29 Ideas for Easily Building Your Business

1. To find the segments for marketing you particularly want to attract. Define their demographics (industry, number of employees, sales level, number of years in business, etc.). Then, to the best of your ability, describe psycho graphically how they think, their concerns and beliefs, their motivations. This will target your efforts and make your promotions considerably more efficient.

2. Differentiate yourself from your competition. No two businesses in the same industry are alike. You have to identify the differences between yourself and others in the same line of business. If you can't think of a difference, you have to create one. And make the difference known and make it seem very important. It's particularly important if you know that difference is on any benefit or feature that customers really care about.

3. Analyze your competition. Write down who they are, what services they offer, how they promote, what are their advantages, what they charge, how they are perceived, how they treat their customers/clients, their location, and their other business operation characteristics. Compare yourself to each. Identify your weaknesses and your strengths. Make the improvements which give you the greatest mileage. Do without those that are impressive, but have little effect on customer or clients flow.

4. Identify three variables which give you an edge over your competition. Promote these three advantages. You want to use three because prospects may not like two of the three, but will most likely like the third.

5. Take a hard look at the services you offer. Are they broad enough? Offer additional services or products where possible for your customers' or clients' convenience and to generate additional revenues.

6. Re-examine your pricing. Is it compatible with your overall marketing plan? With your competition in mind, is a realistic for your customers or clients?

7. Raise your prices. Then promote the services aspect of your business to a higher profit group. Add new services or "perceived value" to your existing services to justify your price increase.

8. Lower your price on a single service or item to generate customer or client flow. And promote your new pricing. You may even lose money initially on your "loss leader" but will make it back when your new clientele purchase additional services or products at your normal prices.

Your Most Important Concern: Location

9. Re-examine your location. For certain types of business to the public, nothing is more important than location. If you can't generate enough business in your existing location, consider a move to a facility with proven walk-by traffic. If you can't move, increase your promotional efforts.

10. If you have a recall system, enhance it for increased response. Use multiple mailings to those who do not respond. Test phone calls from your staff. Offer strong reasons and/or promotional incentives for hard-to-get recalls. Mail or phone repeatedly until it costs more to do so than the revenue received. And always: rethink your system and test new concepts.

11. Offer incentives to your staff (if you have one). To increase their productivity and your income, test this tried and proven technique: recommend incentives such as special vacations, bonuses, prizes, etc. Tie this compensation directly to an increase in measurable productivity, such as the number of referrals they generate. And give your staff a reason to be as enthused about work as you are.

Educating Your Public Can Build Your Business

12. Publish your own newsletter or ezine. Include articles of interest to your market, plus information on your business, which differentiates you from your competitors.

Some ways to use a newsletter:

13. Enclose with your customer or client reminders.

14. Use it as a recall device. Print your recall message on the newsletter itself.

15. Use it as the "statement stuffer".

16. Mail it one or two months prior to sending recall notices.

17. Send it to all your customers or clients at least three times per year.

18. Mail your newsletter on a rotating basis to different areas of your geographic markets to stimulate new business.

19. Mail it to targeted audiences in your market in order to advertise for new customers or clients.

20. Mail out when things are slow.

21. Put a newsletter column in your local magazine newspaper, or shopper. Avoid paying for the privilege since the payback will be slow. Instead, provide the column as a public service to gain exposure. New publications in your target market are the best to approach.

Your Speaking Engagements Generate Exposure

22. Offer to speak at local schools or community colleges, four-year colleges or graduate schools.

23. Speak to senior citizen groups. Growing power and numbers make them an attractive market, especially for health professionals, travel agents or financial planners.

24. Speak to, business, nonprofit, professional, government, union and/or religious groups. Approach them with the offer that answers the question, "What can you do for me."?

25. Send press releases to local and major media. Do it often. Generate releases on any and all newsworthy items: additions to staff, new equipment, new techniques and discoveries, open house, partnerships. Or on what is already known within the industry. By giving the new information a new twist or application, you create news for the media.

26. Train your staff to look for opportunities to provide additional services to your customers or clients. Don't over-recommend services, of course, but use your staff to assure your customers or clients that they are receiving all that they should. Reward your staff for their suggestions, but be sure these comments are made to you, not to the customers or clients.

27. Create a new, improved image for your business. Make sure everything reflects that image: promotion, office decor, staff, yourself. Designed to change with the following things in mind: quality, cost of service and how modern your business is. Gear the image to what your primary group of customers or clients expects.

28. Provide more service and quality than you promise

29. Instead of promoting a single service in your business, promote a combination of services as a package (for example PC cleaning with PC virus checkup; web site review plus evaluation of promotional materials, etc.)