Your competition has allocated a marketing budget and spend that every month. Whether they have standing commitments with recurring outlets such as radio or newspaper, or they explore different opportunities to test the waters in new forums, they are ensuring that their name and their message is always in circulation. That rival business owner believes that there are still customers that they haven’t reached yet. Where do you stand on that?
One challenge that can occur in business over time is complacency. After the initial push to generate awareness at start up, that enthusiasm to promote can start to wane after your business experiences its first good year. However, if you’re not loading a line item for marketing into your budget when the ledger looks great, how will you find the resources to do it when you feel that your visibility needs a boost?
One of the most dangerous phrases uttered by business owners is this: “Everybody knows us already”. Sure, you may have built your reputation on repeat business from loyal customers, but consider that when you’re dealing with commercial clients, they will experience staff turnover and sometimes that means that the new contact person in the agency may not be aware of the long standing relationship. On the individual side, one also must recognize that life can create migration and movement and while some of your loyal clients may have moved out of your market, the incoming families to the neighborhood require a full orientation of who to call for any of their needs.
Take a look at your business as it exists today. Do you have all of the business that you want? Are you satisfied with the volume of clientele that you currently serve? If the answer is “no” to either of those questions, now is the time to really think about your marketing strategy and what you’re going to do to build your business.
While radio and newspaper ads can get pricey, especially when they are run with the regularity that encourages the audience to commit them to memory, there is a lot that can be done online. The development of a website is a great first start – a standing representation of you and your product that can be accessed by potential clients from anywhere in the world. You might also consider social media as a means to reach people within your personal network, with the ability to fan out your message to an even greater radius by leveraging your own connections.
If you’re considering where to start with a marketing strategy for your business, that’s where we can offer some advice and expertise. Our team can work with you to design a public awareness campaign that will get your name and your product or service out in front of not only your existing clientele, but also new customers who may be looking for exactly what you have to offer, but haven’t met you yet. Give us a call at 780-340-7687 or e-mail for more information to info@trendlab.ca
