Direct Mail
Using mail shots to get the attention of customers is very common and is done via the postal system. E-mails can also be used to do the same job and can be the more cost-effective approach. Promotions such as leaflets, brochures and newsletters are often the main content for mail shots, although there are no limitations.
Although you must appreciate that most people will show no interest towards your mail, you can reduce this effect by targeting your audience using mailing lists.
Further, not only will you be saving money targeting uninterested parties, but also you will reduce the effect of people giving your business a bad image through the continuous receiving of unwanted mail (junk mail).
For further information, visit:
Telemarketing
Telephone calls can be used to make independent sales or can be used as a follow up procedure to mail shots. Once a customer has received and browsed your mail, they may have little or no intention to act and so a telephone call may just build up their level of interest. Telephone sales can be very annoying to most people, so again, it is important that you target your customers to avoid wasting their time and yours.
If you are trying to make a sale over the phone, many people may never have heard about or seen your product, so you may decide to use telemarketing to draw people to your shop, office or even web site. If they are interested, you can then make appointments for them to visit so that you can offer them personal assistance and information regarding the product or service.
For further information, visit:
Printing
Printing can be used to market your business name on stationery such as letterheads, invoices, compliment slips, etc and advertising such as leaflets, brochures and posters.
Printing can be integrated into many of the areas listed in this article and so you have to acknowledge that it is an integral part of marketing. If not done properly, the quality of your designs and promotions may be affected by the poor quality of the final print.
Having your business name printed on such stationery will give your business a more professional look that customers will be attracted to. Different weights of paper (less than 100g to 400g) can be used for different purposes. For example, heavier paper can be used to print brochures that customers will be impressed by, and lighter paper can be used for extensive use such as letterheads and compliment slips (as the lighter paper is cheaper).
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Exhibitions
Exhibitions are excellent for people to view and experience your products or service. Being face-to-face with potential customers and suppliers is arguably the best way to promote your business as any questions or queries can be clarified with you in person: as a result, exhibitions can usually generate business leads. The added advantage of exhibitions is that they usually offer free publicity as journalists and photographers will nearly always be present.
It is a good idea to make your display as interactive as possible allowing people to handle and experience your products. The use of video is common although you should limit the length of the feature to, say, three minutes (on a continuous loop) as people do have a limited attention span.
Each year, there are hundreds of exhibitions being held all over the country and cover practically every field of business. You should theref ore have no problem of finding an exhibition that suits your product or service.
For further information, visit: Using Exhibitions to Market Your Business
Survey/Research
Market research is one of the most important areas of marketing. Without the research, you will find yourself making wrong decisions and unnecessary spending that will eventually lead to Business Failure. Researching the market will help you find answers to how much you will price your product, who to sell it to and where (to name a few). It will also give you an insight into the best methods of penetrating the market and becoming competitive.
There are two main sources that you can collect information: primary data and secondary data. Primary data involves information that is unique, say, a survey, Market Research Questionnaires or interview. Secondary data includes information that is already available such as reports, economic trends, market sales figures for previous years, etc.
For a detailed article on the subject of market research, visit: What is Market Research?
Internet Web Site
Using a web site to market your business is useful when your product or service is of interest to customers that live outside of your local area. At this point, it is important to identify whether the web site will be used for one of three ways:
- Firstly, a glorified brochure that will act like an on-line interactive leaflet advertising your products or service.
- Secondly, an extension of the above: a leads provider that will allow you to give contact details for your business.
- Finally, for e-commerce where you will actually sell your product or service on-line. If you decide to adopt this option, then you will need to set up a Merchant Services Account on the Internet so that customers can use credit card transactions on-line.
You have to appreciate that web sites are expensive to run and so it is important that you value the need for extending your business onto the Internet. Further, unless you are an expert at web design, you should consult a professional service to create the web site for you or your business image will be dragged down with the lack of quality.
When you have a web site up and running, you can buy banner advertising (different sizes available), micro button links, or referrals on other websites to help promote your business. You may even decide to issue an on-line newsletter periodically so that you can inform visitors to the site of any news, say, a change in price or the introduction of a new product.
For more information about marketing your business on-line, visit Guerilla Marketing
Design and Style of Promotions
The design and style of your promotions, including those on-line, are important to determine the outcome of their success.
Poor design and style will be a put-off for customers and the lack of quality will be seen as a reflection of the product/ service you have to offer. It is therefore important that you use professional services to compensate for any lack of skills you have in this area.
When designing, one of the most important aspects that get our attention is the use of colour.
You should use colours in your promotions that reflect the service or product that you have to offer. For example, finance services usually favour the darker colours such as purple, black, grey and blue: the brighter colours are usually more consumer orientated.
Press Release
A press release can be used to deliver information about your business to the public through printed media such as newspapers and magazines. Such news may include anything you feel is newsworthy to the public such as the opening of your business, the introduction of a new product or service, an achievement, exceptional performance, etc.
You should target your intended audience by sending your press release to the relevant media concerning both field of business (finance, Internet, consumer, etc) and location (local, regional, national, global). Press rele ases are very hard to get published but if you are lucky enough to get your news printed, it can be an essential marketing tool.
To increase the chance of your press release being considered, it is important that it is written in a professional style that will reduce the need for further editing by the journalist (although they usually do change some things).
For more information, visit Writing a Press Release
Public Relations (PR)
PR is all about getting a good image for your business to encourage sales by communicating with the concerning public. This public may include customers, staff, suppliers, the government and so on. PR is achieved through publicity: these two phrases are often confused but to be fair, they are closely linked. PR does not have to be expensive and it can so often be a much cheaper alternative to, say, having an advert in a magazine.
Press releases are usually the best form of gaining good PR but it can also be achieved through business exhibitions, conferences, sponsorship and also donations.
Although publicity managers are more common with the larger companies, you may decide to take on this role to make sure that your business is in the spotlight when it is needed and that any public criticisms are justified with a convincing response.
Visit our Customer Care & Relations article for further information.
Selling Yourself
You should always be looking for personal development to help market your business. There are many ways to do this including further education, courses, cross training and mentoring to help build yourself to become successful: it is always good for a business to have someone that is successful, approachable and in some cases, willing.
Mentoring is becoming a common trend and a mentor is someone who, without full-time coaching, can give you an insight into, say, business management, production, marketing, etc at key moments in your development.
Visit our Personal Development Portal for links to Personal Development articles that will help you sell yourself further.
Photography
Photography is something that can be used in your visual marketing methods such as posters, leaflets, brochures, etc. Photos can also be used alongside press releases as they allow people to visualize aspects of your business whether it be the product, the premises or even yourself!
Photos can often say so much about the quality of your business as it gives an appearance that is so much better than plain old text and images (although images do add quality to some respect).
It is important that you acknowledge the importance of the quality of the photographs as poor quality will have an opposite effect of reducing interest. As a result, if you are not experienced in the field of photography (this does not include holiday pictures!), you should consult assistance from somebody experienced, possibly a family member or friend.
Advertising
When the word marketing is mentioned, most people immediately think of advertising. This is not the wrong answer but advertising forms only a part of marketing: it falls in the Promotion quadrant of the marketing mix.
Arguably, all businesses need to implement advertising to some degree in order to be successful: this may be when your business is starting up and/or throughout the time you continue to trade.
There are many reasons why advertising is used and commonly it is used for creating awareness of your products/service. Recently, there has been a sudden rise in corporate advertising: trying to build the awareness of the business itself.
Advertising is done through a range of media including newspapers, magazines, leaflets, posters (in shop windows, etc) and so on… It is important that you target your audience to avoid wasting money advertising to uninterested parties.
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