How to Run Successful Free Sample Program

June 22, 2011


In the previous post we discussed why giving out free samples needs to be part of marketing strategy for every small business. There are number of benefits small business owners can obtain by giving out samples to existing and new customers. The key to achieving these benefits is to execute the program well. You have to ensure that you reach out to target it to the customers you want to attract. Give out free samples to anyone and everyone and you will waste your money without reaping proper benefits.
To successfully run the sample program you should aim to reach maximum number of potential customers in your target market. You also need to look into getting recommendations from influential people that your target customers admire. Here are some suggestions to make that happen.
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Why Free Samples should be part of your Marketing Strategy

June 19, 2011


Free samples are everywhere! Walk into any mall or store and you will find people handing out samples. Go to a grocery store… There are samples of coffee, cookies and many other things… Go to a mall department store… There are samples of perfumes for you to try… Even technology companies that do not have physical stores have got into the game with the so called “freemium” business model. They provide “samples” in the form of limited functionality product for you to “try”. If you want additional functionality you need to pay for it. Apple store is constantly buzzing with people sampling their latest gadgetry.
Samples are everywhere because they work. Customers love samples. It gives them opportunity to “try before they buy.” They don’t have to spend money on something new before figuring out if they will like it or not. It also lets them find new products that they didn’t know existed. With the number of product choices available to consumers increasing every day they do not have time to research all the new products before buying them. Samples provide them a way to uncover something new.
As you can see samples provide companies with an interesting marketing avenue to reach their customers. There are several ways small businesses can use free samples for effective marketing. The list below shows how you can use free samples for low-cost yet effective marketing.
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Ductz – Champion of Customer Service and Marketing

June 15, 2011


If you have been a regular reader of this blog you know that we are strong proponent of customer service and “non-traditional” marketing to improve sales and customer loyalty. We strongly believe that by paying attention to customer service and marketing with emphasis on fundamentals of products and services you can not only significantly improve sales but do so with lower marketing budget.
We are always on the lookout for companies that follow this approach and came across one such company last month at a customer service seminar at IKEA in Canton, MI where I was presenting. I met Dayn Benson, who is Director of Operations at air duct cleaning and HVAC restoration franchise called DUCTZ. Ductz has garnered number of accolades and experienced rapid growth in a short time after being founded in 2002. It was ranked No. 1 in its category by Entrepreneur magazine’s recently released 30th Annual Franchise 500.
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15 Practical Ideas to Generate Buzz for Your Business

June 5, 2011


In the last post we talked about how buzz marketing can help small business owners stand out in the crowd and enable them to compete with large companies. Buzz marketing also helps lower marketing cost for small business owners because it costs less compared to traditional marketing avenues such as newspaper, radio or television.
The primary ingredients required to create buzz are buzz-worthy products, suspense, conversation and scarcity. In this post we provide you with practical tips you can use to generate buzz about your business. As you will see the key theme in each of these tips is doing something expected or even outrageous.
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Every Customer Contact is an Opportunity to Sell

May 29, 2011


I simply find it amazing and annoying to see how many companies make their customers wait on the phone when they call them for customer service. Customers could be calling them with a question on the product or make a suggestion for improvement or even place an order! Yet they have to wait listening to the repetitive message that reminds them how important their phone call is to them. Oh Really!!! Just imagine what is going on in customer’s mind, your mind during this time – “God save me from this misery. Bring some human soul I can talk to.”
Many businesses have sacrificed customer service in the name of efficiency and automation in the last 5 years. The so called advances in voice recognition have made matters even worse. Now it’s not just a matter of punching numbers on the phone keypad. The machine will interact with you as if it understands, or at least pretends to, all your questions – “Hello. I can help you find anything you are looking for today. What can I do for you?” My answer – “how about finding a human being somewhere in your company?”
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7 Steps to a Great Customer Service

May 22, 2011


A business cannot sustain competitive advantage for long time based on product and price alone. Competition eventually will find a way to beat you on that game. Competitive advantage built on customer service, however, cannot easily be copied. For proof look no further than Zappos.com. Here is an E-commerce company that sells shoes, of all the items, on the Internet. However, with a laser like focus on customer service it is selling a billion dollar worth of them annually!
After consulting with number of small business owners over past several years we have come up with a 7-step process that companies need to adopt to achieve the success enjoyed by Zappos. It will not be easy to follow these principles all the time and success will not come overnight. However, when you do master them you will have a lasting success that your competitors will find difficult to beat.
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Emerging Social Media Tools Small Businesses must be Aware of

April 27, 2011


We have been looking at various social media tools that all small business owners need to consider for their marketing. With more and more customers utilizing social media; small businesses that fail to integrate these tools will lose their customers to their competitors. We view the ability to track your return on marketing spend as well as lower your marketing cost as the two significant benefits that small business owners can get from the use of social media.
We showed two of the widely used social media tools – Facebook and Twitter in an earlier post. In the previous post we talked about two other tools – YouTube and Flickr. In this post we will discuss some of the emerging social media tools that may not be as popular as the ones we discussed; but are equally helpful.
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Additional Social Media Tools Small Businesses Must Consider

April 24, 2011


In the previous post we discussed two must-have social media tools every small business needs to use to market their business. We argued that social media marketing provides perfect opportunity to get the marketing exposure without spending lot of money.
Many more social media tools beyond Facebook and Twitter have emerged recently. Some of them have the potential to become next Facebook. We want to explore those tools in this post. By jumping on some of these emerging tools small business owners can get advantage over their competitors and improve their sales and profit at a relatively low cost. They can even compete with their larger rivals by harnessing the power of these tools at an early stage.
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Social Media Tools Every Small Business Must Use

April 20, 2011


It is said that half of the money spent on marketing is wasted; you just don’t know which half! Many small business owners have misconception about marketing because of which they end up spending lot of money without getting proper return. One of the 5 fundamental rules of marketing we believe in is that good marketing techniques should not cost lot of money. Internet and social media marketing provides perfect opportunity to get the marketing exposure without spending lot of money.

The reasons for using social media marketing are numerous. [Read more…]

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Improve Sales of your Small Business with Free Publicity

April 17, 2011


Most small business owners do not pay sufficient attention to public and community relations. As a result they miss out on the great opportunity to improve sales and build business brand value at low cost. Instead they are focused on marketing and advertising that cost substantial amount of money. While there are number of differences between marketing and public relations, in the simplest form, marketing can be viewed as “in your face” way of putting your business in front of customers; while publicity is a more subtle approach that doesn’t cost much and can bring equally compelling results.
Why is it important to focus your efforts on publicity in addition to traditional marketing?
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