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Ten Ways to Use Tightwad Marketing ™ to Promote and Grow
Copyright
©1999-2003 Donna
Gunter
Usually the first thing that pops into someone's mind
when they think about marketing is, "I've got to buy an
advertisement." Place a few ads and soon your marketing budget has
totally dried up. Statistics say that someone must see your ad six times in
the same publication before thinking of using your business. If it's a weekly
or monthly publication, that could be six weeks to six months down the road,
and you can't afford to wait that long!
In order for the public to find your field of dreams,
here are ten inexpensive ways to get started:
1. Define your USP (your Unique Selling Proposition)
and use it in everything that you do. What is it that makes you unique, or
distinctive, from your competition? Make sure that you convey this uniqueness
to your customer.
2. Create joint ventures with other businesses that
complement yours. For example, if you're a real estate agent, team up with a
cleaning service, an interior decorator, and a personal chef to offer a nice
packaged deal to a new homebuyer.
3. Stress the benefits of what you do, not the product
or service. There's a great story that's passed around about the world's most
successful insurance salesman, who, when asked what he did for a living,
responded, "I buy life assurance." Most people responded, "What
do you mean?", to which he replied, "I buy life assurance for my
clients at the best possible price. Would you like me to buy some for
you?" Make your potential customer think, "I've got to get
that!"
4. Become newsworthy! Send out media releases to
announce a new service or product or sponsorship of a charity event. Create an
event or a special day. Link what you do to an existing trend or news event.
Talk about your personal story in the business, i.e. if you went broke and
bounded back, started to create one product and ended up with another, etc.
Issue an award or give something away. Conduct a survey and report the
results. Write a letter to the editor.
5. Talk to your customers. Call 5 previous customers
and find out what they liked and didn't like about their dealings with you,
and how you might better serve them in the future. Have them write
testimonials that you can use. Ask and reward them for referrals.
6. Love what you do and become a model of what you're
selling. If you don't absolutely love what you do and feel passionate about
it, your customers are going to see right through you and not be convinced to
buy what you are offering. For example, if you're a car mechanic and your shop
has a lot full of clunkers that don't run, why would anyone hire you to repair
their car? Or, if you're a landscaper and your lawn is full of weeds and
crabgrass, who wants to hire you to beautify their yard? If you don't truly
feel passionate about your business and become a living model of that business
to everyone you meet, then find another business!
7. Network, network, network! Join organizations, such
as Chambers of Commerce, professional groups, civic groups, etc. and any type
of organization to which your target market might belong. Attend community
events like business open-houses or neighborhood picnics. Sales master Joe
Girard lives by his "Law of 250", which states that everyone knows
about 250 people well enough to invite to their wedding or to be in attendance
at their funeral. Lesson: Perhaps the person you're speaking with isn't
interested in what you offer, but there's a good chance s/he knows someone who
is--250 of them!
8. Use attention-getting devices--become very visible.
Always have business cards on hand to distribute. Have a t-shirt or cap
personalized with your business name and wear it when you run errands. Wear an
outfit or uniform that shows the world who you are. Put a magnetic sign on the
side of your car advertising your business.
9. Talk and teach. Approach local organizations about
being a guest speaker at their next meeting. Give a workshop that is open to
public and is low-cost/no-cost for participants and discuss a particular
aspect of your business, or demonstrate what you do. Offer them valuable
information, but leave them hungry for more. For example, a financial planner
might offer a free seminar called, "Planning for Retirement as a
Thirtysomething"or a bank loan officer might offer a workshop in
conjunction with a real estate agency called, "Everything a First-Time
Homebuyer Needs To Know But is Too Scared to Ask." Or, work with your
local college or recreation department and get paid to teach what you know.
10. Implement 5 a day. Make a list of all the creative
ways you can market your business, and implement five of them per day.
Remember, in Tightwad Marketing ™, you're limited
only by your imagination!
Copyright ©1999-2003 Donna Gunter, Lifestyle Design
Coach. All rights reserved. Donna coaches solo professionals/lifestyle
entrepreneurs of services businesses, like virtual assistants, consultants,
web designers, etc. on creating and growing a thriving business through
effective marketing while maintaining a high quality life. Visit www.donnagunter.com,
or email donna@donnagunter.com