Sometimes negotiators don’t tell the truth and it is up to you to figure that out or catch them at their game. Candidly, some people are very good at concealing the truth, but typically there are cues to determine if the other party is bluffing or lying outright. Yet, we get conned all the time.
Even the best marketing strategies need to be revisited, if not revised. Changes in the market environment can dramatically change the marketing mix and your product plans. Marketing strategy should be viewed as a process, which means that the best laid marketing plans will change sooner or later.
Innovation is the mainstay of niche marketing, yet your customer may not be able tell you what they will need in the future. And this makes sense if you think about it.
It is sales legend that it costs far less money to keep an existing customer than it does to find a new one. Customers that have bought from you in the past are likely to buy again and represent your best leads. Thus, staying in touch with these folks is a must do for any business and direct mail is one of the best ways stay in contact.
If you ranked all the tools in the marketing tool bag, which include product promotion, pricing, advertising, personal selling, and public relations, you will find that reference accounts top the list in effectiveness. Reference accounts are the most believed and trusted form of marketing. Let your happy clients do your selling for you.
So, what does the “best” customer look like? One way to determine which customer/s are best is by creating what I call the “preferred customer profile”. Create a list of the criteria that are most important to you and your business.
Also known as word-of-mouth marketing, viral marketing is a marketing technique that depends on people passing along a marketing message to others. This typically refers to the forwarding of advertising or promotional messages through email.
Search engines enable your customers to find you on the web. But, how do they do that and what is important to them?
Pricing may be the most important decision that the entrepreneur makes. Often this decision is rushed and done by the seat of the pants. Most entrepreneurs think pricing is easy.
Naming your business or offering is a huge decision and one that you should research thoroughly, choose carefully, and test with your target market.