Entrepreneur Magazine Editor Shares Tips on Low Cost Marketing for a Growing Biz
No cost marketing? It sounds too good to be true, but as Ray explains, it’s possible to get the marketing results you’ve dreamed about with just a little hard work and time on your part. The formula is simple:
- Figure out your story
- Figure out the audience who needs to hear that story
- Get those people to continue to tell your story for you
This formula may sound familiar, because it was a main marketing strategy before the internet. Before the internet, you were always aware that your business was local. It had a physical location so you knew who your audience was. You got to know the people there. You told your story because you were used to personal interactions with customers and having a genuine dialog.
Contrast that to today. Now with the internet you can reach millions of people, on dozens of social platforms, and you always hear of the limitless potential. You start screaming out to everyone and forget that you have a specific audience. Somewhere in the process you forget about your audience, forget about your story, and become impersonal in your marketing.
The main message in Ray’s presentation is that you need to return to personalized marketing in order to be successful on the internet too. People don’t like being sold to, but they do like hearing stories. If you can make your business likeable by giving people something they can relate to and connect with, you will get loyal customers who will do the work for you. They will tell your story and drive your success.
As Ray notes in his presentation, customers like to talk about their experiences. That scares many businesses, but you shouldn’t be afraid. Every online comment, good or bad, is a chance for you to spark up the conversation. You can embrace it by keeping the dialog going, use criticism to fuel important changes, and show your customers that they are important to you. People listen to online referrals, even if they come from strangers. Your no-cost marketing strategy just involves figuring out your story, finding your audience, and opening up a conversation with that audience so they will continue to discuss your business and share your story with others.
Ray’s presentation has more details on how you can optimize this no-cost marketing strategy for your own business. He explains the concepts in detail and gives many examples of the right and wrong way to conduct your marketing online. To better understand this idea so you can implement it in your business, check out the short video presentation below.
If you are a growing small business, take these great tips and see what they can do for you, today!! Let us know in the comments below what works…and what doesn’t!
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