Starting and running a successful small business is not an easy chore.
It takes a lot of determination and desire to keep on trekking and trying new marketing strategies. These nine tips will help you get started.
- Promote Current Events and Trends – This lets your customers know you have more interests than your small business and that you are a regular person just like them.
- Promotional Materials – Don’t be afraid to hand out business cards or send out postcards and brochures to your target audience.
- Do What Successful Small Businesses are Doing – If there is a small business that you enjoy shopping at or receiving services from, analyze their marketing strategy and adopt the ones that fit your business. Use the marketing tips that work for you and discard the rest.
- Give Your Customers a Bonus or Gift – When your customer purchases your product, give them a small bonus or gift such as a coupon for 20% off their next purchase or a small personalized (with your business information on it) gift like a magnet.
- Keeping Up With Your Competitors – If a competitor is offering 20% off their product for seven days, that is going to intrigue customers, everyone loves to save money. If you cannot financially afford to compete with your competitor at that level, make a better offer to your customers for example offer them 40% off on the Saturday before your competitor’s sale starts.
- Become the Product Expert – Anyone can sell a product with the right marketing strategies. However, an expert on a product will sell a lot more. Know everything there is to know about your product and let your target audience know you’re an expert, by posting interesting tid bits about the product on your social media sites or your websites. Don’t tell your customers everything, just enough so that they know you’re an expert.
- Put a Face Behind Your Product – Whether you use videos or just post a picture of yourself with the product on your website or social media sites, people are more inclined to buy from someone with an honest and friendly face than a faceless person or corporation.
- Utilize the Organizations and Groups You Belong To – Next time you go to a meeting or book club bring your product along. Arrive a little early and introduce your product to the people in your groups, then give them a business card with the information of where they can order the product. Word of mouth is and always has been the best way to sell anything!
- Use the Magic Words – It may seem silly to always say please and thank you, but you would be sadly surprised at how many people never say thank you for your purchase…
There are so many tips you can use to help market and sell your product, keep your ears and eyes open at all times and you’re bound to come up with new ideas everyday just by being tuned into the public.
by Bruce Worrall, Sep-22-2015