Marketing: Mobile Marketing tips for Small Businesses

Mobile Marketing tips for Small Businesses

Written by Chris Smith

Welcome to repparttar

next frontier in marketing – wireless or mobile marketing, also known as m-commerce.

Analysts predict that 2005 will be repparttar 119607 year that mobile marketing really takes off and that companies will take advantage of this medium in much repparttar 119608 same way as they did in repparttar 119609 early days of repparttar 119610 Internet.

>>The benefits of mobile marketing The key benefits of mobile marketing are clear to see. Most mobile users carry their phone or keep it within easy reach at all times, which means that mobile marketing offers a very personal way for marketers to communicate their message to customers. Messages are almost guaranteed to be read, unlike e-mail marketing or direct mail. It also allows companies to build a relationship with their customers, track preferences and highly target their marketing.

>>And repparttar 119611 dangers There are of course dangers in using such a personal medium and a badly thought-out mobile marketing campaign could easily be considered intrusive and cause repparttar 119612 sender to alienate or lose customers.

>>Can any business do it? Is mobile marketing just for big companies then or can small businesses do it too?

If you are a small business person then repparttar 119613 good news is that mobile marketing is a technique that companies of every size can employ. There are of course several points you need to consider before embarking on your first mobile marketing campaign.

>>What technology is involved? The options available to you are primarily WAP and SMS. WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) is essentially a cut down version of a web browser that enables people with WAP enabled mobile phones to access very basic versions of web pages.

SMS stands for Short Messaging Service and is also known as text messaging or texting and allows mobile users to send and receive text messages of up to 160 characters long. Most small businesses will find it easier to use text messages to communicate with their customers rather than WAP.

>>Mobile marketing – how do I do it? What does a small business need in order to carry out a mobile marketing campaign?

Firstly of course you need to get your customers to agree to disclose their mobile numbers (they must opt in to receiving messages via their mobile phones in order for you to comply with privacy and distance selling regulations).

The Great Direct Marketing Conundrum

Written by Daegan Smith

Many a home business owner has spent sleepless nights thinking of ways to turn his venture into a higher profit-making unit and build it to be his primary source of income. This is never easy for a home business because most start-ups face initial lack of money and cash flows. A small cash strapped business would also find it a little uphill to get outside funding. The best way, anybody will tell you, is to Advertise…. all big companies do it, and get good returns. Undoubtedly, advertising, even PR, has a great impact on sales, but for a home business owner these may be cost prohibitive in repparttar

beginning. The trick is in getting a little creative and using low cost – high impact strategies. Go through help sites on repparttar 119606

Internet and you’d be spoiled for choices. We suggest putting direct marketing on top of your list. Why? There are several reasons:

-It is more cost effective than mass media strategies like Advertising

-There is lesser “spill – over” than mass media like advertising and public relations

-You can “measure” repparttar 119607 effects of direct marketing

Solving direct marketing riddle

By definition direct marketing is a sales and promotion technique in which repparttar 119609 promotional materials are delivered individually to potential customers via direct mail, telemarketing, door-to-door selling or other direct means. Direct marketing is one of repparttar 119610 most effective marketing tools a home business owner can employ to expand his business and make it more profitable. It can help you create visibility for your company and educate repparttar 119611 targeted audience about repparttar 119612 products and/or services you sell.

www.onlinewbc.gov/docs/starting/glossary.html

Direct marketing is not a complicated, puzzling marketing option that will leave you frustrated and down with a few thousand dollars. If executed with proper planning, focus and some creativity, these tools can do wonders for your home business. Some of repparttar 119613 most popular and time-tested direct marketing tools are:

Brochures: A brochure is your sales person in paper. It gives your potential client all repparttar 119614

information he needs on your company; an opportunity to evaluate your products, services, your expertise and a platform to get in touch with you for more information. A brochure created with serious forethought and meticulous detailing can do all of this and more for you. A few tips:

A compelling covering letter is a must to getting prospect to read whole brochure
A well-designed brochure must keep target audience in mind, level of sophistication in style and content and market you are operating in.
A brochure must be aimed at finally getting prospect to send in a business enquiry. Don’t forget to add contact details; a postage paid business reply envelope attached with brochure would be a good idea.
http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol134/brochure.htm

Direct mailing: Direct mailing involves sending out sales letters, fliers, reply cards and other promotional literature through snail mail, to a pre-decided mailing list of potential customers. If targeted to a precise audience, it can get you faster responses and does not have to cost much. The most important part of direct mailing is building a robust mailing list with right names. You could either develop this list yourself through your own records or buy lists from a List Broker. You could also try and take help from SBDC (Small Business Development Center), a government program sponsored by SBA that provides expertise to small and home business owners and has access to targeted mailing lists, which it can offer you as an SBDC client. Take a look at www.sba.gov/sbdc http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,317818,00.html

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