the marketing context to help you get prospects’ attention, build relationships, and generate leads and sales.

Use the four steps above to build or renovate your web site marketing and you’ll have a site that is more than a flimsy stage set; you’ll have a web site that will help grow your business.

Marketing & Sales Ideas to Help You Grow Your Business

By Charlie   |   March 16th, 2010

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