The ways that we have reached out to our customers or prospects in the past are different than the ways that we need to reach out to them today. The 3 best ways that I have found are:
- Great marketing materials
- Networking
- Marketing System on the Internet
While we need to be spending our time keeping our machines busy so that we are earning an income, we also need to spend a certain amount of time getting our name out there. Without those steady efforts we will have no work to keep those machines busy!
You cannot sit in your shop and wait for the prospects or customers to come to you. You have to reach out to them. You need a way to market to them that is not going to take all of your time and is not going to cost you a fortune.
Great Marketing Materials
I wrote about creating some outstanding marketing materials in one of my past articles but I cannot emphasize that enough. This is the first impression that you make on a prospect or customer. You must have a great business card and brochure that lets people know what you do, and how what you do benefits your prospect or customer. People really do not care about what you have, they only care about how what you have is going to benefit them in one way or another. It does not matter if this is a gift item that they are looking for or something that is going to promote their business. How can you help them?
If you would like to read more about creating a great business card go to embroiderybusinesssuccess.com/impression-embroidery-business/
Networking Off line and On line
Joining a networking group is a great way to get your name out there. You meet a lot of other business owners that are willing to exchange ideas. Someone in the group is bound to know others that are looking for what you have to offer. This does not usually happen immediately but over time, it does happen.
Before you start trying to do any marketing to the other members in the networking group you want to see if there is a way that you can help them get their name out there to other people. When they see that you are willing to help them, they will be willing to help you. Do not ever push your products off onto the other networkers in the group without offering to help them first! This just does not work and you will not be looked upon favorably!
Wear your products while you are networking. This is very important and make sure that what you are wearing is of high quality and the embroidery is impeccable. This is by far the best way to let people know you offer high quality products!
Let everyone you know, know what you do and how what you do can benefit them. Hand out your business cards and brochures to all of your friends and family and ask them to hand them out to their friends and family. This is an excellent way to start.
Create a Facebook Fan page and a Pinterest business page for your business. Post lots of pictures with content letting people see what you do. You will be better off not trying to sell them anything when you first start your pages. You want to have pictures and content that will be beneficial to them before you start promoting any type of sales to them. A social network is just that. You are trying to get your name out socially, not just blasting them with ads!
On Line Marketing System
A good web presence is one of the most cost effective ways to advertise today! You must have a total marketing system to make this effective and to create the sales that you are looking for. Having a shopping cart is not enough. Having a WordPress or standard HTML website is not enough. These must be combined with a system to collect names and email addresses from a group of people that would fit what you have to offer. But, how do you reach these people?
You must start out with your local market. The best way again is through networking, both off line and on line through your social network. Send prospects to your website for a free gift. This can be an article about something that will benefit them, a coupon for something free or a discount coupon for their first visit. You must give them a reason to visit you at your place of business but at the same time, people want to check you out to see what it is that you have to offer and how you are different than the other embroidery businesses in town, before they are willing to come to your place of business.
Once you have them in your automatic emailing system, you can start sending them information about you and your business and keep them informed of anything new that you have to offer and what is happening in your business. You could even promote a certain product each month. These emails can all be sent out on an automatic basis. You create them once, add them to your system and each time someone requests your free item, they are added to the system and will automatically receive these emails.
In today's world people are so skeptical and they will not do business with you until they know, like and trust you and this is done through networking and receiving information from you prior to doing business with you.
To receive the most from your advertising dollars, you need to have great marketing materials, to be marketing on the internet and be networking in your local area.
Advertising in the newspaper does not work anymore. A press release can work for you if you have a special announcement, but it can only be an announcement. You cannot promote your business. If you have a special event that is happening, such as a grand opening or some type of promotion that you will be giving some of the profits to charity, you can send a press release and if they feel that it is news worthy or will be of benefit to someone else, they will publish it.
Advertising in the yellow pages does not work well anymore unless you are in an area that does not get internet access efficiently or you have a market that only looks in the yellow pages.
Today's marketing is changing and the way that we advertised in the past is not going to work anymore. You need to find other ways of getting your name out there and you must be very careful about how you are spending your advertising dollars today. You want your advertising to increase your income and give you a great return on your investment!