3 tips For increase your Business?

[linkB2B]

A lot of business owners will be tempted to cut back, especially their marketing. This is a mistake. If anything, you should increase your marketing now.

However, by increasing your marketing I don't necessarily mean increasing how much you spend. It's perfectly acceptable to find low-cost or no-cost marketing methods to still keep the momentum going. One word of warning -- there's no such thing as a free lunch. Chances are you're going to pay somewhere, and that payment could very well be your time. Before you rush into doing something you end up regretting, take a hard look at the real cost. Would you be better off doing something that might cost more but doesn't suck up time you could be using to make money?

Here are some tactics you can do right now to increase your exposure without necessarily costing you much (if anything):

1. Start an email newsletter, or if you already publish one, increase the frequency you send it out. (Weekly is best. The more often your list hears from you, the more responsive they'll become.)

2. Hold a free telecast. Make sure you come up with a really great special offer to turn your listeners into customers.

3. Go buy a new dress and hang out on the social networking scene. Okay, I'm kidding about the dress. But if you aren't making the social networking rounds, you're missing major business opportunities

[HannahD]

I agree with you on the free lunch comment. Quite often when you get a "free" or cheap marketing option you will end up investing so much time into it that it becomes counter productive.

I also think that in these difficult economic times it is very important that all of your marketing spend is measurable. You need to be able to analyse that spend and tweak your campaigns to maximise your result.

[Christine Sutherland]

In tough times we have to get smart about wastage in marketing and eliminate as much as possible. The old scatter-shot approach to marketing is completely inefficient and unaffordable if we're to be competitive and survive, let alone thrive.

The most important thing we must do right now is check whether we are equipped to survive. For those in traditional retail for example, the answer is a resounding "no".

The question "do I offer a highly-differentiated product or service that there is a proven market demand for, at a price which is competitive, using purchase methods that suit changing consumer buying patterns" is one that must be answered truthfully and courageously.

There are so many companies and consultancies that cannot truthfully say yes to that question and are therefore becoming more and more obsolete by the day.

Once you've established the validity and viability of your business, you can market with confidence, however you must realise that there is only 1 form of marketing which actually works and that is relationship building. This is not selling. If you have a value proposition all you need do is engage one-on-one with your audience and allow them to get to know you. You'll have all the clients you need and word of mouth will take care of the rest. Word of mouth remains the speediest and most exponentially effective marketing strategy on the planet.

Remember, blockbuster movies that do over a $billion do that on word of mouth, despite what critics may say about them. The average person influences 6-10 others - do the maths on that and you can see why.

Once you really get this secret your marketing will be more like party time than work :-)

[carolynccourtney]

Tips to increase your business

Set goals for your business
Make a Plan Generation
Create a lead generation system

[handatravel]

Create a website & promote it with the internet marketing techniques

[Kate Franco]

Having a business plan is also great to grow your business.

[lancejeffersons]

if it is an online business:
Know your target location and target visitors
Make a website
On page and Off page optimization

[Socialmarketingdominator]

Christine provided some excellent points.

That serious question you posed is top notch, but i believe its quite difficult for a small business to meet all the criteria mentioned in the question without an in depth research that requires a whole heap of time and money.

My 3 golden rules are:

1- Personalise your service, make each customer feel welcome and good about purchasing a product or a service from you.
2- Offer value in your products or services you're offering.
3- After sales support helps build a solid relationship with your customer and can generate extra leads by recommendations.

Cheers

[tajtour]

Promote your business by creating a website for it. Then promote that website with SEO, PPC etc...

[Dunworking]

In tough times we have to get smart about wastage in marketing and eliminate as much as possible. The old scatter-shot approach to marketing is completely inefficient and unaffordable if we're to be competitive and survive, let alone thrive.

The most important thing we must do right now is check whether we are equipped to survive. For those in traditional retail for example, the answer is a resounding "no".

The question "do I offer a highly-differentiated product or service that there is a proven market demand for, at a price which is competitive, using purchase methods that suit changing consumer buying patterns" is one that must be answered truthfully and courageously.

There are so many companies and consultancies that cannot truthfully say yes to that question and are therefore becoming more and more obsolete by the day.

Once you've established the validity and viability of your business, you can market with confidence, however you must realise that there is only 1 form of marketing which actually works and that is relationship building. This is not selling. If you have a value proposition all you need do is engage one-on-one with your audience and allow them to get to know you. You'll have all the clients you need and word of mouth will take care of the rest. Word of mouth remains the speediest and most exponentially effective marketing strategy on the planet.

Remember, blockbuster movies that do over a $billion do that on word of mouth, despite what critics may say about them. The average person influences 6-10 others - do the maths on that and you can see why.

Once you really get this secret your marketing will be more like party time than work :-)

What a wonderful post. One of the best I've seen on here to date.