4 Free Online Marketing Tools Every Small Business Owner Should Use
As the Flying Lizards once sang, “the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees – I want money. “ And really, who doesn’t? Small business owners all have paper chasing on the brain, but what many of them don’t realize is that some of the best online marketing tools are free – and they can help you get sales.
Here are four free online marketing tools that will help boost your bottom line:
1. HARO and Reporter Connection
Ever wish you could be quoted as an industry expert in a major media outlet? Now you can – but you’ll have to sign up for HARO and Reporter Connection emails first. These will put you in contact with reporters looking for quotes and information, and if you can type up a decent response email you’ll get placed (and linked to) in a variety of different outlets. If you’re not using HARO and RC, you and your business are missing out.
2. Social Media Management Software
First and foremost, you should have social media accounts set up on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+. Once you have that all finished, you’re going to need something to manage your updates – and Hootsuite, Cotweet and TweetAdder are all free. It seems like most pros prefer Hootsuite, but if you only have one person managing the accounts you can’t go wrong with any of them. Use the keyword streams to find people tweeting about needing your products/services, and don’t be shy about reaching out (preferably with a coupon code). Hashtracking will tell you which hashtags to target for maximum visibility.
3. WordPress Plugins
You do have a blog, right? If not, that should top your to-do list. They’re crucial for SEO, and the fresh content also gives you a good excuse to link back to your site on your social media accounts. Plugins help optimize your blog, and there are a variety of free ones you can benefit from. WordPress SEO by Yoast is a good place to start, as it’s widely regarded as THE SEO plugin to use these days. SexyBookmarks is also a favorite, since it gives cute little buttons that make your content ridiculously easy to share. Just remember: the more plugins you have, the slower your pages will load.
4. MediaBistro Forums and Quora
Have questions? There’s no need to guess when you can ask an expert and know the answer for sure. The MediaBistro forums are crawling with PR pros, copywriters and all-around marketing mavens who are usually happy to share their expertise. Quora is like a useful version of Yahoo! Answers, sans the spam and poor advice.
As with all things, there’s a learning curve to online marketing. If you don’t get discouraged and keep at it, though, you’ll hone your skills and see serious results over time. It may take you three months of responding to HAROs and Reporter Connection emails before you get placement, but if that placement is in Entrepreneur Magazine or Good Morning America the effort is totally worth it.
About the Author: Kari DePhillips is the owner of The Content Factory, an online PR company that specializes in web content writing and social media marketing. Give her a shoutout on Twitter (@ContentFac) or become a fan of TCF on Facebook.
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How Your Business Will Benefit From A Loyalty Card Program
It seems like almost every business has jumped on the loyalty card program bandwagon. From grocery stores to pharmacies and restaurants, retailers everywhere are launching customer rewards programs.
Have you ever wondered why?
Sure, customers stand to benefit from participating in loyalty card programs. They get discounts, special offers and cash-back opportunities. But the benefits for retailers are just as great, if not better. Even with the cost of a loyalty gift card program, you still end up being a winner in the end.
If you’re considering launching a loyalty card program, here are some of the many benefits you’ll pick up along the way:
1. Better Data Tracking
Every time a customer swipes a rewards card, you’ll get a clearer picture of who is buying what. The data will allow you to examine shopping patterns and use the information to make better business decisions. For example, use the information to make better choices about product selections and inventory supply.
2. Improved Marketing
Armed with all the data you’ll collect from customers who fill out a rewards program application, you’ll be able to develop marketing campaigns tailored to specific groups. Offer customers special, personalized deals based on their age, interests or previous purchases.
3. Better Customer Retention
A few incentives go a long way in creating loyal customers. If your customers believe there’s something to gain from giving you their repeat business, they’ll come back time and time again. Simply by offering a coupon for $2 off the next purchase, you’re dramatically increasingly the likelihood that a customer will come back.
4. More Frequent Business
With a loyalty program, the more often a customer shops, the faster they can start claiming rewards. A customer who’s just $5 away from earning a $25 gift certificate might find an excuse to stop by your store. Customers who used to come in once a month might start coming twice a month or once a week.
5. Increased Product Awareness
Do you offer a valuable product that – for one reason or another – is simply sitting on the shelves? Maybe you’re a retail shop that specializes in handmade goods, but the greeting cards in the back of the store just aren’t selling. By offering items like these as incentives, you can promote items customers may not know you have.
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Why You Should Use Free eMail Marketing to Keep Sales Going Beyond the Holiday Season
Businesses of all kinds are giving free email marketing a try for first time. Many have decided to give it a go with the goal of cashing in on the shopping frenzy that accompanies the holiday season. This is easy to understand when seeing how it is great for keeping in touch with customers, enticing them with offers, and providing stellar after-sales service as well. If you are thinking about abandoning this tool once all the shopping is done, get it out of your head. This article will explain why free email marketing has value that goes beyond the holiday season.
It Fits in the Budget
Some businesses will give email marketing a whirl for the holiday season. Several will throw in the towel and go back to what they were doing previously. Why? Because they can’t fit the extra expense into the budget. Even though email marketing is very cost effective, it is another expense, one that some businesses cannot justify in this economy. If a strained budget is what attracted you to free email marketing in the first place, then you should definitely keep at it when the holiday season wraps up. You can use this tool to support a sizable portion of your overall marketing needs, and invest in other critical areas with the money you save.
It Still Drive Sales
Although many of the big sales end once Christmas comes to a close, the shopping continues for some time after. In fact, some retailers enjoy even more sales once the holiday season officially ends by cleaning up on the leftover traffic. During the months of January and February, stores are often packed full of people who are redeeming gift cards and taking advantage strategically timed sales offers. Free email marketing can keep you in touch with these ambitious consumers. Whether you are trying to get rid of your last bit of inventory from the holiday, or move a line of entirely new products, it can keep them connected with whatever you’re selling.
It’s a Great Learning Tool
What were the results of your holiday email program? Was it an overwhelming success, or did you come out of it feeling like your strategy was in need of some fine tuning? If you thought the results could have been better, sticking with free email marketing is probably the best thing you can do. The more you continue to use it, the more familiar you will become with aspects such as campaign creation, list management, and tracking. By the time the next holiday season rolls around, you could potentially be a seasoned email marketer with the savvy to take on the world, or at least your target audience.
Who Needs Free Email Marketing?
Free email marketing does not discriminate. It can be an ideal solution for a small business, a large enterprise, a non-profit organization, or an entrepreneur with only a handful of clients. Find the right service provider, and it could be the solution that enables you to thrive year-round.
About the Author: Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.
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Online Marketing for Small Businesses – a Social Media Primer
Small businesses that use online marketing have a number of tools at their disposal, including blogs, search engine optimization, review websites and other inbound marketing techniques. However, what may end up being the Internet’s most important contribution to advertising and brand awareness is social media networking platforms. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Yelp! are wonderful devices that make reaching out to customers simple and, most importantly, cheap.
Unfortunately, not every small business owner is internet-savvy enough to instantly capture a broad and deep customer base. This can make engaging with users on these services intimidating. With a little bit of practice and some clear guidelines, such efforts can actually be quite successful. Here are some of the most important lessons for using these social platforms to garner leads and additional business.
Establish a Policy
No two companies use social media in exactly the same way. For instance, some may choose to simply make Facebook posts and tweets messaging tools that inform customers about the latest promotions and discounts that an organization is running. Others may choose to use these services to actually contact customers and offer them deals and savings. Either way, be sure to set up some guidelines that will keep an organization’s tone consistent throughout a campaign.
Designate Users
In keeping with a consistent feel, it is a good idea to establish which employees will actually generate content for a social media website. The importance of these services is making it so that some organizations choose to hire full-time networkers to maintain their various profiles. However, this may not be necessary, depending on a business’ intent. Either way, choose an employee who is somewhat tech-savvy, grammatically sound and can maintain a level of professionalism that won’t sully a company’s good name.
Coordinate With Other Efforts
The odds are good that a business using social networking websites will have at least some other efforts ongoing in the online world. If this is the case, coordinate social media messages and profiles with them. Blogs and Facebook posts can link to one another, while promotions being held should be advertised as much as possible on these platforms. Even something as simple as the images and fonts used in traditional advertising should match those used on Twitter feeds and blogs.
About the Author: Guest Post by Myron Corp. Located in Maywood, New Jersey, Myron is a global provider of imprinted promotional products and works closely with businesses to integrate these products into their marketing mix. Myron manufactures quality items such as promotional calendars, personalized pens and other giveaways and corporate customized gifts designed to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
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Using Greeting Cards to Market after the Holidays
Most marketing-savvy business owners know that holiday greeting cards make a great way to market to clients and prospective customers, but did you know that the holidays aren’t the only time when you can use this method to your advantage? Greeting cards enable you to keep up the lines of communication with your prospects, to promote a healthy business relationship and to make them more likely to think of you when they have need of your products or services. Once the holidays are over, it may seem like the season for greeting cards has gone, but that simply isn’t true. Here are a few ways to use greeting cards to market to your prospects after the holidays have passed.
Ringing in the New Year
If you missed the boat for Christmas cards, or if you just want a way to incorporate greeting cards into your post-holiday marketing campaigns, the New Year makes a great reason to send greeting cards to your prospects. Thank them for their business during the previous year, and wish them health and prosperity in the coming year. This reason for sending greeting cards is great because you can easily send your cards in late January, or even later if your company operates on a different year-end schedule. For instance, if you do business in the education industry, your year ends in May or June, making summer a great time to send out year-end cards.
Birthdays
It’s a good idea to keep track of all your customers’ birthdays. Sending cards on customer’s birthdays promotes a good relationship with them, plus you can take advantage of the opportunity to send them special offers or discounts in honor of their birthday. Ask for this information when they set up an account with you or via friendly conversation, and always remember their special day with a greeting card.
Warm Spring Wishes
Many people greet spring with relief and joy as winter being over means more daylight and warmer days, and often brings with it a sense of lightened mood, too. “Happy Spring” cards are a great way to remind your customers of your products and services, and may work especially well if you have a seasonal business, such as a landscaping business or even an online retailer that sells gardening supplies or other seasonal products.
Back to School
If it fits in with your type of business, sending out greeting cards in celebration of going back to school can provide an effective way to keep in touch with your customers. Families with kids and adult students often buy clothes, office and school supplies, computers, and other things just before the school year starts. Other businesses might see a surge in popularity once the kids are back in school — summer-wearied mothers might like to treat themselves to a massage or a day at the spa, for example. Sending out cards to wish everyone well in the new school year can make for a very timely reminder of the products and services you offer.
There are many different ways to market your business with greeting cards, and no, you don’t need Christmas — or even an official holiday — in order to do so effectively. Your type of business may even suggest some good reasons to celebrating with a card.
About the Author: Vern Marker is a freelance writer on several different topics including customer relationships. Business greeting cards are a great way to enhance customer relationships.
Photo Credit: Lauren Manning
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75 Big Marketing Ideas for Small Marketing Budgets
Don’t have a six-figure marketing budget like the “big boys” to throw around? Worry not my friends you can still go big without breaking the bank.
Here are 75 big marketing ideas you can begin implementing today to grow your business regardless of the size of your marketing budget. Many of these can be done with little to no money, and will cost you nothing more than a bit of your time.
1) Get Active on Twitter
It takes just a few minutes to make a contribution to Twitter and making this a part of your daily business routine is a steady way to build up a network of followers interested in your area of industry.
2) Start a Blog
This needn’t be an everyday thing but posting to a blog a couple of times a week is a way to keep in touch with your customers and to convey more about your business and the market in which you operate to your potential clients.
3) Blog Commenting
Contribute to the conversations on blogs by bloggers in the same niche in which you operate.
4) Forum Discussions
Find and sign up to forums on a related topic to your business. Actively take part and get to know your fellow posters. Try searching for “Your Topic + Forum” in Google to find relevant conversations.
5) Register Your Business with Google Local
Google has been offering local businesses a chance to register their business address and phone number in its local listings for some time
6) Register Your Products or Services with Google Merchant
Another helpful and free service from the search giant, Google Merchant is a place for businesses to upload a data feed which includes products or services.
7) Make Your Business Cards Memorable
Choose a design that stands out. Here are 51 creative business card ideas to get you started thinking creatively.
8). Consider Paid Search
Google AdWords is the largest sponsored search result program. While this marketing channel isn’t free, it does fall under budget marketing ideas for new businesses simply because you are able to manage it yourself within a small budget.
9) Build a Basic Reward Scheme
Offer an exclusive incentive to your regular customers which will help the business retain customers and win new ones.
10) Improve Customer Service
Many forget that customer service is a form of advertising. You’re advertising that you care, and that gets noticed.
11) Let Customers Know You Appreciate Them
Customers who feel appreciated are going to give the love right back in the form of loyalty. Send them and email, make a call, interact with them any way you see fit. Just let them know they are important.
12) Become Vain
Do you know what your customers are saying about you online? Get vain, and search for yourself! Then, respond to your customers.
13) Don’t Forget Current Customers
We’ve all heard the old adage that it’s easier to keep an existing customer than win a new one. But it may also be worth going through your list of older inactive customers and trying to reactivate a few of the better ones. Give them a call, tell them you value them, ask what it will take to get them back. You might be surprised at how simple or low-cost it is. If they say no thanks, consider it a learning opportunity and wish them the best. Then call them back in a year and ask again.
14) Article Marketing
Write expert articles and submit them to sites such as Ezinearticles.com. Here is a list of the top 50 article directories, ranked by Alexa. Get writing!
15) Advertise on Yourself
Make some simple t-shirts with your company name and website on them, wear them around town
16) Advertise on Someone Else
Check out guys like iwearyourshirt.comfor a fun, creative, and realtively cheap way to get your company seen.
17) Add your Business to a Review Site
Adding your business to a review site such as Feedback Jar can help put you in touch with customers.
18) Email Signature
Use every email as a way to promote yourself and your business.
19) Social Networks
There is a social network for every niche. Join one and start networking.
20) Leave Biz Cards
You’ve followed #7 above, now don’t just leave those cards in your pocket! Give them out, to anyone, everywhere. Heck, just leave them laying around, or in library books, or anywhere your customers may see them.
21) Postcards on Windshields
Easy and cheap to print, place them under windshields at parking lots. The more creative your card the more they’ll get noticed.
22) Flyers on Community Boards
Community cork boards are everywhere. Try putting up a flier or two on these boards…cheap and easy, and you never know who will read them.
23) Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce
A local chamber can be a great way to get your business out in the community for very little cash outlay. Chambers offer programs and services free for their members, and oftentimes refer business to chamber members.
24) Give a Talk at an Event
Any chance you get to get in front of a group and show your expertise – do it!
25) Send Special Deals to Your Newsletter List
Give your newsletter subscribers even more value by offering a “Newsletter only” deal.
26) Don’t Have a Newsletter List?
27) Give it Away for Free
If your product or service rocks – it’s your best advertising. Give it away for free, for a limited time of course, then charge when they can’t live without it.
28) Have a “Weird” Sale
Read about a guy who ran a pretty successful “I just broke my foot so you get 25% off sale”. The key here is to keep it fun, and get people talking about it.
29) Ask Your Customers for Referrals
Don’t be shy, come right out and solicit referrals from happy customers. They will be happy to tell their friends about you.
30) Give’mSomething to Give
Put something in the hands of your happy customers they can give to somebody else. Free samples, a “refer a friend” coupon. Build a small army of happy customers to help you spread the word.
31) And While Your Giving
Don’t forget to always give’ em the pickle.
32) Free Classifieds
Use free classified ad servicesto promote your product or service. Aside from big online classified ads (Craigslist), there may be other free options specific to your geographical area, maybe even some free inclusions in local print media. Do some Google searches and see what is available in your hometown.
33) Reciprocity Advertising
Talk to local business owners and explore cross promotion you may be able to do with them. They are probably in the same boat as you, and would be willing to work out a “scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” type of marketing campaign.
34) Barter
You may think of bartering as particularly “old school”, but there is no reason you can’t trade a product or service with another business in exchange for some marketing opportunities. Trading an hour of your consulting time, or a couple free products to a local business who is willing then to plug you in their newsletter or mailings could result in a better deal than paying out of pocket for the same marketing. Start with the barter directory, and go from there.
35) Write a Press Release
Write your own press release and submit it to the appropriate channels. If what you’re doing is particularly newsworthy, send it to local media. Also submit your press release to the free services online.
36) Networking
Scout out free networking events in your area, you’d be surprised how many “meet-ups” there are. Not only are they a great way to get out of the house, but think of every networking event as a mini-marketing campaign. Use MeetUp.com to scan for opportunities near you.
37) Organize a Meet Up
Not seeing a meet up that meets your needs? Organize one.
38) Link Exchange with Other Businesses
Offer link exchanges on related business websites where your link will add value to their visitors, and their link will add value to your visitors.
39) Cross Promote
Like a link exchange, but more in depth. Set up a cross promotion with another business. For example if you sell pencils, find a business that sells paper and work out a deal to send each other business.
40) Develop a “Niche Discount” That You Get Known For
I read about a guy who gives a “Laugh Discount” – a small % off if a customer can make him laugh within X minutes of meeting him.
41) Guest Post on Blogs
Expand your reach and audience. Use a service like MyGuestBlog to find blogs looking for guest articles. Or guest post with us.
42) Publish a Free Report or White Paper
Put out a free report related to what you do on your website, or distribute it to those in your target market. A report is a great way to get your name out there, show your expertise, and best of all these reports tend to get shared. Also, use the free report as an incentive to subscribe to your newsletter email list.
43) Encourage Sharing
Once you have a free report to give out, better than waiting for it to get shared, build in some encouragement to do so. Offer a deal if they share it with “X” number of people.
44) Make a Helpful YouTube Video
Video is pretty easy to produce now, and nobody expects it to look like Scorsese directed it, so put up a couple helpful videos explaining how to use one of your products or how we can benefit from your service. Better yet, answer a common question about what you do, or solve a problem in your video, it will get shared if you’re good.
45) Video Testimonials / Interviews
Better than just you on video ask some satisfied customers to take part in an interview where they talk about you and what you do. This is the best social proof that you don’t suck.
46) Partner With Another Business to Give Away a Prize
Don’t have the money to give away much on your own? How about partnering with a complimentary business to give away a great prize and getting some great advertising for the two of you? Then figure out a way where both of your customers can enter for a chance to win!
47) Sponsor an Event
Cheaper than you think, and sponsoring a local event can really give you a lot for your money.
48) Use Your Friends and Family
Ask friends and family to spread the word about your business.
49) Print a Coupon on the Back of Your Business Card.
People rarely use their business cards as a form of advertising. But if you want to have people remember you, or actually use their service, why not put something on your card to encourage their business…you’re giving those cards out anyway, right?
50) Join and Attend Professional Groups
Join a couple professional groups. These don’t have to be related to your niche, they could be something you want to get better at (such as Toastmasters), or an area of interest. You’ll meet other professionals, and who knows what those contacts will turn into.
51) Newsletter Cross-Promotion
Buddy up with another business and do some cross promotion in your newsletters. Again, you’ll want to be complimentary businesses to each other for this to really work.
52) Do Something Different
Write down everything you and your competitors have in common, then come up with one thing you can do differently than them – then do that.
53) Start an Affiliate Program
Use a service like Shareasale.com to start your own affiliate program. Offer a nice commission and people will be happy to sell your products/services.
54) Ask for Testimonials & Use Them!
Ask for testimonials from existing clients. Good testimonials are perfect for your web page and promotional items. Don’t just ask for testimonials and then let them sit. Put those things on everything you do – website, advertising, handouts, newsletters, etc.
55) Send Promotional Items
Send out invoices to your clients? Why not send them a small promo gift to go along with it? You never know where those pens will end up.
56) Join a Social Networking Site For Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
Here are 40 such networking sites, take a look and find one that suits you and your business. Then get using it.
57) Pull a Publicity Stunt
Are you the creative type? Not shy in front of crowds? Try a memorable, creative, or weird publicity stunt!
58) Hold a Webinar
Creating live, online seminars or webinars is relatively easy these days. Why not hold a webinar relating to your expertise, then promote it as a freebie or special benefit to current customers or to attract new customers?
59) Offer a Guarantee
It’s been shown that guarantees result in more sales. Make an iron clad guarantee, or better yet offer a guarantee that is outlandish and gets noticed…but if ever called on it, be sure you hold up your end of the bargain.
60) Get Reviewed
Use ReviewMe.com to get reviewed.
61) Become an Expert on Q/A Sites
Jump on a Q&A site and be helpful, answer questions related to what you do, become a trusted expert. These should get you going:
62) Donate to a Charity Auction
Charity auctions are constantly in need of things to auction off and raise money with in the process. You’ll feel good about your donation, and get your name out there.
63) Do a Memorable Giveaway
Local tire sellers Les Schwab has a “Free Beef” event every year. Buy tires, and get free beef – what does one have to do with the other? Your guess is as good as mine, but it gets people talking and that has been a very popular sale for many years now.
64) Go to a Trade Show
If you can find one in your niche – great! If not, go and talk to people…you just never know who will need what you sell.
65) Use your 404 Error Page
You know that “404 Error Page” you get on a website when it can’t find what you were looking for? Well, you can customize that page to say whatever you want. So instead of your visitor seeing “Hey sorry you’re lost”, have it say “Sorry you didn’t find what you’re looking for here’s 10% coupon off our services to make up for it”.
66) Surprise Upgrade ala Zappos
Why not “upgrade” a customer out of the blue sometime? Completely make their day, make them feel special, and they will tell everybody they know. It worked for Zappos…
67) Use Your “Thank You” Page
When someone signs up for your online newsletter they are taken to a thank you page. Customize this page to offer them something of value, give them a deal, coupon, whatever – just use the space creatively!
68) Use Someone Else’s “Thank you Page”
Chances are other website owners haven’t thought about using their own thank you page to promote something. Why not offer to buy some add space on their page? It will probably be cheap, and as long as there are some synergies between your businesses it can be effective.
69) Create a Podcast
Podcast can be quick, easy, fun, and FREE to produce. Here’s how to get startedPodcasting
70) SEO Your Website
Making sure your potential clients can find you is important. Take a few minutes to make sure your site is SEO’ed. Here’s 9 tips to get you started.
71) Know you USP
What is your unique selling proposition? You first need to know why people should buy from you. Once you do, you’ll have no problem telling them.
72) Create an Elevator Speech
In 30 seconds or less can you tell me what you do, what makes you special, and why I should care? That’s your elevator speech. Think about how many times you are asked what you do, the better you get at explaining it the more customers you will get – easy as that.
73) Sponsor a Local Youth Team
When I was 6 my soccer team was sponsored by the local Uhaul. Almost 30 years later I still remember that…30 years from now some grown up kids could remember your business, and their parents could have been using your business.
74) Place Google Ads for Influential People You Want to Meet
Do what this guy did to get a job, but replace the names with people you want as clients.
75) Your Turn
Put the 75th idea in our comments below.
A Quick-Hitting 3-Step Content Marketing Campaign to get Customers this Month
Below is the second article in our $150 competition sponsored by BizSugar.com, submitted by Fernando who does content marketing in Latin America. Good luck to everyone who contributed an article!
As a fellow small business owner, you, like me, are totally on board with the concept that great content via blogging and social media is the new “killer app” of the Internet marketing world. You may have already started a blog, and you may already have 20-50 RSS subscribers. You’re slowly making your way up to your 1,000th Twitter follower, and you’ve gotten decent re-tweets whenever you share your latest post on your blog.
Great job, that’s better than most.
But where are all the customers?
Well you may have missed the part that this kind of marketing is a long-term proposition.
What to do if you want to eat this month?
Vaynerchuck clearly says that his strategy is to build a personal brand, and Chris Brogan says you’ve got to build your online presence so you can become a “Trust Agent.”
But you’ve got the pay the mortgage this month, make sure your fridge isn’t empty, and keep the lights on.
Well here are 3 quick-hitting tactics I’m putting into practice because I just quit my job and I need to bring in some customers really really soon, or else, as the clichéd country song goes, “I’ll lose the house, my wife and the dog.”
These tactics were inspired by my friend, mentor and coach Jim Logan.
1. Write an eBook like Brian Clark’s Authority Rules
I’m taking a slightly different approach here. Sure I’m writing an eBook that I’ll make available without a gate on my website for people to download.
In my case I’m a.) adding a very direct call-to-action at the end of the report to “call me to schedule your free 30-minute 5-point marketing readiness assessment” on the phone, and
b.) I’m going to be sending direct mail pieces offering my eBook to specific decision-makers at targeted companies who fit the profile of my ideal suspect, and I’ll be emailing a warm list of folks I know who are not yet subscribers to my RSS feed. My strategy here is to combine direct marketing with content marketing. The trick is not to sell directly, but to sell the “free content.”
My initial direct mail target will be about 30-50.
The philosophy behind this phase is you’re offering something of value in return for nothing. Even though there’s a strong call-to-action at the end of the eBook to call me (and I may very well get a few calls), here I’m just offering free content.
2. Follow-up with another direct mail piece
Two weeks later I’m going to follow-up with another direct mail piece to the original 30-50, as well as follow-up emails to my warm list. The message in this follow-up piece will be a business message.
I do not want to come across as a sales guy, but as a business person. I’m a business owner reaching out to another business owner, and I add value because of what I know.
I’m following-up on my eBook offer. I’ve helped businesses like yours with x & y (insert your key benefit here, do NOT mention a product or service). It may or may not be relevant to your situation, but I would love to chat with you for 30 minutes about your situation and how I’ve been able to help similar people.
The philosophy behind this stage is to sell the meeting, not sell your product or service. You should map out what the stages are in your sales cycle, and only sell the next step. In my case, and if you’re selling a B2B product or service, sell the meeting. And sell it as a business person, not a sales person.
3. Follow-up with a cold “warm call.”
Finally, I’m calling these folks. I’m calling, again, as a CEO of my small business.
Business people don’t take calls from sales people anymore, unless they called the sales person before and are expecting a call back. However, business people do take calls from fellow business people.
How do you think CEOs of major companies form strategic alliances with other major companies? They cold-call them!
You’re the CEO, you call the CEO of your target company. And you don’t sell your product or service, you have a business call about what you’re extremely knowledgeable about and what your prospect’s business situation is.
Business people want to learn from other business people.
I guarantee if you follow this method, in less than a month you’ll have some meetings and some closed business. It’s worked for Jim Logan and his clients, and I’m putting it into practice for myself.
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