Low cost marketing for high ROI
When money is tight and results are slow, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed about what marketing steps to take next. If this happens to you stop for a second. Then shift your mindset.
Next, take a look at the assets you already have within your own company. Thanks to the internet there are many low-cost ways to market your business. This could be a white paper, for example. Did you know having a white paper on your website helps strengthen your online presence and helps steer more quality leads to your site. That same white paper can be used to capture contact information of potential customers. Double bingo.
A news release is also a budget-friendly way to market your business. Have you recently conducted a survey? Has your company received several positive product reviews? Are you giving away a free white paper? These are all things you can turn into a news release. More press release writing ideas here.
You’ve got News! 4 Ways to power up your press release
Need customers? Need sales? With a well-written press release, you can invite potential customers to your business and get them in the buying mood. Optimize your release for search and you substantially increase your ability to reach the most people in the least amount of time.
Sound good? It should because press releases are proven to be one of the most effective ways to promote your company products or services without any money exchanging hands for advertising.
Now for the big question. When should you write a press release? Basically whenever you have something to brag about. This can be when you–
- Introduce a new product or service or when you improve an existing service or product
- Hire a new employee, have personnel changes or when someone receives a promotion
- Host a community or in-store event (open houses, parties, sales)
- Conduct a seminar, class or workshop
- Win a new contract or get a big-name client
- Achieve a major milestone
- Raise funds for a charitable organization
- Celebrate your company’s anniversary
- Publish a book, white paper, case study or tip sheet
No. 1 Earlier I mentioned optimizing your press release with SEO copywriting extends your marketing reach. The first step to optimize your release is to identify quality keywords and plan how and where you will insert them into your content. Keyword tools like Wordtracker, Google Adwords, and Keyword Discovery help you identify words and phrases your target audience is likely to use in their online search queries. Another way to implement SEO is to enclose keywords in your press release title, the body and the call to action. You can find more SEO techniques and tips here.
No. 2 Press Releases with photos work harder at attracting attention and draw the reader in. So if you can include images of company events or any photo that shows you or your company in action, you’ll do better at driving traffic to your website. If you don’t have any photos here’s a nifty alternative: turn your quote into an image.
No. 3 Time your news release to a season or key dates. For instance, enthusiasm on keeping New Year resolutions is typically high Jan through April. You can capitalize on an entire Q1 with releases that cover tax preparation, weight loss, greener living and home organization. Key dates could be the Super Bowl, The Academy Awards, Easter, Valentines or St. Patrick’s Day.
No. 4 Pay close attention to your press release copy. Catchy headlines arouse curiosity. If you need ideas, get them by reading titles of magazine covers and newspaper stories. Other copywriting issues you should watch out for are things like proper tense. Something like, “Today ABC company announced…” is what you would write if your release has more of a hard news feel. Otherwise stick to present tense.
Once you get your news release written, let it simmer overnight. The next day, re-read it and if you find any phrases that sound salesy, take them out. It also helps to read your release out loud. Any words or sentences you stumble over should be replaced because they’ll make readers stumble, too.
How long should your release be? Aim for one page. Otherwise your release might come off dry, plus if you give out too much information you might discourage website traffic. Finally, proof your release for spelling errors and typos. Here’s a proofreading tip: Read your release backwards.
Your next step is to submit your release. Click here for a list of press release distribution websites.
Email marketing for newbies
My biggest email pet peeve: Emails with subject headers that give me no indication of what the email message is about.
Email marketing is highly cost-effective. No stamps! No paper! No envelopes. Plus email marketing can shave off as much as 6 weeks of your entire sales process and build customer loyalty, too.
If you’re new at email marketing or just testing the waters, you can increase the effectiveness of your email campaign if you avoid doing these 6 things:
1) Writing misleading subject headers – Tell the truth. And be brief about it. If you can do this in your subject header, you’re that much closer to having your email opened, read and acted upon.
2) Sending too many emails – More is not better. Resist the temptation to send more emails. Hey, you’ve know how it feels to get inbox glut. An email once every 3-or 4 weeks is plenty. I’ve unsubscribed from some very good e-letters because they annoyed me by arriving in my email daily.
3) Disrespecting privacy – If you’re using an email service, then you’ll avoid this, but if not…please honor your email recipient’s privacy and not share their email info with the rest of the world. Use the BCC option.
4) Sending spam – Everyone knows spamming is evil. So just don’t go there. And if you want to make sure your emails aren’t flagged as spam, use a confirmed opt-in process, pay attention to frequency and avoid hype in your content.
5) Creating customer distance – Personalize your emails as much as possible. Use the customer’s first name. Make sure your messages contain information that is useful. Include your contact information. And remember to sign your email with your first and last name.
6) Trying to sell everyone on your email list the same products – Making generalizations can backfire so take time to segment your list according to the products and price points your customers are interested in. Simply ask your subscribers what they’re interested in and then deliver what they want, when they want it.
More easy email marketing tips for newbies here.
What else can you call customer testimonials
Thumbs up!
It’s a great feeling to receive an unsolicited testimony from a satisfied client. I received one today, after helping a client build her email marketing campaign. Only the testimony didn’t address specific results, understandable since the client testimony came within a day of me turning in my project.
But what if you have several testimonies that don’t carry the weight of high-performing results or your testimonies are from peers rather the senior executive?
You can call your customer testimonials something else. And doing so gives you the opportunity to use feedback you received from satisfied customers–feedback that can help give potential customers more confidence in your capability.
For instance, a testimonial titled ‘Customer Experiences’ indicates what it was like for a customer to work with you. If your customer comments on your creativity and the insight you brought to a project, then it sends the message that you brought a fresh perspective.
Other options to the well-worn ‘customer testimonials’ title are:
‘Client comments’
‘Read what our customers say’
‘Customer feedback’
‘Customer references’
‘Customer kudos’
‘Why our solutions work’
‘Here’s why we’re at the top’
‘Read why customers love us’
Thanks to all LinkedIn group Web Writers for these contributions:
‘Customer appreciation’
‘Customer speak’
‘Customer cheer’
‘People are saying…’
‘Don’t believe us’
‘Glowing references’
BIG marketing for tiny budets
As a small or home based business owner, managing and getting the most out of your marketing budget is a major concern. But even if funds are tight, there are numerous marketing activities that can pull in generous leads and sales.
Below are a few marketing tactics I cover in Cash Crunch Marketing. Each of these marketing activities is either free or very low cost.
- Create an immediate downloadable offer. Invite your customers and potential customers to download a free case study, white paper, tip sheet, coupon, gift certificate or invitation to a local event. Post this offer on your blog, Facebook, twitter it and put it in the network section of your LinkedIn home page.
- Direct offline traffic to your website. For instance, start your voice mail greeting with your name then follow with stating your website URL. Tip: If your domain name is unusual or has a tricky spelling, spell the name out. You can also include your website address on envelopes and company checks.
- Launch an email campaign. If you already have an email campaign underway, then follow through with a re-marketing campaign. You can do this with email message strategies like, “Are you still out there” or “We miss you and want you back”. Read best practices for email marketing in a difficult economy.
- Do you sell your products or services to other businesses? If so, then generate sales leads with telemarketing. Create a list of 100 businesses that you’d like to have as customers. Then create a script and start calling. Tip: Write a script to use for voice mail messages.
- Use classified advertising. Many online newspapers permit small businesses to place ads for free. Find a plethora of newspapers at all you can read. Tip: You can also advertise in newsletters. Just be sure the newsletter has a large readership and the content aligns well with your audience.
- Create posters and flyers. Post these in subway and train stations, community centers, in the dressing rooms at your gym, in your church lobby. Tip: Enclose your signage in sheet protectors and they’ll attract more attention and last longer. When your offer is over, remove your signage and recycle it.
- Write a news release. Tip: Optimize your release by using keywords relevant to your audience. Remember to give your release a news-worthy angle. Here’s an idea. Conduct a survey. Then turn the survey results into a press release. Submit your release to these free press release distribution websites:
PRZoom.com
Free Press Release
Open PR
PRlog
Send your news release to bloggers, too. Tip: Post your release on your website for search optimization. More press release writing tips here.
- Ask for referrals. Tap into your current customer base and ask your best customers to give you the names of two people who would benefit from your offering. Then when you contact those individuals tell them the name of the person who recommended them. Be sure to send your referral sources a hand written thank you.
What I have to thank the recession for
I know, I know it’s a new year. And I’m excited it’s here. But today I’m compelled to write about the recession. Michelle Blakeley over at Simplicity.com asked her newsletter readers a few months back what we have to thank the recession for. I never answered her. And I want to because I’ve really thought about what I possibly have to thank this beastly thing for. I came up with an actual list. Skim down if you want to jump right to it.
I’m also wondering if other small businesses have anything in particular to thank the recession for. Did you create a new product or service? Did you revamp your marketing strategy? Did you build a team of alliances? Maybe your business grew…maybe you decided to pursue something else? Maybe you don’t have anything at all to thank the recession for.
Like so many small businesses and independent consultants, the economic crisis caused me to shift focus and try new things. Some of the stuff I tried worked. A few things fell flat. Regardless of the outcome though, I learned and I moved on. Sometimes my moving on effort was fueled by TV time with The Real Housewives of Atlanta and way too many sugar cookies. By the way, I’ve given up Housewife shows of any kind. Sugar cookies, no way!
Now here’s my list of what I thank the recession for . . .
1) Making use of what’s already in-house. I created multiple uses for just about everything. This really helped me recycle, re-purpose and think ahead in terms of sustainability. Using what’s on hand has also helped me to curb spending. For instance, I discontinued my traditional website when I learned how to create a website using Word Press.
2) No more hesitating. What do you do when you get a great idea? Think it to death? Write it down somewhere? Put it off until you lose interest? I went back to recording all my ideas in one place: my idea book. And if I get a great idea for an article topic I act on it by submitting a query to the publication’s editor. Last year I discovered a new trade market from the ideas that surfaced with the development near my neighborhood.
3) More giving. Giving makes me feel good. The little effort it takes can help someone in a big way.
4) The return to old-school marketing. By this I mean picking up the phone and calling clients or making an appointment to visit them face-to-face. This is so energizing. Sure, it takes some planning–after all you’ve got to wear shoes. But the benefits are countable. For one, I learn more about what my clients need. Another is I see what problems they are dealing with.
5) Collect a down payment. This year was the worst for getting timely payments. A couple of clients had such financial difficulty they left me holding their bill. No more ouch. Unless I have an existing relationship with a company or they have a name everyone has heard of–like Sears or Microsoft–a down payment is going to be necessary.
6) And how about more thriving small businesses. It’s exciting when a local small business takes off. Small businesses help revitalize the economy and keep cities unique and interesting. To Seth’s point, in many ways buying from a small company is much easier because they tend to act in the best interest of their customers.
Are there things YOU have to thank the recession for?
Happy New Year. I wish you much joy and abundance!
Free online tools to curb your time crunch
So much going on you can’t keep track of sticky notes? Sending email reminders…to yourself?
Here’s to keeping your marketing momentum strong. At least for a while.
- Billing software: https://www.time59.com/login.asp
- Manage tasks: http://www.rememberthemilk.com/
- Downloadable ad-free calendars assembled by Sanjeev, be sure to browse all the 2010 calendar options.
Happy New Year. May it be filled with good times and much prosperity!
