Okay, it’s reality-check time.
How many ways are there for you to increase your business? Is it dozens? Or is it hundreds? Okay, maybe it’s thousands?
Guess again. Try four. That's right, there are only four main strategies you can incorporate to increase your business. Don't believe me? Let’s take a look.
First, you can advertise. Competition for customers in our society is extremely fierce. Your competitors are trying to win over the same clients or customers that you are. Even in a good economy, advertising doesn't guarantee success over your competitors. The people you're trying to reach, by some estimates, are bombarded by nearly 2,000 advertising messages per day. This constant inundation means your prospects potentially have many alternative sources of supply for the products or services that your company provides.
The second way to increase your business is through a public relations campaign. This can be very expensive and time-consuming for a small business. Therefore, if your company is too small to hire a PR firm, you need to create your own personalized PR program.
The third way to increase your business is through word of mouth. Word of mouth has long been recognized as the most cost-effective form of marketing a business can use. Tom Peters, author of the book Thriving on Chaos, regards word of mouth as one of the major ways a business can bring in new clients or customers. Peters asserts that one has to be "just as organized, thoughtful and systematic about 'word-of-mouth' advertising" as with other forms of advertising and marketing. Yet, "you never see a 'word-of-mouth communications' section in marketing plans," he says. I, too, believe that if you don't have a well-structured plan, you're not likely to have impressive results. Many business professionals make the mistake of thinking that developing good word of mouth is about providing "good customer service."
There's one other marketing strategy that a lot of people use as an alternative to advertising and PR, and that is, yes, that's right, the "C word"--cold-calling! Cold-calling--just mentioning it makes me shiver. Given the other options, who in his right mind would want to spend the rest of his professional life cold-calling?
Well, there it is, your marketing reality check. Given only these four strategies for increasing your business, I'd have to recommend advertising. However, most businesses have a limited budget to spend on advertising. PR is best used in conjunction with other marketing efforts. And I don't know about you, but many years ago my co-author Dr Ivan Misner promised himself that “he would never do a cold call ever again for as long as he lived!” I tried cold calling for 43 minutes once and I made the same promise.
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