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Forum - Tried and tested marketing practices for your small business
Tried and tested marketing practices for your small business
Tue, 02/03/2010 - 11:00 — jamesainsworth
What are your 'go to' marketing practices that you know will guarantee you short sharp results? Do you always renew a directory listing because it pays top be there or has a Google AdWords campaign brought you a short sharp burst of leads? Maybe you pay for a newspaper advert to coincide with a sale event...what works best?
Share with us your marketing techniques that guarantee your small business a promotional push. It could be PR, exhibiting or using something like Facebook. Let us know what works for you and how long you have been doing it for with your small business.
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Firstly hello and thanks for the useful comments and advice.
My company has been running for about 6 months now and as a rule new sales would come from the web via the website. however like any new start majority of funds had to go on softare equipment and licensing. So i have been looking at using slaes lead generation companies but god some of them are expensive. Adwords is another route but until we have our website revamped I don't see the point. Anyone able to recommend any third party sales generation companies? Or indeed anyone looking for a 24hr telephone answering service :) that's the nature of the business we are in B2B communications.
Cheers
JH
When I help businesses with their marketing, the easy win is usually around the area of testimonials and references. So many businesses overlook this vital area. After a successful job, ask the customer if they would be happy to put their name to a testimonial that you will draft for them (or give them options to choose from and amend), for your website or whatever. Most customers are more than happy to do so, as it's good for the relationship and it also gives them a little publicity. But go a step further and ask their advice on who else they think you should be approaching with your product or service, and see if they might introduce you to anyone. This is the fastest, cheapest, simplest route to winning a new customer that there is.
Dan, Anglo Recycling Technology
A key for us is contacting our exisiting clients with news, updates or simply to say hello. We send out a regular email newsletter and inevitably it will stimulate existing clients or prospects to get in touch. It's also interesting to see how often it gets pushed around to others, along with a recommendation.
Let's be a little contentious on this (superb) marketing website.
I think that marketing sometimes actually GETS IN THE WAY of making sales.
I'll never forget the moment when someone was asking the speaker at a business event "How do you think I should market MY business?". The man from the audience seemed to be expecting the answer to be advertising, say, or networking. The speaker was spot on. He said "Your business is very specific. So your approach should be a rifle shot, not a shotgun." I would have gone a step further and said "Forget marketing! You know who you want to buy from you, so just pick up the phone, say what you do and ask for a meeting or to be able to send an email!" I got the impression that the person was eager to do marketing not least as a way to avoid doing any direct selling ... he wanted people to come to him to buy what he was selling ... something that I have seen many times before in businesses that end up failing.
I agree that it's important to see though some of the more "out there" claims of marketing gurus and to remember that "marketing" is not a mysterious discipline known only to a few, but something all businesses do every day as a matter of course. If you run a business, you do marketing. What we're trying to do is make it straightforward, so you can do as much of your marketing for yourself as possible. I'd say market research can be quite a specialised area, but much of the rest of marketing - the daily, practical stuff for a small business, anyway - is fairly clear-cut: know who your customer is, know where your customer is, tell them about your business in a language they understand and in a way they will remember. That's marketing. As a certain meerkat would say - "simples".
I've often found that exhibitions can be an invaluable source of leads. They aren't right for every business, but if you're reaching your target audience on a relevant subject matter, they can be an excellent 'bread and butter' means of generating good quality leads. Typically an exhibition lead will convert well, as unlike direct marketing leads, the people you're speaking to have sought you out. This usually means that they are looking for a product or service like yours and are therefore more likely to go to meeting/sale.
Just one word of caution - exhibitions are expensive and can quickly run into tens of thousands, so you must have an expectation of what your return on investment will be, based on expected leads, conversions, average sale price etc. Don't let sales people talk you down or tell you they know your industry better than you. Be firm and confident and if in any doubt, go along as a delegate first time around and leave the decisions for later.
Rosie Heptonstall, 2nd Head
I find that advertising on the web can be a great way to generate some quick leads from marketing. In terms of being found on Google, Adwords is a great tool to use. It can deliver virtually instant results and with clever targeting the costs can be quite reasonable. I find the best results come when you can be really focused on a niche audience. If you can, not only does the price per click come down, but the traffic you do generate will also tend to convert more successfully.
As a note of caution when using Adwords, it is really important to keep an eye on your budget and settings to make sure your costs don't spiral out of control. You can very quickly spend a lot of money with little return if you aren't prepared to invest a bit of time tweaking your ads to get them just right. The down side is also one of the best things about Adwords though, in that it gives you the flexibility to change, adapt and refine your message as many times as you want.
Chris Richardson, CBW Group
Thanks for the useful advice.
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