Once upon an eon, advertising meant etchings on a cave wall. Fast forward a few millennia, and you have a slew of customer types and that many more ways to reach them. So, which advertising route do you take? Direct marketing plus Social Media? Radio ads with Classifieds thrown in? It’s no pinch-hit game.
To successfully market your business today, you need multiple vehicles for getting your message to the broadest net of people. Although more and more consumers are turning to the internet to gather information about services and providers, a healthy mix of digital, traditional, and supplemental methods will help you net the most for your marketing dollar.
Here is a Grab Bag of marketing tools and supplements to consider when framing your marketing strategy:
- 1. Coop-Marketing. Your marketing dollar will go twice as far by partnering with a local business whose clientele is of a similar demographic to yours. It also exposes you to more customers.
- 2. Sell solutions, not products and services. Keep the psychology of selling in mind when creating marketing materials. People make buying choices with their emotions. Craft your offers as solutions to problems – Keep beautifully tanned skin year round! – instead of presenting products and tanning packages.
- 3. Be a friend to the natives. Offering employees of the larger businesses in your area, i.e., manufacturing plants, business corporations, etc., for-them-only promotions is a great way to bring new clients in and foster appreciation-generated loyalty to your salon.
- 4. It’s time to Google (Social Media). Google Places is like a modern day Yellow Pages. You can search for any type of service and store by location, and voila! Google shoots out a list. Instant, easy, no-nonsense: the code words for how our world lives today.
- 5. You’re the expert. Write informative articles on tanning, skin health, etc., to post on your website, as well as others with a link back to your site. These articles will establish your credibility and get your name out there.
