Small Business Marketing In A Week

Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses In Seven Simple Steps

John Sealey

• Publisher: Teach Yourself
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781473609334
• eBook ISBN:
  9781444184068
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Marketing
• Index: Business

Marketing your small business just got easier
It's been said that the most important area for any business to focus on is its marketing. Of course, there are areas like finance, customer service, and the product or service itself which are key, but without good marketing approaches, there's no revenue for your account systems to do their job,
there's no customer to serve and the product or service becomes redundant.Most business owners are experts in what they do and so they should be. What they also have to be good at is marketing what they do. And if you feel there's more you could be doing on the marketing front, then this book will give you those ideas. As a small business owner you get involved in all aspects of your business and marketing is such a large field, you can't be expected to learn everything you need in one day. So to break down this behemoth of a topic, we'll approach it a bite at a time.You have in your hands a tool that will guide you through what's needed day by day over the period of a week. That way you're not trying to eat the elephant all at once. The unpredictable nature of marketing your business will start to disappear, as you move through the necessary steps needed
to make your marketing efforts more effective than ever before. Some of the ideas you may already be implementing, while others may well be new to you. Either way, putting them together into a proven system will enable you and your business to thrive, regardless of the economic climate you find yourself in. You're about to learn, in a week, how you can have a marketing system that enables you to attract, win and keep more customers and, as a result, build your sales and your profitability.- Sunday: Preparing the ground
- Monday: Attracting the right type of customers
- Tuesday: Keeping your customers longer
- Wednesday: Increasing customer loyalty and purchasing frequency
- Thursday: Increasing the value of your sales
- Friday: Getting new clients and better clients, faster
- Saturday: Measuring and managing your marketing activities

With yesterday’s work you looked at welcoming customers to your business, delivering service and putting in place methods to keep your customers buying through your ‘back-end’ products or services. Serving your existing customers is a very profitable strategy to have in place, but every business needs an influx of new customers to maintain a steady flow of sales.

Today we’ll look at some of the additional marketing tactics you can use to attract these new customers. Some of what you’re about to learn you may be using already, in some shape or form. If not, they’ll be a welcome addition to your marketing arsenal.

As I mentioned on Monday, you need to have multiple marketing channels to give your business the widest possible reach. Having different marketing tactics designed to win new customers, or to grow new crops, is essential.

Should one tactic not work as well as expected, you have others picking up the slack and generating sales for you. For a small business, having the reassurance of a system in place that generates business, almost automatically, is a comforting thing.

Running a small enterprise is stressful at the best of times, so having tactics in place to attract new customers relieves some of that stress and makes the whole experience more enjoyable. Yes, sales and profits are important. But being happy with what you’re doing as well is just as important.

Let’s get underway and start growing new crops…

Having referrals to build your business

There is something that most, if not all, businesses know, which is that referrals can be one of the most effective ways to get new customers.

When someone contacts you as a result of one of your existing customers recommending you, they are virtually ready to buy. It’s the referral that tends to give you the lion’s share of the business you get. And it far outstrips other methods of attracting the prized, ready-to-buy customer.

But yet, with all that said, many small business owners neglect to put in a place a system which generates referrals, as and when they need new business. They leave it in the lap of the gods, assuming that referrals will come through the door.

How much does it cost to get referrals? Nothing, they’re free. Furthermore, they come from credible sources – often loyal customers.

The referral system

There is a difference between getting new customers through word of mouth and getting them via a referral system.

With the former, those customers arrive at your business in a haphazard way. Whereas a referral system gives you more control; it’s like a tap that you can turn on and off as and when you need new business.

Let me share with you some ideas to consider when you are looking at getting referrals in your business. These may sound obvious and simple. You tend to find the best ways are the simplest.

1 Ask

Now that sounds simple enough and it is. All you have to do is ask customers to recommend you and then follow up with those that you’ve asked. With this easy and obvious way of getting referrals, why don’t more business owners use it?

Many feel awkward and uncomfortable. If that’s the case and asking for referrals still fills you with dread, then do it using a postcard or a letter.

You can position your request more as an after-thought and so it seems a lot less pushy to those who receive it.

2 Thank those who refer

The fact that someone gives you a referral is testimony to the quality of your offering or you wouldn’t get recommendations.

So, when someone does refer others to you, you should thank them for the referral and keep them informed as to what has happened with the new customer. By thanking people, you encourage them to make more referrals.

3 Give referrals

Your customers aren’t the only ones who can refer others to you. Your suppliers, your accountant, solicitor, others in business that you know: all these people can refer customers your way.

Therefore, a great way to have lots of referrals knocking on your door is to give them out. When you give something away or help someone, they feel obliged to return the favour. You can imagine how well that works when it comes to referrals.

4 Ask the right people

Now you may be wondering what is meant by asking the ‘right’ people. If you were to categorize your customer base as follows:

• A = Ardent fans

• B = Bulk of your database, neither As nor Cs

• C = You would rather be without them

A group of customers you would rather not ask are your Cs. These are the customers who would beat you down on pr...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Title
• About the Author
• Contents 
• Introduction
• Sunday: Preparing the ground
• Monday: Sowing the seeds
• Tuesday: Cultivating your crop
• Wednesday: Harvesting your crop
• Thursday: Harvesting your crop (continued)
• Friday: Growing new crops
• Saturday: Knowing how much your crops will yield
• 7 × 7
• Answers to questions
• Copyright