This is the beginning of my marketing tips of the day.
No I’m not going to give you crappy advice and tell you to give me your email address to get 10 more bad ideas. Or try to sell you the 4000 ways to make a gazillion either (I hate those sites as much as the next person). So I am going to do the apparently unthinkable… I’m going to post a simple, tested marketing tip every day that you can use to improve your marketing. And all you have to do is read and decide if you want to try it.

The Business Card

In “Get the right business card” I discussed the prime real estate on the back of business cards; this blank canvas that can be used for so many things.

The tip is to put something on the back of the card that will make the customer contact you. A coupon is perfect. Come up with what service or product you can give a new customer for free or at a discount, make sure it has value and watch the calls come in.

Benefits

1. Often the business card is hard to track how useful it is. (Especially if you hand out a lot). With a traceable metric like a free product or service given, you will quickly learn how effective your canvassing is when you hand them out.

2. You get in touch with the customer. This is the key issue to get future sales, once the ice has been broken. You have the potential for return business. Providing that the customer got the experience he or she was expecting from the coupon.

3. If you collect the card, you can have the customer give you their contact information on the back of it.

Drawbacks

1. You’ll have to get new business cards - This is an expense, but actually not a very high one considering the return of investment I’ve seen using this technique. You can get 1000 double sided cards printed for just under $70 if you look around a little.

2. There is a cost involved in giving something away for free. However, providing you do a little homework we can beat this cost. The trick is to come up with a product or service offering that is either discounted to break even at worst. Or have something that will yield a high conversion rate to return business.

 3. The customer loses the business card if you collect it. Overcome this by either just stamping it, or better yet replacing it with a new one without the coupon. But maybe something else on the back that will bring them back for more.

Press Releases are becoming popular marketing tools to many businesses. Not only does it provide a chance to get some great and low cost coverage through news outlets. It also helps accomplish what most businesses are looking for right now - Search Engine Optimization.

The SEO Angle

A well written press release provides you with increased visibility for your Website. Once it gets posted, it will add a series of keywords to your listing on search engines. Do this enough times and you will be much more likely to end up on the front page of Google, Yahoo and the others. Because it is a relevant text, this is a perfect White Hat approach to SEO.

An Image of importance

When you release news, you are projecting an image of importance about your company to the public. News are by definition about something that people should know, the mere fact that it is a press release makes it appear more important than basic Ad Copy. It becomes a matter worth noting. Press releases are powerful because of just this tool. It is information that in itself isn’t trying to sell the reader anything. When you are not trying to sell, the reader will drop their guard and note the information much more readily.

Communicate and Motivate

Press releases are a form of communicating, if you post them on your own website, chances are that customers will read them and know more about your company and what you are accomplishing. By having a steady stream of Press Releases appearing, you are showing that your company is on the move. This creates an image of success that will not be lost on your customers.
You can also use press releases to communicate milestones, new hires etc. When this happens, you are sending a strong message to the employees. Showing employees that they are important and that their accomplishments are noteworthy is a great way to build moral.

Get going
Press Releases are powerful tools, well written and newsworthy releases can give you more bang for your buck than most other forms of marketing activities. You will build awareness, improve your brand and build your business without having to spend a fortune doing it.
There is little or no reason to miss an opportunity like the press release, the cost is low and the rewards potentially very high.

You are a startup and/or an entrepreneur. Money is tight and you are thinking about how to make the most of your marketing budget.
The business card should be your first step. It’s like a pair of pants; you never leave home without them, and just like pants, even though having them won’t mean you are the new mogul. Not having them WILL make your customers think you may be just a little strange.
Do yourself the favor of getting professional looking clean business cards. By all means, be original if that is something that you think describes you and your company. However, there are a few do’s and don’ts to consider.

1. Don’t use “cool” materials.

Plastic, metal, cloth, even the high gloss cardstock will definitely make a statement. However, you can’t write on them. And writing on your card is something that you will want to do at one time or another. This is something that I will guarantee you. If you have a good quality cardstock for your cards, writing an extra phone number, a personal note or something else on it will be easy. Try that one on a piece of Tartan Cloth.

2. Don’t get fancy with the text.Use clear and readable fonts, try to stick to one or max two font choices for the card. There is nothing worse than needing bright task lighting and a magnifier to find out what your phone number is. It might be a conversation topic, but it won’t help you get a sale when the customer tries to get in touch with you.

3. Avoid the photo background

The photo background can if used correctly be very effective. However, more often than not I get cards where the picture and text haven’t been placed with consideration to each other, making some parts of the text disappear in the background. Again, not the thing you want from a business card. It also normally means you get a glossy card – the ones you can’t write on.

4. Use the real estate

If you owned a lot in Manhattan, you would quickly find something to put on it. Just letting it sit empty wouldn’t make any sense to anyone. Incredibly, most people leave the back of their cards blank. This is prime real estate; you can put any number of things there to make you stand out. Anything from a company description, your mission or vision statement, a motivational saying or quote, the potential is endless.
One of my favorites for startup businesses is to put a “coupon” on the back of the card. This not only makes you stand out, but it makes your prospects more likely to actually call you.

5. Get help

Almost all of us know someone with artistic talent, and professional graphic designers are not that uncommon either. Maybe you know one that you can get help from. Maybe they will want you to pay them but you’ll get a reduced rate, maybe they will give you a boost for free.
If nothing else, ask as many people as possible what they think of the card before you order it. Do your own marketing research before you spend the money. You might not be seeing what the rest of the world sees.
As a perfect example, I was recently working with a startup company that did their own design work. The logo looked great in full size, but when scaled down to fit on a business card, one part of it stood out to look like a certain part of the male anatomy. If they were selling Viagra, this could have been a fun trick. For a web design company it might not have been the best.

6. Pick your poison

There are plenty of places online that will print good looking business cards for free (charging only shipping and handling is common. They are definitely a viable option. They will create much better quality cards than your home printer can normally spit out, and is an extremely strong cost/benefit solution.

If you have a little more available in your budget and want more design options, it may actually be a better investment to get a designed card and print them at a local printer. This however normally involves design fees as well as much higher printing costs.

Regardless of how you do it, not having a business card would be your worst mistake.

Marketing, and specifically advertising has for a long time worked with the concept of AIDAS.

Attention – Being aware of the product or service
Interest – Seeing how it solves a particular problem or need
Desire – Wanting to solve that problem or need
Action – Obtaining it
Satisfaction – Perceiving that the purchase had value

Customer value is directly linked to perceived satisfaction. It is important to realize that not every purchase is made thinking that the product is the best one in the marketplace. Satisfaction is obtained when the customer feels that the purchase met or exceeded their expectations.

This is all connected to trust. The customer makes a purchase based on a cost/benefit calculation, and when they evaluate the benefits, they rely on the communication of the company producing or selling the product. This trust is placed in that the advertising, sales pitches, and product descriptions are true and honest.

Once we realize that trust is imperative to the perception of value, the need for an ethical approach becomes obvious. You cannot sell value without trust, and you cannot gain real trust without being ethical in the presentation of your product or service.

Perception is Reality

In order for the customer to perceive value, it is important to know that their expectations are not exceeding the capabilities of the product or service. This can actually mean informing a customer that their expectations are too high. Although this might sound like a death blow to an automatic sale, this is nothing compared to the long term effects of having displeased customers. It is better to educate the customer who is in the process of making a decision and possibly lose a sale than to have them experience a lack of satisfaction and the resulting bad relationship because the purchase did not measure up to the expectations.

The White Knight Intervention

The reason for not making a sale that is unable to deliver satisfaction to the customer is called the white knight syndrome. Once a customer feels that they were saved from making a mistake by the sales staff they have gained a level of trust that is hard to achieve in any other way. Losing the initial sale by informing the customer about the true performance of the product or service will build a level of trust that has a much greater potential of bringing future return business and referrals.

To build the trust, there are five stages of communication that takes place:

1. Initial communication - Attention and Interest phase

This stage of communication is seller initiated. It includes advertising, sales copy, product descriptions, blurbs and all the other things that address the first two letters of AIDAS.This communication is normally one way. Printed, recorded or otherwise distributed to a customer that at this point isn’t communicating back. It can also be a cold call, or an unplanned sales visit.

2. Customer initiated contact – The desire phase

This is when the customer somehow approaches the seller. At this point, they are either looking for more information, or are preparing to make a purchase. Achieving consensus now is imperative; this is when the customer asks questions as to quality, performance and price. This is the time when the seller can make sure that the customer is in fact purchasing a product that is equal to their expectations, and the time for a white knight intervention steering the customer away from a purchase that will result in a bad experience. This communication can be either one or two way. If the customer does his or her research outside the control of the seller, it is again imperative that the information available matches the true performance of the product or service. If the customer has contacted the seller, the information should be just as honest, but the benefit here is that the seller can ask questions back, ensuring that consensus exists.

During this phase, ensure that disclosure exists for the customer to get a fair perception of the real purchase.

3. Action – The Sale

During the actual transaction, the real last chance of ensuring customer value exists. This is not the time to disclose additional fees, extras that are needed etc. If that occurs when the customer has decided to make a purchase - the trust is lost immediately. This signals that the seller understands that the deal itself isn’t so good. So they chose not to disclose the true cost of the item. Many companies employ this approach in order to make a sale, but do so knowing that return business is not likely.

4. Satisfaction – Customer Feedback

A seller interested in long term relationships with its customers should pay specific attention to the follow up. Give the customer a chance to communicate their feelings after the purchase. And should their perceived value not be up to standards, be prepared to make corrections. Listening to a customer that has already spent their money in order to ensure that they experienced the value and satisfaction is the one of the best ways to build trust. When a customer has a legitimate problem, be swift and reply with force to correct this problem and your trust will be raised even higher.

5. Follow up

To nurture a customer relationship, maintaining contact with the customer is imperative. The ways to build return business through value added offers differs from industry to industry. If you are selling cars, oil changes, tire wear and other maintenance can be predicted. Contacting the customers at the right time with deals that are of additional great value to them will continue to build trust. If you are a roofer, keeping in touch before seasonal changes with maintenance offers will make sense.

In short, satisfaction relies on the perception of value obtained and customer value is the one main reason that customers return. Return business should always be on the forefront of every deal since it is much less expensive in time and effort to obtain.

Alienating a customer through lack of value can for many businesses be the death blow. Their customer base remains essentially the same, but the available customers keep declining because the unsatisfied customer will create negative publicity for the seller. The word of mouth damage that can be caused by bad relationships is not to be underestimated.

The importance of value will only increase as time goes on because of the internet and the increased customer capacity to write reviews and warnings to other potential customers.

A lot of people confuse networking for the excuse we give the boss to sneak out early and have a beer with our friends or play a round of golf on a Thursday afternoon.

Networking can be these things; however, it is much more effective if we approach events with the clear mindset of networking. Understanding what we can and cannot do will help immensely when we are building a network. A network is people who know people. The person you talk to may not be your next customer, partner, employee, or anything else. But their friends very well could be. This is not about selling your service or product to everyone, it is about selling yourself. Making them remember you the next time someone needs your particular service or product.

1. Relax and have fun

People network to meet pleasant people and talk about business and other things as well. If you can relax and have fun, you become much more pleasant to be around and that will be its own reward.

2. Present who you really are.

Networking is more about building connections and friendship than sales. You are creating a connection that is going to be built on trust, How often do you give someone you don’t trust a reference?

3. Don’t spread yourself too thin.

Many people make the mistake of passing out 300 business cards. The smart networker works in small groups, getting a chance to remember who he or she meets and deals with. If you are looking for coverage, nail flyers all over town. If you throw your cards around - others throw them away.

I make much more business from a networking event where I focus on a small group and make them really feel that I care about their business and that I want to help them.

4. Talk to people, Don’t sell

People participate in networking events because it is a low pressure social environment. By all means be proud of what you and your business can do. But don’t make every conversation about how they should buy what you are peddling. It rarely works, and it gets really annoying to most. Remember, you are here to get them to sell you to their networks, not to get them to buy right this second.

5. Learn the introduction trick

It’s easier to have a conversation when you are being introduced to another person. Learn this trick yourself and you will quickly build another skill. “Bill! This is Jacqueline, Jackie is an accountant…. Bill owns a printing business” A sentence like that will accomplish more than you think.

1. Bill and Jackie both think you’re a really nice person to have around.
2, You just repeated everyone’s name to yourself. Which will help you remember it later - and knowing their name next time you see them is a huge bonus.

6. Notes and Bathrooms

I use the bathroom break to pull out a notepad and make quick notes on paper. If you don’t have impeccable memory, find a way to do the same. You will probably have a stack of business cards that you don’t know what to do with if you miss out on ways to remind yourself. People tell you valuable information about themselves, and you will do great if you can remember it somehow. Finding a way to take notes also helps you remember that Bill just got married, and Bob just got divorced. One little fact that you REALLY don’t want to mix up in conversation later.

7. Give Referrals

Networking is not there for you to get people to work for you, it’s an exchange. Pay close attention to what you are hearing. You probably know someone who needs what the people you meet can offer. If you give referrals, you get referrals.

8. Act Quickly on Referrals

When someone gives you a referral, be swift to follow up on it. You are missing a great point in the whole process if you don’t. When they give a referral, they are putting their name in hock for you. If you don’t contact the person, they end up feeling, and maybe even looking stupid. You will also never get another referral from them. If you move quickly, and the person they referred you to is happy, they end up looking good instead, and will give you more referrals simply because most people like looking good.

9. Give freely

There is something amazing about value. If someone is having a problem that falls inside your realm of expertise, give them a solution if you can. By giving them something they value for free, you stand a great chance of them returning as a paying customer later. A free piece of advice can get you a lot of paying business in the long run.

10. Stay in touch

When you meet someone that you think can help you, or you can help. Make sure you get in touch and stay in touch. Ask them to meet and share ideas.

Maybe it will be over a beer or playing a round of golf on a Thursday afternoon.

Marketing in today’s world, where the rules change by the minute thanks to the web and new methods of social marketing creates confusion to many. Most people know about the phrases relationship marketing, social marketing, viral marketing, Web 2.0 and all the other terms floating around. But when you ask them, they all fall into the old trap of defining marketing as selling and advertising.

Defining marketing as sales and advertising is like defining Ford Motors as bumpers and speedometers. Ford makes complete vehicles, marketing makes (or breaks) complete Businesses.

Marketing has been defined in many ways, one popular definition is David Jobber’s “The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition.”

The problem with all these definitions is that they attempt to define something but only succeed in limiting it. Marketing is indeed about meeting and exceeding customer needs, it is also about understanding, predicting and creating customer needs.

The only way I know how to explain and thereby define marketing without killing its real potential is by leaving the definition broad.
Marketing Is: Everything and Everyone that comes into contact with the customer.

If you leave it this broad, it will help you understand how for instance branding works, Branding isn’t about needs, branding is about perception, it is about value and quality. You can ruin the customer’s views of your company based on what paper you use to print your invoices. That is not a need, it has little to do with the competition. It’s just a matter of perception. And perception IS reality to a customer. An invoice printed crooked because your printer is bad, on cheap paper won’t give the customer the view of professionalism. It may create questions as to your legitimacy and intent.

Most commonly when I ask people about their perception on a company that uses cheap looking stationery, business cards etc.  Their answer is that they don’t believe this company will be around long. It has little or nothing to do with whether the company has what they want at the price they want. It simply diminishes their perception.

A customers perception will determine their expectations, and that in itself will determine both if they want to do business with you, and also if you can meet those expectations. Meeting and exceeding expectations is the true definition of value, not needs.

Needs only create an intention to look for something. Expectations determine what they will perceive as good value.

This is why small Businesses Fail to the tune of over 80% in four years, they lack the long term view of keeping customers, and keeping them happy. A happy customer will return, and will bring other customers along for the ride.

Referrals are the true path to sustained and constantly growing revenue. This long term perspective of marketing will bring you far greater returns than the best written sales copy ever will if it is only intended to sell an item, not focus on the customer experience.