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Marketing your Business

Marketing Your Business
Find a Local Business Club.

It's a given fact that all businesses need to advertise as means of attracting new customers in order to make a profit.

One of the most difficult tasks with any business is finding a way that will provide you with enough new customers so your business can generate the profits it needs in order to stay in business or possibly grow your business.

There are various marketing options open to you, which have got varying strengths and weaknesses. The most common weakness is either too expensive or too time consuming.

The Local Business Club would recommend that you market your business in a variety of different ways that your advertising budget will allow.

The various marketing options described below will assist you with understanding the requirement to consistently market your business and will demonstrate the power of Business Networking as an affordable cost effective and time efficient method of attracting new customers.

• Word of Mouth: The most cost effective method of attracting new customers is a recommendation from one of your existing customers. If you would like more referrals which then lead to new business, The Local Business Club can assist you in your search for those precious new customers. Word of Mouth Marketing or in particular Business Networking can be a very cost effective and time efficient way of attracting good quality new business.

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• Cold Calling: As the name suggests this method of trying to gain new customers by contacting them with an unsolicited method of contact either by phone or direct mail is very time consuming and often leaves you feeling deflated when given the cold shoulder from the people you are trying to attract as new customers.

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• Direct Mail Shot: With all mail shots a database of contacts are required in order to process the mail shot, a good database is usually very hard to find and very expensive. If you have a suitable database then a targeted mail shot to your required market audience works far better than a general mail shot to anyone. When your mail has been sent, a follow up phone call is required in order to get a better response than simply sending out your mail and hoping your letter has the magical effect of getting everyone who receives it to pick up the phone to place an immediate order with you. In summary when you have bought a database and successfully merged the information into your customer relationship management system (if you have one), typed out a letter, done a mail merge to all the required recipients, sent out the letters then made that follow up phone call, the percentage of successful orders will more than likely still remain small.

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• Telesales: As above this method of contact can be a cold call or a follow up call after sending out a letter or an email. As previous to make a phone call you will need a database of people to contact, if you have a contact name then you will have more success than simply asking to speak to the required person who can make the decision to purchase your services/products. Making a phone call in an attempt to gain sales is a very difficult and very time consuming exercise, which often does not get you the results you require.

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• Newspaper and Magazine Advertising: To place an advert in a newspaper you will require a very effective and probably very expensive advertising campaign. Large companies spend thousands of pounds on what is in effect a ‘Brand Awareness Campaign'. It is very rare that adverts in a newspaper or magazine will be that seductive as to make anyone respond by placing an order as a direct result from seeing your advert. It is possible that someone will contact you as a direct response from seeing the advert if the person was in the market for your product/service and the advert was effective enough to capture the person's attention. To attract a new customer by way of a media advertisement, you will need to produce adverts on a very regular basis so as to maximise your chances of your target audience actually seeing your advertisement. This can also be very time consuming as you will need to produce the advert or engage a professional marketing company who will add to your costs.

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• Radio & TV Commercials: Similar to newspapers and magazines you will need a very effective advert to capture your required audience, and with the hundreds of stations now to choose from, how do you know which radio or TV station your customers are tuned in to? Again as with the paper based advertising you will need a very effective marketing campaign to attract your targeted audience, and as you can imagine this is probably going to cost a small fortune.

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• Trade Shows & Exhibitions: A display at an organised event may attract more of your potential new customers who attend the event. This is a way of concentrating your efforts more effectively enabling you to potentially speak face to face with more of your target audience in a shorter space of time. This can be quite successful as far as getting to actually speak to people who may have an interest in your products/services, this alone may not reap the benefits you desire as your stand, you and your staff have got to make a great impression to attract your new customer's attention then convert the enquiry into a sale. The organisers will on your behalf promote the event to the general public which you will be contributing to the cost as part of your stand fees.

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• Brochures & Websites: Visual displays of your products/services are a basic necessity in providing your customers the option to view your business in their own time. Most people these days do not want to be sold to, they will find you when they want you. Your Sales literature will need to be accessible for your potential new customers to easily find and it needs to be attractive enough to make them contact your business out of the hundreds of other businesses that provide the same products/service.

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• High Street Location: A traditional method of marketing is to open a high street shop so the general public or other businesses that you want to attract can see you and know where you are when they want you. This method is very effective and usually very costly in both time and money, also not all businesses can benefit from having a high street presence.

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Summary
Conclude what you will from the various advertising methods, what they all have in common is that they require consistent exposure in order to be effective.

Whichever marketing method you use to attract new customers, you will probably agree that a continuous marketing campaign is required so that your customers know who you are, what products/services you provide, and where you can be found and subsequently contacted when your customers are in the market for your services.

You will probably agree that Word of Mouth recommendations from existing customers is by far the best way of gaining new business.

Business Networking with The local Business Club
To augment a Word of Mouth recommendation from an existing customer, as a member of The Local business Club you will be interested in meeting like minded individuals, who are prepared to help each other in providing genuine referrals that can open doors which will allow you to present your business to a potential New Customer.

To successfully gain new business through recommendations & referrals, you should be looking to develop and nurture business relationships.

If you would like to attend a business network meeting, Find your nearest Local Business Club and ask the Club Manager to send you an invitation.

If there is no Local Business Club near you and you would like a new club in your area, find your nearest club and contact the club manager for assistance.

If you are interested in starting your own Local Business Club then please See the benefits of starting a Local Business Club.

Alternatively: Please Contact David Marsh on either 01942 863015 or 07776 183900.

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