For many small and medium sized businesses Marketing looks either either a mystery or waste of money, or in the worst case both. As Marketing is a vital part of making your business flourish – in good times, and in stormy ones, here are some essential tips to boost your marketing and your revenues.
1. Test And Measure
If there is a golden rule, this is it. No matter what you do test it and then measure it. It is so simple, and so effective, that it constantly amazes me how few businesses do this. But do not just start with measuring new tactics, measure what you're doing now.
How many incoming calls are inquiries? How many do you convert to appointments? Orders? How many leads did you get from the advert? These will be the benchmark. Then when you try new tactics you will absolutely know what works best for you and your business. A quick example.
Say you send out a brochure to 100 prospects who have phoned you. And from this you get 10 appointments. This is great. Now next time, you decide to enclose a letter as well. This gets you 15 appointments. You now know that a letter with every brochure is 50% more effective. So your benchmark is now letter and brochure.
What else could you do? You can use this for networking, advertising, tradeshows, in fact you should be using it for every thing you do.
2. Do not try to boil the ocean.
You can not be everything to everyone. Look at what you offer and the benefits it provides and focus on the customers that will gain the most from what you do. This is called segmenting. The other great thing is that the customers who get the most value from your product and service will also be more disposed to paying higher prices. If you're selling luxury yachts focus on those who can afford them.
3. Focus must be on the benefit to the customer
The old marketing adage still rings true to day "people do not buy a quarter inch drill they buy a quarter inch hole". No matter how many bells and whistles a product may have without it has a benefit to the customer they will not buy. All your marketing must focus on explaining these benefits to the customer. People are only interested in what you can do for them -so tell them!
4. Plan and set aside a budget
How often do you get to the end of the year and you're disappointed by your marketing. You do not know were the money has gone or what you did. But you would not build a house without a plan would you? A marketing plan is a day to day plan for winning and keeping profitable customers.
Creating a marketing plan and a marketing budget will help you be more effective. But do not think a marketing plan has to be a huge 200 page document and a budget of millions of pounds. It does not. It should tell what you want to achieve, how you are going to try to do this and the resources (realistic) you need. This then is a document that you can refer to regularly to check where you are. The same as a project plan.
5. Capture prospect and client information religiously
Collecting information about your customers will give you the power to go back to them with products or services that you know will be of interest to them. It also helps you look after them better, building the relationship and loyalty. The more information you have the more precisely you can target them with offers that they will be interested in.
The same is true for your prospects (people who have inquired about your product or service but have not bought yet). Just because they did not buy today does not mean they will not be interested in what else you have at another time. This database will provide you a rich seam of pre-qualified leads.
6. Understand what you really do
Understanding what your business is really about and how it enhances your customer's life is key to getting it right. Railways are not about trains that they're about transport – which was a shock to a lot of them when car & air travel took off. What is it about your business you feel passionate about. What is it you do that makes a real difference to your customers. There are hundreds of other companies that say they do the same as you but what really makes you different?
That's all for now. If I were to point you to one thing to do today it's Test and Measure – it will amaze and reward you. Give it a try.
Source by David Frew
