Is your business growing, or are you on a plateau in need of a boost to move up? I know that I always tell you it is best to have a positioning statement and a plan. But sometimes, you just need something to get you off square one.
Below is my list of 20 marketing vitamins that you should choose from daily over the next month.
1. Consider starting a monthly e-newsletter. They are a great way to communicate with existing customers, and to remind them of other services you provide.
2. Call a customer at random just to thank him for the business he has given you.
3. Develop a signature for inclusion on every email and ensure that all employees are using it. Here's mine:
Get Bottom Line Communication Ideas at www.hoover-ink.com
Hoover ink PR, LLC.
Harry Hoover
Harry@hoover-ink.com
704-953-3406
4. Send hand-written thank you notes to customers or other people who have helped your business.
5. Call a former customer to find out why she left you.
6. If well educated business professionals are your target, consider becoming a sponsor on your local public radio station.
7. Give a speech. If you need help with public speaking, sign up for Zipline at www.tyboyd.com, the e-newsletter I do for Ty Boyd, one of America's top presentation coaches. Even better, take one of his courses.
8. Read a marketing book.
9. Write and place articles in ezines.
10. Ask a customer what you can do to help his business.
11. Distribute releases about newsworthy events.
12. Set up a marketing and advisory group consisting of people from outside your industry.
13. Consider setting up a local online web search advertising campaign. Check out ReachLocal, http://www.reachlocal.com/?aid=402.
14. Gather competitors' ads and literature to see what they are promoting, and how they are approaching their target market.
15. Offer free samples of your product or service.
16. Call some current clients and ask them why they hired you and how you could expand your business with them.
17. Get a college student who is in a communications program to do a summer internship for you. UNC-Chapel Hill has a very good internship program.
18. Join - and get involved in - a professional or civic group.
19. Write a letter to the editor or an Op-Ed piece to establish your expertise in an issue.
20. Hire me.
Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR,
http://www.hoover-ink.com. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems VELUX and Verbatim.
