Jump Start Your Marketing
by Karen (Hock) Philip

Did you cut your marketing and advertising budget due to sales being down? 
Do you know that lack of marketing and advertising directly affects lack of sales even more so? 
It is now ok to spend money on marketing once again.

If you are one that cut your marketing budget it is imperative for you to get this back into your company. 
First place to start is map out your marketing plan for the new year. Even if it is on a napkin:

• Objective of marketing your company
• How to achieve that objective
• Your target audience
• Niche
• Identity of your business
  Guerrilla marketing weapons (*read Guerrilla Marketing by Jay Conrad Levinson)
• Budget

Once you have your Marketing Plan mapped out, here are some suggestions to incorporate in
jump starting your marketing for the new year:

• Send letters and an enticement (such as a discount coupon, etc.) to clients that haven’t
  ordered in a long time.
  
  
• Do a 3 week long mailing blitz to present clients to let them know you are still around.
  Add Fusion Marketing to your arsenal. This is done with businesses that have a similar client base ie:
  You give them your sale flyer to hand out to their customers and you give their sale flyer to your customers. 
  This not only helps you, them and your customers as well.
  
  
• Mail business card magnets to potential clients with company information. 
  Everyone uses magnets and sees them constantly.
  
  
• Have your staff wear company logoed apparel everywhere they go. Give some to potential clients as well as present clients. How many people do you think will see your logo? A lot more than a one page ad.
  
  
• Ask your local newspaper for any special prices they can give you on placing an ad. Tie your ad in with promotional giveaways….it will have greater impact.

Some food for thought when you are planning your marketing. Research has been done by Southern Methodist University regarding the use of promotional products. Customers who receive promotional products reordered up to 18% sooner than those who received coupons and up to 13% sooner than those who received no promotion.

Baylor University found that customers who received a promotional product were 14% more likely to provide leads to those that did not. Salespeople who gave promotional gifts to their customers received 22% more referrals than salespeople who did not use promotional products. Baylor University also found that customers who received a promotional product in a dimensional package responded at a rate that was 75% higher than those who received only a sales letter.

It is my intent to help you grow your business in the new year. I hope all this information will help you. *I not only have read most of Jay Conrad Levinson’s books but have taken a course in Guerrilla Marketing Coaching and
found it to be most helpful. In fact I have added coaching to my business.

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