"The 12 Days of Business" Day 3: Tips To Grow Your Business On

“The 12 Days of Business”

“On the Third Day of Business, My Consultant Said To Me: Have Three Fresh Ideas”

You now know who your customers are, have a couple ways to introduce yourself and your products, and it is time to think a little outside the box and start getting clients and customers. As I have mentioned before, with more and more competition, it is time to set yourself and your company apart and here are a couple of suggestions that just might work for you. You can use these ideas, or come up with a few fresh ones of your own. Brainstorm with your team if you have one, you never know where the next great idea might come from.

When launching a new company, a lot of businesses will have a ribbon cutting or an open house. How about launching it with a community service event? Does your product or service benefit someone in some way? Does it impact an end-user? Take your business to the end user and launch it there to create a more press-worthy event. This could entail spending a bit more money in product or service giveaways, but the publicity and goodwill can generate a lot of future business and a good buzz about your company. Examples could include bringing your food (restaurant opening,) products such as hats, shirts, golf balls, etc (retail opening,) services such as marketing, tree service, cleaning service, etc. (service opening,) to an end-user with free samples and examples and having the press cover the event. You could bring your food to a small nursing or retirement home, your products to a local non profit agency or youth organization sports team, and demonstrate your service to someone in need.

Another idea is to utilize your social networking that we already discussed, in the form of creative contests. Having contests and giveaways that are only available or mentioned through your twitter account, blog, website, newsletter or facebook page can really give you great feedback on how these areas are working for you. Try to utilize only one method at a time to find your best information gathering sources. How about a scavenger hunt using GPS coordinates for clues to products or services? If the promotion is big enough and clever enough, you can find some local press coverage for it as well. The key to any of these types of promotions is planning and follow-through. Take the time to plan the event well in advance to take care of any media, including monthly magazines and other media deadlines. It is very important to follow through with all promotions and announce winners and updates as they occur. A fresh and clever idea does no good if nobody knows about it, and there is no community or customer/client buy-in.

A third fresh idea could be to find a partner to team up with for mutual promotion. How does your product or service tie-in with other companies in your area? Can you combine a marketing campaign that will benefit all of the businesses involved? I am very happy to see some local cooperation in my television media. Competition is not always a bad thing. 4 of our Valley’s local restaurants teamed up to create television commercials that featured each of their chef’s or owners and do you know what happened? Each of their respective businesses picked up sales even though the ads had their competition included. If you have faith in your products or service and believe either they are the best or among the best, don’t be afraid to combine resources with others in your field. Why do you think you find a lot of the major chain restaurants within a few blocks of each other and not all over town, miles apart? The competition actually drives business to your vicinity and then your reputation for excellence brings a piece of the pie to you. Consumers actually enjoy having choices and will share the wealth if they believe you are worth it. For example, what if your company sold coffee products? You could find a company in the area that sells quality 5 gallon bottled water service that would be perfect to be used in brewing your coffee. A joint marketing campaign could be created to feature both of your products as the best in the area and help drive sales to both companies at half the marketing cost.

A fresh idea is key to growing your company and keeping it alive in your consumer’s minds. A good marketing consultant may be able to give you ideas you have not thought of before, or guide you in the implementation of an idea you have wanted to do, but were not quite sure how to pull off. Enjoy the holidays as we continue to bring you the “12 Days of Business.” Look for a new entry tomorrow.