Tips For Better Customer Relationship Marketing

There have been lots of business trends that people have known. Traditional stores have been put up along with bargains and different promotions for their clients and customers. And then, there comes the shopping malls which offer better and far more expensive things that people may purchase. And now, online stores are present everywhere. But in any type of business trend, one thing is constant for business owners to implement correctly; and that is to establish a good customer relation. This will definitely help a business get more clients and repeat sales from them every now and then.
Customer relationship marketing is what every business is doing just to make sure that all of their customers will remain loyal to them and keep on patronizing their products and services. Today, there are more techniques on how to do customer relationship marketing better. More business owners are aware of these techniques and are being well used these days. In order to keep a closer relationship with your customers, you should follow these tips.
Constant information sent to your customers will keep the bond between the both of you. With this, you can make use of different marketing tools like press releases, newsletters and even sales letters. As long as your customers are kept informed of what has been happening to your business, you will definitely be able to keep the bond. Also, they will also be able to use the information in knowing about your latest updates about your products, services of business itself.
If you have gained a new customer, make sure that you always show your appreciation to their patronage. You can best do this if you are working on an online business. You can send correspondence or letter of appreciation to your new customers. With this, your clients will always feel welcome and appreciated by your business. You may also send them letters whenever you have new promotions or perks to your trusted clients. With this, they will always be interested in reading everything that is coming from you.
And lastly, treat your clients with respect. If you want people to respect you as a good business owner, you also need to respect others most especially your customers and clients. Keep in mind that they are the reason why your business is present. If people will not patronize your products or services because of your bad attitude towards others, then you can expect the business to go down.
One's ability to retain loyal customers in their business will definitely make a big difference in the success that the business will achieve. If the business owner can create a good and effective relationship with their clients all throughout their business operations, they are sure to have sales and income all the time. Correct attitude and respect for others will give trust as its outcome. This is what all business owners should always remember especially if they wanted to become successful in their field.

Pinterest - Disinterested or Pinteresting? All You Need to Know About the Social Media Platorm

There have been numerous articles where the fascination over Pinterest has been well documented, and how marketers can use the platform to generate traffic and business leads. Here is a culmination of various views on the latest social media craze that's growing faster than LinkedIn, Google + and YouTube combined! That's no easy feat.
So what's it all about? It was established in 2010. You sign up for an account and post images and photos to online pin-boards that you like. Share these images with friends and get people with similar interests to follow you (similar to twitter in that respect).
With any social media platform, there will be profitable angle applied to it at some point. Making a thorough check on the demographics of the site visitors is essential before embarking on any marketing campaigns. Females make up 80% of the total users. (source econsultancy). That's no surprise when you look at the home page. Everything is cute pets, fashion, shoes, dresses, nail designs. Unfortunately for me, I'm a male rugby player. Pinterest's home page does not engage me in the slightest. You will not find me spending 8 hours filtering through handbags, pretty pictures of cake and cute dogs, I did a search for rugby where half a dozen rugby photos came up surrounded by ladies clothing, which confirms my fears of it not being male orientated yet.
But before I write it off completely due to selfish testosterone driven stubbornness, there is a reason why millions of people are signing up to it everyday. Lot's of people like visual explanations and photographic proof unlike the content driven world of the search engine ranking positions. Marketers are signing up because they can leave a link in the 'from' section of any photo graph they use.
Marketing Drawbacks:

1. We get marketed to everyday. Promoting too hard will not work.
2. Business to business services can't always be promoted by an image on this platform.

Marketing Strategies:

1. Know your keyword searches for your market. This is what targeted people would type into a search to find your services.
2. Build up a following by sharing and re-pinning exciting images.
3. For your own images, they need to be engaging, comical, showing success, trending so that people re-pin them. You're own viral marketing.
4. What's on there at the moment being shared? Clothes. Simple, retail stands to profit the most from this as all fashion is visual. You won't get a photo of me typing HTML code into websites, link building and chairing meetings that will promote my business on Pinterest.
5. Offer incentives for re-pinning. (Similar to pay with a tweet on twitter). Special offers or competitions for people re-pinning.

Pinterest is going to be huge. How long it will stay around is anyone's guess as others have peaked and fallen away. Perfect examples include friends reunited which was the best thing since sliced bread and also MySpace which has had a resurgence in the music niche in recent months.

Solid Advertising Advice For Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the newest and most promising methods companies can promote themselves. By exploiting the power of social media sites, a business can effectively promote its products and services with a relatively low investment. The following article will give you some useful tips on this kind of marketing.
Social media is very popular, but you should enter it with a plan. Take some time to learn about SMM, how to become known, target an audience, and construct some form of it offline. Developing your game plan first will enable you to hit the ground running.
It is very important that people comment on your content. Enable comments in your post options, but make certain they are closely monitored. You want to quickly remove hostile comments and spam.
Host an online Q and A session to create interest in your company's products and services. This is a good way to get people to know about your products and services. Social media let's you interact on a personal level which is good for your business.
Sprinkle your tweets with the names of people you know to be influential in the field. Make sure you write their user names behind the @ symbol. The mentioned Twitter user will get a notification that someone posted content mentioning them, and they might just decide to retweet your content or respond.
YouTube is a great jumping off point to your other business endeavors. Millions of people visit YouTube daily, and your video could be the one they're looking for. Be sure to take the extra time and effort needed to build your YouTube profile in a professional manor. Describe your business well, and add links to your website or blog within your videos and profile.
Notice when you are getting the most tweets or re-tweets on Twitter. Take advantage of that fact and schedule your messages to correspond with that timing. if you send messages through an automated service, make sure your tweets go out at the times when most of your followers are likely to be online.
Check out your competition before creating your first Facebook page. Use their pages to get ideas of how to make your own distinctive platform. Your page should be very unique and appealing.
Take full advantage of social media by sharing images, videos and articles from respected and popular online users. Doing so will add a sense of authority and build a more credible reputation. You can easily help establish yourself as another authority in your niche through your associations with these people. You will also be providing fresh, interesting content for your followers. This name-recognition will help you greatly in promoting your business.
More companies are using social media as a way to market their products. If you use the tips and ideas in this article, your business can expand and grow by taking advantage of the increasing popularity of social media.

Why Private Practice Professionals Need a Mobile App

It's now a mobile world and few private practice professionals know it or have a clue what to do about it.
This is your chance to be on the leading edge of marketing your services and reaching your target audience where they are spending most of their time and money.
Here are my top four mobile app ideas for private practice professionals:
1. Turn your book or ebook into an app
Can be free or paid and include other content (audio, video, etc), features (messaging, wall, social media, etc), up-sells, etc.
2. Create a mobile portal for your practice
Make it easy for prospects and clients to learn about you, contact you, make an appointment, get directions to your office, get valuable tips and other content from you.
3. Create a mobile portal for your program
Any multi-media, multi-step program can be converted to an app and engaged much more conveniently than on a website or computer
4. Create a mobile portal for your content
Can be free or paid and include audio, video, articles, e-courses, up-sells, social media, quizzes, messaging, contact forms, etc.
All of the above can be hosted on a website very effectively.
So then, why do you need an app?
Here are my Top 8 Reasons to Publish an App:
1. People spend much more time in apps than on websites
Why? Convenience, They can access your info when and where they want and they're not tied to their computer. Mobile apps make your content more accessible, engaging, and increases "consumption."
2. Mobile device use exceeds TV and Computer use 5:1
As providers of information and support you need to be where your prospective customers and clients can find and consume your information and engage your support, which is now overwhelmingly in the mobile world.
3. Effective Marketing
Apple and Android app stores allow you to reach untold millions more that you could otherwise. When they search for information related to your area of expertise you want them to find you! An app differentiates you from the vast majority of your competition. Reaching lots of people and standing out from your competition are necessary for effective marketing.
4. Credibility
Having a book used to be the ultimate credibility booster. However, in today's world things change so fast that people rely more on information they get digitally than in print. People assume the latest information is the best and most relevant and if you have an app people assume that your information and services must be leading edge.
5. Cool Factor
Just like the early days of anything (like email, ezines, etc), it's easier to stand out when people are eager to check out something new before it gets old and crowded. Even when apps become ho- hum, all of the above will still apply.
6. More About Convenience
An app allows you to put in one easily accessible place a lot of different elements that are now scattered- your Facebook group or page, your twitter feed, your videos, audio recordings, your articles, even your entire information program are much more easily accessed from your app than expecting folks to navigate all over the web to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, your website, etc. And they can do so from anywhere, not just in front of their computer where they really would prefer not to spend their time (would YOU?).
7. Innovation
I don't value innovation just for innovation's sake, but if it advances our profession and helps us reach and help more people, it's extremely valuable. Since an app is basically a software program, the potential exists for us to create applications that truly make a difference and help our target audience beyond print and websites.
Two examples (one current and one potential)- talky2.com is a cool website that will help couples if they use it, but as an app it is even more effective and can reach and help many more people than the website. The technology is actually pretty simple and the app was put together by a high school kid helping his neighbor who is a psychologist.
Also, do you know about "Siri?" Siri is a built in "personal concierge" in the iPhone 4. You talk to Siri, ask it questions or give it a command and it answers your questions and implements related functions in the iphone. Wouldn't it be cool to have a coaching or therapy app that works like Siri? We typically help our client by asking questions and providing information around a specific goal or problem, which lends itself to existing technology quite nicely. Pretty much anything you can do on paper or on the computer (an exercise, assessment, developing a business plan, etc) can be converted to an app.
8. Evolution
We know that things change and evolve and old technology and practices are replaced with new (remember transistor radios, "Walkman" portable cassette and CD players, the "Phone Book" and the "Yellow Pages?") Mobile devices and apps are clearly widely adopted and desired and are clearly a game changer for information marketers and helping professionals. When you keep up with your target audience, go where they are, and respond to what they want and need, you stay in business. When you expect them to find you and do things your way, you become obsolete and left behind.
CONCLUSION
Smart phones, tablets, and e-readers are the top selling consumer electronic devices, far more than computers, game consoles or TVs. In 2011 alone, 500 million smart phones were sold and 25 BILLION apps were downloaded. Prices of smart phones now compete with regular cell phones, and being wi-fi enabled they don't even need a separate data plan, so web enabled mobile devices are reachable for anyone at almost any income level. E-reader sales have skyrockected (thanks to Kindle, Nook, and other e-readers priced below $100.00) and Amazon.com reports that e-books now outsell hardback books.
This truly is a mobile world right now, and the sooner that you recognize this and find ways to leverage mobile media marketing the more successful you will be. The window is now for being first to market to mobile device users in your niche and will be crowded with your competition soon enough.

Animatics Create and Deliver Inexpensive Visual Marketing Messages

Once little more than a film reel of quick, hand-drawn sketches used to synchronize a movie's numerous scenes with its soundtrack, animatics have recently become a media form unto themselves. In today's world, 'animatic' is frequently used both as the name of an end product - a type of social media video, for example - and the process by which that product is created. Because of their relatively low cost, short production time and almost endless uses - as TV spots, trade show attention-grabbers, teaching aids, branding devices, social media videos and more - animatics have become quite popular with major corporations in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Most of today's animatic productions, 30- to 120- seconds in length, typically use sketched figures - at times nothing more than simple stick figures - with background scenes that are also sketched. Quite often the figures and their surroundings are capable of motion within those sketches - an arm reaching for a product, or a building's doors opening in a welcoming gesture, for example.
Whatever the purpose of the message or the intent of the animation, both are communicated in the professionally prepared script on which the entire production is based. The purpose of that script is to capture the essence of the desired marketing message and to give the final graphic designer a hint of what the content writer has envisioned. It is not intended to limit that final designer's creativity.
An animatic can take a week or less to produce once the script its been approved. As for what an animatic might cost, much will depend on the level of detail and the desired art technique. Using simple stick figures, for example - and they can convey a message quite effectively - will obviously cost less than more lifelike, detailed illustrations.
Why use animatics? Because they're an affordable way of testing new products or packages, new ideas, causes or a new sales approach. They're also effective in promoting new products, services, charities and causes. Once you have a rough script of your message, you're about ready to start production of your animatic. Most major animatic producers can provide everything needed to complete a project...from artwork to music, even including creative input to help increase the effectiveness of your script and its underlying message.
Animatics are not meant to replace whatever current traditional media a company may be using. Its purpose is to complement that media, to reinforce a key message through inexpensive, eye-catching graphics, often displayed on a company's primary website or on a specific landing page.

Benefits of Vertical Fame: 10 Reasons Why You Should Niche Now!

You've all heard it before. Narrow down, focus, Niche! Yet, most coaches resist this like the plague.
Why?
Well, I've heard things from they are afraid to leave people out, to they don't want to get stuck working with one type of person, to they don't want to limit themselves.
The irony is, the more focused you are, the more doors open for you, the more your message is actually heard, and the more visible you become to everyone! Here are the 10 reasons why you should niche right now!
10. Market Place Demands Experts
In today's market place, customers demand experts. People will PAY for experts. If you have a serious, potentially life threatening disease, you don't go to a general practitioner. You go to a specialist - an expert. They will pay more for the greater perceived value.
Claiming your status as an expert in your industry and area of specialty will set you apart from the crowd of competition, will increase your credibility, and establish yourself as an industry leader. Making you gain more visibility and be attractive for speaking opportunities, media coverage, and potential clients who trust you to help them achieve their greatest desires.
9. Fewer Competitors
I was recently asked if I thought there was a glut of coaches and consultants out there. Guess what my answer was. Yes, there is a glut of coaches and consultants. However, people who help specific people achieve specific results using coaching and consulting to do so are in high demand. The narrower your niche, the less people out there who will be helping people achieve exactly what you achieve in the way you do it.
8. Other Professionals Refer
Since there are fewer people out there helping others achieve exactly what you help them achieve, others professionals will know to whom to refer when they encounter someone who meets those needs. Once others professional understand who you work with and what you help people achieve, the refer people outside of their area of expertise to you.
7. Increase Your Visibility
When you narrow your niche & develop a crystal clear message you become VISIBLE. People are looking for very specific answers to very specific challenges. Once you understand they people you really want to work with and the exact issues they are experiencing, you can develop your marketing message and any content you develop to address these issues. Helping your ideal clients cut through the overwhelm of information.
6. Add Value
When you understand who your target audience is, you can address the issues they are looking for help in solving. This is great to do through marketing. You are not only showcasing yourself as the resource to come to but you are also adding huge value to their everyday lives while making them feel heard and understood.
5. The Law of Reciprocity
More targeted your niche, the higher degree of relationship you have with your target market because they feel as though you truly understand them and their needs. It deepens the connection you make with your clients and leads to a higher degree of the Law of Reciprocity. They will be telling their friends what you do and what you helped them achieve.
4. Higher Conversion Ratio
Because you are speaking directly to the greatest needs of your target market, they know you are the person who understand them, understands their issue and has the solution they are looking for. They've found what they have been searching for in you.
3. More Efficient & Focused Marketing
A niche doesn't limit you in who you work with. The beauty of a clearly defined niche is that it focuses your marketing efforts. As solo professionals and small business owners, our time is precious. We often have to wear many hats. Wasting time marketing in areas that doesn't give you the return you're looking for is also wasting money. Clearly defining who your target market is and what they are going through can cut down on a lot of useless and expensive marketing.
2. Know EXACTLY Where to Find Clients
Once you have defined your niche, there's no more Spray and Pray marketing. Defining your niche will help identify where your target market hangs out at, what organizations do they belong to, what websites do they frequent, what information are they searching for online, and who is already working with them that you can partner with.
1. Attract More Clients Faster & Easier
Now that you have a clear message that people can actually hear, and you are visible to people who are looking for specific solutions to specific challenges, and you are seen as the resource and expert to help them, you will attract more clients faster and easier than ever before. Defining your niche is the key to how to find your clients.
Defining your niche is often to key element to successful marketing. So now that you know these strong benefits, what are you waiting for? Get out there and start looking for those people who you really want to work with - Your Ideal Niche.

Defining Promotional Products and Advertising Specialties

Promotional products and advertising specialties are items that are used to endorse a product, service or company agenda and can include executive and business gifts, event giveaways, awards and other imprinted or embroidered items such as custom mugs, pens, Koozies, bottled water, paper items such as letterhead and business cards and over 1,000,000 products with your logo.
PRODUCTS AND USES
Promotional and advertising specialties are used to promote products, brands and corporate identity. Promotional merchandise is used globally to promote events, exhibitions and product launches.
Almost anything can be branded with a company's name or logo and used for promotion. Wearables such as embroidered caps, polo shirts and jackets, screen printed t-shirts are in the largest product category, which makes up more than 30% of the total for promotions and advertising branded product sales.
Other advertising products include small giveaways such as key chains, pens, pencils, Koozies, coolies, coffee mugs, sunglasses and stress relievers. Paper products such as business cards, folders and letterhead are often used for promotional purposes as well.
Brand awareness is the most common use for promotional and advertising specialties. Other uses include lead generation, distributor and dealer marketing programs, new products, safety education, marketing research, employee awards, and non-profit programs.
DISTRIBUTION
Most industry manufacturers sell exclusively through promotional products and advertising specialty distributors only. Distributors interface with manufacturers, suppliers, printers and embroiderers and often help end-users design and create artwork to be used on promotional products. Distributors have the ability to supply thousands of products from many manufacturers across the globe. Distributors help the end-user with product selection and make sure the artwork is submitted in the correct format.
Industry manufacturers prefer to sell through distributors and rarely sell to the end-user. Distributors save the end-user money and time by searching for a qualified printer or manufacturer who can produce and ship quality products efficiently and on time. Distributors are experts in selecting branded products that fit the end-users budget, promotional purpose and time frame.
Most qualified distributors prefer to communicate with the end-user via phone or email. The details required to brand products such as art specifications and ink colors make it difficult for distributors to offer the ability to order and pay for products online. Many distributors will offer an option to request for more information or a quote online, but prefer personal contact with the end-user prior to finalizing their custom order.
OUR PRODUCTS
Houston Promotions offers a top quality index of branded items and advertising products. These include custom mugs, personalized keychains, logo pens, wearables, screen-printed t-shirts and embroidered caps, backpacks, jackets and totes.

Making the Most of Advertising Dollars - Brochure Marketing Tune-Up

In the case of curiosity or boredom, there is always the possibility that your brochure about your line of restaurant cooking equipment will convert the curious or the bored into a sale. There's also a chance that the Man in the Moon will set up a concession stand for green cheese on the planet Mars.
And so the only realistic possibility of making your investment in brochures pay off is to offer a solution to someone's problem.
People walk around all the time thinking about some concern they might have. It could be their health. It could be their investment portfolio. It could be problems they are having with the heating system of their house. It might be organizing their daughter's wedding. Very few people walk around saying, 'Nope. No problems at all. Everything is just fine the way it is. I wouldn't change a thing.'
And so what that means is that there is an inherent demand for your product or service, assuming that your product or service has value. You have the supply and someone else has the demand. It's a matter of matching the buyer to the seller. And so what are the keys to matching up supply and demand? What are the keys to using brochures in order to match up problem and solution?
Let's analyze three approaches to getting to #3 above; getting someone to see in your brochure a solution to their problem.
Strategic Placement: This just means that you need to position your brochures in places where they are most likely to be seen by those who might avail themselves of your service.
Airports: Business travelers arriving in town for a week-long conference may be looking for all kinds of recreational or cultural activities. They may not be looking for lawn care service, but if you offer a service or product that might appeal to someone visiting the area, shops or concourses at the airport may be a perfect place to position your brochures.
Retail Stores: If you can find retail establishments which have some commonality with your business, maybe you can work out a reciprocal arrangement: you put your car wash brochures in the waiting room of the local car dealership, and they put their service bay brochure in your lobby.
Fairs and Exhibits: Special events can be a great way to get your brochure into the hands of those who are unfamiliar with your product.
Direct Targeting: Here, we mean figuring out who your likely customers are and getting your brochure directly into their hands. Using an established and well-culled mailing list is the best approach.

Generate Sales Leads For Yourself First!

People tend to have this misconception that advertising folks get all their money from the people they target (and some would say 'pressure and annoy'). That's not really true because by themselves, people in advertising really don't have much to offer consumers.
And if you're in advertising as well, you'll know this to be true. That's why despite the B2C-targeted style of advertising, it is in fact a B2B industry. It's businesses who need advertising of all sorts but just because you can make something worth advertising, it doesn't mean you're Billy Mays.
It's the same with advertising firms themselves. Just because you know how to attract customers to something doesn't mean those customers are yours. Your money comes from the businesses in need of your talents and resources. Before you start thinking about sales pitches, tag lines, or what sites to put up your banners, you need to find out for whom you'll be doing all of that for.
This isn't to say that B2B businesses don't try that for their own side of the market but that's more often a mistake. You won't generate a substantial amount of interest from your B2B targets that way.
Speaking of which, a lot of people also seem ignorant of the fact that B2B leads represent something drastically different from B2C. Just from the distinction alone, a B2B lead is not one person but an entire business who has expressed interest in having you work for them. It just so happens that the specific individual that you need to target has the capacity to express such interest as well as the authority to take you up on your offer.
However, as stated before, this is exactly methods attributed to advertising won't fly. Decision makers are not so easily swayed. You need to make yourself relevant to their needs and to their preferences. There's also competition to worry about too. You need to discover if there's something your rivals can do but you can do better.
Everything, from equipment and personnel to information and database management, comes with a high price. This same price could rival that of even the campaigns you'd offer your own clients!
If you don't want that, then try outsourcing to groups who are more generally experienced with contacting decision makers. Professional telemarketers are one example as the phone is still often the most direct means of getting their attention because they're usually at their desks half the time. A live phone conversation is also more active and engaging when it comes to gleaning information from the prospect (information that could prove useful in both the qualification phase and also in case you already have a good idea of what to do for them).
Regardless of what you decide, you must always keep in mind that you'll need to attract the interests of other businesses first before you can think of trying attract customers for them. It's just common sense. It would be rather odd for people to plan promotion campaigns when there's nothing to promote. 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch' as the saying goes. Generate leads for yourself first!

Marketing Tips to Increase Sales Using Promotional Products

Given up on other forms of advertising and marketing your brand? Try something that is easy on your budget, yet has a much more lasting effect. Yes, business promotional products are what your business needs, what your branding needs! Here are a few tips to get you started:
Choose Your Audience
Is your target market all across the country or more local? Are they businesses or residents of that locality? Are they middle aged, young, or men, or predominantly women? Do you want to target children in schools or college-going students? The kind of audience you are targeting and their demographics will determine the business promotional items that you choose to promote your brand or company with. Your brand should be customer-relevant. Your brand must add value to their lives and that is when your marketing is most effective.
The How's Of Your Distribution
Will it be an awareness event, a tradeshow, a fundraiser, an opening, an anniversary, to announce a change of address, or just the basic advertising campaign? Cost considerations and the outreach to your target audience will help determine what kind of event you will go for. Corporate giveaways are effective promotional tools primarily because they make an emotional connection with their recipients and users. So choosing the most appropriate event that allows for such marketing, is crucial.
What Kind Of Branding Promotional Items
Quality business promotional products speak of your quality service. They show your clients that their business is appreciated and that you are keen to have their continued patronage. Besides, high quality business promotional items last much longer than regular quality ones, increasing the number of impressions and recall value. Branded promotional items are perfect for such campaigns.
Brand Logo Criteria
Choose your branding promotional items wisely. Your logo should fit appropriately and remain visible on the promotional gift item of choice. Different products offer different kinds of print areas. Some large, some on a plain surface, some on a spherical surface, against a black or white background, or against colored ones-you must take these into consideration and visualize how your logo and message will appear. The logo must be clearly visible and your message short, simple and legible. A carabiner offers a tiny edge of a flat surface where you would only be able to put your company name. However, a promotional bag or t-shirt would make your logo very clearly visible.
Quirky Works!
For those who have always chosen a promotional pen or notebook, pet promotional gifts would seem outright weird, but there is a flip side to such quirky giveaways. A greater percentage of the US population owns at least one pet and people love their pets! Again it boils down to emotionally connecting to the promo and your brand. Your strategy is to make your brand stand out and leave a lasting impression, and sometimes this quirkiness actually works!

Marketing With Newsletters, Displays, and Referral Gifts - Truck Wash Business Case Study

Good business marketing doesn't always have to include massive advertising campaigns and big budget items to bring in the customers by the truckload. In fact, there are simple ways to do marketing for small businesses that every owner ought to consider. For this case study, I'd like to use a road less traveled and harness your thoughts using the example of a truck wash company. Indeed, I'd like to discuss ways to market truck washing services at truck stops using;
Newsletters
Cardboard or Plastic Stands
Simple Gifts to Fuel Counter Employees
First, the newsletter concept; putting together a quick newsletter of various issues which have to do with your state, and the trucking industry, or information about the area which is of value to truck drivers is not a difficult task. It doesn't take very long to put together three or four stories of value into such a newsletter and to leave these newsletters at the truck stop with your advertising inside. Perhaps you might leave a link to your website, bar-code style mobile website link, a phone number, your hours, and a little map of how to get there. Meanwhile you can entertain them and they have extra material to read while they are part of the night at the truck stop. This adds lots of self-life to your advertising.
Next, let's talk about setting up small display stands. Having a nice cardboard or plastic stand with flyers, brochures, business cards, or your newsletter makes a lot of sense also. Most truck stops like to have this material available for their customers, and even if they charge you a small fee, it's pretty much worth it.
Finally, you need to think about how you can generate continue referrals from nearby truck stops, perhaps rewarding clerks for mentioning your truck wash. In fact, you'd be surprised how many times truck drivers will ask the people behind the fuel counter at a truck stop where the nearest truck wash is.
Therefore, you should know all of the clerks at all of the truck stops by name, treat them with respect, and do a little extra something for them such as giving them a small gift certificate, or something that they can use. They will remember you, and most truck stops do not pay their clerks behind the counter much more than minimum wage anyway, so anything you get to them they will very much appreciate. This means they will also refer the divers who ask them where a good truck wash is - your truck wash!
Indeed, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it, and then sit back and come up with your own ideas and concepts to add to your future marketing strategies.

No BS Grassroots Marketing Inconvenient Truth 5 - You MUST Know Your "Money Math" (Profitable)

"Money Math" is NOT simple or easy. But getting it right is essential to winning as a David against Goliaths, to getting more productivity from every invested dollar.
There many important parts to knowing your money math. Most of them are not fun for most small business owners. All of them contribute to greater profits when you know them and know how to leverage them.
Here's one of the most important:
What's a New Customer Worth to You?
It's strange, but many small business people have no idea what a good regular customer is worth to their businesses. By calculating that, you should gain a better idea of what you're willing to invest or risk to attract a good, regular customer.
It also tells you how important it is to keep your existing customers happy.

The cost of retaining a customer and even expanding a customer's value is much less then getting a new customer.

5 Power Questions
To determine what you're willing to invest in marketing, first discover what an average new customer is worth to you. To determine their value, answer the following questions:
1. What is your average sale (transaction amount)?
2. What is the frequency of your average customer? This calculation can be expressed in transactions or visits per week, month, or year depending on the type of operation you run.
3. What percentage of new customers become average regular customers? (We call this the "conversion ratio.") This will undoubtedly vary depending on how that new customer was generated.
For example, someone buying for the first time using an aggressively priced coupon would less likely be a repeat customer than one who bought based on a personal recommendation of a friend.
To be more accurate, you may want to calculate this information based on several different criteria. Then, once you have the numbers for three or four scenarios, take an average.
4. What is the average life cycle of a new customer? That is, once you get a customer, how long will that customer continue to buy from you before he or she moves, gets mad, or no longer has a need for your product or service?
This length of time can generally be expressed in months or years. It may be a more difficult number to get, but do your best.
5. How many new customers are referred to you by your existing customers? When you gather information about a new customer, ask how they found out about you. One possible answer is "referred by a friend."

How to Justify Marketing Campaigns to Your Management: Are You Doing These Three Critical Things?

You know that conducting an upcoming marketing campaign is right for your company. You've talked to some of your best customers and they're interested. You've heard through the grapevine that your toughest competitors are doing something soon. Your sales force has asked if you have anything coming up. And still the boss says, "No."
How do you justify campaigns to management? How do you help them understand that the right campaign, done correctly, can take the company to new levels of success?
1) What Holds Them Back?
When many managers think about marketing campaigns, they remember indiscriminately throwing lots of money at a hodge podge of ads and mailings and seminars and sales contests. You know that those days are gone.
Bad Past Experience
Find out if past experiences are blocking their decision. Ask the following:
• What has been your experience in the past with campaigns?
• What is it about a sales campaign that you think won't work for our company?
• What do you think might have to change for us to be successful now?
• What would you need to know to feel comfortable with us launching this campaign?
Colleague's Bad Experience
While asking questions, you may find that their reluctance is based on the past bad experience of a colleague. You might ask, "What do you think it is that they did or didn't do that kept them from being successful?" Or, "What do you think has changed since then?" Challenge them with, "How do you know that we wouldn't be successful this time?"
Funding
Perhaps what holds them back is a lack of funding. If your company is like many, you have an advertising budget. Perhaps reallocating a portion of the ad budget to a different marketing campaign would be acceptable. To get their acceptance, you need to show your manager that the campaign expenditure will do better than the advertisements. Instead of focusing on the number of leads that the ads bring in, look at the number of sales closed from the leads brought in by the ad. Traditionally, campaigns lead to sales much more rapidly than any other marketing method.
You may be able to show your manager that a request for campaign funding is worthwhile. Do this by creating a proposal outlining the costs and the return on investment based on profitable sales.
No Experience
Perhaps your manager hasn't had any experience in marketing campaigns. Maybe they've come from an industry that didn't rely on campaigns or was formerly in a position where they weren't exposed to campaigns. In this case, you may wish to give a short presentation on the advantages of campaigns in your market. Use your ideas to create a compelling presentation that convinces them that a campaign, done properly, will work.
2) Deliver What Management Wants to See and Hear
Knowing how to sell the idea of the campaign to your manager is a big part of your job. Knowing what words to use and how to make the presentation is important. Here are some ideas that can help:
Show the Big Picture
Most managers want to see the big picture. They need to know how campaigns allow them do what they're hired to do. They don't need to see the specific details of exactly how the program will be executed, at least not in the beginning.
What's a Customer Worth?
Most managers understand that customers are worth a lot of money over the long haul. Savvy companies know that selling to existing customers is five to 10 times more profitable than finding a new customer. Campaigns are a great way to keep existing customers.
Calculate what a customer is worth by multiplying your customers' average sales, with the average number of times they buy from you in a year and the average number of years they buy from you. This resulting figure is the average lifetime value of your customer. Is it worth launching a campaign to find more customers?
How are They Motivated?
When making your campaign proposal, zero in on what motivates your manager. Focus on creating results more quickly and at a reasonable cost.
Listen carefully to how your manager talks about the business. If they want the business to grow, then tell your story about the campaign enabling them to hit their goal more quickly and more efficiently. If they talk about business survival, tell them that the campaign will keep the company alive because you'll keep the old business that your competition may get if you don't stay with the program.
Illustrate Success
Managers need to have a level of certainty that the plan will succeed. If you have friendly competition -- companies that call on your customers, but you don't compete head-to-head -- interview them about their success with similar campaigns. Find out what new business they get and what old business they retain because of their participation. Present these as case studies of sales-campaign success in your industry.
You can also increase your manager's confidence by including an appendix of checklists and budget items that they can review. Include a follow-up action plan that enlists the sales force. Let your manager know that your team is ready to act on the opportunity, guaranteeing success.
Give Them Options
Many managers need to choose from an array of options. Offer them a series of participation options, ranging from a simple program to a complex campaign. Give them price versus payback options.
3) Measure Outcome
Good management never argues with success (if you're arguing that you don't have good management, change jobs). So show your manager your success and you'll create all of the campaigns you wish.
Require that all participating staff submit a single-page report on the campaign. Ask them to write their opinion of the program:
• Was it worthwhile?
• What did you do well?
• What should you do differently next time?
• What are the competitive trends?
• What are the industry trends?
These reports give you a good indication of the success of the campaign.
Track sales from the campaign. Compare the list of customers who buy after the campaign to the list used. It's safe to assume that the campaign either promoted the sale or kept the sale from being stolen by the competition.
Poll participants after the campaign. Ninety days after the program, grab a random stack of leads and give these people a call. Simply ask them, "Did you buy?" If they bought from the competition, you know the list was good, but your product or sales force wasn't doing the job. If they didn't buy, it gives you some indication of the market place. Either way, you'll learn if the campaign attracted buyers or not.
About six months after the campaign, poll your manager about their overall satisfaction with the program. Have campaign expenses, sales figures, media coverage numbers, and after-campaign survey results handy. Make your manager happy with one campaign and you'll do almost any campaign you wish.

Factors to Consider in Retail Packaging Decisions

Packaging decisions are important for several reasons including:
Protection - Packaging is utilized to protect the product from breakage or damage during shipping or handling, and to avoid the spoilage if the product is exposed to air or other contaminants.
Visibility - In a marketplace with tight competition, the retail packaging should not only contain and protect the contents but it should also add to the shelf appeal of a product. Packaging design is employed to capture customers' attention as they are shopping or taking quick look through a catalog or website. This is essential for customers who are not familiar with the product and in situations that your product is put in a shelf with its competitors. It can aid to differentiate your products from those of your competitors. This makes direct price comparisons more difficult for potential buyers, and can amplify your profit margins.
Added Value - Adding perceived value to your products or services is a way of enhancing what you are offering, without necessarily adding to your costs. Packaging design and structure can add value to the shelf impact of the product you are selling. For instance, benefits can be achieved from package structures that make the product convenient to use or consume while stylistic designs can make the product look more attractive to flaunt in the customer's home.
Distributor Acceptance - Packaging decisions must not only be approved by the final customer, they may also have to be agreed by distributors who sell the product for the supplier. For instance, a retailer may not accept packages if they will not conform to the requirements they have for stocking up the products on their shelves.
Added Cost- This can take a significant portion of a product's selling price. The costs involved in developing packaging include: graphic and structural design, production, customer testing, and possible advertising to inform customer of the product's packaging. Wise choices and decisions on how pack up your retail product can help lessen costs and possibly lead to bigger profits.
Timelessness - Deciding on the product's packaging design is a long-term decision therefore you have to make certain that you will come up with a timeless retail packaging design. Timeless means that the design has the quality of not being affected by time so it will still appeal to the consumers regardless of how many months or years have passed. Modifying the product's packaging too often can have a negative effects on your brand since consumers have become accustomed finding your product based on its package and may be confused if the design is changed.
Environmental or Legal Issues - The environmental impact should be taken into consideration when making packaging decisions especially for retail products with packages that are often discharged after the item has been used. Non-biodegradable products could catch the attention of the customers but it could also face environmental or legal issues. Moreover, you have to make sure that your packages do not infringe on intellectual property held by others.

The Critical Mindset Shift Spiritual Business Owners Need to Make to Grow a Prosperous Practice

I lost myself for a while there while I was growing my business. I want to tell you a little about it because it's a place I see many spirit-centered coaches, practitioners and healers stuck in too.
As you have undoubtedly already figured out, there is a plethora of marketing and business-building advice and experts out there to choose from. The problem is that what they have to offer doesn't really address the specific needs, values and goals of the spiritually-oriented practitioner who isn't just out to grow a successful business but who wants to do it in complete integrity and alignment.
I have a strong spiritual core but up until about six months ago, it wasn't showing up strongly in my business. Like many entrepreneurs, I thought that if I wanted a successful 6-figure business, I had to do things the way everyone else was doing them, which effectively meant separating my "real" values from my business values.
It wasn't working for me. I don't mean financially, because as my business and marketing skills increased, so did my income. I liked that very much but something still felt "off" and was making it hard for me to find joy and fulfillment in the growth of my business.
When this discontent got so bad that I was feeling nauseous (literally) every time I sat down at my desk, I decided it was time to do the inner work needed to get to the source of the problem. I realized I was doing "what worked" (according to conventional marketing wisdom), but Spirit didn't have much room to show up.
The lesson here is how easy it is to lose your authentic voice in this process. You're not a cookie, so cookie cutter business strategies aren't going to work for you - just as they weren't for me. Typically, because the traditional marketing paradigm is seen as one of half truths and deception, we spirit-minded people want no part of it. So a lot of practitioners choose not to learn sales and marketing skills. But that's tossing the baby out with the bath water.
Sales and marketing are NOT inherently anti-spiritual. Nor are they separate from your ability to deliver your services. Sales and marketing are simply how you communicate the value of what you do to the people who could benefit most. (Any dishonesty lies in the intention of the marketer, not in the act of marketing.)
This is an absolutely critical mindset shift that needs to happen if you want to grow an authentically prosperous practice that touches many more lives.
Oprah. Pretty successful, right? Is she seen as salesy or underhanded?
Wayne Dyer. Deepak Chopra. Pretty successful, right? Neither is usually considered the epitome of manipulation.
These deeply spiritual people achieved their enormous success because they made peace with the idea of marketing, reclaimed it as something positive and figured out how to communicate with their audience in ways that align with their values. You can too.

Helen Graves, Your Spiritual Business Coach, is a sought-after small business and marketing expert, specializing in mentoring spirit-centered coaches, healers and practitioners to create the inner shifts they need around marketing and money to get big results in their business.