Is your SME Business Gold – or at least Silver!

A Gold business is one that provides its customers with such a positive, uplifting, memorable experience that it generates its own marketing.

Have you ever had such a great experience as a customer that you just couldn’t wait to tell your family and friends about it?

If your business commands this type of pro-active, word of mouth, self-generating marketing – you know you have a Gold business.

Here are 10 marketing tips to help you on your way to becoming a Gold business.

1. Build your knowledge. Make it accessible and use it for pro-active change. Detailed knowledge will allow you to specialize your offerings and make your marketing communications specific and effective. The more you know about your customers, competition, external and internal environments, the easier it will be to implement pro-active change. Stay AHEAD of the competition!
2. Understand how your customers make decisions. This information will tell you how to market to new customers.
3. Truly define your customers and markets. Use the knowledge you collect to design and implement marketing and sales activities that align with the needs and values of your target customer. Don’t waste your time marketing to someone who does not have a need or capacity for your product or service!
4. Add value and create loyalty. Your product offering needs to consider the total purchasing process.
5. Build relationships with customers and third-parties who refer you new business or on-sell your products. Consider these people your extended sales force.
6. You cannot over communicate! Communicate your marketing plan to stakeholders. No point just a few of you knowing where the business is heading when all employees need to work as a team to achieve the end objectives. Once a marketing and sales plan has been agreed, ensure all employees understand the direction of the business, along with what is required of them to achieve the plans. However, before you communicate, ensure you have collected sufficient knowledge. Understand what all stakeholders want and expect and ensure you communicate what they want to hear.
7. Seek feedback and use these findings to redefine product offerings and update the marketing plan.
8. Use technology to your advantage. All the knowledge you collect can be stored in simple Excel spreadsheets or Access databases. You can manage a basic CRM (client/target contact database) in Excel or Access. Use the technology that you already have loaded onto your PCs. If your business operates with Microsoft software, these products easily integrate with each other, allowing quick mass communication to be produced and distributed.
9. Invest in sales and/or customer service training for all customer-facing employees.
10. Make your business PuRR (Positive, Repetitive, Reinforcement). Ask yourself everyday how you can do this. Try and achieve this at least once every day in the mind of a client or a prospect. If you do this, you’re well on the way to becoming a ‘Gold’ business.

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