Successfully advertise your small business

Successfully advertise your small business

As the world gradually emerges from the lockdown hell it has been buried in; businesses are going to need to reassert their place in whatever market they operate in.

Across a vast range of industries and sectors, a whole new commercial landscape has emerged and new ways of working, like Zoom conferencing and Teams, have changed the game.

LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and even TikTok I have, for many, become the default ways of putting their goods and services out there into the wider world.

The challenge is how to mix your digital marketing and footprint with physical advertising and promotion – all without breaking the bank and getting a good return on investment.

Promotional products like mugs, pens and scratch pads have had a place in promotion for decades. To this day, you’ll find them everywhere from your local bank foyer to your doctor and dentist’s surgeries. It’s all because they still work really well.

Lurking, In the background, though, are some modern considerations.

We are all aware of the mountains of rubbish in landfills and the underwater stack of plastic that has accumulated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Evidence of our greed and waste is everywhere.

These days, using eco-friendly promotional items which are sustainable is a must.

Far from recognising your promotion as a part kind gift, part advertisement, you might leave yourself open to accusations of promoting the global waste problem instead of your company.

Thankfully, using sustainable promotional products is getting easier. Many companies carry a range of things like reusable coffee cups which can have your logo, website details, and even a QR code on them.

Other useful ideas which are unlikely to be binned in a hurry include USB flash drives, tote bags, and stationery made from recycled paper.

Putting a little thought into how you promote yourself will pay dividends.

Buying your earth-friendly promotional products from an Australian made manufacturer makes sense. The air miles involved in transporting goods from China or India, and the carbon footprint this creates, will mark you out as a considerate and caring business.

Promotional bags

You could even go one better by buying custom-made items from local artisans and smaller producers and suppliers.

Promotional bags have always been a great favourite of promotional material manufacturers and suppliers. Unfortunately, these have often been plastic bags used as giveaways at exhibitions and trade shows. Replacing these with sustainably produced bags from materials like hessian and cotton is a wonderful alternative.

Of course, advertising your business involves far more than giving away “swag.”

Through-channel marketing is another approach that many businesses use.

Here, they have a channel marketing strategy that involves combining things like local marketing and marketing automation in their distributed marketing campaigns.

Getting channel partners involved in a marketing program of this sort reduces costs – and the collaboration can lead to some fresh approaches to social media campaigns and direct mailouts.

Management involved in this kind of brand promotion uses multi-content platforms to promote their brands and heighten public awareness of what they do. From a sales point of view, it is a logical and cost-efficient way of promoting your business to the wider world.

One contentious aspect of multichannel marketing is that of call centres.

Who hasn’t been annoyed when they’re busy and out of the blue; get a phone call that interrupts them by trying to sell something neither needed, wanted or asked for?

Outbound calling and advertising of this sort need careful consideration if your brand, and the way we perceive it in the marketplace, is to be preserved.

There is a very fine line between being pushy and being annoying to potential customers, and this is something that all companies should remember when setting up deals with call centres.

One of the key aspects to consider when using outbound cold calling is making sure that you have good solid sales scripts.

These should ask open-ended questions of potential customers and be written in a professional and friendly way.

Cold calling scripts are notoriously difficult to write. It is best to engage a professional sales scriptwriter who is familiar with the psychology and thought processes behind sales call success.

We can only achieve effective cold calling with a good team, ongoing and up-to-date sales training, collaboration, and seamless coordination between your marketing, sales, and management teams.

It is really important to avoid friction and competition between departments. Sales reps who are demoralised at how the follow-up is done on a product sale may become disillusioned and unenthusiastic about selling your product.

Knowing that they cannot make promises which will be honoured at the sharp end of the deal will be a huge disincentive for them.

Most companies use some kind of telemarketing script template with call script examples, but it is important to make sure that the sales team using them has the flexibility to improvise and weave their own personality into the spiel. This way they don’t sound like robots to potential clients and customers.

Nothing is more off-putting.

Each sales script must be original and designed for your particular industry. For example, cold calling scripts for financial advisers will differ completely from cold calling scripts for restaurants or real estate.

Conversely, using such scripting techniques for inbound calls, like complaints or customer services, is a good way of turning upset customers into happy ones.

Having a good team across the problems and addressing the issues with kindness and attention will pay dividends when it comes to the reviews and feedback a company receives.

These aspects of through-marketing are quite specialised, with their own channel marketing software and channel automation systems. Getting hold of a good consultant to guide you through the “what is channel marketing?” question is vital if this type of channel advertising is new to you.

It is so easy to get carried away and spend a fortune on multichannel marketing automation without properly looking at how TCMA marketing would apply to your business and where.

Please remember that to develop a strong brand; you would have to consider other aspects as well.

For instance, developing personal and professional contacts are also extremely important to create brand awareness. In an informal setting, using Cuban cigars and Boveda humidity control can help you connect with people through your shared interests in cigars and other activities. Who knows – you might end up with a new potential deal or discover a new business opportunity?

We hope this brief look at some ideas has helped and wish you the best of luck with all of your marketing initiatives in 2022.

Business