shoestring marketing strategies

How to Create a Targeted Market Opportunity

September 15, 2011 By Contributor 1 Comment

In order to be successful in any proposed business venture, there must be a market opening in the targeted industry. A market opening can be defined an existing consumer driven need for a particular product or service. Ideally, market openings are readily available and visible. At times, there may be unique, un-contemplated circumstances that may require creating a market opening. In those instances, a person can create a market opportunity for his service or product. There are three steps to creating a market opening encapsulated by the IBC Principle.

Step 1: Identify an Unregistered Need

Generally, a person can only provide a service or a product when there is an existing and present need for that product. However, there may be needs that are unregistered. Those needs may fall under the radar and evade registry by the market and the potential consumer who has that intrinsic need. This may occur frequently in evolving industries such as technology where the capabilities and discoveries made drive the demands and needs of the consumer. Think of it as a process improvement initiative; except that your solution will address concerns that have not been voiced by your proposed consumers as of yet. Focus on the added value to the consumer. People are receptive and responsive to improvements that will preserve: time, money, and personal resources. Provided that your service or product is in alignment with at least one of the three, you are on the right track.

Step 2: Broadcast Availability of New Product or Service

To raise your proposed process solution to the targeted consumer’s conscientiousness, you must advertise and promote it openly across all industries. This is not done as method of selling or gaining a financial advantage, but to communicate that there is an alternative available. You want to capture the attention of both, the targeted consumer and everyone else within their sphere of influence. You may do this, through presentations, demonstrations, advertisements, any medium that guarantees you an audience with someone within the targeted consumer’s base or anyone within his sphere of influence. Once the word is out about the effectiveness and the overall improvement, then you can focus on the selling point.

Step 3: Connect the Targeted Market with an Existing Specific industry

There is an organizational level, to everything that we do. Consumers are oriented in their schemas based on certain pre-set organizational structure. To successfully create your market opening, you need to connect your idea to the existing hierarchy of industries. In order words, you do not get to reinvent the wheel. Unless, you are the 21st Century Picasso you must follow the existing hierarchy. This will allow people to comfortably embrace what you offer without undue burden on their existing schema or their understanding and perception of the way things work. The designation of which industry to synchronize with should be centered around the primary function of the product or service.

About the Author:

Catherine is the founder and owner of Delcin Consulting Group, a business consulting firm that provides comprehensive services to Startup Companies, Existing Businesses, and Non-Profits Organizations. The collaborative efforts of the DCG firm generate business solutions and long-term support to facilitate and ensure the successful pursuit of entrepreneurship. Connect with Catherine via email at Catherine.delcin@gmail.com, or connect with her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CatherineDelcin.

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When Should a Start-Up Begin Its Marketing?

August 3, 2011 By Contributor 1 Comment

The first stumbling point for many new businesses isn’t the development of the product, it’s marketing. Many new business owners confuse marketing with sales. Marketing tells people about your product, service, and company early and often. Marketing generates demand and leads. The sales teams reach out to those leads and convert them into paying customers.

Early marketing strategies often center on creating awareness as well as lead generation. Building awareness for the product and the company before, during, and after the development process ensures the sales and revenue plans to be attained. So when should marketing begin – as soon as possible. It’s absolutely imperative that a start-up know how, where, and to whom to sell their products or services.

These relationships and leads enable the sales team to make deals and capture revenue after the product is available. People buy what’s most familiar to them. One of the early missteps is to underestimate the effort required to market a product. It’s is often more expensive and it takes longer than expected. For a start-up with no reputation at all, marketing can be 2 to 3 times that of development, in terms of both expenses and time.

One question is how do you do marketing when it will be some time before your product is ready for customers. What do you promote? One way is to start talking about the problem. If your product solves someone’s problem, they will be looking for a solution. Another way is to establish yourself as an expert or go-to company in the industry. It’s a lot easier for a prospect to believe your first product will perform as expected if you are viewed as a subject matter expert in the field. It won’t eliminate all the objections but it will reduce them.

The marketing plan, like every aspect of a business plan, is based on assumptions. Reaching out to the customers is vital because a start-up needs to prove or disprove customer assumptions as soon as possible. Before jumping into a full blown product development and marketing effort, it’s important to make sure the problem is real and customers are urgently seeking a solution.

The initial marketing effort focuses on gaining a better understanding of the customers and their needs, planting the seeds to build customer relationships, and beginning a pre-launch awareness program. It is not the go-to-market plan. It is a search plan. It means knowing how customers conduct their business and how the product or service can add value to their business model. It also includes knowing your customers’ habits and media preferences. This feedback is critical to refine and prioritize product features as well as gain insight into the correct pricing model. Early customer discussions will facilitate long-term relationships.

It’s important to build a compelling story line by keeping the following questions in mind. Why would a customer buy the product? Why wouldn’t a customer simply continue doing what they do today? Why would a customer buy from your startup instead of one of your competitors? What compels your customer to buy now and not wait? The first step in answering these questions is to identify the people who are the most desperate to solve this problem. Focus on customers who absolutely must have the product. The second step is to find as many places as possible where you can access these customers and build awareness, places where they already gather.

Marketing interacts with customers to prep the market for the product before it has even completed development. It should not be an afterthought. Ultimately, what the customer needs and is willing to pay for rules a start-up; marketing is the spyglass into the customer’s perspective.

About the Author

Cynthia Kocialski is the founder of three tech start-ups companies. In the past 15 years, she has been involved in dozens of start-ups. Cynthia writes the Start-up Entrepreneurs’ Blog (www.cynthiakocialski.com) and has written the book, “Startup From The Ground Up – Practical Insights for Entrepreneurs, How to Go from an Idea to New Business” (www.startupfromthegroundup.com).

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Networking as Your Sole Marketing Vehicle

May 7, 2011 By Contributor 1 Comment

[tweetmeme] As people realize we like them and respect their opinions, they share information about themselves that can be helpful in analyzing whether they can use our products or services.

So says Canadian businessman Michael J. Hughes, who is known as “THE Networking Guru.” Hughes runs a highly successful Ottawa, Ontario-based consulting business that works with Fortune 500 companies and international associations across North America.

The most interesting thing about Hughes’ business? He built it using networking as his sole marketing vehicle.

Networking is simply one of the most important activities in which professionals engage. As Hughes says, the opportunity to create, nurture and develop relationships is one of the most rewarding processes of human activity. If we capitalize on networking opportunities properly, they can be quite profitable for us while making the world a better place for everyone else.

The problem with networking is that too many professionals don’t do it very well. What’s worse is that some people are terribly intimidated by the process.

That’s where Hughes comes in. He breaks networking encounters into six logical steps. To succeed in networking, you need to master all parts of the process:

1. The first five seconds

2. The next 20 seconds

3. The next two minutes

4. The last five seconds

5. The next 24 hours to seven days

6. The final outcome

At the beginning of the networking encounter, Hughes believes the key is to make your discussion partner comfortable. After all, most people are stressed by networking events. You will make a great impression if you take charge, smile, listen carefully and “pretend you’re the host.”

In the next 20 seconds, the key is to build rapport and make your networking partner feel “safe.” Active listening is crucial, because “wanting to know more about a person is one of the biggest compliments we can pay,” Hughes says.

The most important part of the networking process occurs in the next two minutes. Hughes says this is where the real test occurs for both partners. The more you structure the discussion around your partner, the more earnest interest you show in him or her, the more you develop trust.

Once you have trust, your discussion partner is open to your ideas. This is when you present your message, your unique selling point. But don’t get preachy, because as Hughes says, “the objective of networking is to create a relationship, not make a presentation.” The value comes over time.

Trust is especially important if the purpose of your networking efforts is ultimately to make a sale and land a deal. “Selling is a people business, not a product business,” Hughes says. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

When the networking encounter is coming to an end, Hughes recommends you take control in order to transition out of the conversation and help the person bridge to another conversation. In the last five seconds, try to create an opportunity. An offer to keep in touch or a scheduled appointment makes the conversation much more productive.

Finally, be sure to thank the other person for conversing with you and for giving you their precious time.

Lest you think you are done, remember that networking is a process. Follow up with the person or you will eventually be forgotten. That kind of defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? Find a legitimate reason – one that benefits the other person – to stay in contact. Not only does follow-up keep you front-of-mind, it makes an impression in other ways. After all, “following through on commitments and promises goes against the grain of how the world works today,” Hughes says. In other words, you will shock people if you’re one of those rare professionals who actually returns email and voice mail messages.

When it’s all said and done, good networking can lead to career-long relationships. This means you might take care of clients together, create referral opportunities and find complementary products. Gaining exposure to others’ networks will increase your opportunities.

By the way, if you would like to learn more about Michael Hughes, go to NetworkingForResults.com.

About the Author:

Jeff Beals is an award-winning author, who helps professionals do more business and have a greater impact on the world through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. As a professional speaker, he delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. You can learn more and follow his “Business Motivation Blog” at http://www.JeffBeals.com.

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50 Ways to Market Your Business on a Shoestring Budget

March 30, 2011 By Isabel Isidro 1 Comment

[tweetmeme]For a startup entrepreneur, getting the word out about the business is critical.

However, looking for ways to market the business can be challenging if you have limited resources or simply don’t want to spend too much money in marketing.

But with some creative thinking and elbow grease, you can find that there are a number of ways that you can market your business on a shoestring budget. Guerrilla marketing strategies that put your imagination to work and let your creative juices flow can help grow your business without spending any money.

Here are 50 ways you can market your business on a shoestring budget:

1. Start by offering quality products, content or services.

Everything starts with the quality of your offerings. No amount of creative marketing can help you build customers and loyal following consistently without first making sure that what you are offering is top notch.

2. Build a website.

Create a good presence for your businesses online. You can create awesome looking sites for less than $100 using tools such as WordPress . Also check out “Improve Your Online Presence”

3. Stand out from your competitors.

Even if you sell a generic product (e.g. a bicycle that all other bicycle shops sell), make sure that there is something that makes you stand out from the rest. Re-evaluate your business to see where you can make a huge difference that is even beyond the capabilities of your big competitors. Can you come up with a new spin for a product? Can you ratchet up your customer service delivery? What ways can you engage the community? Is there a clever way to brand your business? Read the article “ How Your Small Business Can Become the Leader of the Pack”

4. Focus on keeping the customer for life.

When getting a customer, your goal is to keep that customer for life, make that customer come back again and again, and refer yor business to others. Think of additional ways your existing customers will buy again from you. Increase the lifetime value of your customers.

Read the full article “50 Free or Low Cost Ways to Market Your Small Business”

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Givers Gain: Using Freebies to Market Your Business

March 9, 2011 By Contributor 4 Comments

How can potential customers try your wares before they buy?

Most of the time people like to try what they are about to buy, before they actually make a purchase:

In clothes stores people like to try on clothes to see that they fit.
In book shops people want to flip through the table of content to get the gist.
In restaurants people often want to have a nibble before they bite.

Some supplier’s offer free training or seminars, others may offer free advice, some may offer a free makeover, or they may pitch one of their services at a very low price.

What you really want is for your products or services to do most of the selling themselves. You do this by giving your customer to be the opportunity of engaging and exploring your products and services.

The more they are able to explore your offer the more difficult it is for them to part with it, and the easier it is for you to make a sale.

I heard the story of a car showroom that increased their sales tremendously, when their competitors were going out of business, because they gave their would-be customers the privilege of not only test-driving their cars, but using their cars over a period of time to see if they liked it.

This strategy worked because most of the people who took advantage of the offer got so used to driving the new cars that they chose not to downgrade, and part with them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”KgQZb8s1ItRKLcPVKcCdezT830yDmSm0″]Some products have an element of stick-ability, like e-mailing software. Some suppliers give you the opportunity to try their system for free for a short period.

If you’ve done all the work of transferring all your business contact to the new system, and have sent a newsletter or two to your mailing list using their system, it is sometimes difficult to part with it, so the business owner gets another sale.

Authors find that they make more sales if they give their would-be buyer a free chapter of the book they’ve written. People generally tend to be curious and want to read the rest.

Real Estate Agents give their customers the opportunity to experience what it might mean to live in their new home.

The more people get emotionally engaged with the buying process, the easier it is to make a sale.

How can your would-be customers experience your products or services?

If you own an online business you could use videos, e-mail marketing, stock images, audio recordings, and the content on your website.
If it is a product you can sell samples just like the little samples of bottled perfumes most departmental stores sell.
If you are a bakery or you can give little bite sized samples of your latest nibbles.
If you are a school, or training institute, you can give an open day, or a free one day taster course.

Many businesses succeed through the principle of “Givers Gain”, by giving you actually start the process of you receiving.

Giving and receiving is a law of the Universe. In giving, you are activating the law of giving and receiving (they are one and the same law), which stores up goodwill, and plenty for you and causes abundance to flow towards you.

About the Author

Davida Yemi-Akanle is a Small Business Consultant and a Personal Development Coach, who has a passion to help Start-up Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners succeed. Davida specializes in Start up Businesses; Online Businesses – Website and Internet marketing; Residual Income Businesses; and Personal Development. She has been providing Consulting and Coaching since 1996.

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Finding Cross-Marketing Partners: Is It as Easy-Breezy as It’s Made Out to Be?

March 6, 2011 By Contributor 2 Comments

[tweetmeme]Cross-marketing partnerships are a smart and effective way to cut through the saturated online marketplace. They can help you build your network, strengthen your expert credibility and make for wider exposure much faster than you could hope for going it solo. If you’re a forward-thinking entrepreneur, chances are you’re engaging in or thinking of engaging in cross-marketing partnerships. But is finding cross-marketing partners as easy-breezy as it’s made out to be?

In my experience as a Partnership Manager (aka Joint Venture Manager) finding high-integrity, energetically aligned cross-marketing partners is both a delicate and time-consuming process.

There are three types of prospective partners:

Prospective Partners who Know, Like and Trust You – These people are essentially your professional friends. When you set out to engage in cross-marketing partnerships you undoubtedly have an initial set of potential partners in mind. These are probably people who already know you, like you and trust you. Proposing a win-win partnership to someone who knows you, likes you and trusts you will take little convincing on your part and will be the easiest partnership to initiate.
Prospective Partners who are Acquainted with You – These are people who you have met or connected with at some point or they may be someone you were introduced to. They could be people on your list or within your social networks. They might recognize you and/or your business. While these people are likely acquainted with you, they do not necessarily know you, like you or trust you. Forging partnerships with this type of prospective partner will take a bit more effort.
Prospective Partners who Have No Knowledge of You – This is essentially cold-calling. These partners are people who seem to fit your definition of an Ideal Partner. You might have known of them for some time or maybe you found them through an internet search. But regardless of your knowledge of them, they have no knowledge of you or your business. This will undoubtedly be the most difficult partner to secure.

Needless to say, approaching a prospective partner who knows you, likes you and trusts you will be a lot easier and require a lot less time and effort than approaching a prospective partner who has no knowledge of you at all. Given the complex nature of the partnership process it’s probably fair to say that the larger your network is, and the more closely you are in touch with your community, the easier it will be for you to connect with partners.

My advice? Network, network, network! And I don’t mean just “friend” someone on Facebook or trade business cards at a conference. If you want to use cross-marketing as the powerful business-building strategy that it is, you’ve got to get to know people! Take the time to exchange detailed introductions, figure out who you both know, like and trust to create instant connections, and be sure to follow-up. Don’t forget to ask people in your community regularly, how you can support them. I think if you pay attention, you’ll notice that the most successful business owners are those who are constantly engaging with their communities.

Understand that the bigger your network and the more personal relationships you have in place to capitalize on, the easier the process will be. But if you have a limited network and you or your Partnership Manager (aka JV Manager) need to do lots of reaching out and relationship-building, it will definitely take a good deal of time and attention to attract lots of cross-marketing partners. So be sure to engage in partnerships with a good sense of your network and realistic expectations.

About the Author:

Jessica Z, aka “Queen of Collaborations” is the fresh, fun face of partnership! Online business development expert, awesome idea generator, fab marketing guru, and general bringer of fun times, Jessica knows and shares with her community the amazing benefits of collaboration as a primary business growth tool. To learn more about integrating your online marketing and partnership strategies to spark exponential growth, visit http://jessicazsolutions.com. Or come to the next JV Coffeehouse (http://jessicazsolutions.com/the-jv-coffeehouse) where you can learn new cross-marketing strategies, meet potential partners, and have your questions answered by an expert!

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Ten Ways to Market Yourself: Create Opportunities & Build Your Brand

January 27, 2011 By Contributor 2 Comments

Here we are in the first month of a new year. This is one of those years where many professionals are feeling more optimistic than they were at this time 12 months ago.

That’s refreshing. It’s a much better feeling than we had at the beginning of last year. But while the stock market has been rising, tax cuts have been extended and business is picking up, these are far from ideal times. High unemployment persists, and the economy still has a cautious, uncertain feeling to it.

Today’s business environment remains somewhat perilous, but at the same time, there are great prospects for those who play their cards right. That’s why it is so important for you to build your personal brand and create opportunities.

Whether you want more/bigger clients or a better career opportunity, make a commitment to market yourself in 2011. To get you started, here are 10 items to consider:

Live actively and focus externally – Be active and involved outside your home or office. Show up at networking events. Go out of your way to talk to people when you are in public venues. Remember that 75% of all jobs are never advertised and a similar percentage of big clients only come from relationship-building.

Determine what is most interesting – You need an “area of self-marketing expertise,” something about your business or career that is fascinating to people outside your profession. Focus on this when you are networking or using social media.

Focus on results when networking – When you go to networking events, go in with a goal in mind. Sure, you should try to enjoy your conversations, but make it a mission to find a good lead or a golden opportunity.

Exploit social media – Don’t just have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. Make sure you post material that is interesting and not just inane personal stuff. Use social media to strengthen your reputation by building on your area of self-marketing expertise.

Make people feel important – When you are talking to someone, make him or her feel like the only person in the world who matters to you at that moment. This will help you develop advocates, people you can count on when you need help.

Build your “Google trail” – Rest assured, that people are Googling you on a regular basis. A prospective client will probably Google you to know who he or she is dealing with before meeting with you. That’s why a Google trail is so important. If nothing or very little pops up when someone Google’s you, there’s a problem – they’ll assume you don’t have much going on. Therefore, Google your own name on a regular basis. If you’re not very visible on line, deliberately get your name out there to build an Internet presence.

Ask probing questions – Don’t just chit-chat and make small talk during networking conversations. Ask some questions designed to uncover the critical information that leads to new opportunities.

Refresh your elevator speech – Does your 20-second intro speech need updating? You need to be able to say what you do quickly, clearly and in a way that captures a person’s interest.

Listen to your clients and colleagues – When we get too busy, it’s easy to start making assumptions. Those assumptions can cause you to lose opportunities. Instead, ask the important questions and truly listen to the responses. Don’t just go through the motions. Let the other person’s words sink in and make an impression on your brain.

Never let up – When things are good, don’t let complacency stop you from perpetually marketing yourself. When things are going poorly, don’t let discouragement be an excuse for apathy.

About the Author:
Jeff Beals is an award-winning author, who helps professionals do more business and have a greater impact on the world through effective sales, marketing and personal branding techniques. As a professional speaker, he delivers energetic and humorous keynote speeches and workshops to audiences worldwide. You can learn more and follow his “Business Motivation Blog” at www.JeffBeals.com.

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How to Market a New Local Business on a Shoestring Budget

May 22, 2010 By Isabel Isidro 4 Comments

If you have a new local business, what is the best way to get the word out and find customers, especially if you have shoestring budget?

Marketing on a shoestring budget means that you need to be creative, innovative and think WAY outside the box. Marketing doesn’t always mean spending tons of money to get the word out (though of course, it helps as well). There are some things that you can do to reach your target audience and present yourself as a progressive and forward thinking company without breaking the bank.

Here are some shoestring marketing ideas:

Build a website. A website is a must for any new business today. You don’t need a super fancy website with lots of bells and whistles. However, it is important that you create a highly functional and effective website, which you can do even on a shoestring budget as long as you are willing to invest time into it. Read my post about “How I Created an Effective Web Site for Under $100”. The key is to ensure that your website has all the critical elements to succeed.

Optimize your website for local search. You can’t put up a website and expect people to come. You need to put a lot of effort in order to reach your target local market. One important strategy is to make sure that you are visible in Google Maps (read the post “How to Rank Well in Google Maps” ). Also create profiles in various local directories, such as Google Places , Angie’s List , Yelp , Yellow Pages / and other local directories that you can find.

Write a press release targeting your local media. Make sure that you have news worthy release — a creative gimmick, a fresh spin or something very unique that will attract the attention of editors and writers. Start by making a list of journalists, bloggers and writers in your local papers, magazines, radio stations and find out who reports on local human interest stories. Get some ideas from the post “How to Get Press Coverage for Your Business” .

Do work for free. Yes, for free! But even if you don’t get paid for the work, take this opportunity to gain more experience and improve your business. If you’re running a home staging business, for example, request permission to get photos from the work you’ve done that you can put in your portfolio and website. If you’ve just started a lawn mowing service, offer one free service if they can refer you to a paying customer. Make sure that you ask for testimonials – even encourage these customers getting your freebie to post positive reviews in your Yelp or other local directories.

“Opening of Small Business Store” Create opportunities for people to learn what you do. Share tips, tricks and your knowledge as those things can be pretty viral. Create video tutorials or podcasts, always making sure that you highlight the location and target area of your business.

Present yourself as an expert. Partner with a local association or grassroots groups and present seminars. To entice attendance, offer something of value. If you’re a new contractor, for example, you can conduct a seminar on how to conserve energy.

Think coupons. With the tight economy, consumers are looking for ways to save money. What better way to reach out to these customers than offering them with coupons? Your coupons can either be a discount or special offer that you can use to build traffic to your business, lure away customers from your competitors, or make the customer more willing to try you out. There are a number of ways to distribute coupons – you can use companies such as Valpak, put them in your website, or team up with other businesses in the area and do a tit-for-tat arrangement to create a win-win situation for the both of you.

Always look for opportunities to cross promote. Find businesses that compliment — but do not compete with – yours and team up with them. Cross promotions can help you compete with the big boys dominating your market. Your cross promotions can involve swapping packets of business cards and brochures and showing them in each others’ place of businesses. Another way is to be including flyers in customers’ shopping bags. Or it can be cross promotion through bundled services, such as a special discount for customers who buy from you and your partner. There’s a number of ways you can work together with other businesses in the area.

Use car decals to advertise your business. You can also turn your cars into a walking advertising billboard for your business. It sounds cheesy, but it can be very effective in promoting your local business. You can wrap your entire car with the ad, or use a magnetic decal that you can remove at any time. However, you need to consider your zoning laws and restrictions of your homeowner’s associations as some do not allow business vehicles (even if they’re your personal vehicles but if they have advertising on them) to be parked in the streets, or even in the open driveway.

Be active and network with other business owners. Join and actively participate in local business associations, including Chamber of Commerce. Your exposure will allow you to meet other business owners who may be able to work with you to get customers and the word out about your business.

There’s a lot more shoestring strategies out there. Please feel free to add the inexpensive marketing and advertising strategies that have worked for your business.

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Starting a Business on a Shoestring Budget

July 23, 2006 By Isabel Isidro Leave a Comment

The July 2006 issue of Inc Magazine has an article that resonates well with our message — “How to Launch a Business for Peanuts.” It is ideal to have all the resources you need to start a business. But there may be instances when you, despite best intentions and even exhausting available options, simply cannot raise the funds you need to start yous business. So what are you to do? Bootstrap the business, of course!

It is possible to start a business with little cash — but you need to do a lot of work and put in tons of creativity to develop your product and reach your target audience. The article outlines the steps you can do and profiles specific strategies other entrepreneurs have used to illustrate the suggested steps.

According to the article, here are the steps that you can do to start a business even on a little budget:

1. Brand it creatively
2. Switch business models on a dime
3. Work from home
4. Get paid up front
5. Use cheap web tools
6. Get your suppliers to finance you
7. Get to know your customers really well

You may also want to read the articles

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