Less is more…rather than bombarding the market with a raft of marketing and advertising tactics, be choosy about the marketing activity you commit to and don’t blow the budget all in one go!

By investing in just a few marketing methods and sticking to a conservative budget you will give yourself more time to make sure that you do your marketing well and, most importantly, allow you to commit to doing it on a regular basis so that your customers and potential customers get to know you better.

It is widely recognised that your target customers will need to be exposed to your marketing messages at least seven times before they will be triggered into making a purchase. A flashy one off advertisement in a glossy title is less likely to have the desired long-term increase in sales you want; it may not even be aimed at your target market and will certainly cost you more at the outset.

Better that you spend your marketing budget over a period of months using the right mix of marketing techniques for your business. For most small businesses a successful marketing mix will include:

•  social media/website
•  direct marketing
•  enewsletters
•  local radio advertising
•  networking
•  local news-led PR

Each of these marketing methods is easy to track because you can calculate the anticipated number of customers reached using each one. You know how many times someone visits your website, how many fans sign up to your Facebook page, who you are sending your enewsletter to and what they are doing with it, the circulation figures of the local paper, the listener reach of the local radio station and how many people are attending the networking event.

So, an effective customer journey could look like this:

1. Your target customers read an article about you in the local press
2. …which triggers them to visit your website or Facebook page
3. …they may then sign-up to your enewsletter to find out about forthcoming promotions or events you are attending
4. …and they might arrange to meet with you at a networking event
5. Finally, as they are travelling back from the networking event they hear your advertisement on local radio and decide that you are a business ‘worth doing business with’ and make that purchase!
 

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