Success Doncaster

Here are our top ten Marketing tips:

There is no better place to start than PR, particularly if you have absolutely no marketing budget. An editorial article is seen as a much more credible source of information than paid for advertising.

Try to get a feel for the kind of stories your local media are looking for. Don’t forget that most newspapers receive scores of press releases every day, so try to make your story stand out from the crowd. However, reporters love new and interesting people to feature in their papers and magazines and if your story is current , you could find it easy to get some free publicity. If you are writing a press release – remember the 4 W’s – what, when, where and why. 

Perhaps offer a familiarisation visit for a journalist or organise a photo call. You could also include local radio, perhaps fix up a slot to be interviewed on your local radio station.

In marketing jargon, this is often referred to as the ‘unique selling point’. Many businesses try to be all things to all people but often end up being master to none! Ask yourself, why should a customer come to you or your business?

Try to focus on a specialism that can really help you stand out from the crowd. This could be special facilities or services you offer or a unique product.

It is generally good marketing practice to target market segments and each target audience will need a different marketing approach. Write a brief pen portrait of your preferred target markets and try to shape your marketing around this.

Customers will be paying closer attention to spending and need to ensure they are getting value for money. Paying attention to the little touches can make all the difference. Those all important word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied customers to future customers are worth their weight in gold.

When budgets are limited you need to make every penny work. Try to find out what your current and target customers read, there is little point in advertising in publications they don’t read or are not interested in. Niche or special interest publications could be better value than mainstream depending on your business. Think about your USP and target markets you have identified and which publications target these audiences.

Adverts need to catch your eye and have a clear ‘call to action’. Sometimes less is more.

Always make sure you negotiate a good rate and remember to test all your advertising to find out is it is working, by doing this you will maximise the money you spend on your marketing and be able to measure its effectiveness. This will also enable you to work out conversion rates from your advertising and see what is working and what isn’t!

If you do have a website it is important that you keep any information as up to date as possible with correct prices, information etc. Customers will not have confidence in your business/product if the information isn’t correct.

Entice and engage customers more by linking to other relevant businesses/sites in the area. Or you could set up a blog and encourage people to leave comments about your company and products.

Google is acknowledged as the market leader in search engines. There are two main ways of ensuring your business gets notice on Google. The results that appear on the main/left hand part of the page are known as ‘natural’ results. Speak to your web editor about ‘search engine optimisation’ techniques to ensure your site comes high in the search rankings.

On the right hand side of the page are the ‘paid’ results. You can purchase your advert here via www.adwords.google.com, and by creating keywords, your ad may appear next to the search results. Now you’re advertising to an audience that is already interested in you.

How would you like to double or even triple the amount of customers you can sell to overnight? Well, this can be done by setting up Joint Venture Partnerships. For example, if you are a builder you have a certain type of customer on your books, there are also many non-competitive local businesses who have the exact same type of customer, so you could sell to each others customers. It can take some time initially to set up but once you have it in place it can really put your business on the map. Why not see if you can agree a contra-deal with local retailers or public houses for instance to promote each others businesses?

Speak to your local Business Link or Chamber of Commerce about putting you in touch with potential partners.

Business networking events are great for meeting local business owners who could possibly be potential joint venture partners. There are groups of people meeting all over the place that contain people who may be interested in your business/offer, if you can get an audience of people who you can talk to in the form of a short presentation and inform them about your business it is a great marketing opportunity.

There are also a lot of business events organised throughout the year that are fantastic opportunities for you to talk to other local business people and share ideas.

Keep communicating – regular contact with your customers will increase customer loyalty. You already have a relationship with your existing and previous customers that is potentially worth a lot of money. Spend a day or two talking to them. Call those customers to thank them for their previous business, ask them how they are doing and if they need anything. By spending a little time asking questions, the answers you receive may spark an enquiry or generate future custom. Marketing is not just about obtaining new customers it is also about looking after the ones you already have. Go the extra mile and make your customers feel important!

If you want to maintain or develop your business in this recession then do what all successful entrepreneurs do. Identify a customer problem that is causing them real pain, offer to fix it fast and then sell that solution to other customers. This approach works because you show genuine interest in your customers business, which they will not perceive as selling and you remove a problem that they are suffering from. If it is done the right way, you have a friend for life!

This approach sets you aside from your competitors and puts you in good shape to not only survive the economic downturn but prosper from it too.