All too often, they simply copy the advertising practices of their competitors, or blindly follow the advice of sales reps (who get paid on a commission of what they sell, regardless of the results of what they sell!) to, for example, place a very similar looking ad right next to their competitors in the yellow pages.
Sadly, billions of dollars are wasted by this practice every year.
John Wanamaker, creator of the department store said, “Half the money I spend on advertising budget is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." However, truth be known, most companies today would be thrilled to waste only half their budget, with more realistic estimates ranging from 75-90 percent, or more!
And the problem with mass-market advertising can only get worse. The internet has taken a huge bite out of the effectiveness of yellow page advertising, as more and more consumers begin their search for products and services online. While newspaper and television rates continue to rise as readership and viewing audience numbers fall. Radio is still a very effective solution, but you have to be very careful how you use it.
Most small businesses know there are better options available, but are too busy reacting to business to take control of their own marketing. Whereas, many others just don't really know what else to do, or where to start.
Regardless, what is most important to note, is that no other business investment offers a higher return then an investment in developing effective marketing systems.
And, it doesn't really matter all that much where you start. As long as you remember to test small, before making any large financial commitments. And, to carefully track the results of any media you choose right from the start.
Marketing is not about developing any magic bullets. It is about doing a number of things well, or well enough. And, continuing to carefully test and track results to develop more effective offers and new sales methods.
Hitting the home run ball with a great sales letter or print ad is definitely something to aspire. But, it's usually the combination and cumulative effect of several effective tactics that will produce the best results.
For example:
- Mailing a series of sales letters to your best prospects, followed-up with one or more phone calls
- Or running a magazine ad offering a free How-To product report, followed-up with a series of more helpful information to advance a prospect further in the buying sequence to an eventual sale
- Or submitting a press release to appropriate media editors, followed-up with a quick phone call and a nice thank you letter
- Or creating a landing page to distribute a valuable free report to build an email list of prospects to follow-up and send a monthly email newsletter.
Another key point is to feature your offer up front. Ideally, the very first thing that any prospect will see. Consumers are constantly bombarded with advertising messages, and, as they say, the only radio station they listen to anymore is WIIFM (What's In It For ME). They want to know exactly what they can expect from any offer, and they want know what it is immediately. They sort their mail over a wastebasket, constantly flip TV and radio channels to avoid commercials, and scan headlines in newspapers and magazines in the blink of an eye. Consciously and subsconsciously we have become a society of skilled professionals when it comes to avoiding advertising messages that don't pack a strong WIIFM.
The faster you can grab the attention of a prospect, the better your chance of actually getting them to receive your offer. Therefore, headlines that immediately present a compelling offer represent one of the best ways to succeed. "Loose 10 pounds in 2 weeks" stands a better chance of grabbing the attention of someone looking to lose weight in a hurry, then a headline presenting the name of a business that nobody cares about and doesn't speak to them in any meaningful way, such as "C Street Nutritional Center".
Here's a few more headlines to demonstrate this point:
- "Are You Worried About Your Financial Future?"
- "We Invite You To Save Money"
- "You're Cordially Invited To Our Sales Event."
- "Look Younger Instantly!"
- "How to Stop Your Cat from Ripping Your Couch and Carpet Apart."
- "We Fix $6 Haircuts!"
- "Free Home Buying Report: 12 Steps to Buying Your First Home"
- "Slice 20 Years Off Your Age!"
- "Why Some Foods ‘Explode’ In Your Stomach."
- "The 5 Tech Stocks You Must Own NOW."
The same can be said for using a cleaver line, famous quote, or a joke in a headline - an overwhelming majority of prospects will ignore it, and never give it a second thought!
You also want to tell prospects clearly what they can expect from your offer and, how they will specifically benefit from it (more WIIFM). They need to know what to do, and specifically what action you want them to take - pick up the phone and call, go to a website, come in to a business. When you want them to do so. And, what will happen when they do. For example:
"Cut out this coupon and bring it in to any of our locations any day this week from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Take it to the cashier at the counter to get your free pillow case for just coming in. Then feel free to browse through our new selection of down pillows and mattresses. And be sure to take advantage of these great sale prices, and to get another free pillow case with any $30.00 purchase to give to a friend".Every offer should also include a deadline. We all tend to wait until the last minute to do all sorts of things, and procrastinate about others. So, it is important whenever possible to try to light a fire under your prospects to get them to take action. People see through phony limits and stuff like that. But, if you state a specific deadline backed by a legitimate 'reason why' to explain this deadline, more will respond in a timely manner. For example:
- This free consultation is strictly limited to the first 50 people who respond to this offer because we cannot budget anymore staff time to introduce this new service.
- Fire sale! 50 percent off everything in our store because of our recent fire.
Also, consider emphasizing your better then risk-free guarantee as previously detailed in Step 7.
Most importantly, you must know how to avoid the most common and deadly marketing mistakes. Nightmare stories abound of companies that have leaped into an unknown and untested marketplace. For example, Parade magazine offers to reach an audience that numbers in the millions for even a regional edition. And, the bigger the audience the bigger the potential returns, right? Well, lots of companies look at it that way. Thinking, way not just copy the success of a steady advertiser in Parade like the Franklin Mint? Why not just copy something like one of these ads for our own product? They may calculate they can break even with just 5 orders out of every 10,000 readers, and make a bundle if they can get a measly 10. On the surface it looks like a sure thing, so they spend $50,000 (or whatever) and wait for the money to roll in. Unfortunately, it doesn't and won't. Because, what they fail to appreciate, is all of the testing that has gone into creating a successful ad before it ever hits a magazine like Parade.
Companies like this would be so much better off to test and retest small, inexpensive ads to find out what works, then gradually move into testing the larger circulations, which can ultimately result in the rapid growth they seek - if, and only if, they have a proven winner!
Incidentally, a great way to test is to do what's called an A/B split. A/B split testing means to run two different ads at the same time where one ad represents your control, and the other your test piece. The goal is to test specific variations of your control to see what works best. For example, sending one sales letter to half of your mailing list, and a test piece to the other half of the list with a different headline or price.
A/B split testing works with most any media. And, some newspapers and magazines can even print every other copy with a different ad to see which one pulls best in a live situation.
Direct response ads designed to elicit a specific response and more scientific results are definitely the way to go. Versus image ads that are designed to project a certain image to establish a product brand. Branding is said to result in a top-of-mind awareness that will result in sales once a prospect is in the market for your product or service. Both direct response and image advertising work. However, branding can cost a bundle because it usually takes a lot of impressions to achieve any sort of tangible top-of-mind awareness. And, it can still be a huge gamble for businesses that can afford this practice. For example, how much does it cost to fly the Goodyear blimp and, how many tires does it actually sell? Or, how many Super Bowl ads do you ever remember right after the game?
Again, you should specifically target your offer to the audience that you want to reach. And, quality will out pull quantity almost every time. For example, in the preceding "Loose 10 Pounds in 2 Weeks" headline offer, it would likely cost a whole lot more to send this offer to a highly targeted list of prospects desperately trying to lose weight before their high school reunion. Then it would to send it to a general public list. But, the increased ROI could be 1000% or more!
Whatever, given a firm understanding of both the biggest mistakes to avoid and the fundamentals of crafting effective offers, opportunities abound to develop new points of sale.
If you need ideas, here's a sampling of favorites from A to Z:
Advertising Specialties - Giving away free company calendars, mugs, pens, note pads, or other advertising specialties displaying your company name and logo to your best customers and prospects to get low-cost exposure for up to many years.
Affiliate Marketing - Amazon.com sold over a million Harry Potter books in one day through an army of online affiliates. However, what is perhaps equally impressive is the potential that affiliate marketing offers small business to recruit affiliates to sell both online and off. For example, assume you distribute a home security system direct to consumers online and would like to recruit commissioned sales reps to promote your system door-to-door off line statewide. To accomplish this you could, for example, run a small classified ad in the business opportunity section of your statewide weekly newspaper association recruiting opportunity seekers to download and print-out a product flier from your web site to distribute door-to-door. Which includes a unique web address or affiliate link to track every sale from someone who first clicked on that link to visit your site. And, which can be programmed to pay a sales commission on two tiers or levels deep. Which means the person who signed up to distribute your flier door-to-door will get paid for sales tracked directly to their own affiliate link. And, get paid on the next level of sales made by affiliates who signed-up underneath them to do the same thing.
What is amazing about two-tier affiliate programs is the ability to potentially reach a lot of prospects really fast, and really cheap. For example, assume you have a great product for day care providers and parents of small children. And, assume you contact a website with an email list of 100,000 day cares. And, assume they agree to promote your product as an affiliate to these day care providers on their list. Who, in turn, can print-out and distribute a product flier (with their own affiliate link) to all of their parent clients. Well, you can clearly see the potential of a system like this. Especially, with two-tier affiliate programs on the market that can take care of everything you need for less then $50 a month!
Barter - Bartering your products or services to acquire goods and services at substantial cash-free savings, and to pay for business purchases on deferred interest-free payment terms. As one example, Carnival Cruise Lines started with one ship with a lot of empty cabins to fill, and little or no money to advertise. So, they started a program to barter those empty cabins for Radio, TV, and Newspaper Advertising, which grew to include over 100 US cities in ten years, and eventually the largest cruise line in the world.
Blowout Sales – Creating a good reason to have a "blow-out" event for your business. Such as a customer appreciation day, or an anniversary sale, etc. And, taking one and only one of your most popular items and pricing it ridiculously low (large pizza for $1.99, .25 movie rental, .50 hamburger, etc.) for one day, or part of the day.
Billboards - Traditional billboards are big, and usually costly. However, other economical solutions do exist. For example:
- Placing smaller directional boards like "Hungry? Try our .99 Burgers! Next Right =>"
- Building a large sign to place in the back of a truck parked alongside a busy street
- Painting a large sign on the side of a stationary truck next to the road
- Painting bright neon signs in empty storefront windows
- Towing a large sign behind a bicycle along a busy street
Bounce-back Certificates - Commonly following up new customer sales by immediately presenting your customer with another special certificate or coupon offer to bring them back into your business for a second time.
Brochures - Designing a brochure to explain the customer benefits of your product/service.
Buddy Passes - Commonly getting members of a club or service business to distribute a special pass that is good for a few introductory visits. Buddy passes can be modified to work for most any type of business, but work especially well for service-oriented businesses such as health clubs, hair salons, warehouse clubs, karate schools, etc. And, when combined with a contest and prizes for whoever brings in the most sales. Buddy passes can be distributed by business employees or customers, but should be distributed by one or the other, and not both at the same time.
Building Signs – Leasing the side of a big building with high visibility and traffic to paint a big sign, or project a night image advertising your business.
Bumper Stickers - Commonly promoting a benefit-laden bumper sticker for your business. Alternatively, paying customers to wear one on their car. For example, recruiting some of your best customers, or advertising for 100 people, to put one on their car for three months for $10. For example:
- "Alice's Cafe - 3rd and James - That's Where I'm Going For Strawberry Cheesecake - How About You?
- "Enter To Win A FREE iPOD! Visit ElectronicsNW.com Today!"
Business Tips Marketing - Keeping in regular contact with your prospects and customers is one of the best marketing strategies available to any small business. And, sending short articles about a topic related to your product or service is an ideal way to do so. For example, if you are an accountant you could offer a Tip Sheet like "12 Simple Techniques To Increase Profit." A Financial Adviser could write, "15 Common Mistakes People Make When Choosing Their Pension." Email, postcards, or a monthly print newsletter, are all viable delivery methods.
Car Signs - Commonly placing signs or painted logos on your company vehicle(s). Alternatively, paying other people to paint their cars with your sign or logo, or coming up with ingenious new signs or logos.
Card Decks - Commonly, a shrink-wrapped deck of offers primarily mailed from business to business. Alternatively, most any type of co-operative or shared advertising opportunity. Such as getting a number of complimentary, but non-competitive businesses to join you in a mailing to new town residents, or giving a free deck to each new hotel guest, or day care parents, or any number of other highly targeted prospects. Whereby, you put the deal together and charge the other businesses enough to allow you to advertise for free, or even a small profit!
Charity Tie-ins - Such as offering your products or services as a prize for a local charity raffle, volunteering your time or facilities, sponsoring events or awards, donating a percentage of sales on a certain date or certain time of day for customers that pay full price, offering a special rebate to customers that redeem their ticket-to-event from a local non-profit event that you sponsored, creating a coupon booklet of special offers to your own products or services for non-profits members to sell.
Classified Ads - Advertising in the classified advertising section of your local community newspaper, school newspaper, weekly shopper, or trade magazines, can be a great way to generate qualified leads. Like so may other forms of advertising, the key to success comes from using a benefit laden headline. Providing a free hotline to call to receive a valuable free report is also an exceptional idea.
Cross Promotions - Offering to promote the products and services of another company in return for promoting your own. For example, a used clothing store and a dry cleaner providing discount coupons to each others customers, or a restaurant offering free meals to gas station employees who pass out dinner coupons to customers that buy gas, or a credit union offering a special one free month of rent gift certificate to its members on behalf of a local apartment complex.
Co-operative Advertising - Such as requesting co-operative ad dollars from suppliers that stand to benefit from your success, charging a group of non-competitive advertisers for part to all of the cost to run a direct mailing or newspaper display ad promoting a group of stores in your part of town.
Contests - Promoting a contest or drawing available at your business, neighboring business locations, and/or your web site designed to attract individuals who fit your best customer profile, or new ones that you would like to attract.
Customer Comment Cards – Offering a small bribe for your customers to fill out a short form asking them open-ended questions about your products or services, and requesting them to provide the name and address of people who might also enjoy receiving a special offer from your business. Entering the information collected into an efficient database to merge with pre-formatted letters including the name of the customer who referred them, to send to each referral prospect. For example, a restaurant offering free dessert to customer who fill it out, and a 2 for 1 certificate to send to each referral prospect they provide.
Cell Phone/Cards – Sending a new cell phone or free calling card to a prospect that is hard to reach. Set it up to play a short message from your business before they call out.
Direct Mail - Considering every business contact you make where adding one or more letters or postcards directly before or after each contact could improve sales. Ranking each contact in terms of priority, and beginning to test small mailings to see what a difference it can make.
Display Ad Posters - Essentially copying and enlarging a successful newspaper or magazine ad to re-use as a flyer or larger poster.
Door Hangers - Hanging ads on door knobs can be most effective, especially when combined with other incentives. For example, paying a local nonprofit five cents for each one that they distribute, or a bonus or commission based on how many are actually redeemed.
eBay Auctions - Using “eBay Local Trading” to reach more and more consumers that shop eBay for local products and services. Promoting regular and clearance sale items via auction listings. Using your About Me page to drive more visitors to your web site or store location. Running inexpensive product category ads to expand your reach and take advantage of the huge amount of site traffic.
Elevator Pitch - Crafting a short and simple phrase that presents the essence of your value to your customers in response to the question: "What do you do?" The key to this approach is to "Sell the sizzle, not the steak" by promoting the benefits of what a customer stands to gain. For example, "I help small business to quickly acquire more customers at the lowest possible cost", instead of "I am a marketing consultant."
One way to come up with your own pitch is to imagine riding an elevator next to two people discussing the biggest problem you help customers to solve. Then, imagine one of them expressing how much they wish they could find somebody to help them solve this problem. At this point you tap this person on the shoulder to say, "Excuse me, but I help clients to _____ (solve this problem).
The beauty of this approach is how it can define the value of what you have to offer in a manner which also enables you to also follow-up with more open-ended questions.
Another excellent idea is to imagine the same scenario. And, having a drip campaign consisting of a series of free articles or reports lined up in advance for this prospect to automatically receive via email or direct mail. By presenting them with, for example, this free offer on the back of a business card right after you deliver your elevator pitch.
Email Autoresponders - Creating and sending multiple emails to prospects and customers on a scheduled basis that you define. For example, a bank or mortgage broker offering a free 6-part report, "How to finance a new home or refinance an existing one and save $15,000 over the life of your mortgage". For prospects to receive every other day for 12 days by sharing their email address on your web site, or sending a blank email (no subject) to your autoresponder address.
Employee Benefit or VIP Cards - Distributing special cards to the employees of a particular business or group of businesses offering a special deal. Such as 10% off for 90 days, or a number of specific offers from one company, or a number of offers from a whole group of companies. For example, a Downtown Shoppers Discount Card sent to employees that work within a downtown corridor. You can put together your own card and offer, or one for a group of companies which allows you to advertise for free.
Exotic Picture Postcards - Giving your customers a picture postcard from, for example, Las Vegas, with a headline that reads, "Don't Gamble When You Need _____." Or, one from Disneyland that reads, "Don't Mickey Mouse Around When You Need_____."
Extraordinary Service – Coming up with something completely unexpected to surprise and delight your customers. For example, the owner of a lawn mowing service painting or re-painting the mailbox or street address on the curb or front steps of each new account. Something so completely unexpected his customers go out of there way to tell their friends and neighbors, to the point where it became his trademark and only source of new business.
Fishbowl Contests - Offering a business card drawing to customers when they visit your store or office by placing a fishbowl on your counter. Anybody who comes in can place their business card in there for a chance to win a prize, and to join your mail or email list.
Formal Referral Systems - Rewarding your best customers for each person they refer to your business. For example, providing special referral gift certificates, coupons or buddy passes for them to pass out to friends and relatives. Or, requesting the name and address of prospects from your customers to send a free gift. The best prospect for any business is one that has essentially been pre-sold and referred by an existing satisfied customer. And, when you consider that if each one of your existing customers were to refer 2 new customers a year, your business would grow at a rate of 200 percent per year (minus your attrition rate), you can appreciate what an important role formal referral systems should play in every business.
Free Directory Assistance Advertising - Telephone directory assistance has been around forever, happily dinging consumers to look up numbers for them to the tune of about 8 billion dollars a year. Then along comes a service like 1-800-FREE411 offering the same thing for free. Only catch is you have to listen to a 15 second commercial. But, what is incredible is that 15 second commercial can be for your company. And, you can set it up to play only when somebody requests the number for one of your competitors. And, you can set it up for that hot prospect to connect directly with you instead. Which is about as close as it gets to buying a license to steal. Only problem is if your competition is savvy, they can use it first to steal your very best customers from you.
Free Service or Report - Developing a free service, seminar, clinic, or free report, closely related to what you are selling, to attract the highest quality prospects to your business with the type of information they may require to help convert them to paying customers.
Free Publicity - Sending out press releases to newspapers and other media to announce news regarding your business. The key is to present it as news, even if it isn't exactly news. For example, a headline of "College Money Crisis Not Necessary" and factual 'reason why' article that can be twisted to look like news.
Flyer - Simple flyers can be used in a number of cost-effective and creative ways - passing out, posting on local bulletin boards, placing on store counters, inserting into packages or newspapers, offering an affiliate sales commission for people to download and print out from your web site to distribute as you suggest.
Guest Speaking Engagements - Making yourself available to speak to business and civic organizations about your area of expertise, from which to pass out contact information and make special offers to all attendees.
Internet Marketing - Includes tactics such as:
- Optimizing your web site on the main search engines
- Linking to and from, and running text ads on key industry directory sites, and other complimentary web sites
- Running pay-per-click advertising, such as Google Adwords and Yahoo Overture, allowing you to bid on specific keywords for search engine placement
- Running text ads in email newsletters. Sending your own email newsletter to prospects and customers
- Creating your own blog
- Participating in newsgroups and forums
- Offering a sale's commission to drive visitors to your site via your own affiliate program
- Adding an e-mail signature file to all your email correspondence
- Sponsoring local non-profit web sites
Joint Venture - Such as offering a commission or fee for companies to endorse a special offer from your company to their own customers. Seeking out special offers from other companies to periodically endorse to your own customers to create a new hidden source of income. Looking for ways to develop other seemingly hidden joint venture opportunities. For example, to pay for the cost of buying video holders for a local video rental in exchange for advertising on the back of each holder. Or, paying for the cost to compile a database of the video store customers, in return for being able to mail a special DVD offer to them. Or, offering the manager of a local pizza parlor a commission to let you tape your business flyer on top of every pizza box they deliver.
Old, Inactive Customers - Contacting old, inactive customers who may have stopped doing business with you for no particular reason. Communicating your concern for their well being, inquiring if anything is wrong, and making them a special offer to regain their business such as:
"I miss you. In fact, I miss you so much I'll give you a _____ as my free gift
if you just come into our store this week to say hello".
Local Internet Search - Consumer behavior has changed dramatically with more and more people searching online first to look for local businesses. More than 6 Billion online searches are conducted each month, and roughly 63 % of all internet users perform a local search every month. Thus, making it easier for local consumers to find your company online should be part of most every business marketing. In smaller cities it is really cheap to buy those clicks. In larger cities it can be more expensive and should be used with other optimization techniques. Either way it is becoming much more of a necessity. One of the keys to success is to promote a benefit laden local headline and offer that links directly to a special local landing page for that offer. For example, a restaurant headline and offer that links to a coupon page to print out and bring in, or simply mention when you order.
Loyalty Rewards Cards - Offering customers special discounts, privileges, and incentives based on their purchase history to help boost repeat sales. And, which can also be used to capture valuable customer information.
Membership Cards - Membership cards are a great way for organizations, boards, clubs, and associations to put their information into the hands of their members. They also offer the ability to track data such as expiration dates, activities, or balances due. With bar codes that keep personal information accessible and confidential. Costco and Sam's Club are two prime examples.
Niche Marketing - Birds of a feather flock together, and niche marketing is all about taking advantage of the fact that people do too! It essentially involves boring down into a market to identify and target a more narrow audience or niche to serve. For example, an auto repair shop promoting a special School Teacher tune-up, or a clothing store holding a private AARP appreciation night, or an accountant promoting a Restaurant accounting package, or a Christian singles dating site. Point being, to create offers that appeal specifically to members of a particular group or demographic. And, to become known for serving that particular niche.
Newspaper Advertising – Creating attention-grabbing headlines and compelling direct response offers for newsreaders to respond. Small businesses are often sold newspaper ads that offer a nicely designed image ad with your company name as a headline and maybe your picture. And, told to "get your name out there and give it some time to work". Problem is, this can be very expensive compared to many other alternatives. It is much harder to track the results of an image ad. And, chances are not enough prospects will ever read it to get anything better then marginal results. Image ads are quick and easy to create, while effective direct response ads take a lot more time and skill to produce. But, if you are going to spend that kind of money you should have an ad that works. And, know that one of the most successful devices you could add to any newspaper ad is a coupon.
Participating in Local Parades – For example, renting a flat-bed truck to sponsor and host a local non-profit, or creating a float and putting a big banner on the side of it.
Point of Purchase Displays - Designing a point of purchase display for your product.
Plastic Gift Cards - Durable and convenient plastic gift cards that provide better tracking and control then traditional paper gift certificates. And, which allow you to keep 100% of the gift sales because customers must use the card until the given amount is depleted!
Premiums - Offering a special complimentary product or service as a sales incentive. For example, a running shoe store giving a free six-week health club membership away to their customers with each pair of shoes. Or, a bookstore giving a free audio CD from an interview with the author of new book, for each book purchased at a personal book signing. Or, a timeshare resort offering a restaurant certificate to prospective buyers. Or, a dry cleaner offering a gold-colored clothes hanger with every $25 purchase.
Proposal Marketing - Essentially involves establishing or re-writing sales contracts and proposals in a manner that both leads and affirms the outcome a prospective customers is seeking from a particular product or service, to close more sales.
Radio – Promoting your products or services via radio ad campaigns is likely the most cost-effective local mass-advertising media. Tips to improve your bottom line include negoiating on the basis you are looking for one station buy (to deal with only one station), most likely avoiding the number one (most expensive) station, concentrating more commercials to dominate a shorter time period or particular timeslot, negoiating for live announcer tags (product plugs), and providing your products for on-air giveaways.
Radio Talk Shows - Being a guest speaker on radio talk shows, or better yet, hosting your own, as many local stations are eager to create new programs for their audience.
Sandwich Boards - Commonly placing a sidewalk sign outside your store or office, or hiring someone to pace up and down the street near your store. Alternatively, compelling prospects to call a 24 telephone hotline, or visit your web site landing page, to obtain a valuable free report.
Self-Produced Audio/Video CD’s - Educating prospects about your products or services by sending them a free audio or video CD to build the type of knowledge and trust that will lead them to favor you with their business. Thousands, if not millions of products are sold every day via 30-minute TV videos, and with the affordable technology on the market, the opportunity exists for small businesses to do the same.
Sponsor a Half Court Shot - During half-time or breaks at a local basketball game. Awarding the winner a gift certificate to, for example, a local movie and restaurant. And, commonly requesting movie theatre and restaurant to offset the cost.
Sports Venue Contests – Sponsoring, for example, a contest on a local radio station to give away free passes to watch a professional or college game.
Surveys - Surveys offer a great way to generate leads, or to help you to decide from among a wide variety of products or services which ones to promote and sell. The whole purpose of a survey is to simply ask prospects what they are interested in, then sell them what they have just told you they want.
T-Shirts – For example, sponsoring the t-shirts for a local 5k or 10k race, and hiring a couple of kids to tote a banner around with your company’s name on it. Studies indicate that one t-shirt worn by one person in an average-sized city can be seen by over 100,000 people in its lifetime. Who knows how accurate those statistics really are, but it is possible for 10 high quality t-shirts given to right people to reach one million people in just a few years.
Take-One Boxes and Contest-Entry Boxes - From gym memberships to vacation packages, all kinds of product and service leads can be generated for follow-up via take-one and contest-entry boxes placed in businesses. For example, a restaurant placing ten boxes in a circle of businesses surrounding it promoting a weekend getaway, then mailing every entry a special 2 for 1 certificate with a small copy of their menu included.
Teleconferences - also known as teleseminars are fast becoming one of the most valuable strategies to quickly becoming known as an expert in your field without ever having to leave office or home office.
Telemarketing - Develop a good plan and script to follow-up direct mailings to qualified prospects, or to call ahead of, or just after, a specific sales contact. The key is to develop a strong enough benefit statement to get prospects to ask you to go forward with your presentation. For example, "Hello, I specialize in teaching small businesses how to advertise, promote and increase sales without spending any money," to get them to say, "You're kidding! How do you do that?"
Telephone Hotlines – Capturing the name and address of prospects to follow-up as part of a new marketing or advertising campaign, or to play back a pre-recorded educational or sales message, and/or transfer them to a live person after listening to a message. For example, if you offer a pre-recorded message and a toll free number for prospects to call and to receive free report by mail.
Telephone Inquiry Sheets - Providing receptionists and people that answer the phone in your business with a sheet of survey questions and answers to help them avoid surprises. And, to take control of the conversation and lead callers to setting appointments, offering their name and address, or whatever the particular objective may be.
Testimonial Marketing - Testimonials from your clients and customers are your single most powerful sales tool. Testimonials provide independent, third-party verification of your claims in ways that none of your own "talking" can do. The best time to ask for a testimonial is when your customer is most pleased with your business, and some of the best questions to ask, and testimonials to gather, are ones that answer the objections that you may have listed in developing your better then risk-free guarantee.
Often, the best testimonials can be simple photographs or letters. For example, one story that comes to mind is the car salesman who covers the walls of his sales cubicle with dated pictures of his customers proudly posing next to their new car. Right next to photographs of every other car they, or their kids, or their neighbors, or their friends have ever bought from him. Another is the sales rep for a weight-loss business that carries a life-size poster of herself taken when she was forty five pounds heavier, prior to committing to the program she now sells for a living. And, the lawyer who strips his office waiting area of magazines, coffee, and any other comforts, but leaves a big three-ring binder full of client testimonial letters to read in front of each chair.
Thank-you Notecards - Getting a pile of cards and envelopes, and at the beginning (or end) of each day writing a short three or four line personal thank note to just 5 people. Tom Hopkins, renouned international sales trainer, credits this simple technique for turning his real estate business into a 100% by-referral-only success in just 3 years.
Ticket-to-Event Premiums- Can take the form of a simple card or flyer, to a booklet of special offers from one or more businesses and sponsors, given as an incentive to help promoters sell more tickets to an event. More commonly used at trade shows, but they can be used for most any type of event. For example, an ice cream parlor offering a .25 cent rebate on a high school dance ticket. Or, a pizza parlor offering a free pizza if the local NBA team scores 120 points and wins. Or, a local home and garden show sponsoring a free restaurant appetizer. Or, a local 4-H group selling a coupon flyer outside of a fairgrounds for $2 that includes a $2 discount to the fair and additonal discounts to several food vendors inside.
Trailer Signs - Buying and putting a new coat of paint on an old trailer, and posting a huge sign on the side or top of it in a highly visible location.
Voice Broadcasting - Sending personalized reminders, invitations, and/or verbal coupons directly to your existing customers voice mail before or after a direct mailing, or as a separate offer.
Webinar - Essentially, an online or virtual seminar which allows attendees to login, and to call-in to follow along from the comfort of their office or home.
Write Articles - Writing and submitting articles in your area of expertise to newspapers and other sources (such as article banks online) of benefit to their readers. Including contact information at the end of each article.
Yellow Pages - In many product and service categories (such auto body repair or painting, rental services, florists, attorneys, and contractors) the yellow pages are the primary marketing influence on the consumer. If your business operates in one these categories, an effective direct response yellow page ad should receive serious consideration. Along with a clear understanding that mistakes are definately costly!
