Main menu
There are Eight marketing essentials that every business should employ.
*Trade Shows
*Networking
*Newsletters
*Advertising Specialties
*Business Cards
And the newer essentials . . .
*Blogging
*Social Media
Let’s look at how to maximize each of these very important marketing elements.
Trade Shows—
Exhibiting at trade shows is important for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost, you are there to sell, or at the very least generate qualified leads.
Secondly, it puts you face-
Because this is such an important opportunity, the CEO of the company should be there. Their participation tells attendees that you take the event, and their business very seriously.
Networking—
Probably the backbone of any salespersons arsenal, networking is vital.
Through social events, church, clubs, associations, and even networking groups, you pick up leads.
I Have belonged to two or three networking groups over the years, and yes, it has generated some very valuable leads for me. I also network on-
Many also utilize social networking sites like Twitter and FaceBook for business as well as social networking.
Newsletters —
As I have said many times, I am a firm believer in newsletters. Newsletters should be useful to the receipient, and hopefully valuable to your customers.
Obviously you want to promote your business, but by keeping the focus on providing good content for the reader, your newsletter will be appreciated.
And that also means that your customer will come to you, and not your competitor when they need your services.
Specialties, aka Imprinted items—
Well selected ad specialties keep your name in front of the customer for months at a time. Potentially even years.
The key to ad specialties is in the selection. It should be appropriate to your business, it should be useful or of value to the recipient, and the perceived value should be equal to the value of the service or product you are selling.
If you sell a modestly priced car, you would not give out a $16,000 fountain pen; nor would you give out a twenty cent stick pen if you sell Rolls Royce.
The specialty should be useful so that it does not get stuck in a drawer and forgotten.
Business card magnets are excellent for realtors, insurance, pizza delivery and a host of other businesses that deal with homeowners.
Business Cards —
My main criticism of many business cards is that they attempt to put way too much information on a card.
I came across one card where the top half was the company logo, and the bottom half had all the usual contact information for the salesperson, but also the complete street address for all three offices.
The type was so small that it was practically impossible to read without a magnifying lens.
Blogging —
Blogs are an unobtrusive way to stay in touch with your customer. Blogging is increasingly used by business to communicate with customers and prospects. Blogs can also be set up to allow for feedback by the readers which can be very informative for any business.
Blogs should be kept current. I read one place where they recommended a minimum of two blog entries per week. Frankly, that’s a bit much for me, but the reasoning is sound; you want to keep your blog content fresh, so that people come back to learn what you have to say. Back to learn about more products, and hopefully to make purchases.
Social Media-
Social media is growing and changing on a perpetual basis. But being on those sites is important. Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and more are all places you can keep your company in front of people. But you need to stay current, that means regular posts or other interaction two or more times a week.
Contact me if you have any questions:
brock@bhenderson.com