Mary GillenIn her book titled “367 Marketing Ideas & Tactics for Your Business”, Associate Member Mary Gillen provides a plethora of guidance on how to market a business. Though these ideas aren’t specific to the home inventory industry, they can certainly be applied to your business and most likely will spur on some ideas of your own.

Twitter – How to Use Twitter to Find Prospects Near You

Using the Twitter Search Function, you can find new prospects to follow by entering a keyword phrase, location, and even a radius of miles.

Example: If you are looking to follow/connect with Insurance Agencies all within 25 miles of Boston MA, enter the following information into the Twitter Search box: insurance agency near:“Boston, MA” within:25mi  then press the search icon.

On the search results page, click the People button in the navigation bar to view the list of prospects you can follow.

Linkedin – Offer to Introduce Two of Your Connections

You have many mutual connections on LinkedIn. Once a week, offer to introduce two of your connections to one another via written email notes. They may be able to do some business together. And they will probably remember the favor by offering you a new introduction in the future.

Include Short “How I Helped This Company or Client” Descriptions in the Experience Section of Your Profile and short “How I Helped This Company or Client” descriptions that explain how you have recently assisted your clients. Keep this section up-to-date with your success stories.

Email Marketing – The 52-week Autoresponder Training Course

Looking to build your email mailing list, but are worried about how often you should reach out to prospects without email overload? Create a weekly autoresponder sequence of messages and promote it as a free 52-week training course on a subject that will interest your prospects. Those who subscribe to this email course know up front that they will receive an email from you once a week. This way you can instruct and promote simultaneously. Give it a try. This “educational series” can help get around the “frequency” problem.

Sunday evening is the best time to send Email blasts to business folks because they are online, getting ready for the work week

Prospecting – The Sunday Drive Can Pay Off

Go the distance with your prospecting by taking an hour each Sunday to drive around at least one office park in your local area. Note the names of businesses and their addresses. There are probably many that are not in your prospecting database.

Cold Call  – Voice Mail Messages

VOICEMAIL … the cold-caller’s nightmare! Not necessarily. When you leave a message, state three terrific ways this person can benefit by meeting with you. Also leave a specific time and date that you’ll stop by to see them.

COLD CALLS … make 6 cold calls by 10 a.m. every business day. Build your cold call confidence and sales by using the 6-by-10 calling program.

Unique Marketing Ideas

Step Out of “Character” – A CPA we know always makes it a point to send his clients birthday cards. Yet he takes it one step further. He calls each client and actually SINGS the traditional HAPPY BIRTHDAY song to them on their special day. And who cares if the only singer in his family is the sewing machine? His clients love him, and he has more business than he can handle.

The Doggie “Yappy Hour” – The Jackson 20 Restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia hosts a Doggie Yappy Hour every Tuesday evening (April – early September) from 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. Locals and visitors alike bring their furry friends for an enjoyable time featuring pup-tinis and delicious doggie treats for the pups, plus complimentary hors-d’oeuvres and happy hour specials for dog owners, who get the chance to network with folks who could be prospects.