Every business owner knows that the key to success is how well you market your business. Your business is not any different. Success depends on your marketing strategies.
There are many different marketing techniques with many different price tags attached to them. Depending on your type of business, you will need to develop a marketing plan that generates sufficient customers to reach your goals.
Using many different marketing techniques will quickly drain your bank account. Your first goal will be to determine how you can reach the most people for the least amount of money.
Here is one marketing technique that is cost efficient and a little more adventurous for you the “Business Owner.”
Become an Expert
What is your business? Look around at your competition. How do they present themselves to the general public? How can you present yourself differently?
Go buy a local newspaper, local magazine, listen to your local radio station; watch your local TV station. Are any of your competitors currently marketing themselves as an expert in your field?
Contact your local media and discuss the various ways that you could work with them. Local newspapers and magazines will have opportunities to write “Advice” articles. Local radio and TV stations may have talk shows that could host you weekly or monthly.
Contact the various local organizations that are looking for speakers for their monthly luncheons. Your Chamber of Commerce is an ideal place to start. Join your Chamber and get an article about you and your business published in their monthly magazine.
Study your customers and choose the type of media that would reach them. Talk to your current customers and ask them to give you their opinion about which area you should market in. Find out what they listen to and what they read, and what organizations they belong to.
What type of personality do you have?
Make sure that your personality matches your marketing strategy. Radio and TV would be a perfect match for you if you enjoy speaking in front of people, have an outgoing personality and a voice that carries well. Newspaper and magazine article writing will be perfect for you if you do not enjoy speaking in front of groups.
Becoming an expert in your area of business will not take years to achieve. Stay on top of the latest news about your business. Subscribe to trade publications to keep informed about new trends. The Internet offers many ways to stay informed on any topic.
The key to becoming an expert is to take the knowledge you have and the new information received and decide how your customers can benefit from this information. Not all news is beneficial to your customers.
Your goal is to cause your customers to look at you as the one to come to when they need what you are selling. You want them to refer their family and friends to you.
Don’t be shy. Go out there and market yourself as the expert that you are. The more exposure that you receive, the more exposure your business will receive.