to

w
o
H
e
h
T book
Hand

smart
tips
series

Marketing
smart strategies for

top tips on: choosing low-cost tools; integrating

sales + marketing activities; action plans & more
Bagged with Entrepreneur Magazine Not for sale separately
Issue 18 February 2011 www.entrepreneurmag.co.za

beginners guide to

Effective Marketing Strategies

Plan and action a marketing programme that employs the tools to suit your business.
remember: IF YOU HAVE EFFECTIVE MARKETING IMPLEMENTATION AND YOUR COMPETITOR
DOESNT, YOU HAVE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

Smart Marketing Moves

01

The How-to Guide

for Starting & Improving a Business
www.entrepreneurmag.co.za

proper implementation is like trying

Choose the Marketing
Tools That Will Work for to score goals without taking
your Business
the shots. pg 9
The same tactics wont work for every
entrepreneur, so how do you pick
whats right for your company? pg 2

02

See the big picture

Three all-important
questions that impact positively on
your sales. pg 4

03

Top-Class Tools for

Small Biz

Power up your sales and marketing

programmes with these key steps. pg 7

04

Put Your Marketing into

Practice

Formulating a marketing plan without

05

Hit the Sweet Spot

If youre marketing to other

business owners, you need to offer the
seven things they want most and
learn how you can deliver them. pg 11

06

Finding Allies

Five ways to increase sales

by forging competitive alliances. pg 13

07

The Marketers Survival

Guide

Changes in the marketplace and

economy are changing the ways
consumers spend. Here are four ways
to cope. pg 16

PUBLISHING CREDITS
publisher Andrew Honey managing editor Nicole Lombard copy editor Lesley Lambert art director Dineo Mokgoasi
Entrepreneur South Africa is published by Smart Business Solutions (Pty) Ltd.

smart tips: marketing strategies

Choose the Marketing Tools

01
That Will Work for your Business
The same tactics wont work for every entrepreneur, so how do you pick whats
right for your company? By Al Lautenslager

arketing encompasses
everything you do or
say that customers and
prospects see or hear. That includes
the way your proposals look and
how theyre presented, your signs,
your voice-mail messages and
any traditional marketing that you
use. Marketing is made up of many
things all working together and
supporting each other.
The key to your marketing is
to choose the weapons that work

2 sm a rt tips series

i more
online
Need more
advice on
identifying
your niche?

Go to www.
askentrepreneur.
co.za to get
expert advice on
demand.

for you, that are applicable to

your markets and customers, and
that you can afford mentally and
financially.
You cant do it all; you cant
launch and implement every single
marketing weapon there is. In
some cases, there will be financial
considerations that may not be
affordable. In other cases, there will
be time considerations. If your list
of weapons is intimidating to you,
shorten it and prioritise.

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

low-cost or no-cost
initiatives
Different combinations of
marketing weapons work for
different businesses and different
people. Jay Conrad Levinson,
the father of guerrilla marketing,
states that his top 10 marketing
weapons are:
1. Marketing plan
2. Benefits list
3. Passion
4. Community involvement
5. Fusion marketing through
strategic alliances
6. Follow-up
7. Customer research
8. Online marketing
9. A designated guerrilla
marketer
10. Customer satisfaction
explore other options
Other successful marketers use
different combinations:
S
 uccessful marketer A may use
direct mail, a recorded message,
classified ads, testimonials and
display ads.
S
 uccessful marketer B might use
PR, networking referral strategies,
direct mail and fusion marketing.
S
 uccessful marketer C might
use telemarketing, e-mail autoresponders, special offers and
phone call follow-up.

The key
to your
marketing
is to
choose the
weapons
that work
for you,
that are
applicable
to your
markets
and
customers,
and that
you can
afford
mentally
and
financially.

Notice that high-cost marketing

vehicles (like magazine advertising,
radio and TV) are nowhere in these
lists. They may be included later,
but guerrilla marketing substitutes
time, energy, imagination,
knowledge and information for
large expenditures.
Determine benefits
The key to identifying your
marketing weapons list is to
determine what your target markets
react to and what benefits they
respond to. Here are the key action
steps you need to take:
1. Brainstorm weapons that might
apply to your markets and
business
2. Cost them
3. Prioritise
4. Determine what you can afford
emotionally and financially
5. Launch what you can properly
implement & revise
Plan your marketing arsenal, put
everything in a marketing calendar,
evaluate what works and what
doesnt, and adjust accordingly.
Repeat what works, fix what doesnt
and eliminate when necessary.
Make your marketing continuous,
dynamic and always driven by
what your prospects and customers
want.
sm a rt tips series 3

smart tips: marketing strategies

02 See the Big Picture

Three all-important questions that impact positively on your sales.

By Kim Gordon

henever I tell new coaching

clients that I want to start
off by having a look at their
big picture, they always seem
relieved. Perhaps thats because,
like many small business owners,
they tend to get caught up in the
details. In the case of marketing,
that may mean anything from
interviewing copywriters for an
upcoming online campaign to
negotiating the best price from local
printers for a new brochure.
No matter whether your small
business has been around for years
or youre trying to set your start-up
in motion, its vital to periodically
step away from the daily details and
look at the larger canvas. Generally,
its not the single tactics that will
make or break you; its the broadbased thinking that will have a
profound impact on your ability to
increase sales.
Adopting this larger point-of-view
will help you to position your business more effectively, to pinpoint
and motivate your best prospects,
and to develop your own unique
value proposition. And its as easy as
answering these three questions:

4 sm a rt tips series

What are you really marketing? You may be tempted to

Customers
who read
your ads
and
brochures
or take your
cold calls
have only
one question
in mind:
Whats in it
for me? No
marketing
message
can succeed
unless it
leads with
the benefits
that your
customers
can expect.

answer this question by naming the

product or service you offer shoes,
software, commercial landscaping,
image consulting, tax preparation or
whatever it is you provide. But when
it comes to motivating customers
or clients, what you really should be
marketing are the benefits theyll
enjoy by using your product or service. For example, while your actual
product may be software, to be successful, you must market what that
software helps users do.
Customers who read your ads
and brochures or take your cold
calls have only one question in
mind: Whats in it for me?No
marketing message can succeed
unless it leads with the benefits
that your customers can expect.
The key to effectively positioning
your business or its products and
services is to define a unique set of
benefits and then build a communications message around them.

Who wants to buy what you

market? Have you ever noticed

how major manufacturers offer

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

products uniquely tailored to niche

markets? Canon, for instance,
may offer a line of inkjet printers
for small to medium-sized businesses as well as tiny portable
printers that can work on the front
seat of a salespersons car two
very different products created
specifically to appeal to select target audiences.
Is there something uniquely
distinct about your products and
services (or even the way you
offer them) that makes them
particularly appealing to a specific
group or market niche? Create a
profile of your best prospects and

more
i online
direct
marketing tips

Visit www.
entrepreneurmag.co.za to
view articles
on how to
build quality,
segmented
customer
databases
and execute
on powerful,
targeted emails.

tailor your offering accordingly.

If you cant increase your share
of your current market, perhaps
you can modify your product to
go after a new one. Consider how,
with a simple change of packaging,
for example, mainstream food
products, are sold to ethnic
markets. How can your company
apply this type of strategy to
attract a more targeted customer?

Why will the customers

you target want to buy
from you? Lets face it, consum-

ers have endless options when it

comes to buying almost any kind
sm a rt tips series 5

smart tips: marketing strategies

03 Top-Class Tools for Small Biz

Power up your sales and marketing programmes with these key steps.
By Kim Gordon

of product or service. In fact, if you

think you have no competition, its
likely that while youre educating
the market on the benefits of your
product, there are others just a few
steps behind you. You may own the
category for now, but we all know
that its often easier, and less expensive, to be second to bring something truly innovative to market.
dont detract from your
competitive advantage
Be sure to eliminate any elements
that reduce your competitive
edge. Recently, for example, I was
shopping online for lamp finials and
came across a beautiful pair made
out of carved jade. I went straight
to the shopping cart but stopped
the transaction when I saw that the
seller tacked on an additional, highpriced handling fee plus shipping.
This e-commerce site had a
unique and desirable product, yet
6 sm a rt tips series

Consider
how, with
a simple
change of
packaging,
for example,
mainstream
food
products,
are sold
to ethnic
markets.
How can
your
company
apply this
type of
strategy
to attract
a more
targeted
customer?

it lost the sale because of its noncompetitive pricing structure.

So all the business got from me
was an e-mail with some terse
marketing advice.
craft your value proposition
Once youve answered the first
two questions, youre ready to
take the final step and formulate
a compelling value proposition
that trumps the offers made by
your competitors. What do your
customers really want? How can
you provide it? Sometimes the
answer can be as simple as offering
something that seals the deal,
such as free shipping.
For marketing success, its
a smart idea to make a habit of
looking at the big picture. There
couldnt be a better prescription
for your business and its long-term
growth.

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

re you a consultant or
business owner looking for
the best way to build your
practice? You need to create a
programme that combines sales
and marketing to get the bottomline results you need.
Business consultants thrive
in all fields. Whether youre a
computer, wedding, nursing or
agricultural consultant, it takes a lot
more than a business card and an
accompanying brochure or website
to move your prospects through the
sales cycle. Here are three steps to
grow your practice:

Create sales support tools.

Interpersonal relationships
are at the heart of a successful
company, and sales tactics and
techniques play as strong a role in
building your business practice as
marketing. Its essential to create a
unified group of collateral materials
that support the sales process and
establish your companys image
and marketing themes.
Think through your typical
contact sequence and list the types

Welltargeted
and
planned
marketing
efforts can
reduce the
need for
constant
sales
activity by
producing
leads and
moving
prospects
further
along in the
sales cycle.

of tools necessary to support your

efforts. For example, a first meeting
with a prospect may require a
business card, a company brochure
or an information package. For your
second meeting, you may need a
presentation and a summary to
leave behind. If you dont already
have all the collateral materials you
need, fill in the gaps.
Make sure your tools have a
unified design theme, colours and
copy points. This will ensure your
marketing materials reinforce your
image and core message every step
of the way.

Commit to an annual
campaign. Many consultants

fall short when it comes to

establishing a well-rounded
marketing programme, leaving the
entire weight of the companys
success resting squarely on their
sales abilities. Well-targeted and
planned marketing efforts can
reduce the need for constant sales
activity by producing leads and
moving prospects further along in
the sales cycle.
sm a rt tips series 7

smart tips: marketing strategies

You have cold, warm and

hot prospects at any time. Cold
prospects are best reached
through search media, including
print directories and online paid
search. Print advertising in targeted
publications will reach both cold and
warm prospects.
Other tools for motivating warm
prospects include direct mail
(particularly mail to business-tobusiness prospects) and e-mail
to permission-based, in-house
lists that send click-throughs to
a professional website. When it
comes to hot prospects, one-on-one
interaction is usually required to
close sales.

Ask for business. If referrals

play an important role in

building your practice, you need
a total marketing campaign
targeting influencers
or influentials.
For businessto-business
marketers,
influencers are
professionals who work
with your best prospects and
recommend consultants in
your field. (Tax preparers often
recommend financial consultants,
for example.)
If youre targeting influencers for

8 sm a rt tips series

more
i info
ensure your
brand image
delivers

Learn from
the branding
experts at www.
entrepreneurmag.
co.za All the
advice you need
to launch a new,
or re-brand your
existing
corporate
image.

referral business, first identify them

through networking or gathering
basic intelligence, and set up oneon-one meetings to learn about
their needs. Then its essential to
build relationships over time using
a combination of phone calls,
e-mail, direct-mail newsletters or
postcards, meetings and more.
For consumer marketers,
influentials may be your prospects
friends, neighbours or family
members since these people are
most likely to generate word of
mouth. Advertising, PR and directmail campaigns can be effective
ways to reach and
motivate influentials.
So can making referral
requests. For example, an
energy consultant who has
just completed a successful
evaluation of a clients home
could leave behind a satisfaction
survey asking for referrals.

Activate your marketing

programme to boost
your business
To build your practice, design an
integrated sales and marketing
programme, including sales support
materials via marketing campaigns.
Reach out to your best prospects,
and watch your business take a
successful leap forward.
w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

04 Put Your Marketing into Practice

Formulating a marketing plan without proper implementation is like trying to

score goals without taking the shots. By Al Lautenslager

ayne Gretzky, the great

hockey superstar, once
said: You cant score
a goal if you dont take a shot.
Marketing without implementation
is like trying to score profits without
taking the necessary shots. And
implementation is one of the largest
challenges businesses face today.
You can know all about
networking, PR, direct mail, selling,
advertising, positioning and online
marketing, but unless a small
business owner actually puts these
suggestions to the test, nothing
will happen. I usually suggest
that people do three to five things
related to marketing daily. And
studies have shown that if you
do something every day for three
weeks, it becomes a habit. So doing
something related to marketing
every day for three weeks will
become a marketing habit, and a
good marketing habit will solve the
implementation challenge most
businesses face.
Effective marketing
implementation starts with
managing your marketing activities.
Measuring and control are part of

Marketing
without
implementation is like
trying to
score
profits
without
taking the
necessary
shots. And
implementation is one
of the
largest
challenges
businesses
face today.

good management. Using a simple

chart to monitor your initiatives
will increase your implementation
effectiveness. (If you dont have a
chart, you can use your marketing
plan itself as a review mechanism or
develop a marketing management
accountability checklist.)

Set up a System
A simple accountability system
can consist of a spreadsheet with
the following column headers:
date, action, details, cost, person
responsible, target completion
date, date completed and
resources required.
The heart of the implementation
of a marketing plan is the execution,
the actual doing of the planned
marketing activities. Initiatives
dont get completed by stating them
on paper they require action,
management and follow up.
Accountability is a good
marketing habit. Plans fail because
those responsible for getting things
done arent held accountable for
their assigned tasks. This includes
one-person, entrepreneurial
businesses. The leader or leaders of
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smart tips: marketing strategies

the organisation must know whos

responsible for what and must
manage those who are responsible
for getting things done. They must
monitor the specific responsibilities
for the specific tasks related to
each and every marketing plan
component.
For example, you need to
determine whos in charge of
writing press releases and when
theyll be done and issued. Whos
going to update the website, and
when will it be done? Who will be
researching your main competitor
and when will each stage of the
research be complete? Following up
and checking completion and due
dates on a regular basis will make
sure youre practising the habit of
marketing accountability.
The absence of this follow-up
of asking these questions and
holding people accountable to due
dates will almost ensure a lack of
implementation and lack of success.
And if youre the chief implementer,
you have to hold yourself accountable to ensure that implementation
gets done. This is tough sometimes
for one- and two-person businesses
because of the distractions, delivery
and daily business routines that
have to be done. But it must be done
if you want your marketing efforts
to be effective.
10 sm a rt tips series

Implementing
Your Strategy
Remember:
If you have
effective
marketing
implementation and
your
competitor
doesnt,
you have a
competitive
advantage.

Successful marketing
implementation requires:

Effective and efficient coordination of activities

whos doing what and by when.
Deflection of distractions or
objections by focusing on the
tasks at hand and determining
where your time is best spent.
Attention to detail. Guerrilla
marketing requires detail and
thoroughness.
Staying on top of whos doing
what. Never assume someone
else is doing something; guerrillas
never assume. Its that simple.
Elimination of procrastination.
No waiting allowed. If its good
enough to do later, its good
enough to do now. Theres no
time like now to further your
marketing efforts.
Over delivery and underpromising. Delighting your
prospects and customers will
turn your marketing efforts into
sales rands.
Doing what you do best and
outsourcing or delegating the
rest. Unless you have more than
24 hours in a day, you cant do
it all and you certainly cant do it
all well.

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

05 Hit the Sweet Spot

If youre marketing to other business owners, you need to offer the seven things
they want most and learn how you can deliver them. By Kim Gordon

or many business owners,

marketing to fellow
entrepreneurs is job one. The
challenge is that entrepreneurs are
time-strapped multitaskers who are
also relatively risk-averse, making
them a difficult audience to reach
and persuade. Sound familiar?
If fellow entrepreneurs are your
bread and butter, your marketing
must meet their unique needs and requirements to motivate them to take
action. Here are the top seven things
entrepreneurs want from marketers,
and important tips on how your marketing programme can deliver them:

Increased sales. Most

business owners say their

primary objective is to increase
sales. Will buying your product or
service help your prospects achieve
that goal? If the answer is yes,
make that benefit one of your most
important marketing messages.
When you help your customers
grow, you become an indispensable
part of their success.

Safe choices. Being a

business owner requires

more
i info
low-cost, high
impact marketing
tactics
Log onto www.
entrepreneurmag.co.za for
expert advice
on how to plan
and execute
cost-effective
marketing
campaigns that
deliver.

taking calculated risks, from buying

inventory or acquiring office space
to hiring employees. But when it
comes to buying outside products
and services, entrepreneurs
as a group tend to be cautious.
Demonstrate that buying from
you is a safe choice by providing
a content-rich campaign. It should
include customer feedback, indepth product information and
reviews where applicable, proof
of your affiliations with national
associations, and industry
certifications.
sm a rt tips series 11

smart tips: marketing strategies

Maximum convenience. Have

you ever met a successful business owner with extra time on his or
her hands? Running a growing business often requires long hours, making shopping convenience a major
draw for entrepreneurs. Multichannel
marketing including, for example, a
website, a brick-and-mortar store and
a direct-mail campaign is essential
to building sales from this target
group. The key is to provide a consistent branding experience, merchandise and offers, as well as top-flight
customer service across all channels.

Ways to save money. Mar-

keters who have experience

targeting major corporate buyers,
as well as entrepreneurs, will tell
you its often harder to convince
entrepreneurs to part with relatively
small sums. Business owners are
likely to be spending their own
money and are correspondingly
conservative. Adding value to your
offers will help overcome resistance. Depending on what you market, you can add features, bundle
products together, offer VIP services
and longer warranties, and more.
If you market primarily online, free
shipping can help to close sales.

Do-it-yourself solutions.
Time-strapped business owners

12 sm a rt tips series

to motivate
business
owners to
complete
sales, make
reliability
a central
component
of your
marketing
message;
dont
bury this
information
at the bottom
of your
marketing
materials
or website.

have just enough work hours to get

their own jobs done and they dont
want to learn yours. Low-cost DIY
solutions are appreciated, provided
theyre turnkey. Successful
marketers of DIY products and
services, from accounting software
to email list management, must
focus on ease-of-use as a principal
benefit. Bundle in free customer
support for a winning combination.

Reliability and performance. Entrepreneurs

carefully consider the post-sale

customer experience when making
a purchase. They want to know that
your company will be there to support what it sells. What guarantees
or warranties does your company
offer? To motivate business owners
to complete sales, make reliability
a central component of your marketing message; dont bury this
information at the bottom of your
marketing materials or website. And
deliver top-quality customer service
during the hours your business customers most frequently shop.

Suppliers they trust. Entrepreneurs often prefer to work

with other business owners they
know and trust. Special events and
networking are great ways to foster
interaction with prospects.
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06 Finding Strategic Partners

Five ways to increase sales by forging competitive alliances. By Kim Gordon

ome marketing pundits will

tell you that your competitors
are the enemy. But those
who think you have to kill or be
killed to excel in business are on
the entirely wrong track. Marketing
never needs to be a blood sport.
Studies bear out what most of us
already know: that entrepreneurs
who focus on maximising profits or
increasing sales are more successful in the long run than those who
fixate on beating the competition.
The truth is, your competitors
can be a great source of revenue,
and forging competitive alliances
can help you grow your business
brou gh t to you by s a n l a m

more
i info
sales advice
galore

Advice on sales
strategy and
techniques
at www.
entrepreneurmag.
co.za to help you
set and exceed
your revenue
targets.

more quickly and easily. Need some

ideas? Here are five ways to transform your competitors from adversaries to friends to increase sales:

Form a national network.

It can be a challenge to market

a solitary, small business when
facing down national chains. One
solution is to forge alliances with
businesses like yours in other
cities or nearby towns that might
otherwise compete with you in order
to create a network with a bigger
image and scope. Say, for example,
you owned a financial consulting
firm in Johannesburg. You might join

v isit w w w.s a n l a m.co. z a

sm a rt tips series 13

smart tips: marketing strategies

with other consultants in Cape Town,

Richards Bay, Durban and Pretoria,
and create an umbrella marketing
campaign.
Youd benefit by agreeing not
to encroach on each others
territories, and gain a stronger,
more marketable image by having
a national network behind you.

Create Events and

Promotions. Competitive

alliances can give you access to

a whole new set of customers.
For instance, retailers within a
network can promote events in their
respective marketing newsletters
in order to send new customers

Forming
competitive
alliances
with other
businesses
like yours
can give you
the combined
spending
power you
need to
market
jointly.

through each others stores. If

each shop has a strong point of
differentiation, it will retain its
regular customers while gaining
new ones from the joint promotion.

Build a Stronger Image.

Imagine you owned a small

technology company in an area
not typically thought of as a hightech corridor. You could slug it out
alone, trying to convince local
prospects not to go outside the area
to better known high-tech meccas
for services and products, or you
could form alliances with other
tech companies in your geographic
market and create a campaign to

transform the areas image. This

would result in increased contracts
for your company from businesses
that might otherwise have looked
to out-of-town companies for
technology solutions.
Forming competitive alliances
with other businesses like yours
in your local area can give you
the combined spending power
you need to market jointly. By
joining forces, you can fund larger
multimedia campaigns either to
change opinions close to home,
or win business from outside the
area by marketing regionally or
nationally.

Win More Referrals.

Friends send you business;

enemies dont. No matter what
kind of company you own, chances
are it differs in many ways from
even its closest competitors. Some
clients or customers will be right for
you; others will find a better fit by
choosing to buy from or work with
someone else. Get to know your
competitors through networking
at business or association events
and earn their trust and mutual
respect. You can formalise your
referral relationships by offering
referral fees in industries where its
appropriate to do so, or simply keep
your arrangements informal and
professional.
14 sm a rt tips series

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

Offer a Joint Product or

Service. Are you struggling to

an alliance
with the
right
competitor
can allow
your
small
business
to come
on strong
and market
itself
as a safe,
more
powerful
solution.

win contracts from large corporate

clients, but losing out because you
lack a big-company image or the
right expertise? Consider forming
a marketing partnership with a
competitor to pitch and win larger
contracts by working together to
provide a product or service.

Strength in numbers
In a competitive bid situation, marketing to a mid-level manager in a
major corporation can be tough for a
small business owner. Put yourself
in the prospects position; he or she
must make safe decisions in order
to protect their job.
So even when a small and
relatively unknown company
appears to provide the best
solutions, a corporate manager may
shy away from it and make a safer
choice by going with a larger or
better-known company. If you face
this challenge, forming an alliance
with the right competitor can allow
your small business to come on
strong and market itself as a safe,
more powerful solution.
sm a rt tips series 15

smart tips: marketing strategies

07 The Marketers Survival Guide

Changes in the marketplace and economy are changing the ways consumers
spend. Here are four ways to cope. By Kim Gordon

hat does it take to survive

and prosper in a difficult,
even hostile, marketing
environment? Take a clue from nature, where success comes down to
survival of the fittest. The most prolific creatures on the planet must be
adaptable, rugged, aggressive and
attractive to conquer all. Now, more
than ever, these essential qualities
are the prerequisites for staying
ahead in a competitive, or depressed, marketplace. Apply these
four survival strategies to your own
marketing programmes.

Adapt to Change.

The changes in the marketplace

and economy are affecting
consumer behaviour and attitudes
nationwide. Products that were once
considered everyday purchases
may now be considered luxuries,
even by affluent consumers.
Organic foods, for example, were
always priced higher than regular
fare, but now as prices on many
other foods have risen and put the
squeeze on consumer pocketbooks,
some consumers say they are
less willing to pay top dollar for the
16 sm a rt tips series

If youre on
a limited
budget,
focus the
greatest
percentage
of your
marketing
budget on
maintaining
a strong
campaign
with those
closest to
the bullseye, and
fewer rands
on prospects
& customers
of lesser
financial
value to your
business.

healthier organics.
How have marketplace changes
affected your customers attitudes
toward what you sell? If youre
unsure, use meetings, phone calls,
surveys or informal roundtable
discussions with customers to get
inside their heads. Your survival
may depend on your ability to
adapt your marketing messages
immediately to fit customers newly
minted mind-set.

Win Marks for Toughness.

Companies with real staying

power become entrenched in the
minds of their customers. They use
ongoing marketing programmes
with consistent themes to
strengthen relationships and
become part of their customers
lives. Now is the time for rugged
dependability, and that means
sticking to a marketing course
that involves clear and frequent
communication. Stop marketing
in fits and starts, and declutter
your campaign by focusing on a
consistent core message.
Imagine your customer and
prospect database displayed over a

w w w. e n t r e pr e n eu r m ag. co. z a

bulls-eye, with the best customers

and hottest prospects closest to the
centre and all others in concentric
circles further and further out. If
youre on a limited budget, focus
the greatest percentage of your
marketing budget on maintaining a
strong campaign with those closest
to the bulls-eye, and fewer rands on
prospects and customers of lesser
financial value to your business.
Your company will remain stronger
during this recession and come
through it in a better position if you
can tough it out by staying top of
mind with your best customers.

Be Strategically Aggressive.

The current marketing

environment mandates a more
aggressive stance. With consumers
and B2B purchasers focused on
price, you need a strategy that
draws customers in and adds
to your bottom line without
giving too much away. You can
increase couponing, special
promotions or customer reward
campaigns, depending on your
type of business.
To beat your competition in this
new environment, assess their programmes. If you havent conducted
a competitive analysis in a while,
take time today to gather advertising materials from your principal
competitors. What are their key

more
i online
direct
marketing
tips

Visit www.
entrepreneurmag.co.za to
view articles
on how to
build quality,
segmented
customer
databases
and execute
on powerful,
targeted
emails.

selling messages and promotions?

Which media do they use to reach
their core audiences? Resist the
temptation to slash prices across
the board and instead look for
ways to offer additional value with
competitive pricing. And undertake
a more aggressive campaign in the
media your principal competitors
use to reach customers.

It Pays to Look Good.

In nature, many male birds

compete for mates with beautiful
displays, dances and songs. Like
them, it doesnt hurt to do a song
and dance to stand out from the
crowd during these months when
many buyers are cutting back
on purchases. Its never been
more important to have polished,
professional materials. Businessto-business buyers and consumers
alike want to feel theyre making
safe purchases, particularly for
bigger-ticket items. They also want
to know that the companies from
which they choose to buy will
support them post-sale.
Update and streamline your
website to contain deep content and
provide customer service. Review all
of your sales tools and marketing
materials for outdated content and
graphics, and bring them up-to-date.
Looking successful will help bring
greater success your way.
sm a rt tips series 17