How will you spread the word about your business?

Your business has plenty of customers and you couldn’t possibly imagine making any more money, right? I didn’t think so. If you’re like me and the countless other small business owners out there, you are constantly looking for unique effective approaches to attracting new prospects and clients. I’m not a marketing expert, but I have made guerilla marketing (a term coined and made famous by small business marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson) a sort of hobby/pet project for my companies. Here are just seven techniques that have worked well for me and/or other business owners I’ve spoken with:

1. Business cards. I’ve received hundreds of business cards from networking events, and only a few have stood out from the rest. Consequently, the owners of these cards are the only few I’ve remained in contact with from these networking events. When designing your card, don’t overlook the valuable real estate space on the back of the card. My business cards have a simple, elegant design on the front featuring my company’s logo on shiny gloss cardstock, and I have my contact information on the back, along with some examples of the over 20,000 print and promotional items we can produce. How is this a marketing strategy? When you offer your card to someone, try asking, “Hey, could we exchange cards? I’d like to send you an email regarding your business. Also, if you ever need or know anyone who needs [whatever you offer], have them contact me.” Smile while you ask. You don’t need to be as handsome as I am for this to pay huge dividends. More importantly, follow up first. When I attended a large convention and received cards from businesses I didn’t understand or have any interest in learning more about, I contacted them and told them it was a pleasure to meet them and that I hope to hear from them soon. Guess what? I heard from almost all of them within a week, and a few actually needed some help with web design or marketing for their business.
2. Ask for referrals. If you are not already asking customers for referrals in some way, you might as well close your business and hide under a rock. If you are asking for referrals from current clients, step it up a notch by building a system. For my web design/print marketing company, I developed a system of snail-mail letters (how old-fashioned…) that are all but automatically sent out at key points during the pitching, planning, development, and post-processes:
   • After I find a prospect (maybe their business has a website from the 1990′s, or a current client referred them to us, or a Google search revealed they had no site at all…) I send out a letter announcing how we discovered their company and that we’ll be giving them a call within a week to discuss their website.
   • After the phone call, I send out a letter thanking them for their time and requesting an in-person meeting. Since we don’t have a company jet (yet!) we try to focus on companies in a 50-mile radius from our office. During this initial meeting, a pitch is not made unless they are clearly ready to buy.
   • After the meeting, another thank-you letter is sent and a request to pitch a proposal is made.
   • If the proposal goes well (we get the job), we send yet another thank-you letter and this letter includes a contract, terms, and invoice. If the proposal does not go well (we don’t get the job), we still send the letter and mention our other products and services. “We hope to work with you soon…” or something along those lines.
   • During the development phase of their project, close contact with the client is maintained, and we hold back on  the letters for awhile.
   • After the project is complete and the final payment is received, we send another letter thanking them and asking for referrals. This final letter is usually accompanied by a gift basket, bottle of wine, golf club, etc. depending on the type of project/cost/type of business.
   • We remain in contact throughout the rest of our relationship, sending birthday letters, useful articles, and other relative information that does not promote our products and services. These letters are great ways to stay close with our clients and ensure that when we DO decide to solicit our offerings, they’ll listen.

The point of all these letters is simple: our clients have a hard time forgetting about us. They are constantly being reminded of what a great experience they had working with us, and are quick to offer possible friends and associates as referrals. Coupling this fact with the tactic of actually asking clients for referrals (“Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know of any other person or business who might benefit from working with us?”), and this strategy is magic.

3. Local and regional magazine advertisements. Most business marketers wouldn’t consider any kind of mass-media advertising as guerilla marketing. The truth is, great deals can be found and exploited with a bit of negotiating technique and determination:
   • Find out your target publication’s print days. I’ve found that many small-town newspapers and regional magazines need everything finalized by Thursday night–meaning all advertisements must be paid for and sent in by then.
   • Ask for leftover whitespace discounts. These papers have space on their pages that aren’t purchased by advertisers, and getting any money for it is better than nothing. Use this fact to your advantage: Call and ask for  a rate a week ahead of time, and balk and whine about the price as much as possible. Then, call the same person the day before their print date and ask if there is any leftover space you can buy at a discount. You may not get the exact specifications you want, so be prepared to redesign/reformat your ad at the last minute.
   • Negotiate well. I consider myself a pretty accomplished negotiator; I learned from the best during my travels through Mexico and Latin America. Pulling the “I’m a poor college student”/”I’m a poor business owner” card might work, but chances are they’ve heard it all before and won’t empathize. Instead, try this: when you are talking to the person in charge of ad sales, mention you are in charge of ad purchasing for your company (even if you are the CEO!). Make sure they are first to quote a price, and when they do offer a quote, DON’T SAY A WORD! This is difficult, but effective. Don’t speak until they speak again. The awkward void will eventually be filled with their submission to reach a better price.
   • Ask for frequency discounts. If you plan to advertise more than once, you’re in a good position to ask for deals and discounts for being a reliable advertiser in their publication. In the end, a 1/2 page spot in full color for one year (12 months) may just end up cheaper than a 1/2 page full color for one month.

This post ended up a lot longer than I intended, which is due in part to my excessive love for verbiage and in part to my excessive hate for Philosophy class, but either way I believe these are relevant techniques for just about any business in any industry. The point of guerilla marketing isn’t to be cheap, “handmade,” or small-scale. The point is thinking outside of the box for marketing your business. Find other ways to reach people, and they will reward you for it with their money and loyalty.

Related posts:

1. The “Big 3″ of Small Business Marketing: Business Cards, Postcards, & Brochures
2. Promoting Your Business: Free Marketing With Social Media
3. Where Does Social Media Fit In With Your Marketing?
4. Online Marketing for Your Small Business:
   Bridging the Gap from Offline Marketing
5. 10 Online Marketing Tips for Offline Businesses

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