Top 'Recession Busting' Marketing tips for Small Business

Top 'Recession Busting' Marketing Tips for Small Business. Since I started providing these tips to my clients I have had every man and his dog ask me for a copy.

Cross-Promote: Link with a complimentary company and cross-promote your products and services.

Examples: a fashion boutique and a make-up artist; a delicatessen and a home wares shop. Think outside the square. A commercial cleaner and a chocolate factory? Think 'free samples' and being memorable.
Add-Value: Instead of discounting an expensive dress, make a gift of a scarf, bracelet or pair of earrings. Instead of reducing the price of your service, offer an extra service for the original price. The gifted item or service will likely cost a business much less than providing a discount, and be valued more.

Permission Marketing: Your business will benefit from having a more credible profile and audience who invite you to talk to them about your products and services. Develop a simple online newsletter (e-news) or direct mail newsletter that provides interested parties with new, relevant and useful information that will benefit them.

Create News: Work effectively with the media and provide journalists with credible, newsworthy and interesting information suitable for their audience. Don't provide advertising masquerading as news; understand their audience and their needs. Provide an angle that informs, educates or warns.
Hold an Event: Invite customers and potential customers to your office or factory for a tour followed by a light lunch or after work drinks. If you can't host people in this way, use a local hotel to host clients to a light lunch, or drinks & nibbles, provide information about your business and also get to know their needs better.

Speak in Public: Offer to be a guest speaker on your topic of expertise at a conference or business lunch. Service clubs often are looking for people to speak on interesting topics. Contact your local Business Enterprise Centre or Industry Association and investigate opportunities to speak to their members.

Call to Action: Whether it's an advertisement, brochure, flier, website text or direct mail letter, always include a call to action. Tell the recipient what you want then to do.

Examples: "Visit our website" or "Call us now" or "First 10 Callers Only" or "Order Now" or "Come and see us now". This simple addition will make a big difference.

Use the Internet: People will not flock to your website for no reason. Develop your online presence by having interesting content on your website that is up-dated regularly, an active blog, a relevant e-newsletter or media resource area, and submit material to online article directories. Join social networking sites, such as Twitter, Ecademy and MySpace but use them wisely. Get good advice from a credible internet expert, not just a graphic designer.

Ask Questions: Don't make statements about your products or service,
instead ask questions.

Examples:
• DON’T SAY “Our containers hold 500 and can expand to 750’
ASK “How much capacity are you looking for?”

• DON’T SAY “We have blue, green yellow, red, orange and purple”
ASK “What color did you want?” or “What is your color scheme?”

• DON’T SAY “Our widgets are $100”
ASK “How much did you want to spend?”

• DON’T SAY “This car is the best medium-sized car on the market today”
ASK “How many people in your family?” and “What will you be using the
vehicle for?” and “Do you drive mostly in the city?”

Extend Your Reach: Many businesses market only to their customers, yet there are other groups that can help promote you. Keep your suppliers informed of your business activities. Develop a list of people who can refer business to you and people who can influence favourably what customers think of you. Don't forget your staff; they can be your best Ambassadors.

Join the free Insanely Clever Marketing public marketing forum at http://www.dralexmarketing.com/forums and free e-news at www.underdogmarketingchallenge.com for awesome information & results.
The new book 'Underdog Marketing' is crammed with step-by-step guides, killer tips, proven formulas and fresh marketing solutions. Buy now at www.underdogmarketingchallenge.com and have a copy delivered to your door.

SHIFT IT! YOU'RE BORING ME

Shift it! You're Boring Me.

Even your best friends won’t tell you. Sigh! You're tedious, tiresome and repetitive. Well, you're products and marketing tactics are anyway. Mark Twain got it right when he said that the best fruit is higher up the tree (or on the farthest branch). If it was easy everyone would have gorged themselves already – which is what they have been doing on the lower branches and on the fruit that falls on the ground.

If you stuck out your neck, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen? Something bad? …..or something very very GOOD!

I love Seth Godin because he gave us the Purple Cow.

Siimon Reynolds told us to Zig when everyone else Zags.

I love Ed Polish and Darren Wotz because I have 'That's Queen Bitch To You' on my desk which has daily reminders not to take life seriously. Today is "Does My Fat Ass Make My Ass Look Fat?"

Paul Arden suggests that whatever we think, we should think the opposite.

And my all time personal favourite – wish I had the balls to write a book entitled "How to Succeed in Business Without a Penis" as Karen Salmansohn did.

I love Vivienne Westwood because she doesn’t give a shit if people don't like her designs; there are plenty of people who think she's a genius. Bob Dylan wouldn't have won American Idol, Arnold Swartzenegger didn't bow to pressure to change his name, Ita Buttrose didn't lose her lisp (and went on to become Australia's most successful women's magazine Editor).

What's the purple cow of your business? Can you zig when everyone else in your industry is zagging? Can you make a really ballsy statement about your business?

If not then get off the stage! If you don't think outside the bx and stop doing what everyone else is doing, then you will be ignored on or off the stage. So you might as well make space for people and products and services that stand out from the crowd.

Be the best real you, not an imposter!


I'm going off now to add the title 'Queen Poobah' to my business card.

PS Buy a copy of 'Underdog Marketing' my new book - go on, live dangerously and spend a few bucks to get awesome results.

Seth Godin Agrees With Me

In a recent blog, Seth talked about marketing intolerance. But what he also says is this;

"Marketing is a complicated beast. It's not just advertising. It's stories that spread, it's editorial content, it even includes interactions and facial expressions. Marketing amplifies human nature. When someone stands up in front of a crowd at a political rally or in a church, they're marketing. And when a Hollywood filmmaker turns someone of a particular race or sexual preference into an object of ridicule or contempt, that's marketing too." Here's the link - http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=198516

In my new book 'Underdog Marketing' co-authored with Dr Alex Davidovic, I write that you are in marketing mode the entire time even if you don't realize it. I place this type of marketing, as described by Seth, also as public relations – with media relations being only one component of that.

Following is an edited excerpt from 'Underdog Marketing'.

The previous chapters have concentrated on explaining communication and the importance of clear communication both internally and externally. The next two parts deal with Marketing and Public Relations, respectively, and they do work together.

Marketing is, in a nutshell, providing products and services to your customers better than your competitors do. Marketing is an umbrella under which all other activities – sales, public relations, advertising, special events, promotions – sit. But the art of public relations is the single most impacting element. Public relations activities will give you a higher profile and greater market penetration than any other single form of communication. Public relations also adds credibility to advertising.

Public relations is not media relations. Your business has a set of ‘publics’ that includes everyone who has anything to do with your business or anyone who sees or hears anything about your business. Therefore, we are surrounded by public relations threats and opportunities at every turn. And the cool thing about public relations is that, done correctly, it’s practically free.

When you attract media-related public relations you also attract credibility and a higher profile that most small businesses could afford to actually pay for.

In terms of your publics, you will market to them and you will provide public relations to them, regardless of what you do. Because your business cards, website, stationery, sales material, shop front, staff, uniforms, packaging, suppliers, family members, customers, will all be portraying your business in some way – so you might as well ensure that it’s positive, image-building and sales building, right?

Public relations is about image and reputation

Even if you have more work than you can handle, public relations in the marketing mix is not about sales; it’s about image and reputation.

So, you have more work than you can handle – for now. Will this trend continue? Will word-of-mouth marketing confirm that you are a great company to do business with? Will your products and services confirm that you are a credible business? Will the way staff and customers talk about you and your products and services serve you well? Or will it start to undermine all the business you have right now?

Because sales and business growth are two things; but sustainability, goodwill and having a spotless reputation are others. Advertising just shows people that you can talk about yourself. Positive public relations is third-party endorsement (media, customers, suppliers, influencers) that is 7 - 10 times more credible than advertising.

But far in excess of people looking to buy are people looking to be informed. And that’s what public relations does – it informs, influences, shapes viewpoints and creates trends.

When was the last time Paris Hilton paid for an advertisement?

Public relations is how you relate ‘publicly’ and ‘to your publics’. We all communicate, every day, to a variety of people. And in business that usually means communicating with known clients and unknown customers, staff, contractors, stakeholders, board members, government authorities, and even the media. These are all your ‘publics’. Public relations is how you project your image to anyone – and how your staff and colleagues project the company image.

Therefore, when you give out a business card, answer the phone, write a letter, respond to a complaint or issue a media release, you are engaging in a form of public relations. When it all goes pear-shaped, that’s when you need crisis communication – an under-utilized form of image and reputation saving.
So it pays to recognize who are your primary and secondary ‘publics’ and develop a strategy around communicating with them.

Unlike Bridget Jones, we don’t all “just fanny around with the press releases”.


To purchase a copy of the newly released 'Underdog Marketing' click here and receive a special gift from the Authors. To subscribe to the Underdog Marketing e-news crammed with useful tips and featuring expert business videos, please visit www.underdogmarketingchallenge.com and also join our FREE public forum. Click on 'Forum'

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I'm The CEO, Dammit. Read My Blog!

I'm the CEO, Dammit! Read my Blog.

If you're a hard-charging CEO with lots of vision and business acumen, you've undoubtedly wondered if you should blog. Before you take the plunge, though, Todd Defren has some advice:

Learn what it means to be a successful blogger. "Too many would-be CEO bloggers treat their new toy as little more than a weekly newsletter," says Defren, "a way to broadcast their thoughts, rather than a way to create a dialogue." Doing it right takes time, commitment and realistic expectations.

If you decide to blog, wait a month before you begin. "Spend that time finding other blogs in your industry," says Defren. "Read them. Comment judiciously. Leave your 'agenda' on the coat rack. Just get to know a few folks. Introduce yourself." Defren links to a number of CEO blogs that get it right, and notes they all have something in common. "Each of these CEOs comes across as a humble soul," he notes. "That seems to run contrary to our collective version of a hard-charging CEO, but you get the sense that these are 'nice guys."

Remember you're the newbie.

Defren compares the blogging experience to a block party where you're meeting the neighbors for the first time. "Giving freely of your attention in the form of commenting and linking liberally to your peers' blogs is the equivalent of handing out your BBQ goodies," he says.

The Po!nt: "Up for it?" says Defren. "Awesome. Cover up the keyboard, lay aside your ambitions, start reading, and join the fun."

Source: MarketingProfs. Http://www.marketingprofs.com

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