Small Business Marketing Help - Free Marketing Ebook by Shaun Maddox

MARKETING Out The Box

Creative Marketing Ideas To Boost Your Business Profits By: Shaun Maddox

This FREE Report Is Sponsored By: Marketing Out The Box For More Information On Our Sponsor Visit www.MarketingOutTheBox.com

Disclaimer: The creator of this report did so using their best efforts and all the information at their disposal. The author gives no guarantees as to the outcome of following the information contained within. The information provided is as an information & educational guide only. Any action taken based upon the information given is done so at the reader’s own risk. There are no warranties either expressed or implied as to the effectiveness or otherwise of the information disclosed and the author shall in no event be held liable for any damages or other loss resulting from following all or any of the information contained within. Affiliate Disclaimer: Some of the links in this report are affiliate links - that means that if you buy a product or service after clicking on one of my links, I get a small commission for making the recommendation. Keep in mind, this is how I am able to provide this valuable report to you absolutely free of charge. Introduction: According to SCORE ®, small businesses in the United States employ more than half of the country’s private sector workforce. What this means is that small businesses have a huge impact on our economy. It’s no secret that it takes customers for any business to thrive in our competitive world. Because of the competitive environment that we live in, business owners are finding themselves in a position where they need to find new and creative ways of reaching out to potential customers and getting more sales in the door, without breaking the bank. The information in this report is designed to help your small business get more customers, maximize your current customers, and grow your business without having to spend a fortune on advertising and marketing. All Rights Reserved © 2010

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1. Take advantage of the free online advertising that can be done by placing online classifies ads. It is super simple to place the ads and best of all they are absolutely free. The two most popular online classified ad sites are: www.craigslist.org and www.kijiji.com 2. Why not contact the local military base in your area and offer military discounts to soldiers in need of your products or services. I couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of a better way to show your appreciation for our dedicated men and women who serve our country can you?

3. Batman and Robin as well as the Lone Ranger and Tonto are great examples of the benefits of partnering with the right people. You can partner with other local business that offer complimentary services and form partnerships that will benefit all parties. If another type of business has similar customers as you then you can approach that business to suggest some form of partnership which will allow your business to be exposed to their customers and their business to be exposed to your customers. Everybody Wins!

SYNERGY: The working together of two or more things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.

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4. If other partnering businesses have a website, you can offer a link exchange where you add a link to their website at your website and they do the same on their website. This is another way to expose your business and its services to a greater number of people. Just make sure that the business you partner with caters to the type of market you are looking to attract. In other words, if your business caters to senior citizens then it might not be a great idea to try and partner with a business that caters to teens. 5. Maximize the sign outside of your store. First of all I hope you have a store sign and if not then what are you waiting for? Take a drive down any street with other local businesses, and you will find that almost all of them have a typical sign which displays the company’s name but not much else. As people are driving by all they can see is a sea of signs with none of them motivating the typical consumer to pull into their business to check out their products or services. Create some type of “WOW” effect or promotion that you can add to your sign that will help you stand out from the hundreds of other signs out there. Just remember to be creative. Below is an example of a creative sign a church used to get people to take notice of their church.

6. The majority of people who will be searching for your particular product or service will be initiating their search for information online. Unfortunately most consumers aren’t using the Yellow Pages as they once did a long time ago. Many of them use Google as their choice of search engines to accomplish this. The only question is whether they are going to find you there or your competition. In order to see how well your website ranks all you need to do is go to Google search and type in Your Area + Your Industry.

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For example, if you were a plumber in Las Vegas then you would simply type in the search box: Las Vegas Plumber. Can your business be found on the first page of Google? I certainly hope so because most people never continue their search online past page one of Google. So how exactly do you get your business on the first page of Google anyway? Well the good news is that any business can do it; the bad news is that it can sometimes be time consuming and may require a certain amount of knowledge on how the search engines work in order to rank your website high in the online search engines. Keep in mind that if your potential customers are not finding you online then you can count on the fact that they are most certainly finding your competitors.

7. Around Christmas time people are always frantically trying to find gifts for the people they care about. Most people these days are so busy that the thought of having to spend time locating a gift can be pretty depressing. Why donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t you make this task easy for your current customers by offering them gift certificates for your business that they can buy from you and give away. It solves their problem of finding something quick and easy to give to someone and it helps you generate more sales. You can also be creative and offer a special which allows them to get more value for what they are spending. For example, tell them if they purchase at least $50 worth of gift certificates then you will add an additional $5.00 to the gift certificate. 8. Create a coupon flyer with some of the related businesses that you partner with. Each business will get an equal space on the flyer for their coupon. All the businesses must agree to share the printing costs (which should be very inexpensive with multiple businesses participating). All of the participating businesses must agree to keep an equal amount of flyers displayed on their counter in plain view for customers to take. 9. This technique piggybacks off of the previous one. If you are going to mail postcards to potential customers within an area.....why not save some money and place one or two partnering businesses on the same postcard.

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10. No matter what marketing technique brings a person into your place of business, you should always make sure that you capture that personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name, address, email, and phone number so that you can continue communicating with them in the future once they leave. Although they may not have a need for your product or service at that exact moment, it sure would be nice to be in constant contact with them when the need does arise. 11. Everyone on the planet has a birthday and loves being remembered on their special day. You can create a postcard that you mail out to residents in your area offering them an opportunity to bring the postcard into your store in the same week or month as their birthday and redeem it for a special (inexpensive) surprise gift. People will wonder what the gift will be and the goal is to get them to hold onto the card until their birthday. By keeping the card until their birthday, your business always stays in their mind. Who knows...maybe in between the time they receive the card and redeem it, they might need your services or know someone who does. You definitely want to also remember the birthdays of your current customers as well.

12. Speaking of sending out postcards; why not send out postcards inviting everyone in the area (and out of the area) to come down for hot dogs and sodas on a particular day. The goal is to build awareness of who you are, where you are, and what you do. This can be done by getting people to your location. Make it fun and exciting. Have a clown and other activities for the children. 13. Let current customers know that your business can offer them a lot more than just the products and services that you offer. Offer an email newsletter (just about free to email) with useful tips and coupons for other services and products for businesses you are partnering with. Provide them with useful information that will help them make their everyday lives better. There are some really great email services out there to help you accomplish this.

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14. The greatest marketing technique I know of is to know which techniques are working and which ones are not working. Every person that calls or comes into a location (after you thank them for choosing you) should be asked how they heard about you. You need to track that information and use it to determine what techniques to drop and which ones to pursue more aggressively. Implementing a marketing technique and then not tracking it is kind of like shooting basket balls in the dark, you will never know when you have scored a point. So remember, you must always be tracking the results of where you are spending your advertising dollars and time. Most businesses that advertise in multiple places have no clue which of them are working and which of them are not working. One way to track some of your results is through the use of call tracking. By implementing a good call tracking system into your marketing you will be able to determine which marketing efforts are a waste of your time and effort and which ones are worth keeping.

15. When people move they often find themselves in need of specific products or services that can be found in their new neighborhood. Why not partner with the US post office? You can place your coupon or flyer in the “Change of Address” kit that the post office distributes to people who are looking to move and fill out a change of address form. 16. You can partner with local businesses to create a “new apartment dweller” welcome kit. The kit would contain various coupons for the new renter from local businesses in the area. The businesses benefit because more people become exposed to their products and services, and the apartment complex benefits because they are offering their renters a great service.

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17. Testimonials are a great way to get new business. What we say about our business is good, but what an actual customer has to say about our services can go much further in the minds of prospective customers. You should actively pursue positive testimonials from your satisfied customers and then put those testimonials on your flyers, in your store, and on your website.

18. Take advantage of one or more of the many online coupon websites that are popping up all over the internet. As we have mentioned before in this free report, EVERYBODY loves to save money whether it’s for an item that costs a little or an item that costs a lot. Many consumers are turning to the internet these days to find great deals on products and services in addition to the traditional coupons found in the newspaper. You can also place your coupon in VALPAK which gets mailed to residents all over.

19. Sponsor a local cable access television show. While you won’t get the audience you would normally get sponsoring a nationally syndicated television show, you won’t be paying the big bucks necessary for doing so either. Believe it or not, many local cable access shows do in fact get a decent amount of viewers and might just prove to be a great opportunity for you to reach some of those potential customers without having to spend a fortune on advertising. Simply contact the producer or host of a show that you feel your target market might watch and arrange with them to discuss how you could possibly become a sponsor of their show.

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20. Even though we live in a digital age with tons of digital devices for reading our favorite books, there are still plenty of folks out there who still enjoy picking up a good paperback or hardcover book and reading it. One quick and inexpensive technique for getting your business in front of some potential customers is to print up some bookmarks and leave them at your local library. Now each time someone picks up their favorite book to read they can’t help but think about your business. 21. Check up on your competition regularly and see what they have been up to lately. What new products or services are they offering to their customers? Do they have any specials or promotions going on that could be causing you to miss out on gaining new customers? Be sure to sign up for any special offers they might have or their newsletter if they offer one. Doing these will help you stay one step ahead of the competition and ensure your business doesn’t get left behind. 22. One of the best marketing strategies for improving store profits is to keep the current customers you already have. I know that the main purpose of this report is to show you how to get new customers but you should also never lose sight of how important it is to hold onto the ones you currently have. Research has shown that it typically costs about six times as much to obtain a new customer as it does to keep one. I have a very good friend who had a problem with a cell phone provider he was using, and when he called customer service to try and rectify the issue the company wouldn’t do anything to make the problem right. So what did my friend ultimately do? He switched cell phone providers. A few months later after switching, his old provider ended up sending him a postcard saying they wanted him back and offering him $50 off of his first bill. Needless to say, my friend decided to decline their offer and stick with the new company. If this company would have only done what they needed to do when they had my friend then they would still be enjoying the revenue from my friend instead of throwing away good money just to get back somebody they already had. I guess there is still some truth in the saying: “You never miss your water until the well runs dry” 23. There are numerous stores in the area that get a tremendous amount of foot traffic. (Walmart, Home Depot, and Sam’s Club, and supermarkets to name a few) The good news for you is that many of them have community bulletin boards where they allow people to post flyers and business cards for free. This would be a great way for you to get some free exposure. You can also place your business cards in any other businesses around town that allow you to do this.

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24. If your business is located in a plaza or mall then you can simply distribute your flyers, coupons, or business cards in the area where your business is located. For example, if your store is located within a strip plaza then you can simply have one of your workers post flyers on all of the cars in the plaza. You can do this every few hours since there is a pretty good chance that the same cars will not still be there after several hours have passed. When placing the flyers on the cars be sure to put them on the driver’s side under the windshield wiper. The reason for this is that when the person returns to their car, you want them to see the flyer immediately before they leave the plaza. If you are located in a mall then have the worker walk through the mall and hand out the flyers to the other mall patrons if this is allowed by the mall. I strongly recommend that you figure out a way to motivate the person reading your flyer to want to visit your store immediately while they are already in the area. This can be done by printing a coupon for a free sample on the flyer which expires that same day. You can also print an entry form on the flyer for a prize drawing that they must bring into the store. To avoid the costs of reprinting new flyers with new expiration dates, simply print “Offer Expires Today” The ultimate goal is to take advantage of customer traffic already present near your location and to get them into your business establishment while they are already out and in a shopping frame of mind. 25. You can print up promotional items such as mugs, pens, calendars, and magnets to distribute to people. Items that they will keep around that will keep your business name in the back of their mind are a great tool. Examples of such items are mugs, pens, key chains, magnets, and T-shirts to name a few. Another great promotional item that businesses are starting to use more are the novelty One Million Dollar Bills. Why not check out the Million Dollar Bill for yourself right now.

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26. Take advantage of the customer list of a competing business which may be going out of business. When a business fails to attract more customers into their store then the result is less profits. If this continues long enough, chances are pretty good that business will ultimately go out of business. Typically when you see a sign stating a business is having a “going out of business” sale, they are typically trying to get rid of their remaining inventory and usually at a fraction of what someone would normally pay for them. Why not approach the owner of that business to see if they would be willing to earn a few extra bucks by selling you their customer list. If it is a competing business with the same target customer you are looking for then it is a bonus for you. Those customers are going to be looking for someone else to fulfill their orders so it might as well be you.

27. Transform your waiting area into a testimonial area. Most waiting rooms that I have visited in the past have always contained books and magazines which help the visitors of that business pass the time while waiting to be serviced. Why not also add a few testimonial books of previous satisfied customers. You can also designate a wall to post pictures of happy, satisfied customers who have done business with you in the past. Most people love looking at pictures, especially pictures of other people so why not use this to your advantage to assure them that doing business with your company is a wise decision, not based on what you say but based on what others have to say about your business. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words. 28. If you are only using just one side of your business card then shame on you. It’s kind of like buying a 60 second commercial and then only using 40 seconds of it to sell your product or service. You can use the other side of the card to put a coupon or free offer on, as long as it is being used for something that will help you increase sales for your business. Most businesses choose not to print on the back side of the card because it typically costs more money. However I want you to consider that the costs for doing so are only slightly higher than what you are already paying for the card.

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Let’s say you paid $30 for 500 business cards printed on one side. The chances are pretty slim that is going to cost you double that amount ($60) just to print on the other side of your business card. In most cases your printing company is only going to charge you a few more dollars to add printing to the other side. Remember there are always two sides two every story and there should always be two sides to every business card. Just make sure you are using them both to promote your business and boost your business profits. 29. Offer something super unique to the public that no other business may be offering in your area. Can you offer them the biggest, the ugliest, the smallest, the cutest, or the weirdest product? For instance, back in the early 90’s a company named “Cookie Time” made history for creating the world’s biggest chocolate chip cookie. This brought them a lot of attention and a ton of free publicity. Now of course I am not saying that you must create something that is going to compete with similar stores all over the world, however you can gain a good amount of free publicity coming up with something that will garner the attention of people in your own city or town. Get together with your friends and employees and try to brainstorm on some ideas that will help you get the attention that your business deserves. 30. Create some stickers that you can post all over town in high foot traffic areas. The goal is to reach people who are walking by and may possibly see your sticker containing information about your business or about a particular ongoing special you might be promoting. These stickers are not meant to be placed in areas where only people driving by will see them. The reason for this is because no one driving by them is even going to be able to see them clearly unless they stop their car and get out just to take a look at your sticker. As people walk by they will notice your sticker and place your business in their mind. Stickers are great because they won’t easily come down or be torn down due to bad weather. Some good places to stick them would be street poles, trash cans, benches, and other structures in the path of a lot of people. You must first of course make sure that you are not violating any local laws or ordinances by posting your stickers in a particular area or on a particular structure. 31. Along with the other demographics that you track about your current customers, you need to know the specific reasons WHY they chose you and WHAT they are using your services for. This will go a long way to helping you determine how to market and who specifically to market to in the future. 32. Take advantage of the resources and help that can be found within the trade association for your particular industry. With a little bit of online searching you should be able to easily locate any publications or newsletters specifically pertaining to your type of business. They could literally provide a wealth of knowledge and assistance for your business.

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33. I mentioned earlier that a picture is worth a thousand words. If this is true then a video must be worth a whole lot more. YouTube is currently the largest of many video sharing sites that are visited by millions of people every month. Also keep in mind that YouTube videos can rank pretty high on the search engines if done properly. Imagine a potential client searching on Google for a particular product or service that you happen to offer and your video shows up talking about your benefits along with a few testimonials. I can almost guarantee you that hardly any of your competitors are currently using videos in your area. Even if they are, they are probably not optimizing those videos properly in order to get the most exposure to their business online. Keep in mind that same video can also be embedded or placed onto your website to engage your customers. 34. A very popular social media tool that you can use is Facebook in order to reach out to potential customers and increase your exposure. Many businesses are catching on and setting up “fan pages” on Facebook where people can go to and find out more information about their business and receive great offers. Of course I realize that almost no one is on Facebook specifically looking for products to buy however the main goal here is to have your presence in a place where many people might be made aware of your services and by happenstance when they are in need of your product or service, or know someone who is, you will be the one they will think of. 35. It seems everyone is tweeting these days using Twitter. It’s not just for telling people what you are eating for breakfast or what movie you happen to be watching at the moment. Thousands of businesses are using Twitter every day as a way of keeping in touch with their current customers as well as reaching out to new potential customers. When using Twitter, you want to be sure that you aren’t sending messages with the only purpose of selling your product. Instead you should be trying to inform and educate and most importantly get people to visit your website, blog, or Facebook fan page. There are literally hundreds of online tools and software out there to help you reach more people and gain more exposure using Twitter. One fantastic tool for getting local followers on Twitter is Brand Chirp. Go ahead and check out how they can help your business engage more customers and increase profits. They offer a FREE 30 day trial of their service so you can give them a test drive.

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36. Surveys are a great way to determine just where you stand in the mind of the customer when it comes to service and price. Do you periodically send out surveys to your customer base to determine how you are doing and more importantly how you can improve? Did you know that when most customers are dissatisfied with a product or service they typically won’t say anything to the business about it? The majority of the time they will just stop doing business with you and find another business to patronize. Don’t let this happen to you. You can conduct a survey of your current customers by email, phone, or the old fashioned way of handing it to them in paper form. 37. What type of guarantee do you offer to your consumers? Most people today hate taking risks and if you can show them that doing business with you will be risk free, then you are more likely to gain them as a customer. Does your business guarantee customer satisfaction? If so then let’s let them know that in your advertising and on your website.

38. Word of mouth advertising is still one of the all time great ways of generating more business. Make sure that you are actively communicating with your current customers as a way to get referrals from them. Chances are pretty great that if your current customers are happy with your product or service, then they may also know friends and family who would too. You can offer them discounts off your products or services in exchange for bringing you in new business. You can even offer a monthly or quarterly prize for the person with the most referrals. Create a referral card to give to every customer with a space on the back for them to fill out their information. Give them several of the cards and let them know that for every person that turns in their card and purchases from you, you will enter them into a drawing to win a special prize.

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39. Around thanksgiving time advertise and send out flyers that you will be raffling off FREE turkeys. The only catch is that they will need to visit your place of business in order to fill out an entry form to register. While they are there they will also have an opportunity to check out what products and services your business offers.

40. Promote an Easter egg hunt where you hide eggs in various places at your place of business. This will get the parents involved with helping the children find eggs and the bonus is they will also be taking a tour of your business at the same time. The object is to get people in the door and hopefully as a result, eventually turn them into customers. 41. Leave a business card everywhere you go. Always make sure that you have your business cards with you at all times. You never know when you will be somewhere and have an opportunity to possibly promote your business. I cannot tell you how many times I have been in a situation where I wanted someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business card for future follow up only to be told that they did not have any cards on them. What I do is keep a box of business cards in the trunk of my car so that whenever I happen to run out then all it takes is a quick trip to the car to get more. 42. How about creating a loyalty program which allows you to reward long term customers. When I was younger I remember a record store that would give its customers loyalty stamps every time they made a purchase. The more someone spent at the store, the more stamps the patron would receive. The customer would then be able to redeem those stamps for various gifts that the store was offering. You can put together a similar promotion that would also allow you to be able to reward your customers for doing business with you. Keep in mind that if your customer has a choice to go to your business or another business then we want to give them a good reason why they should pick yours.

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43. Sponsor a local event. This is a great way for a business to reach their target audience without spending a small fortune on advertising. Typically the way this works is that in exchange for your sponsorship the event promoter will mention your business and what you do during the event as well as in their own advertisements for their event. The ultimate goal of event sponsorship is to get your name out there and in front of as many potential customers as possible. 44. Sponsor a food drive or clothing drive and volunteer your business location as a drop off point. Not only will this bring community awareness to your company but it will also get foot traffic into your place of business. 45. Become a ticket outlet for a local event. Just remember that every time someone comes into your store to purchase a ticket to that event, they will also be exposed to your products and services as well. As a result they may become a customer of yours. Once again, the key to marketing success is to get as many targeted consumers in your doors as possible. Of course when I say “targeted” I am talking about people who are likely to purchase what you have to offer. In other words, as I have mentioned before, don’t attract senior citizens into your business if you sell merchandise intended for kids. 46. One great way to determine how you can improve your business is to display a suggestion box in the store area. This gives your patrons an opportunity to voice their opinion about how well they think you are meeting their needs.

47. A donation can go a long way. There are dozens of needing charities in your area who would be willing to add a link back to your website on theirs, because you made a donation or helped them out in some way. All you have to do is ask.

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48. Your employees can be a very good source of marketing ideas and what is working and not working for your area. Hold contests where you reward employees who submit ideas that ultimately get implemented. Inspire them to really get their creative juices flowing. 49. You can put useful videos, reports, and tips on your website that would prove useful to the potential customers that visit our website. When people see that they can go to your website and get real value then they are much more likely to want to do business with you. For example, on my own website I provide great tips and advice regarding marketing for people who visit my website. In fact, the chances are pretty good that you found this free marketing report by visiting my site. 50. Print up door hangers that you can hang on doors in the vicinity of where your business is located. 51. Create a joint venture giveaway promotion with the other businesses you have partnered with. Each business will donate a prize or gift certificate to the giveaway making sure each business donates something of equal value. The giveaway is designed to be promoted in order to get more people (new and current) in the door to enter the giveaway. The contact information of the entrants are to be shared with all of the participating businesses to allow for future follow up. 52. Share an ad and save some cash. With the costs of advertising on a continual rise, why not share advertising with a few of your partnering businesses? For example: let’s say a woman’s shoe store has partnered with a woman’s accessory store and a woman’s spa. You can place a radio commercial which features each of your businesses giving each an equal amount of time. You can make the commercial interesting by creating a story how a group of woman were planning a night out on the town and started their day by going to the spa to pamper themselves, then they went to get new shoes and then went to get new accessories. Of course you will add more to the story to create a visual experience for the person listening to the commercial, but you get the idea. This technique first of all paints a picture for the listener and more importantly it allows you and the businesses to maximize your advertising dollars. Instead of you paying $1000 for only 20 radio spots, each business pays $1000 for a total of $3000 and instead gets 60 radio spots as a group. Keep in mind that many times when purchasing a bigger ad package you will typically get more ad space or ad spots. Now I hear you saying but wait a minute Shaun that means that I will only get 20 seconds of a radio spot instead of 60 seconds. While that may be true, you must understand that the key here is repetition. The more spots that are aired the more likely it is for the listener to remember you, and the more they remember you then the more likely they will patronize your business. All Rights Reserved © 2010

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53. Remember...the greatest marketing word of all time is still the word “FREE” Almost no consumer can resist the compelling enticement of the chance of being able to get something free. This doesn’t mean that you have to break the bank to offer something free to everyone either. There are tons of things that you can find to offer potential customers that will have value to them, and that will cost you next to nothing or even nothing at all. For example, I offer this free report you are reading right now to small business owners as a way to introduce them to my business and the marketing services that I offer. All it cost me was a little time to download some of my marketing experience from my head onto these pages. In return the business owner is happy because they have received something free with value designed to help them with their marketing efforts. 54. Here is a little tidbit that will go a long way to helping you sell more of your products. When promoting or advertising your products, don’t just show pictures of your products by themselves. Instead show them being used by people. By doing this, your potential customers will be able to see your product in action rather than just seeing it as a lifeless object. This will help your potential customer to be able to connect with your product and hopefully lead to more sales for you. 55. More businesses are beginning to understand the power of using mobile applications to promote their business. I can remember earlier days of owning one of those large tan mobile phones that looked like a cinder block with a large antennae sticking out of it. To this day I still can’t believe that I actually paid about $700 to buy that thing. Let’s just say that the world of cell phones has certainly come a long way. Technology is allowing businesses all over the globe to be able to reach potential consumers through applications found on their cell phones. Mobile marketing is rapidly becoming a great way to get your message in the hands of your customers and potential customers. Mobile marketing first came onto the scene and gained exposure with reality talent shows where the viewers got to vote for their favorite act by simply texting a specific code to a number. Now businesses all over the world are using this same technology to generate exposure to their business and get their message and offers in the hands of current and potential clients.

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When someone leaves their home there are only a couple of items that they never leave without that stays with them the entire day. Those items are their purse or wallet, and their cell phones. Let’s say you are having a sale on a particular day and are offering a coupon to be used for that day only. You can create an ad which states for the person to text the word “COUPON” to your assigned number. Once they do this then they will instantly receive a text message with information on your sale and the coupon code they requested. Even better is that now by sending in their text, they have also opted in their cell phone number which goes into your database allowing you to be able to text future offers to their cell phone. Are you ready for another great example? Let’s say you and a friend have gone to a local restaurant and while waiting for your food you notice a small sign on your table which tells you to text the word “DISCOUNT” to a specified number in order to get a 10% discount off your current meal. Who doesn’t like saving a little cash, so you excitedly follow the instructions and send the text. Within a few seconds you receive a return text welcoming you to the restaurant’s “VIP” Discount Club and telling you to show your waitress the text message when paying for your meal in order to get your promised discount. Even better for the restaurant you are now added to their database which they can now use to send you future offers and notices about the restaurant. Everybody wins! You may remember from earlier when I mentioned that most consumer’s favorite word is the word FREE. Well how would you like to get started using mobile marketing to increase your customers and boost profits for free? Just sign up today for your FREE TRIAL and when you use my link you will get DOUBLE of everything included in the regular trial. Take advantage of the free trial right away and start using it to generate some new business.

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56. Hold brainstorming sessions which consist of management, employees, and customers. Instruct the group that they will have a limited amount of time (usually about 10-20 minutes) to come up with as many ideas as possible for marketing your products or services. You can reward any customers you enlist to help, with a gift certificate or some other inexpensive item you sell. The rules for your brainstorming session are very simple: a. No idea is a bad idea b. Do not stop to discuss or analyze the ideas during the brainstorming session c. Emphasize the goal is to collect as many ideas as possible in the time allotted 57. Print up lawn signs that can be placed all around town in various locations. Below are just a few location ideas you can use: a. b. c. d.

Near freeway exits and entrances Vacant lots Customer’s lawns In areas where there will be a high concentration of people. For example in the park during a Fourth of July Celebration.

Note: Before posting your lawn signs you want to make sure that you have permission to place them there. Note: You will want to make sure your signs can be easily read by everyone by using large print. Bright colors work wonders for capturing someone’s attention. Lastly do not put too much information on the sign since you are only trying to grab their attention and then give them quick and basic information to find you. The sample lawn sign below does the job quite well. It’s simple and to the point, telling what they do and how to get in touch with them. They also get extra points for making the phone number easy to remember which is helpful for someone who might be driving by and happen to see the sign.

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BONUS SECTION Below is an example of a referral card that you can use to generate referrals to your business. You should modify it to suit your own businesses specific goals and needs: FRONT

BACK

Note: It is a good idea to have your discount on the referral card be slightly better than your normal discount to encourage people to have a good reason for using the referral card. For example: If you normally offer $20 off for new clients then offer them $25 off when they redeem the referral card. Remember, you want to make this marketing tactic worthwhile for the people who are handing out your referral cards.

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Conclusion: It is so very important that you use as many techniques as possible in this report to keep your products and services in the minds of potential consumers. McDonald’s ads can be seen everywhere all the time, however they know that the chances are small that you are going to just drop what you are doing when you encounter their ad and race to their nearest location. Their goal is that when the time does eventually arrive when you want to get some fast food, that McDonalds will be your first choice. This should also be what you are striving for. One of the best marketing strategies you can use to get the edge over your competition is to continually educate yourself on different ways to improve and grow your business. You can accomplish this by reading articles and books on marketing, customer service, and growing your business. I am sure that you have heard the saying before that “knowledge is power” right? Well I want to attest right now that I believe this statement is false. My belief is that knowledge is only potential power and that APPLIED knowledge is power. What this means is that all the knowledge about marketing isn’t going to do you one bit of good unless you are ready to take some form of action today to grow your business. Feel free to contact us today for a FREE marketing consultation to determine how we can help you get more customers, maximize your current customers, and increase your profits all without breaking the bank. Sincerely,

Shaun Maddox www.MarketingOutTheBox.com If this marketing report has truly helped you then please do me a favor and leave me a quick testimonial right now by calling the testimonial line below and letting me know.

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Feel free to pass this book on and share it with others you feel could benefit from the information it contains. You CAN give it away, use it as a free bonus, prize, or promotional giveaway. YOU MAY NOT sell, change, or alter this book in any way, nor add to, or take away from any part of the content written within this book.

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