The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
November Issue 109
by Larissa Stone for The Newsy Neighbour Magazine
In a time of economic struggle,
a small business has to strategically determine where every dime is allocated. Often,
marketing is the first department to be cut as it accounts to a large spend. However,
imagine if you could continue to increase your presence and your leads with a
decreased marketing budget. Would you do it?
If you are willing to put in
the time, your company can leverage a small marketing budget and still make it through
this recession on top.
Here are five effective
marketing techniques that you can integrate into your marketing:
Get back to basics
Grassroots marketing is old
school and effective. There is huge value in your community so get out there
and make a local imprint.
A perfect example of this is Debbie Mitzer, a local Strathmore Realtor. Each
year she hosts the Teddy Bear Picnic. She hands out branded Frisbees as
guerilla marketing. My son now throws that Frisbee around and although I have
never met Debbie, her name is imbedded in my head as a community influencer.
There are endless ways to utilize
grassroots marketing. Here are some examples:
·
Join
community groups
·
Volunteer
·
Join the
Chamber of Commerce
·
Sponsor
an event or start your own local event
·
Create a
strategic partnership with another local business
No matter what grassroots
approach you choose ensure your team is well versed in your elevator pitch.
Request referrals
Do
you understand your audience? The more you listen to their needs and respond to
their requests, the more likely they will refer your business. Show your
current clients that you are on their team. Here’s how:
·
Create a
"frequent buyer" rewards program
·
Create a
rewarding referral strategy
·
Send past
clients discounts or deal incentives to regain their business
·
Send Christmas
gifts or customized birthday coupons
·
Request client
testimonials/reviews on social media or Google+
·
Track
your clients satisfaction through a quick and easy survey
Each client you have will know
someone who would benefit from your business. Make that referral process easy
for the client.
Reconnect with Email Marketing
Email
marketing is an economical way to reconnect
with clients, promote products/services and invest in your brand. Email
Marketing is intended to massage and foster your relationships with current or
past clients for repeat sales.
First, choose a platform for
your email marketing campaign. MailChimp is user-friendly and provides
insightful measurement tracking of the effectiveness of your email campaign.
Then, create targeted and
impactful messages. Some engaging email strategies are:
·
Monthly
newsletters
·
Contests
·
Exclusive
deals
·
Tips, tricks
and advice
No matter what your email
marketing content includes, ensure it’s valuable to the end user and not spam.
Get Social
Social Media is an easy and
cost-effective way to reach a large audience with direct messaging. In today’s
world, if you don’t have a social media presence your competitors likely do.
There are hundreds of ways to
use social media to promote your business. Choosing the outlet that will reach
your target audience requires some strategy. Once you choose an outlet, commit
to posting daily. Here are a few ideas to get started:
o Blog about your business - create an inexpensive blog
on Wordpress
o Subscribe to other blogs and post comments on relevant
content
o Subscribe to Google Alerts to receive relevant news
content to post about
o Create a Google Places account and request client
reviews
o If you have lots of connections, reconnect with them
on LinkedIn
A social media calendar is key
to social success so your time online is spent efficiently. Without a schedule
of posts, you can get lost in the World Wide Web for hours. Always set up your
social media tracking so you can measure the impact of your efforts.
Give the Gift of Value
Clients like free things. Promotional
marketing can be successful if the free gifts are of value to the client. Here
are a few examples:
·
Coupons
or freebies as a thank you for email sign-ups
·
A contest with a giveaway to the winner. Advertise that contest on
social media
·
A free
“How To” webinar or video
·
A free
client appreciation event at your company location
With giveaway’s, the value of
the gift is essential. Give your clients a taste, not the entrée.
If you want to rock your
business, contact Stone Marketing today at: lstone@lstone.ca for a free 30-minute marketing analysis.
No comments:
Post a Comment