We now come to the last of the 51 free marketing tips. Thanks again to Francine Hardaway, Ed Nusbaum and Phillip Blackerby for having Growth Nation support the Fast Trac program, which inspired this list.
41. Write and distribute a good press release. There’s two important parts – writing and distributing. First on the writing side, please please make sure the story will matter to more than whoever it’s about. The days of pushing stuff out there have ended; it’s time to tell great stories that educate, impress or inspire. On distribution, find out who really cares about your story. Pitch it to them, not to those who are writing about other things. You can do that directly and there are a number of free PR sites – google them – and post the story there, too. Don’t be disheartened if the first story falls flat because sometimes it’s just timing. Keep looking for great stories and someone will see it and tell it.
42. Provide a discount coupon. You might argue that this isn’t free, but if it moves someone to visit your store or use your services that wouldn’t otherwise, it’s all good. Discount coupons do two things, they 1) get you noticed, and 2) move some customers that wouldn’t be moved otherwise. Keep the discount limited to one or a few items if you can. Experiential marketing guy Ritchie Fliegler of Fountain Hills tells the story of how several local restaurants got the idea of discounting everything they had to get people from Scottsdale to visit. Two problems: 1) people from Scottsdale often are motivated by ’20% off’, and 2) restaurant revenue (and margin) dropped as the locals who already frequented the place paid less. It was a disaster – with several restaurants going out of business. First make sure your business is suited for a ‘discount coupon’ and second if you’re going to do it, keep it focused on part of your offering, not everything. Discounts work best in days of tight pocketbooks, like today!
43. Publicly speak about what you know. Where are your target clients and what groups or events will they attend? If you can pinpoint an association or location, then find something to present to them. This works well for professional services – like marketing – as Growth Nation talks on topics in local associations and to specific groups on social media, internet marketing, branding, marketing planning, marketing implementation, etc. We’re able to help a few people in those sessions, and those looking for more help reach out for more. Your topic doesn’t need to be precisely what you sell. Brad Casper, CEO of Henkel/Dial here in Scottsdale talks about international business to local groups. It gets the word out about Dial, and it’s a topic he knows a lot about having lived in Asia for many years. Use your passion – and so if it’s education, jobs, economic development, or a specific charity – help out a group by fundraising or connecting to the community in some other way. It’s all good.
44. Increase prices. This is a tricky one, but it’s a great way to improve your bottom line. Think carefully before proceeding here. For instance, in the restaurant example in #42 above, there were certainly some special items on the menu at those that deserved a premium price. Here I immediately think of Giuseppe’s on 28th in Phoenix that had their osso buco shown on America’s Diner’s, Dives and Drive-ins this past summer. It tastes as amazing as it looks – and it’s the most expensive item on their menu, and worth every penny!! Hey Richard – don’t raise it further – but I’d probably pay more!! Great products deserve high prices if the market will absorb it. Test it on one or two items and see the reaction. They key is to understand the target market customer and the value they place on the offering, and match those up. Another restaurant example is Randy’s in Scottsdale which appeals to an older retired crowd living in the area near Hayden and Chaparral. Randy’s has raised prices on a lot of peripheral items on the menu but their ‘Randy’s breakfast’ which feeds a football player, is still only $4.99, and it includes coffee. Be smart about it.
45. Standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. Sorry to the Eagles for the song reference, but sometimes your business can benefit from getting outside and reaching out directly to people – right on the corner of where they walk and drive. There are companies you can hire to help you with those sign twirlers. Have you seen that McDonald’s commercial? It was filmed right here in Metropolitan Phoenix off the west-side 101! Anyway, whether it’s a sign (like an A-frame), or a handout/give-away that presses the flesh, be professional, know your target and reach out to communicate your offering face-to-face and up-close and personal. It doesn’t work for every business but it works well in retail if you can find places reasonably rich in your target market.
46. Take more payment up front. For a lot of us in B2B, 2009 has been a year of increasing receivables because customers are typically paying more slowly. Therefore consider taking more money up front with your service. At Growth Nation we almost always charge 50% down, 50% at the end of the month because that seems fair to us. We tested a couple clients with payment up front and it actually worked well. Several of our partners are more aggressive with this and God Bless Them, some can do it. You might try some testing here especially with new clients and those that have good cash flow. It can make a big difference in your own cash flow.
47. Reduce or eliminate ads. Newspaper, magazine and yellow page ads are all a little suspect these days because they typically don’t get the bang for the buck they used to. More and more people are getting their information online instead of in print. And so especially if your target market is younger, switch your marketing dollar investment over to the web and start to see web leads come in. Advantage Urgent Care in Metropolitan Phoenix shifted their yellow page advertising to the web and they now get more leads coming in from a lower marketing investment. Print ads will always be with us, but keep your mind open as the shifting sands bring more buyers to the web. This week the keynote speaker at Invest Southwest Michael Moe discussed ‘e-commerce’ as one of the primary 6 drivers of business in the next decade. Keep that in mind as you modernize or launch your business.
48. Build a referral network, and ask for referrals. Like with the press release tip above, this is a two-parter. First identify businesses and people who are going after the same target market as you with a different and complementary product. Reach out to those people and work out a relationship that has them speaking about you and vice-versa. The second part is just as important: ask them to help you in exchange for your helping them. By the way, do your due diligence; make sure they are a good company that consistently creates value for their clients. Teaming up with someone who creates problems is a nightmare. We fire partners! See partners of high integrity at high quality firms. We recommend the Referral Institute with Victoria Trafton in Metro Phoenix to learn the ins and outs of being effective with referrals.
49. Create and distribute a newsletter. To quote Mark Twain who had been sick, ‘reports of my death are highly exaggerated’, and so too are reports that newsletters are no longer effective. They still work in getting the word out about your business, but some things have changed. For instance the better economics of e-newsletters have helped replace snail-mailed newsletters. With everyone having an e-mail account, then it becomes a matter of finding those in your target market and getting your e-newsletter into their hands. Which brings up ‘opt-in’: make sure your audience wants to receive your info. If they don’t, you become a nuisance. In any case, keep your news educational and helpful, NOT a continual product pitch. Those get old fast and your target will soon opt-out.
50. Add signature lines to your e-mails. It’s so simple and yet there’s still some fraction of the world that doesn’t do it. It should include your name, phone number and website at minimum, and then ideally other good info like your e-mail address and links to info on you or your company (a recent article, a Linkedin profile, a blog, twitter, etc). Don’t forget to set up your e-mail to automatically include your signature every time you send an e-mail. Then have a different, more condensed version for replies. And by the way, have everyone in your company use the same format, otherwise the different versions look odd when two of you communicate to the same customer.
51. Stay connected to free and inexpensive small business and entrepreneurial resources. There are some great minds in every community that share the latest business info and tips. Stay connected and keep learning! Francine Hardaway has been a marketing icon in Phoenix for decades and she is connected to the business community many ways including Fast Trac and her daily blog, twitter (@hardaway) and annual Entrepreneur Conference. Greater Phoenix SCORE and Tucson SCORE are not your old SCORE chapters any more. They’ve changed for the better, and they provide FREE, real-world business counseling to business owners looking to grow, sell and prosper. Can you believe that Greater Phoenix SCORE has a twitter, too? www.twitter.com/GreaterPhxSCORE
It’s a new day. Stay connected and keep growing!
All the best, Doug
Doug Bruhnke
CEO, Growth Nation
About Doug Bruhnke