Different marketing techniques work for different businesses but a number of basic principles hold true for all businesses. Over the next week we’ll share 5 key principles that you MUST understand to market your business successfully.

3. It’s a lot about persistence

Did you know people need up to seven opportunities to view your message before taking action? You won?t get much of a response the first time you carry out most marketing activities. Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news but it’s important to be realistic and not give up on your marketing efforts at the first sign of adversity.

If the people you are contacting have not come across your business before you are likely to need to contact them several times before getting results. Later on in the course we’ll cover the AIDA model which stands for ‘Awareness’, ‘Interest’, ‘Desire’ and ‘Action’. As consumers we don’t just buy everything we see, there are a number of psychological barriers which must be overcome before a purchase takes place. From a seller’s point of view it’s our job to help the buyer overcome these psychological barriers and this can be done via marketing.

Tip! Allow time and money for repeat marketing activities to make the most of your initial investment.

To find out more about successfully marketing your business have a look at Marketing: The Essential Guide.

Different marketing techniques work for different businesses but a number of basic principles hold true for all businesses. Over the next week we’ll share 5 key principles that you MUST understand to market your business successfully.

2. Warm or cold

People who haven’t heard about your business yet are cold contacts?, those who have signed up for your newsletter, sent an enquiry, or even purchased from you are warm? It is much easier to get warm contacts to buy again than it is to get cold contacts to buy at all, so make sure you nurture your current contacts and customers.

A newsletter is essential for staying in touch. Don’t feel it has to be long and complex: a short e-blast with a special offer on a regular basis is more effective than a detailed newsletter once in a blue moon.

Want to find out more about successful marketing, why not have a look at A Guide To Promoting Your Business.

This is the last chance to get Erica’s advanced blogging library, the best value blogging product ACEInspire has had to offer. But you need to be quick as it closes at 10am today!

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• A Guide to Successful Blogging eBook – a 62 page eBook taking you the whole process of starting and creating a blog.
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• Explanation of all the stats terms
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• A 25 min Video Tutorial on Email Marketing – take your blog to the next level by building a list of your most committed followers.  Building an email list gives you a chance to take the relationship a step further or offer information in one niche area via an email list

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This is the best content Erica has ever produced and priced at £29 but is only available till 9pm tomorrow, Tuesday 21/02/12. Get your access to the video library here.  Watch it, read it, enjoy it but above all take action and you’ll see real results.

Different marketing techniques work for different businesses but a number of basic principles hold true for all businesses. Over the next week we’ll share 5 key principles that you MUST understand to market your business successfully.

1. Numbers count

Do you know how many new people you will have to show your business offer to before one of them bites? You may need as many as 1000 cold contacts before you get your first sale. You can learn two things from this. Firstly, do everything you can to spread the word about your business. Use online and offline techniques and don?t rule out any marketing tool until you have tried it. Secondly, find some way of collating your contacts, either in your own database or on something like Constant Contact, Profollow or Aweber.

Collating your contacts into a database or preferably an email list will help you carry out tried, tested and successful marketing strategies

To find out more about marketing your business look at our free eCourse Business Promotion Basics

If you want to market your business, you need to understand the 4-P’s; Product, Price, Promotion, Place. Check in every day this week to find out more about how to use these to

Understanding your product at a deep level and from your customers point of view will help you make good decisions about your product or service. After today’s lesson you may find that one of your p’s is incongruent with the message you are trying to communicate and you may see the need to adjust your offering slightly, this is absolutely necessary if you are to achieve increased success.

By the end of this week’s posts you should also more fully understand the message your product or service sends and tailor your marketing communications to match this, avoiding consumer confusion. Consumer confusion is bad for your bottom line as it can stall the decision making process, and in the worst case dissuade the buyer from making a purchase completely.

1. Product

The ‘product’ covers the products and services you currently offer and any new developments or new additions you may consider.

The ‘product’ also encompasses branding, packaging and any guarantees you offer.

Example: You’re offering a ‘luxury’ product which you sell for £1000. You wrap the product in cheap brown paper and put into a flimsy plain plastic carrier bag. The product comes with a one month guarantee.

This is a rather obvious example of an incongruent marketing mix. The packaging and guarantee are at odds with the pricing and therefore the customers expectations. This scenario is likely to lead to low satisfaction as all though technically there is nothing ‘wrong’ with the packaging and guarantee it sends mixed messages to the consumer creating confused expectations that will ultimately lead to disappointment.

Think for a moment about your own product or service, does the packaging and branding fit in with the product you’re offering?

• Seasons - You can also tie in a press release with a holiday or special occasion. Could your business do something related to Valentines Day, Fathers Day or school holidays?
• Charity work - Do not hide your light under a bushel if your business is making a donation to charity. A press release is a great way to let people know about community service, whether you offer training or apprenticeships to students or sponsor a local sports team.
• New products - New services or products: focus on the benefits to your customers and the publication’s readers.
• Achievements - Issue a press release when you or your employees are recognised for outstanding achievements or gain qualifications. Focus the release on how the award or qualification will help customers or clients.
• Business launch - Launch of your business, or business expansion — of interest to local papers and trade and business publications. You could also mention the launch of a new or updated website.

Right you have managed to create a great press release and want to include other items to reinforce how great your product/service is. Well a press pack can do this.

Press packs are a great way for promoting your business and here are some tips on how to create them.

Press packs contain your press release along with additional information and samples. Sending the pack through the post can be costly but you can be creative by doing it this way.

How can you make your pack stand out? If it is too costly to send a sample of your product out with every pack then why not add a ‘pillow gift’. This can range from a chocolate bar to a bottle of champagne! Or what about a sample of the material your product is made from? If samples or gifts are outside your budget, journalist’s are still looking for new and exciting products to feature without these extras.

Alternatively, why not select a few choice publications where you would really like to be featured. Call  them and speak to the most appropriate journalist and explain what you have to offer and find out if they’d be interested in receiving just the press release or need a sample too. Through doing this, you are making sure your samples are going to the people who are most likely to be really interested in them.

Here is a check list of items you may want to include in the pack.

• A page about your business or mini-biography
• Business cards
• Catalogue
• CD of images
• Dates of forthcoming events, you are exhibiting or selling at
• Page of your tips or short article

Remember to include your logo and contact details on ever sheet and any written inclusions succinct and to a single side.

Something that wouldn’t interest the national media may interest your local paper. Develop a relationship with the reporter who covers your local area, and keep them informed about the latest developments at your business. Stories about new staff, increased employment opportunities, or when employees gain qualifications may make the business pages.

Did you know editorial coverage in a national newspaper or parenting magazine is worth thousands of pounds? http://www.parentingmagazinecontacts.co.uk/

Promotion is an important part of growing your business. There are many ways to achieve this and here are three top tips to help you with promoting your business.

• Recommendations are a great way to sell your product or service. Word of mouth is advertising which costs nothing yet can be more effect than paying good hard earned money for a spread in a newspaper or magazine. You know as a consumer that if someone has recommended something to you, you are more likely to buy that product than one you know nothing about. This is why making connections and forging relationships with key members of your target media is important. Having your business, product or service mentioned in the media holds a lot of weight and will drive more customers to you than paying for a large advert in the same outlet.
• You need to plan your promotion. Using this simple acronym, SMART, meaning specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely, will help you do this effectively. Specific means being clear about what you want to achieve from your promotion, Measurable means you should be able to measure whether you are achieving your desired goal, Achievable means can you actually do what you have planned. Realistic means are you realistically able to achieve what you have set out to do with the resources you have and Timely means you need to include a timescale within which you want to achieve these goals. By following this simple acronym, you have you promotion planned for the timescale you want to achieve it in.
• Objectives are not set in stone. Any objectives you have  planned for promoting your business are not final. You are able to change these goals if things change within your business or if you achieve them before you planned to. Businesses can have ups and downs and although it is great and essential to have plans in place, you are not entirely ruled by them.

Firstly, what is USP?

Well your USP is your Unique Selling Points. Your unique selling points are the points which make your business or service different or ‘unique’ from other companies and if used to promote your business or service will attract the right customers to you.

Now you may think you already know all the points which make you business different from the rest but a great way to find out what you may have missed is to ask friends and family what they think.

Also another way to pin point your USP is to get some friends to sit and listen to you talking about what your business or service for five minutes. Explain to them what you have to offer and why they should choose you above others. Ask them to make notes of the key points that stand out to them and then you can use these to help design a slogan so customers know exactly what you have to offer.

Alternatively if you can not get anyone to listen why not talk out loud and write down they key points you think make your business what it is.

So now you know what your USP’s are start using them to attract new customers by adding your new slogan to all your business stationary, including emails and website.