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by Nancy Michaels
President of GrowYourBusinessNetwork.com
1. Maintain consistency in your visual
image on all marketing materials.
2. Develop your Major Selling Advantage.
3. Target a niche
market.
4.
Launch an endorsement
campaign.
5. Ask
your best clients for testimonials.
6.
Design a referral program.
7.
Support a local non-profit that is a natural match for your
business.
8. Cross-promote with area
businesses.
9. Join a networking group, such as Business Network International
(BNI).
10. Join
associations where your clients are likely to be.
11. Speak in
public.
12. Write a
column for your local newspaper.
13. Take
newspaper editors out to lunch and position yourself as a
resource.
14. Create
your own holiday.
15. Send out
value-rich top 10 lists.
16. Send a
monthly e-zine to your clients, prospects and the media.
17. Utilize the rule of 6: Advertise only if you can
afford to do so six consecutive times.
18. Focus 80 percent of your marketing efforts on the
20 percent of your clients who give you the most business.
19. Send out marketing communications at least four
times a year.
20. Take advantage of your email signature line to
advertise products, services and special offers.
21. Include your tag line and list of services on your
business cards.
22. Have a networking card (mini CD-rom) created to
hand out at networking events.
23. Remember your clients’
birthdays.
24. Send handwritten thank you
notes.
25. Call clients just to say
hi.
26. Become actively involved in associations by
joining the board or a committee.
27. Offer a money-back
guarantee.
28. Add value to your website by including resources,
articles, and incentives.
29. Create a board of
advisors.
30. Charge premium prices for quality products and
services.
31. Create a promotional kit-no more
brochure.
32. Celebrate non-traditional
holidays.
33. Offer free
tele-classes.
34. Establish 1-3 goals to focus on each
month.
35. Host a special
event.
36. Package your products or
services.
37. Place newspaper ads in the section where your
customers are most likely to see them.
38. Research the availability of “remnant” space,
which is magazine ad space that remains unfilled by press time and is offered at discounted
prices.
39. If advertising on the radio, talk shows are
best.
40. Your time is valuable, so outsource as much as you
can.
41. Spend one full day each week on business
development.
42. Win an award sponsored by a trade association or
professional organization.
43. Leverage your publicity by including it on your
website, in your promotional kit, and mentioning it in
advertisements.
44. Send out a press release to spread the word about
company milestones, achievements, and awards.
45. Always return phone calls and fulfill
promises.
46. Align yourself with cause-related programs that
you genuinely believe in.
47. Market through direct-mail with a three-tiered
postcard campaign.
48. Remember that marketing is about VCR: Visibility,
Consistency, and Repetition.
49. Order reprints of articles you are featured in or
have written.
50. Look for speaking opportunities at
adult education centers and your local chamber of
commerce.
51. Follow the same basic rules with the press as you
would with a client.
52. When dealing with the media, anticipate their
questions, label photographs, and explain why your story is worthy of
coverage.
53. Ask the media if you are calling at a good time
and when their deadline is.
54. Emphasize benefits of your product/service over
features.
55. Survey your customers to gain valuable
feedback.
56. If you find yourself in a crisis situation with
the media, be proactive and stick to your point. If handled with finesse, your crisis could be your
best publicity yet.
57. Position your product or service as one that so
completely fills a need, that your customers will have a hard time imagining life before you came
on the scene.
58. Ask yourself, “How can I create the perception
that my market simply cannot live without me and what I have to
offer?”.
59. Test your product or service with real
people.
60. Have a list of references with phone numbers on
hand.
61. Compile a list of frequently asked
questions.
62. Create a leave-behind
folder.
63. Do the unexpected.
64. Update advertising images
quarterly.
65. Keep your eye on future
trends.
66. Define your quintessential
qualities.
67. Keep your identity
consistent.
68. Network to build your prospect
base.
69. Provide superior customer
service.
70. Implement a method for handling the results of a
successful marketing plan.
71. Treat every call generated as a
lead.
72. Be persistent in your
follow-up.
73. Piggyback off of existing news
stories.
74. Focus on local
marketing.
75. Establish benchmarks to measure
performance.
76. Conduct a competitive
analysis.
77. Identify the results that clients will experience
from working with you.
78. Work at building relationships with your
customers.
79. Draft a list of your dream
clients.
80. Create unique pitch
materials.
81. Leverage civic contributions through signage and
press releases.
82. Establish a relationship with a promotional
company.
83. Draft compelling web site copy that reinforces
your message to your ideal clientele.
84. Provide calls to action at your
website.
85. Promote your website on your business card, in
your email signature, in article bylines, and at networking events.
86. Capture leads.
87. Buy lunch with an industry leader by offering to
donate $1000 to the charity of their choice.
88. Employ a loyalty
program.
89. Sponsor a little league
team.
90. Carry a camera and seize the
moment.
91. Never send a holiday card in
December.
92. Create an award.
93. Utilize email
auto-responders.
94. Use “pull” marketing to draw prospects to
you.
95. Have a professional appearance that makes your
first impression your best impression.
96. Utilize a marketing
mix.
97. Be aware and open to new opportunities and be
prepared to pounce on them when they show up.
98. Attend a marketing seminar and try to relate the
situations or examples to your business.
99. Work with a copywriter who can make your words
sing, be easily repeatable, and succinct.
100. Have a marketing calendar to identify marketing
opportunities throughout the year and execute your ideas in a less stressful, more proactive
manner.
101. Update your database
religiously.
Nancy Michaels is the President of
GrowYourBusinessNetwork.com and runs a coaching and consulting
business for women and minority business owners, Nancy Direct. For more information on how to be a
Nancy Direct member, go to:
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