For example, a florist might use this method effectively by notating when someone orders a bouquet for a friend’s birthday or anniversary. The florist then contacts the sender eleven months later. They not only remind the sender of the occasion, they also include a discount coupon - then ask if they would like to send another bouquet?

Restaurants often use this type of marketing, and other companies may even take it a step further by knowing when their customers will need a re-order of their product. They’ll send a coupon or other discount in order to make another sale (for example, an oil change).

Nowadays, supermarkets and chain stores not only capture everything you purchase and when; they also send you coupons and discounts for those products you regularly purchase.

You may also know, for example, that Amazon sends emails about books (similar to ones you have purchased in the past) when they are released and they often will include a savings opportunity for “pre-release” items!

Consider starting your own “coupon club” for your business. It’s a great way to stay in touch with your clients and they will appreciate the extra savings, while rewarding you with continued business!

Contact us for more information about how you can start your own coupon club for your business…we offer complete, affordable, and managed marketing solutions for local Kentucky businesses…

Think of this: If you were expecting company at your home, there are certain things you might do in advance. You would make sure your home was clean, that there was fresh soap and clean hand towels in the bathroom, and you might prepare some snacks, or even an entire meal.

Preparing your website follows the same concept. You want to make sure that things are neat, tidy and pleasing to the eye. Check to make sure that your navigation follows a logical sequence. Make sure everything is spelled correctly and update your website regularly with plenty of good content. (Don’t under estimate the importance of updating your website frequently – nobody wants to visit an ‘outdated bulletin board’…and search engines are notorious for rewarding frequently updated websites with higher rankings!)

If your site isn’t pleasing and welcoming, any traffic generation activities you do from this point on are wasted. Take the time, and put forth the effort to make your site is as good as possible – and learn to look at it from your visitor’s point of view.

After you do this, make sure that you are using all of the best Search Engine Optimization techniques, such as making sure that you have clean HTML code and that you’ve used your keywords effectively. If you’re not familiar with SEO strategies, find someone who is. (Kentucky small businesses can contact us for a free SEO consultation.)

Once your website is ready for company, only then are you ready to start inviting that company…

Why is this important to you as a local business owner? There are many reasons, but the one thing you should realize is that customers will often choose one business over another just because they have a coupon! By offering coupons, you are in essence telling your potential clients that you care about their needs (moreso than your competition) and you want to help them save money.

 How many new customers per year do you need? What is each new customer worth to your business? Do your current advertising methods provide you with verifiable returns on your marketing investment?

You should take some time to answer those questions…then consider the fact that coupon marketing provides you with an opportunity to effectively meet each of those goals – with verifiable returns!

A. I don’t have time to do myself, or

B. I would simply prefer to place in the capable hands of other professionals.

The old saying goes something like this “SMART PEOPLE PUT SMART PEOPLE AROUND THEM’  -  which simply means you can’t do it all yourself. 

I truly believe that many business owners should try and put aside a small amount of time to examine whether or not they are asking for help when they really need it…  

But, how do you know when your business needs help?

It’s simple; the time to enlist the assistance of others is not necessarily when your business is sinking: 

The time to ask for help is before you leave the dock.

The time to ask for help is before you fall behind your competitors.

The time to ask for help is before the next sales rep comes knocking on the door.

The time to ask for help is before you lose money on outdated advertising methods.

Put yourself in a position of continuously being one step ahead, anticipating the next opportunity, recognize you can’t do it all yourself, and then find qualified professionals to help you get where you’re going.

It is an unfortunate reality that many small business owners do have websites that simply have not pulled in leads as expected. And, it’s even worse that many of those websites were never optimized correctly to begin with – which will automatically eliminate the possibility of search engines being able to give your site the rankings that you want.

However, with that being said; it’s also important to realize that your website is not a “magic bullet” - it is only one part of many tools that you should be using within your marketing arsenal.

But, let’s get back on topic and discuss some things that need to be realized when it comes to search engine optimization:

Have you ever heard the old saying “a watch pot never boils?” It basically means the more you hover over the pot waiting for it to boil; the longer it seems to take to boil. How does the ‘watch pot’ compare with search engine optimization?

The basic point is, that your website is probably not going to shoot to the top of the search engines over night. Each search engine has its own methods of listing and ranking websites – which can vary drastically from one search engine to the next. If you have a ‘new’ website it is imperative that you give your site time to be indexed by the search engines, but beyond that, it is even more important that you continue to update and feed your site new content. A dull, outdated and static website is not going to be rewarded with high search engine rankings.

Today’s search engines tend to give higher rankings to sites that have the most new, as well as unique, content. You may have heard the web saying that ‘content is king’ and it’s absolutely true!

A few things you can do to help your search engine rankings:

1. Don’t let your website become an outdated ‘bulletin board.’  Update your website regularly or pay someone to do it for you.

2. Optimize your website with the correct meta tags and keywords for your industry.

3. Consider integrating social media into your marketing mix.

4. Advertise your website everywhere – the importance of well placed ‘back links’ to your website cannot be overstated.

5. Ask for help from experienced online marketers. (Kentucky small business owners can contact us for a free no obligation website blueprint.)

It’s important to learn as much as you can about search engine optimization, but you don’t have to become an expert on it yourself (and you probably don’t want to!) As my father always said; “smart people put smart people around them” and it still holds true – even in today’s techie world!

If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday”, that’s advertising.

If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion.

If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity.

And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.

If the town’s citizens go the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they’ll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that’s sales.

And, if you planned the whole thing, that’s Marketing!

Why? Because five times as many people will read your headline than your copy. Quite simply, a headline is…an ad for your ad. People won’t stop their busy lives to read your copy unless you give them a good reason to do so. So a good headline promises some news and a benefit.

Think about the last time you browsed through your local newspaper. You checked out the articles, one by one, and occasionally an ad may have caught your eye. Which ads were the ones most likely to catch your eye?

The ones that looked like an article.

The ones with the headline that promised news.

The ones with fonts and type that closely resembled the fonts and type used in articles.

The ones that were placed where articles were placed (as opposed to being placed on a full page of ads, for example).

The ones with the most compelling headlines that convinced you it’s worth a few minutes to read the copy.

Remember that the headline you use is extremely powerful and very important to the overall response rate that your ad receives.

What are features? They are descriptions of what qualities a product possesses.

· The XYZ car delivers 55 miles per gallon in the city.
· Our ladder’s frame is made from a lightweight durable steel alloy.
· Our glue is protected by a patent.
· This database has a built-in data-mining system.

And what are benefits? They are what those features mean to your prospects.

· You’ll save money on gas and cut down on environmental pollutants when you use our energy saving high-performance hybrid car. Plus, you’ll feel the extra oomph when you’re passing cars, courtesy of the efficient electric motor, which they don’t have!

· Lightweight durable steel-alloy frame means you’ll be able to take it with you with ease, and use it in places most other ladders can’t go, while still supporting up to 800 pounds. No more backaches lugging around that heavy ladder. And it’ll last for 150 years, so you’ll never need to buy another ladder again!

· Patent-protected glue ensures you can use it on wood, plastic, metal, ceramic, glass, and tile…without messy cleanup and without ever having to re-glue it again—guaranteed!

· You can instantly see the “big picture” hidden in your data, and pull the most arcane statistics on demand. Watch your business do a “180” in no time flat, when you instantly know why it’s failing in the first place! It’s all done with our built-in data-mining system that’s so easy to use, my twelve year-old son used it successfully right out of the box.

Just remember, it’s more important to focus your ad copy to emphasize benefits not features.

Unfortunately, many small business owners fail to realize the importance of proper search engine optimization. If you fall into this category, you are painfully neglecting your most effective advertising resource  – which is of course; your website!

Money that is currently being delegated to expensive newspaper ads, radio ads, and/or television commercials could drastically be reduced simply by implementing an effective website marketing strategy that includes proper search engine optimization, solid design principles, and a well implemented marketing system.

Sound complicated?

It is!

Think about it;  if it was easy, everyone would be doing it – right?

The important thing to realize is that it is never too late to start doing things the right way!

If you are not seeing the kinds of results you expected from your website, or if you simply don’t have time to implement SEO, eye catching graphic designs, and results oriented marketing strategies, then by all means find someone to do it for you! Afterall, the web is not going to wait for your business to start doing things the right way…but, it will reward those who do.

Think of it this way; do you allow your salespersons to dress in shabby or casual clothes when they are dealing with your customers?  By making your staff dress appropriately, you are telling your customers that you care about quality. Realize that first impressions matter; online and off!

If your website is put together shabbily and looks like a 5 minute “quick fix”, you are literally shouting to your visitors that you are not professional and you do not care for quality.

However, if you have a totally professional looking website layout, you are giving your visitors the perception that you have given meticulous attention to every detail and you care about professionalism. You are organised, focused and you really mean business.

And, it’s not just your online marketing design that matters – you should also have anything related to your company well designed. From business cards to letterheads to promotional brochures, every little bit matters.

All of these items become the face of your business. It matters to your customers, so make sure it matters to you. Spend the appropriate amount of time and/or money to make sure your first impression is a favorable one.