Tag: business ecosystem

McMinnville Business Mastery Lunch & Learn

EVER FELT LIKE MARKETING, STAFFING, AND GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WAS LIKE NAVIGATING A DIFFICULT MAZE?

What if you could follow a proven and time-tested roadmap that provides you the EXACT steps to more cash flow and freedom?

At my Business Mastery Lunch & Learn events, join area business owners as we tackle the business challenges of the day. In each session, walk away with no-cost strategies that can be implemented immediately.

Lunch and beverages are provided but registration is required.

To register for an upcoming event, click on the date you want to attend:

January 25 – Topic: Finding & Keeping Employees

(POSTPONED) February 8 – Topic: Position Your Business for a Bank Loan

February 22 – Topic: Exit Your Way – Grow with the Exit In Mind

March 8 – Topic: Pricing Workshop (details coming soon)

March 22 – Topic: No Cost Conversions & Sales Strategies (details coming soon)

Past events included Non-traditional Ways to Find & Keep Superstar Employees, No-cost Lead Generation Strategies, Increase Conversions and Sales With Small Tweaks, and more!

What these events aren’t:

NOT a disguised sales pitch

NOT a boring presentation about buying ads that don’t result in new customers anyways

NOT a place for me to listen to my own voice for a whole 90-minutes 🙂

 

What you will get is:

REAL strategies that you can implement yourself

INSPIRATION that can only come from being in a room with like-minded business owners doing the same work at the same time

The PEACE OF MIND knowing that you’re focusing on the business activities that really make a difference so you can work smarter rather than harder.

30 Ways to Effectively Market Your Business

A step-by-step guide to creating and executing a successful advertising campaign

Have you spent thousands of dollars on radio or Facebook ads and seen zero sales from the advertising spend? Maybe you’ve been burned by a marketing consultant that promises the world only to fail to deliver results… today, I want to lift the veil on how to create a successful advertising campaign. 

To do that, first, we must understand why people buy products or services. Every purchase is an emotional response. People always buy a higher emotional state. They’re buying for one of three reasons

  1. to solve a problem or stop pain
  2. an experience that feels good 
  3. for certainty 

To develop emotion and a call to action, the majority of successful professionals use a succession of information-based commercials. What we find is that information-based advertising is much more effective compared to usual brand-based advertisements.

Here, I want to share with you that the principles used to put together high-impact (and oftentimes, high-priced) ads can be adapted to fit your needs and offer you similar results. 

Here are some ideas for creating and executing a successful advertising campaign:

  1. Put together a short report that you’ll automatically send to prospects when they contact you. This should include a short description of your business and what you specialize in. Don’t forget to include case studies, samples, or other proof of your success.

  2. Develop value-oriented “yellow page” like ads.

  3. Consider newsletters as a way of educating and informing customers about your industry and the services offered.

  4. Offer a free lecture or webinar to raise awareness of your business, but make sure the content is relevant to your target market and that the presenters are well-known in the field.

  5. Buy an existing business, improve marketing and grow this new business faster than a “from scratch” business.

  6. Always test different versions of your ads to determine which ones are the most effective.

  7. Use direct mail marketing to grow your business.

  8. Put together a database of previous customers and send them new information.

  9. Offer incentives such as frequent purchasing benefits, loyalty programs, or referral programs.

  10. Approach large firms who may need your services and negotiate a deal to be their exclusive expert in your field.

  11. Offer a 24-hour information line with a regularly updated recorded message. Make this available to all current and prospective customers/clients.

  12. Donate time or materials to local charities to show support in your area.

  13. Offer public clinics for the general public to come along and discuss what they need that’s free and approachable.

  14. Organize seminars your customers/clients can pay to attend by putting together a high-perception value package.

  15. Approach local newspapers by offering to write a weekly column about your area of expertise. Don’t ask for a payment, just a byline, and bio.

  16. Develop a weekend or other destination seminar for customers/clients, not only does this give you an action-packed weekend with the most important people, it gives them a tax-deductible business adventure.

  17. Take a good seminar and turn it into written form as a home study, member site program, audio, or video program.

  18. Approach large companies and offer to give seminars to their employees, investors, or management.

  19. Be proactive with your marketing plan.

  20. Trade for your marketing. Offer products or services instead of payment.

  21. Be willing to bring in new clients, even if at an initial loss because it will likely pay off later.

  22. Adjust your marketing budget to maximize the potential income from them for the following year, and try to postpone advertising costs for the following year to offset your expenses.

  23. Make offers to target markets or target market businesses to pay them for referrals or shared databases.

  24. Offer loaner products to replace equipment that’s being repaired or refurbished.

  25. Give away something free to everyone who brings in a print version of your advertisement. This is a great way to see which ads are giving you the most bang for your buck.

  26. Continually consider what new products/services you can offer to current customers/clients.

  27. Develop a mail order division of your company.

  28. Offer a proposition to your competitors to trade customers/clients you were both unsuccessful in selling to.

  29. Use different marketing tactics as an excuse to attract new customers/clients with new offers and goodies.

  30. Offer a “you-pick-a-price” program. This is especially good for products you just can’t seem to sell.

So now you have it: 30 ways to market to other professionals and businesses. Other great ways to get your name out there for little or no money are as follows:

  • Get engaged in your community-volunteer, donate to local events, etc.

  • Join your local Chamber of Commerce and attend networking and other activities throughout the year.

  • Join local, state, or regional professional associates for further networking opportunities.

  • Become a board member of a local organization.

Advertising should never be your only method of marketing strategy, there are numerous ways to get your name out there in a way that feels personal to potential customers/clients.

 

“Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just the marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans.” – Dharmesh Shah, CTO & Co-founder of Hubspot.

 

If you’re not sure where you start with your marketing plan or how to reach out to your local community, competitors, customers/clients, and others who could influence your business in a highly positive way try our GUIDED TOUR to experience the tools and resources we have to boost your business to the next level and beyond.

Stop wasting your resources!

Think about authentically attracting your ideal customer without wasting money on the latest social media platform. The fundamental questions you have to ask yourself are:

  • What do people really want to buy from me? 
    Once you figure this out, you will know who is more predisposed to purchase your product or services (your ideal customer avatar).
  • What related products are they already buying?
    Think about other businesses that serve the same customers.

Together, you can create an ecosystem that supports customers and makes it easy for them to purchase from all of you. 

The basic concept is this; you want to find existing businesses who have the customer profile that you’re looking for.

Once you do, strike up a relationship with those business owners to work out an incentive for customers to purchase from all your businesses.

As a result, you have an audience to market to and the other business owners generate added value from their current customer base.

So, how do you figure this out and become a success? There is a great formula from brilliant business strategist Jay Abraham you can follow.

LV = (P x F) x N – MC

Here’s what it all means:

  • LV = the lifetime value of a customer
  • P = the average profit margin from each sale
  • F = the number of times a customer buys each year
  • N = the number of years customers stay with you
  • MC = the marketing cost per customer (total costs/number of customers)

Once you know how much you need to spend, you will know how much of an incentive you can offer a business to help attract new customers.

Here’s your step-by-step process:

  1. Find companies that already have the customer base you are looking for.
  2. Negotiate an incentive for them to share that customer base with you.
  3. Focus your marketing resources on this group of customers.

If you need help working through this process, check out our free online educational videos for the most comprehensive system of marketing tools and resources.