7 tips to propel your business into the next realm

If you don’t have a track record of business longevity or access to a database, we are here to offer you 7 tips to propel your business toward success. Keep in mind, it won’t happen overnight but if you keep an eye toward the future, it can happen.

Let’s take a look at the 7 tips:

1. Operate in a niche market. Just as you can’t be everything to everyone, you don’t want to market to everyone. Target your marketing and structure your message to a certain type of prospect. You will likely see higher conversion rates from prospects to clients if you segment your marketing efforts.

2. Generate leads and follow up on them. If you follow up with leads, it makes it easier to close the sale. It’s difficult to place an ad in a newspaper and hope your phone will ring off the hook with prospects. Generate leads from your prospects and you’ll have the opportunity to make a presentation to them and hopefully close the deal!

3. Shake up your marketing plan. Look for multiple ways to spread the word about your product or service. Try press releases, host a contest, spread the word through your social media networking, check out the local newspaper for advertising opportunities, do a direct mail or email blast.

4. Give something away. Everyone loves to get something for free. With a free offer you can generate a lead or give people an incentive to walk through your front door. If you are a service provider, consider offering a free consultation or a free downloadable report. Make sure your free offer is mentioned in all your advertising pieces.

5. Limit yourself to one promo at a time. Rather than scattering the seeds of several free offers or promos, concentrate on one promotion at a time. Even if you have a catalog of products or a line of services, highlight one product.

6. Be in touch. If you have a current base of loyal customers, those should be the first contacts when you’re marketing. Eighty percent of your business profits come from existing customers and it’s easier to keep them happy than to constantly have to cultivate new customers. Send them a monthly newsletter and consider putting an offer in the newsletter for them as an incentive.

7. Show your faith in your own goods and services. Offer a money back guarantee as a way to guarantee response rates and inspire trust. The money back guarantee also breaks down barriers to a sale when a prospective customer has nothing to lose.

Make sure you always track your marketing efforts because you need to know what’s working and what’s not. Ask prospects how and where they heard about you. If they got your name from a current customer, make certain you contact that customer and thank them. Remember, you need to market continuously (as with your on hold messages) and always be in front of your customers and potential customers so when they have a need that you can meet, you will be front of mind.