Guest Blog: MarketingHQ – 10 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Marketing

Originally posted 29 October 2013 on www.boldface.com.au:

Marketing has strong links to copywriting and editing. Marketing copy needs to read well and be edited so it’s error-free. Copywriting needs to have basic marketing skills to understand who the target audience is and how to convey key messages.

I enjoy working with marketers and the lessons I’ve learned from them, and I know their experience and expertise is useful for my clients as well.

Of course, there’s a big difference between marketers, and today’s guest blogger, Chris Dale from MarketingHQ, is one of the best around. If you need marketing support, I’d suggest dropping my his website and getting in contact.

In the meantime, he shares some of his wealth of knowledge with us here:

10 Things You Can Do Today To Improve Your Marketing

1. Track your leads

Do you know how customers find you? If you don’t then start asking them.  There are a few simple ways to do this.

You can simply ask new customers, include it as a required field on a website enquiry form or include a tracking mechanism within your advertising activity.  Whatever you do, find out how they found you.  It will show you what part of your marketing strategy is working, and what isn’t.

2.  Say thanks for referrals

Do you know how powerful it is to say thank you for referrals?  It’s so easy to do, but often forgotten by small business.Today you must put a system in place to thank every person that refers a client to you.

This could be a handwritten note or a small gift.  You know what will happen if you do?  You will get more referrals – it’s that simple.

3.  Talk to your customers

Have you ever asked a customer why they keep coming back to your business?  By just talking to customers you can find a unique selling point that you can use to promote your business.  You can then use that in your marketing to attract more customers.

4.  Nurture your prospects.

In small business, not every customer interaction results in a sale. But by providing a positive experience with every prospect you begin the process of nurturing your prospects towards a sale.

5. Use emotion to sell

It’s not always tangible benefits that sell a product or service.

Take diamonds for example.  Men don’t buy diamonds because they want to own an indestructible colourless form of pure carbon (yes, I did Google that definition).  They buy them for the emotional reaction and for what is says to the person they are giving them to. Tap into the emotional benefit in your marketing and watch your sales grow.  If you want to read more about this, here is my latest post on Nett Blog which discusses using emotion in marketing.

6. Know your ideal customer

If you know your ideal customer, you should be able to find the emotional triggers to use in your marketing. Knowing your ideal customer is more than knowing their demographic profile.

Know their hopes, their dreams, what keeps them awake at night and motivates them to get up in the morning. Know their problems and show how your business solves them in your marketing.

7. Add value, don’t discount

Customers are so used to discounts these days, that they don’t have the same  impact they used to. Your best option is to add value and it will probably cost you less in lost revenue.

For example.  If you sell an item for $100 and discount it by 20% you lose $20.  But if you sell that same item and offer a gift with purchase to the value of $20 (which has probably cost you $8), you are $12 better off. The customer has come out of your store with more, but it’s actually cost you less.  Now that’s good business.

8. Understand the concept of ‘just noticeable difference’

Just noticeable different is term used in consumer behaviour.  In marketing it refers to a certain percentage you can change aspects of your marketing and the consumer won’t notice.  That percentage is around 10%.  So what does that mean.  Well, you could raise your prices by 10% and more often than not, the customer won’t notice the difference.

If you change your product packaging by less than 10%, customers will still recognise your product.  If you change it more than 10%, more often than not you will need to re-educate the customer.  So what am I saying to you?  Put your prices up 10% – it’s more than likely nobody will notice the difference.

9. Join a networking group

It is my view that a networking group is a must for any small business owner. Not only are they a great source of referrals but also a great source of business support. With a networking group you can tap into the knowledge of other people, seek their advice and feedback which will help improve your marketing.  You should join one today.

10. Get some marketing advice

Yes, ok it’s shameless plug time.  But everyone is not a marketing expert but many small businesses fail to learn anything about marketing before they open their doors. Get some advice from a marketing consultant and your marketing will improve dramatically.

So there you have it , 10 things you can do today to improve your marketing.  Do you have any more I can add to the list?

The original post can be found here.

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