10 More Simple, Effective And Affordable Marketing Solutions For Sales Professionals.
These ten additional marketing ideas promise to help jump start your marketing and help you get everything you can out of all you’ve got:
- Target the customer most likely to buy your product. Don’t waste your money by advertising on mass media that targets anyone who is reading or watching. There are too many ways these days to identify media that target your ideal customer, you know the ones I am talking about, they are the 20 percent of your customers that make up 80 percent of your profits. Learn as much about them as you can and focus your marketing budget on them.
- Focus your marketing on your future clients not your company. Too many businesses create marketing materials that are all about them. They talk about how great their products and services are. They talk about history, about missions and about all the things that make them superior. Anyone who reads these materials will quickly throw them away or ask, “What’s in it for me?” Don’t put your future clients in that position. Make sure your marketing messages are full of the benefits, reasons why and proof you will deliver to them what you promise.
- Use more than one-step to turn strangers into prospects. Many professionals use their marketing budgets on advertising and direct response marketing that takes time to work, but they’ll only run the ad once or mail the marketing piece once or maybe twice. Most people need to see your message a number of times before they are ready to act, so concentrate on strategies that let them gradually get to know your business.
- Follow-up. Many sales professionals do all the right things, but fail to follow-up. Develop opportunities to stay in touch with your customers. Call them to see how they are doing without mentioning your product. Drop them a note or send them an article that relates to an issue they are facing. Do everything you can to get them to see you as a valuable advisor.
- Write articles, guides, reports and book on subjects relating to your services and send them to your clients, prospects and the local media. No time to write? Then speak your ideas into a smart phone or digital recorder when you have down time, or driving, and then have them transcribed, edited and created into a distributable document.
- Develop a relationship with your prospects before you try to make them customers. Build trust by giving something away like a newsletter, free tips or other information about your product or service tied to their needs
- Develop a compelling offer. Focus on what your product, service or idea will do for the customer. Always stress the benefits and a few specific features that set you apart. Include a call to action to tell the prospect exactly what to do next. Include a sense of urgency or encourage them to act within a limited period.
- Promote your product or service in a variety of ways; don’t just rely on one strategy. If money is in short supply, try sending press releases, write articles, or volunteer to speak. You also should ask current customers for referrals. Start a website and blog to build a list. Your website & blog may cost you money, but it will open up many lower cost ways for you provide information to prospects about your products and services. Get the word out in other ways too. You can join industry associations where you can network with prospects or sponsor a sports team in the community where your business is located. Get your company name and product or service on something that people will keep or create a giveaway with another company if you cannot afford it alone.
- Offer great customer service. One of best ways to create buzz is to wow your customers and turn them into ambassadors for you. You can also take the risk out of doing business with you by providing guarantees and warranties.
- Track the response to your marketing so you can do more of what is working and eliminate measures that don’t bring a good return on your investment. Set up benchmarks so that you can measure every marketing method you use. Test your marketing materials to determine if they are effective in bringing your qualified sales leads.
Now, pick one and start doing it today.
Next week add one more, in 1o weeks you’ll have your marketing kicked-up to a much higher level and your pipeline filling up with higher quality sales leads.
Or keep doing what you’ve always done.