Marketing Monday.. Be Strong and Be Smart

We receive a lot of calls from existing and prospective clients every week asking about ideas for how they can generate more leads and ultimately grow their businesses. To begin with there is no silver bullet in marketing, generating leads and ultimately sales comes down to two things, working hard and working smart. Working hard by itself will not get you the results you desire alone, and while we do what needs to be done, to be honest who just wants to work hard every day of the week, certainly not us. Working smart alone in my opinion while it will generate results, it also may not create the results you desire or need, as there is most probably a lot of smart cookies out there trying to do the same things you are doing to get a head. But have peace of mind, if business was easy, everyone would be doing it and competition would be even greater and ultimately it would be even harder for those of us willing to work both smart and hard to grow our businesses. This may sound harsh but thank fully there is a lot of start-ups through to current businesses that for what every reason, when the going gets tough, well they either don’t want to or they can’t step up to the plate and they bow out… What are some ideas of how to generate more leads. Now before we talk about the many potential marketing tools that you can use in your marketing tool box, there is a couple of questions I regularly ask;

• Do you know who your ideal customer is? It can be as simple as asking the Who, what, where, when and why?
• Do you have a MAP (Marketing Activity Program) and do you consistently implement it?

Agreed, there is a lot more detail required in exploring each of these two questions, Ensure that you understand who your ideal client is and also what motivates your ideal client to use your products and or services. Then have a clear strategy in place to engage them and keep them engaged by having a good cross media marketing strategy i.e. take them offline to online, and if they are coming through from online, think about how you can continually engage them offline. However the important thing is to make a start. Let’s also be honest, failing to make a start is something we are all guilty of at times, and it is the first step of what helps to set a lot of businesses apart from their competition. Some tools that you can consider using;

• Online Tools
  • Email Marketing
  • Pay Per Click (PPC)
  • Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and many more)
  • Content Marketing (Video, Blogs etc)
  • Search Engine Optimisation
  • Webinars
  • Podcasting
  • Affiliate Marketing
• Offline Tools
  • Direct Mail
  • Point of Sale
  • Uniforms
  • Include a Postcard or other form of marketing material with any products you send out or when you have completed your service.
  • Product Packaging
  • Signage on your vehicle and shop front
  • SMS
  • Joint Ventures with other businesses in the area – offline affiliate marketing
  • Fax (yes we have a client still successfully using it)
  • Workshops / Seminar / Information Nights
  • Public Speaking

The lists go on, the important thing is to at least pick 2 or 3 and make a start and work smart and do not just rely on just one marketing tool. If you need to generate new leads and sales quickly, then my tips would be to think about using a combination of the following

• Pay Per Click
• Email Marketing
• Direct Mail
• Include a Postcard or other form of marketing material with any products you send out or when you have completed your service.
• Facebook (but be careful with this medium and selling)

Finally, something to keep in mind, I attended a training seminar last week, and not a truer statement was made in reference to business outcomes –

“If do what you have always done, you will get what you’ve always got!”

Remember, even when time is short, don’t miss out on an opportunity to promote your business.

Wishing you all the best for creating and actioning effective and efficient marketing in your business.

Cheers

Tom Dickson.