Biz Crusader

 

I am always being asked about low cost and quick to implement marketing ideas by my business owner clients.  And because we are in uncertain times, speed and cost certainly are mission-critical considerations.  For this reason, I have compiled the following list for my readers.  All of these ideas have been implemented by me or on behalf of my clients with great success.  My goal with this list is to keep the cost of each idea or initiative down to $200 or less.  A few of the marketing ideas are completely free (aside from your time).

 

Many of these initiatives are what I consider “in the street” back to the basics ideas.  No business is above them if their existing business environment is suitable for any of these strategies.  Now is not the time to protect those fragile and proud egos.

 

 

Wallet Keepers:  Print informative content on a card.  The information should be good enough for your prospects to want to keep in their wallets.  Think this through.  How can you take up permanent real estate in someone’s wallet?  The low hanging fruit ideas are calendars and tip charts.  Be creative and try to be specific to your industry.

 

Line of Sight:  This is a strategy to display your promotional materials in your prospects’ line of sight.  It can start with a simple brochure display in your lobby to poster signs in heavy traffic areas.  For example a self-storage company might want to put up an ad poster in every aisle of the storage units promoting peripheral services and products.  Look around.  Where are your prospects and customers spending time?  Do you have any of your marketing collateral there?

 

Invoice Stuffers:  How many bills do you send out a month?  Existing customers are your best bets for a quick revenue boost.  Print an envelope size mini-flyer promoting a new product or service.  Offer an incentive or a special offer just for them.  Most of your customers do not know about everything you do or offer.  Invoice stuffers are a wonderful way to generate new inquiries from your existing customer base.

 

Premise Signs:  This is a basic tactic but it still works.  Print a banner or a yard sign.  If you are near drive-by traffic and you offer a product or service that is suitable for this kind of promotion, use this timeless tool.  If your location is at a corner deep inside a center or an office park, put up a simple yard sign near the entrance that points to you and your offers.  During these times, your landlords aren’t going to fight you on signs.  They don’t want your business to fail.

 

Car Magnets & Decals:  Do you drive?  Do you have drivers?  Slap some magnets on the doors.  If you have a web site, post your web address on your rear car window.  Again, this is not a time to be self-conscious.  Don’t keep your business a secret.  Get out there and tell everyone what you do for a living.  Offer your employees an incentive to do the same.  If you’ve got some team players, they’ll want to do this without the incentive.

 

Branded Clothing, Hats:  These days you can print branded shirts, hats and other wearables in small quantities.  Just search online for companies printing low quantities.  Wear your business proud.  How about a “company colors” day where everyone wears company-branded shirts?  Take everyone out to a team lunch and give out a $50 gift certificate to the most enthusiastic team player.  Doing something like this will not only promote your business, it can also increase morale.

 

Free Online Listings:  Go to the following key online directories and list your business for free.

 

 

Free Online Classifieds:  Go to these widely used national classifieds web sites and post your service or product for free.

 

 

Search Engine Indexing:  If you have a web site, go to these top 3 search engines and submit your web site.  Be found online.

 

 

 

I hope my list inspires you to take action today.  Marketing doesn’t always have to be about strategic planning, branding and other mental paralysis causing endeavors.  Sometimes, it is just about quick action with a “Whatever It Takes” attitude.  There are many good reasons why Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan became one of the best advertising campaigns of all time.

 

 

 

If you’re running a business, it’s pretty tough these days to avoid offering your products and services at a discount.  Everywhere you turn, there are sales, promotions and giveaways to entice the all elusive buyer.  Offering incentives is a good thing but like all marketing endeavors, there are some basic rules of engagement you should abide by to garner maximum results.

 

Here is a quick refresher for you.

 

 

1)  If you sell a product that costs less than $75, use percentages instead of actual dollar figures.  10% off of $25 sounds a lot better than $2.50 off.  There are exceptions like low cost food items but this is generally the rule to follow.

 

2)  ALWAYS add a time limit.  This creates a sense of urgency to act now.

 

3)  Offering a product for free when it already has an established value is very powerful.  I am referring to the timeless tactic of “2 for 1″.  Let’s face it.  We just love these offers.

 

4)  If the product or service does not have a clear established value, you must clearly define one.  What sounds better?

 

- Buy a coat and get a cashmere scarf for free!

- Buy a coat and get a cashmere scarf valued at $75 for free!

 

5)  Consider marketing loss leaders.  This is a strategy in which a business offers a product or service at a price that is not profitable for the sake of offering another product or service at a greater profit or to attract new business relationships.  Have you ever walked through Ikea?  Do you remember the large baskets at every corner promoting $5 clocks and desk lamps?

 

6)  If you offer a service, let them try it for free.  Use this only when you have complete faith and confidence in the value of your service.  Use a white hat (ethical) approach.  Don’t charge their credit card just because they forgot to cancel the free trial.  Allow them to upgrade to a pay service.  Establish a value for what you’re letting them try for free.

 

7)  If you sell a product that can be sold on an on-going basis, give them an initial purchase price that is significantly lower than your regular price.  Again, you must have complete faith and confidence in the value of your product.  For example, a manufacturer of rubber gaskets might offer a new prospect a significantly low price for the initial shipment.  And, if the new customer loves the product, you now have an on-going repeat customer.  Again, establish a value for the initial purchase.

 

8)  Don’t be a Business Discount Wimp?  This is what I call the “What would you do?” rule.  Remember, you are trying to inspire buyers to act.  You won’t do this by offering little to no savings and by preloading your offers with cumbersome conditions.  Just ask yourself, “Would I be inspired to act on this offer?”  Be honest.  You know the answer.

 

9)  Don’t forget the SECOND reason why you are offering an incentive.  The first reason is obvious.  It’s to generate immediate revenues.  The second rule might not be so obvious.  By offering a product or service at a discount, you are initiating a new business relationship.  And if you take care of this new relationship properly, it should garner you many more sales down the road for years to come.  Be careful about being too short-sighted.  In my opinion, the second reason is more important than the first.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the economy in the tank and with politicians bickering over the so-called stimulus package, we’ve all noticed a certain trend in advertising.  Many advertisers are working very hard to address the recession head-on by promoting their products and services around current market conditions.  Specifically, they are all trying to tell us how much they empathize with the plight of the suffering working class.  And with today’s technology, ad agencies are able to pump out these timely ads at record pace.

 

Today, I would like to extend my ”KUDOS” to one of the most creative promotions yet in regards to this topic.

 

Recently, Hyundai USA announced the following promotion.

 

“In addition to our warranty, we’re introducing Hyundai Assurance, to show you the faith we have in you.  Right now, finance or lease any new Hyundai, and if in the next year you lose your income, we’ll let you return it.”

 

Addressing the poor economy head-on is something all businesses should be doing.  You don’t need an ad agency on Madison Ave. to roll out a program or promotion that speaks directly to the economy.

David Schwartz, the inspirational bestselling author of The Magic of Thinking Big, said the following.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It looks like 2008 will finally come to an end soon.  And, what a year it has been!

 

I know many of you are thinking about your New Year Resolutions this week.  And because you are entrepreneurs, your resolutions aren’t about losing a few pounds or taking a trip abroad.  Instead, you’re probably making a list of business objectives you would like to see come to fruition next year.  You are not alone.  The last week of any year is a time to reflect and plan for the challenges ahead.  Perhaps, this timeless ritual for business owners has even more meaning this year because of the current disastrous economic conditions.

 

Nevertheless, this is a business ritual you should not skip.  So, grab your favorite hot drink, a clean pad of paper and a pen to start the brain storm.  To help you along, here is a short list of questions so that you may come up with a simple and concise set of business goals for 2009.  Remember, these aren’t your typical New Year Resolutions, which are generally ignored by the end of January.

 

All of these questions require just ONE specific answer only—no novels.  The answers should not even require a full sentence.  It’s not about how many things you can list.  It’s about listing 10 specific achievable business goals.

 

 

1)  What specific business leadership style or management trait will you improve in 2009?

 

2)  What specific thing will you do or implement to reward your performing employees in 2009?

 

3)  What specific thing will you do or implement to thank your customers?

 

4)  What specific thing will you do or implement to generate more customer referrals?

 

5)  What specific thing will you do or implement to automate a cumbersome process in your business?

 

6)  What specific thing will you do or implement to better your sales process?

7)  What specific thing will you do or implement to better your customer service performance?

 

8)  What specific piece of equipment will you purchase in 2009 to better your business?  This question is for everyone and not just for manufacturers.

 

9)  Who or what will you do business with, affiliate with or partner with in 2009 to grow your business?

 

10)  What was your biggest business mistake of 2008 and how will you reverse this mistake in 2009?

 

 

 

 

 

I had on my best (only) suit sitting amongst others also in their best professional attire.  The minutes seemed to drag on forever as I constantly stared at my watch.  The magazines were outdated and uninteresting but we all rummaged through them to kill the wait.  And directly in front of me, in a $5 frame, was a printed sign that said “You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression.”

 

It was 1993 and I was waiting for my interview in a headhunter’s office vying for a corporate sale position.

 

For some reason, that cliche phrase has never left me.  I know you’ve all heard it a million times and chances are you’ve probably used it to make a point in business.  It’s 15 years later now and I have to tell you I’ve been thinking a lot about this phrase recently.  It’s not what you think.  After analyzing this statement, I’ve come to the conclusion that this readily embraced business principle is not necessarily applicable for ALL business situations.  In fact, if you apply this resilient statement to every aspect of your business, it might even actually hurt your business prospects.

 

 

When we hear this phrase from existing clients, we cringe in horror.  This is especially true if they say this to you “after the fact” or after having purchased from a competitor.  If you really think about it, it is extremely naive of us to think that our clients should know everything about our companies and what we have to offer.  In most cases, your business-client relationship originally started with a single product or service.  You might even refer to this initial event as the “First Impression.”

 

The problem is that most business owners automatically just assume their customers know all about the other products or services they offer just because they’re doing business with them.  This is what I jokingly call, add-on business through telepathy.  Your business, the products and services you offer are in a constant state of change.  It is unreasonable for you to expect your clients to keep up with your business “just because”.  If you are a B2B business, your clients have their own businesses to worry about.  They certainly don’t have the time to research what new offerings you might have for them.

 

No matter how concrete the relationship or how long it has been in place, you absolutely cannot rely on “First Impressions” to generate the constant referral and add-on business you should be harvesting from your existing client base.  You must reintroduce the business again and again for the duration of the business-client relationship.  Every time you roll out a new service or product, you must let your existing clients know about it.  Again, mental telepathy is not a known business strategy.

 

So, stop relying on your so-called “First Impression”.  Go out there and reintroduce yourself to your clients.  Unlike a corporate job interview, you have many more chances to make another impression.