100 Marketing Ideas

GENERAL IDEAS

- Never let a day pass without engaging in at least one marketing activity.

- Determine a percentage of gross income to spend annually on marketing.

- Set specific marketing goals every year; review and adjust quarterly.

- Maintain a tickler file of ideas for later use.

- Carry business cards with you (all day, every day).

- Create a personal nametag or pin with your company name and logo on it and wear it at high visibility meetings

TARGET MARKET

- Stay alert to trends that might impact your target market, product or promotion strategy.

- Read market research studies about your profession, industry, product, target market groups, etc.

- Collect competitors’ ads and literature; study them for information about strategy, product features and benefits, etc.

- Ask clients why they hired you and solicit suggestions for improvement.

- Ask former clients why they left you.

- Identify a new market.

- Join a list-serve (email list) related to your profession.

- Subscribe to an Internet usenet newsgroup or a list-serve that serves your target market.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

- Create a new service, technique or product.

- Offer a simpler/cheaper/smaller version of your (or another existing) product or service.

- Offer a fancier/more expensive/faster/bigger version of your (or another existing) product or service.

- Update your services.

EDUCATION, RESOURCES AND INFORMATION

- Establish a marketing and public relations advisory and referral team composed of your colleagues and/or neighboring business owners to share ideas and referrals and to discuss community issues. Meet quarterly for breakfast.

- Create a suggestion box for employees.

- Attend a marketing seminar.

- Read a marketing book.

- Subscribe to a marketing newsletter or other publication.

- Subscribe to a marketing list-serve on the Internet.

- Subscribe to a marketing usenet newsgroup on the Internet.

- Train your staff, clients and colleagues to promote referrals.

- Hold a monthly marketing meeting with employees or associates to discuss strategy, status and to solicit marketing ideas.

- Join an association or organization related to your profession.

- Get a marketing intern to take you on as a client; it will give the intern experience and you some free

marketing help.

- Maintain a consultant card file for finding designers, writers and other marketing professionals.

- Hire a marketing consultant to brainstorm with.

- Take a "creative journey" to another progressive city or country to observe and learn from marketing techniques used there.

PRICING AND PAYMENT

- Analyze your fee structure; look for areas requiring modifications or adjustments.

- Establish a credit card payment option for clients.

- Give regular clients a discount.

- Learn to barter; offer discounts to members of certain clubs/professional groups/organizations in exchange for promotions in their publications.

- Give "quick pay" or cash discounts.

- Offer financing or installment plans.

MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

- Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects. (It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive.)

- Develop a brochure of services.

- Include a postage-paid survey card with your brochures and other company literature. Include check-off boxes or other items that will involve the reader and provide valuable feedback to you.

- Remember, business cards aren’t working for you if they’re in the box. Pass them out! Give prospects two business cards and brochures -- one to keep and one to pass along.

- Produce separate business cards/sales literature for each of your target market segments (e.g. government and commercial, and/or business and consumer).

- Create a poster or calendar to give away to customers and prospects.

- Print a slogan and/or one-sentence description of your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets and invoices.

- Develop a site on the World Wide Web.

- Create a "signature file" to be used for all your e-mail messages. It should contain contact details including your Web site address and key information about your company that will make the reader want to contact you.

- Include "testimonials" from customers in your literature.

- Test a new mailing list. If it produces results, add it to your current direct mail lists or consider replacing a list that's not performing up to expectations.

- Use colored or oversized envelopes for your direct mailings. Or send direct mail in plain white envelopes to pique recipients' curiosity.

- Announce free or special offers in your direct response pieces. (Direct responses may be direct mail, broadcast fax, or e-mail messages.) Include the offer in the beginning of the message and also on the outside of the envelope for direct mail.