Ideas to promote your business

Promotion is an important element of the marketing mix of any business. There are thousands of ideas to promote your business, whether it is a new start-up or an established concern.

• Revise your marketing plan;
• Revisit your research and development strategy;
• Refine your target audience and unique selling proposition (USP);
• Expand your product and service offerings;
• Update your business cards, website, brochure;
• Write an elevator pitch;
• Rent a booth at a trade show;
• Launch a direct mail campaign;
• Expand your social media management;
• Set up Google Analytics on your website and blog;
• Start a customer relationship program;
• Write a book;
• Design an innovative logo that compliments your business and builds your brand;
• Design branded letterheads, envelopes, business cards and office stationery;
• Design an illustrated brochure or pamphlet that looks professional to explain the benefits of your product or service. Ensure that the print quality is superior
• Register a domain name and create a Web site that draws attention. If possible, include e-commerce capability;
• Get listed on all major search engines; include carefully selected words in your Meta tags that prospective customers might enter during a search when looking for the type of goods or service you provide;
• Advertise in the type of magazines or newspapers your target customers are likely to read;
• Print handbills (leaflets printed on size A6 sheets) and place on car windshields and in mailboxes; or hand out at traffic lights;
• Customize your marketing to niche customers. Talk to potential customers to find out what their needs are, their likes and dislikes, and what they are prepared to pay for a product or service like yours;
• Build a client database to collect information about clients, such as their comments about the product or service, regularity of orders, complaints, etc.;
• Design branded promotional items such as t-shirts, mugs, pens, balloons, calendars, fridge magnets, etc. that can be distributed to customers in your area, at a trade show, etc.;
• Run a special offer on your Web site and mail a complimentary (branded of course) promotional item with each order;
• Sponsor a community event, which will give your business exposure in your immediate community and is a great opportunity for word-of-mouth advertising;
• Consider donating branded t-shirts and caps to an underprivileged sports team; contact the editor of your local community newspaper to request media coverage;
• Build solid relationships with suppliers. Being on friendly terms with them will encourage them to promote your business to other clients;
• Send out a monthly newsletter to highlight new products and specials on offer. You can also send out e-mail messages to locals to visit your store or to place an order online;
• Create (or have a graphic artist do it for you) an attractive point-of-sale display or an eye-catching poster. This will attract the attention of pavement traffic and get them into your store;
• Initiate a telemarketing campaign. Write a to-the-point opening and rehearse it well so that when you make a call the words are spoken from memory (and come across as sincere) and not read like a robot. Even when making cold calls, just be yourself; start with a friendly greeting and introduce yourself and your company. Briefly describe your product or service and relevant benefits, and where your store is located;
• Identify cross-promotional opportunities by seeking other businesses that are not direct competitors, but whose products or services compliment yours. The idea is to combine products or services from various sources to make up a comprehensive package that customers want and offers them convenience; you can do a promotional deal that will benefit all participating businesses. An example is a Pizza Take-Away next door to a Video Store; or a Coffee Bar next door to a Book Store;
• Write generic editorial about your industry for publication in a local or community newspaper. The article should not be specifically about your business, but about developments within your industry. Make sure the content is interesting, with variable facts, and that you get accreditation as the writer. This way reader’s will identify the information with you as an expert on the subject. Include your contact details so that readers may get in touch with you if they have questions;
• Running a competition is a great way of attracting attention and getting feet into your store. Include a feature of the competition that obliges participants to come to your store;
• Include promotional material and price lists with your customers’ purchases, when invoices are sent out, announcing a new product or service, competition, etc.;
• Take part in relevant trade shows, seminars and exhibitions, which are all great opportunities to network with suppliers and prospective customers;
• Signage on company vehicles is mobile advertising that is seen by many prospective customers wherever you travel or park. Don’t clutter the design; keep the information straightforward and easy to remember–basically your business name, logo and contact phone number;
• Placing a sidewalk sign on the pavement in front of your store will get you noticed. The sign should bear your logo and perhaps a special offer that will entice customers to visit the store;
• Get signage in the vicinity of your business to alert customers about your existence. A free-standing mini billboard or framed poster placed in prime positions, with an arrow pointing in the general direction of your store, will attract attention;
• Advertise an organized lecture-demonstration about your product or service to be held at a set time; make full use of this opportunity to impress prospective customers by addressing their queries, identifying solutions to their problems, and distributing product sheets and branded promotional give-away’s;
• Request that customers and prospects complete a short questionnaire so that you may subscribe them to receive a free monthly newsletter telling them about developments in the industry, new products and specials. Stress that they are under no obligation to purchase;
• Have an edition of branded wall or desk calendars printed to hand out as gifts to customers, towards the end of the year;

Contact Theresa (ecottage@gmail.com) for writing, editing and design.