Small Business Marketing Tips and Ideas

Successful small business marketers focus on relationship building strategies. They understand and leverage the core activities necessary for establishing and building relationships with existing clients and new prospects.

The old saying is business is that people prefer to buy from those they know, like, and trust. The most effective professional service businesses understand this and focus their marketing energy on core relationship marketing activities.

To reach your full business potential, you must consider developing an implementing stratetegies in each of these six areas:

1. Networking - The focus is on gaining visibility and credibility in a network of peers. Business networking is such a powerful way to be seen and get known. When you commit to consistent networking you build trust among others who might use your services or potentially refer you to others who have a need for what you do.

   Determine the most appropriate places to network based on your client and referral profiles. Look for ways to be useful and helpful to others as you're focusing on what you'd like to get out of your networking activities.

2. Direct Outreach - This means approaching prospective clients directly. It's about getting your message out to those who need to hear it. Various forms of direct outreach can be very effective when you reach the right target audience and make it direct response oriented.
3. Referrals - Build on the network of those you already know and who already know you. Don't just passively wait for your hard work and good reputation to create referrals for you. Put proactive referral mechanisms in place to leverage your business relationships.

Referrals can come from satisfied clients, but don't stop there. They can also come from the network of business relationships you build with joint-venture partners and other non-competing service providers.

4. Stay-in-touch - Keeping yourself in front of clients, prospects, and important business contacts to keep in touch so they don't forget you. An effective stay-in-touch marketing strategy deploys any method to keep you and your business in front of your business contacts. Methods that focus on putting useful information your target audiences can apply helps you stay top-of-mind when they need or come across someone who needs your services.

5. Centers of Influence - Building relationships with others who may be in a position to recommend or endorse you. Develop a target list of other professionals who have already earned the trust of your target market. Then go to work on establishing and building a relationship much like you would a client relationship. Look for ways you can be helpful to them in building their own business.
6. Joint Venture Arrangements - Identify the right complimentary businesses to yours and create win-win-win scenarios. Every business has other products or services that make sense up or down the line from them. In other words, when someone buys your service it makes sense that they may also be looking or in need of product A or service B as well. Developing relationships with these other businesses creates opportunities to identify ways to better serve your clients and help each other grow your businesses.

Developing marketing strategies for building relationships with each of these six key areas will ensure a continuous flow of new opportunities. Each core relationship marketing area has the power to transform your business to the next leve. But, it's the most successful small business marketers who focus on creating systems to establish a balance of all the core activity areas.

December 27, 2006 16:37 - Selfish Networking or Selfless Networking

What is networking?

What exactly is business networking supposed to result in for you? I know some would say it is supposed to generate new leads and result in more clients. Well ultimately yes, but if that's your going in attitude then that is selfish networking.

Business networking is one of the most cost-effective lead generation tools when conducted appropriately and professionally. Here is one definition of networking I was given a few years ago: The process of building multiple reciprocal relationships with a wide variety of people over a lifetime for the purpose of sharing ideas, information, resources, etc.

One of my favorite new quotes goes something like this, "The way of the world is meeting people through other people..." Every time you meet someone new, you have the opportunity to begin building a relationship and either start or add to a network. But it's your approach to building the relationship that will determine the impact on you and your business.

Networking is the process of gathering, collecting, and sharing information for the benefit of you and the people you know, meet, and associate with. It helps you create and nurture relationships where you can help others achieve the things they're trying to get done and in turn, they will help you achieve your goals.

Networking is not about selling or pushing your business in other people's faces. You've all been to those networking events where someone is badgering people about their business and pushing cards or brochures in every hand they possibly can. That my friends is selfish networking because your focus is strictly on using others for your own gain. Maybe some of you know someone like that - even intimately.

The way to win at networking is to expect nothing in return. That's selfless networking. Be willing to give and share with others but don't keep score and expect them to be rewarding you back every time. By giving openly you'll ultimately get back way more then you give.

In fact, the more you give, the more you will get! That's selfless networking.

So which brand of business networking are you practicing?

December 30, 2006 15:09 - Jim Edwards makes 2007 online predictions

Are you up-to-speed on the online trends for the coming year?

Jim Edwards from I Gotta Tell You.com is. Every year about this time Jim Edwards makes a handful of predictions for online junkies about what he believe the next year has in store.

More and more people are going online for business, pleasure, to make a living, or to supplement and support their offline business. If you're in small business, then you need to pay attention to what's happening on the Internet. Choosing to ignore it is not a choice that I recommend.

Just take a look at how technologies are merging and think about the possibilites it creates for small business. Television and radio advertising may have seemed like an impossibility for most small business a couple of years ago. Now through things like streaming audio and video, small businesses have affordable marketing opportunities like never before you get their message out there. And consumers are downloading them to their PCs, iPods, PDAs, and cell phones.

Jim talks about these kinds of things in his predictions. Google wouldn't have made such a bold move to acquire YouTube.com if they didn't understand how and why people are using it. Is it time for you to get in the game?

I'm not suggesting you quit everything else you're doing from a marketing perspective and chase some kind of Internet dream. But I do suggest you learn to embrace the Internet and explore the possibilities for yourself. Just remember that the bottom-line still remains that people are generally searching for answers and solutions to their own set of problems.

OK, go have a read of Jim's predictions for 2007: http://www.igottatellyou.com/blog/online-predictions-for-2007-by-jim-edwards/