These free small business marketing ideas are quick and easy to implement and can make a serious difference to your business...
- Look after your existing customers
It is a well know fact that it is far more cost effective to retain an existing customer (and get them to keep buying from you) than to get new ones. Following the advice elsewhere on this site about
customer relationships,
make sure you keep in touch with existing customers. But not just to sell things.
Deepen your relationship with them by sending them some free stuff – advice, a report, a link to something. Make them feel valued.
Remember – if you don’t, your competitor might! Over 60% of people stop buying from a supplier because of indifference. Your competitors will be giving plenty of reasons why they should move. You have to give them a reason to stay. It really works!
- Recontact old leads or past customers
Think about people who have bought from you in the past – or shown an interest, or exchanged business cards with you.
Get in touch with them. Say “hi” and remind them of what you can do for them. Don’t do the hard sell – just re-establish contact and then add them to your sales database.
It generally takes several contacts before someone actually will commit to buy. In fact it can often take between 10 and 20 contacts before someone will buy from an unknown supplier – so don’t give up! – (unless of course you have been specifically asked to stop).
Remember - each contact deepens your relationship and gets you closer to the
sale.
- Give your clients more
In difficult climates, businesses are fighting harder for business. So you have to fight harder to hang on to your existing clients. Do this by making your offer even more valuable. Add something to your product, increase your service levels, give them something for free, offer a discount on future purchases.
(Why am I giving free small business marketing ideas? Because I want to provide value, build a relationship with you, gain your trust and who knows - maybe do business with you in the future.)
Give them a reason to stay with you – and buy more from you! And whatever you do – don’t make all your best offers “for new customers only” (you only have to watch the ads for a certain bank to see what happens with this approach!
- Send out Press Releases
Public Relations
is a very effective form of marketing and can pay dividends when it comes to increasing customer confidence in you – a critical factor especially in uncertain times. In a recession, there is lots of bad news around. If you can put out a positive story that’s interesting and topical, the chances are you’ll get some great coverage.
PR can be a very low cost exercise. Use the tips on this site to help you
write your own release
and distribute it to your
target media.
- Speak at an industry event
If you know your industry well, you’ll no doubt be aware of events – conferences, seminars, exhibitions – that take place throughout the year. Typically, organisers of such events are always keen to get experts to speak about related issues. Public speaking isn’t for everyone – but if it’s something you’d be comfortable doing, it’s a brilliant way to get known. And as with portraying yourself as an expert in other PR activities, if you do a good job, you’ll be asked again and again. It’s a great self-perpetuating way to promote you and your business.
If you are unfamiliar with this type of public speaking – get yourself along to a couple of events and see how others do it. I’m sure you’ll soon realise that you too could provide valuable information to delegates and you’ll also be able to pick up tips. Jot down what you liked and disliked about presenters and shape your own presentation around that.
- Network, network, network
People often see this as a chore. But actually, you can do this as part of your everyday life. Always carry a business card and give it to as many people as you can. If they don’t need your services, they may come across someone who does and can pass your details on.
Don’t try and sell to everyone you meet, people soon get weary of this and will start to avoid you! Just speak with passion about what you do and leave it clear what needs your product meets.
Word of mouth is still the best form of marketing. If people like you – and like what they hear – they are far more likely to take on board what you say and will keep you in mind for the future. The more people that say "hey I know someone who gives free small business marketing ideas" and hands out my business card or web address - the better!
- Provide a guarantee
One thing that we all face in business are objections - the reasons why people don’t want to buy your product or service. You can tell them 'til you are blue in the face that your product will change their lives, make them healthier, wealthier or wiser, but they are taking a risk. What if they give you their money - and they don’t get the benefits you promised?
Take this risk away from them and counter pretty much every objection in the book. Offer a guarantee.
This transfers the risk to you, but assuming you are genuinely offering a good product which does what you say it does, then the chances of customers relying on that guarantee are small.
Despite what we sometimes believe, people are generally honest and will only use a guarantee if they have genuine cause to. Of course, there are people who will claim their money back, keep the goods and totally rip you off. But they are few and far between. And a guarantee is such a powerful way to overcome reticence that the increase in business is should bring about ought to far outweigh any losses that are incurred.
As with everything else – test it and see for yourself what happens.
- Exploit the internet
Used effectively, the
internet
can turn out to be your biggest friend in terms of reaching your target market, communication, relationship building, and ultimately – sales! And it can be low cost too.
These days most businesses have a website – but very few are effective. It’s not rocket science to get a truly successful site that attracts targeted traffic, builds a relationship with them, and generates lots of income. But it does require a methodical approach.
The four key steps involved are:
- Make sure your content is great! It should add value to those people you are targeting
- Get the right traffic to your site – those that have the need that your business meets.
- Build a relationship with your visitors and pre-sell to them
- Convert as many visitors as possible into purchasers!
Sounds simple! And it is. Provided you implement these steps properly. I could regurgitate everything I have learnt over the years here, but instead let me direct you to another site which provides loads of really useful info about this process. And they sell the tools to do it.
It is by far the best system I have come across to build a successful online business where most just offer tools to build a pretty website.
Many of these free small business marketing ideas are covered in more detail throughout this site.
