As you compile a customer database it is important to collect email addresses. Email marketing is completely free advertising to your existing customer base. Growing your repeat business is far easier and more cost effective than always focusing on attracting new business. It is important to take advantage of this free marketing opportunity to existing customers.

Here are some excellent reasons to send email:
- Newsletters.(Click to view samples)
- Job promotion or hiring.
- New product or service offering.
- New equipment, systems, or processes.
- New business relationship or partnering.
- Industry recognition or awards.
- New office location or geographic expansion.
- Corporate fundraising efforts and/or charitable donations.

The email you send should have a very professional feel to it, which is best accomplished using HTML.  If you do not know HTML it is not as scary as it sounds. All you need it a template that includes your logo and related images. The body is just type that you can easily change. With that done inserting appropriate verbiage for each mailing is easy.

The Director of Marketing would be happy to create and distribute a professional email blast for your business. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

Journalists are looking for news in a press release. A press release that reads like a advertisement will not be widely published. At the same time a published press release is free advertising. There is definitely a right and wrong way to write a good release.

Reasons to write a press release may include:
- Promotions and hirings.
- New product or service offering.
- New equipment, systems, or processes.
- New business relationship or partnering.
- Industry recognition or awards.
- New office location or geographic expansion.
- Corporate fundraising efforts and/or charitable donations.

Click here to view a sample press release layout.
This sample press release was found on publicityinsider.com.

The Director of Marketing would be happy to create and/or distribute a press release for your business. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

Events tied to your company can be the single most cost effective marketing strategy you employ. An event changes the dynamics of your visit from something on a to-do list to a social destination. The social implications make mingling and introductions more comfortable and even expected. Potential customers may be warmer and easier to talk to.

Events also provide a great opportunity for additional communication with your customer by sending an invitation to the event and a ‘thanks for attending‘ or ‘we missed you‘ follow-up. Do not forget to collect email addresses. Email makes all that communication completely free.

Symbiotic Relationships can create a more successful event. If you are a plumber, think of sharing your event with an electrician and a house painter. Now you have a home improvement event. Make sure and agree that the total invite list will be shared with each sponsor.

There may be opportunities to gain press exposure from your event. First, many local publications produce a calendar of upcoming events and will publish your information there. Next, there may be some news or a story in the event itself. Is the event a fundraiser? Is the event a timely ‘how-to’ party? Finally, after the event submit a release detailing the event itself. It might help to invite local journalists to your event.

Some great examples of events include:
- How-to event for simple home maintenance projects.
- Sponsor a fundraiser.
- Sponsor a chamber event.
- Celebrate a community event or holiday.
- Vendor appreciation event.

Let The Director of Marketing manage the development of your successful industry event. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

Building relationships with fellow business owners can play an important role in your success. Partnering your marketing efforts can not only reduce your expenses, but also broaden your reach.

For example a symbiotic relationships can create a more successful event. Partnering your event with complimentary vendors or manufacturers increases industry interest while cutting your expenses. Make sure and agree that the total invite list will be shared with each sponsor.

Let The Director of Marketing manage the development of your successful industry event. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

Newsletters can be more successful with the right partners. Partnering can result in more and richer content. It also expands your circulation while cutting your expenses.

View sample newsletters from The Director of Marketing.

The birth of the Internet was not so long ago. Initially many explorers of this frontier envisioned a web site to be a lot like a billboard in space- build it and they will come. They quickly learned it was more like a sign in a closet. If you don’t create a pathway there, not many will ever find you.

A web site itself is not a marketing solution. It is a step within a strategy that itself, requires marketing. That does not mean it is not a great tool- it is. Each business just needs to figure out the best way to utilize it. The Internet marketing solution for your company depends on the type of business that you are marketing and what you hope to achieve with your Internet presence.

The potential cost effectiveness of Internet marketing can far outweigh other marketing venues. Most Internet marketing is paid for by a click-through rate. That means every time a person clicks on your advertisement, taking them to your web site you pay a fee. I can not think of another kind of advertisement that only charges for a resulting action. This is great providing your web site is designed to close the deal.

The Internet can not shake hands or look a potential customer in the eyes. You need to work on building confidence and trust through the content of your web site. Talk about your history, knowledge, or experience. Post any awards or recognitions. Publish a mission statement. Offer some knowledge free. Talk about your involvement within a community or with a non-profit organization. Provide a phone number.

A great exercise is to find people that are not familiar with your business, tell them nothing about it, but ask them to review your web site See if a layman completely understands your objective and can easily navigate the site. It is amazing how much a another set of eyes can really improve your vision.

Does your web site:
- Convey a clear message about your company.
- Define your objective.
- Navigate easily.
- Tell the whole story.

Let The Director of Marketing review your web site. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

It is easy to place advertisements that get a lot of click-throughs, but that does not automatically translate into new customers. A click-through cost you money. It does not earn you revenue. It is important that before you start selecting marketing programs you take the time to create a very clear definition of your target customer. When you think you have found a marketing option that could work, really consider your target customer. Is this where they will be browsing? Are the people that would find your advertisement here the ones that need your product or service?

It is very important that you remain open to altering your web site. If you are getting the desired hits, but they are not translating into opportunities or sales ... well then, it is not the fault of your marketing program.

However you choose to proceed you need to spend the first couple days of your campaign really watching you advertisements. Every click-through ad you place should provide trackable information like the number of impressions, (times your ad has popped up or been viewed) and the number of click-throughs. This information allows you to tweak your campaign until you achieve the desired results.

The Director of Marketing would be happy to create an Internet strategy specific to your corporate goals. Call Tina at 847.236.0098

Sales and marketing are very different things, Understanding the difference between them is an important step toward increasing your revenue.

Good marketing creates opportunity and drives traffic. Many small businesses depend on their salespeople to do marketing. Your best salespeople are good closers.  Let them do what they do best, just give them more of it to do. Having a well structured and strategic marketing program in place means your salespeople can focus on closing more sales.

There are a lot of cost effective solutions that will ultimately generate new leads and result in increased revenue. The Director of Marketing can provide a free initial consultation, your first step in developing a strategic marketing plan for your business. Click here to email The Director of Marketing.

CRM programs are becoming a must-have for just about every type of business.

These programs integrate your company departments providing better communication and accessibility to information, while allowing you to determine each employee's access level. You can set it up so that a manager can view all activity relating to any account, prospect, or employee, including calls, emails, billing, etc., while only allowing an employee access to the records of accounts assigned to that employee.

CRM programs can be a very powerful marketing tool. They can be used to collect extensive contact, customer, target, or opportunity information. This information can be sorted and utilized to support various marketing strategies.

Let The Director of Marketing help you select, implement, and deploy the right CRM program for your professional office. Click here to email The Director of Marketing.