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1) Customer Base - Under the assumption that you are an existing business and have repeat business from the same customers:

A) you want to ensure that they stay loyal in each opportunity to buy from somebody;

B) you want to offer them additional products/services.

“A” is best done with mailings, e-mailings and telemarketing (or all) to this prized, expensively acquired select market. You need to show your continued “added value” over the competitors as well as your “special treatment” of the customer base. When somebody buys a business and pays extra for “goodwill”, that is supposedly represented by loyalty due to that special treatment of customers. Make sure that you inform them that the same condition still exists. Telemarketing follow-up, if practical, to your customer base is a way to ensure loyalty and to sell “after-market” products/services.

Still, face-to-face remains the best method to sell anything! It’s cheaper and more effective than letters or phone calls. If your business puts you at their place, develop additional products/services to offer. It’s about 1/5 the cost of getting new customers. This is the most important single effort that your company will make! It’s called “locking the back door” before the cows get out! This also means that any additional increase in sales is just that, an increase, not replacing lost market share. If the customers come to your place, point-of-purchase displays or flyers for the taking are an inexpensive way to promote additional products/services. Again, if you are paying extra for retail space, maximize the income potential. Have you ever bought something on impulse, off a rack, while standing in line? Some of the most productive retail space is set aside for impulse buying, especially for a captive audience (those waiting to check out). I worked in a department store in my youth. I’d likely be restocking a table when the loudspeaker would announce, “attention, ladies - there is a 1/2 off sale in linens.” I would have to dive out of the way to avoid the stampede.

2. Yellow Pages - For almost any business, I can give a rational argument for anything from no ad to 1/3 of a page ad. I know of service companies that are not in the yellow pages at all that grow at a rate of 20% per year. These companies mail and phone exclusively, and include good offerings face-to-face. Also, a full-page ad is very expensive. As long as you can get noticed, it’s the message, and not the size. Make your yellow page ad an ad, not a “me-too” announcement. Every piece of information that is displayed to the public must be your best ad, be it a business card, truck, flyer or incoming phone call. If you want to think that you need yellow page exposure, make it your best shot using your best ‘Value added” message. I know also of service companies that are for sale and not likely to be purchased because of $18,000 per month yellow page expenses. For $18,000 a month, I can do a lot of direct, controlled marketing that can be changed, cancelled or increased at a moment’s notice. There are also competitive service companies that you couldn’t buy that are not in the yellow pages. If you use yellow pages, make it roar to the point that the only rational response is, “I’d be nuts not to call this company.”

3. Location - If you offer retail products and you are in a decent traffic location, you are paying extra for that high traffic. Look at it as marketing costs. So, make the most of your opportunities to be noticed by a lot of people. Use “headline grabber” type statements on signs to attract them into your den or to your web site. The message, “SALE”, only has impact if they are predisposed to buy your product. Don’t wait for them to accidentally stumble into your store. Put your most exotic, mysterious and irresistibly provocative benefits and products in the window. The front of the store’s main role in life is to get them into the store. Contractors pay as much as $85 for a new customer. Look at it as the carnival barker - you must inspire them to enter.

Daniel Wadleigh is a nationally published marketing consultant and has programs for start-up and existing businesses including effective web sites, e-mail/database, other non-internet ways to drive them to your website, and low cost ways to get more new customers.

Go to: http://www.more-new-customers.com to get free copy of “Marketing to Men vs. Women- the 8 different responses” and a Free copy of “Market Research- 7 Questions to Ask to Start-up and 7 to Ask to Improve Any Business.”

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Besides the ever-loathsome (to me) “image enhancing” ads, there are two other kinds of ads, both of which bring direct response. When you are dangling a stimulus to which you want a response, it must be noted that if you aren’t able to inspire them, affordably, from a radio, e-mail, newspaper or whatever ad, then the goal is to get them to seek more information, be it by enticing them to walk into your place of business or simply call for more information.

If the product/service is a commodity (a “known” value), you may be able to inspire action with your irresistible offer of superior value and risk-free status. But, if it’s not a commodity, test a small provocative ad that will get enough people to inquire for more details. In this case, to say merely “keep it simple” will not be strong enough to prevent a number of you from wasting advertising dollars and time. You need only to talk benefits, not the details of “how” you are going to deliver these benefits.

If you give them too much information, they will make a decision based on that particular presentation.

If it takes a lot of words to properly tell the story, giving them enough information to make the right decision, and you can’t or won’t spend that much money, the problem is they want to know what you are trying to sell them.

The perfect response for an inquiry ad is, “I’d be nuts not to try to get that information flyer.”

Daniel Wadleigh is a nationally published marketing consultant and has programs for start-up and existing businesses including effective web sites, e-mail/database, other non-internet ways to drive them to your website, and low cost ways to get more new customers.

Go to: http://www.more-new-customers.com to get free copy of “Marketing to Men vs. Women- the 8 different responses” and a Free copy of “Market Research- 7 Questions to Ask to Start-up and 7 to Ask to Improve Any Business.”

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Most small businesses have limited marketing communication, aka advertising, budgets making it even more crucial to research thoroughly; select the best medium(s) and target prospects carefully.

The following list contains seven suggestions for achieving “champagne” results on a “beer” budget!

1. Develop one or several, robust customer referral programs

Although most business owners acknowledge that customer referrals generate a great deal of their new business, very few have implemented a “formal” referral incentive program, even though this is one of the most effective, least risky way to acquire valuable customers particularly if you’re a service professional!

Example: Offer current customers who refer a friend a free month/hour of service; instant “bottom of the bill” credit; or free merchandise AND a “spiff” for the “referee”! The details are up to you I go into much greater detail of types of referral programs in my book, “Marketing, The Art and Science of Getting and Keeping Profitable Customers” if you’d like to learn more.

2. Dance with the Guy Who Brought You

There is absolutely no reason to ditch old marketing collateral (marketing lingo for brochures; direct mail letters; signs; point-of-sale displays; ad copy; promotions, etc.) if they still work! It’s okay to use the very same creative, send it to the very same prospects and/or run it in the very same publications over and over again, as long as it generates the desired results. However, it’s always a great idea to continually conduct small, statically valid tests of new looks, offers and messages.

3. Don’t overdo the quality and quantity of your advertising pieces or media mix

Smart marketers know when to “put on the dog” and when it’s a waste of money. Falling in love with fancy four-colored brochures; glitzy magazine ads; primetime TV spots; or silver-embossed letterhead is a huge mistake.

The sales vehicles, look and feel, and quality of all of your marketing communications must be appropriate for your product or service and most importantly, have a measurable impact on its effectiveness.

For example, variables like paper quality and graphics on a direct mail letter are far less important than the offer, so you could potentially save thousands of dollars by cutting back on the frills. The opposite is true when you’re developing a professional brochure meant to represent your company to the outside world.

Bottom line: Don’t do fancy for fancy’s sake it’s a waste of money; unproductive and may even be totally inappropriate for your target audience.

4. Use studies, reports and articles to assist in educating potential customers about your products or services

This is a wonderful, low-cost way to add clout! Can you imagine including a New York Times article on obesity with your nutritional services direct mail piece? What an impact! Or perhaps the same nutritionist would enclose a reprint of a medical report that linked certain childhood diseases with poor eating habits?

5.Use Boiler-Plated Literature Templates

What a simple, but powerful, tip! A very perplexing, and often expensive problem is how to develop market-appropriate material for diverse audiences without going broke.

The solution is simple. For instance, you can develop various sales letters using a “boiler plated” template; identical layout and content that are suitable for any audience. However, several predetermined sections are left blank for personalization. This is often called “modular literature”

6. Don’t change your own car oil

How do you think I know this? You’ve probably had similar experiences You know the ones trying to save a few bucks by doing it yourself? So off you go drive to the store; wait in line; ask questions; look at the merchandise; select the oil, pan, funnel; wait in line to check-out; pay the cashier $24.97; drive back home; try to jack up the car so you can get underneath it to put the pan in place; undo the screw; get some oil in the pan; get most of the oil on you; get the funnel and fill it with the new oil; close everything down; throw your oil-laden shirt in the trash; and take a shower.

Cost? $24.97 in stuff; $1.32 in gas; $25.00 ruined shirt; 3.25 hours of your time; $1,000,000 in frustration All this, when you could have had it done for you for $32.00!!

Lesson learned: Know what’s best left in the hands of professionals. Low cost is not always best cost!

However, there are times when doing it yourself is smart! If you’ve got better than average computer skills or design talents it’s easy to create things like business cards, letterhead and bill stuffers but please, unless you’re an ad buyer by trade, do not try to buy, book or design ANY media (especially TV and radio) by yourself! Trust me, you’ll waste more money than you’ll save!

7. Pay suppliers on time

Not only will you endear yourself to vendors, but you can take advantage of your suppliers’ standard early pay discounts or create your own! This also saves money on late fees and will surely make vendors more likely to extend even better prices and offer you ongoing top notch service.

Mary Eule specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses get and keep profitable customers. Formerly a Fortune 500 marketing executive; founder of two successful small businesses and award-winning speaker, Ms. Eule is President of Strategic Marketing Advisors, LLC. and co-author of a new book, “Marketing: What it Really Means and How to Make it Work for Your Business”. She holds a master degree in marketing from Johns Hopkins University. Log onto http://www.StrategicMarketingAdvisors.com for free articles, newsletter and helpful tools, tips and templates .

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