| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Dramatically Improve Your Marketing Results With These 6 Simple Steps
What if there were things you could start doing now that could help you to market more successfully in the future? Even if you didn't have your marketing act together over the past year. Well, there are. (1) Review your past marketing activities and results Take some time to review all of your marketing activities and try to understand which ones worked best. And when I say "worked best" I mean, which ones resulted in more clients, more customers, more sales, or more growth for your business? Your goal each year should be to understand which marketing activities bring you more business and which ones do not, so you can concentrate on the activities that work, and delete the ones that do not. Even if you did not have an organized marketing plan, or marketing activities that you implemented consistently during the past year, if you are still in business today, then there must have been some form of marketing going on. (2) Broaden your definition of marketing Marketing isn't only things like running an advertisement, or sending out a direct mail piece. It's anything you do that puts your business, product or service in front of the prospects you are trying to sell to. You may be surprised to realize you've been marketing more than you know! Any time you talk to someone about your business, product or service, in person, at an event, over the phone, or through a brochure or some form of media, you are marketing. Any time you send someone an email or a thank you card from your business, you are marketing. Be aware of any time you are communicating with current customers, or potential customers. Take the opportunity to make them aware of new products or services, special offers or programs, or even milestones or changes in your business. Do you include your business card every time you mail a letter to a client or prospect? Do you have an email signature that includes your business name, your phone number, your email address, your website address and possibly even your tagline? You should. You are reminding people about your products and services and making it easy for them to find out more if they so choose. If you truly believe that your products or services can enhance people's lives, then it should be easy to share the word at every opportunity. After all, if people don't know about you, they can't benefit. Put this way, it is almost a disservice to NOT market. (3) See if you can track your sales to your marketing, either directly or indirectly Take a look at the marketing you did do, taking into consideration all of the activities mentioned above. Can you directly or indirectly track any new or increased business to these activities? An example of direct tracking might be: You attended a networking event and someone you gave your business card to, contacted you or made a purchase. An example of indirect tracking might be: You attended a networking event, and someone you gave your business card to, referred you to a friend, and that friend contacted you or made a purchase. For each marketing activity you did over the past year, ask yourself the following questions: (a) Did I get any new clients, customers or increased sales as a direct result, or an indirect result, of this activity? (b) If the answer is yes, quantify the result by asking yourself: How many new clients, customers or sales did it generate? If you can't seem to track your past marketing activities, consider asking your current customers how they found out about you. You could do a survey that includes a number of customer satisfaction questions, but also includes a question to determine how they found out about you. If you have a handful of clients that you work closely with and you really don't know how they found you, pick up the phone and ask them. At the end of this exercise, you will have a list of all of your marketing activities, and the results connected to each one. (4) Separate those activities that resulted in business from those that did not Are there any activities on your list that did not result in new or additional business? If you gave these activities a good opportunity to bring you business, then maybe it's time to consider dropping these activities and trying some new ones. After all, there is no sense continuing to spend money on marketing that has not proven to be effective for your business. Even if it has worked for someone else, it may not be a good marketing activity for you and your business. (5) Use this information to plan your marketing for next year Plan to spend more time, energy and/or money on those activities that brought you business and sales. These activities have proven themselves to be effective for your business, product or service. So odds are if you commit more to them, they will result in even more sales. And, if you really don't have any way to track your sales or new clients, don't beat yourself up. You are not alone. In fact, one of my biggest challenges as a marketing consultant has been to get my clients to track the effectiveness of their various marketing activities. Just make sure to remedy this now, once and for all. Commit to never implementing a marketing activity again without some way to track how effective it is. (6) Set up a way to track all future marketing activities Recognize the importance of tracking and make sure that you have a plan in place to track all of your future marketing activities. The simplest way to track is to simply ask each new customer where or how they found out about you. You may also want to consider including a code on any flyers or brochures that you distribute, and providing a reason for the customer to bring that flyer in when they come to make a purchase. Reasons to return the flyer could be to take advantage of a special offer, or to get a discount or free bonus gift. You can also do this by phone or on the Internet if that is how your customers make purchases. Simply ask them to provide you with the code on the brochure or flyer that they are calling or ordering from. Make sure the code is specific to the location or group of people that you distributed the flyer to. If you are networking or speaking to a group and someone gives you their business card and agrees to receive your free report or e-newsletter, make sure you include a reference in your contact database of the event where you met them. For every marketing activity you do put a plan in place to help you track all them. Effective tracking is by far one of the easiest ways to improve your marketing effectiveness. And when you zero-in on what marketing activities are most effective for your business, you will be able to focus your efforts on only those activities, and will be able to spend less and get more as a result. (C) 2005 Debbie LaChusa 20-year marketing veteran, consultant, author, teacher and coach Debbie LaChusa has developed The 10stepmarketing System to help small business owners successfully market their business, themselves. To learn more about this simple, step-by-step program and to sign up for her FREE audio class and FREE weekly ezine featuring how-to articles, tips and advice, visit http://www.10stepmarketing.com
MORE RESOURCES: Warning: set_time_limit() [function.set-time-limit]: Cannot set time limit in safe mode in /srv/www/vhosts/testmagazine.com/httpdocs/inc/rss.inc on line 8
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Marketing Strategy - Whats Your System? Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From?Is it from your marketing and sales system?When I meet people for the first time and they understand that I'm a marketing consultant, I'm frequently asked, "Where do most of your clients come from?" Many times I believe the question is asked innocently enough. But, quite often I feel like the person asking wants to know if I have a magic answer that might work for them. Walking Talking Advertisements So you've made a sale. Great!Now what? You're not just going to sell your new customer a product and let them walk away, are you?Not when you're marketing on tight budget! You now have to use the customer in front of you to build your business, and you do that with a successful referral program. Online Advertising Versus Traditional Media Advertising Before I compare today's online advertising with traditional media advertising I will make an analogy.If you've been on the Internet for as long as I have, you probably noticed that things have changed dramatically. Effective List Management Can Save You Big Let's talk about how to keep your postage costs down.So far you have been following my advice and mailing to the same list more than once. Notable News - Its Not About You! You enjoy what you do. In fact, you love your product and want to tell everyone about it. Make Your Mailing a Home Run, Not a Strike Out! You can use great design and copy to get a better response.When you send a mailing to your customers or prospective customers you are counting on making considerably more money in new business than you spend on the mailing, right? It is obvious that if you were not going to profit from the mailing, you wouldn't send it out. A Complaint? It's a Compliment! - 7 Tips for Dealing with Complaints at Trade Shows A Complaint? It's a Compliment!What made you mad last week?In the past week, how many times were you upset by something? What action did you take? Complain to the neighbors, make a snide remark to a co-worker, post it on a list or email a group? Did you just gossip or did you try to make it into a positive experience? They say we complain to ten people for every one compliment about a product or service.Did you call the manager of the company, write the company president, email a suggestion for improvement? Probably not. The Marketing Secret Every Child Knows Little Kids Ask Until They Get What They Want.Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, can I have an ice cream? Can I, Can I, Can I, Can I? Please, Please, Please, Please. Three Ways to Put Fresh Spins on Old Marketing Concepts Are you struggling to find a new twist for old advertising or marketing campaigns? If you're a small business owner or a copywriter/coach/other creative professional, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Having to come up with new ideas for a long-term client (or even your own business) can be overwhelming. The Power of Thank You Sometimes we loose site of the small things in life that are incredibly important. As a child growing up in America, most people are taught from a very young age to say Thank You in appreciation of a courtesy extended by someone. 2 Little Words That Work Marketing Magic In his classic best-seller, "How To Win Friends And Influence People," Dale Carnegie's second chapter is entitled The Big Secret of Dealing With People. The secret is summed up in this principle: Give honest and sincere appreciation. The Battle of Positioning -- Altruism or Paranoia? Competition in the past has embodied such beliefs of "kill or get killed" which has fostered paranoia with many individuals and companies. Our competitive thinking has been to: defend, hoard, knock off competition, defame and win at any cost. Easy Marketing Methods with Letters, Post Cards, Referrals and Testimonials Easy Direct Marketing Methods for Insurance AgenciesThis Month: Strategies for Letters, Post Cards, Newsletters, Testimonials, Referrals.Selling insurance is tough: too many agents selling too few clients, and ouch - trying to show value when all you are selling is a piece of paper that no one really thinks he needs? until it's too late. AIDA From A Different View - I Call It the 5 Ws My childhood was my foundation for how I write and how I think. I caught on at an early age that writing is an art and it has a very distinct way of reaching out to people depending on how you apply it. Did You Know Your Mind-Set IS Your Problem? How To Save Yourself From The Pits of Marketing Cyber Hell!"Your Mind-Set IS Your Problem!"Did you know that the one major thing that stands between You and Success is Your Mind Set? Yes it is true. Sometimes our "Own Stinkin' Thinkin'" gets in the way of our Success, or our ability to achieve success. How To Let Your Customers Search For YOU! - Part 2 First I want to welcome you to part two of the article 'How To Let Customers Search for YOU!', where you can learn how to attract new clients at any time you want. The techniques I describe here have proofed to work for me and a lot of other people. Avoid These 5 Web Site Blunders! The Web is intended to help people find information quickly and easily. So why do so many sites make it difficult for users to get what they need? While neat design can add impact to your message, make sure the message itself doesn't get lost in the mix. Avoid the Duds: 10 Strategies for Selecting The Perfect Speaker Today, more than ever, the success of meetings relies heavily on the strength of program content and presentation. Nothing can spoil a meeting more than hiring the wrong speaker. Write It and They Will Come - 5 Ways that Written Information Products Can Help You Build Your Busin Whether it's a downloadable report available from your website, a book sold in the bookstore or a brochure that you hand out at a trade show, an information product is just that - a product that contains information.A well-written information product is valuable to your potential customers because it offers them insight, tips, solutions or awareness into the issues that most concern them. What the Heck is a Campaign and Why Do I Need to Do One? Many people ask me, "What is a postcard campaign, exactly?" "And why do I need one?" As I have been educating my clients one on one for years now, I suddenly had the bright idea that I needed to explain this for more than just one at a time and in further detail. So here goes?Campaigns for marketing are, in a nutshell, a series of repeat mailings that are strategically planned so that there is maximum benefit (more new customers) for your business.
|
|
home | site map SEO Request | Wing Chun | Home Business Help | Klick Marketing Resources | Recommendation for Internet Business |
© 2006 GetWebMarketing.com - All Rights reserved. - GetWeb Media Webdesign Muenchen |
