All Freelance Work is a Community for Freelance Workers Including Free Portfolios, Job Search, Job Posting, Helpful Articles, Forums, & More for the Self Employed.
Building Marketing Momentum for Your Small Business
by Jeremy Cohen
The
success of your business depends on your ability to build
marketing momentum. Without the ability to generate new sources
of leads your capacity to sell will slump and the growth of
your business will stagnate or shrink.
Unfortunately, many small business owners are at a loss when
tasked with coming up with new ways to market while others
are frustrated into stagnation by seeing consistently ineffective
results from their marketing efforts. It doesn't matter if
your business is young or established. If your business is
young you must market well simply to survive. On the other
hand, if you have had marketing success with a method that
does not increase your opportunity to generate new business
your success will be stunted by your limited ability to find
new sources of business.
Building
marketing momentum is like kicking a ball down a hill that
keeps getting steeper. Each time the hill becomes a little
steeper the ball will roll faster and pick up momentum. In
marketing, any tactic you add to attract attention to what
you do is like making the hill a little steeper.
The
other day I was talking to Ed who runs a successful metal
shining business. I asked him how he went about generating
new sales. He told me that 100% of his marketing effort is
networking. I couldn't help but wonder why. I realize that
he is doing well with it but if he simply placed an ad in
the yellow pages that generated just one sale a year he would
cover the cost of the ad and be profitable!
Even
though Ed's networking efforts are successful he is limiting
his ability to grow his business by only implementing one
form of marketing. By simply trying something new in addition
to networking Ed can benefit from developing a new way to
generate leads and build his marketing momentum.
Is
your marketing effort one dimensional or stagnant? Here are
five tactics you can use to build marketing momentum.
Deliver
a Great Marketing Message A great marketing message will have
the effect of generating interest in what you do. It never
ceases to amaze me the number of small business owners that
fail to use a compelling marketing message. How many times
has someone described to you their business or what they do
with a label like, "I'm an accountant" or "I'm
in Communications"? Such answers are not likely to start
interesting conversations and marketing opportunities are
missed.
If
you answer the "what do you do?" question with a
savvy marketing message you will find that more people associate
what you do with a need of their own or that of a friend,
colleague or relative and you will win more referral business.
Develop and use an outstanding, compelling marketing message
and you will find that more people show interest in what you
do. The result will be more better sales.
Make
Cold Calling a Hot Source of Sales Many small business owners
hate to make cold calls. Their derision is understandable.
By making cold calls they are setting themselves up for rejection.
No one likes being rejected. However, rejection is part of
the game when making phone calls. Once you realize that it's
not your fault when someone says no during a cold call you
can move passed your barrier and add cold calling to your
marketing arsenal.
The
fact is that by regularly picking up the phone and reaching
out to potential clients small business owners increase their
chance of finding new business. A percentage of the people
you speak with will become clients when you make cold calls,
especially if you are targeting your market well and are offering
something they need. What's more you can work to improve your
phone skills to increase your ability to make sales. Add cold
calling to your marketing strategy and you will increase your
opportunity to generate new business.
Use
Your Web Site as An Effective Marketing Tool Many companies
have web sites that fail as effective marketing tools. Does
your web site consistently generate leads and sales? It should.
And it can. The World Wide Web is a continuously open marketplace
that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers every moment
of every day and allows you to easily and accurately target
those who buy your products or services. A company without
a web site as part of its marketing team is missing a fantastic
opportunity to increase its revenue stream. Deliver a web
site that functions as an effective marketing tool and you
will consistently add to your marketing momentum.
Develop
Your Network Another great tool to use to build marketing
momentum is networking. Networking is a highly effective means
of generating referral business (which is some of the easiest
business to get, once you get a referral). A person who is
willing to take someone else's advice to contact you about
your product or service will transfer the trust he has in
his friend or colleague making the referral to you. Making
it easier for clients to trust you removes one of the barriers
to making a sale. By developing a robust network you will
increase your ability to find new prospects and do more business.
So
then, just how should you go about building your network?
Ed,
from our previous example, is able to successfully operate
his business with networking alone. That's because Ed networks
the right way. Many small business owners and executives don't
realize what networking truly is. Unfortunately, all too often
people think they are networking by reaching out only to the
people they know when what they should be doing is taking
steps to continually expand their network. Ed regularly attends
networking events and is involved with multiple networking
groups. He ads new people to his network all the time and
has a successful business to show for it (though he could
be even more successful if he added another tool to his marketing
toolbox).
Measure
Your Results No matter what tactics you adapt to market yourself
or your business be sure to measure your results. By measuring
your marketing results you will be able to move away from
or correct what does not work and stick with and reinforce
what does. By diligently measuring your results you will improve
your ability to ad to your marketing momentum and grow your
business and success.
By
measuring my results and trying new things I have been able
to develop an ad that enjoys a 20% response rate. The ad is
so successful I only need to run it occasionally to generate
enough calls to keep me very busy. Not only does this great
ad do a fantastic job of generating interest in my marketing
services it saves me money on my advertising costs because
I can meet my goals by running fewer ads. You too can develop
highly effective ads by measuring your results. Move Your
Marketing Forward If your marketing efforts aren't helping
you reach your goals you can improve your results by implementing
any one of the tactics outlined above. Choose the one you
feel most comfortable with and take small measured steps toward
realistic goals and you will see a beneficial transformation
in your marketing results.
The author, Jeremy Cohen, helps consultants
and small business owners attract more clients and grow their
business with his marketing services and Free Marketing Guide,
'Jumpstart Marketing: More Prospects, Clients and Success'.
Get the guide at: www.bettermarketingresults.com
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All Freelance Work is a Community for Freelance Workers Including Free Portfolios, Job Search, Job Posting, Helpful Articles, Forums, & More for the Self Employed.
