Category: Sales & Marketing

BusinessKnowHow: If you’re a savvy marketer, you’ve got all kinds of clever ways to get the word out about your business. You might have a blog or a customer newsletter, take out paid ads in newspapers and magazines, or submit press releases when you have news. You might donate products or services to charity, use free directories, have a page on MySpace, or offer free consultations.
There are myriad free and low-cost ways to promote your business. Have you considered public speaking? Public speaking includes not just giving speeches, but also attending mixers, networking events and referrals groups.
Public speaking is a free and easy way to promote your business. Here are some ways to make it work for you.
1) Make friends and build relationships through networking – How you present yourself at these events (and any time you talk about your business) is how people will remember you and your business. Make an effort to get to know people and find out how you can be a resource to them in ways that might or might not include your business.
2) Offer your services as a speaker – Contact businesses, nonprofits, and associations in your community by e-mail, or call to get information about their needs. Provide them with professional marketing materials if they ask; at minimum, have a website they can refer to for more information. Tell them about your expertise and most significantly, how you can help them.
3) Promote your business by not promoting it – Be a resource to people. Teach them something new. Leave them wanting more. And make sure to bring your marketing materials and business cards so they can find you later.
Three Tips for Promoting Your Business Through Public Speaking [BusinessKnowHow]

MindPetals.com: Newsletters, brochures, websites, and even blogs are mediums of communication that reach out to your target market. Without effective ad copy, your market may be oblivious to your message, and it’s one reason why many campaigns simply fail. Knowing who your prospects are is just the first step in reaching out to your new customers, but learning about how to stir their desire and motivation to find you appealing is the necessary element to marketing success. Whether it’s in sales collateral, a newsletter, or a blog post, marketing with emotion needs to be part of your plan.
The first step in choosing your message involves identifying what they really want. Is it status? Vanity? Relief from fear? Increased security? Understanding the basic desires of your customers may require a brainstorming session or two, but the more you can fine-tune your message to appeal to the basic human emotions, the easier it will be to capture their attention. Fear and greed are the most common emotion-stirrers, and are also the themes we see time and time again in mass marketing today. Take a look around and see for yourself which ads stick out from the crowd—in almost all cases, they are presenting a message that is designed to appeal to our most basic desires.
Marketing With Emotion: How to Create a Stir [MindPetals.com]

FoundRead: Can social media actually do anything for your company’s image or to sell your product – especially when you’re, let’s say, running a start-up with no marketing or PR budget? I was in just that position not too long along ago, and I can tell you the answer is absolutely ‘Yes.’ So how can you leverage social media to achieve your goals?
Be real.
I’ve seen it time and time again; executives start blogging because it’s trendy. Blogs are not a “if you build it they will come” proposition. If you’re going to blog, take the time to think about the unique insight you can bring to the market. What jobs have you held in the past that bring bearing on your viewpoint today? What companies have you worked for? Who are you hanging out with in the community that surrounds your business? What broader issues surround the company or project you are trying to get off the ground? Start out picking a few key themes and watch how they are discussed within blogs and mainstream media, then write up your reactions. Don’t be afraid to be bold – there is nothing worse than a milquetoast corporate blog.
Watch and learn
Figure out who already has mastered the art of blogging. You probably already know who they are. What are their secrets to success? How often do they blog? How are their blogs organized? Who do they go to for information? What’s their writing style? Most of all, don’t over think what is already working for folks you respect. In social media, simple is good!
Assess your network.
As an entrepreneur or a founder, your own network might hold the influential spark than can start a fire. Vet your ideas and thoughts with this group. What parties or events do they regular attend that attract other influential people you want to meet? Our CEO Rob Crumpler was introduced to me this way. Ditto for many others on the BuzzLogic team.
Share the love.
Bloggers love it when someone demonstrates they’ve read their blog by linking back. Similarly, comment on relevant posts of bloggers you admire – or those who are influential on the topics you care about. Trackback other bloggers within your post and reference or compliment whatever point was made. Start a blogroll and feature all of the bloggers you follow.
Keep an eye on the conversation.
As important as getting involved is, monitoring the blogosphere for what people are saying about you is just as important. Buzz, both good and bad, now moves faster than ever and you need to be plugged into it to maintain visibility and be effective at adding value with solid content. Because at the end of the day, an informed opinion, unique insight and compelling content are what it’s all about.

Entrepreneur: Marketers have found a new opportunity for more intimate and direct communication with consumers. Not so long ago, families gathered around the TV; now individuals surf the web and watch video on personal, handheld devices. Consumers have grown comfortable with–and even come to expect–a one-on-one dialogue with marketers. And personalized marketing messages are a smart way to get customers’ attention and deliver communications that increase sales.
As a small-business owner, you’re in the enviable position of interacting with customers you know on a first-name basis. You can more easily maintain a database with in-depth customer information than larger businesses. The key is to use this important data to ensure your communications strike a personal chord with customers.
Personalization is a powerful marketing tactic that’s easy to incorporate. Here are three ways to create messages that personally appeal to customers.
1. Transform mass e-mail into one-to-one.
E-mail is an exceptional tool for small businesses thanks to its low cost of implementation and high return on investment when sent to an in-house, permission-based customer or prospect list. While e-mails range from product promotions to soft-sell e-newsletters, in some instances, a one-to-one approach can have a more powerful impact.
For this e-mail tactic to work, the simpler, more direct and less “crafted” your message appears, the better. Avoid graphics and other advertising design elements–including photos–which you might use in less personal forms of e-mail solicitations.
2. Personalize your offers.
Whether you’re a retailer, e-commerce merchant or direct-mail marketer, if you sell merchandise, you need to know your customers’ purchases, how much they spend per sale, and when or how often they buy. Knowledge of past behavior is a valuable tool for predicting future purchases. Not only can this information guide your business and merchandising decisions, but it’s also critical for creating personalized marketing messages that increase sales. For instance, suppose a customer purchased jogging pants out of a wide range of clothing from your website or catalog. By customizing an e-mail or direct-mail follow-up based on this purchase history, you could successfully sell this customer additional exercise attire and related products.
3. Put it in writing.
What better way to make your message stand out than to express it in a handwritten note? After all, with fast online and mobile communications the norm, a handwritten note emphasizes that you’ve taken the time and thought to communicate something in a special way.
The Power of Personalization [Entrepreneur]

BusinessWeek: When you mention the company you represent or the products you sell to prospective customers, do they ever look at you funny and say they don’t know what you’re talking about? Take heart. This is a common challenge for many sales pros.
So what’s a salesperson to do if prospective customers don’t understand what he’s selling? Here are some tips:
1. Analogies work.
If your company is not well known, you can say it is like company X but with quality Y with corresponding benefit Z. The idea is to springboard off the well-known supplier while carving out your niche and identifying your unique benefits.
2. Clarity matters.
Make sure your analogies are clear; don’t be cute or clever. Your customers won’t take the time or energy to figure out what you’re selling.
3. Having to start your pitch from scratch can work in your favor.
There are several advantages to selling to a prospect who has never heard of your company or product. When representing a new company, you start fresh—few bridges have been burned before you got there.
Another advantage is the cachet factor. With almost every group of customers, there are going to be a few who want to buy something simply because it’s new or unique. They want to be the first on their block to own what you sell. Look for customers who like to display their new watch, vehicle, or computer gadget. If they like cutting-edge products in one area, they probably like them in another.
Explaining What You Sell [BusinessWeek]