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100+ Marketing Ideas

100+ Marketing Ideas

100+ Marketing Ideas

Marketing is all about satisfying customer needs. The following represents a comprehensive list of marketing ideas; use it to help better understand customer needs and ways to satisfy those needs.

General Ideas

* Never let a day pass without engaging in at least one marketing activity.
* Determine a percentage of gross income to spend annually on marketing.
* Set specific marketing goals every year; review and adjust quarterly.
* Maintain a tickler file of ideas for later use.
* Carry business cards with you (all day, every day).
* Create a personal nametag or pin with your company name and logo on it and wear it at high visibility meetings.


Target Market

* Stay alert to trends that might impact your target market, product, or promotion strategy.
* Read market research studies about your profession, industry, product, target market groups, etc.
* Collect competitors' ads and literature; study them for information about strategy, product features, benefits, etc.
* Ask clients why they hired you and solicit suggestions for improvement.
* Ask former clients why they left you.
* Identify a new market.
* Join a list-serve (e-mail list) related to your profession.
* Subscribe to an Internet usenet newsgroup or a list-serve that serves your target market.


Product Development

* Create a new service, technique, or product.
* Offer a simpler/cheaper/smaller version of your (or existing) product or service.
* Offer a fancier/more expensive/faster/bigger version of your (or existing) product or service.
* Update your services.


Education, Resources, and Information

* Establish a marketing and public relations advisory and referral team composed of your colleagues and/or neighboring business owners; share ideas and referrals and discuss community issues. Meet quarterly for breakfast.
* Create a suggestion box for employees.
* Attend a marketing seminar.
* Read a marketing book.
* Subscribe to a marketing newsletter or other publication.
* Subscribe to a marketing list-serve on the Internet.
* Subscribe to a marketing usenet newsgroup on the Internet.
* Train your staff, clients, and colleagues to promote referrals.
* Hold a monthly marketing meeting with employees or associates to discuss strategy and status and solicit marketing ideas.
* Join an association or organization related to your profession.
* Get a marketing intern to take you on as a client; it will give the intern experience and you some free marketing help.
* Maintain a consultant card file for finding designers, writers, and other marketing professionals. Hire a marketing consultant to brainstorm with.
* Take a creative journey to another progressive city or county to observe and learn from marketing techniques used there.


Pricing and Payment

* Analyze your fee structure; look for areas requiring modifications or adjustments. Establish a credit card payment option for clients.
* Give regular clients a discount.
* Learn to barter; offer discounts to members of certain clubs/professional groups/organizations in exchange for promotions in their publications.
* Give quick pay or cash discounts.
* Offer financing or installment plans.


Marketing Communications

* Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects (it doesn't have to be fancy or expensive). Develop a brochure of services.
* Include a postage-paid survey card with your brochures and other company literature. Include check-off boxes or other items that will involve the reader and provide valuable feedback to you.
* Remember, business cards aren't working for you if they're in the box. Pass them out! Give prospects two business cards and brochures - one to keep and one to pass along.
* Produce separate business cards/sales literature for each of your target market segments (e.g. government and commercial and/or business and consumer).
* Create a poster or calendar to give away to customers and prospects.
* Print a slogan and/or one-sentence description of your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets, and invoices. Develop a site on the World Wide Web.
* Create a signature file to be used for all your e-mail messages. It should contain contact details, including your Web site address and key information about your company that will make the reader want to contact you.
* Include testimonials from customers in your literature.
* Test a new mailing list. If it produces results, add it to your current direct mail lists or consider replacing a list that's not performing up to expectations.
* Rather than sending direct mail in plain white envelopes, use colored or oversized envelopes to pique recipients' curiosity.
* Announce free or special offers in your direct response pieces. (Direct responses may be direct mail, broadcast faxes, or e-mail messages.) Include the offer in the beginning of the message as well as on the outside of the envelope for direct mail.


Media Relations

* Update your media list often so that press releases are sent to the right media outlet and person.
* Write a column for the local newspaper, local business journal, or trade publication.
* Publish an article and circulate reprints.
* Send timely and newsworthy press releases as often as needed.
* Publicize your 500th client of the year (or other notable milestone).
* Create an annual award and publicize it.
* Get public relations and media training or read up on it.
* Appear on a radio or TV talk show.
* Create your own TV program on your industry or your specialty. Market the show to your local cable station or public broadcasting station as a regular program, or see if you can air your show on an open access cable channel.
* Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or trade magazine.
* Take an editor to lunch.
* Get a publicity photo taken and enclose with press releases.
* Consistently review newspapers and magazines for possible PR opportunities.
* Submit tip articles to newsletters and newspapers.
* Conduct industry research and develop a press release or article to announce an important discovery in your field.
* Create a press kit and keep its contents current.


Customer Service and Customer Relations

* Ask your clients to come back again.
* Return phone calls promptly.
* Set up a fax-on-demand or email system to easily respond to customer inquiries.
* Use an answering machine or voice mail system to catch after-hours phone calls. Include basic information in your outgoing messages such a business hours, location, etc.
* Record a memorable message or tip of the day on your outgoing answering machine or voice mail message.
* Ask clients what you can do the help them.
* Take clients out to a ball game, show, or another special event - just send them two tickets with a note. Hold a seminar at your office for clients and prospects.
* Send handwritten thank you notes.
* Send birthday cards and appropriate seasonal greetings.
* Photocopy interesting articles and send them to clients and prospects with a hand-written FYI note and your business card.
* Send a book of interest or other appropriate business gift to a client with a handwritten note.
* Create an area on your Web site specifically for your customers.
* Redecorate your office or location where you meet with your clients.


Networking and Word of Mouth

* Join a Chamber of Commerce or other organization.
* Join or organize a breakfast club with other professionals (not in your field) to discuss business and network referrals.
* Mail a brochure to members of organizations to which you belong.
* Serve on a city board or commission.
* Host a holiday party.
* Hold an open house.
* Send letters to attendees after you attend a conference.
* Join a community list-serve (e-mail list) on the Internet.


Advertising

* Advertise during peak seasons for your business.
* Get a memorable phone number, such as 1-800-WIDGETS.
* Obtain a memorable URL and email address and include them on all marketing materials.
* Provide Rolodex® cards or phone stickers preprinted with your business contact information.
* Promote your business jointly with other professionals via cooperative direct mail.
* Advertise in a specialty directory or in the Yellow Pages.
* Write an ad in another language to reach the non-English-speaking market. Place the ad in a publication that market reads, such as a Hispanic newspaper.
* Distribute advertising specialty products such as pens, mouse pads, or mugs.
* Mail bumps - photos, samples, and other innovative items to your prospect list. (A bump is simply anything that makes the mailing envelope bulge and makes the recipient curious about what's in the envelope!)
* Create a direct mail list of hot prospects.
* Consider non-traditional tactics such as bus backs, billboards, and popular Web sites.
* Project a message on the sidewalk in front of your place of business using a light directed through words etched in a glass window.
* Consider placing ads in your newspaper's classified section.
* Consider a vanity automobile tag with your company name.
* Create a friendly bumper sticker for your car.
* Code your ads and keep records of results.
* Improve your building signage and directional signs inside and out.
* Invest in a neon sign to make your office or storefront window visible at night.
* Create a new or improved company logo or recolor the traditional logo.
* Sponsor and promote a contest or sweepstakes.


Special Events and Outreach

* Get a booth at a fair/trade show attended by your target market.
* Sponsor or host a special event or open house at your business location in cooperation with a local non-profit organization, such as a women's business center. Describe how the organization helped you.
* Give a speech or volunteer for a career day at a high school.
* Teach a class or seminar at a local college or adult education center.
* Sponsor an Adopt-a-Road area in your community to keep roads litter-free. People that pass by the area will see your name on the sign announcing your sponsorship.
* Volunteer your time to a charity or non-profit organization.
* Donate your product or service to a charity auction.
* Appear on a panel at a professional seminar.
* Write a How To pamphlet or article for publishing.
* Produce and distribute an educational CD-ROM or audio/video tape.
* Publish a book.


Sales Ideas

* Start every day with two cold calls.
* Read newspapers, business journals, and trade publications for new business openings, personnel appointments, and promotion announcements made by companies. Send your business literature to appropriate individuals and firms.
* Give your sales literature to your lawyer, accountant, printer, banker, temp agency, office supply salesperson, advertising agency, etc. (Expand your sales force for free!)
* Put your fax number on order forms for easy submission.
* Set up a fax-on-demand or e-mail system to easily distribute responses to company or product inquiries.
* Follow up on your direct mailings, email messages, and broadcast faxes with a friendly telephone call.
* Try using the broadcast fax or email delivery methods instead of direct mail. (Broadcast fax and email allows you to send the same message to many locations at once.)
* Use broadcast faxes or email messages to notify your customers of product service updates.
* Extend your hours of operation.
* Reduce response/turnaround time. Make reordering easy - use reminders. Provide preaddressed envelopes.
* Display product and service samples at your office.
* Remind clients of the products and services you provide that they aren't currently buying.
* Call and/or send mail to former clients to try and reactivate them.
* Take sales orders over the Internet.

(National Women's Business Center, Washington, D.C., 4/97)





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Jeff Foster
WebBizIdeas.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
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John Power
John 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

Dave Kurlan
Dave 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

Stephanie Robey
Stephanie 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.

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Joe Dager
Joe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website

David Acheson
David 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

Jay Kubassek
(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek)  In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.

 

As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)

 

Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. 

 

Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper.  Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website

John Alexander
John 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.
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