Depending on the size of your company, your marketing
plan may be some ideas scribbled on the back of a sheet of paper or a
multi-page document complete with analysis and budget schedules. The one thing
that is at the heart of both marketing plans, and all types of plans in
between, is the idea of promoting your company. You have good products,
excellent services and a track record that you are proud of. When you promote
your business you tell people about all of these things.
If you love what you do it should be easy for you to
promote your business with word of mouth marketing. You simply talk about what
you do with everyone who will listen. However, unless you have a very small
target market or live in a tiny town, this type of marketing will not be
sufficient to grow your sales and your business. There are several things that
you can do to promote your business effectively in any size market.
Word
of Mouth Marketing
Generate buzz about your business by being visible in
your marketplace. You can sponsor events that your target market cares about,
give away freebies that will get your intended customers interested or offer
incentives to buy from you. All of these not only drive traffic to your door,
they also get potential customers talking about you, which is the best thing
you can do as a business owner.
Door
to Door Sales
You can use door to door sales in one of two ways: either
you can walk into the businesses of your target market and try to sell them
your products outright or you can create a relationship with them by
consistently dropping by so that they have you at the forefront of their minds
when they need your products or services.
Promotional
Items
Aside from business cards, you should also have some
promotional items that you give to people that you meet on the street,
distribute via your sales team and make available at all of your locations.
These promotional materials should be something that your target market will
use repeatedly, like an ink pen, and have your logo and company information
printed on them.
Promoting your business can seem like a never ending
task, and in many ways that is true, but once you get the ball rolling with
many of these techniques, they take care of themselves. Make it a habit to talk
about your business and what you love about your company to everyone you meet
and challenge all of your employees to do the same. Provide everyone with
promotional materials that they can give out as they talk about how wonderful
your company is.
