A Strategy For Small Business Owners That You Should Consider Doing
Offline marketing has taken a hit during these past couple of years. Costs for mailing out letters and packages are going up, along with increased rates for a variety of advertising sources. If you want to gain the upper hand in your offline business, you have to implement a wide variety of marketing techniques that are a bit unconventional.
One thing that you should start doing if you're looking for more sales within your business is to contact your existing customers or clients for possible follow-up sales. It's no wonder why most business owners are struggling to make a living - because they totally ignore the bread and butter of any kind of business: their customer mailing list.
Your customer mailing list is your number 1 asset in your business. So instead of worrying when your next new customer will walk inside your place of business, focus on the small group of people that know you and like you, and you will that these people are the ones who will supply you with income.
This is marketing 101 but most business owners let it slide over their heads. I'm not sure what you learned in your textbooks while you were in college, but the main goal for your business should be to attract customers to you - not begging them for your attention.
Luckily, there are things that you can do to attract new prospects to your business. The first thing that you can do is advertise your business. An immediate source of new prospects can be found in the newspapers. I'm sure you've probably already tried newspaper advertising but found that it didn't yield you the results that you were looking for. If this is the case, then the most likely reason that your ad failed was a poor targeting of your ideal customer. Or even worse… you tried to sell your products or services through the ad.
This is a big no-no. You always want to generate a lead so that you can follow up on them with more details about their problems and what it is that you're selling. This is known as the "2-step" approach to advertising. The 1-step approach is when you try to desperately sell your product through the ad. If you've ever tried this before, then you know that it's incredibly ineffective. So instead, shoot generating a lead first. You'll become more profitable this way.
The follow up letter that you send your prospects should contain the information that they requested, along with a pitch for your products or services. Also, don't stop after one contact. It will take you a minimum of 3 contacts in order to close the sale. So don't stop after your first attempt.
People have all kinds of reasons for not responding. They're busy; they have kids; stress from work; and more than likely a spouse to love and cherish every night. So while your message might be on the backburner now, they may be more receptive to your offer when you catch them on a later day. So don't give up.
Take these marketing tips and use them to get more customers to your business. Good luck!
One thing that you should start doing if you're looking for more sales within your business is to contact your existing customers or clients for possible follow-up sales. It's no wonder why most business owners are struggling to make a living - because they totally ignore the bread and butter of any kind of business: their customer mailing list.
Your customer mailing list is your number 1 asset in your business. So instead of worrying when your next new customer will walk inside your place of business, focus on the small group of people that know you and like you, and you will that these people are the ones who will supply you with income.
This is marketing 101 but most business owners let it slide over their heads. I'm not sure what you learned in your textbooks while you were in college, but the main goal for your business should be to attract customers to you - not begging them for your attention.
Luckily, there are things that you can do to attract new prospects to your business. The first thing that you can do is advertise your business. An immediate source of new prospects can be found in the newspapers. I'm sure you've probably already tried newspaper advertising but found that it didn't yield you the results that you were looking for. If this is the case, then the most likely reason that your ad failed was a poor targeting of your ideal customer. Or even worse… you tried to sell your products or services through the ad.
This is a big no-no. You always want to generate a lead so that you can follow up on them with more details about their problems and what it is that you're selling. This is known as the "2-step" approach to advertising. The 1-step approach is when you try to desperately sell your product through the ad. If you've ever tried this before, then you know that it's incredibly ineffective. So instead, shoot generating a lead first. You'll become more profitable this way.
The follow up letter that you send your prospects should contain the information that they requested, along with a pitch for your products or services. Also, don't stop after one contact. It will take you a minimum of 3 contacts in order to close the sale. So don't stop after your first attempt.
People have all kinds of reasons for not responding. They're busy; they have kids; stress from work; and more than likely a spouse to love and cherish every night. So while your message might be on the backburner now, they may be more receptive to your offer when you catch them on a later day. So don't give up.
Take these marketing tips and use them to get more customers to your business. Good luck!
