85 Inspiring Ways to Market Your Small Business: Inspiring, Self-help, Sales and Marketing Strategies That You Can Apply to Your Own Business Immediately

257 Pages·2010·1.16 MB·English

by  Jackie Jarvis

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The right of Jackie Jarvis to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

© 2009 Jackie Jarvis

First edition 2007
Second edition 2009
First published in electronic form 2009

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84803 378 8

Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions, Tavistock
Typeset by PDQ Typesetting, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs.

NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no
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Contents
Abouttheauthor ix
Preface xi
Chapter1^ Introduction 1
1. Where you are towhere you want to be 2
2. What do you want? 3
3. Typical small business marketing mistakes 4
4. Creating your marketing plan 5
Chapter2^ Howtogetstarted ^ evaluatingwhereyouarenow 9
5. Defining your business now 10
6. Evaluating how well your current marketing is working 12
7. Assessing the value of your current customer base 15
8. Finding out what existing customers value about your business 18
9. Seeing your business through the customers’ eyes 20
10. Assessing your personal strengths, skills and resources 22
Chapter3^ Gettingclearaboutwhereyouaregoing 24
11. Clarifying your ultimate business vision 25
12. Defining the gaps between present and desired 28
13. Describing who you want to do business with 30
Chapter4^ Understandingyourmarketplaceandyourcompetition 32
14. Researching for answers 33
15. Evaluating your competitors’ propositions 36
16. Learning from others in your marketplace 38
Chapter5^ Understandingyourcustomer 41
17. Finding out about your target customer 42
18. Understanding what people buy 45
Chapter6^ Creatingsolidfoundations 48
19. Deciding on your niche 49
20. Getting clear about what you are selling 52
21. Clarifying your unique selling proposition 54
22. Creating and communicating a brand identity 58
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85 INSPIRINGWAYSTOMARKETYOURSMALLBUSINESS
23. Developing a strap-line slogan for your business 61
24. Believing in yourself 64
Chapter7^ Gettingthepriceright 66
25. Charging what you are worth 67
26. Increasing prices at the right time 70
Chapter8^ Developingyourmarketingmessage 72
27. Creating commitments to your customers 73
28. Developing an elevator speech 76
29. Creating a guarantee 78
Chapter9^ Determiningyourmarketingmethods 81
30. Knowing the three ways to grow a business 82
31. How to test and measure the return you get from marketing 84
32. Choosing the best methods to market your business 87
33. Being creative with your ideas 89
Chapter10^ Marketingmethodsthatboostbusinesswithexisting customers 92
34. Communicating with your existing customers 93
35. Building trusting relationships 96
36. Reviewing customers’ needs 98
37. Encouraging referrals and recommendations 101
38. Publishing case studies 104
39. Selling up and selling more 106
40. Packaging your products 108
41. Creating a newsletter 111
42. Making the most of email marketing 114
43. Using hospitality and special days 117
Chapter11^ Marketingmethodsthatattractnewcustomers 120
44. Building alliance relationships 121
45. Using joint ventures 124
46. Working ‘word of mouth’ 127
47. Educating customers 130
48. Using events and talks to sell your business 133
49. Driving business to your website 136
50. Networking for the right reasons 142
51. Telemarketing for leads 145
52. Getting people to pay attention to your window displays 149
53. Designing adverts that sell 151
54. Writing a good sales letter 155
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CONTENTS
55. Using compelling direct mail 160
56. Developing special offers and incentives 163
Chapter12^ Pro¢lebuildingmarketing 166
57. Getting free PR 167
58. Writing and delivering press releases 171
59. Using banners, posters and signs 175
60. Exhibiting at conferences 178
61. Becoming awell known expert in your field 181
62. Sponsoring for maximum return 183
63. Giving something back to society 186
Chapter13^ Sellingyourservices 188
64. Opening a cold call 189
65. Making appointments 192
66. Building instant rapport 194
67. The art and powerof listening 196
68. Getting to your prospect’s pain – the questions to ask 199
68. Tailoring your sales proposition and positioning the benefits 201
70. Designing awinning proposal 203
71. Following up and following through 206
Chapter14^ Completingyourmarketingplan 208
72. Setting your sales and marketing goals 209
73. Developing a budget 212
74. Planning your strategy 215
75. Writing the marketing plan 218
Chapter15^ Thesimplethingsthatmakeabigdi¡erence 219
76. Making it easy for people to buy from you 220
77. Keeping customers happy 222
78. Dealing positively with complaints 224
79. Motivating your team 227
Chapter16^ Creatingamarketingsystem 229
80. Keeping customer records 230
81. Building an opt-in mailing list 232
82. Creating a communication calendar 235
Chapter17^ Makingithappen 238
83. Fine tuning your plan 239
84. Maintaining awareness and learning from experience 241
85. Staying on track 243
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Dedication
This book is dedicated to my much loved father Roger Jarvis, who sadly died in
April 2008. He gave his complete support, belief and encouragement when I was
writing this book and bought the first 50 from the publishers. Thank you so much,
you will always be the best father and friend that anyone could be lucky enough to
have.
I am also dedicating this book to my wonderful horse ‘She’s Magic’ as riding her
has always inspired my ideas. Thank you for all those fantastic years of show
jumping which will be treasured forever.
Acknowledgements
With grateful thanks to my dear friend Julia Clay for her numerous valuable
suggestions and comments and dedicated help with initial proof reading. A special
thank you to my amazing grandmother Peggy who is 97 years old as I write this
and always asked how I was getting on and gave love and encouragement. Thanks
also to my sister Gillian and my best friend Carla Belshaw for always being there
for me. I really appreciate you all and the help you gave, it really kept me focused
and on track.
Bibliography
Getting Everything You Can Out Of All That You Have Got, Jay Abraham, Piatkus
Books, 2001
Anyone Can Do It – Building the Coffee Republic From Our Kitchen Table, Sahar
and Bobby Hashemi, Capstone Publishing Ltd, 2003
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About the author
Jackie Jarvis is an authentic marketing consultant who regularly applies the
techniques and suggestions made in her book to both herown business and those of
her many small to medium sized business clients. Before setting up Marketingco,
Jackie gained her experience across a range of different industries including the
media, property, training and coaching, printing, catering, retail and IT.
Through Marketingco she now helps SME business owners to get the best possible
results from their sales and marketing activities.
Marketingco’s aim is to help business owners generate more good quality leads
and convert those leads into more customers. Jackie believes that getting the ‘right
message’tothe‘rightmarket’andcommunicatingthatthroughthe‘rightmedia’is
vital. She believes that focused thinking, a clear plan, a proactive attitude and
taking the right action are the keys to success.
Marketingco provides one-to-one and group mentoring, marketing materials
design and copy writing, DIY PR packages and practical sales and marketing
strategy advice and planning. Jackie regularly speaks at networking events and
conferences, and runs a monthly Sales and Marketing Fast Track programme. She
also writes for local and national business publications.
The Sales and Marketing Fast Track is also available as an audio programme.
To register for a monthly injection of up-to-the-minute sales and marketing
information and to keep up to date with our new products and live events, go to
www.marketingco.biz
Jackie also has a special resources and events website called Sales Fasttrack where
she has available a host of templates, copy and ideas to support the information
presented in this book (www.salesfasttrack.co.uk).
Marketing works...if you work at it...Good luck.
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