Three Types of Marketing Your Small Business Needs to Grow
Three Types of Marketing Your Small Business Needs to Grow
Maybe you’re doing a lot of networking...Or placing ads...Or cold calling...Or finding referral partners...Or all of these and more.
I call these “attraction” tactics because they attract new clients and customers. And they can be quite effective.
Entrepreneurs tend to use a lot of attraction tactics because that’s what everyone is most familiar with.
Whether on TV or radio, the sides of buses, or in magazines and newspapers, we’re bombarded with ads that are nothing more than a catchy image and slogan plus a Web address. Pure attraction.
If all those big, successful companies are spending oodles of cash on attraction tactics, you probably should too. Right?
Well, yes and no.
There are actually two other powerful types of tactics. And you need to use all three if you really want your business to grow.
----
The problems with attraction
----
I’ll be the first to say attraction tactics can be a valuable and effective part of any marketing plan. They get your name out there, create a sense of familiarity, and hopefully make your business memorable.
The problem is that straight attraction tactics are usually the most expensive, and take the longest to generate results (IE sales).
Here’s why…
On average, it takes 7 times more money to get a new customer than keep an existing customer.
Because you’ve got to get in front of people 7-10 times before they notice you. Then another 7 times or more before they even think about taking action (calling, buying, etc.) And that’s assuming you’re getting in front of the right audience.
On top of that, it’s often hard to track results from attraction tactics.
Coke has no idea how many people, if any, buy more soda after watching their Super Bowl commercials. But they can afford to spend a ton of money just building and maintaining brand familiarity. Most small business owners can’t.
Rarely recommend my clients even invest in straight attraction tactics. Because the other two kinds of tactics—“conversion” and “retention”—provide far more bang for the buck. Plus, conversion tactics can usually do double duty as attraction tactics anyway.
-----
The 3 types of marketing tactics every business should use
-----
To really make your marketing work magic, you need to use a mix of:
1) Attraction tactics to get you noticed, develop brand recognition, and increase familiarity
2) Conversion tactics to get people to take action, call, sign up or buy
3) Retention tactics to keep you in touch with past customers, and ideally turn them into repeat customers and referral sources
----
Converting the masses
----
Basically, conversion tactics get you to take some kind of action. They convert cold prospects into warm prospects, or prospects into customers.
The best examples are in direct response marketing…
Any letter or postcard that says “Put a sticker here…Send this back in…Order this…Do that.” is engaging in conversion marketing.
An ad that says, “Call now for your free report on…” is looking for you to take action. Conversion again.
Even a link on a Website that says “Click here to learn more about _______” is a conversion tactic.
Effective conversion is a very, very good thing because it weeds out the uninterested, helps you build a list, and often results in sales.
-----
Don’t forget about retention
-----
The final category of tactics is retention. This is where most entrepreneurs fail miserably.
It’s easy to spend so much time focused on getting new customers you forget about ones you already have. And before you know it, they’ve forgotten about you too.
Yet retention tactics are usually the easiest, most effective and least expensive to implement. After all, you don’t have to tell past clients who you are, or explain the value of what you offer. If they were happy the first time they did business with you, chances are they’d feel good about coming to you again—or referring someone else.
You just need to follow up by creating a system for staying in touch and top of mind. Send out a regular newsletter…Write thank you cards... Hold special events…Call people personally. Whatever.
The bottom line is, you can’t just advertise and sit back hoping people decide to call or come in. If you want to turbo-charge your business growth, you need to take control with a mix of attraction, conversion and retention marketing tactics. Once you do, your sales will soar.
Three Types of Marketing Your Small Business Needs to Grow - To learn more about this author, visit Stacy Karacostas's Website.
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If you’re like most small business owners the majority of your marketing and advertising is focused on bringing in new business.
Maybe you’re doing a lot of networking...Or placing ads...Or cold calling...Or finding referral partners...Or all of these and more.
I call these “attraction” tactics because they attract new clients and customers. And they can be quite effective.
Entrepreneurs tend to use a lot of attraction tactics because that’s what everyone is most familiar with.
Whether on TV or radio, the sides of buses, or in magazines and newspapers, we’re bombarded with ads that are nothing more than a catchy image and slogan plus a Web address. Pure attraction.
If all those big, successful companies are spending oodles of cash on attraction tactics, you probably should too. Right?
Well, yes and no.
There are actually two other powerful types of tactics. And you need to use all three if you really want your business to grow.
----
The problems with attraction
----
I’ll be the first to say attraction tactics can be a valuable and effective part of any marketing plan. They get your name out there, create a sense of familiarity, and hopefully make your business memorable.
The problem is that straight attraction tactics are usually the most expensive, and take the longest to generate results (IE sales).
Here’s why…
On average, it takes 7 times more money to get a new customer than keep an existing customer.
Because you’ve got to get in front of people 7-10 times before they notice you. Then another 7 times or more before they even think about taking action (calling, buying, etc.) And that’s assuming you’re getting in front of the right audience.
On top of that, it’s often hard to track results from attraction tactics.
Coke has no idea how many people, if any, buy more soda after watching their Super Bowl commercials. But they can afford to spend a ton of money just building and maintaining brand familiarity. Most small business owners can’t.
Rarely recommend my clients even invest in straight attraction tactics. Because the other two kinds of tactics—“conversion” and “retention”—provide far more bang for the buck. Plus, conversion tactics can usually do double duty as attraction tactics anyway.
-----
The 3 types of marketing tactics every business should use
-----
To really make your marketing work magic, you need to use a mix of:
1) Attraction tactics to get you noticed, develop brand recognition, and increase familiarity
2) Conversion tactics to get people to take action, call, sign up or buy
3) Retention tactics to keep you in touch with past customers, and ideally turn them into repeat customers and referral sources
----
Converting the masses
----
Basically, conversion tactics get you to take some kind of action. They convert cold prospects into warm prospects, or prospects into customers.
The best examples are in direct response marketing…
Any letter or postcard that says “Put a sticker here…Send this back in…Order this…Do that.” is engaging in conversion marketing.
An ad that says, “Call now for your free report on…” is looking for you to take action. Conversion again.
Even a link on a Website that says “Click here to learn more about _______” is a conversion tactic.
Effective conversion is a very, very good thing because it weeds out the uninterested, helps you build a list, and often results in sales.
-----
Don’t forget about retention
-----
The final category of tactics is retention. This is where most entrepreneurs fail miserably.
It’s easy to spend so much time focused on getting new customers you forget about ones you already have. And before you know it, they’ve forgotten about you too.
Yet retention tactics are usually the easiest, most effective and least expensive to implement. After all, you don’t have to tell past clients who you are, or explain the value of what you offer. If they were happy the first time they did business with you, chances are they’d feel good about coming to you again—or referring someone else.
You just need to follow up by creating a system for staying in touch and top of mind. Send out a regular newsletter…Write thank you cards... Hold special events…Call people personally. Whatever.
The bottom line is, you can’t just advertise and sit back hoping people decide to call or come in. If you want to turbo-charge your business growth, you need to take control with a mix of attraction, conversion and retention marketing tactics. Once you do, your sales will soar.
Three Types of Marketing Your Small Business Needs to Grow - To learn more about this author, visit Stacy Karacostas's Website.
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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