5 Simple Money Making Marketing Tips for Your Business
Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not a specialized activity at all. It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer's point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise.
Peter Drucker.
Marketing seems to be a major headache for many small business owners. Where to market to get your message to the right people, how much to spend, developing the right marketing mix or just getting the right message out there. It can become a very expensive endeavour, so it is important, especially in this tough economic climate, to explore ways to grow your business that doesn't involve outlaying large amounts of money. It is equally important to ensure that the money you do spend is making you a good return on that investment.
Many business owners tend to confuse advertising with marketing and although advertising is certainly part of the marketing mix, it is not everything. Marketing is made up of everything that your business is doing to get your message out to your clients and potential clients, that will help build your image and make you more money. This can, and does, involve every aspect of your business and not just external advertising.
Here are 5 simple but inexpensive ways, to market your business that will leave more of your money in the bank!
1. Stay In Touch with Your Clients
Everywhere we turn, there are advertisements asking our clients to jump ship and try somewhere new and more exciting. This can be a powerful drawcard especially if boredom has set in for your clients, so it makes great sense for you to make sure that you stay in regular contact with them to let them know what is going on in your business that will be of benefit to them. For those of you with your clients' email addresses, this can be as straightforward as doing a monthly e-newsletter. If you have not been collecting these email addresses up until now, then it is time to start doing so! The easiest way to do this is to simply include the question on your client information form that is filled out on the client's first visit to your business. If you have missed this opportunity, you can begin to collect this information from each client as she comes in for services or by giving your client a quick call to explain that you are updating your client records and would like to collect their email address.
If you are not currently computerised in your business, it is still important that you stay in touch with your clients via snail mail, telephone calls and texts. This unfortunately is much more expensive than an email but still a necessary part of your marketing program.
One thing that needs to be heeded is that clients don't want to be bombarded with tons of information that is useless to them, so keep your newsletters short and sweet and refrain from covering more than three topics in any one edition. Most importantly keep your newsletters focussed on benefits for your clients and remember to always include a special offer (which you should track to determine its effectiveness) with the use of a coupon. As well as a special offer, you can include information about a featured product or service of the month and finally some quality advice or information that will be useful to your clients. Perhaps something relating to a seasonal condition or general advice that will benefit their health and wellbeing. Any more than this and your clients might well simply click the delete button. So keep your newsletters short, interesting and with a benefit to your clients to make sure they get read and not deleted.
2. Get Your Clients Excited about Spending Money with You
What excites your clients? Probably the same thing that excites you and me! Everyone loves to think that they are getting "something for nothing" and that is where a well oiled loyalty program can motivate your clients. Loyalty programs have been around for quite some time and there is a good reason for that....they work! Let's face it, big companies like Virgin Airlines and Qantas wouldn't be doing it if it didn't work for them. Clients love to feel that they are getting something in return for their loyalty to your business. Yes, they may be getting a terrific service at the "right price" but to put it simply, they want more. Your clients are being educated by the market place to expect something extra from the people they spend their money with. Every time I shop at Woolworths, I get points that help me save on the cost of petrol. It keeps me shopping with them instead of checking out the competitors specials.
Loyalty programs don't have to be complex or expensive to get off the ground. The secret to a successful loyalty program is to make sure that your client's don't have to wait forever to collect their reward. You can make it as simple as averaging out the clients spend over 10 visits and offering that as a "gift" on their 11th visit to your business. For example, if your client has spent $300 over her first 10 visits, she would be entitled to a special gift of $30 off the cost of her next service. Generally about 10% of the total spend is the value, but remember your client has had to work hard to get it! You are rewarding her for her loyalty and for not wandering off to try the business down the road that just opened up or is advertising their specials. It's simple to get underway and generally all you need is some new Client Loyalty Cards and a team meeting to explain to your therapists what happens next.
3. Tap Into Your Database to Find New Clients.
Every business owner tells me she wants more new clients and wants to get them as cheaply as possible. This is not an impossible dream. All you need to do is get your existing clients referring friends and family to your business and before you know it, you will have a host of new clients spending their hard earned cash with you. This is called a Referral Program and it helps you to gather new clients just like the ones you already have. Many businesses send a nice thank you letter to their clients when they refer a friend to their business. This is very polite, but unfortunately this technique is a little too laid back to really make an impact on your business. You need to encourage your clients to refer people to you in a more proactive way. How can you do this? Well first of all, you need to decide how you are going to reward your clients for their valuable referrals. If we want our clients to go out of their way to do this for us, we have to give them a reason to do it. What do you think it is worth to you to attract a new client into your business? What would entice you to recommend a friend to your preferred service provider? Many businesses offer a gift certificate to say "thank you". Some offer $10 and some offer up to $25. The amount will vary depending on the business and its clients. Now that you have decided how to say "thank you" you have to promote your Referral Program to your database. Let them know how they can benefit from referring a friend to you - don't keep it a secret. Put it on your service menus, talk about it with your clients, display it on your business cards, mention it in your newsletters and tell the world!
4. Tap Into Other People's Databases To Find New Clients
Finding new clients does not have to cost you an arm and a leg! If you have other businesses in your local area that have clients similar to your own, you can tap into their database to find new clients. This is called Joint Venture Marketing and it is a fantastic way to increase your client base for next to nothing.
Here's how it works: You and your new joint venture partner agree to promote each other's business to your own clients. For instance, if you JV with a local hairdresser they would email their clients with a special offer from you as a free gift and you would do the same for them. To respect client privacy, you cannot swap client lists. Naturally the ideal outcome is that some of the hairdresser's clients will take up the special offer and visit your business where you will have the opportunity to convert them into long term clients. Because this offer appears to be a professional recommendation, it is important to partner only with businesses that you can recommend enthusiastically and know will do the right thing by the clients you recommend to them. For instance beauty salons and spas often find businesses such as gyms and hairdressers a great place to start but any business that has a client database filled with just your kind of preferred clients will be perfect.
5. Advertise to the Right People in the Right Places
Are you wasting your hard earned money on spray and pray advertising? That's what happens when you think your target market is "everyone". As much as it would be nice to think that everyone wants to be your client, this just isn't the case. There is a select group of people who want to hear your message and are interested in buying your products and services. These are the people we refer to as your Target Market and they are the ones you need to direct your marketing messages towards.
If you look closely at your client database you will most like find the 80% of your income is generated from 20% of your database. When you examine the characteristics of this 20%, you will discover the characteristics of your target market. These are the people who love you and spend their money with you. Take some time out of your busy schedule and find out who the people are in your Target Market. Are they primarily male or female, under or over 35, have a particular income segment, any particular ethnicity, living within what distance of your business, looking for certain types of services. Do you see where I am going with this? Once you have identified your target market, you can stop wasting gobs of money on advertising in the wrong places to the wrong people. By simply asking yourself the question "is this magazine, paper, radio, tv channel or whatever other advertising mediums you are using going to be read, heard or watched by my Target Market? If the answer is not a definite yes, don't waste your money! When it comes to spending advertising dollars, you must learn to be selective and never yield to pressure from people trying to sell advertising to you unless you are certain that it is going to give you a good return on your investment.
So there you have it - 5 simple ways to market you business more effectively without spending huge amounts of money. By staying in touch with your existing clients, rewarding their loyalty, utilizing your own and other businesses databases and sending your message to the right people in the right places, you can begin to grow the number of new clients coming to your business. Then all you have to do is keep them coming back!
Pam specialises in working with small and micro businesses to motivate business owners, managers and their key staff towards maximising productivity and profits, excellence in customer service and client retention. She has recently released her new book "3 ½ Secrets to Salon Success".
Pam can be contacted on:
Phone: 0431 975515 or 0755 296 467.
Email: ask@pamstellema.com.au
Website: click here.
An important message
While every effort has been made to provide valuable, useful information in this Newsletter, I and any related suppliers or associated companies, accept no responsibility or any form of liability from reliance upon or use of its contents. Any suggestions should be considered carefully within your own particular circumstances, as they are intended as general information only.
