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Marketing is the engine that drives a small business. In order for your marketing strategy to work, you must know who’s your paying customer and how you are going to stand out in the marketplace. Competition is global, so it’s best to focus on a specific niche customer to stretch your marketing dollars. Your goal should be to own an area of specialty. Here are 9 ways to boost your marketing efforts in your small business.
1. Update Your Marketing Plan. Even if you are a one-person army in your business handling the marketing and service delivery, you must have a marketing plan. To develop a killer marketing plan, you need to define your target customer, niche, conduct a competitive analysis, define your secret sauce and your core message and determine your key marketing tactics. Most importantly, you will need to define your marketing budget.
2. Focus on 30-Day Sales Goals. Annual sales goals are a waste of time so focus on how much money you need to make each month. Your sales and marketing efforts need to work together in your small business. Your marketing activities should be based on the amount of sales leads you need to generate in your business each month. If you know you need 500 leads per month in order to close 50 sales, then determine how many blog posts, tweets, phone calls, e-mails, Facebook ads and personal LinkedIn messages must be made, sent or posted per month to drive the desired lead traffic. You must establish a sales process and then proactively work your marketing efforts so that they generate the desired results.
3. Talk With Your Clients. Schedule quarterly face-to-face meetings to ask your clients for feedback or just to catch up. You must stay on top of their needs and understand any new factors that influence their decision-making processes. Have 10 questions to ask, and then make sure you engage them around some personal small talk such as kids, vacations, holiday plans, etc. The more personal the relationship, the more that relationship will allow you to obtain critical information and an advocate.
4. Profile Your Best Customers. Identify your most valuable customers. How much do they spend with you annually? Do they fit a niche? It’s important to understand what value your business brings to your customers so you can continue fulfilling their needs. Business issues can change quickly; stay on top of trends that affect your customers so that you are an effective resource.
5. Watch Your Competition. Identify your top three competitors. Use Google alerts to track their activities online. Evaluate their websites to discover what benefits they provide to their customers. Compare your branding, value proposition and pricing. Based on your assessment, develop at least three strategies that you will use to position yourself effectively against them.
6. Create Win-Win Relationships. Always try to build win-win relationships. Help your customer do business with you. For example, if your customer needs financing for your contract, try to provide a referral that will help them get the resources to do business with your company.
7. Refine Your Elevator Pitch. You should be able to describe your business in 3 sentences or less. When you can succinctly explain your business, it builds credibility. You shouldn’t use the same pitch forever. From time to time, switch it up a little. Elevator pitches are designed to draw in your target and get them interested in chatting with you.
8. Use a Vision Board. Running a small business is challenging. How you get through the tough days in your business makes a big difference in your productivity. One of the best ways to stay motivated is to develop a vision board of your big picture goals. What are the top 5 things you want out of life and your business? Create a visual collage of your list. Use graphics, magazines or pictures to visualize your goals. Post this collage in your work space to remind yourself why you work so hard. These reasons will keep you motivated on tough days!
9. Build Strategic Alliances. A strong strategic alliance with another small business offers many benefits, including reducing risk, sharing costs and the opportunity for co-branded marketing efforts. It’s best to find a partner who is not a direct competitor and always go into the relationship understanding your partner’s “must have” list. Use a memo of understanding (MOU) to clarify roles in your partnership.
If you try these 9 marketing techniques, you will boost your sales in your small business in no time.
Do you have any marketing tactics to add to the list?
Join me Thursday March 7th at 8pm ET for a live Q&A sponsored by @FedExOffice on Twitter on How to Boost Your Small Business Marketing Efforts. Follow @FedEx Office, use the hashtag #SMBmarketing and sign in to www.tweetchat.com to join in the conversation.
Disclosure: FedEx Office compensated me to write this post and participate as a small business expert during their Tweet Chat program. The ideas in this blog post are mine and not ideas or advice from FedEx Office.
About FedEx Office
FedEx Office, an operating company of FedEx Corp., has approximately 1,800 stores and locations primarily in the U.S. and Canada, providing convenient access to printing and shipping expertise with reliable service. The company’s network features retail stores, centralized production centers, corporate on-site print centers, and on-site business centers at hotels, convention centers and universities. Services include copying and digital printing, professional finishing, document creation, direct mail, signs and graphics, computer rental, free Wi-Fi and corporate print solutions. In addition, the company offers FedEx Express and FedEx Ground shipping, Hold at FedEx Location, and packing services backed by the FedEx® Packing Pledge. InformationWeek 500 recognized FedEx Office® Print Online and FedEx Office® Print & Go solutions with the 2011 Most Innovative Products award. Products, services and hours vary by location. For more information, please visit www.fedex.com/office.
i need your opinion, i want to get more business driven to my site. im already on the top two on google. what can i do to get more members.
Hi Melinda, you have a very impressive resume. Your title, 101 Ways to Dominate Your Competition Online is compelling enough to purchase based on title alone.
My concern is your statement: “Competition is global, so it’s best to focus on a specific niche customer to stretch your marketing dollars. Your goal should be to own an area of specialty.”
This strategy seems to contradict so many successful paradigms out there, including, but not limited to, FaceBook, Twitter, and the emerging Instagram and Pinterest.
Should the advice be “Market to any and everyone who will buy your product or service?”
Just a thought.
A good CRM system?