Marketing Tips For Small Business

All businesses look for effective strategies to increase exposure and sales. It's crucial to do so. Small business entrepreneurs have the added challenge of devising and implementing their marketing plans solo, and usually on a small budget.

There are many strategies you can use that are low or no cost. The tips below are meant to stimulate ideas and help you get started. If necessary, tweak or combine ideas to customize and turbo charge your campaigns. Pay attention to the results to know what works for you.

Mailings - include flyers, company information, newsletter, or small mailable samples in the envelope with regular customer mail such as invoices. It's preferable if the mail is being addressed to someone with purchasing influence or authority, rather than the accounting person who is unlikely to pass it on.

Reciprocal Back Scratching - offer to include the card or flyer of a non-competitive business in your mailings in return for them doing the same for you.

Rotate Tactics - it's a good idea to keep things fresh and up to date. Shake up your plan of attack, use different methods to keep your clients reading your ads. If you do the same thing all the time, your campaign will cease to be interesting.

Easy Responder - once your interesting ad or information has caught a customer's eye, make it easy for them to respond to you. Make sure your contact information is easy to find and read, supply a form (online or offline), splash page, whatever will make it easy for the client to make a split second decision to ask you for more.

Create a Club Feel - come up with some special deals or incentives that are exclusively for existing customers. Give them advance notice of new products or services first. Make your customer feel elite, rewarded, and special for dealing with you.

Referral Contest - offer monthly prizes as an incentive. Whoever refers the greatest number of new people, wins. It needn't be a big ticket item, it just has to be perceived as something valuable. That something valuable may be as simple as putting a commending write up in the newsletter. People like to feel special and important. This type of reward will have that effect on your customer, and they in turn, will feel a loyalty to your business.

Tiered Price Ranges - you could be missing sales by offering one package at one price. Try offering smaller or partial versions at the lower end of pricing, perhaps breaking the package down into components (if possible) to span lowest to highest dollar wise. Naturally, you will want to offer a comprehensive deal for those customers who have the budget and desire for it. This is also good for people who like to try a product before committing to a full purchase.

Creativity is your best marketing strategy. It's interesting, readily available, and free!

Use your imagination, brainstorm, mix-it up by combining different ideas. You don't have to be conventional, and you should never be boring. If you see someone else's campaign that is working great, how can you put your own, unique spin on it? If there's a television commercial that you consider a great selling tool, how can you incorporate a similar idea into your marketing?

You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Observe what works, get creative and have fun with it. Customers won't be able to resist you.