Most businesses I talk to tell me that when it comes to marketing, they feel overwhelmed.    So many decisions, options and tools to use.  Which one will work, which one will not cost much, which one will take up the least of my time??

With so many options and decisions to make, fear creeps in and this then stops a business in its tracks when it comes to their marketing.

To be truthfully, working on your marketing is one of the most important tasks you need to do in order to be successful. I want to share with you 10 tips that have been tried and test over the years with my clients that you can use today, to build your marketing plan and reach more potential clients.

1. Give them what they want. Most businesses market what they deliver. The key point is to find out what your clients really need. Understanding people will unlock potential profit doors for you. What you do is the solution, find the problem.
2. Emotionally engage your audience. You need to keep them interested and coming back for more. Story telling is an age old success story, look at the success of Hollywood and TV. Find out what their questions are and answer them, provide them with tips, advice and back up with case studies and testimonials.
3. Competition. Look at the marketing methods used by the companies in your field that you look up to. What are they doing? What can you copy. Analyze their techniques and apply them to your own business?
4. Action.  Simply knowing the right business model or the right techniques will not give you the edge. It takes more than just knowing what to do in your business to achieve extraordinary results. You have to take Action!
5. Dig deeper. Find out what it really is that makes your business unique. I can assure you, you will be very surprised. Make this the focus for your marketing. Don’t get into the routine of just doing marketing for the sake of checking off boxes on your “to do” list.
6. Personal. Uncover your story, what’s your background and history. People buy from people.
7. Transparency. Tell the truth. Become the expert. Reveal things about your business and include the problems and weaknesses you have overcome. This really adds to your marketing.
8. Keep it simple. I client I started working with late last year, started calling his clients and picked up additional work. Simple!
9. Don’t be afraid. As you engage people, there will be some who are going to like you and some who don’t. This is just a fact in business. The truth is that if you engage people you can sell more. It is easier to sell to someone who likes you then someone who does!
10. Change.  Remember that things change.  Find what works for your business, implemented and keep going back to your customers to find out what they want.  As their needs change, look to see if you can adapt to their needs.  Great if you can, if not, you need to find new clients.

You don’t have to do all the steps above. Start off with one and take it from there. The key is to focus on the steps. They will help you develop a winning marketing plan.

If you have any questions, drop me a comment and I will get back to you

Did you know that internet marketing covers:

• Your website(s)
• Blogs
• Electronical sent newsletters
• Email
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Social Media i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube

So how do you get started….

1. Find out what your clients are using to stay in touch with what is going on.  You could simply just ask them or put together a quick and simple questionnaire and offer a prize – bottle of champagne.
2. Work out what your objectives are.  Do you want to go your mailing list?  Do you want more visitors to your website?  Do you want to be seen as the expert in your field/areas on a blog?  Keep focused on them.
3. Test, Test, Test.  Set yourself a goals.  For example if you are going to use email marketing than make sure it comes with software for you to see who opened it, who it bounced to, who forwarded it and who asked to be removed from your list.  Without these simply facts, you don’t know if your email campaign is working and you could be spending valuable time doing tasks and it isn’t giving your any results.
4. Keep it simple.  Is is obvious I know, but it still surprises me, how many people use technology just for the sake of it.  Check that what you are doing is adding value.
5. Add Value.  Today’s customer is very savvy, and they know when the are being sold to.  Your customers are using the internet, right at this very moment to find out information.  You could provided this information from one of the many articles you have read recently.  Tell people, help them out.
6. Don’t expect instant results.  With everything in life, consistency and persistence is what counts.
7. Perfect as you go.  You don’t have to be a expert on using internet marketing techniques.  Learn as you go, watch your results, listen to what your customers are asking for and help them. out.

Let me know how you get on.  If you have any questions, drop me a note and we will get back to you a.s.a.p.

Email  can be a very cheap and effect markting tool for your business.

In a recent article at Email Wars blog, Dylan Boyd praised a message sent out by Banana Republic.  It was a minimalist email, just using simple text to annouce an online sale that took place on 09.09.09. 

The offer was “9 Hours Only! 20% off your favourite styles or 25% off when you use your Banana Republic card + Free Shipping when you spend £99 or more”.  Can you see how they have used the date in their offer?  Very simple, but very effective.

Our next key event is 11.11.09, which is Rememberance Sunday.  This would be a fantastic time to reconnect with clients you haven’t spoken to in a while and offer then a special 11hour sale.   Your email will need to cover:

• Deadline driven by immediacy – clients only have a small window to which to make their purchase
• Date chosen for its interesting configuration  – your clients will not be expecting a sale, unexpected offers produce good results
• Use a Code- make it extra special by buidling in a code like 11-11-09 which has to be used to redemm the offer.

Grab a piece of paper and list down all the different campaigns you can offer that either coincides with a event, time or occasion.

Let us know how you get on.

Viral marketing means to spread out information. Traditionally this was and is, still done via   word of mouth.  Online it can be achieved with emails, newsletters, promotions and your website (to name a but a few).

For example, I received an email the other day from a friend who had forwarded it to me.  The message was about the Take That Circus Tour DVD being launched on 24th November.  There was the option to opt in in the email to receive information.   My friend forwarded it to me, because we went to the concert together and she knew I would be very interested in the email.

My friend was obviously on a companies email list to have received the message. By offering the facility to forward the message to friends and share, the company are building their list.  Because there is a very strong chance that I will sign up to receive more information.  Hence the viral nature.

Viral marketing is free and takes less then 5 mins to set up.  What are you waiting for, add a forwarding facility onto your online marketing and grow your list.