Thoughts on Marketing…

This morning I read a short article about Chrsyler and their new campaign to sell the new Dodge Ram pickup.

Because of the price of fuel, truck sales are down – way down.  But they aren’t giving up. Instead, creative officer David Lubars was quoted as saying “We know the amount of people out there who are going to buy a truck is going to shrink. It’s a smaller group than usual, and we have to get all of them.”

Wow. That’s an ambitious goal. But why not adopt it for your own business?

Does it sound mean, or even greedy? I don’t think so, because you couldn’t help your competitors thrive even if you tried.

You know that when times get tight, a whole lot of them are going to curl up in a ball and hide, afraid to spend a dime on marketing because they think there’s no use. So when you take the opposite attitude, and begin to market aggressively, you aren’t hurting them, you’re only helping yourself.

AND – you’re helping your prospective customers. They’ll be dealing with an up-beat positive person, and that will help them to be more up-beat and positive as well. Energies do rub off on other people, you know.

Start thinking about that. You aren’t Chrysler and (I assume) don’t have billions to spend on a media blitz to market yourself.  What can you do instead?

Of course I believe that sharpening your message to show your prospects the positive benefits of doing business with you comes first. The words you use make all the difference in any marketing effort – be it yours or Chrysler’s.

Then consider all the places you advertise and focus only on those places that have given you a good return in the past.

Then reach out for all the low or no cost marketing opportunities on the web. Craig’s List comes to mind, and there are plenty of others.

Get your web site up to speed with search engine optimization – and strive to come up on the first page in an organic search, so you don’t have to pay for clicks. Make sure your landing page reaches out to visitors with the benefits you offer them. Give them something in exchange for their email addresses.

Then implement a solid email marketing campaign using an autoresponder to stay in touch with all your customers and prospects – and encourage them to forward your messages to their friends. Give them a reason to do so by including valuable information – or even a tasteful joke or two.

In short, stretch the marketing dollars you do have by focusing and using them wisely.

You can do it! And if you need help making your marketing message sparkle, write me. Helping other people make more money is what I do.

Yours for success,

Marte