Brilliant Checklists for Entrepreneurs, 3rd Edition

Market yourself: understand why people buy 129

10 top marketing tips that experts rarely

share

There are countless books on marketing theory. These tell you what and

why but rarely how and when. Some of the best marketing tips are those

developed by entrepreneurs themselves. Here are ten favourites.

1 Free stuff – a band gives away its latest track as a download. Fans have to provide

their email address and postcode. The band can now organise gigs where most fans

live and invite them to buy tickets.

2 Omnibus – new mums get a bag of baby products given to them in hospital. Mum is

more likely to buy products that she’s tried. The suppliers share the promotional cost.

3

Cross-sell – the zoo gives its visitors discount vouchers for the theme park and vice

versa. Both know they’ll only be visited once, so lose nothing by promoting each other.

4 Classifieds – these short lineage ads don’t cost much to place, yet with the right

words and a website can be powerful. For example, Find free marketing tips at

www.robertashton.co.uk.

5 Facebook ads – social networking sites can allow you to target very accurately the

people you want to see your ad. This means you can make very specific offers.

6 Frequency – regular small ads always work better than fewer big ones.

7

Personalise – the more personal your approach, the more likely your success. In

other words, a tailored letter to a researched prospect will always do better than a

blanket mailing.

8 Specialise – you can’t supply all the people in the world wanting pet products but

you can become an expert on say hamsters: www.madabouthamsters.com.

9 Pre-booked visits – one window cleaner books the next visit before he leaves and

another waits for the phone to ring. Guess which has more work?

10 Make it easy to say yes – a low cost, no commitment ‘starter pack’ will make it easy

for new customers to say yes and try you out.

130 brilliant checklists for entrepreneurs

brilliant

recap

Marketing theory is not to be sniffed at, but most of us simply want to know

what will work for us. Try different things and measure the response. Become

better at doing what works best for you.

brilliant

example

Valerie Colling, Colling Construction, www.collingconstruction.co.uk

Valerie first became interested in building when running a construction training

company. She helped people who were out of work gain the skills, confidence

and experience to work in the building industry. Because part of her work

involved arranging work placements, she visited a lot of building sites and saw

how reluctant many were to embrace new sustainable technologies.

An interest in ‘green construction’ and the knowledge that most established

builders preferred traditional methods gave her the idea for Colling

Construction. Research revealed a new technology, structural insulated panels,

which are effectively factory-built walls and the next logical step on from

timber-frame construction. Already proven in North America and Japan, Valerie

decided to focus on bespoke homes using this very green technology.

To find her customers, Valerie became an expert contributor to a number of

specialist websites, such as Restoration and Beyond, which attracts people

interested in creating individual, environmentally sound character homes.

By being very specific about what she does and recognising that of the

thousands of new homes built every year she only needs a handful to succeed,

Valerie has made her business:



specific – and clearly focused on one market niche;



visible – by linking with advice websites visited by her target audience;



accessible – by offering free advice to potential customers;



realistic – knowing that she only needs a small market share to succeed.