Missing small Opportunities to Market Your Business BIG?

Marketing guru, Dan Kennedy, re-known for his NO-BS Marketing strategies said,

When working to build and improve a business, don’t waste a lot of time looking for the one big magic marketing strategy that will make all the difference in the world. Instead find a lot of little things that can be improved. Added together little things have big impact.”

Most business owners I speak to are looking for some silver bullet or miracle working strategy. Although I’ve assisted in developing large-scale campaigns with lots of bells and whistles, most of the time, the best strategies are small and simple. This month, I’ll discuss some of the ‘little things’ you can do to have a BIG impact on marketing yourself and your business more effectively.

Listen to your customers. Sounds like a no-brainer, right? Often business owners are so busy ‘doing’ what they think their customers want, they forget to actually hear what is it customers would like. Truth be told, everyone has at least one customer that thinks he has all the answers, and he might. But, it would behoove you to ask a sample (that means more than 1) of your best and not-so- best customers what they really think of your services and products. Does that mean an elaborate survey? Not necessarily, 3-5 simple questions that your salesperson asks every customer will do just fine. The key is to collect the information, on a consistent basis, and to review the results. One of my favorite sites to do this is www.surveymonkey.com. You may be amazed at what you discover!

Sell something else to an existing customer. Research supports that it is easier to sell to an existing customer than it is to find a new one. With advertising, networking and all the other ‘-ings’ of marketing, finding a new customer is costly. People who have already purchased from you have what’s called the KLT factor, that is, they already Know, Like and Trust you. A good example of an upsell is for a website designer to offer a monthly maintenance service including a reasonable retainer for businesses whose website is constantly changing.Guerilla Marketing guru, Jay Levinson, summed it up best in his formula for how business owners should invest in their selling efforts:
– 60 % = current clients,
– 30 % = attracting a small set of potential “dream clients” and
– 10 % = the rest of the universe.

Give something away to an existing customer. A customer service training I once conducted with a local boutique hotel called this concept ‘give’em the pickle’. It was based on a story of how a waitress of a restaurant chain made the owner lose one of his best customers because she would not give the customer an extra order of pickles on the house.At the end of the day, you must make the decision that a single gratis gift or 20 minutes of your consulting time to answer a question is peanuts compared to a customer’s on-going support.

Communicate with your customer. Regardless of the price point of your product, every customer wants to be treated like the V.I.P. (or V.I.C. in this case). More than that, it really doesn’t cost you very much to extend a warm hello on some on-going basis. It reminds them of how important they are and keeps you at the top of their mind until they may need you again.This communication may be as simple as a phone call to check in on how they like the gift basket they just purchased from your concierge service or may be more sophisticated like an e-newsletter that is sent out automatically every month. Whichever way you choose, it’s about making quality contact.

Notice how all of these strategies focus on your existing customers!

Your action step is to look for your small opportunities to market big.