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Fresh, bright, innovative marketing always works better to attract and retain clients. Marketing that is stale shows you’re not interested in your business. And if you’re not interested in your business, why should your prospective clients be?
The enemy of any business is staleness. If there’s one thing I see day-in and day-out, it’s stale, tired and worn-out marketing ideas and attitudes. Take a close look and see what you can do to brush away the cobwebs and jump-start your marketing.
Is your marketing stale? Here’s some telltale signs and some simple things you can do to freshen it up.
1. You meet someone in a networking situation, but you don’t clearly and memorably communicate what you do.
When they ask you what you do, do you answer with a concise “solution statement” or do you lazily tell them you’re a management consultant and leave them to figure out what this really means? Start speaking in solutions. It’s what they get – not what you do that’s important.
2. You don’t have a system to keep in touch with contacts, prospects and clients.
If you determine after meeting someone that you should keep in touch with them, do you have a system to do that automatically? Most people don’t. Here’s the problem: unless there is an immediate reason to follow up, new contacts fall between the cracks. The solution is a keep-in-touch program. To stay top-of-mind, you need to make contact from time to time. A simple email newsletter is one cost-effective way you can keep your name in front of clients and contacts.
3. You have just completed a project both you and the client are happy with, but you don’t ask for a referral.
Never fail to ask the simple question, “Do you know of anyone else who might be interested in receiving the same kind of value that I provided for you?” Referrals from satisfied clients are potentially powerful sources of new business. An associate recently informed me that by adding a simple referral generation system to his procedures, his qualified referrals went up dramatically.
4. Your materials are out of date and the cobwebs are showing.
This might be your business card that has the 415 area code crossed out and 650 written in? Or do you still hand our a brochure with an old address or testimonials from clients 10 years back? If you think people don’t notice these things you’re kidding yourself. Prospects notice everything. Keep you marketing materials, as well as others’ perceptions of you and your business, fresh and up to date.
5. When you receive a good, qualified referral do you spend a less effort turning them into a client thinking the sale is already made?
Don’t take referrals for granted. Your business could slide into the sea with this attitude. You need to treat every referral and prospective client with the same attitude: I’m interested in you, I want to help you and I don’t take your business for granted.
6. Have you hit on a sure-fire marketing method…then stopped innovating?
This is very common: one thing worked so well that you never tried anything new. You always need to test new promotional methods. Who knows… another approach might generate twice as many clients at half the cost.
7. Are you working with the same types of clients as you did five years ago?
Ten years ago? Sure, you feel comfortable working with these clients. But perhaps it’s time to raise your prices, drop some unprofitable clients and reach out of your comfort zone. You will experience a whole new level of excitement about your business when you continually raise the bar for yourself and your business.
Recommended Books on Revitalizing Your Marketing:
- Energize Growth NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company
- Going Social: Excite Customers, Generate Buzz, and Energize Your Brand with the Power of Social Media
- Harvard Business Review on Reinventing Your Marketing
- Six Rules for Brand Revitalization: Learn How Companies Like McDonald’ Can Re-Energize Their Brands
- Full Strength Marketing: How You Can Use Your Hidden Strengths, Break Through Inner Barriers and Raise Your Profits
- The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly
- Like
- Digg
- Del
- Tumblr
- VKontakte
- Buffer
- Love This
- Odnoklassniki
- Meneame
- Blogger
- Amazon
- Yahoo Mail
- Gmail
- AOL
- Newsvine
- HackerNews
- Evernote
- MySpace
- Mail.ru
- Viadeo
- Line
- Comments
- Yummly
- SMS
- Viber
- Telegram
- Subscribe
- Skype
- Facebook Messenger
- Kakao
- LiveJournal
- Yammer
- Edgar
- Fintel
- Mix
- Instapaper
- Copy Link