By: Kaitlyn Miller
There are several important facets which must be considered in every marketing plan. Many small business owners place a few banner ads, do a little brochure printing and call it a day. An effective marketing plan has several more steps than that approach. Failure to address your plan comprehensively will prevent your sales from jumping to the next level.
The very first step is to come up with your company's philosophy and mission. All else springs from this. The values expressed in your core mission statement convey to all your future advertising efforts. Your mission statement should be concise and to the point. It should then be reinforced internally using all methods from signs to company newsletter printing.
Within your mission statement must be an expression of your company's values and ethics. Trust is an integral part of any brand. Consumer trust arises from ethical and honest corporate cultures. The mission statement should instill and pound home these values. The best product will flounder in the marketplace should consumers not have confidence and trust in the company purveying it.
A good marketing plan needs to be tailored to a niche audience. This is especially the case for a small business. A substantial budget is needed to engage in an effective mass marketing campaign. When a small company attempts one with a small budget the result is most often a diluted campaign producing weak sales. An underserved niche provides for perfect selling grounds for smaller businesses.
Once you have identified your niche it is then important to connect with them. Many avenues exist for these communications. Brochure printing is quite economical and well suited to connecting with a niche audience. There are also obviously many choices online to enhance your advertising regimen. It is important to never let up. Effective branding requires constant reinforcement.
Concrete goals need to be set as to sales targets. A team works most effectively with a common objective. Without goals it is not possible to quantify whether a campaign is successful or not. Strong reporting and analysis tools need to be employed to be able to track the ROI attained from various routes. You might see one advertising avenue has far greater payback than others. Company newsletter printing can include both tangible and intangible goals and associated productivity to make the entire staff feel a part of the team.
There is an old saying that failure to plan translates to a plan for failure. Make sure your company has a comprehensive coherent plan. Use company newsletter printing to convey it to all staff. Create concrete goals and gear your plan to do what is necessary to hit them. Never let up reinforcing your brand. A good marketing plan will translate to a very happy P&L.
The Anatomy of a Marketing Plan
Digital Signs Are Not TV
The Why and How of Email Marketing
How to Market Your Coffee Shop Before and After Your Opening Day
Author: Tracey Beaney
So, you have done all the hard work preparing to open your coffeehouse. You chosen your suppliers, fitted out your shop and hired your staff. So that's everything taken care of, and now you can begin to relax.
Well, almost! There's the small matter of advertising to take into account.
For your coffeehouse opening to be a success, make no mistake about it: you will need to advertise.
One of the best, most effective ways to advertise your business is to seek some free publicity.
Really make an event of your launch and invite a local celebrity to come along. Create a news story, then issue a press release and send it to your local media.
Local media love local stories, so be creative! Come up with something that the journalists at your local media outlets will love.
It's also a good idea to try advertising on your local radio stations. As a general rule, set aside 1% of your budget for advertising if you can. Radio advertising can be quite economical. Just call your local station for an advertising fee schedule and see what they can do for you.
Local advertising companies with experience in restaurant and hospitality launches can also be great resources for you. Just make sure you convey your budget to them, so they can determine if they can work with you. Also be sure to get them to itemize everything they can do for you - and at what cost. You need to know what you will be getting.
Launches are exciting, so make sure you get really creative and have lots of fun when planning yours!
The launch is what you make it.
And then, perhaps you can begin to relax and drink the coffee?
Think again!
Marketing your business isn't just something you do at launch time. It's something you need to do continuously.
You need to be in the minds of your customers and prospective customers, so they get their coffee, tea and cake from you - not your competitors.
So - you need an ongoing approach to your marketing and advertising.
When it comes to marketing your business, you really can be as creative as you like! Here are just a few ideas to get those creative juices running:
Create a website so people can find you online
Provide printed brochures so your customers can take away and pass onto friends
Provide children's lunch boxes complete with food and treats to keep mums returning
Now and then, offer special promotions. Perhaps two coffees for the price of 1 at times of the day when you are normally not so busy.
Perhaps consider offering a wi-fi service to attract business people or college students to your coffeehouse.
What you can do is really only limited to your imagination, so start brainstorming today!
It's amazing how one simple - yet creative idea - can get people into your coffeehouse and returning.
Most importantly, always keep up your marketing efforts! Marketing is an ongoing thing and the more marketing methods you use, the better.
5 Keys For Successful MLM Lead Capture Pages
by: Jon Roussel
An mlm lead capture page is a web page that, when the visitor "lands" on it, she is asked to opt-in to some type of list in order to proceed further. On some mlm lead capture pages, your only options are to opt-in or leave.
Using Free Advertising
by: Nancy Kraska
I have written a couple of articles about Advertising, and what a real headache it can be. Lately I have been asked how I earn a profit using only free advertising. So I thought I should share some of my insights with others who are still struggling financially online.
FORUMS
ARTICLE WRITING
Nancy Kraska has been involved with internet marketing since September, 2004. For more information visit her directory of Work At Home Ideas and Opportunities at Home Work For You http://www.hmewrk4u.com/
Dentist Marketing On-Line: How To Get On Top In The Business
In on-line dentist marketing, all that matters is the development and growth of your dental website. By development and growth, it means getting more and more traffic into your own dentist marketing website and at the same time getting more and more dental patients as well. You need to know the stuff that can help you "beef-up" your own website! Aside from this, everything else is just details in dentist marketing.
The Formula For Success!
I have come up with a simple yet special formula to have you on a winning side. If you want to make your life easier and enjoy seeing more and more patients from your on-line dentist marketing, then this formula is for you: T + C = Cash.
T is for "Traffic"!
T stands for "Traffic". So what does the word traffic mean in dentist marketing? It means the rate on how many people are coming in to your web page everyday as they use the Internet. But take note that I did not use the word "hits", instead, I made use of the word "people". These are passionate and enthusiastic people who are seeking out the dental professional that they would like to conduct business with. This is the reason why your web page should be presented in a way that it gives and satisfies what they want. Your web page must communicate with them in a way that it makes it easy for them to choose you as their own dentist! Then we go to the second part of the equation....
C is for "Conversion"!
C stands for "Conversion". What does "conversion" mean? It means that the people visiting your website becomes your patient. So you "convert" people from being visitors to becoming your patients. In on-line dentist marketing, this is what you would really want, right? You need to know how to structure your own website to get people to enter their name and information, then they call your office and officially become your patient! If you can't get people to be your patient through your website, then what you have is a website just sitting out there gathering nothing but Cyber Dust! Expounding more on the conversion stuff, let's say you are currently getting 100 visitors a month, and you are only getting three new patients from those visits (considered as a 3% conversion ratio). This rate can be improved. If each patient is worth $900 (within a 6 month period), then you are adding $2700 in cash to your practice (take note this does not include the referrals yet!) So, we start by improving your traffic and get it up to over 300 visitors a month. Then we boost your conversion to around 5%. Immediately, you go from getting 3 new patients a month to now getting 15 new patients a month! Let's say your average new patient value stays the same ( at $900). So, $900 x 15 new patients = $13,500. Isn't that great? And an increase of $10,800 a month ( that is the difference between getting 15 new patients and 3 new patients a month: $13,500 - $2,700 = $10,800). Multiply that increase by twelve months, and it will give you an amazing $129,600! Not bad, right?
So again, in order to become highly successful in the business of on-line dentist marketing, just remember the equation: T+C=Cash. Find ways to build and improve your web page in a manner that it would increase the people visiting your own site, and convert these visitors into your own patients!
Log on to our website, www.dentistprofits.com and get a free CD and Book titled, "The Underground Secrets Of Attracting High Quality New Patients Who Pay, Stay, & Refer!".
Finding Your Advertising Style
As a business owner, you likely have a love-hate relationship with advertising. While you certainly recognize its importance in growing your business, you would likely rather spend your time and money focusing on the aspects of your business that you enjoy much more, such as interacting with your clients. One way to make advertising less of a chore and more enjoyable for you as a business owner is to find your advertising style.
Change the way you approach advertising
Think of your advertising efforts as a sales job. You are trying to "sell" those who view your ads on your product or service. All good salespeople know that finding their unique sales style is essential to success, and this is no different in the world of advertising.
Devise a strategy
So how do you find your advertising style? First, you need to take some time to watch those who have succeeded. Figure out what type of advertising you are going to be doing, such as poster printing, brochure printing, or radio advertising, and then take the time to look at the ads of other businesses. What about those ads seems to work? What seems to not work? Collect as much information as you can about the ads of others.
Once you have your information, pick and choose what you like. Some advertising strategies that are quite effective will not be a good fit for you or your business. Discard those things that will not work, and hang on to those things that do work. Soon you will have an advertising strategy that will fit your personality and your business.
Put it to work
Now that you have your advertising style in mind, it is time to create your ad. You have knowledge about your style and what does and does not work in the world of advertising. Use that knowledge to help you create a winning ad.
Do not be afraid to ask for help
Remember, we never stop learning. A wise man once said the only brain that is not learning is one that is dead. After creating your first advertising campaign, continue collecting information about effective ads. Keep a file of the ideas you receive, and refer to it when the time comes to create a new ad campaign. Always be willing to tweak your existing ads so that they fit your style better and are more effective marketing tools.
Do you know someone who is an effective business owner or salesperson? Do not be afraid to ask them questions. Find out what they did that worked, and add that to your list of potential ideas for future advertising campaigns. Of course, you will want to return the favor by answering questions to other young business owners when your business starts to experience great success.
Remember, your style is not going to copy someone else exactly. You will take the traits and strategies used by successful business owners and find those that work for you. You will then create your own unique advertising style that is not a carbon copy of another business owner. After all, you and your business are unique, so your ads should be unique as well.