Effective Use of Traditional
Promotion Tools
Success Strategies for Business Owners
About SCORE
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• Successful and experienced business owners
and executives acting as volunteers
• Free ongoing mentoring:
One-on-one
E-mail
Signup on our website – Mentoring Tab
Douglas S. Cavanaugh
• Seminars, workshops and Meetup Group
• Resources for small business:
manasota.score.org
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Introductions . . . Your Expectations?
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Introduce yourself
What business are you in?
What are your expectations for the meeting today?
Record . . .
Expectation
End of the meeting feedback:
Outcome
Gaps
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Traditional Marketing Methods & Tools
• Advertising: radio, TV, newspaper,
magazine, direct mail, yellow
pages
• Public Relations: print, radio, TV
• Collateral: business cards, tri-folds,
stationery, flyers
• Product samples, special offers
• Customer surveys
• Presentation material, signage
www.score.org
Success Strategies for
Business Owners
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Marketing Materials
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Do your marketing materials need a makeover?
Do they still reflect your brand?
They all need to be consistent!
• Logo
• Signage
• Business cards
• Brochures
• Promotion merchandise
• Website(s) and other electronic media presence
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Customer Retention Matters !
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• As your business grows, retaining existing customers is
key to success
• It costs 5 times more to find a new customer than it
does to keep one*
• Loyal customers can refer other customers to your
business
*Source: Gallup
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Customer Service
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Customer service is key to repeat business and is
an important part of your Marketing plan.
Are the following aspects of your business
meeting customers’ expectations?
Katrina Markoff
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Physical location
Phone
Your staff
Questions, problems, answers
Customer feedback
Post-sale follow up
Customer Service is a key “face” of your business
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Advertising
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What are the desired outcomes of advertising?
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Builds awareness
Product / Service information
Helps customers find you
Builds credibility
Drives sales
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Understanding Public Relations
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Public relations is a means of generating
attention from the media or another
third party that can be as effective as
advertising in building awareness of your
business
Jennifer Behar
Customers trust what they read in
publications or online far more than they
trust your ads
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Writing a Press Release
Standard Format
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Headline
Date
Summary
Body
About/Boilerplate
Contact
Target to Each
News/Media Outlet
• Relevant Topics
• Timely
• Interesting
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Resource
• Newswire’s PR
Toolkit
toolkit.prnewswire.com
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Press Release Distribution
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Target publications, reporters and bloggers:
• E-mail release
• Link to your website
• Follow up
Free press release distribution services:
• FreePressRelease.com
• PR.com
• PRLog.org
• Chambers of Commerce (for members)
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Customer Loyalty Programs
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Keep customers coming back with loyalty
programs that can include:
Atul Patel
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Loyalty cards
Geolocation websites
Discounts and special offers
Events
Giveaways
What has worked for you? (5 minutes)
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Event Marketing
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Sponsoring an Event
• Keep your target customer(s) in mind
• Good promotional tool for businesses with local customers
• Find of events that match with your business’s
offerings and your goals.
• Options include sports teams, charity events, schools,
races, fairs
• Investigate event organizer
To consider:
• What will you give - how much will it cost?
• What will you get – make a $$ estimate of future sales
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Cause Marketing
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Cause Marketing (or Relationship Marketing)
• Using positive publicity, enhancing your brand by
affiliating your business with a “cause.”
• Many customers are conscious of social responsibility
• Products associated with a good cause see up to a 74
percent boost in sales compared to non-causeassociated products*
• Women and millennials are especially cause-conscious
• Key causes: Green, education, disaster relief, disease
research
Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Return on Investment
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Always assess your ROI (Return on Investment) for your
marketing budget
• Set measurable goals
• Measure results
Marketing effort that generated the sale
Survey customers
• Adjust marketing plan accordingly
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Exercise 1
Appropriate promotions for your business?
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Using the Worksheet in your folder, fill in your
Appropriate Promotions for your business . Think about
what new promotion strategies may be able to help grow
your business?
Fill-in your thoughts about the reasons for your
selections. Think about:
How will this help achieve my goals?
How will this reach my target customer/s?
Does this fit my budget?
Do I have the necessary staff?
10 minutes to work and 10 minutes to discuss
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Exercise 1
Appropriate promotions for your business?
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Yes
Possible
No
Why?
Direct Personal Contacts
and Networking
Internet Website
Handbills and Flyers
Ads in Newspapers &
Periodicals
Handout Brochures and
Business Cards
Direct Mailing
Telephone Solicitation
Social Media - Internet
Others . . . .
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Assessing Your Business
The SCORE Business Needs Assessment, it is in your
packet. Download at: http://tinyurl.com/8j7fkgw
It will help you assess the current state of your
business in 5 key areas:
1. Management
2. Marketing
3. Sales
4. Finance
5. Operations
Decide what additional sessions to attend
Develop a customized business improvement
plan
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Business Needs Assessment - Marketing
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Help Us, Help You
Please fill out the session
evaluation form
Your feedback is important to
help us improve our programs!
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Success Strategies for Business Owners
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Marketing Material Resources
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Low-Cost Resources:
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99Designs.com
CrowdSPRING.com
Elance.com
Freelancer.com
Guru.com
Inkzoo.com
Logoworks.com
Marketsplash.com
VistaPrint.com
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Marketing Resources
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American Advertising Federation (www.aaf.org)
American Express OPEN Forum (www.openforum.com)
American Marketing Association (www.ama.org)
Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org)
Larry Chase’s Web Digest for Marketers (www.wdfm.com)
Marketing Hub (www.marketinghub.com)
Marketing Plan Pro (www.paloalto.com)
Marketing Profs (www.marketingprofs.com)
Marketing Research Association (www.mra-net.org)
Marketing Sherpa (www.marketingsherpa.com)
Mobile Marketing Association (http://mmaglobal.com)
Radio Advertising Bureau (www.rab.com)
SCORE (www.score.org)
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