Marketing
Keep it personal, suggests networking expert
Networking is widely accepted as one of the most affordable, powerful and productive business-building tools available to entrepreneurs.
5 business networking mistakes
Your next customer is ready to meet you. Are you ready for that conversation?
Low-cost marketing strategies
Effective marketing doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. Marketing results can be more about what you do rather than how much you spend.
Using LinkedIn to build your business network
There’s strong debate among entrepreneurs about LinkedIn – called the worlds’ largest social networking site for professionals.
Stick to marketing basics to bring in business
While walking to work earlier this month I passed by my neighbourhood barber shop.
Build your business by following up
It seems everyone these days is looking for affordable techniques to bring in more business. One source of new business might be lurking in that stash of business cards collecting dust inside your desk drawer.
Get your business noticed in a crowd
Powerful branding doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. If a business sticks to a basic customer promise it can build a unique position in its marketplace without spending a fortune on marketing.
How to keep your best customers happy
During a period of economic uncertainty business owners wisely move to fortify existing customer relationships. A solid base of current customers contributing to a predictable cash flow will allow you to plan ahead with confidence.
Selling to Baby Boomers
By Roger Pierce
Turning a profit in your business could be easier if you elect to serve Canada’s largest demographic group known as Baby Boomers.
DIY customer surveys
Market research doesn’t necessarily need to be complex or time consuming and it can be essential for success. You need information about the feasibility of your ideas, the preferences of your customers and the demand for your products. A survey can be a useful tool to help you dig deeper and gain a fuller understanding of who your customers are and their level of satisfaction. Here are some of the common types of surveys and their related pros and cons:
Easy and effective market research
To grow your business you have to know your market and your customer. Good market research will help you better understand what customers want to buy, what they are willing to pay and how you can better position your business to be their preferred vendor.
Establishing and maintaining a brand
A pair of generic canvas sneakers can be picked up for less than five dollars, but a pair of brand-name shoes of the same material and style may cost more than five times as much. This illustrates the power of branding. Good branding can dramatically improve your profit margins and growth potential, but it takes immense work to build a brand – and only slight negligence to destroy one.
Market research challenges for small business
Knowing your market is essential for success. Unfortunately, market research is an area where many small businesses feel they are at a disadvantage. Many of Canada’s small enterprises lack sufficient resources to dedicate to original research, and external firms can be cost prohibitive. This often means small businesses have to rely on second-party information… media reports, trade journals and government. While these can be useful, they are also accessible to competitors and may not provide distinct advantages.
Build an interactive Web presence
Have you taken the time lately to evaluate your Website? Is it social-media friendly? Is it engaging your customers? If not, you are missing a golden opportunity to extend the reach of your brand and business. Just five years ago, most Websites were passive: You could read about a business, find out about products or services, and make a purchase.
Positioning a Business for Success
In the previous two articles we discussed the importance of marketing activities and the related marketing functions that go with each opportunity to add value. We also introduced the concept of USP, or unique selling proposition — what makes your service or product unique when compared to competitors. In this last article we'll take the USP one step further and look at a competitor grid which will show you where your product or service is in relation to the customer-perceived personality of the competition.
Sales and Marketing Worksheet
To begin creating an effective Sales and Marketing strategy, start by identifying your primary target market by customer segment. Then make sure you clearly understand them and their buying habits. This worksheet will help you with brand, messaging and deployment tactics.
Cutting through the clutter
Successful marketing involves hard work. It means improving on your products and services, building a memorable brand, and always getting the message out. This month’s article shows you how to improve your marketing efforts with some simple strategies.
Marketing in a Changing Economy
If you didn’t scale back on marketing during the economic downturn, your business will be well positioned as we enter a period of recovery. There is evidence that such investments pay off not only during recessions, when most companies tend to reduce their marketing and advertising spending, but also for years afterwards – placing you ahead of your competitors.
Know Your Customers and Your Market
You may have a great idea for a product or service, but will people want it? To find out, you need to conduct some market research.
When your business gets bigger, you may be able to pay for consumer surveys on an existing product or one that's in development. Until that happens, you're probably going to rely more on astute observation and sound judgment.
Benefitting from entrepreneurial marketing
Traditional marketing, according to Michael Hepworth, author and small business expert, requires a significant investment of money. Entrepreneurial marketing, on the other hand, is distinguished by its focus on time, imagination, and knowledge. It can lead to effective results, without great expense, making entrepreneurial marketing well suited to small business. Here are some ways to use it to your advantage. Communicate frequently. The easiest way to keep your business top-of-mind with your customers is to stay in touch with them. This could be as simple as forwarding a newspaper article that might be of interest to them, following up after a sale, or sending out an email newsletters.
Grow Your Business Online
Today’s consumers are web savvy, sophisticated, and cautious when purchasing products or services online. There are online strategies that can help you win over hesitant web surfers and convert them to customers. But it takes a lot of effort, some creativity, and a little intuition…traits that women entrepreneurs tend to have in abundance.
Business Marketing Checklist
The best marketing involves getting your customers to associate your name with a tangible benefit to them. Sometimes, it involves simple common sense, like listening to your customers and offering exceptional customer service. Other times, it means taking advantage of new technologies to get your message out. Here are some tips to help you become a savvy marketer.
Building an Effective Brand
A strong brand can help you retain customers, attract prospects, and boost your market share. Your logo, name, tag line, and website are key components. But your brand is much more than a fancy design. Branding is your promise of value, which includes quality, price, and consistency. It includes everything a customer experiences, from the greeting on the phone, to invoicing, to your values. Here’s what you need to know.
Boost your profits by understanding your customers
Your customer database is one of your most valuable assets. That’s because it costs much more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one — six to 10 times as much, according to some estimates. Building strong customer relationships is key to successful sales growth. Here’s what you need to know.
Marketing to a Niche
Roger Pierce
Entrepreneurship Expert at BizLaunch.ca
It's a simple truth: you can't be all things to your patients or clients. When a practice tries to serve a diverse audience of people with an equally diverse range of products or services, it risks losing focus and not doing any one thing really well.
How to get noted and quoted in the media
As a female entrepreneur, you likely have some expertise that can be leveraged to help catapult your business into the media limelight. And since fewer women than men are quoted in the media, there is a great opportunity to fill. You don't even need an expensive PR agency to help you. There are many cost-effective things you can do to not only generate media coverage for your company, but to also become a media magnet.
Niche marketing in tough times
As we watch the economic and market volatility all around us, the temptation may be to cut costs and hide away until the storm passes. But if like many woman entrepreneurs you have a business that fills a void and serves a niche market, the current economic turmoil may actually be an opportunity to increase marketing and grow your business.
Five Secrets to Powerful Networking
Networking is a robust strategy to boost your sales and marketing. In fact, if done well, it can prove to be one of the least expensive and most effective tactics. Plus, the connections and relationships you build with people can give you an edge in all aspects of your business for years to come.
Capturing Free Media Publicity
The very nature of a professional firm lends itself more to working in the practice than on the growth of the practice. Yet to keep your firm growing, it’s important to spend some time on the latter, especially focusing on your media profile. Here’s how to make public relations, or “PR” work for you.
Understanding the Competition
Each month, The Pulse offers up market research insights gained by polling small business customers. This issue of The Pulse looks at how small business owners view their competition*.
Most business owners believe that the level of competition they face has increased (43%) or remained constant (34%) over the past two years. Only 11% feel their competition has decreased over this time.
