Creating Your Own Brand
One of the best business marketing tips I can give small business owners is you need to create a brand for yourself so that you stand out from the crowd and rise above your competitors. It can even be something silly or outrageous as long as people automatically associate that particular item with your business. Start paying attention to the local advertisements on TV, radio or in print. I’m sure you’ll notice that certain businesses use a particular logo, jingle, color scheme, slogan or anything like that that helps create a brand. It could be your face on all the ads or anything else that’s recognizable that will brand your business.
Make Your Brand Mean More Value
Aside from those obvious types of branding, it is equally important to create a brand for yourself by always going the extra mile for your customers and making them feel like they cannot get that level of service anywhere else. Do that and you’ll have a customer for life, not to mention a continuous flow of quality referrals that satisfied, happy customers are likely to produce.
Have Fun Brainstorming
Sit down for a few minutes sometime in a quiet place where you will not be interrupted and just start jotting down some promotional ideas or even some little extra freebies that you can offer your customers that will improve their overall experience with your company. These value added services or promotional items do not have to cost you much however it is very important that they do have a high perceived value in the eyes of your customers or prospects, otherwise it’ll just look like a cheap giveaway. Always think in terms of the lifetime value of a customer, not just a one-time sale. This is a business marketing tip that I have noticed many business owners overlook.
Some of the things you might consider would be to offer a special bonus discount or incentive on certain days of the week that are typically you’re slower days. People always love to save money. You could start a monthly newsletter and provide your customers quality information and money-saving tips related to your particular product or service. Not only will this give you a reason to stay in touch with your customers, but they will view it as a sincere interest in them because you are trying to help them and provide additional value over and above the product or service that they already purchased.
Talk to Your Customers
If you’re having a tough time coming up with some marketing ideas, start talking to your customers. Find out some of the things they feel would provide additional benefits to them and especially find out bad experiences they may have had with other companies. You certainly don’t want to duplicate any of your competitor’s mistakes.
By implementing some of these business marketing tips, you’ll find there’s lots of potential business that you are not going after. The more efficient and productive your marketing efforts are, the higher your return on investment will be for your advertising dollars.
