Before you dive into buying particular marketing media, it’s well worth thinking about where your target customers can see and hear your marketing message.
Your message will usually be some kind of direct response offer but can be brand name exposure or even something creative like a competition or survey.
You want:
- Relevance – to get your marketing message in front of the right people.
- Reach – to get it in front of as many of your target audience as possible.
- Impact – to deliver your message in a way that’s hard for people with the specific problem, want or need that you satisfy, to ignore.
- Cost and effectiveness – you want a big bang for your buck.
I believe that people rush into making quick decisions about their marketing,, often driven by pushy media sales people who want your money and offer no kind of success guarantee or money-back guarantee if things don’t work out as expected.
Where Are Your Potential Customers Receptive To Your Promotions And Offers?
Ideally you want:
- Your prospective customer to have the time to read, watch or listen to your message from start to finish; and then
- Be able to respond to your call of action immediately.
If your prospect can’t respond straight away, you have to rely on him or her remembering your business name, the offer, how to respond and why he wanted to take action.
That’s a tough ask which is why repetition is important. It helps reinforce the message and make it more memorable.. It also increases the chances that it can arrive when the person is free to pay attention and can take action.
Where To Promote Your Business To Your Target Customers
There are many different ways of getting your message in front of the eyes and ears of your would-be customers.
News and entertainment media
This is the traditional TV, radio, newspaper and magazine media that can be accessed by the customer at any time.
The four main ways to be featured are:
- Advertising – you’re in complete control
- Press releases – you create interesting news
- Product placements and mentions
- You are the guest expert
Marketing At Their Home
There are a number of methods to bring commercial intent into their homes:
- Through the news and entertainment media mentioned above
- Telemarketing
- Through the letter box – direct mail and flyers
- Door to door sales
- Through their friends – referrals, network marketing, party plans
- Yellow Pages
Marketing At Their Workplace
Similar to marketing to their homes plus:
- Posters and flyers on noticeboards
Marketing On The Streets, Pavements, Shopping Centres And Stores
- Billboards and posters
- Signage on buildings
- Signage on vehicles
- Window displays and posters
- A-Frame pavement signs
- Handout flyers and coupons on the street
Internet & Social Media
- Search engines – pay per click and organic search engine optimisation to send traffic to your website.
- Content network pay per click to send visitors to your website.
- Facebook / LinkedIn PPC
- Banner advertisements on other people’s websites
- Guest writing for blogs and other article websites
Business Meetings
- Networking – business cards, brochures, gifts and trinkets
- Trade shows
- Seminars
- Entertainment events
- Open days
Through Alliance Partners
- Endorsed mailings to home or work through post or email
- Piggyback mailing
- Affiliate promotions
- Lead box marketing of offers and competitions
- Stickers on products
- Brochures in waiting room
- Business card display units
Through Sports & Hobbies
- Sponsorship – sports shirts, stadium (naming rights, banners and billboards)
- Events
- Trophies and challenges
Blue Sky Thinking
- Blimps and airships
- Skywriting
- Plane banners
Where Are The Best Places To Promote
Prepare a short-list based on relevance, reach, impact, expected cost and effectiveness.
Then test.
Some of these ideas can be ruled out straight away because they are too expensive or they won’t be seen often enough to create enough of an impact to get a response.
Capture Details And Follow-Up
The purpose of lead generation is to get the potential customer to express an interest in learning more about your product or service.
You must:
- Capture his details – name, company, address, telephone number, email address
- Record the source of the lead wherever possible so you can see what is working
- Follow up
- Mark when or if converted into a customer.
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