Small Business Marketing Strategies

Retail Consultant Jerry Robertson interviews
marketing consultant Peter Geisheker

Jerry: What is the most important direct mail tip?

Peter: Get your envelope opened. If your envelope is not opened, the prospect cannot read your sales letter and buy what you are selling.


Jerry: Why should you make your direct mail envelopes lumpy?

Peter: Direct mail envelopes should be "lumpy" by having a free gift in the envelope to create curiosity. When a person receives a lumpy envelope, curiosity takes over and they open the envelope to see what is inside. As I stated, the most important part of a direct mail piece is getting your envelope opened, and by making your envelope lumpy, it almost guarantees that your envelope will be opened.


Jerry: Why should a small business have a strong money back guarantee?

Peter: It is to remove all financial risk a customer feels when doing business with you. People don't want to be taken advantage of by spending their hard earned money on a bad product or a bad service. By offering a money back guarantee, you take that risk away from the customer so they know if they are not pleased with the product or service they buy from you, they can get their money back.


Jerry: What are three low cost effective marketing strategies for your business?

Peter: Direct mail is one of the most effective marketing tools available and compared to buying display advertising or hiring a sales person, it is fairly inexpensive. Another very low cost strategy is to write a news release and fax it to the media that covers your your industry and/or your local marketplace.


Jerry: How do you get testimonials from your customers?

Peter: The easiest way to get a testimonial is to call your customers and ask them how they liked the product/service they bought from you. If they are very happy, ask them what they liked most about your product/service. Then, as they are talking, write down what they are saying. Once your customer is done talking, tell your customer that you loved their answer and you would really appreciate it if you can use what they said as a testimonial. Almost always your customer will give you permission.


Jerry: What is a Guerrilla Marketing Plan?

Peter: Developed by Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, www.gmarketing.com, a Guerrilla Marketing Plan is a very condensed version of a corporate marketing plan. It focuses primarily on the most powerful income producing strategies needed to generate sales. While a Corporate Marketing Plan may be 20+ pages long and full of detailed market research and competitive analysis, a Guerrilla Marketing Plan is short (1-2 pages) and focuses on the marketing strategies you will implement to produce sales immediately.


Jerry: Name some of the more unique reasons for a small business to issue a press release?


Peter:

* Offering an innovative new product or service that will change the world

* Holding a free seminar/clinic

* Your business is doing something "new, crazy, insane, bizarre, very funny, or just plain out of the ordinary".


Jerry: What is needed to get your press release read?

Peter: To get your press release read, it must be very unique and special and shocking if possible. Remember, the media wants interesting human interest NEWS STORIES, NOT more boring advertising disguised as being a press release. Your press release must be something that makes people go "wow!". It must be real news. If your press release is just an advertisement, it will be thrown out.

For an example of how to make a boring press release exciting, one of my clients had a new software product they wanted to release. It was a cool product and if I had written a standard press release just about the product, it might have gotten a little media attention, but not enough to make any type of an impact. The problem was there was not enough of a news interest factor. So, I decided to do something crazy to make the press release a much more interesting news story instead of just another boring new software release. So, what I did to spice it up was this. The company CEO had a puppy that he brought to the office. As people love reading stories about animals, I decided to make the puppy the focus of the news release. So, the news release told a story of how a curious puppy was the inspiration for creating this innovative software product. By bring the puppy angle into the press release, it immediately became a human interest story that grabbed the attention of the media and got my client a lot of free press both in print and on the radio.

Jerry Robertson is an expert retail business consultant and author can be reached at http://www.jrobconsult.com.

Peter Geisheker is the CEO of The Geisheker Group Marketing Company. Peter specializes in developing and implementing strategic marketing programs for small businesses. For more information and a free marketing plan ebook, please visit:
http://www.marketing-consulting-company.com.