3 Reasons Why Blogs Are Important To Drive Traffic To Your Website

Are you blogging yet? If not you need to be. Whether you have a large corporation or a small business ran out of your home, blogs are the easiest way to set up a web presence if you don't have one and are even more powerful as an addition to an existing website.

I still hear it from most business owners... "I don't get it. I don't have that much to say. I don't want to do that. It's just too much work"

Well, if you want to get your name out there more. Get more prospects. Get more customers and provide better customer service to your existing customers, then a blog is the easiest way to do all these and more.

So, why is it that blogs are so powerful and why should you have one? Let me count the ways!

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Even Great Products Don't Sell Themselves

Maybe you've heard the term: Build a better mousetrap and they will come.

Well, as great as it sounds, even the best mousetrap still won't sell if people don't know it exists. They still won't buy it if they don't see the value in it.

In today's age where people are swamped with advertising messages all the time, you need a better message than everyone else to stand out and be noticed.

1. Do whatever it takes to 'shock' your audience
What are you doing to stand out from the crowd? You need to stand out like a sore thumb and make sure you are remembered.

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Why Use Networking To Market Your Business

With everyone cutting back costs in networking is, now more than ever, one of the best and most cost effective ways to market your business and keep your name in front of your prospects and clients.

This has always been one of my favorite ways to market any business while keeping costs down. It not only gets you out there but also builds relationships faster than any other advertising or marketing you can do.

Here's some of the benefits of using networking to promote your business:

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How Customer Follow-up Can Increase Sales In Any Business

When was the last time you followed up with your existing customers? Last month? Last week? Or was it the last time they actually bought from you?

I can pretty much tell you that no matter how often you follow up with your customers, it's not enough.

In today's world, people have less and less of an attention span and forget very easily about you and what you have to offer them. If you want an easy way to increase sales in your business, you need to increase the amount of contacts you have with each and every customer you have.

So how can you do this?

First, thank them for the sale.
Emails, thank you cards and letters are a great way to make one more touch with a customer right after the sale. If someone comes in to your store and buys something from you, send them a a thank you a couple of days after the sale. This will make them feel special and make you stand out from everyone else out there.

Also, educate them on the best ways to use the product they just bought from you. Remind them of additional benefits that they might not have known about or remembered before they bought the product.

Second, remind them of complimentary products that work well with the product they bought.
This is huge. Remember that people usually don't know your product anywhere near what you know about it. They are looking to you to help them and educate them.

If you have another product that works great with the product they bought already or that will enhance the product they bought, share that with them. Let them know the additional benefits to using that products also. Offer a special discount because they bought the first product.

Most business owners don't think about the fact that as long as what you have is of great value, your customers will want to buy your additional products as long as they make sense for them. Too many small businesses could easily increase sales just by letting people know about some of the products that they tend to forget to share with their customers.

Third, remind your customers of maintenance or renewable products.
What do I mean by this? Let's say you sell a nutrition product that is usually a month's supply. Many customers will still forget to purchase more when they run out. We're all busy. I do it all the time.

If you can call them or email them and give them an easy way to re-order, you've just saved them from running out of your product and you've made and easy sale at the same time.

Put your customers on a calendar so you know to email, call or mail out a direct mail piece in plenty of time to remind them to place their order before they run out.

Remember that as long as you provide great value and your customers are happy with your products, it's easy to sell them on additional products as long as it helps them save time, use the product better or most importantly, solves a problem they have. It's your responsibility to educate them on what you have to offer. They will never buy from you if they don't know you offer that product of service.

Making The Most Of Local Networking To Market Your Business

As a Small Business, networking with other businesses should be one of the top ideas in your marketing mix. Networking is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get your company's name out in front of your community.

Networking events like your Chamber Of Commerce and local networking or leads groups are a great way to find prospects, partners and potentially even a built in sales force very quickly if you keep just a few basic rules in mind.

1. Build Your Image - Look the Part
First impressions do count. Your first impression will last for years to come and can either work in your favor or against you. Shorts and flip flops aren't the best dress to impress new people on your professionalism and skills (unless you work for a travel agency specializing in Bahama cruises, then it might just be perfect)

2. Be Proactive
Be proactive and find people to come up and introduce yourself to. Other people there are doing the same thing you are...Trying to get new business and meet new people.

Don't be afraid to walk up and say hi.

3. Ask, Don't Just Tell
Remember this is a two way street. If someone asks what you do, go ahead and tell them about your products and services.  Then... Ask about what they do. What's their business? Let them talk about their business and educate you about who their perfect customer is.

I see it all the time where someone shows up to an event and all they want to do is talk about themselves and how you NEED their product. They never seem to care about anyone else. Once they are done talking about their product, they just want to move on to someone else and repeat the same pitch.

This doesn't give you a good impression to others.

4. Business Cards - The Must Haves!
Be sure to get your business cards printed before you go to any networking event. Make sure that you bring plenty of cards. Business cards are cheap. You don't want to be embarrassed when someone asks for a business card you have to say "Sorry I just ran out."

Also, be sure to get cards from everyone you meet. It doesn't matter if you are just starting your business or have been in business for years, you need to always be building your rolodex of contacts.

5. Wear a Name Badge
Many people hate name badges but this is one of the most important items you can have for your networking. First off, people will feel more comfortable with you if they see your name. Second, as you go to more events, people will forget your name. It's just a fact of life. BUT, they will feel more at ease when they come up and see your name on your badge. This will encourage them to come back over to you and talk to you. Nothing is more embarrassing than forgetting someone's name and trying to have a conversation with them. Help others feel at ease and encourage them to come back and talk to again. This is what builds the relationship.

6. Follow Up Is The Key
So what do you do with all those cards after the event?

Get them in a Contact Management System and follow up!

It doesn't matter if you use Outlook, ACT or any other system out there. You just want to get them in the system so you have a quick way to access all those contacts quickly in the future.

The important thing is to follow up quickly with them.

You should follow up via email, or phone call within the next 1-3 days at most. Make it a priority.

7. Show Up Early, Stay Late
Show up early to any event that you going to. This gives you the most chance of getting to know a few people before the crowds get there.

Stay late. Some of the best connections are made at the very end of an event. You get the people that are more dedicated (like yourself) and you can build strong relationships in a first meeting with someone this way.

8. Be Consistent
Don't just got to an event or group once and expect to make a difference. You need to show up more than once. Show people you are dedicated. Show them that you aren't a fly by night. Some groups will take a few meetings for them to even feel that they can trust you. Schedule it like any other appointment you might have and dedicate yourself to it.

In Conclusion

Using Networking can be one of the most important parts of your marketing mix. I've seen my own company grow from 15 clients to over 300 clients mostly directly because of networking. It's the best way a new business can get involved and get exposure without spending a lot of money.

Just keep these guides in mind as you are making your way to each event in order to get the most out of every event you go. Remember, you'll get out of it what you put in to it.

3 Reasons Why Being Known As The Authority Will Grow Your Business

One of the
most overlooked ways of marketing a small business owner in the
traditional world is to build yourself as the authority in your
industry. In the online world this is very common but most small
business owners don't realize how easy this is or how much this can
impact their business.

 What I'm talking about here is writing articles and publishing them.
Most of the time when I talk to small groups I ask the question if
they think they are writers. Almost no one says yes. Most of them
actually look scared when they even think about this.

 So why are articles so great to use to market your business?

Reason #1
Articles are actually one of the easiest and fasted ways to build your
reputation online and offline in your marketing. They are actually
much easier to write than you might think. All you have to do is think
of the most frequently asked questions you get from your customers on
how to use a product or what they they should know about a product or
service before they but it and then answer that question.

 They don't have to be very long either. Some people think that they
need to write a 20 page report and then they start having flashbacks
from high school. These articles can be anywhere from 300-800 words
long. I personally try to keep them at the 500 word mark when I am
writing.

 It might take a bit at first but the more you do it, the easier it will get.

 If you really have a hard time you can also hire a journalism student
form college to ghostwrite them for you.

 Reason #2
Articles make great website content. Search engines love new content.
That's what they are all about. Your fresh new articles can be added
to your website or posted to your blog easily and this will give you
more content for Google to index. More content = more listings on the
Search Engines.

 You can also publish your articles to online directories for free in a
lot of places. This is a great way to get additional exposure for your
name and your business.

 Reason #3
Local media is always looking for more fresh content. You can take
these same articles and get them published in your local newspapers
and other publications.

 Try getting published in your smaller local papers first. All you have
to do is call and find out who to submit the articles to. Asking never
hurt anyone. They may not need them but if they do, you might be able
to get published very easy and your new articles might even get turned
in to a regular column in the that paper.

 This is a huge credibility piece and really can make a difference for
any business if it is done right.

 The more you are known as the authority in your industry, the more
your business will thrive. Remember that this isn't complicated. Keep
it simple and just answer questions that you get form people all the
time.

3 Ideas To Make Your Business Stand Out From The Crowd

In today's economy, businesses are failing each and every day. Are we to blame the recession or Hard Times? The answer is no we can't. As business owners, we are responsible for our own actions.

The problem is that in almost every industry, everyone seems to think that they can be just like like everyone else and still do fine. That just isn't the case any more.

To make your business survive in these tough times, you have to stand out from the crowd. You can't be just like everyone else. If you are, then the only thing you have going for you in your price. Price wars are never a good thing and devalues your products or services.

So what can you do to overcome this issue? You need to differentiate yourself from your competition. The following ideas will help you stand out from the crowd and gain more business, helping your prospects know that your are the only logical choice.

1. What are your competitors doing? Do the opposite!
If they are all promoting on price, you should be promoting on extra value. What can you add to your products or services instead of dropping your prices?

If you sell a $100 product and your competitor is selling the same basic product for $90, then look at what you can add to your product that will give the value of $150 or $200 instead.

Anything from gift cards, an extra room of cleaning, to free chair massages at a hair salon can make a huge difference to your customers perception of your company and they will be willing to pay the extra price for the additional services.

2. Be unique
Add personality to your business. Let's look at an example. If you have a security company, your company uniforms could be different than the standard boring "Rent-a-cop" look by having camo-wearing guards or secret service style uniforms. Something to make you stand out from the norm.

This will not only get attention but other potential prospects will take more notice and be sure that all your employees have business cards to hand out if someone asks about your service.

3. Offer special services
How often do you find that it would be easier to get to the bank on a Sunday or later at night? How many banks do you know that are open 7 days a week? I can't count the number of times that I wished they were open because that's the only day I have a chance to get over there.

Stay open off hours, offer pickup and delivery (free or paid), Think about what the biggest complaints people have about your industry and look at creative ways to overcome these complaint. Market specifically to those special added benefits

Ok, so there you have it, 3 ideas that you can implement right away to make your business stand out form the crowd and market your business as the ONLY choice in your area or industry. Don't be afraid to experiment and be creative. The businesses that stand out the most get the most attention are more likely to be remembered in the long run.

3 Tips to Marketing Yourself At Other Special Events

How often do you actually attend special events in your local community? As a small business owner, you never know where your next client will come from. Be part of your community. By attending events in your local community, you are giving your company and yourself extra exposure you would not have otherwise.

If your company focuses on consumers, local expos and community fairs might be a great way to get involved.

Be sure to bring plenty of business cards.

Your business cards are the most cost effective way for you to market your business. It always amazes me how many business people I run in to at all types of events that don't carry their business cards with them. I've even met people in line at a coffee shop and made a connection with them. There is no excuse for not carrying a few cards with you at all times.

Be sure your business cards not only contain your contact information so it's easy for someone to contact you later, but be sure to include what you do on them. Too many times I've met someone while I'm out at an event and got their business card but once I got back to the office I couldn't remember what they really did. Make it simple for them to remember who you are AND what you do.

Don't just go to hang out and eat.

It doesn't do any good to go to any event if you don't stop by and make conversation with the other businesses that are at the event. Make new connections. These are business relationships that you should have so you can keep involved with the area and other businesses around you.

Your relationships aren't about the sale. They are about the relationships you can build with other people and how you can come together to help each other. If you keep this in mind, the sales will come by default and be much better and more qualified in the long run.

If an event had expo booths at it, be sure to talk to each of the exhibitors. Get to know what they do more. What can you do to help them out? Maybe you'll find someone that has the same type of customer that you do and you'll be able to work out a cross promotion with that business. You'll never know where your next great lead source may come from.

Follow up with the people you meet.

Just because you talked to someone at an event and gave them your card doesn't mean that they will call you. They are busy too. You need to be proactive and take action yourself. Pick up the phone and give them a call. Email them a quick note telling them it was great meeting them and invite them to meet for coffee or lunch some time. Build the relationship quickly. You'll impress them by your quick action and you'll speed up the relationship building quite a bit.

There is gold in your own community. Too often we think about the bigger picture and how we can get in front of thousands of people when we are missing the smaller more targeted crowds in our local community. You will never know where you might find your next big clients. Just get out there and be part of your community.

Small Business Marketing Ideas - 4 Steps To Position Your Company As The Experts

The hardest thing for small business owners is the want to be everything to everyone. There is a saying that says “You Can't Please All Of The People All Of The Time”. They are right. If you spread yourself out too much and try to market to everyone, you'll never become the expert. You'll be too much of a generalist. You don't want to be a Jack-of-all-trades. You should be focusing your business as a specialist and you'll be able to focus your marketing, find your target market easier and grow your business much faster.

Here's a few tips to help you narrow down your niche and become THE go to company for your specific niche.

Steps To Building Your Business Awareness As An Expert

Most industries have specific people that are considered the experts in their industry. Do you have any competitors that you keep seeing everywhere? They are published in newspapers, are guests on TV spots, etc?

It's not because they actually know more than you. It's because they know how to get media exposure. It's not actually that hard and you can skyrocket your small business by marketing this way and it isn't actually going to cost you a dime!

3 Tips to Specialize, Become The Expert In Your Industry & Target Your Marketing More Effectively

The biggest problem I see in most businesses today is that they try to be everything to everyone. This just isn't effective in the long term. You know the phrase “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Business is the same way. Too many businesses keep adding more and more products or services to their business that are related but not based around their core business and the next thing you know they are a generalist. To really succeed in your business and effectively use your marketing to target the right prospects, you need to specialize.

Specializing allows you to not only target your marketing better but it also allows you to charge more for your services. A general family doctor doesn't charge as much as a brain surgeon. This model works in pretty much any business and if you can specialize your business marketing and image, you can target your perfect client much easier.

4 Tips To Be Creative With Your Business Cards

Every business owner should have business cards for their business. It amazes me how many people show up to a Chamber mixer or other networking event and don't have business cards. Business cards are a critical piece of your marketing mix and should never be overlooked.

Your business card is one of the most cost effective marketing you can do in your business yet too many people either don't have business cards or have a business card that is plain and boring. You need to make your business card stand out from the stack of business cards that everyone collects every day in their own networking.

Building Monthly Residual Income For Your Existing Business

As a small business owner, you may be running into the up and down cash flow that most businesses run in to. This happens in almost any type of business. We have good months and then... Not so good months.

The best way to help eliminate this up and down issue is to set up a form of pre-paid program for your customers to help even out your cash flow and build a strong monthly base for your business.

This can be in the form of a pre-paid program, monthly autoship program or monthly membership program. This often overlooked income stream for your business can help any small business even out their cash flow and build your business each and every month.

So let's take a look at each of these three programs and expand on each one.

Pre-paid programs
This method works great if you have customers that make larger purchases. Using this method you can bring in a good cash flow at any time and guarantee that the customer spends their money with you. The best way to do this is with Gift Cards. Most of the major retail stores out there are using gift cards or reloadable cards as a great way to increase cash flow in their business.

These cards can have any amount of money added to them by the customer and then they can give it as a gift or even keep it for their own use. Some people will use these cards to help themselves keep a budget on their spending. They will go in each month and add a specific amount to the card as their “spending limit”. Parents buy these cards for college kids and reload them each money to ensure they can buy things they need but it's better than cash that they never know what it will be spent on.

From your side, you get paid either way. Once the money is spent on these cards, you know that you've been paid and have the cash flow. The customers may not use the cards right away but you already have been paid.

Autoship Programs
Many nutritional supplement companies use this as a way to ensure monthly recurring income and it's a great benefit for both the company and the customer.

You sign up for their program and every month they ship you your products without you having to do anything on your part.

The “Book Of The Month” Club was one of the first companies to use this type of system to ensure cash flow.

What products do you have that your customers need each month or even every couple of months that you could offer as an autoship program?

Office supply or printer supply stores might offer to autoship a customer's ink or toner each month to ensure that the customer never runs out of ink and just auto charge their account each month for the order.

It's easier for the customer so they don't have to worry about running out of ink in the middle of a big print job and the Supply store gets an automatic order each and every month.

Monthly Memberships
Monthly membership programs are the third way you can build in more stable cash flow for your business.

This type of program works best as an added upsell to a larger single purchase product. This could be a program for continual education and training on product that the customer purchased.

Another way this can be used is as a discount program. If the customer becomes part of your membership program, they might get your newsletter that gives them great tips and tricks each month but also gives them access to specific special discounts not offered to the general public.

Think about the a membership to Sam's Club or Costco. You can't even buy from there stores unless you are a member of their membership program.

So there you have it.

As a business owner, you need to be looking at ways you can build in a form of monthly residual income for your business in order to even out cash flow and build your business with a stable residual baseline of income. Getting this in place will help your business if you have a slower month here and there and ensure your business is growing each and every month.

Using Secret Sales To Build Customer Value And Market Your Small Business

One of the most overlooked assets any business has to boost sales in their small business is their existing customer base. How many businesses do you buy from that you never hear from again until you actually contact them to reorder that product again?

As a small business owner, it's your responsibility to keep in touch with your customers and prospects in order to make sure that they don't forget about you and end up buying from your competitor the next time they have a need.

One of the best ways to keep in touch with those customers is to have a secret closed door sale just for them. It makes them feel special and it gives you extra kudos for going out of your way just for them. This type of customer appreciation will go a long way to building your relationship and loyalty with your customers.

Remember that that there are only three ways to increase sales in any small business.

1. Increase your customer list.


2. Increase the dollar amount your customer spends each time with you


3. Or increase the number of times that customer buys from you

Instead of always focusing on just getting new customers like the rest of the other businesses out there, spend a little time working on the existing customers you have. They are much easier to sell to again as long as you are consistent on providing a great service.

What if you could hold a secret sale just for your existing customers? You could offer larger than usual discounts just for those people. Not only will you get them to come back but you are building the additional loyalty because of the special offer that is exclusive to just them.

People like to be part of an exclusive club or community. It makes them feel like they are part of something. It ties to basic human emotion. People want to be part of a special group. Your special sale will promote that and cater to their personal needs.

When thinking about your special secret sale, there are a couple of things that you should keep in mind when setting it up.

First off, don't be cheap. Obviously, you need to make a profit in order to stay successful but make the discounts on this sale much larger than you would normally offer. You are still going to make a profit that you might not have got without the sale at all and you are building your relationship with your customer at the same time. Keep in mind that your existing customers will be your best marketing tool for both repeat business and for referrals to their friends and family that might need your services too. You want to make sure that you keep them happy.

The second thing you should do is make your sale an event. Don't just send out an email or a single flyer about the event. Promote it like a big event. Send your customers VIP Pass promotional postcards or even design something for your email that they need to print out as an exclusive VIP pass. This enhances the experience for them and lets them know that this is something you did just to tell them that you appreciate their business and want to keep them happy. Happy customers talk more about your products than indifferent ones do.

You don't have to run a secret sale only once a year either. You can do it a couple of times a year. Just be sure to theme your sale to something special and you'll get better results from the event. Most businesses will do a sale during the holidays because it's such a popular time and everyone is looking for a sales during that time of year. You could do something different and get a large group of people that will remember you for it.

I've done Halloween sales before that were a huge hit. Why? Because that's my favorite holiday and it really stood out since no one else in our industry ever does a Halloween sale. Other small businesses marketing in my industry missed the boat since I had my sale a month before they even thought about theirs.

Be creative. Find odd holidays that you can use to help promote your sale and give it a reason why other than “just because”. Just be sure to keep it exclusive to your customers and make it a big deal that is reserved just for them because of your loyalty to them. Show them how much you appreciate them as customers and build that relationship. When you are looking at marketing your small business, you need to be ahead of the competition and look for new ideas and strategies to add to to your marketing mix.

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Direct Mail Is Still King For Marketing Your Businesses

As a small business owner, we know that we need to keep a good eye on our budgets. Over the recent few years businesses are pushing online traffic as their primary way of marketing their small business. While this is a great thing to do, many then forget about offline marketing via direct mail to their prospects and existing customers.

Direct mail has always had the highest response rate of any media used in the marketing mix and should not be ignored or discarded.

Direct mail can be much more personalized than any form of email or other online marketing. When your customer gets a personalized letter or postcard with their name on it, they feel like you care about them. Just adding “Dear Jane,” at the beginning of your sales letter will increase the chances of them reading it and feeling like you wrote it directly to them. Even if they know that it was a mail merge, sub-consciously they feel like you sent it just to them.

So what are the best ways to use direct mail as another tool in your marketing mix?

Personalized sales letters are a great way to grab the attention of new prospects. Send them a letter introducing yourself and your products. The first letter can be very casual. Tell a little about yourself and why you are with the company or if you are the owner, that's even better. Tell them why you started the company and what your purpose is. This makes the prospect get to know you before they have even met you. Remember people buy from who they know, like and trust. You are building trust at this point.

One of the best things to do after mailing this type of letter is to give it a few days and follow up with a phone call. You aren't making a cold call any more. You are now just following up to make sure they got your letter. This will easily open the doors for a conversation and even a sales meeting.

Postcards are also a great tool to add to your marketing mix. You can get personalized postcards done that still have a note to the prospect with their name on it. Postcards are also a great way to follow up with existing clients. Send them a birthday card, or any other holiday card. You can use great systems to automate the process so the cards are automatically sent out but still have that personal touch to them. This will endear you to your customers and they will keep you in their minds.

Let's say that you are in a business complex with other businesses that cater to the same types of clients. You could get together with the other business owners in the complex and create your own community coupon packs. This would be similar to card decks or Val-Pak marketing but it's designed just for the businesses in your area. You could have them printed up and then mail them to the neighborhoods in your surrounding area. This is very targeted and the cost of this marketing program would be split between all the participating businesses. You each only have to pay a small amount to get your marketing out to your target market in your local area.

As you can see, direct marketing can be a great way to market your small business. It can not only be one more tool to add to your marketing mix but it also will produce higher responses than other more generic marketing and advertising if it is done correctly. So not matter what you are doing to market your business, direct mail should be just one more thing to add to your small business marketing mix.

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Preselling From Your Office Lobby

Do you have a brick and mortar office location or retail location that you customers come in to? Then you could be pre-selling your customers on your products and services before they actually even meet with you.

Your first impressions are critical in any business. Just like your first image of how you dress, your office should have the same image when a client comes in your door. A clean and professional look and feel will really make a difference in your customer's eyes.

Small Business Marketing Ideas To Expand Your Client Base Quickly

Businesses close up shop every day. There are a dozen reasons that your competition might be closing their doors. Economic changes, bad business operations, bad location or just a lack of a marketing plan (not you though, right?!)

As hard as it is for these businesses and their owners, most of them will still want to make sure that their customers are taken care of after they close their doors. This makes a great opportunity for you to not only get a new list of potential clients but make sure that those people are taken care of once the old business is long gone.

Only 80 Days Left To Vote!

So about 2 months ago I asked everyone to do me a favor…

Do you remember what it was?

Did you do it?

Well…if you did thank you and if you didn’t, now is your chance to redeem yourself.

I asked you to go and cast your vote for the 4 companies listed below (and anyone else you wanted to) for the Ranking Arizona Publication’s poll for 2010. Ahh, now you remember.

For those of you who don’t remember, or who maybe didn’t get the last request, here in Arizona (where we are based) there is a publication that comes out each year called Ranking Arizona. Here is their explanation of what they are, right off of their web site:

“Ranking Arizona is the outcome of the largest business opinion poll in Arizona. Each category is selected by the staff of Arizona Business Magazine for the general public to vote on and are based upon business and leisure activities of Arizona’s business professionals.”

So, we need you to go vote. There are a few businesses that they have listed that we would like to help get the mention in the 2010 publication.

Voting is really easy, you simply click the link, click search by name, enter the name, pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click “Cast my vote”. A few simple steps and you help a small business get a bit of publicity.

Cast Your Vote

Companies Looking For Votes:
Knight Tymes Designs (Advertising & Marketing/Graphic Design Firms)
Coyote Targeted Promotions (Advertising & Marketing/Promotional Products)
Westworld Paintball Adventures (Entertainment/Family Amusement)
Deborah Mitchell - West USA (Real Estate - Residential/Real Estate Agents)

Cast Your Vote Today!

If there is someone I did not see on the list, I’m sorry. And if you know of another business in Arizona please vote for them too!

If you voted last time, THANK YOU! But you can vote again. Each person can vote once every 60 days. So please help us out by voting again.

Thank you everyone!!!

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Be An In-House Speaker

You are an expert in your industry or field of business aren't you? Then you have a great opportunity to use that to educate the public about your industry and establish yourself as an expert in your industry.

Just like having your own free mini-seminars, becoming an in-house speaker is a great way to educate consumers, establish your credibility and help market your products and services.

Take a look at your local Chambers of Commerce. Chambers are always looking for more benefits they can offer to their Chamber members and your educational seminar or workshop is just one more thing that they can add to their list of benefits. Ask them if they would like you to come and speak at one of their events. You could have a talk about the dangers in choosing a professional in your field. We all have scam artists in our own fields. Educate their members about the scams that are out there and how they can spot these scams and save their hard earned money.

You can also look at trade associations. They are similar to Chambers of Commerce but are organizations geared to businesses in one specific industry. You could become the specialist in working with HVAC business owners, or Home Remodeling businesses. I know these two groups do have have their own trade organization. Check around and see what other industries have organizations like this and contact them. Most of the time, they really want to help their members out any way they can and if your talk will help educate their members, they'll be very grateful to have you speak at one of their events.

When it comes to your presentation and what to talk about, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. Here's a checklist to help you get things as organized as possible and make your presentations a hit every time.

Your time frame
Most of the time, there is a standard time frame that each group might have. It's best to make a list of topics you can talk about and figure out which of these topics will fit into specific time frames. Generally, most organizations will want you have a presentation for one of the following time frames: 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes.

Most of the time they will only have time for 10-30 minutes depending on the event itself so you don't have to worry about the bigger ones for now.

Outline your presentations so you can set up your presentations to fit in to each of these time frames. Trust me from experience, it's no fun to run out of time and have your great presentation cut off. You want to be able to complete your presentation and have room for a few questions at the end in order to make the best impression on the attendees of the event.

Let's say you are asked to talk for 30 minutes on your topic. You should plan your presentation roughly around the following time frame. 25 talking about your topic and educating the attendees, 3 minutes to answer questions and the final 2 minutes could be a small pitch for your own products or services.

Notice that I didn't say 30 minutes of pitching your products. You need to establish yourself as the expert and build the relationship before you start trying to pitch anyone. Your purpose for speaking at these events is to establish yourself as an expert in your industry and educate the attendees on the best practices in working with someone in your industry. You could also give them a few things that they can do for free even if they don't hire you. This will endear you to them and you will quickly become an established authority to them. Then, when they are ready, they will be much more likely to chose you to hire than someone else that hasn't done anything to build the relationship.

Be sure to also allow time after your presentation so you can meet the members and talk with them one on one. Many times, if you educated and entertained them, they will want to come meet you after you are done with your presentation. Be sure to make time for this as this is where you have one more chance to build the relationship and really make a great impression on them. Answer their questions, thank them for having you and don't be afraid to feel a bit like a celebrity. It can happen and that's ok. Just don't let it go to your head too much. (grin)

Speaking at local organizations is a great way to establish yourself and your company in any market and if you are looking to niche to a specific industry, this can be the most effective way to do this. Just remember, to educate, not pitch or sell to them. Once you have established your credibility to them, they will be much more likely to buy your products and services and your marketing efforts will have paid off much quicker.


Download the free Quickstart Guide "Step by Step: Writing Ads That Actually Work!" by visiting http://www.MaximumProfitsMarketing.com to learn how to write a more effective ad to promote yourself either online or offline.

Ely Delaney has been teaching people how to market their businesses since 1997 and teaches how to market your business online and offline to boost sales, by teaching what you should do, why you should do it, and most importantly how to do it.

Marketing Ideas – Volunteering Does Good And Helps Build Your Small Business

One very overlooked way that a small business owner can help to market their business is to volunteer in a community organization. As a volunteer with a local organization, you not only are helping out the community and making a difference for others in your community, but you also get to network with other business owners and prospects, building your relationships with them.

Community organizations are always looking for people to volunteer to help their organization. Many do look for donations for their fund raising events and such but many times, most of them really need people that would be willing to donate a few hours of their time to help with their events and causes.

Donating a little bit of your time can really help their cause and help you contribute to your community. At the same time, you will have the opportunity to be part of your community and help develop better relationships with the other volunteers. Many of these volunteers are also business owners and managers just like you. Networking with other people that are all working for a similar cause can really help you as a business owner build trust with your community and the side effect of this is more people that would be happy to refer your business to anyone that might need the services or products you supply.

Great businesses are built from great people and the relationships you and your employees have with your community can position your business as more than just a company providing a service but a company with high ethics and a real purpose in your area.

Remember that everything you do has a cause and effect in the image and promotion of your business.

Let's look at a few great ways you can contribute to your community.

1. Be active in Your Chamber Of Commerce - Chambers Of Commerce are a great way to help contribute. They are filled with businesses. Most are small businesses just like yours. The great thing about Chambers is that they not only work with business owners for promoting their businesses, but most of them are part of several charities that they help contribute to. Talk to them about the organizations they work with and volunteer to help out with their next fund raising event.

Many times, there are sponsorship opportunities available for donating a set dollar amount to the event. This is great to do if it's in your budget but remember it's not about just giving them money to place your logo on a flyer or a banner at the event. It's about really giving. Ask them how you can participate in the event itself.

Can you help stuff bags that are being handed out at the event?

How about helping check people in at the next Charity golf outing?

This is more about building relationships and really helping out, not just getting your name out there.

2. Join a local service organization - Local service organizations are a great way you can get involved. Kiwanis International, Lions Club, and Rotary Club are just a few places to start. These groups meet on a regular basis and their entire purpose is to work on ideas and events to help raise money for local community charities. This is like a networking group with the purpose to help your community. Be active, look at one group that you see would be a great fit for your beliefs and ideals and you will make a great contribution to their cause.

Again, this is hands on stuff, your involvement with these groups is about being involved and helping the community, not about promoting your business. The relationships you build will give you the side effect of more business and more sales.

3. What cause is close to your heart? - Most people have at least one thing that is near and dear to them and there are always charities based around those causes. Maybe it's a Cancer Research Group, or an Animal No Kill Shelter. What is important to you? See what groups are available in your area that you can volunteer with and help them out.

Again, many of these organizations have other business owners just like you that are there to help because of their own personal interest in that cause. You have something in common with those people right away and that's the start of a relationship.

The biggest thing to remember is that you should not be joining any type of charity organization or community organization for the soul reason of getting more business. The business your get is a byproduct of your involvement and giving to your community for the greater good. Trust me on this one. If you give from your heart and really contribute to your community and society in general, the return you get from it will be tenfold.

Are You REALLY Promoting Word of Mouth In Your Marketing?

When most small businesses are asked where the majority of their business comes from, the answer is Word of Mouth. Anyone that is a small business owner knows that Word of Mouth marketing can be the lifeblood of any business you have, but most business owners don't really think about HOW to promote Word Of Mouth as a conscious marketing tool for their business.

• Yes, you provide a great service.


• Yes, you provide great products.


• Yes, you have exceptional Customer Service.

But, what do you do to actually create Buzz around your business?

Word of mouth isn't just about doing a great job and expecting you customers to tell someone else about the job you did.

Word of mouth can become much more than that. It should become Viral. Let's take your basic Word of Mouth marketing and boost it in to a full on conscious Viral Marketing piece of your entire Marketing Mix.

What makes you stand out?
Providing exceptional services and products should be a given. Enough said there!

What you need to do is find the thing that makes you stand out from everyone else in your industry and create buzz about your business.

What can you do that will become viral?
Can you give away something that everyone that gets one will want to tell all of their friends about?

We have a business course that we give way for free to create buzz about our business. We're helping small business owners with their marketing and at the same time it helps promote our business. We encourage anyone that registers for the course to forward the email to their friends to download too. Since we are business to business, this really helps as many small business have good networks of other small business owners that they know. Most of the time, they all want to help each other out when they can, and this is a way for them to help out their friends.

This has become viral in just a matter of weeks because people have been excited about the free course that they get and they keep telling others about it because of the great information they get out of it.

Can you give something like this away for your business?

Have you ever seen a retail store that has an anniversary sale with big ticket items like TVs or DVD players for $10 for the first XX number of people? This is the same type of viral marketing. People will tell their friends about these types of sales. They even make it an event and groups of people will come together to make sure they all get to take advantage of the sale.

You might be thinking that you can't afford to do something like this but you need to think about the long term value of a customer. Once they come in and buy something from you the first time, how much will they spend with you in the future? Even on the day of the sale, will they come in and JUST buy the sale item. Most likely not. Many times, they spend so much more on additional products that they more than pay the cost of the sale item before they even leave.

But now you've added a new customer to your list that you can build a long term relationship with resulting in future sales for maybe years down the road. It's 10 times easier to sell to an existing customer than to find a new customer. Take advantage of your new relationship and nurture it just getting a new customer to building a raving fan.

Word of Mouth or Viral Marketing should be more than a passing thought. If your business relies on Word of Mouth Marketing to keep you going strong like so many other businesses, you need to bring it to the forefront of your marketing mix and actually devise a plan around what you do to make it more effective. Spending a little time planning this in your marketing plan will boost your sales and marketing efforts allowing you to spend less of your hard earned cash on other more expensive advertising and marketing ideas.

Your existing customers are your best asset and with a little work you can turn them from the occasional word of mouth fan to a full on raving fan and create your own mini sales force. Encourage them to talk about you. Stand out from the crowd and keep on top of their minds.

With the proper Word of Mouth marketing planning added to your marketing mix, you can see an exponential explosion in your customers and sales for your business.

How Can Marketing CD or DVD Salesletters Explode Your Sales?

People generally wouldn't even consider reading 90 minutes of sales copy but they will listen to it or better yet, watch it. If you send someone a 16 page sales letter, they may read it IF you've done an excellent job of writing it but most will just skim over the main points. A CD or DVD on the other hand, has a higher perceived value and is more likely to be watched.

With Video becoming so powerful both online and offline, you can take your sales presentation to a whole new level and make a lasting impression on your new prospective clients.

Which do you think would make a better impact, a printed sales pitch talking about your product or a video that shows a demonstration of the product? What it is, how it works, how to use it. And, what if you added testimonials to the video? Instead of a bunch of written testimonials from faceless people, your new prospect can see the reactions on their faces and the true excitement they have about your product or service.

So let's talk about a few key things that you can use in your CD or DVD Salesletter that will really make an impact on your prospects.

1. A Good Introduction -
Make your prospects connect with you and the leader of your company. If you are the owner of the company, you should do a short introduction video with an overview of who you are, why you started the company and what your vision is for you and your customers. Help them make a connection with you. This will help them feel like they know you and this will help them trust you even more.

Remember, people buy from people that they know, like and trust. Even if this isn't professionally done video, just be genuine and your prospects will feel more at ease with you and your company.

2. Demonstrate The Product -
Nothing can sell a product or service better than seeing it in action. Show the prospect how the product works. How does it save them time? How does it save them money? How does it make their family happier? Show the step by step process. A real demonstration of the product will really give them the nuts and bolts of your product or service. You can tell people about your product and what it can do but if you show them, you'll see the WOW in their eyes and really make a lasting impression.

If you can show a sample of another customer of yours using your product, that's even better. If your prospect sees another person “just like them” using your product easily and having a good time doing it, you've made your sale even easier. One of the biggest hold backs many people have with buying a product is the fear of not knowing how to use it correctly. Set their mind at ease and show your other customers or clients using the same product with a big smile on their faces.

3. Be Sure To Include Happy Customer Testimonials
- No one can sell your product better than a happy, excited existing customer. You should be using testimonials on all of your marketing no matter what it is. Video is no different and is even more powerful that anything else out there. Video not only says what your happy customers are thinking already but your prospects can see the excitement in their expressions. It puts a real face to a name and adds credibility to your testimonials. The more excited your customers are, the more believable they will be. No matter how good the testimonial is, you'll never get the same impact from a text only testimonial as you would from a video with your customer talking about how great your product really is.

The great thing about a CD or DVD salesletter is that you don't have to spend a fortune to create them. If it's in your budget, I would recommend hiring a professional but if you don't have a budget for it, you can create your own CD or DVD with software you might already have on your computer and a basic camera that shoots video or an inexpensive camcorder like a Flip Video.

Cameras and Video editing software have come down on price so much that you can could start creating your own DVD salesletter for under $200 for everything anymore.

Don't forget that you can also use the same videos you created for your CD or DVD on your website too. Adding Video to your website can make a huge impression on your prospects and do most of the selling for you. You could have them learn about your product, watch a demonstration video and watch a ton of testimonials... All before you even talk to them!

You don't have to have a big budget or a big fancy Video Production team to make use of video on your CD or DVD salesletter to really make an impact on your new prospects and impress them with your products and services. Your CD or DVD salesletter is sure to make a big impact on your prospects and make your job easier when it comes to selling your product to them. Your CD or DVD salesletter could easily be the most productive piece of your marketing mix.

Using Thank You Letters In Your Marketing Mix For Repeat Business

How many times have you actually received a Thank You letter from someone that you bought something from? I'm betting, not very many times. Your existing client list is over 10 times more likely to spend more money with you than someone that never has purchased form you before.

Whether you send a gift certificate, a 2 for 1 special, a free gift or even just a simple Thank You letter appreciating them for choosing you over the other businesses they could have picked, these types of letters are always memorable and encourages your customers to return to you before looking elsewhere. It also helps them feel good about you and they will be more likely to refer you to their friends and business associates.

Let's look at a few ideas that can make Thank You letters more effective for your marketing mix.

Immediately after the sale, send the customer a simple thank you letter.

This should be a personalized thank you letter or card telling them how much you appreciate their business. If this is a service business where there is a project in phases, you can even explain to them what they can expect over the duration of the project.

This not only educates them on the process and attention to detail your company has but also reassures them of their purchase. Some people can get buyer's remorse after making a purchase. Especially if this is a large investment. This simple follow up Thank You letter will put their mind at ease and make them feel much more comfortable about their decision of choosing you to work with.

Monthly Thank You follow ups
Remind your customers about the great service and experience they received with you.

A simple reminder Thank You can remind customers about the wonderful experience they received from you. Remember that people are busy and it's your responsibility to remind them of your products and services. You want to keep on the top of their minds and build the relationship with them. Let them know how you you value them as a customer.

Not only should you remind them of their value to you as a client but show them you mean it. You can include discount coupons or gift certificates to invite them to come back again. You could include a 2 for 1 discount and invite them to bring a friend with them. This will really encourage them to bring in referrals and show other people how great your products or services are.

Send them a discount on a new product you have to offer. Just because someone ordered one of your products, doesn't mean they know about the other products or services you offer. This is another way to not only thank them for doing business with you but to also educate them on your other products and encourage them to use your services for those products as well.

Don't loose touch with your existing customers.
They are the lifeblood of any business and using a simple thank you letter or card can really make a difference and keep you in the top of their minds, build the relationship and help them want to give you referrals. This lifetime value can dramatically increase the sales from any one client if done correct.

Are You Using Contests To Add Buzz To Your Marketing Mix?

Contests are a great way to add buzz to any marketing you do for your business. You can use contests to boost your marketing efforts for both getting new prospects or clients and also for adding new buzz and promoting to existing clients. Contests are a proven and very effective way to get leads and generate sales for any business.

Let's look at a few great examples of ideas to use contests in your marketing for both lead generation and also for client promotions and marketing buzz.

If you are looking to use contests as a lead generation tool in your marketing mix, here are 3 ideas to get you going.

The Trade Show Fishbowl
You've seen them before, the fishbowl or box with a sign to drop your business card in for a drawing.
This is a great way to collect leads for your business. You could offer a free dinner for two to a local restaurant, movie tickets, or even better, a product that you offer for free. Let's say, if you are a carpet cleaner, you could offer a free cleaning of the winner's living room.

The kicker here isn't just to collect the names but to give a Second Prize award to everyone that didn't win the first prize drawing. Make it a big deal. Send out an email or better yet, physical letter announcement congratulating the winner to EVERYONE on the list.

Then, you can include a Second Place prize to all the other names on the list that is a nice discount on your products or services. Make it something that looks like a prize though. Include a certificate that id designed nice to look like a real prize and not just a typical coupon of filler. Make the discount something significant. 24-50% off if you can do it. You could offer a free upgrade from your basic package to the deluxe option here also. This is a great way to make the person that receives the letter feel more special and excited about winning the prize.

Guess The Number
Have you seen the jellybean jars that some businesses use at trade shows or events? This is also a great contest you can run at an event or even in your retail store or shop. Find a number that fits in with your business and is a large number that you can have added up in jellybeans. This could be the number of dollars your company has saved your customers of the last year, the number if customers you have, number of people that have downloaded your life changing report, etc. Be creative with this and try to use something that will not only mean more to the customer but also impresses prospective customers by the shear number.

Then, get a jar to hold enough jelly beans for that number and fill up the jar with that number of jelly beans. Seal it up and have people at your event fill out a form guessing the number of jelly beans in the jar. Be sure to have them fill out a complete form containing their full contact information.

Once the event is over, find the person that guessed closest to the correct number and announce them as the winner with their guess and the correct number in the jar. Be sure to include a sales letter explaining the significance of the number of jelly beans and why that is important to them as customers or potential customers.

Again, include a Runner Up prize with the announcement to everyone else that entered with the same type of special offer that you would with the fishbowl. Many of the people that didn't win will still use they're Runner Up certificate as they still will like that they won something and if they were in need of your services already, they'll be excited about the offer.

Best Of the Best Contests
If you run a Business To Business company and your products or services save your clients time, money, etc, you can run a Best Of The Best Contest for your existing clients and not only promote the use of your product and other products they might not have yet, but also built a ton of case studies and testimonials on how great your product is. Send out an announcement to your customers that you are running a Best Of the Best contest and that you are looking for the customer that has had the biggest effect by using your products or services.

Set some guidelines for the contest. If could be an essay, a journal of how they use the product and including before and after results.

If you have enough entries, you can even narrow it down to the top 3-5 entries and then have your other clients vote on the finalize from there. You not only get great testimonials and case studies from the entries but also get other users of your product or service to think about additional ways to use your product and how they can get the same great results that they weren't getting before without your product.

Using contests in your marketing mix is a great way to promote your business to both existing customers and clients but also to help to promote your business and make it more fun for prospective customers also. This can help build a new list of prospects and even fire up your existing customers to help talk about the great results that have had from your products and services. Great testimonials, new clients from trade shows, and great customer case studies from raving fans are just a couple of things you can get from using contests as just piece of your marketing mix.

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Mini Seminars To Establish Yourself As The Authority In Your Area

A great way to not only promote your business but also to increase your position as an authority in your industry is to hold mini-seminars. Many small business owners over think this and think this is too complicated or expensive to do for their business. It really isn't and you can start small with it and grow it as you get the word out more.

It doesn't matter what industry you look at, people are always wanting more information and want to feel that they made an educated decision in their choice of company that they work with. By putting on a small mini-seminar, you can use this method to educate your prospects about the industry so they make a better choice and at the same time establish yourself as the expert.

You don't have to have a room of 100 people in your first mini-seminar. You can start with a room that will only hold ten people. It doesn't have to be huge right away. You can also use this as scarcity in your marketing and promotions for the event. If you can only take 10 people, then they need to register right away.

You can either rent a small conference room at a hotel or look to your local library or Chamber of Commerce to see if they have a room you can use. Depending on the situation, you might be able to get the room for free.

The timing of your mini-seminar can be as small as a two hour presentation. You don't have make it a full day event. Again, start smaller and expand as needed. Especially if you are doing the event at no cost to your attendees. You want to give them a great educational experience but remember that the goal is to also get them to see you as the expert and hire your company for their needs.

You will also need to decide on the price.
There are advantages to both free and paid seminars.

Free Seminars
1. More people will register for something that is free
2. You then get in front of a lot more people that way
3. You can some times get the room for free if you are not charging for the event
4. You can then establish yourself as the expect first and wow them with your knowledge which will make them more likely to trust to buy from you.
5. Can be shorter (2-3 hours)

Paid Seminars
1. Covers any cost of the room
2. You can make a profit on the event itself and make it another source of income
3. People will be more serious about the event since they are invested
4. It's ok to have a smaller group. Attendees will appreciate the more personal attention they will get

If your main goal is to get more prospects, you might even want to charge a small fee (under $25) in order to get still cover any expenses but also be able to get more people to attend. Most people won't think much of spending $25 for an event they are interested in.

Be sure to give a lot of great information in your presentation and really over deliver in what you are teaching about as you want attendees to really be excited about the even. Even if they don't buy your product right away, you left them with a positive experience and they will tell others.

And most importantly, be sure to follow up with the event. Make sure that you have complete information for every person that attended the event. This way you can follow up with them in the future and turn them from prospects into clients.

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Using Inserts To Sell Your Existing Customers Again

One of the most overlooked small business marketing ideas is the use of package inserts to upsell and continue selling your existing customers. They have already bought from you before and as long as you are providing a great service already, they are likely to buy from you again.

I see it a lot with the big catalog type of companies but most small businesses don't think to use this in their own marketing. Think about the last time you bought something from Amazon or a catalog company. Usually when you get your package in the mail you also get a few inserts or flyers talking about other products that you might be interested in. This is an upsell. They might even promote it at a special discounted price on the insert.

Any business can do this. Are you a service business that provides the clients with their invoice after they job it done? You could give the client an additional insert on a discount on their next job or a special price on another service you offer.

Do you mail customers invoices? You could also do an insert here. If you've looked at your cell phone invoice at all lately they usually stick a couple inserts in with the bill promoting their new phones and service plans.

Let's say you're a printer. You could insert a flyer in your invoices that reminds customers to check their business card stack and order new cards before they run out. Or you could promote a new product you just added to your line.

When designing your inserts, you also want to be creative. Here's a few things to think about before you start.

1. Focus on only one product.
Don't try to fit everything you do on one insert. Keep it simple and focuses on just one service or product.

2. Make it stand out.
Use bright colors and large bold fonts. You want this to catch their attention as soon as they open the package. It doesn't do any good if they don't even look at it.

3. Make sure it's on the top of your package.
Don't let your insert get buried in the bottom of the package. You want them to see the insert BEFORE they see the product they ordered. You want them to open and read it first.

4. What product or service compliments what they ordered?
Depending on the volume and type of business you do, it's best to find complimentary products that might go with the products they ordered. If someone ordered a table, they usually want matching chairs, right? Depending on your product line, they might not even have noticed that this second product would go great with what they ordered. You want to offer it to them as soon as possible so they can complete the collection.

Remember that your existing clients at always ten times more likely to buy from you again than a new client. Don't pass up the opportunity to sell them more of your services and products at every opportunity. If you provide great service, most will be likely to buy additional products from you. Especially right after the first sale. Too many small businesses focus on the new clients and not enough on selling more to existing clients. This is a simple and cost effective way to increase sales with very little work on your part and is a great addition to your small business marketing plan.

A Simple Call Can Explode Your Direct Mail Results And Help Your Small Business Marketing

Direct Mail is a great marketing tool for any small business marketing plan. It's the staple for many businesses world wide and has been for years. But, many small businesses don't have the budget for large mailings on a regular basis. One simple way to increase the return on investment on any direct mail campaign that you do, can be to simply pick up the phone and follow up.

Most small businesses just send out one letter, postcard or mailer to a list of prospects and never do anything else. And most don't get the results that they expect from that mailing. The key is follow up.

Here's a great step by step process that will increase the chances of any direct mail marketing piece to be much more successful and explode your sales.

First send your prospects a sales letter designed to look like it was personally mailed to them. Be sure to include their name in the letter with Mail Merge and personalize the letter a bit to sound more personal. You should set up a campaign of 3 letters to be sent out once every 3 weeks.

Be sure to reference the previous letters in the second and third letters.

Now, here's the kicker.

After the third letter, call the prospect. Yes! Actually pick up the phone and call them.

We all hate making cold calls in any sales position but this isn't really a cold call. You've already made a connection with them. When you call then, you're not trying to make a connection. You're actually following up to make sure that they received your letters. That's the purpose of your call. You'll start off by asking if they received your letters.

If they did, did they have any questions?
Who are they currently using for the services you provide?
Why do they use that company?
Would they be willing to sit down and talk with you about your product and how you can improve their business with your product?

Now you can get your foot in the door for a meeting and get in front of them.

Just because someone didn't call you from your direct mail piece, doesn't mean that they weren't interested. We all get busy and if they are a business owner you know they are even more busy. This might be the perfect opportunity to get to the top of their mind. They might have planned on calling you already and just had not had a chance to stop and do it.

I've personally used this several times and ended up with twice as many leads because of the phone calls than I did than by people actually contacting me after our own direct mail campaigns. That's a 50% increase from the mailers by themselves.

If they haven't received your direct mail pieces, here's your opportunity to update their contact information and still ask for the appointment. You could send them to your website and walk them through the benefits and advantages of your products or services and still end up with the sale.

So for small businesses direct mail is a great tool to add to your marketing mix but a simple 5 minute phone call following up to any mailing campaign you do can really explode your results and get that new client in the door that will pay for the entire campaign.

5 Tips To Using Circulars In Your Small Business Marketing

Circulars, along the same lines as flyers, are a great way to market your business as a small business owner in any community. This marketing ideas works for both consumer or business markets and can help establish your company in your local community as the Go To business for the products and services you sell.

You can distribute your circulars to areas in your local community. Churches, coffee shops, community boards, Chambers of Commerce, and even maybe your local library are all great places to see if you can place your circulars.

The design of your circular should basically be like other flyers you might create and here are a few things to keep in mind for your circular.

1. Design of your circular
Keep the design simple and clean. Don't go crazy with your fonts and colors. You can't want it to look like a bad piece of art. You want to have a direct message that clearly explains who you are, what you do and what the benefits of using your company are.

2. Customize the circular to the group
If you are distributing your circulars to your local church, be sure to customize the message and offer (more on the offer below) to that group. Make them feel like you are giving them a deal because they are also part of that group. Add the group name to the headline so when they see it they know it was designed just for them and it will make them feel more special.

3. Focus on one product or service
Don't try to fit everything you do on a one page flyer. Chances are you do more than what can fit on one page. Focus your message on the one thing that you think will benefit the group your are promoting to the most. You can still include a small list of other services too but keep the majority focused on your main product.

4. Offer a special discount or coupon
Your coupon or discount will serve two purposes. For any form of advertising you do to promote your business products or services.

First off, it gives the prospect a special and people love to get discounts and free stuff. Any time there is a coupon or discount, they will be more likely to pay attention and take advantage of the special. Be sure to customize the discount just for that group. You'll increase response just because it's just for their group. If you are offering a 10% off discount for your local Church group, then they will feel more loyal because you are doing this for them.

5. Include a direct Call To Action
You have to tell people what to do next. Do you want them to come in to your store with their coupon? How about calling you and mentioning a specific code. We have used this with our Chamber Of Commerce membership. We tell them to mention they are Chamber Members to get special discounts and offers when they call us.

As you can see, circulars are a great addition to your small business marketing ideas as long as you keep a couple of things in mind. Using circulars can increase your business presence in your local community and get clients that know, like and trust you very quickly.

4 Keys to Using Trade Shows In Your Marketing Mix

Trade Shows are a great way to capture leads for your business. Remember that getting the lead is the most important part of any marketing plan. You are building a list of hot prospects that are interested in your product. The best kind of lead out there.

1. Don't sit behind the booth!
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see people at trade shows do. You spent a lot of money to be there. Don't waste it by sitting behind your booth like a bump on a log. Stand in front of your booth and be interactive with the people walking by. Catch their attention. Talk to them and invite them over to look at your materials. Answer questions related to your products. Don't just let them look and walk away.

Ask people that do come up to your booth if they have any questions. Ask them if they are familiar with your services or products. Engage the audience. Think about the carnies at the fair midway. You are similar to them. You don't get paid if people don't play. Now you don't have to as annoying or pushy as them but you do need to stand out and engage people so they don't just walk past your booth without talking to you. They may not even know they need your product but after you talk to them they might see a whole new light and really be interested in talking more. Guess what... That's a lead!

2. Get their name and phone number!

So what are you really at the trade show for? To get leads. If anyone tells you trade shows are just great name awareness, walk away and try not to laugh at them. Yes, that is one reason to be there but it's not the main reason. Just because they saw your booth, doesn't mean they will remember you once they've gone through two more rows of booths. You need to collect their information. If it's a Business to Business trade show, collect business cards from everyone you meet. If it's Business to consumer, have a simple form to fill out so you can follow up with them after the show.

One of the best things you can do it have a Free Report or Consumer Awareness Guide that you can mail or email to them after the show. Offer to send it to them the next day if they give you their name, email address and physical address. Now you are building your list. You now have someone specific to market to!

Offer a free giveaway item. Everyone has seen the fishbowl drawings at trade show booths. They don't do this just to get you to stop by their booth. They do it because you now have given them your contact information so they can follow up and market to you in the future. You should be doing the same. It doesn't have to be something big like a free vacation if that's not in your budget. It can be for a gift basket of your products or even as simple as a gift card to your local coffee shop. People always like the opportunity to get something for free. They will go out of their way and fill out your registration form in order to get something for free!

3. Stay to the end
It always amazes me how many vendors at trade shows stay for an hour or so and then pack up because they're bored or tired. Guess what! You paid to be there. Stick it out to the end. I've personally made more connections in the last 30 minutes of trade shows I've attended than in the entire three or four hours I've been there. This is especially important if you are in a Business to Business trade show. You can make more connections with the other vendors than the walk through traffic so don't discard the value of visiting the other vendors there also. It might be the best connection you make. You will never know if you leave after the first hour.



4. Follow up after the show

So many people I see at trade shows collect business cards or names on a list and never do anything with them. They expect that just because someone saw them at the trade show that they will call the vendor to buy something. It's your responsibility to follow up and get the sale. Not their's. This is your chance to make a great impression on them and follow up as soon as you can to set up a meeting, send them more information about you or just to ask them if they are ready to buy. Offer them a free estimate.

You just need to follow up as soon as you can and keep them in your database for future promotions.

This is how you can build a list quickly and use trade shows to build your list of prospects quickly and get the most out of any trade show you are part of.

Small Business Marketing Ideas – Using Door Hangers To Market Your Local Businesses

If you own or operate a retail business, door hangers are a great way to get your name out and get customers in your local area in the door. Most of the time, people only think about door hanger for the local pizza delivery place down the street but why do you think they use this method of marketing? Because it works very well and is usually where most of their business comes from. Adding door hangers to your marketing mix can be very effective and drive people from your local community in your door just as well a it does for the local pizza joint.

There are many companies that specialize in delivering door hangers to local neighborhoods for a very affordable price. You could also hire students from a local high school to do this for you and help out a couple of local kids in the process.

This works best with anyone in the food industry but almost any business that has a retail location targeting consumers can benefit from this type of marketing. If you own a massage spa you can promote a grand opening or a neighborhood special event to get people in the door to see who you are and the services your business offers. This is a great way to bring awareness that you are in their area. People love to find services that are in their local area. This is convenient for them and also gives them a sense of community when they spend their money with the business down the street instead of driving across town.

More and more, people are aware of the community and want to spend their money locally to build their community instead of buying somewhere else. Many times, they will even be willing to spend more to help out a local business instead of the cheaper guy online or that is further away from them.

So, find local neighborhood communities in your area that are your target market. You may need to do a little research to make sure that these areas are your target market. Be sure you are catering to people that are your target market. If you offer physical therapy for the elderly but your office is surrounded by communities of young couples, then you need to look a little further. You'll be wasting your money to market to these neighborhoods.

Find out as much information as you can about these neighborhoods. Income levels, are they married, do they have kids, etc. These all will tell you if this neighborhood is a good fit for your marketing. It will also tell you more about how to craft your door hangeras well as what offer to put on the door hangers.

Your offer is going to be the most important part of the door hanger. This is how you track how effective this marketing piece is for you. You want to know exactly how effective it is so you can evaluate if it is the right market. If it's not as effective as you think it should be, what's wrong? Is it the neighborhood you are promoting to or is it your marketing message? Is it the offer? These are all things you need to test in order to make your advertising dollar as effective as possible.

Here's a couple of things to keep in mind for your door hanger design.

Make it easy to read. No hard to read or script fonts. Make it simple for them to know exactly who you are and what you are offering them.

Be sure to include every way that they can contact you if they are interested. Phone number, website address, and physical address are all important. Be sure to include a detailed map if you want them to come in to your store. This makes it much easier for them to find you and also helps them realize that you are right down the street from them.

Always include an offer. Let's say you own a coffee shop. Offer a free drink coupon on a specific day with the coupon on the door hanger People love something for free and most of the time, people will come in with someone else so they will end up spending more money anyway. Plus, if they like your products, they will likely come back again and next time they will also tell their friends about it too.

Be sure to include at least one coupon on every door hanger. Discounts and freebies always get people to take action. Be sure they know they need to bring in the coupon when they come so you can track it and see the response.

Also include an expiration date. Any discount or offer you have should always have an expiration date. This encourages customers to come in sooner rather than later. They don't want to miss out on their free drink or even two for one offer. Not having an expiration date will let them think they can hold off and then they may end up forgetting completely.

Make the coupon stand out. Make it look like a coupon. Design your coupon to have a dashed line around it like they should cut it out. Also try to include a photo of your product. This also will increase response as they will see what it is they are getting.

Door hangers are a great way to get in front of local customers for any local retail location. From coffee shop and pizza joints to day spas and gyms, door hangers are a great way to promote locally and get the community aware of your business.

Using The Right Trade Shows In Your Marketing Mix

Using trade shows as part of your marketing mix can be a great way to get in front of a massive number of your ideal prospects in a short amount of time and for a small amount of money if done correctly. If you are planning on using trade show marketing as a piece of your marketing mix, there are a few things to keep in mind when planning your event in order make it as successful as possible.

First off, you need to find out who the audience of the trade show really is. Is it for consumers and the general public or is it actually geared to other businesses like yours?

I see a lot of businesses spending huge amounts of money on trade shows that only cater to other businesses in the same industry. Let's ask a simple question. Are the other businesses in your industry, maybe even your competition, your ideal customer? Though they may be good partners for cross promotion and that's great, they aren't your ideal customer.

If you are in a consumer market and the majority of your business comes from home owners then an Industry trade show that doesn't market to home owners as attendees of the trade show, isn't going to do much to bring you in business. I see a lot of trade shows that cater to others in the industry. If that's not your target market, then it's going to be a waste of time. You want to find trade shows that market to bringing in those home owners that ARE your target market.

Spend a little to make sure your booth looks professional and stands out from the crowd. The great thing about trade show booth presentations is that if you do it right, it can be a one time investment. You might spend a couple hundred dollars to get a great display board and banner to hang on the front of your table but keep in mind to design it so it won't need to change for years. Don't put pricing on your display boards. Be sure that everything you use is evergreen. I've designed presentation displays that I've used for 5 years and never needed to change.

Use bold colors and styles that make you stand out. Many trade show booths are all going to look the same. You can easily stand out from the crowd with the right use of colors and design on your display boards and banners.

Be sure to include plenty of take away materials. You need to have postcards and/or brochures or flyers that people can take with them when they visit your booth. Again, make them stand out. You want people to remember you after they leave. If they have an interest in your products or services, you want to make sure that your materials don't get lost in a back of stuff they picked up from 200 other booths at the event. Use the same bold colors and design that you used for your display board. This helps build your branding and makes everything match.

Trade show marketing can be a great marketing idea for your business as long as you plan ahead. Make sure that the show is geared to your target market and that you are prepared to stand out and make a great impression for the attendees of the trade show and the trade show can pay for itself many times over.

Only 157 Days Left To Vote!

Okay everyone, we are getting down to the wire. And we need your help to make this happen. Here in Arizona (where we are based) there is a publication that comes out each year called Ranking Arizona. Here is their explaination of what they are, right off of their web site:

"Ranking Arizona is the outcome of the largest business opinion poll in Arizona. Each category is selected by the staff of Arizona Business Magazine for the general public to vote on and are based upon business and leisure activities of Arizona's business professionals."

So here is the favor, we need you to go vote. There are a few businesses that they have listed that we would like to help get the mention in the 2010 publication. Voting is really easy, you simply click the link, click search by name, enter the name, pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click "Cast my vote". A few simple steps and you help a small business get a bit of publicity.

Cast Your Vote

Show the world the power of the internet and help us out in the process. Thanks a million!

Companies Looking For Votes:
Knight Tymes Designs (Advertising & Marketing/Graphic Design Firms)
Coyote Targeted Promotions (Advertising & Marketing/Promotional Products)
Westworld Paintball (Entertainment/Family Amusement)
Deborah Mitchell - West USA (Real Estate - Residential/Real Estate Agents)

Cast Your Vote Today!

If there is someone I did not see on the list, I'm sorry. And if you know of another business in Arizona please feel free to vote for them. Year after year the same (big) companies make the top ten and I thought that this year we should shake up the list a bit :)

You can vote every 60 days per company, per category, so you can still vote for each company twice before the voting ends!

Please take a minute and help out some small business owners. In today's economy we all need all the help we can get.

Thanks again, hey and be sure to leave your comments below letting everyone know you voted (you also get a link back to your own web site, when you leave a comment here :) )And if you area has a simular publication, let us know so we can go vote for you.

We will remind you again in a couple of months and we will let you know how your votes helped and what the final standings are at the end of the voting.

Remember click the link, click search by name, enter the name (from above), pick the right one from the list, enter your email address and click "Cast my vote".

Cast Your Vote