When running a business, the success of your marketing efforts could be the difference between making a profit and going out of business. While most businesses are aware of regular methods of marketing like direct mail and cold calling, there are a few effective strategies that you may not be using. Branching out and trying some new methods could help your business increase sales and start making more money.
Trade Shows
One of the best ways to market your business is to attend trade shows and exhibitions. Trade shows and exhibitions give you a chance to show off your products to other businesses and people who may be interested in them. In both cases, it does not cost much to get a booth at a trade show and you are putting your product in front of hundreds or thousands of people at a time. If your product gets picked up by a distributor, it could result in many sales of your product.
When you enter a trade show, you may need to invest in some new materials that can show off your product or service. Printing up some brochures and creating a backdrop for your booth can go a long way towards helping promote your products.
Lead Capture/Email Marketing
If you have a website, you may want to implement lead capture strategies. With this technique, you try to capture the name and email address of your visitors. This can be done by offering something free like a report or a free course. Once you get the email address of your visitor, you send them the free item that you promised.
At that point, you can use this information to send relevant marketing messages to your list of email addresses. Once your list starts receiving messages from you, you can develop a relationship with your potential customers. When your customers start to see regular messages from you, they will start to trust you if the content you send is relevant and helpful. For example, you may want to send a helpful article or tip every so often so that your customers see that you’re there to help. When it comes time to buy a product, your email subscribers will be much more open to buying from you.
When you have a list of email subscribers, you can periodically send them commercial messages with links to buy your product or service. As long as you don’t do it too often, your subscribers will be willing to see what you have to offer. In many cases, you will have a better conversion rate with the people who subscribe to your newsletter than with regular prospects.
Seminars and Webinars
A big part of success in the business world is promoting your brand. If people are familiar with your brand, they will be much more receptive to any marketing messages that you send out. One of the best ways to promote your brand or products is to hold a seminar. With this process, you rent space in a public area such as a hotel or a convention center. You come up with content that can help other people. Choose a topic that you are an expert in and is related to your business. Then advertise the seminar and give out free tickets to the event.
When people show up to the seminar, you will have the opportunity to speak to them about issues surrounding your area of expertise. At some point in the seminar, you can also mention your brand and products.
Another way to approach this is to have a webinar. This is essentially the same thing as a seminar except you conduct it completely online. With this approach, you send out invitations with a link in them and people can register for the webinar. At that point, you conduct a video presentation for your subscribers. They have the opportunity to ask questions and chat with you about your presentation.
Either one of these strategies can help increase brand awareness and put your products and services on center stage in front of your prospects. If done correctly, any of these techniques can help you take your business to the next level and start closing more sales.
Tracey Roper is a content contributor for Creative Solutions Direct, a UK marketing company specialising in roller banner stands and pop-up displays.