From mantateam.com, I found a very good article about small business strategy.
A Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses to Beat the Recession
By Bernard Howes
If a business wants to sell more, there are two things it can do: it can attract new customers; or it can entice its existing customers to come back and buy again. All the marketing efforts it makes are aimed at achieving one or other of those two goals.
In times of economic recession, it's particularly important for a small business to concentrate its efforts on marketing strategies that actually will drive more sales...and do so quickly and reliably. Not surprisingly, most businesses concentrate their marketing on getting new customers. Yet this is by far the more difficult of the two tasks.
New prospects are naturally skeptical, and it's a hard, uphill struggle to persuade them to put their trust in a business for the first time.
Getting repeat business from existing customers is much more straightforward. The customers have already given their trust once, and assuming they've had good service and value for the money, they already are predisposed to buy again. Perhaps even to spend more this time.
Existing customers are the best prospects for any business. It follows that one of the most valuable assets a business has is its customer list. If a business can collect the names and contact details of all its customers, it can often save a large part of its advertising budget and focus on sending out marketing communications, invitations and special offers to people who already have bought and are much more likely to buy again. The business can even go one stage further and create a sense of club membership amongst its customers.
By inviting them to "join the club" rather than just hand over their contact details, and by inviting them to special "members only" events, or giving them discounts on particular products, the small business can generate a sense of loyalty in the same way that bigger companies do.
Another advantage of this approach is the referrals it can lead to. Customers can be encouraged to bring their friends along, and can even be rewarded if those friends become customers and join the club. This reinforces the sense of community, because the customers themselves have helped create that community.
What is vitally important in this marketing strategy is that the customer who's signed up should hear from the business regularly. If he gives his name and contact details in return for a promise of club membership, and then hears nothing for weeks on end, all goodwill will be gone. Having collected its customers' contact details, the business must make the effort to stay in regular contact with those customers.
Don't Just Sell, Tell
Equally important is that the messages the business sends to its customers should not come across as an undiluted series of sales pitches.
The customer doesn't want to be sold to; he wants to choose to take advantage of a special offer. And the prudent business will not only send offers to its customers; it will also send out other material that will be both of interest and of value to those customers.
Following this marketing strategy over a period of time can cement a small business into the community it serves in such a way that it becomes a focal point of that community. Very few people will want to "leave the club," and most will feel that it would be disloyal to buy elsewhere.
A loyal and committed customer base is the best basis any business could wish for in times of economic recession.
About the Author: Bernard Howes is founder and publisher of The Really Useful Newsletter™, a specialist marketing tool for the small business.
Read more...
