10
Offline Tightwad Marketing Strategies to Help You Get More Clients
Several years ago, in response to client requests for
no-cost or low-cost marketing techniques, I coined the term
"tightwad marketing". My definition of tightwad marketing
is the art of doing more with less, or using your creativity
instead of your checkbook to get the word out about your
business.
Even though the saying, "If you build it they will come'"
worked for Kevin Costner's character in the movie, "Field of
Dreams", life doesn't often imitate art. Usually the first
thing that pops into someone's mind when they think about
marketing is, "I've got to place an ad." Place a few
ads and soon your marketing budget has totally dried up.
Statistics say that someone must see your ad six times in
the same publication before thinking of using your business.
If it's a weekly or monthly publication, that could be six
weeks to six months down the road, and you can't afford to
wait that long!
In order for the public to find your field of dreams, here
are ten inexpensive ways to get started:
In order for the public to find your field of dreams, here
are ten ways to get started:
1. Define your USP -- your Unique Selling Proposition
-- and use it in everything that you do. Make sure
your customer knows what it is that you do that is unique to
you and your business. Don't make them struggle to answer
the question of why they should do business with you instead
of your competitor.
2. Create joint ventures with other businesses that
complement yours. For example, if you're a real
estate agent, team up with a cleaning service, an interior
decorator, and a personal chef to offer a nice packaged deal
to a new home buyer.
3. Stress the benefits of what you do, not the product
or service. There's a great story that's passed
around about the world's most successful insurance salesman,
who, when asked what he did for a living, responded, "I buy
life assurance." Most people responded, "What do you mean?"
to which he replied, "I buy life assurance for my clients at
the best possible price. Would you like me to buy some for
you?" Make your potential customer think, "I've got to get
that!"
4. Become newsworthy! Send out media
releases to announce a new service or product or sponsorship
of a charity event. Create an event or a special day. Link
what you do to an existing trend or news event. Talk about
your personal story in the business, i.e. if you went broke
and bounced back, started to create one product and ended up
with another, etc. Issue an award or give something away.
Conduct a survey and report the results. Write a letter to
the editor.
5. Talk to your customers. Call 5 previous
customers and find out what they liked and didn't like about
their dealings with you, and how you might better serve them
in the future. Have them write testimonials that you can
use. Ask and reward them for referrals.
6. Love what you do and become a model of what you're
selling. If you don't absolutely love what you do
and feel passionate about it, your customers are going to
see right through you and not be convinced to buy what you
are offering. For example, if you're a car mechanic and your
shop sits on a parking lot full of clunkers that don't run,
why would anyone hire you to repair their car? Or, if you're
a landscaper and your lawn is full of weeds and crabgrass,
who wants to hire you to beautify their yard? If you don't
truly feel passionate about your business and become a
living model of that business to everyone you meet, then
find another business!
7. Network, network, network! Join
organizations, such as Chambers of Commerce, professional
groups, civic groups, etc. and any type of organization to
which your target market might belong. Attend community
events like business open-houses or neighborhood picnics.
Sales master Joe Girard lives by his "Law of 250", which
states that everyone knows about 250 people well enough to
invite to their wedding or to be in attendance at their
funeral. Lesson: Perhaps the person you're speaking with
isn't interested in what you offer, but there's a good
chance s/he knows someone who is -- 250 of them!
8. Use attention-getting devices -- make yourself
visible. Always have business cards on hand to
distribute. Have a t-shirt personalized with your business
name and wear it when you run errands. Wear an outfit or
uniform that shows the world who you are. UPS has taken
their identity as seen in their brown trucks and uniforms
and embraced it with the tag line of their current
commercials, "What can brown do for you?"
9. Talk and teach. Approach local
organizations about being a guest speaker at their next
meeting. Give a workshop that is open to public and is
low-cost/no-cost for participants and discuss a particular
aspect of your business, or demonstrate what you do. Offer
them valuable information, but leave them hungry for more.
For example, a financial planner might offer a free seminar
called, "Planning for Retirement as a Thirty-something," or
a bank loan officer might offer a workshop in conjunction
with a real estate agency called, "Everything a First-Time
Homebuyer Needs to Know But is Too Scared to Ask." Or, work
with your local college or recreation department and get
paid to teach what you know.
10. Implement 5 a day. Make a list of all the
creative ways you can market your business, and implement 5
of them per day.
Remember, in Tightwad Marketing, you're limited only by your
imagination!
(c) 2009 Donna Gunter
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Internet Marketing Automation
Coach Donna Gunter helps independent service professionals create prosperous
online businesses that make more profit in less time by teaching them how to
automate their businesses, leverage their expertise, and get found online.
Would you like to learn the specific Internet marketing strategies that get
results? Discover how to increase your visibility and get found online by
claiming your FREE gift, TurboCharge Your Online Marketing Toolkit, at ==>
http://www.TurbochargeYourOnlineMarketing.com.
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