Running a small business is never easy, and one of the biggest issues around running a small business is being able to market it effectively. This takes a lot of work, but because you are working so hard to keep the business afloat and running well, all the work that is required to market it sometimes falls by the wayside.
However, often the answer is on your own doorstep. There are ways to market your business effectively as long as you look for the key people that are able to bring you value in your marketing. These are your current clients. If you use their opinions and their perceptions well, they can become marketing agents for you.
All you have to do is contact 5 to 10 clients and ask them if they wouldn’t mind being part of a formal phone interview. In this phone interview you will gather information that you can use in your marketing efforts. It doesn’t take long to do, and it is relatively inexpensive compared to other marketing efforts. Here is what you have to do to make sure that it works well for you.
Get that letter out there first
First of all send out a letter to your current clients asking if it’s okay for someone from your company to contact them for a phone interview. It’s always important to ask for permission first, otherwise it could be a problem as people get annoyed with the contact.
Then, choose an interviewer from your company, even yourself, and get them to ask the following questions. The answers to these questions should help you to make changes in marketing.
Get your interviewer to ask, for example, what problem was it that the client had that they felt your company could solve? By identifying the problems that your company solved for them, you can use these in your marketing efforts in the future. You obviously solved the problems for a client, and you can do this again. By being able to articulate the problem carefully through this contact with the client, you have a much better value proposition.
Where is the value?
Ask your current clients to identify what they valued most about your work. If they are able to do this, then this means that you can show this value in your marketing efforts. Whether it’s putting a message on the lanyard that your employees wear to a company event, or even the content of an email marketing campaign. With the value clearly articulated, it is much more effective.
Then ask these clients if there is any aspect of your service that they think could be improved to make it much more valuable and attractive as an offering. This is the crucial question, because it means that they are able to articulate to you how you can improve your service. And obviously, a great part of marketing for any small business is a consistent improvement of the service you bring.
Don’t underestimate the power of your current client base for marketing ideas and extra support in your marketing overall. They can provide you with plenty of ideas and contributions as regards how you can improve your service, and they can also tell you what you are doing well at the moment.
You can express those ideas in your marketing, and therefore continue to improve the service that you offer overall. At the same time, you’ll be attracting new clients through marketing that clearly outlines and illustrates just what you can do for those clients. It’ll work wonders for your future marketing efforts, and add to the revenue that you bring into the company.