10 Marketing Tips for Entrepreneurs
by Sharif Khan
Published on this site: July 21st, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
Nothing happens in business until a sale is made. Marketing
is simply about getting new customers and keeping them. If
you're not doing something everyday to market and promote
your business, your competitors are. Here are ten easy-to-implement
tips to effectively market and grow your business:
- Partner with large email database list owners and offer
to cross promote each other. The list owner will advertise
your event, product, or service to their email database
and you'll offer to do the same to your list.
- Create your own blog which is an online journal with
frequently updated posts to entertain and excite existing
and potential customers. It's more personal and immediate
then a website and keeps people engaged and hopefully coming
back for more. You can even create one for free at http://www.blogger.com
- Create an educational or promotional DVD movie of your
business to increase sales and spread word-of-mouth. It's
not as expensive as you may think: http://www.paytribute.net
cost effectively produces high-quality, personalized DVD
movies for clients.
- If you want to increase word-of-mouth fast, do something
beyond normal industry expectations. For example, Mr. Lube
offers fast and affordable tune-up service to customers
right on the spot, without having to leave the car, while
offering coffee, cappuccino, and a fresh newspaper.
- Always ask happy clients for endorsements or testimonials
and put them on your website and other marketing collateral.
They're worth their weight in gold. Try to get some recognizable
names in your community for additional cachet.
- Put a special offer or product advertorial on every invoice
and statement you send out. Likewise, you can also negotiate
a deal with another company to advertise your product or
service on all their invoices for a percentage of revenues
from placed orders.
- Make your business cards stand out and be natural keepers.
Offer important information on the back such as emergency
phone numbers, a map, or special dates to remember. Have
a slogan that offers a powerful benefit statement to your
prospective customer.
- Offer special bonus packages with your product or service
offering. Get corporate sponsors to give away products as
part of the bonus package in exchange for free exposure.
- Align your business with a cause or charity. Give back
to your community. Customers appreciate doing business with
companies that are bettering their communities and the environment
and being good corporate citizens.
- Post frequently in online message boards/forums relevant
to your business or expertise. Include your signature and
offer tips and valuable advice. Eventually you will begin
gaining word-of-mouth exposure as a leader in your field.
Posting messages with your company information also helps
to increase your search engine rankings and drive traffic
to your site.
[ Excerpted from Sharif Khan's new ebooklet, "101
Ways to Market Your Business," available at: http://tinyurl.com/6z2w7
].
Sharif Khan is a professional writer, motivational
speaker, book coach, and author of "Psychology of the
Hero Soul," an inspirational book on awakening the Hero
within and developing people's leadership potential. You can
reach him at
[email protected]
or visiting http://www.herosoul.com.
Khan provides inspirational keynotes and leadership seminars,
writes his own success blog at http://www.sharifkhan.blogspot.com
and also helps companies develop empowering content through
his copywriting services. For more information call (416)
417-1259.
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