|
Home / Business / Marketing
10 Offline Tightwad Marketing Strategies to Help You Get More Clients
By:Donna Gunter
Copyright 2006 Donna Gunter
Several years ago, in response to client requests for no-cost or low-cost marketing techniques, I coined the term "tightwad marketing". My definition of tightwad marketing is the art of doing more with less, or using your creativity instead of your checkbook to get the word out about your business.
Even though the saying, “If you build it they will come” worked for Kevin Costner’s character in the movie, “Field of Dreams”, life doesn't often imitate art. Usually the first thing that pops into someone’s mind when they think about marketing is, “I've got to place an ad.” Place a few ads and soon your marketing budget has totally dried up. Statistics say that someone must see your ad six times in the same publication before thinking of using your business. If it’s a weekly or monthly publication, that could be six weeks to six months down the road, and you can't afford to wait that long!
In order for the public to find your field of dreams, here are ten inexpensive ways to get started:
1. Define your USP--your Unique Selling Proposition--and use it in everything that you do. Make sure your customer knows what it is that you do that is unique to you and your business. Don't make them struggle to answer the question of why they should do business with you instead of your competitor.
2. Create joint ventures with other businesses that complement yours. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, team up with a cleaning service, an interior decorator, and a personal chef to offer a nice packaged deal to a new home buyer.
3. Stress the benefits of what you do, not the product or service. There’s a great story that’s passed around about the world’s most successful insurance salesman, who, when asked what he did for a living, responded, “I buy life assurance.” Most people responded, “What do you mean?” to which he replied, “I buy life assurance for my clients at the best possible price. Would you like me to buy some for you?” Make your potential customer think, “I've got to get that!”
4. Become newsworthy! Send out media releases to announce a new service or product or sponsorship of a charity event. Create an event or a special day. Link what you do to an existing trend or news event. Talk about your personal story in the business, i.e. if you went broke and bounded back, started to create one product and ended up with another, etc. Issue an award or give something away. Conduct a survey and report the results. Write a letter to the editor.
5. Talk to your customers. Call 5 previous customers and find out what they liked and didn't like about their dealings with you, and how you might better serve them in the future. Have them write testimonials that you can use. Ask and reward them for referrals.
6. Love what you do and become a model of what you’re selling. If you don't absolutely love what you do and feel passionate about it, your customers are going to see right through you and not be convinced to buy what you are offering. For example, if you’re a car mechanic and your shop sits on a parking lot full of clunkers that don't run, why would anyone hire you to repair their car? Or, if you’re a landscaper and your lawn is full of weeds and crabgrass, who wants to hire you to beautify their yard? If you don't truly feel passionate about your business and become a living model of that business to everyone you meet, then find another business!
7. Network, network, network! Join organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, professional groups, civic groups, etc. and any type of organization to which your target market might belong. Attend community events like business open-houses or neighborhood picnics. Sales master Joe Girard lives by his “Law of 250”, which states that everyone knows about 250 people well enough to invite to their wedding or to be in attendance at their funeral. Lesson: Perhaps the person you’re speaking with isn’t interested in what you offer, but there’s a good chance s/he knows someone who is250 of them!
8. Use attention-getting devices -- make yourself visible. Always have business cards on hand to distribute. Have a t-shirt personalized with your business name and wear it when you run errands. Wear an outfit or uniform that shows the world who you are. UPS has taken their identity as seen in their brown trucks and uniforms and embraced it with the tag line in their current commercials, "What can brown do for you?"
9. Talk and teach. Approach local organizations about being a guest speaker at their next meeting. Give a workshop that is open to public and is low-cost/no-cost for participants and discuss a particular aspect of your business, or demonstrate what you do. Offer them valuable information, but leave them hungry for more. For example, a financial planner might offer a free seminar called, “Planning for Retirement as a Thirty-something” or a bank loan officer might offer a workshop in conjunction with a real estate agency called, “Everything a First-Time Homebuyer Needs to Know But is Too Scared to Ask.” Or, work with your local college or recreation department and get paid to teach what you know.
10. Implement 5 a day. Make a list of all the creative ways you can market your business, and implement 5 of them per day.
Remember, in Tightwad Marketing, you’re limited only by your imagination!
Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article keywords: inexpensive marketing, tightwad marketing, marketing on a budget, marketing on a shoestring, Donna Gunter, Online Buainess Coaching Company
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Online Business Resource Queen (TM) and Business Coach Donna Gunter helps self-employed service professionals learn how to get more clients online at www.OnlineBizCoachingCompany.com . To sign up for more FREE tips like these and claim your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, visit her site at www.GetMoreClientsOnline.com . Read about running an online biz at our blog,
www.getmoreclientsonlineblog.com
|
|
| Top Marketing Articles |
- 1). The Benefits Of Branding By : Marcia Yudkin
Branding is the process of creating distinctive and durable perceptions in the minds of consumers. A brand is a persistent, unique business identity intertwined with associations of personality, quality, origin, liking and more. Here’s why the effort to brand your company or yourself pays off.
1. Memorability. A brand serves as a convenient container for a reputation and good will.
|
- 2). New Marketing Program Draws Thousands To Its Free Teleseminar By : Patrick Riley
Less than three short months ago, a new 1Step System was born with a very real potential for generating a great deal of income in a short time. Co -founders Rod Stinson and Chris Koehl have brought this opportunity to people all over the world. Many are joining now because the company is still in its infancy, which from a marketing standpoint is surely the best time to get on board.
|
- 3). Direct TV and the HD DVR By : dave4
With the inclusion of free or price-reduced TiVo-powered DVRs (digital video recorders), the benefits of DIRECTV have become so much greater. Particularly compelling is the high definition DVR combo that new DIRECTV subscribers can currently receive at a fair price. Of course the question to be asked is: If I can receive a free DVR with my DIRECTV subscription, why dish out the extra cash for the upgrade? There are quite a few reasons.
|
- 4). Seven Offline Viral Marketing Ideas By : Matt DeAngelis
Recently I participated in a forum discussion about offline marketing – that is using more traditional marketing offline to drive traffic to your website or blog. I can still remember the first time I saw a URL in a TV commercial and how cool I thought that was.
The offline world has the constraint of geography, so the least expensive forms of viral marketing are going to be geographically bound, which can be challenging for some sites.
|
- 5). Social Bookmarking - The Ultimate Viral Marketing By : Matt DeAngelis
Social Bookmarking could be one of the best things that ever happened to websites and blogs.
Basically Social Bookmarketing sites allow users to create a set of content bookmarks. These bookmarks are organized by tags, which are (usually) arbitrary words or phrases the user can assign to content. This gives the user a way to classify, rank and organize content using tags.
|
- 6). John Warwicker - Co-Founder of Tomato Design Company By : Robert Palmer
Design company Tomato
( http://www.tomato.co.uk ) was founded in 1991 in London by John Warwicker, Steve Baker, Dirk Van Dooren, Karl Hyde, Richard Smith, Simon Taylor and Graham Wood. In 1994, Michael Horsham and Jason Kedgely joined.
tomato specializes in: Architectural Design, Consultancy, Drawing, Education, Electronic Interactive Media, Film & Commercial Direction, Graphic Design, Fashion, Motion Graphics, Music & Sound, Strategy, Branding & Identity, Photography, Publishing, Title Sequences, Typography, Writing.
|
- 7). The Onset of Digital Vinyl Banner Printing By : Charmaine Joy Caro
Is your business customer-oriented? Does it speak of your company identity? Does it offer the customers the right services and products they really need? If you think your business still needs a little push to effectively make it to the peak of success, then you should opt for vinyl banners for your promotional campaign.
Vinyl banners are proven promotional tools that give boost to your ad campaign.
|
- 8). Teasing Colors in Printing Services By : Maricon Williams
People are basically visual creatures. They are easily turned on by what they see. The outrageousness of the design, graphics and colors teases their sense of sight. It sends excitement and thrill that generates more appetite to stare longer and be charmed.
Among design, graphics and color, the latter is the most difficult to show accurately. This is because color perception can be affected by lots of factors.
|
- 9). Full Color for Stunning Brochures By : viojieley
Have you ever feel so engrossed in something so beautiful and breathe taking? Perhaps a picture or image of a person or a scenic spot that you just find it so difficult to take your eyes off it. If you have, have you ever wondered what made you stare? Well, most of these pictures become attractive because of its color. Yes you read it right, color is the culprit.
|
- 10). Before You Do Anything: Try It Out By : James Calvin
So you know, roughly, what you want your home business to be. Before you go any further and start investing, though, you need to try it out. Here’s how.
Build a Prototype.
If you plan to sell physical things, or you’re going to do something like starting a website or making software, then you should build a prototype to see how your idea will work out.
|
| New Marketing Articles |
- 1). Birkenstocks & The Customizable Art Of Footwear By : JM Anderson
Birkenstocks are a German brand of quality footwear, which is best known for it’s contoured footbed. When most people purchase a new pair of shoes, they expect to have a ‘break-in’ time. This usually lasts for a few days and, at that time, the shoe is pretty comfortable and broken in for everyday wear. The main difference with Birkenstocks is that they approach the ‘break-in’ time much differently.
|
- 2). Millionaire Marketing in 3 Small Steps By : Allyn_Cutts
What is money? A child might say that it’s something rich people have and poor people don’t. An engineer might go into a detailed and lengthy explanation, but we all know that money is what really “makes the world go around.”
In the business world, money is the definition of success or failure. That’s why it’s vitally important that every entrepreneur has a good understanding of money – even if their business is still struggling to get off the ground.
|
- 3). Free T Shirt Offer – Are they really free? By : Isabel Rodrigues
The modern day craze has created a huge demand for designer clothing all over the world. Many young guns are going for a casual wear than what it used to be 20 years ago. A simple T-shirt and low waist jeans makes both the genders comfortable. It’s become almost a compulsory act to hang out in t-shirts and jeans even in colleges. Youths like to have wide collection of t-shirt of current fashion.
|
- 4). How To Promote Your Home Based Business On A Shoestring Budget! By : Kris Bickell
Getting customers is the key to success in any business. There are many ways to promote your home based business - the only way to know which ones are best for your business is to test. Here are some tips for getting customers without spending a fortune!
1. Tell everyone you know that you are starting a business AND ask them to tell everyone they know.
|
- 5). Cash in on Neighbors By : Allyn_Cutts
What could be more welcoming than the spicy smell of hot apple pie to receive you into a brand new neighborhood full of people you’ve never met? Hopefully you life has been full of warm, hospitable neighbors wherever you’ve lived. Perhaps not…
If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a neighbor, you know just how much those invisible people really know about you.
|
- 6). Technology Controlled Marketing By : Allyn_Cutts
RSS feeds and blogs took Internet marketing by a storm in 2005. Every time we turn around there’s a brand new marketing vehicle speeding down the Internet highway. In the fast paced race of the virtual world, it’s easy to get swept away in the current of technology.
If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that computers have taken control of both our personal world and the business world.
|
- 7). Finding Your Niche In The Business World By : Cheryl Johnson
Who am I and what do I love to do? Well, isn't this the twenty million dollar question! A more appropriate question might be "Who was I and what did I love to do?"
As you search to find yourself, and what it is you love to do, you may find the task harder than you thought it would be. Try to think about your childhood. Can you remember what thrilled you as a child? Like many people you've probably forgotten what brought try joy and excitement to your essence.
|
- 8). 7 Marketing Ideas to Expand Your Customer Base and Profits By : Joel Sussman
Copyright 2006 Joel Sussman
How do you grab people's attention, arouse their interest, trigger their desire, and motivate them to take action? Answer that four-part question correctly and you've identified the secret to achieving tremendous sales and marketing success in your chosen business or field. To complicate matters, however, the potential answers are as numerous and multi-faceted as the growing number of niche markets, products and services, and marketing trends in our culture.
|
- 9). The Housing Market Pitfalls and How I got Trapped. By : Mars
The housing game in Gainesville Virginia, let alone all other areas in Virginia, has become something to smirk at. I mean it’s obvious that during the real estate boom everyone made money except those that were watching from the sideline and jumped on the train as it was inching away only to slip and get crushed on the tracks. Well welcome to my world.
|
- 10). One Little Secret that Makes People Listen to You By : Kathryn Beach
As a marketer, you should be focused on one and only one thing. Not your company, not your product, but on filling your customer's needs. You have to start out with a clear perception of who your target customer is (the more details you know, the better); what his or her needs are, and how your product or service fills that need better than any other.
|
|
|
