Top Five Tips to Try in ‘08

1. Jump on the Facebook bandwagon.

Consider marketing through Facebook, an online social networking giant. Over the past three years, the site has swelled from a simple network used by 20-somethings in college to an involved social network used by over 60 million adults and professionals worldwide.

The exposure from Facebook can be enormous. The fastest growing demographic is those ages 25 and up and more than 350,000 new users join every day. The average user spends about 21 minutes per day on the site.

• The Profile Page – the basic landing page – should be created first. Make it catchy and fill it with pictures and information about your brand.
• Facebook Groups allow you to build a community around your company or brand and create forums for people to meet and discuss your business.
• Facebook Events is a free application that anyone can use to promote marketing events, sponsored parties, or even product launches, transactions or company milestones. When you create an event, it gets a fully-featured page that includes a wall, discussion, photos, videos and links. You can invite friends to the event and create “admins,” who also have the power to send invites.
• Pages were launched by Facebook in November 2007 as a way for businesses to easily establish a brand presence on Facebook. Companies can add HTML, Flash or even Facebook applications to their pages to extend their functionality and the depth of experience users can have with their brand.

2. Watch your back.

Become increasingly aware of privacy issues. With "digital-intrusion" and identity-theft issues as paramount consumer concerns, businesses must be extraordinarily careful to respect worries of access to private information. Cover your bases. Check bills diligently. Never leave checks or bills in a mailbox to wait for the mail carrier – take them to the post office yourself. Invest in a shredder or outsource to a shredding company in town and destroy everything, including digital files. They will provide you with “certificates of destruction” after every job so you can be sure that “dumpster divers” don’t have access to any of your information. Even companies such as Bank of America, Ralph Lauren and DSW Shoe Warehouse have recently reported ill-gotten customer information, proving that no business is safe from this threat.

3. Go green.

It’s not just nice anymore, it’s necessary.

• Recycle paper and introduce less-toxic supplies and materials, which can be purchased through Green Earth Office Supply and The Green Office.
• Refill ink cartridges instead of buying new ones.
• Donate items your business no longer needs to a local school or non-profit.
• Install solar panels to your building. Most states support energy conservation programs, which offer tax rebates as incentives to go green.
• If your company needs a car, consider a hybrid.

4. Utilize testimonials.

Testimonials are one of the most powerful and cost-effective selling tools you can use. A statement from an actual customer – who reveals their problem and the results they achieved by using your product or service – provides instant credibility. An effective testimonial includes specific benefits and confirms the claims you make during your “sales pitch.” The best testimonials also offer tangible results (i.e. I raised my income by 57 percent, I saved $600, etc.).

If launching a new business, offer your product or service to local companies for free in exchange for feedback. Existing businesses should inquire with recent customers as to how the product or service is working for them. To maximize credibility, include the sender’s first and last name, their city and state, business name, industry and Web site URL in the statement.,

5. Offer “free samples.”

The best (and most cost-efficient) way to offer your product or service to potential customers is to distribute coupons good for a free sample either door-to-door or by direct mail. Less people will try your product or service, but the ones who do try are the ones who are actually interested. The benefit here is that you’ll get people coming to your place of business to redeem the coupon – exposing them to other products and services you offer.

Businesses with a bigger budget should consider setting up a stand at a community event such as a festival or 5K to offer samples or distribute coupons.

Traditional Media is Not Heading for Extinction!

Consider these points about traditional media:

• There will always be those who prefer to hold a newspaper in their hands, work crossword puzzles, clip coupons and save copies of important articles.
• There will always be people who enjoy listening to local radio when they are driving in their cars. Local radio keeps us informed of local headlines, traffic updates, and accidents. This is all in addition to the enjoyable music it delivers.
• There will always be those who prefer viewing local TV news, or their favorite television shows through local television stations. Many depend on this medium for up-to-the minute news.
• Cable television viewing is stronger than ever. Recent statistics show that cable television, as a whole, outperforms the big four (NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX) in overall viewing. Of course cable offers more networks for the public to enjoy – with very diverse programming options.
• There will always be people who enjoy spending leisure time reading their favorite magazine. Reading a magazine online is just not the same as reading a magazine snuggled up on your couch by a fire on a cold rainy day or while sitting poolside on a warm summer day.
• In a recent study by Lexis Nexis, based on a survey of more than 1,500 U.S. adults ages 25-64, it was found that consumers are more likely to turn to the mainstream media when they seek information about urgent matters. Television and radio were still the most popular choice for news or matters of urgency.

Again, there is no evidence that we should count traditional media out any time soon. There will always be new and exciting ways to reach your target markets, but significant sums of advertising dollars will be spent on traditional media for years to come.

Put your mark on their memory

When considering a tagline for your company, think carefully about the message you want that one little phrase to convey. Don’t try to be clever just for wit’s sake. Who do you want to target? Step out of your company bubble and think like your target group. What do you think they’d want to hear? What would draw them to try your brand? Take a unique approach and offer something bigger, better or a just a bit different that your competitors don’t.

Consider the appeal of your company’s location, amenities and reputation. Brainstorm several taglines for each of those topics. Sit down with your options and choose the one that conveys what you want to say and what you think your target audience wants to hear. Afterward, run your selection by your employees and several customers and request honest feedback.

Have these company’s made a mark on your memory? Try to match these tag lines with the fast food company they represent. We bet you’ll do pretty well.

1. Have it your way.
2. Gotta eat.
3. I’m lovin’ it.
4. Eat fresh.
5. Think outside the bun.

Shocking Statistic

Critical mistake made by 99 percent of companies marketing a product or service?
Not following up with potential customers.

People spend a lot of time, energy and money creating beautiful ads or inquiry-generation programs, then get discouraged when their efforts don’t yield immediate results. When a sale is not immediate, many people just give up, assuming their campaign failed. A campaign, though, is not a single effort; it’s a sustained effort over time. Keep in contact with potential customers and follow your initial effort with harder-hitting marketing materials later.