Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
The following marketing tips may be a bit unusual, but that is exactly why they are likely to work for your business. Go through the list and select one to implement over the next four weeks.
Increase your marketing budget
On average, small businesses spend three to five percent of gross receipts annually on marketing, according to marketing guru, John Hayes. Next time you determine the value of a contract, add a percentage for your marketing budget. When the customer pays you, you can take that percentage for marketing and put it aside. You may think you can't afford marketing, but without realising it, you are in danger of losing market share to your competitors.
Regularly update your website
You don't have to update your website on a daily basis, but try to refresh the content on your site at least once a month to make your business appear current. This shows your customers that you are on top of things and makes it interesting for them to visit your site again.
Nominate your website
Nominate your website for web awards and if you win (or even if you are 'runner-up'), post the news on your website. This will not only promote your website, but it is also likely you'll gain an external link from the site that awarded you. You can kill two birds with one stone: increase web traffic to your site and gain recognition for your excellent website.
Get your customers to grade you
In a way, your customers are already grading you and telling other people about it, so why not make it official and get them to fill out a report card? According to John Hayes, this helps build customer satisfaction and you can use it to market your business. If your customers give you straight A's, you should tell everyone about it. By sending customers a survey in the form of a report card you will grab their attention and they'll be happy to tell you what they think of you.
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