Don’t Forget Your Loyal Customers

It seems as if the law of the land in the world of business is expansion. You want to always be growing, which means increasing the number of customers you have and the areas you work in.

Of course a company is going to want to generate more customers. The thing I take issue with is how quick people seem to be to forget about their loyal customers in that quest for new customers.

The fact is most of your business is going to be coming from your loyal customers, not your new customers. That’s why it’s best to be sure to keep your eye on those that helped you reach the area that you’re at right now.

There are several ways you can both honor your existing customers and help generate more sales. Think of different ways to generate new marketing that focuses primarily on them.

You might consider using catalog printing to design a catalog meant specifically for your loyal customers. Put specials deals in it that other catalogs wouldn’t have. Track the kind of products that seem to be most popular with your loyal customers and have those be the emphasis within your catalog.

Most of all make sure they’re aware that these deals are being given only to them for being loyal. Someone who just started shopping with you isn’t getting these kinds of deals. People like to know that they’re loyalty is appreciated, and that they can get better savings for being loyal.

If your company doesn’t have anything like catalog printing than try to figure out other methods for honoring them. You might have a special batch of booklet printing made up that accomplishes a similar goal.

Design booklets dedicated for your faithful customers that actually talks about them. Ask to interview some of your customers and put those in the booklet along with special coupons and deals.

This helps you foster a closer sense of community with your customers. You’re showing them that you’re more than just a company but a place they can feel comfortable at. They can get to know their fellow customers and maybe be featured themselves some day.

These are just two suggestions. There are going to be several methods well beyond booklet printing or catalogs for you to show your dedicated customers that you care about their service.

Ask yourself what would work best for your customers. Each company is going to have a method that will work particularly well for their industry and you’ll be in the best position to know what will work for you.

Just keep these people in mind the next time you start your marketing. The worst thing you can do is throw aside the people who made you big in your effort to become bigger.

How to Market Your Breakthrough Products

A great inventor does not a necessarily make for a sharp marketer. In many cases it is the opposite. The qualities resident in great innovators often prove counterproductive when dealing with the non technically savvy general public.

By the time your new gadget is ready to hit the market you should have already had your sales plan well in place. Failure to do so wastes valuable initial time which could be generating revenue. It also allows any potentially competing devices to get a leg up on you in the marketplace. The color printing for your brochures should be able to start the minute your product passes its testing phase.

There are two basic ways to obtain marketing support. The first obviously would be to hire a full time marketing specialist. This entails payroll and very expensive benefits. The other would be to hire an outside firm and ideally pay them commission based upon sales. This is far less cash intensive on the start up, but a highly successful product would generate more commission expense than would be incurred with an in house person. There are pros and cons to each avenue.

Once you have your product out in the marketplace it becomes imperative that the right people become the point of contact for your customers. Oftentimes this is not the engineer who worked on its creation just as you wouldn’t have a marketing professional go in the lab and try to invent a product.

Be proactive in your marketing plan. Create it even though you do not yet have a working prototype for your product. One can never be too early in having this plan in place.

Watch Out for These Business Card Mistakes

In this age of email, personal Web pages and BlackBerrys, you’d think business cards don’t have any place in this era. But business cards are still considered the essence of a professional. Think about it: what kind of professional doesn’t have a business card?

So, if you are in the market for some business cards of your own, watch out for the following mistakes people make when creating business cards and avoid them at all costs:

Using big, ugly font. Okay, so ugly is in the eye of the beholder, but try to stick with fonts that are popular and easy to read, like Times, Arial or Garamond. Your name and contact info should only be big enough to read and not much bigger. If you use big font that takes up most of your card, you’ll look unprofessional.

Not using your logo. Your logo represents your brand and your business’s personality so it should be on your card.

Don’t use a photo unless you are in real estate. Many people (realtors included!) don’t think it’s a good idea to have photos on their business cards. It’s considered unprofessional, except in real estate for some strange reason. Supposedly a photo makes the realtor more memorable, but the jury’s out on that one. Anyway, don’t put your photo on your card.

Using general picture business cards. This isn’t the same as the previous mistake. This means don’t use a picture of the ocean or a really nice mountain scene as your background to your text. The color of your cardstock should be white or off-white. That’s not to say not to use color at all – color business cards look professional and tasteful if just an accent color is used on your logo or on just your name. Too much color is overkill and doesn’t look professional.

The Need to Reinvent Blog

Sometimes change isn’t easy. People like to keep things the way they’ve been. It can be comforting knowing something’s always going to be the same.

But at the same time our society keeps changing. I understand the shaky ground this can put a business on who wants to keep up with the times without turning away those who have stuck with them for years. I’m afraid there isn’t any easy answer for how best to approach the subject.

I guess one of the most important things is keeping your current customers informed about what’s in the works and what might be coming soon. I don’t think it would be much of a hassle to print out some full color flyers to advertise the upcoming changes, whatever they may be.

At least this way people aren’t going to be caught by surprise when they happen. This also allows people a chance to voice their concerns ahead of the change, whatever they may be. Flyer printing is an inexpensive way to get the word out.

Change simply has to happen. I’m aware of that. I just like to know what the changes are going to be.

Standing Out in a Crowd

When you want to stand apart from the competition you must be careful to show and educate your customer. When you make your presentation you want to assist your customer in understanding why you are their best options. You never want to bash your competition since this may offend your potential customer, but be sure to highlight the things you can do and have done to make sure you do not make the same mistakes as your competition.

Also be sure to take the time to make contact with the customer. Showing your interest and explaining how their time is important to you will help make them see how you will help them after they become your customer. Take your time and use care instead of the wham bam approach to selling. A future customer will be very excited to see you have done your homework on your competition as well as having been up to speed with the future for your market.

By using as many of these ideas as you can you can incorporate a way to differentiate yourself from your competition. They may have been there longer, but this means they have a higher likelihood of making mistakes. Knowing their faults and your strengths will also be a vital piece to standing above the rest not just standing out.

3 Tips for Effective Testimonials in Marketing Materials

Congratulations on deciding to include testimonials in your marketing materials! Now, you need to make those testimonials as effective as possible. Follow these three tips to ensure your testimonials work.

1. Use specific details instead of general comments. Using details will make your testimonials seem more credible. We’ve all seen the commercials on TV that say “This is a great product” or “XYZ product worked for me!” That just screams “fake”! Anyone could have said those words and they aren’t very effective. Build trust by using details that people will want to hear like “XYZ product helped my pimples go away in less than a week!” Also, don’t polish or edit the customer’s testimonial – the testimonial is more convincing when it’s not edited for style (editing for grammar is okay though).

2. Attribute the quote to a real person that has a full name. When you get a postcard mailing piece that has a testimonial from “A.T. in Boston,” what do you think? I bet you think that A.T. doesn’t exist because that’s what I think! To increase credibility, attribute the testimonial to the full name of a person. If you can get permission from the person, include their city and state, and job title and company (if you’re using a client). The more information you have about the person, the more believable your testimonial will be. To cap it off, include a photo of the person – then there’s nothing to leave to your readers’ imaginations!

3. Group all of your testimonials in one spot in your marketing material. The other option of displaying testimonials is to scatter the quotes throughout your brochure or whatever marketing pieces you’re using. If you group them, you can put them in a text box or on one panel of your brochure. Both methods work, but when people read many testimonials at the same time, they have more impact.

Look and Listen

If you want to draw new customers into your business, it’s essential to learn how to advertise. Whether you’re advertising in the media with radio and television or placing ads in various publications, the key issue is to be able to write a compelling ad that is going to jump out at people and show them what they want to see. You have to be able to write ad copies that will jump out and grab those prospects and bring them to your door. It may sound simple, but the truth is that many people do not know how to write an ad that is dynamic enough to bring new customers into the business.

The key to increasing your advertising results is knowing how to develop an ad that will gain people’s attention. Do not feel badly if you are one of those people who just can’t write effective ads thus the reason some companies hire advertising agencies to do all of their work for them. If that is not in your budget you may want to look and listen to some of the ads that other companies use in order to get an idea what may work for you.

How to Get the Response Rate You Want with Direct Mail

Direct mail marketing is one of the most difficult types of advertising because most people just throw the envelopes away. It is even more difficult when postcard marketing techniques are used because everything is visible to the eye right from the start. How economically feasible is it for companies to use postcard printing if no one is going to read what they send anyway? Weighing the potential success of either method depends on a number of factors including the product line the representative is attempting to sell.

After all, most people are not going to be interested in a product that is no different from what they can buy at their local store. In order to sell a prospect on what you are selling it must be different from anything else on the market or you must be able to convince your prospect that he or she must have what you are selling. That means you have to make them want to open their letter, and the easiest way to do that is to use only your name on the envelope and not the name of your company. You can also use personal information such as a birthday or anniversary to attract their interest.

How Networking Can Help Your Business

You and your business are very much alike in many aspects. For example, both would end up lonely and unfulfilled without any friends. A company builds its group of friends through networking.

Networking can come in many forms and fashions. Most popular today are the various networking opportunities existing online. There is a long list of possibilities in this arena. Some include cross promotional arrangements, newsgroup participation and social networking site membership. The Internet can provide for a large and rapidly developed network.

However, just like you, your business needs to also step out into the real world. A popular venue for flesh and blood interaction is trade shows. They often present a great forum to distribute your color business card far and wide. Business card printing rates allow for you to be quite liberal in their distribution versus other possible marketing materials.

After you have developed a wide network it is critical not to ignore it. Just like with friends in your personal life, your business friends need attention as well. Build and nourish your company’s network and the dividends will quickly become evident.

How Cross Promotion Can Work For You

Many moons ago a cavemen probably agreed to tout how warm his friend’s woolly mammoth furs were. In return, his friend would tell everyone about the sharpness of the shark’s teeth he was hawking. Hence was born the first cross promotional arrangement.

Today’s interactive world obviously entails far more sophisticated arrangements. However, the core concept remains the same. Your company has a universe of customers. Another company has a different grouping of customers. Both sets could have the proclivity to buy products from either company. Assuming you are not direct competitors, it becomes a win-win situation to leverage each other’s customer base.

Being an exchange, the arrangement takes up neither party’s cash flow. Enhanced marketing exposure with no corresponding expense is a rare opportunity that should not be passed up.

As with all relationships, it is important to be careful of the company you keep. Assume you own a commercial printing service. You probably would not desire to host ads advocating the increase of postage rates. That would most likely not sit well with your customer base.

Like always, do your research. Know all the details of the cross promotion arrangement you are about to sign. Assure you are dealing with reputable partners. Done right, cross promotional arrangements can bring your company to the next level.

Smart Marketing for Small Businesses

An effective marketing plan involves the development of a plan that addresses the needs of the customers and strives to meet those needs. Your plan may start with marketing brochures that provide enough information about your product line for customers to gain an understanding of what you can do for them. Of course, the process of brochure printing is only a small part of a complete marketing plan and must go hand in hand with other things such as bringing in new customers, persuading existing customers to buy more products, more expensive products, or those products that are more profitable.

If you are looking toward long-term growth, you must be willing to make the investment into marketing your business plan. That doesn’t necessarily mean an investment in money but rather an investment in your time. You need to conduct research to identify your target audience and work toward getting the marketing brochures into their hands. You need to overlook the cost of brochure printing if you want to increase the profits of your business. You have to invest some money into advertising, and brochures are a more effective way of marketing your business than running dozens of ads that may not reach your target audience.

Staying on Top by Keeping in Touch

Staying in touch with your customers is one of the easiest ways to make sure you retain their business. There are a number of ways you can do that including postcard marketing and printing greeting cards. That certainly doesn’t mean you have to invest in postcard printing by any means, but if you are very busy in the sales end of your business and don’t have the time to sit down and write a letter or email you can save time if you have something already prepared that you can simply sign, address and mail. You still want to take the time to write a short note even if it’s only one sentence.

The idea of postcard marketing has become very popular as the competition throughout the nation has become stiffer. Sales staffs are looking for new and innovative ways to make sure that they do not lose their customers to someone who has a better personality, shows more interest, or has a better marketing plan. Each person has to look out for him or herself and that means finding the best way to let their customers know that they understand the meaning of an importance relationship between a company and the sales staff that represents its vendors.