Marketing your business can be an expensive process and
getting this aspect of your business working effectively for you can save you
thousands of dollars each year. Every
dollar you spend in advertising and marketing (no, they are not the same thing) needs to show you a good return on
investment so it is important that you measure your results on any investments
you make in advertising.
But back to the gold!
Have you ever heard of Joint Marketing?
Well this is a wonderful way to tap into the databases belonging to
other businesses and to get your message out to people who will have an
interest in what you have to offer.
The idea is that each business in the marketing partnership
will contact the client's on their database, offering them a special deal from
their marketing partner and giving that partner their personal
recommendation. It is important that
each partner contacts their own clients with any special offer and that their
database is not shared openly with the other partner. This could be seen as violating your client's
privacy and you don't want to go down that path.
As an example, if you are in the beauty business you might carry
out joint marketing with a local hairdresser or gymnasium to name just a couple
of different styles of businesses. If
you put your thinking cap on, I am sure that you can think of many kinds of
businesses you could partner with that would have similar target markets. It
would go something like this - you would send an email to everyone on your
database letting them know you have sourced a very special deal on their behalf
with a quality gymnasium in your locality.
You would tell them what the special offer is (make it a worthwhile
offer or this will not work) and that you recommend this business for its high
standards of service or products. In
return, the gymnasium will make a similar offer by email to their clients
offering a special deal from your business.
If this marketing is going to be successful, it is important that the
special offers be high quality and with no strings attached. The idea here is to source new prospects for
your business and then it is up to you to convert them to long term clients.
I would also recommend that each partner review the email
that is being sent on their behalf to make sure it is accurate and reflects the
special offer being made in the best possible way.
To get started you will need to begin sourcing other
businesses that have a similar target market as your own. There are a couple of things that are fairly
important when looking for the businesses you wish to market jointly with.
1.
The businesses that you associate yourself with
must be of the same quality (or better) than your own. You must keep in mind that you will be
required to promote their business as well as asking them to promote you, so it
is important that they can offer the same high standards to your customers that
you do.
2.
Your new marketing partner should have a very similar
target market to yours. It is no good
trying to partner up with a business that attracts a very different clientele,
such as a beauty salon with a local garage.
3.
Your marketing partner needs to be prepared to
make your clients a "genuine" offer so that this will reflect well on you and
of course you must be prepared to offer the same quality in your offer to their
clients.
4.
Quantity of clients is important. It is pretty pointless pairing up with a
business that has substantially less contacts than you do, so if you are
offering to introduce their business to your 1000 clients make sure that they
have the same amount of contacts to introduce your offer to as well.
5.
You should choose only 1 business in each
category to partner with so choose carefully.
It will not look good if one month you are raving about the services of
Sally's Hair Salon and next month have jumped ship and are promoting Marie's
Styling Centre.
For this to be a successful marketing venture, you will
have noticed already that you must be capturing email addresses from your clients as
must your marketing partners. Without
this, the whole process becomes very costly if you have to rely on snail mail
and pay postage.
This is a great way to build your business numbers so give
it a go. You have nothing at all to
lose and lots (of clients) to gain!
Pam specialises in coaching small businesses to financial success. She works with both business owners and their teams to grow their businesses and avoid the pitfalls that many business owners face on their own. If you would like to experience a coaching session for FREE with Pam to see what a difference coaching can make to your business. email or phone her today.
Phone: 0431975515 or 0755 296467 for your FREE introduction to coaching session.
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I’ve now had Pam working with me for the past eight months. I’m so glad I took the step to get her help. My business was doing a very average turnover, but I could not make ends meet with the staff and expenses I had. Pam opened my eyes to the true expenditure of the Salon. She pointed out some massive leaks I was unaware of and had no idea how to fix. She gently guided me in the right direction and I’m now feeling much more in control and do see a light at the end of the tunnel. With goals to expand or duplicate in the future, Pam has been a wealth of information of what I need to do and put in place at this early stage, so I can work toward achieving this.
Pam’s delivery of training to staff is informative, fun and very motivating. The fact that she comes to you, makes staff resistance to attendance a non issue.
Thanks Pam for offering such a personal service. Your knowledge of business clearly goes far beyond just the beauty industry, and I think perhaps this is what makes you so unique.
