What Are Some Good Marketing Tips? What Is the Role of Marketing Communication?
Marketing Your Business
In order to be successful in marketing, you’ll need to follow a few simple steps.
- Define your target market.
- Identify the products and/or services that meet your customers’ needs.
- Define the offer for your product and/or services.
- Advertise your product and/or services.
General Ideas
- Engage in at least one marketing activity every day.
- Determine a percentage of gross income allotted to spend annually on marketing.
- Set annual marketing goals. Review and adjust quarterly.
- Carry business cards with you at all times.
Marketing Communications
- Develop an online marketing strategy. There are many opportunities for developing customer relationships through blogs, social media sites, and other vehicles. If you are not familiar with online marketing techniques, consult with experts or use online business advice sites such as www.entrepreneur.com.
- Incorporate social media such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
- Create regular posts that link between your social media and your website. This will improve the website’s search rankings and the likelihood of being found upon search.
- Ensure that the business information is up-to-date and consistent across media platforms including Google, Amazon Alexa, Facebook and others.
- All websites should be mobile technology friendly.
- Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects (it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive).
- Create giveaways such as calendars or posters for your customers to keep your name in front of them.
- Print a slogan and/or one-sentence description of your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets and invoices.
- Create a signature file to be used for all your email messages. It should contain contact details, including your website address and key information about your company that will make the reader want to contact you.
- Include testimonials from customers in your literature.
- Remember to keep your message consistent in all communications.
Media Relations
- Upload helpful videos relating to your product or service to video sharing websites.
- Write a column for the local newspaper, local business journal, or a trade publication.
- Publicize your 500th client of the year (or other notable milestone).
- Create an annual award and publicize it.
- Get public relations and media training.
- Create short and informative videos to include on your website and social media to encourage sharing with other potential clients.
Customer Service and Customer Relations
- Return phone calls promptly.
- Set up an email system to easily respond to customer inquiries.
- Get a memorable phone number, such as 1-800-WIDGETS.
- Obtain a memorable URL and email address and include them on all marketing materials.
- Take clients out to a ball game, show, or another special even—or just send them two tickets with a note.
- Send handwritten thank you notes.
- Send birthday cards and appropriate seasonal greetings.
- Create an area on your website specifically for your customers.
- Redecorate your office or location where you meet with your clients.
- Distribute advertising specialty products such as pens, mouse pads, or mugs.
- Mail bumps—mail photos, samples or other innovative items to your prospect list. (A mail bump is anything that makes the envelope bulge and makes the recipient curious about what’s inside!)
- Consider non-traditional tactics such as bus backs, billboards, and popular websites.
- Consider placing ads in your newspaper’s classified section.
- Code your ads and keep records of results.
Marketing Performance
After implementing a marketing program, it is important to understand its impact on your business. Each program should have performance standards to compare with actual results. Researching industry norms and past performances will help to develop appropriate standards. Audit your company’s marketing performance at least quarterly, if not monthly.
Metrics, such as Key Performance Indicators (KPI), are used to measure the marketing performance. The KPI is unique to each business and marketing strategy. Some website analytics tools include Google Analytics, Matomo, and Bit.ly. Surveys, coupons and conversations can also be used to track marketing efficiency.
Marketing Tips
- The most important order you ever get from a customer is the second order.
- Understand and adapt to consumer motivation and behavior.
- A well-designed catalog sent to a qualified response list will probably bring a low response.
- Processing and fulfillment costs incurred from the time an order arrives until it is shipped should be kept to a minimum.
- Common mistakes companies make in using the phone is failing to track results and tracking the wrong thing.
- Marketing activities should be designed to increase profits, not just sales.
- It costs more to sell a new customer rather than an existing customer.
- Selling what your customers need, instead of what they want, can lead to failure.
- Don’t think that product superiority, technology, innovation or company size will sell itself.
- Don’t neglect or ignore your current customers while pursuing new ones.
- People don’t buy products, they buy the benefits and solutions they believe the products provide.
- The average business never hears from the majority of its dissatisfied customers.
- Many customers who complain would do business with the company again if their complaints were handled satisfactorily.
- It is estimated that customers are twice as likely to talk about their bad experiences as their good ones.
- Marketing is everyone’s business, regardless of title or position in the organization.
- Get to know your prime customers