How to Get More Bang for Your Buck By Selecting the Right Marketing Tactics

Is your small business having a difficult time deciding what marketing strategies to utilize? Especially in this down-turned economy, you need to watch your marketing budget closer than ever. Here are a few tips to help you get more from your budget.

• Select marketing tactics that cost less than traditional forms of marketing. Move to online versus offline media, for example.

• Use Webinars instead of seminars. You can get a higher attendance and save your company and your customers travel expenses.

• Take a smaller booth space at trade shows that provide you great prospects.

• Use postcards for your direct mail programs rather than sales letter or other customized direct mailers.

• Increase your response rate by testing your headlines and copy. Using the right words will make a difference.

• Don't forget to include a call to action, an offer, or some sort of discount program. Add a sense of urgency by giving a deadline for response.

• Convert your inquiries into prospects and then into sales. Follow up on those leads.

• Partner with other synergistic companies so that they promote you and vice versa. Instead of paying for advertising costs, barter with the partner for space on their website, for example.

• And...don't forget to measure your results. Google Analytics can help you measure your website traffic from various sources. If you don't know how you're doing, you won't be able to put a plan into place that works.

Why You Shouldn't Forget Old-Fashioned Marketing Tactics

I know what you're thinking. Get into the 21st century. Right? Well, sometimes being a contrarian will make you stand out.

Have you tried writing a good, old-fashioned business letter lately? I mean the kind that is formalized and typed and mailed with a postage stamp? Your customers are getting deluged with e-mails on a daily basis. And, with all of the text messaging, twittering, etc. all you get these days are cryptic messages that you might not even understand. But make sure your sales letter is short and sweet and to the point. Your customers are used to sound bites.

How about a good old-fashioned brochure? I mean the kind that is elegantly designed and printed on high-quality paper. People today figure it doesn't matter since everything is made into a PDF. Right? Wrong! You should still disseminate information about your company is a professional, but creative way. And use all of the same good marketing strategies from the past.

All of the social media banter is just another tactic. Don't think of using social media as a strategy. I'm sure many of you are gearing up complete departments to handle social media. Well, that's good, but also make sure that your staff is trained to implement stellar marketing strategies using these media.

The moral of the story is no matter what the future holds, good marketing is here to stay. So learn what marketing is all about. Take some courses, attend a Webinar, and dive into the world of marketing.

Magic Bullet Marketing: Three Common Mistakes Marketers Make that Cause Them to Fail

Don't we all want to discover that magic formula for marketing our products? We all think marketing is easy. Just build it and they will come. Right? Wrong! Marketing is really all about letting the world know that you exist and that you have a product to sell. The best marketing tools won't do that for you unless you have clearly defined who needs or wants your products or services.

See the complete article on Buzzle.

How To Create an Irresistible Offer

Too many marketers fall short of communicating that irresistible offer to their prospects. Yeah, they might get the features right, and some may even get the benefits right, but they never go far enough in answering the question for their prospects, "What's in it for me?". That's what I call the "advantages"... over the competition ... over other products, etc.

• You must offer a high ROI (return on investment). If your product or service is great, this is automatic. If you don't have a great product, then no amount of marketing or advertising will cover up that fact. So spend time on product development so that your product is made of the highest standards.

• Make sure you are offering your product to the right audience. If you're selling hairbrushes, you're not going to market them to bald people, are you? So, make sure you audience has a need, want, and desire for your product. Target your audience. No matter how great your copywriting skills are, you'll never sell to an uninterested target.

• Collaborate with a symbiotic company. If you're selling hairbrushes, perhaps you can team up with a hair salon, for example. You might offer the salon a percentage of sales for every hair brush they sell to their customers. You don't have to go it alone. Many companies are now collaborating to find new customers. It's a win-win situation if you choose the right collaboration.

• But, above all, make your message credible and believable. Too many marketers create offers that are "too good to be true". If that's the case, your audience won't believe in you or your product.

So, next time you're creating an offer in an advertisement, online, or any other medium, remember these points.

Tapping the Social Media Opportunity

If you are new to social media marketing, take it slowly and take a few steps at a time. You don't have to become an expert on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or any other social media network. Good marketing is good marketing whether you're doing print advertising or online advertising. So, all the basic fundamentals of good marketing still apply to social media. The technology may have changed but the basics haven't. Here are a few tips that may help you jump into the pool of social media.

• Make your website a destination for your target audience. Your page rank is mostly determined by how many pages you have on your site and also how many inbound links you have; not necessarily by how many websites you link to. Google and other search engines look at your site as being trusted if other reputable sites are linking to your site. So offer items of interest on your site that other sites might want to link.

• Advertise on the blogs of interest to your customers. Do you know what they are reading and why? Start your own blog and advertise it. Place banner ads on sites and blogs of interest to your customer base. Add rich media such as gaming, videos, surveys, etc. to your online ads.

• Use social media yourself. If you're not familiar with social media, open a Twitter account, start your own blog, or sign up for one of the social media sites such as LinkedIn. Try it first. Then start using it to promote your company. But, be careful. No one likes a spam artist/scam artist. So, only provide information of value to your target audience. You can show that you are an expert in your field but you shouldn't blatantly solicit sales in a discussion forum.

Remember .. technology is with us to stay and we must adopt it; but, also use the new technology wisely. Good old-fashioned marketing strategies still work but you just have to modernize them with new tactics.

Develop Informative Brochures

Do you have a clue as to what information you should include on your company brochure? Is your brochure ineffective? Are you reaching your target market? Here are a few tips to help you when writing and designing brochures.

• Always answer the question, "What's in it for me?" from the perspective of your target customers. Don't focus on just the features of your product or service, but also understand the benefits to the customer. What does your product do that your competition doesn't. What problem does your product solve? Go one step further and think of the "advantages" of your product not just over the competition's product but also over other type of products.

• Make your business stand out from your competition. You can create the most beautiful, glossy brochure of all times. But, it's not just the eye-catching graphics that will make you stand out from the competition. How can you differentiate your company or your product from your competition? What do you do best? Do you have excellent customer service, shorter processing time, excellent after sales support? Think about it and promote it within your brochure.

• Know your audience. You need to write your brochure in the style of your audience. If your audience is highly technical, for example, you will want to produce a more conservative and technical brochure. If you are targeting a youthful audience, you might want more modern language and graphics. Otherwise, they may perceive you as a "dinosaur".

Think of your brochure as an investment so be sure they are effective in gaining new prospects, informing your existing customer base about something new or creating a positive corporate image.

Question of the Day

Do you think Barack Obama did a good job of marketing/selling his healthcare plan to the American public? Please comment from a marketing perspective not whether or not your agree or disagree with his healthcare plan.

Print Advertising is Still Viable

Have you given up on print advertising? So many marketers seem to think that the only way to market themselves is via the Internet. While online marketing tactics seem to be the wave of the future, print advertising is still viable. Here are a few tips for you to consider when planning your advertising campaign:

• Your ad begins with a plan: Do you understand your target market? Do you know which trade journals specifically are directed to your target audience? Do some research and choose several highly targeted journals. Analyze the media kit information or ask the media rep to provide you with an analysis. The main point is that you must understand your target market and you must choose journals that hit that target.

• Copy drives the creative: How many times do you start with the design of the ad without any thought to the copy content? Probably most of the time. Turn it around and write the copy first. What are the features, benefits, and advantages of your product or service? Don't think about how great your company is but think about how does your company's product offer solutions to your customers' problems. Then have your designer work on the layout, format, and creative portion of the ad to coordinate with the copy points.

• Basics of a good ad: Your ad should consist of a headline, a subhead, body copy, and a call-to-action plus graphics that correspond to the copy. And, don't forget to place your corporate identification on the ad. So many ads these days are not adding any contact information except for their Website. Many people need that warm feeling that you're a legitimate company so they want to see your corporate logo, address, phone number, and Website. Your headline should be compelling and attention grabbing. The subhead relates to the headline and should answer the question for your audience "What's in it for me?" The body copy relates to the headline and subhead and is written around the specific objective for the ad. And, don't forget the call-to-action statement. Too many ads forget to ask for the reader to do something. Make an offer of a white paper, sample of your product, or something deemed valuable by your target audience.

Remember ... advertising doesn't cost ... it pays for itself ... it is an investment. Print advertising still works. You just need to follow the basic rules for success.

Social Media Marketing 101 Educational MIB Offered by KIWI Communications, Inc.

Orange County, CA marketing and advertising firm offers a series of Marketing Information Bulletins (MIBs) on social media marketing and other related topics to help companies market their products more effectively.

See the complete news release on PR Web.

Sign up for Marketing Information Bulletins at the KIWI Website.

Question of the Day: Agency Selection

How do you handle the marketing in your company?

• Is it all accomplished in-house by your marketing staff?
• Do your outsource?
• Do you hire a full-service ad agency?
• Do you hire multiple freelancers or specialized marketing companies such as an SEO company, a web designer, or a direct mail expert?
• Or are you a DIY kind of marketer?

Inquiring minds want to know. Please comment.