Marketing is something every business must do to stay in business. A little imagination will make your marketing work better and more economically. This is a selection of some cost-effective ‘tried and true’ strategies that work for SMEs.

Be charitable to yourself

Too many firms donate money to charity and feel they’ve done something for their business. But what if they’d donated their own products or services instead? A donation like this not only benefits the charity but opens up a chance to gain additional business for yourself - and that makes the business a winner too.

Business cards become advertisements

Take a look at your business card and ask: “Is it selling anything?” Think of it as a little billboard that has two sides. The reverse side can be a list of your products or services, or even carry a special offer for favored customers. Be sure your business card makes it easy to get in touch with you. It should include your street address, telephone number, email and website address. 

Invoices can bring in repeat business

When you are sending out invoices you have an opportunity to get some repeat business. You’ve already paid for the envelope and postage; just add some promotional content before it’s mailed.  It costs very little to print a leaflet making your customers a once-only offer.

Convert your contacts to customers

Most of the people you know are probably potential customers, especially if you’re giving them your business. Next time you see them, hand out your business card. Ask if there’s anything you can do for them at the time, and let them know you’re available to look after their requirements (or look after the requirements of their friends/associates/customers and so on).  This works well if you’re having a special offer and you share it with them. They might be somebody else’s customers now but will give you an opportunity because they know you.

Don’t cut prices – add value

One of the biggest mistakes to make is to cut prices without a full understanding of all the consequences. You might move more of the product, but your profits are naturally a lot less and it’s hard to get the price back up again.  Instead, do what smart marketers do and add value to the product. You might be able to bundle a slow moving product with something more popular and create a top value package or bonus as part of a special offer that’s available for a limited time only.

Keep in touch with existing customers

When somebody walks through your door and makes a purchase they’ve given you a chance to acquire a customer for life. That is, if you know how to keep in touch with them.  So if capturing customer details isn’t a usual part of the transaction process develop some other way of getting customers to offer them, particularly contact details. Some businesses offer a guarantee for whatever they sell. Customers need to fill out a form for this and it can be a source of valuable information. In-store contests are another way to gain contact details from completed entries. Then use them to develop a direct mail campaign. A regular email is one way to keep in touch, or perhaps a regular newsletter sent out to their home addresses. These can be used for a lot of purposes, from generating awareness of pending sales and special offers, to invitations to product demonstrations and events such as fashion parades.

Become an expert

No matter what business you’re in, you have a specialized body of knowledge not shared by everyone out there. Try writing an article on your area of expertise for the local newspaper. Pick a topic of interest to the paper’s readers and provide some useful tips and tricks that would be helpful to know.  Just provide the facts and with a bit of luck you’ll get in print, perhaps even with a photograph in the story.  Everybody likes dealing with an expert and it could be you.

Knowing your customers – really knowing who they are and what they want from you - can mean the difference between having a growing business and having one that gradually slips away from its source of income. A business that knows its customers can anticipate opportunities as well as problems and have strategies ready for whatever may arise.   For a small and flexible business this presents a great opportunity.  It gives you a major advantage over larger competitors who don’t consider that knowing their customers is important. To gain this advantage you’ll have to put in some time and effort. However, it will pay terrific dividends in the long run.

Is your business culture customer focused?

Getting to know your customers will only happen when it’s encouraged by the culture of your firm.  Without this focus, team and management alike will not be able to see the opportunities before them, nor will they detect any problems about to arise.  If the culture in your business does not encourage a sincere customer focus it’s time to begin a program of cultural change.

Get some facts together

Any business will benefit from regularly holding a Customer Advisory Board. This is a focus group run with a representative sample of your customers.  Bring a group of six to ten customers together into a room to gain insights into what motivates them to purchase from you - and a lot more.  You want this process to find the answers to some pretty important questions about what advantages they see you as having  over your rivals, or where you need to do some catching up.

It’s worth investing in the services of an outside facilitator to run the Customer Advisory Board; they will advise you on what to be asking about and will provide an objective report of the proceedings.  And being outsiders they won’t be tempted to get defensive over any criticism that  comes up. That sort of reaction by a facilitator only runs the process off the tracks.  Making up the sample of customers to invite along, deciding on the questions, and analyzing the data obtained will really work a lot better if handled by somebody with experience in running Customer Advisory Boards.

But for suggestions on what to ask about, such as quality of after sales service and so on, there’s no better source than your own team members who deal directly with customers. They’ll hear the good and the bad before anyone else and will know what issues already concern customers.

Do something with what you learn

You can use your findings to identify areas where urgent attention is needed. You can also see where you’re already doing things to the satisfaction of your customers.   Knowing your customers and their needs is an ongoing process. Once you’ve set your benchmarks for the level of quality you want to put into customer service you can begin a program of regular checking with customers to measure your progress as it happens.

Keep in touch with your customers

Give your customers a feeling of participation and let them know you care about their feelings and are working to deliver value. Just as product development can, and should be, an ongoing process, so should the gathering of customer information. With a PC and one of the many simple customer relationship applications around these days you can create and maintain an excellent customer information database. Names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and any other key details, even birthdays, can be recorded and used to generate reminders to you.  Keeping in touch with your customers has never been easier.

Don’t forget prospects

You actually have a lot of potential customers among those who have done business with you in the past but have become inactive, as well as all those who may never have bought from you - yet. So customers can be both actual and potential, and you should be constantly stretching out to the potentials.

It really pays to give your customers and prospects ongoing reminders that you value their business.  Newsletters, special offers, and birthday cards – all demonstrate that you appreciate their previous visits and are looking forward to their return.   Whatever it costs you in time, effort and money to really know your customers and give them service and value that will retain them, is worth it – keeping customers is the best investment you can make.

2.   Deals on wheels – and elsewhere

Every vehicle in your company is a mobile billboard. Put your business name and Web address on magnetic signs or vinyl stickers and put them on your cars, vans and trucks. This not only promotes the website, it conveys an impression of the business being technologically up-to-date. Work clothes are a natural place to put a Web address. That can extend to safety items like protective helmets, to work items like toolboxes, and large pieces of equipment such as compressors and bulldozers, and to casual clothes like T-shirts and baseball caps.

3.   Don’t forget your website address when listing in directories

It’s amazing just how many advertisements in the Yellow Pages or newspapers don’t show a Web address. Many people, perhaps you do it yourself even, first find a company’s ad that appeals to them, then want to check their website to get more information before making contact.  Advertisements in newspapers, magazines, on billboards and on TV can easily carry your Web address. Take every opportunity to get it in front of the world, especially when you’re paying for the privilege of advertising your other contact information already.

4.   Leverage the value of business contacts by  exchanging links

Look for the sites of businesses that are complementary to yours, or who you deal with, and contact them about adding a link to your business from their site. Naturally you would agree to reciprocate if asked. If you make hot dogs find someone who makes hot dog buns and help each other build business.

5.   Newsgroups offer a marketing channel

If you haven’t already heard about newsgroups you’ve missed out on one of the internet’s major sources of information.   There are thousands of newsgroups on just about every subject imaginable. For example, if you search the topics under ‘Microsoft’ you’ll find at least one newsgroup and often several for every product the company makes. These newsgroups are great sources of knowledge about using some of the more complex features of programs as well as fixes for common problems.  Do a search for newsgroups related to your own business and when you find an opportunity to join the discussion, by providing advice on your area of business activity for example, make your contribution and put your Web address in the email signature.

6.   Answering the call

Most businesses have an answering machine with a message that can easily carry the Web address as part of the script.    Your voicemail on both the business landline and cell phone can also incorporate your Web address. “This is XYZ Industries. We’re sorry we can’t take your call right now but please leave a message after the tone. You can also visit us on www.xyz.com.”

7.   Promote yourself to promote your site

The internet is a very hungry medium. It’s a huge consumer of information as well as being the greatest knowledge resource we’ve ever had.  This gives budding authors a chance to be read around the world; without spending a cent on the costs of ink and paper.  It also gives experts on any subject a forum to share their expertise with others.

When your team is short on skills you are the one who it ends up costing – literally, since low skill levels put a cap on how productive your business is, and that goes straight to the bottom line. For this reason many SMEs are considering how to improve the skills levels of their team within a reasonable budget. Here are some ideas on how to get started on developing a training program for your business.

Determine the training needs of your business

Managers and supervisors should identify the skills needed by each team member to perform his or her duties.  These skills should be related to the overall strategies of the business to see where skill levels need to be improved or entirely new competencies added.  You then have a list of direct links between the objectives of the business and the skills required to achieve them. Gaps in this list need to be filled.

Set the program’s objectives

Your training program will most likely have a variety of objectives. Some will be to correct skills shortages that have been identified. Others can be related to optimizing the abilities of individual team members so they perform their tasks more proficiently.  Program outcomes should be specific and measurable. Goals should be understood by managers, supervisors and the people selected for training themselves.

Select the right people to be trained

You need to assess whether the people you have in mind for training are actually likely to be able to make the step up. If your assessment is that it is unlikely they will be capable of this, then save yourself a lot of trouble and money and select somebody who will be. It would also be pointless to train someone who had already undergone training in the same tasks unless retraining is required for a specific reason.

Choose the person to do the training

Because the success of training depends to such a great degree on the person doing it, your trainer should be knowledgeable and well qualified. Not everyone makes a good trainer, even people who know the job or process perfectly may not have the skills to pass the knowledge on successfully. Being able to train is a skill in itself and it’s often best to go outside your business to a professional instructor for this function.

Create a good learning environment

A training environment should permit the training to be carried on without interruption, and not interfere with any aspect of the training process. It may be necessary to conduct the training away from your business premises in a location such as a hotel or club conference room. Be sure the instructor has all the tools needed for the training session.

Develop the program content

You know what the trainee needs to learn, who will do the training and where it will take place. Next you have to compile the elements of the training program.  There’s a wealth of pre-written training materials available from educational suppliers and specialist providers. You might find it easy to obtain high quality resources that meet your training requirements without needing to reinvent the wheel – especially since the development of training materials is likely to be the most costly part of the exercise. You can even consider supporting your employees sign up for courses offered by training organizations.

Implement a training evaluation system

It is important that you are able to determine the success or otherwise of your training program by comparing the outcomes against the goals you started with.   Evaluations at the conclusion of training, and subsequently, of trainees by their supervisors and managers should be made so you can assess if the training has led to improved performance and an increase in skills. 

The training process should not be undertaken lightly – your training program must be well structured if people are to take it seriously and commit to benefiting from it.

“Never mistake motion for action."

- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)