A Dozen Miscellaneous, Marketing No Brainers - Part I

When you’re busy running a business, it’s easy to overlook low hanging fruit. We don’t do some of the simple things that would make our lives easier, companies better, and marketing more effective. Here are 12 miscellaneous no-brainers.


1. Create a Facebook Fan Page

Facebook has passed Yahoo for traffic and is closing in on Google. It keeps users engaged more than three times as long as Google and Yahoo. You can create a fan page for your business for FREE. Why don’t you? Put coupons on the page every week. Recruit your customers, family, friends, and employees as fans. Encourage them to recruit their friends.


2. Collect Customer Emails & Market to Them

Everyone may be overloaded with email, but we still use it and still read it. If you can collect your customers’ email addresses, you dramatically reduce the cost of communicating with them. Unfortunately, some people will give you their social security number before their email address. You must give people a good reason.

Based on a member suggestion, the Service Roundtable created a great script and employee bio form for collecting email addresses. The call taker informs the customer she wants to send the customer a bio and a picture of the technician who will be coming to her house and asks for an email address. People usually provide the email address. The bio offers the added benefit of providing potential points of commonality with the technician (e.g., the homeowner who volunteers for the humane society will instantly connect with the technician who works with an animal rescue organization).

Other contractors simply ask for an email address so the call taker can send the customer a coupon she can use on the current call. In essence, the company is buying the email address with a discount.

Sometimes all you need is a good newsletter and people will give you their email address without much prompting. It works. The Service Roundtable is a seven figure company that largely evolved from the Comanche Marketing email list.


3. Complete Your Local Search Profile

Local search is becoming more prominent with Google and the other search engines (e.g., local.google.com). Claim your business name and location (it will be verified), fill out the complete information, and encourage customer reviews. It will give you better billing in the “ten pack” of local search results. Again, the cost is FREE.


4. Create a List of Your Prestigious Reference Jobs, Including Pictures

When we purchased our pool, the company we initially selected had done work for several local professional football players. It made the pool contractor seem like a safer choice. Work you’ve done for well known people in your community or on well-known buildings will make your company seem like a safe choice for equipment installations, remodels, and project work. When consumers are spending thousands of dollars, being the safe choice may make the difference between winning and losing a job.

Write up a list of your prestigious work. Include pictures as evidence. Make this a part of your sales presentation.


5. Make Everyone a Winner For Contests and Drawings

When you hold a contest or drawing to give something away at a home show or otherwise, give everyone “honorable mention,” which is a gift certificate with your company. A gift certificate is little more than a coupon that people keep.


6. Include a Call to Action

Any advertising or marketing you do should inform the prospect of the actions you want him to take. In other words, advertising and marketing should always include a call to action. Give the prospect specific instructions…

Visit our website…
Call now…
Ask for…

NEXT WEEK: Part II