For you to be on top of any market you need to be innovative on your product line which will now serve as your marketing edge
We continue this month with more free marketing tips to get even more customers. I hope you have tried out some of the tips from last month’s and they have been successful. They are worth trying. Do not be one of those who read and then keep putting off trying the suggestions. Procrastination is not entrepreneurial. One cannot but emphasize the importance of marketing, sales and the cash rewards.
Last month, we looked at five ideas business owners or owner manager should try to practice. This month, we will take another five tips. The fifth tip is by developing a series of survey questions for customers to respond to, finding out from existing customers why they prefer or not, the responses are to help you develop a benefit list of your products or services and compare them to that of your competitors. Find ways to bridge the gap and ways to keep your competences from being copied. Your unique points keep you ahead of the game. Beware; they will get copied so keep re-inventing them to put you steps ahead of the competition.
Tip number six goes thus; work on an imaginary new product development and introduction idea. Assume you get the bank loan you have been trying to obtain. Use this as a basis for the new product of service development. Determine a project management plan with time and resources you will need etc. How will you introduce the product or service? Start making appointments to speak with specialists in the related sector. It is said that opportunities only get taken advantage of by those who are prepared. Entrepreneurs, be prepared!
The seventh tip suggests you invite a customer or prospect to your office to discuss new ideas that will be mutually beneficial to both parties. This can be done as a form of entertainment and it is good for them to know your business location and affords them the opportunity to see your set up. It will give signals that you are serious about their patronage as well as their input into your business
The eighth tip is extended to professional service providers. These are the likes of lawyers, bankers, accountants, clearing agents etc. You can identify and invite three to four in each category, interview them individually; letting them know of your company’s current position and discuss an agenda you have planned for the future of your business. Compare their responses, levels of interest, etc. This will help you decide in advance who to call when such services are needed. You will know who is most approachable and which of the firms you have spoken to in the past that will be more responsive to your needs or best able to accommodate you.
The ninth tip is as follows, at the end of the year or quarter, you can plan a small occasion to honour and recognize a special customer. You can invite other customers and prospects to such an event right there in your office. The customer will be pleased for the recognition. This single gesture may be the needed incentive to convince other existing customers to engage in more serious business with you and also, invited prospects may be enticed to try you out.
The tenth and last tip is to go back into your database and look for every defected customer and plan a strategy to woo them back. Find out why they stopped buying from you. Who are they patronizing now? Offer discounts or special delivery service to get them to come back and try you out again. Show them that you have improved. Make sure the problems they enumerated have been addressed. Remember this is a courtship; they are watching you and waiting for you to fail, so be the entrepreneur that I know you are and shock them with your success.
In conclusion, we make what we want of our businesses. It’s important that we try all possibilities and avenues; we never know the ones that will work with our particular business and clients. A free marketing plan cannot hurt, after all, its free! It can however make the difference, or in the worst case, leave you as you were.
Good Luck!