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Internet Marketing
Is internet marketing something for you? Do you dream about working at home where your kids are, where you feel you should be? Internet marketing can promise this and so much more. But, tread lightly and do your research before jumping into the...
Keys To Internet Marketing: Visibility
The keys to being profitable on the internet is simply visibility. Do you think that Wal-Mart became the business that they are by remaining unseen? What about Microsoft? Dell? I think that you get my point. Visibility takes time, and perseverance,...
Marketing Your Private Practice Using Lunch N' Learn Programs
If you are like most people trying to build a private practice, you are probably stumped in finding an effective way for potential clients to get to know enough about you and the services you provide to call and make an appointment.
Lunch N' Learn...
Pay Per Click Search Engines are the top Internet marketing tools,
Pay per click search engines are not being used just for sales in the now time frame anymore, they are being used by large and small companies alike to build a business identity that their customers will remember. When you pay for placement on a...
What Are You Afraid Of: Marketing Survey Results About Business Owners Going Cyber
After two weeks of surveying my visitors, I am finally making an attempt to draw some conclusions. Reading my visitors replies to the survey questions, I sense one common concern in one way or another: lack of money and lack of profits. One...
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OCTOPUS MARKETING - Create a Community of Opportunity
Yesterday as I sat down to get a haircut, I noticed that for the first time that I was the only customer in the shop. My barber anxiously asked, "Are the stores empty where you work?" He told me that 40% of his business has eroded; half of his customers had moved away and the others had been laid off.
Reality has hit his small business. Business is off in most sectors. People are staying home, seeking comfort and familiarity. I hear the same cry everywhere I go—"We need more customers!"
Small businesses don't have the advertising budgets of large companies to lure customers back with special deals. And the government's messages to "go spend more" have the right intent, but do not direct customers to the doorsteps. How can small businesses reach these customers?
STRETCH YOUR TENTACLES!
With some imagination, will power and a technique I call "Octopus Marketing," small business owners can create new opportunities to increase sales.
Octopus Marketing is the ability to make one marketing effort produce multiple effects, increasing returns without increasing effort. By tapping an Octopus on the head, its tentacles stretch out and reach in different directions. Business owners can do the same thing. By leveraging their own value and partnering with other businesses or organizations, a single marketing event can pay off again and again.
The head of the octopus is any organization or group of business owners that partners together to reach more customers. Each member of the organization or business is one of the tentacles. It works like this:
First break the rules. View other small businesses as partners, not competition. In these uncertain times, small business owners need to band together and develop a unique marketing program that will pull customers to the neighborhood, into stores or onto web pages.
Observe how other merchants, whether they are florists, produce stands, café owners or optometrists, offer services and goods that benefit and support the community. All of these products and services bring comfort and familiarity—which is exactly what customers are asking for right now!
For example: My barber can join the local bakery, video store, pizza parlor, coffee shop and florist to develop a "Neighborhood Comfort Catalog." The catalog simply
lists each store and the benefits they provide (plus discounts on products and services!). Each partner places the catalog in their respective stores and uses it to refer business to each other.
Octopus Marketing starts with an effective message. Businesses must define how they uniquely contribute to the community and translate that into an effective story. By developing a message based on their passion, businesses reveal the benefit they offer to themselves and their customers.
After identifying their own unique benefits, a business owner can then partner with others and define the main benefit that the Octopus Network offers to the community. This benefit is what will move customers to action.
With the message identified they can then discover unique ways to market each other's businesses or conduct joint promotions. It can be as simple as asking customers if they have tried the fresh pizza next door or passing out coupons that offer discounts on their goods and services. The result is that reach of their tentacles grows.
To stretch the tentacles of the Octopus even further, businesses can partner with larger organizations to get the word out. Combine the community octopus with a neighborhood church, temple or community organization. These organizations reach a lot of potential customers.
Businesses should continue to tap the Octopus to keep the network thriving. They can approach the local neighborhood paper to publish the comfort catalog in a special community page. Or find out if the local gym or YMCA will distribute it to their members. What about the Chamber of Commerce, isn't it there to help?
By uniting together, small businesses can strengthen community, deliver what customers need plus help create opportunity for the nation's collective future. One small business at a time, we will build a compassionate nation that spends money on good stuff.
About the Author
Romanus Wolter is known as "The Kick Start Guy." He provides action steps that close the gap between goals and success. Romanus' new book 'Kick Start Your Dream Business' provides the inspiration and information people need to start and grow their dream businesses. Romanus is a nationally recognized public speaker and consultant. You can reach him at Romanus@briia.com, www.briia.com, 415-255-2496.
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Direct Marketing Association: Telephone, Mail & Internet Marketing |
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