Grow your business with the most important habits, tools and strategies for marketing, advertising, media relations and public relations.
I find that the most common dilemma that people looking for exposure or business have – whether they know it or not – is whether they are doing anything right to reach their goals. Sometimes I meet people who do not have any one single goal. Sometimes they only goal they see is a dollar sign followed by six to eight figures. Everyone has different goals and there are many ways to do business. How can grow consistently and effectively?
There is no one specific answer. Many people hire consultants or consultants that perform service work like myself. But if you’re not one of my clients right now let me give you the three most important ways any business can grow:
-
Track your sources of incoming business.
Gathering information from customers on how they came to be your customers tells you what is working. If you know what is working you can learn how to expand your marketing efforts.
If you’ve never kept track of where your customers come from – log each month of your sales and activity. Compare when you saw the most sales to when you remember marketing. Do not log when you may have paid for a mail-out for example because the mail-out may have reached the hands of your customers at a different time then when you paid the bill.
For those who haven’t started their business yet, never start a marketing or media strategy without a way to track new business from them. Here’s a HUGE hint: Sometimes the best results appear long-after the marketing or media push.
-
Allow customers to return.
This sounds odd at first but look at it simply. Offering coupons to return, operating for at least nine hours a day and responding quickly to complaints allows your customers to return how and when they want to.
Coupons or specials will entice them. Operating consistently reduces the chance they will show up to a closed business – walking away disappointed. Responding quickly to complaints improves their feeling of value and importance.
-
Market regularly to ideal customers.
Never lose pace. If you want regular business you have to regularly work for it. Whether you work by developing new strategies or by writing a check to the printers: work for it. The biggest tragedy is a great idea dying and passion losing wind.
I cannot speak for other Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations or Media Relations firms but when my long-term clients notice a decline in reaction to their current strategy, I have the ability to offer and develop an updated strategy. Make sure you regularly take a look at what you’re doing to draw business in. For some they monitor their strategy monthly while others monitor their strategy annually. Consider your goals to decide your pace of marketing.
It’s also very important that you don’t get too anxious. If you’re planning on staying business for a long time then you don’t what short-term results. Consistently think long-term for your business, marketing strategy and results tracking.
I hope everyone is ready for Friday, I sure am! I’ll see you again then – take care!
Tell a Friend,
TZ
Tony Zazza, a 15-year media, marketing and advertising expert, is the Principal of Zazza Media Strategies, a Dallas Texas Marketing Firm, that specializes in growing small to medium sized businesses to their fullest potential.
Stay on top of trends and information by allowing the Media to come to you. Make your strategy effortless.
Ever feel like you’re playing catch-up? Whether it’s work, family or even just some rest and relaxation, playing catch-up is annoying and frustrating. I feel like I’m there every week! Things get too fast or they’re not fast enough. Either way something must be done quickly and other items are pushed down the to-do list. It’s a huge bore. HUGE.
When it comes to plotting your strategy to take over the world – or your industry – the Media never seems to sleep. It may move at a snail’s pace, but it never fully stops. This does get very overwhelming and tiresome. It’s a never-ending marathon. And I hate to run.
What’s also great about it is that there are tools to help you stay on pace with the Media and not lose precious hours working. You can literally find the Media knocking at your door by taking advantage of some time-tested tools. They’re very quick to put in place and honestly these tools are becoming more and more essential.
First, discover Google Alerts. Sign-up for an account with Google and you can have search items sent straight to your inbox. Like to keep up with the Chicago Cubs? Set a Google Alert to literally search for ‘Chicago Cubs’ and email you either daily or as-it-appears with a link to the article, page or website mentioning ‘Chicago Cubs’. This works great for keeping up with your industry.
One of my clients uses it to keep up with her franchising company. Results are delivered to her inbox. Sometimes its odd articles about other nationwide locations and sometimes it’s a friend mentioning her location on their blog. It’s really usefully to keep random news coming to you without having to routinely search.
Second, find some way to track and analyze traffic to your website or blog. Do not use a ‘Hit Counter’! Those were cute when you could build an AOL Free Webpage back in 1997. They’re useless now. You want to know where people are coming from. Is it your Facebook? Is it your local newspaper? Your YellowPages ad? Knowing where people are coming from helps you in so many ways.
Let’s say you sell toy animals. You advertise, you’ve joined the Chamber of Commerce and you’re tweeting away. You’re sitting pretty good. You then begin to analyze your traffic and see that there’s a local toy animal fan club you knew nothing about that is accounting for a good portion of your traffic. You now have the knowledge of a great source of customers and advertising that you had no idea about before. It’s almost magical where your web traffic can come from!
Lastly, discover Trending. Whether it’s Twitter’s topic trends or Google’s Hot Trends, knowing what is capturing the attention of the online world can help you know what’s new, hot and in demand. All with no effort from you.
Do you sell collectable 1980′s movie posters or former child star memorabilia? This morning sadly, Corey Haim was discovered dead. Too young to pass on in my opinion and I’m sure in yours but if you specialize in such material, maybe you should advertise your Corey Haim products because their demand and value have increased. Sure you could search news sites and search the web for every person you may have products for – but why waste time? Discover breaking news fast.
It seems spring is finally arriving! I’m so excited – ready for warm days and bright sunshine! I’ll see you all back here on Friday to get ready for the weekend – keep in touch with comments!
Tell a Friend,
TZ
Tony Zazza, a 15-year media, marketing and advertising expert, is the Principal of Zazza Media Strategies, a Dallas Texas Marketing Firm, that specializes in growing small to medium sized businesses to their fullest potential.