Are You Losing Marketing Opportunities?

If you have ever heard “I didn’t know you sold that” from a customer, your company may be missing valuable marketing opportunities. Somebody else is getting sales you should get.

Are all of your customers buying all of the products they could be buying from your company?  They may be limited in what they can purchase from you because they are not aware of the range of products and services you offer.  You don’t need to spend a fortune in advertising to make sure customers know about all the products you sell. There are effective and inexpensive ways to keep consumers informed.

Four Low-Cost Ways to Get the Word Out

1. Attach an easily readable, colorful label (sticker) to every product that leaves your company. These labels should show your company name, Website address and telephone number in large enough print to be seen and read from a distance of five feet.

Reason: If someone in your customer’s office wants to re-order, and doesn’t realize who the products were ordered from – and if your name and phone number are not clearly visible on your products – you may lose sales. The person ordering may look on the Internet, through the Yellow Pages, or call one of your competitors to buy products that you sell.

(Exception to #1: If you are a wholesaler, selling products to resellers who will be shipping to end users, this would not apply to you.)

2. Put a colorful marketing flyer or monthly sale flyer inside every product shipped out.

Reason: If shipments are sent out with only your products inside, a marketing opportunity is being missed. Every box of products should contain an announcement with: “this month’s special” or “new product launch.” The only cost to your company is the cost of the paper, toner or ink, development time and the time it takes to make copies. Make sure the person doing the packing, has a large supply of colorful flyers to put into each shipment

Put Your Invoices to Work for You

3. With every invoice sent out, include a short message about additional products or services you provide.

Reason: Unless your customers pay cash up front or with a credit card, every consumer eventually receives a bill from your company. So if you’re looking for a way to encourage additional sales, you will benefit by putting your bills to work for you. There is probably room on your invoices to list add-on products and services you provide. You can also include a colorful flyer with your invoice.

4. Add a signature line to your email (Tip from technical marketing guru Cenay Nailor)

Reason:  Signature lines are a great way to prospect and make use of a medium you are already using.  Adding a compelling signature line to your emails allows you to say whatever you want and provide a link to your marketing Web page. Your signature line should make a statement, ask a question or intrigue the reader in some way.

Your Customers May Have Put You in a Niche

If your company started out by selling only one type of product and later decided to add additional products and services, your customers have put you in a niche.  It takes consistent reminders to let them know you can provide items other than what they purchased in the past from you. Marketing research has found that it takes seven contacts within 18 months to make a new sale. Selling a new or different product to an existing customer counts as a new sale.

Every reminder helps to keep your name in front of customers and low-cost marketing tools can provide valuable opportunities for you.

Which low-cost marketing tools do you find most effective for your company?  Your ideas and experiences are welcome!