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Marketing your business doesn't have to cost the earth
by Haines Watts on 18 April 2012
Confused about which marketing will work best for your business? There are some basic rules that should help your business grow for very little outlay.
Spending vast amounts of money doesn’t always equate to new business. Many companies spend with little return on their investment.
So if you have a tight budget where should you direct your efforts?
Current customers
Your current customers are probably your most valuable marketing resource. They already know and trust your business. There’s nothing more powerful than word of mouth.
Ask them to recommend you online to spread the word. Giving your customer a small gift when you have got business from a recommendation or just a simple thank you can make a huge difference.
Your staff
You may have forgotten another great marketing asset at your disposal: your staff. Get them involved in business development and ask them for their ideas for bringing new business in. Reward those who bring in new sales.
Website
Not all digital tools will be effective for all businesses. Don’t get carried away by tools or techniques just because they are in fashion. But don’t ignore the undeniable potential of the web either. A good website is a basic tool every business should have. Having a great website can take a small business from a small marketplace into a global marketplace.
Social Media
Is social media all it’s cracked up to be? Well, it really depends what business you’re in and where your audience ‘hang out’. The three main social media sites today are Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Many companies launch into social media because they think it’s easy and cheap. Making social media work for your business is harder than it looks and does take time and effort.
Look at the stats on the audiences. If their users hit your target market then look at how other businesses are using it and have a go.
The whole idea of social media is to have conversations online. You ultimately need to form one to one relationships for it to have any chance of bringing in business for you. So many people go on these sites, create a profile or an account and do nothing else with it. They then moan that it hasn’t worked! Imagine it like face to face networking. If you walked into a networking event, stood in the corner for an hour and didn’t have a chat with anyone, by the time you walked out, you would think the networking event was a failure – but that’s simply because you didn’t put any effort into it. Social media is exactly the same!
Networking
Don’t neglect ‘real life’ networking – social media works well as an extension of face to face networking. Trade associations, or groups where your types of customers may congregate, can all lead to new business.
Tips
1) Set aside time and keep reviewing your marketing strategy.
2) Plan your activity and review your budget regularly.
3) Look at your return on investment and be prepared to tweak along the way.
4) Spending vast amounts of money does not always equate to new business.
5) If it’s worked before, stick to it. If you have tried-and-tested ways to win business then don’t neglect them.
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Valuing Your Business
In fact the biggest mistake I see is people thinking that because something isn't working so well...they should do a lot more of it!
Don't confuse Marketing (determining what to sell, to whom, where they are and how to maintain the price to maintain margin) with Marketing Communications (Marcomms) or PR or Promotion. These are all tools to help you execute your marketing strategy they are not "marketing".
Over the last 20 years mass promotion/Marcomms has taken over. People have assumed that making a lot of noise is the best way to get heard and open the doors to new business.
It's a "mug's" game. There will always be someone with deeper pockets who can shout louder than you.
Marketing is not about promotion. It's about working out what problem your product or service solves, then working out how that problem manifests itself (how the customer perceives it), then what sort of people/roles have that problem then (and only then) in what industry sector or geography they are in.
Once you understand what problem you're seeking to solve and for whom, you need to look at how it is you solve it. Do you have a "whole product/service" to meet the whole need and can you do so profitably and in a way which enables the prospective customer to differentiate your offer from everyone else's?
Then you can move onto what sort of messages are going to attract and engage them.
Once you've got that under your belt (easier than you might think), you have a profile of your perfect prospect.
Applying your profile to any database means you can now readily identify which companies or people are worth approaching (and more importantly, all of those that aren't!). Of course with your profile you can now also see which of your existing customers are right for this new product or service too!
You will find then that reaching your perfect prospects costs considerably less and is a lot quicker than it used to be.
Perhaps the most comforting thought is that all your competitors will still be wasting time and vast sums of money "shouting" as loudly as they can to anyone who will listen.
You, on the other hand, will simply focus on those who can and will buy from you...
Do this consistently and you will find your marketing costs coming down to a fraction of what they were, your conversion and win rates will increase dramatically and the time it takes to find and win business will come down to a process and time frame YOU control.
Marketing is truly not rocket science. It's truly common sense (but don't tell them I told you that!).
Owen Ashby on 18 April 2012
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