Marketing for Summer
The weather is getting warmer and we’re all dusting off our summer gear ready to show a bit more flesh. It is sometimes a fairly slow season at work, and an ideal time to focus some attention on our marketing efforts, reconnect with our customers and generate some ideas to grow our business. Here are a number of simple things you can do to help make this happen:
Talk to your customers, and more importantly listen.
Pick a few customers, pick up the phone, and pick their brains. With no hidden agenda (don’t try to sell them anything), simply ask them what you do well, what you could do better, how you solve their problems, and what new issues they are likely to be facing in the future. Have a few key questions prepared to keep the dialogue moving. If you’d like to gather a number of customers together (particularly if you know they’ll talk favourably to each other about you) why not hold a seminar about a subject they’ll be interested in? They will learn something useful to their business and in the process you’re sure to learn something about your customers that will help with your marketing.
Ask your customers who you should be talking to.
One fairly simple way of getting some new leads is asking your customers who else you should be talking to. They are bound to know some people that could benefit from the products and services you offer. And if they are pleased with what you provide, they are likely to be happy to recommend you to others. It’s important to remember to make sure the customer is happy for you to use their name when you contact the new prospect, or better still ask your happy customer to provide a direct introduction for you.
Use the language your customers use.
Look at your web site: imagine you are a customer. Do you keep your web site fresh so that when customers visit they always learn something new and interesting about what you’ve been up to or what you’re planning? Do you have a customer newsletter, either printed or electronic, to share information and open up the channels of communication? Have you developed some case studies to help customers understand how your solutions will work for them? Most importantly, do you use the words and phrases they use, rather than making up your own terminology? The first thing customers want to see is some reflection of their needs and problems.
It’s amazing how it’s often the small, simple actions that can have an impact on our business. Just try these: you may just surprise yourself and position your company for a busy summer.