15 Basic Marketing Tools You Will Want to Use – Part 4

“Pretend I am starting at the beginning… What are the basic marketing tools I should use to promote my business and increase sales?”

“I don’t think I’m very good at marketing. How do I get better?”

We were just on the Live Your List Costa Rica adventure (part of the entrepreneurial mini series featuring us as the marketing experts along with Brian Tracy) we were constantly asked these questions and more like them.  And the usual answer began with “It Depends” because it varies by company.  But there are a lot of tools which are universal to most businesses.

So the question has been percolating in my head for a while.  And many of the basic marketing tools have made themselves known throughout the writing of my last two books:  “The Marketing Checklist… 80 Simple Ways to Master Your Marketing” and the soon to be released “The Marketing Checklist 2… 49 MORE Simple Ways to Master Your Marketing.”

So what are the basic marketing tools?  In the last three blogs and the one after this, I am going to take a look at The Basic 15, three at a time. If you want all 15, click on the video and watch all of them! You can also check out this topic on my radio show, The Marketing Checklist that has all of them as well.

BEFORE WE START – This is important:  In order to use any of these Basic 15 Marketing Tools, you MUST have a VERY clear idea of who is your main target market and who is your secondary target markets.   Failure to know your audience is going to make most of this an exercise in futility.  I have written extensively on demographic targeting of your markets, so you should take a look for those blogs before you begin here.

Let’s get back to it with numbers 10 to 12.

#10 Promotional Products are one of the Basic Marketing Tools

I have been in this industry for over 30 years.  After selling daily newspaper, direct mail, and weekly alternative newspapers for 6 years, I decided to begin polluting the world “one t-shirt, calendar, and coffee mug at a time.”

Promotional products are the only advertising people love to get.   Radio ad while you drive?  Click.  TV ad while you watch your favorite show?  Fast forward through the commercial break.  Ads in your mailbox?  Better have an immediate attention-getting headline.  Get a free t-shirt for running a 5K? Sign me up.  A free Dodger beach chair for applying for a credit card?  Hand me the clipboard.  A coffee mug from a place I am vacationing?  Here – LET ME BUY IT.   For your target market that wants to relate, this is an incredible tool.  So here, for #10 in our list, are ten reasons people like to use promotional products:

1. 1. They’re targeted. A newspaper or radio ad goes out to a wide audience, only some of whom might be in the market for what you’re selling. With promotional products, you control the distribution, resulting in a more powerful marketing effort and better return on investment.
   2. They’re customizable. There are thousands of promotional products available in a wide range of price points to meet any budget, theme and marketing objective. Plus, you get to choose the message, the audience, the colors, and much more.
   3. People keep them. Research shows that six in 10 consumers keep promo items for up to two years. More than half (53%) say they use a promotional item at least once a week or more. In comparison, an ad or billboard gets glanced at once or twice, if you’re lucky.
   4. They’re versatile. There are so many ways you can use promotional products, including as thank-you gifts, customer loyalty items, employee appreciation gifts, trade show or conference giveaways, sales meeting leave-behinds, safety program and sales incentives, traffic drivers, and in direct mail, to name just a few!
   5. They’re useful. If you choose a promotional item recipients will value, they will use — and appreciate it — frequently. And this results in continued exposure for your brand.

They’re memorable. In one study, 88% of those surveyed could remember the advertiser on a promotional product they’d received in the past 12 months. In comparison, 71% recalled advertisers in a newspaper or magazine they had read a week before. In another survey, respondents were asked to think about a promo item they had received in the past two years. When asked to recall the product, advertiser and message, 76.2% could remember all three.

How our Sedona Marketing Backpacks got used

• They create goodwill. Customers, prospects and employees all appreciate receiving a gift. A useful or fun promo item creates a positive impression of your company and lasting goodwill.
• They can boost sales. Half of consumers in a study had done business with the advertiser before receiving a promo product. After receiving the product, 85% did business with the advertiser.
• They Build Brand Awareness – Whether the recipient keeps the item or passes it along to someone else, every time the product is used, your company name is seen. And this will lead recipients to think of you the next time they need the products or services you provide. If you give away a wearable item like a hat, t-shirt or hoodie, recipients will become walking billboards ever time they wear it.

And the #1 reason to use promotional products:

1. People love them and want them!

#11 SPEAKING IN PUBLIC is one of the Basic Marketing Tools

Hank speaks to the Encino Chamber, using a promotional product to emphasize a point

Yes, most people would rather die than speak in public.  I understand that. I feel your sweaty palms.  So let’s break it down to the very smallest basic.

Have you ever made a one-on-one presentation to a client?  You spoke in public.  Has that client ever brought their assistant, or their 4-person department to sit in on the meeting?  You spoke in public again.

Ever raise your hand in your college history class and give a 20-second answer to what the professor had asked?  You did it then, too.   You spoke on a topic you knew.  And that is the key.

When I say that you should speaking in public I am not saying to jump ahead to dozens, or 100s or thousands of people.   Even if you are not nervous. You are just sharing information.

There are several ways you can speak:

Hank Speaks on a panel

1. Run your own seminar. We do that all the time.  We still do a Sedona Marketing – LOS ANGELES EDITION twice a year in Los Angeles.  We run 2 1/2 days, but one day works, too.
2. Speak on a panel. This is fun.  You are done in an hour or so and get to share sound bites.  Most of the time it works to your advantage.  It always helps to know the other people on the panel.  Some time, when you see me in person, ask me about the time I wanted to rip the ‘smug’ off another panel member.
3. MC an event. This is the best.  Your job is to keep the event moving and get done on time.  You get to gently seed the audience with what you do, but are not responsible for all the content.
4. Teach your subject. From a one hour “lunch and learn” at your local chamber to being called professor at your local college, you are helping those who want more information about your topic gain more insight.
5. Keynote Event. This is when they pay you to speak.  30 minutes to a couple hours.  OR they hire you to lead the event for the day.  Build up to this one and you will be well on your way to using public speaking as an incredible marketing tool.

#12 PUBLIC SERVICE is one of the Basic Marketing Tools

I am going to be brief on this one.   Find a need in your community and get involved.  Sharyn and I talk non-stop about International Child Advocacy Network, www.YesICan.org but there are many other organizations and groups that need attention.  Kids, Animals, water, diseases, parks, seniors… find something that speaks to you and get and stay involved.

Sharyn earned the Teddy Bear Award from YesICan.org

There are two reasons:

First – Our communities support us.  We cannot own a business without the support of the community.  Yes, it is our initiative that gets our business moving.  Our hard work and long hours.  But a restaurant without diners is… closed.   Whether it is word of mouth or massive advertising buys, I feel that as an entrepreneur, it is our job to get and stay involved.

Second – When you are involved with a non-profit, you meet people.  You immediately have something in common.  You become friends.  And people like doing business and referring business to friends.  So make it organic and get and stay involved.

Would you like help with some of these basic marketing tools?
Call me at 800-705-4265 and let’s get you started down the right marketing path.
You can check out more of my marketing blogs at www.SedonaMarketingRetreats.com.

You may even want to read my book, The Marketing Checklist, which is available on Amazon:

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P.S. If you would like a pdf of these 15 Basic Marketing Tools, please complete this form and we will send it out once all 15 have been published on this blog…stay tuned!