Go To Market 
iPhone Apps Now Officially Un-Productive
2008-12-29T15:16:30ZIt’s official…the iphone has become a gaming console in the palm of your hand. According to AppShopper, as of today, out of the top 100 Apps available for download, not a single one is a business app. It’s all fun and games. I’m not surprised, the gaming industry is a $9.5 billion dollar coin operated machine. Marketers have taken notice and have gone as far as adding in game advertising. Did you hear about the Obama ad in XBOX 360 games? That’s a lot of voting eyeballs with the average gaming age of 29. 59% of those eyes belong to men. You probably already knew this.
I think the lesson is obvious. Look to benefit from others successes…but don’t get in the habit. You still need to be innovative and original.
Start a press release campaign…today!
2008-12-22T06:37:46ZPress releases are a great way to stir up some attention. They are easy to create and distribute, but please make it interesting. Here are some questions to ask yourself. Is it newsworthy? Did you win an award? Hire national talent or land a big account? Did your company hit an anniversary? Do you have a new technology or service that may revolutionize our mundane lives? The press is almost always desperate for intriguing content. And don’t forget to use a stirring headline. Use words like “Astounding”, “Incredible”, “Fresh”, “New”, “Dramatic”, “Impact”…you get the idea.
Get online and compile a list of emails to local news channels and industry specific publishers. Grab “editor” or “news” email addresses. Most publications have a “What’s Happening” section to follow local headlines. Get in the habit of sending a press release once a month. If you’re not generating news, what are you doing?
Think features and benefits
2008-12-22T06:33:12ZToothpaste cleans your teeth and leaves you with minty fresh breath. Blenders liquefy foods in seconds flat saving you time in the kitchen. Our agents have more than 10 years experience - they can find your dream home while saving you time and money. These are all examples of features and benefits. If you set out to write product brochures or an online catalog, this is a great reference point to build descriptive and informative morsels that your customers can easily digest. Plus it’s a great opportunity to mention the features or benefits your competitors can’t offer.
A database is essential
2008-12-15T17:39:02ZEven if you have sticky notes crammed in a cluttered box drawer with some names and numbers on it, consider yourself the proud owner of a database. Highly unproductive, but a database non-the-less. More often than not small businesses don’t keep track of their customers contact information as well as they should. A letter size notepad dedicated to recording contact information is a start. Obviously there are some more sophisticated methods for doing this.
Any spreadsheet program will work and many of the standard email programs on the market today have contact management systems. You can even go high tech and use online CRM systems like Highrise or ACT. Be sure to capture quality data. As the saying goes “crap in is crap out”. In this case it couldn’t be more true. Be consistent and capture your customers vitals; name, address, email and phone numbers. Once you have an electronic database you can market to them. Emails, newsletters, promotions, referral rewards, new products and the list goes on. You will spend far less money marketing to existing customers than you would trying to get new business. We’ll talk about new business soon.
