Marketing is an essential part of running a business, often overlooked or poorly implemented due to busy-ness of the Owner, this gets looked upon as money draining out of the business. On the other hand, if done right and implemented properly, marketing can reverse the drain and have a fountain of cash and clients flow in.
When it comes to marketing, the sky is the limit, there are so many options and such a wide range of price tags and effectiveness. What works for one business may not work for another, what works for one location may be a total waste of money for another. So, here's a list of tips to help you market your business better and make sure your marketing dollars are running a money fountain and not being drained away:
Stop doing what you are doing, whether it’s flyers, print ads, direct mail, or whatever it is that you’re marketing your business with. Don’t do anything just because competition or others are doing it. Assess your marketing efforts and expenses and identify what works for your business and what doesn’t! Cut back on all that’s not working for you and double down on what works! Simple.
Be Memorable: In the crowd of so many businesses, products, services, how does your business stand out? Why should someone remember you once they walk out of your store? Why should they talk about you and spread the word? Give them a reason! Start with being different, talk-able, and laughable! People remember funny stuff and talk about it, even if they have nothing to do with it. Identify the appropriate humor for your audience and integrate it in to your marketing! Be memorable!
Offer Freemium: This is a strategy as old as business itself. Give something for free so that your customers can try it and eventually start buying it. Software and web based businesses do it the best by offering a free plan with limited features and a paid plan with much more features. Starbucks does it by giving bite size cakes and shot size drinks whenever they introduce a new drink or bakery. Find out how you can offer your product/ service in a freemium model and test it for a couple of weeks to see if it works for you!
Leverage Social Media: Should I use Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn or what? What and how should I be promoting my business via social media? Seriously, I just can’t stop being surprised every time people ask me such question! Be who you are and do what you do. There is a reason why it’s called ‘social’. It’s the same people, same society, only the medium has changed. How do you treat people and friends in real life, treat them the same way because the number of friends and followers you are boasting about, each one of them is a flesh & blood real person behind it, and so don't treat them as numbers' trophy. Identify where your target market in hanging out the most and communicate with them there.
Groupon/ Daily Deal: Careful, this is the steroid of marketing! This is a very powerful & expensive way to promote business or bring new customer in. It works but just like steroids, if not used properly, it can bring some serious harm. Simply put, you have to be ready to work at a 25% price point (you’ve to offer a minimum of 50% discount and then share the total revenue with the deal site at a 50-50 basis) and the 75% that you just ‘invested’ in customer acquisition can easily go to waste if you don’t convert the deal-shoppers into full paying & returning customers. On the plus side, this marketing is 100% effective for bringing people in, since they already paid for it.
Do any of these sounds like they could help your business? Have you tried any of these before, what was your experience? What are you doing for marketing your business, please share via comments below and help fellow business owners.
Devesh Dwivedi, an entrepreneur since 14, has founded, co-founded, and advised multiple businesses. Read more about Devesh here.
