Marketing Tips

1. Promoting your business: Some of us are great with social settings, some of us are great with the internet, and some of us only know how to talk to people we only relate too. Find a way to create a fun promotion for your business that suits you and make it work. There will be a few promotions that will not work, but with each promotion you are reaching out to someone each and every time. When you do find that promotion that works don’t stop there, get creative and start looking for new promotions to reach your customers. The bigger your marketing arsenal the more people you reach. Give your employees, friends, or family the marketing questionnaire in the packet to find out what kind of ideas they may have that could help bring in business. You may be surprised by some of the good ideas they create for your company. Many could be inexpensive or even free!
2. Knowing your neighbors: Take a walk around your area and learn who your neighbors are. They could be referrals, prospects, or good business partners.
3. See your business from a customer’s point of view: Stand across the street of your business during the day and night times to see what you can do to make it stand out. Drive by each direction and do the same.  Look around inside your business to see how you can market to each customer that comes in to visit.
4. Holidays: Use the holidays as a time to create new and exciting promotions.
5. Magazines: Get trade magazines for the type of industry your business is involved in and trade magazines for your target market customer or businesses you are selling too. I also highly recommend Inc., Entrepreneur, Success, and Women Success Magazine, also the Teen Success Book for your kids.
6. Internet information: Sign up for Newsletters, Blogs, or use an RSS feed or feed reader to get articles from blogs or newsletters you subscribe too. If you use Google you can use their Google reader, iGoogle, or Google apps sites.
7. Working your network: Make a List of your networks - family, friends, and business associates. Do something special for them to get a word of mouth promotion going.
8. Delegate marketing: Schedule two or more hours each day or week to focus on marketing. Delegate marketing tasks to your employees, friends, or family. Find people that like to be creative and promote.
9. McCarty BMX weekly marketing: Opt-in to receive Monday morning marketing agendas and tips for the week to create a routine that we'll offer through www.McCartyBMX.com in 2010.
10. Know your community: If you are an internet business still look to your community to help build your business, read blogs on internet marketing, and take advantage of all the different free business listings or directories.
11. Target your customer: Some businesses have specific types of custcrners and some, like McCarty BMX, have a wide range of customers to offer products and services. If your business has that large demographic then pick an industry, local area, or type of person you want as a customer and focus your marketing towards those to start with. Once you have worked one area you can move on to another.
12. Local or charitable events: A great way for your business to get noticed is to sponsor, or offer your time, with special events in your community, town, or city.
13. Helping others by giving: Reading, learning, and listening to some of the top professional marketers, such as Seth Godin, each source discusses the benefits of giving something away free of cost. It can be something as simple as your time volunteering for a charity. It can be a product, service, experience, or advice to help others grow personally or with their business. By giving, you are marketing your brand. You will create business by word of mouth or by generating referrals.
14. Public Relations: If you have any special events or charities that your business is sponsoring, invite someone from the local newspaper, community paper, a local high profile blogger, or a local business directory website. Take advantage of any opportunity to have your business written up in a newspaper, magazine, blog, or website.
15. Best marketing for any company: Is YOU, your managers, and your employees. A business can have an average product with the greatest service and it will create word of mouth advertising. The strongest form of marketing is through word of mouth.
16. Website: It is really important to at least have a basic website with your products and/or services, plus contact info, listed to be able to promote your business. If you’re looking to make your website work for you there are ways to develop one not only as a resource for your customers to know your business, but you can develop it to make extra money for your business.
17. Social Networking: This is not for everybody, but it is one way to market your business and get exposure. Some people like me love being social, but tryng to keep up with so many of these sites can be a lot of work.  You have sites like Facebook, Linkedln, Twitter, YouTube, and Plaxo that are common for businesses to promote themselves on over the internet.
18. Business Core: It’s like a fitness trainer telling you to focus on your core area when working out. I believe retail companies should start from where they are located and work themselves outward from ½ mile to 5 miles. Most industries could apply this strategy, but those who can't focus within a 5 mile radius may need to bring their marketing focus to what the core customers of the business want.
19. 30 second commercial: A business owner or associate needs to be able to explain and create interest about their business products and services. Tips: Mention a pain that your company can help change and create excitement about your company’s mission.
20. Branding: Everything a business owner does for his business to reach out to their customer is branding. Marketing, product, and service all combined with your name and logo is how your customer is going to remember your company. If you work hard at all these you will build a brand for your business.
21. Setting Marketing Goals: We all need to set life goals, financial goals, business goals, and we need to set marketing goals. It is important to set goals.  Keep it simple by dividing different areas of marketing such as internet, community, or canvassing your neighborhood by setting 3 to 5 goals for each with a deadline.

As I stated in the beginning, it is best to keep it fun and to always be marketing. It does not always have to fall on just your shoulders. If you pay an employee an extra hour a day to focus on marketing and it brings in new customers and revenue then it is worth it. Find something that works and make it happen over and over, but always try new things as well. Listen to all of the advertising sales people and get pricing. Make sure it’s within your budget before you pay for any marketing. You want to be able to quantify your investment, so make sure to always ask how new customers heard about your business. Take the opportunity to work with the people around you, the internet, and your community. Building word of mouth marketing at no cost is great for your revenue when you get new customers.