Most small business owners fail when it comes to their small business marketing plans. They’ve got excellent technical skills in their line of work, but that just doesn’t translate to having effective marketing skills.

As a result, profitability of many small businesses has been declining over the years. Ever increasing competition is making it more challenging in many ways. For those businesses that aren’t losing money, most are not producing the profit they could be if they knew how to market themselves properly.

These business owners usually just copy what they see other businesses doing, or they follow the advice of some media sales person. The problem is they copy the wrong types of businesses, and the media sales people typically only know as much about effective marketing as the business owner does.

Without the right kind of marketing system in place, the success of any business is by pure chance. To help remedy this situation, below are seven things a small business can do to increase profits while spending less on marketing.

1. Use the power of free stuff

Everyone likes getting free stuff and you can use that to your advantage. If your business lends itself to giving away free samples of your product, do that. It helps get people hooked on it. Business profits have boomed on this marketing model.

As Chris Anderson author of the book titled, “Free: The Future of a Radical Price” says, “You can make make money giving things away.”  In his book he talks about how businesses are giving away products and services they used to charge for, and in return, a percentage of their customers are buying something else. As a result, they are making more money than ever.

When you give something away, you often activate a universal law called the “Law of Reciprocity.” It says that when people get something free, they feel obligated to do something for you. Obviously it doesn’t work every time, but it does work enough of the time.

But there is another way to give away free stuff that can greatly benefit your business. When you do it right you get something very valuable in return: customer contact info…which leads us to the next tip.

2. Start capturing customer contact info and use it

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not tapping their current customer base. They let customers visit their business (online or offline) all day long without ever trying to capture their contact info so they can continue to market products or services to them.

You likely know how expensive it can be to get a new customer. But you can market to your current customers for little or no cost. Capturing and using customer contact info can mean the difference between a profitable business and one that barely gets by.

Your business has more customer value in it than a customer can possibly digest in a short visit so if you aren’t continually marketing to your customers, you are throwing money away!

You can make customer contact capture easier simply by using the power of free from tip number one. Simply start a monthly drawing to give away something free and print some registration slips visitors can fill out. Also have people register online on your website.

Tell customers they only have to register once for all drawings and you will contact them monthly via email to let them know who won. Of course you will always include an offer for a product or service!

What do you give away? Anything with a perceived value makes a great free item. Free items do not have to be expensive. Buy something on sale at WalMart or at eBay and offer it. You can also offer free informational reports that help people solve their problems. People are always looking for ways to solve problems they are having.

Of course, once you capture this information you have to do something with it. If you’re too busy to take on any more work, then the next tip will help you out.

3. Use automated tools to keep in touch with customers

Once you have a customer list, I recommend you send a minimum of 25 “messages” a year to it. A message could be an email, direct mail piece, fax, or phone call.

If you don’t use an automated tool to do the work for you, you’ll likely be too busy to get the job done. When you automate, your messages go out regardless of how busy you get (the more messages that go out, the busier you’ll get).

One tool you can use is an email autoresponder, which is a web-based system that sends out emails when someone signs up. It sends out emails at intervals you set up. You can also set it up to send an email on a specific day, such as a holiday.

The great thing about an autoresponder tool is that you enter your messages in the autoresponder one time, then it automatically sends emails to your list. You can also broadcast messages any time you want.

Using this tool, keeping in touch with your customers is easy and it will help keep the competition from creeping in and stealing your customers because they’ve forgotten about you and the services you provide.

4. Stop marketing like you’re a big business.

Marketing a small business like it’s a big business is something almost every small business owner does. They just copy the marketing they see being done at large companies with big brands. This kind of marketing is called “brand identity,” “brand building,” or “image” marketing.

This is a HUGE waste of advertising money for a small business. You simply don’t have the resources you need to support a successful branding campaign.

Brand advertising typically has no “call to action,” (they don’t ask you to do anything). They just give you features of the product or service, or they entertain you without asking you to do anything.

Brand advertising is usually benefit free. The viewer has to determine if there is a benefit to them. It may contain a list of features and the user will have to assign their own benefit to each feature. It is usually focused on the product or provider of the product instead if the customer.

A successful marketing campaign for a small business is created around direct response marketing techniques.

5. Use old fashioned direct response techniques in new ways

The kind of marketing plan that works for a small business is direct response marketing. It doesn’t require a huge marketing budget to use effectively. It can be used for all types of products and services.

And the good news is that you don’t even have to hire an advertising agency to do it since it doesn’t require creativity. All you have to do is learn the basic structure of direct response marketing and you can easily increase the sales your business makes.

Direct response sales copy always asks the reader or viewer to take some sort of action i.e. “Call in the next 5 minutes, and we’ll include a free set of Ginzu steak knives!”.

It may ask for the sale directly if a full “sales presentation” was done (one-step advertising), or it may ask them to request more information (two-step advertising). It will at a minimum, ask the reader to take some form of “traceable” action so you know if it is working or not.

There should always be a headline for written advertisements! Never put your company logo at the top of a direct response advertisement. That’s brand advertising.

Whenever you create an advertisement in any form always look at them from the customer point of view. Look it and ask “Who gives a crap?” about everything in it. Do you think the customer cares about your logo. No! They care about what you can do for them. Put in benefits and not features. Let the customer know what’s in it for them. A successful direct response ad for a small business includes several things:

An offer to buy something Sufficient information for the consumer to make a decision to act now (or directions on how to get more info) An explicit “call to action” sooner rather than later A clear way to respond such as a telephone number or web page A means of tracking the response.

Direct response advertising is not just used for mail campaigns. You use it in all forms of media: print, web, mail, and broadcast. Take a look at all the advertising you are currently doing no matter where it is and start making the change now.

6. Use the Internet to advertise for free

Even though websites as we know them have existed since around the early 90s, only 49%* of small businesses currently have a website *9/08, Barlow Research. It’s surprising how many businesses do not understand how powerful this marketing tool is. If you don’t have a website, get one because there is no better source of free advertising!

The Internet has hundreds of “Web 2.0″ websites where you post “content” for free. The content can be text, videos, or audios you create and it can lead people to your business. Plus, it helps establish you as an expert in your field.

EzineArticles.com is one such place you can post content. There was no charge to post this article. All I had to do is write it, post it, and then you found it.

You can put links in the “author resource” section, to drive traffic to a page on your website. The articles you post in EzineArticles can rank extremely well in Google search results with a little help from you.

You also want to get your business listed in places like Google Local if you do local business. Once again this is absolutely free.

Once you learn how to do use the Internet for promotion you’ll have a head start on the future of advertising and you get customers for free!

7. Outsource routine marketing tasks so you can work on the growing your business

One of the biggest problems small business owners have is that they get so consumed by working IN their business, they don’t have time to work ON their business. So no growth can occur.

When it comes to marketing yourself on the Internet, there are ways to use “virtual assistants” to do most of the work for you. A virtual assistant is someone you hire on a full or part-time basis who does the work for you.

But a virtual assistant is not a direct employee so you don’t provide benefits or have the normal hassles of an employee. They are usually located somewhere in the world that has low-cost wages so they are very affordable. That’s the beauty of the Internet and the communication it provides.

Virtual assistants aren’t just confined to small business marketing plan tasks though. They can do almost anything for you: reservations, schedule appointments, answer phones, customer service, send flowers, buy a present for your spouse, find someone to fix your car, website development, accounting, software development, writing, graphics, or anything you need.

There are lots of resources on the Internet that can help you find a virtual assistant.

Create Your Small Business Marketing Plan Now!

Use these seven marketing tips to start building your small business marketing plan right now. If you procrastinate, your busy life will get in the way of business growth. Even if you only take a little of the advice you’ve been given, you’ll find it can have a big impact on the profitability of your business.

By: Tim Bruxvoort

About the Author:

Tired of working for someone else? Have you ever had any thoughts of starting your own business either on a part-time or full-time basis? You are not alone. A lot in this world have started set up a small business on their own. Among the beauty in having your own business are you write your own pay checks, working flexi-hours, making your own decisions and a possibility of working from your home in your home business.

In most part of the world, starting your own business is a very simple and straight forward process. Before you get excited about it, you have to understand the legal aspects of your business such as legal requirements and taxation. You also have to determine whether are you going to start a Limited (Ltd.), a Private Limited (Pte. Ltd.), a Partnership or Sole-Proprietor/Sole-Trader kind of company. After that, think of your company name and register it with your local Registrar of Commerce (ROC).

One common mistake majority of people who what to start off their business are that they don’t think about VAT (Value Added Tax) until the business turnover is very high. You are obligated to register to pay VAT. Please check with your local Inland Revenue on the amount of business turnover to be registered to pay VAT. Different states and countries have different requirement. For example, in the United Kingdom, once your company turnover is more than £70,000, you must register to pay VAT. Any purchases made through the company are eligible to claim back any VAT from any company purchases.

Many people know about the importance of insurance but often negated it especially when it comes to business. In United Kingdom, every company set up there is required by law to take out compulsory insurance. In the event of a claim, this protects the both the employer and employees should a claim against the company arise.

Another very important aspect when starting a new business is finance. With proper budgeting and planning, you will know exactly how much money you require for you to start your new business. Under fund it, you’ll fail. Over funding might end up burdening your profits when you make repayments. Having a good business plan is always a good idea and keeps you on track. You will know what you need to spend on and what expenses you can cut to maximize your profits.

By: Eric Cheah

About the Author:

Successful small business marketing can best be viewed as a triangle containing three essential elements: Brand, Package, and People.

Brand forms the base of this marketing triangle. Brand is the foundation your business is built upon in the mind of your customer. When you rest a heavy load on a weak foundation, a crooked and cracked house is the inevitable outcome. It’s no different when building your business. A strong brand is critical to your small company’s long-term business health and profits.

Brand is really your company’s identity. Brand is the essence of your company–the who of your company in the mind of your customers. Think your customers pick up your company’s identity by osmosis? By that latest brilliant advertising slogan? Sometimes, but for most small businesses, new customers learn of you–and your brand– from another customer or from one of your employees.

Yes, employees–definitely the most under-utilized marketing referral source in small business today.

So, weaving a Brand Banner that customers and employees can carry around for you and then wave at the right time–for you, unsolicited–is an ultra-effective way for your small business to advertise. This Brand Banner must be easy to repeat and memorable. Your advocates will bear your Brand Banner because of the natural human inclination to share helpful information with other people.

Just remember, if you let that Brand Banner get soiled, ripped or grimy, then that’s the flag that’ll be out there flying for your business. Not the impression you want to make. This is yet another reason customer service is so vitally important.

Brand isn’t your company logo, latest advertising slogan or catchy jingle any more than your best suit is you. The suit can improve your image, but even casual acquaintances will still recognize the essential you underneath.

Brand is similar to integrity–if you’ve earned it, your small business can make errors along the way and still become very successful. Customers don’t expect perfection, but they do expect attention. If they trust you to do the right thing by them, even when you mess up, you’ll boost your small business integrity and your brand. But without integrity, you can pour out thousands of advertising dollars to look great and sound slick, but still fail in the end because you are essentially anchored to nothing more solid than shifting sand.

So, if Brand is Identity, and your small business marketing is built on referrals from customers and employees, then the critical next step is for you to understand just how it is that customer’s perceive you. Like beauty, Brand is in the eye of the beholder.

© 2006 Marketing Hawks

By: Craig Lutz-Priefert

About the Author:

You’ve probably met several people who are stressed out, burnt out, and just longing for a place where they can relax. This scenario opens lucrative business opportunities like a massage therapy business. Massage therapy also aids in the process of fast recovery from injuries and illnesses. In this kind of business, you should like working with people, enjoy caring for them, possess the ability of empathizing with the distressed.

Know the requirements. Find out the requirements of a massage therapist in your area before making any sort of investment. This will also provide the necessary information on your field of specialization. Choose your field of specialization. Research on what appropriate kind of massage appeals to you. Getting in touch with local therapists/schools usually helps. Undergo fundamental training. A training course teaching the dynamics of Swedish massage, Deep Tissue Massage and Trigger Point Therapy should be opted for. Moreover, an in-depth knowledge on Myofascial Release or Reiki is considered an advantage in the field. Apart from learning these different massages, it is also recommended to specialize in a field like Pregnancy Massage, Medical Massage, or Animal Massage. Attending massage training courses will cost you around $150 to $350. Invest on high quality therapy materials. It is always better to go for renowned proven brands unless you personally prepare the oils, balms and potions.

Return on investments depend largely on the demand of your neighborhood at the initial stage. Four to five massaging sessions a day can fetch anything between $50 and $100, making the monthly turnover anything between $1500 and $3000.

By: John Hughes

About the Author:

Small businesses and entrepreneurs who want to market online may find their business competing against much larger companies with deeper pockets. However, don’t let the size of the competition intimidate you. To market your business successfully, regardless of size, start incorporating some of the following marketing tips as part of your online marketing strategy to help grow your business fast.  

Identify Your Niche Bigger isn’t always better. It’s impossible to be everything to everyone. If you can determine which group of prospective customers you’re getting the best results from then narrow your niche to cater to that specific group and give them what they’re asking for.  

Position Yourself as an Expert Assuming you know everything there is to know about your product and/or service, position yourself as an expert. Those who are known as experts can command more money and often get more media attention, which translates into free advertising. Truth be told, the title of specialist and/or expert status is more credible than the generalist or even professional.  

Build Relationships Building relationships with your customers is an important piece of any successful marketing strategy and will have you rise above your competitors. Taking the time to get to know your customers needs, wants and desires will prove helpful in creating any future products and/or services and leaves the customer feeling important and special. Imagine how you would feel if a business you frequented used your feedback to better serve you. There is no better way to market your business than word of mouth referrals and it’s always easier to get business from existing customers who are happy with your product/service then to try and recruit new ones.  

Follow Up Set up a system to keep track of all your customers and prospective customers who show an interest in your product/service. Collect names and contact information and be creative in keeping in touch with them on a regular basis. Send emails or cards on their birthday and holidays. Invite them to sign up for a free newsletter and include quality content, special sales, discount coupons and other valuable goodies.   

Create a Marketing Plan Customize your marketing strategies to fit your target audience and make it an integral piece of your marketing plan and business. Plan your marketing activities to take place daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly and then stick the schedule.

By: Andrea Chin

About the Author:

The business should be located in the state where you reside, especially if you plan to incorporate the business. Some laws require that at least one officer of the corporation resides in the state where the business is incorporated.

Many people today are working from home and some of the advantages are as follows:

1) No commute

2) No dress code

3) Tax breaks

4) Security

5) Home with the family

6) Flexible work hours

7) New technology

Quality lifestyle

Home-based: Some business owners may decide to work out of their homes for a while before moving to a commercial location. Others have set up offices in their homes as the permanent business location. These businesses are called “home-based,” and have gained in popularity as the number of small businesses rise.

The home-based business offers many benefits that may not be available in the corporate structure. You should check the laws in your area before starting a home-based business to confirm that you are complying with the local ordinance and zoning rules. You want to make certain that the type of business you are operating from the home is acceptable in the area where you reside. Call the city or county clerk office to get a copy of your ordinance. If you live in a planned community with its own rules, look at that first. These rules are sometimes known as (CC&R) covenant, codes and restrictions. If everything is acceptable by your neighbors and condominium association, you will probably not have any problems operating the business from home.

Commercial: When selecting an area to serve, you should look at the community where you reside for many reasons. You will become familiar with the customers and may even get to know them on a first name basis. Remember that most of these customers will probably also live in this community. In addition to providing the needs of the customers, you will be helping to increase the value of the property. On a personal side, you will be looked upon as a valuable asset to the community. Another advantage of locating the business near where you reside is that you will want to be able to get to the business site immediately in case of an emergency such as a break-in, fire, or flood. You will also save time and energy by not having to commute long distances to get to work. See the list below for what to consider when selecting an area to serve.

1) Population of the area occupation

2) Income and age

3) Growth potential of the population

4) Number of competitive businesses in the location

5) Local ordinances and zoning regulations

6) Type of trading (commercial, industrial, residential, and seasonal)

Copyright © 2007, Dr. Mary E. Waters, all rights reserved.

Are you interested in starting a business?

To the new and experienced entrepreneurs, getting help with your small business is very crucial to your success. Getting the right help will cause you to avoid costly mistakes, and it can also help you to save a lot of time, money and energy. You will need to get the right help to form the legal structure of the business, financial, management, procurement/certification, marketing, pricing products, preparing a business plan, and more. If you are a business owner who is wondering if you can take your business to new heights, contact Dr. Waters at tina.waters@waienterprises.com.

By: Dr. Mary E. Waters

About the Author: