OCTOPUS MARKETING - Create a Community of Opportunity Marketing Articles | May 10 Matt Dumba Youth Jersey , 2002 ... as I sat down to get a haircut, I noticed that for the first time that I was the only customer in the shop. My barber ... asked, "Are the stores empty where you work?" He told me that
Yesterday as I sat down to get a haircut, I noticed that for the first time that I was the only customer in the shop. My barber anxiously asked Ryan Suter Youth Jersey , "Are the stores empty where you work?" He told me that 40% of his business has eroded; half of his customers had moved away and the others had been laid off.
Reality has hit his small business. Business is off in most sectors. People are staying home, seeking comfort and familiarity. I hear the same cry everywhere I go?"We need more customers!"
Small businesses don''t have the advertising budgets of large companies to lure customers back with special deals. And the government''s messages to "go spend more" have the right intent, but do not direct customers to the doorsteps. How can small businesses reach these customers?
STRETCH YOUR TENTACLES!
With some imagination, will power and a technique I call "Octopus Marketing Luke Kunin Youth Jersey ," small business owners can create new opportunities to increase sales.
Octopus Marketing is the ability to make one marketing effort produce multiple effects, increasing returns without increasing effort. By tapping an Octopus on the head, its tentacles stretch out and reach in different directions. Business owners can do the same thing. By leveraging their own value and partnering with other businesses or organizations, a single marketing event can pay off again and again.
The head of the octopus is any organization or group of business owners that partners together to reach more customers. Each member of the organization or business is one of the tentacles. It works like this:
First break the rules. View other small businesses as partners Marcus Foligno Youth Jersey , not competition. In these uncertain times, small business owners need to band together and develop a unique marketing program that will pull customers to the neighborhood, into stores or onto web pages.
For example: My barber can join the local bakery, video store Joel Eriksson Ek Youth Jersey , pizza parlor, coffee shop and florist to develop a "Neighborhood Comfort Catalog." The catalog simply lists each store and the benefits they provide (plus discounts on products and services!). Each partner places the catalog in their respective stores and uses it to refer business to each other.
Octopus Marketing starts with an effective message. Businesses must define how they uniquely contribute to the community and translate that into an effective story. By developing a message based on their passion, businesses reveal the benefit they offer to themselves and their customers.
After identifying their own unique benefits, a business owner can then partner with others and define the main benefit that the Octopus Network offers to the community. This benefit is what will move customers to action.
With the message identified they can then discover unique ways to market each other''s businesses or conduct joint promotions. It can be as simple as asking customers if they have tried the fresh pizza next door or passing out coupons that offer discounts on their goods and services. The result is that reach of their tentacles grows.
To stretch the tentacles of the Octopus even further Zach Parise Youth Jersey , businesses can partner with larger organizations to get the word out. Combine the community octopus with a neighborhood church, temple or community organization. These organizations reach a lot of potential customers.
Businesses should continue to tap the Octopus to keep the network thriving. They can approach the local neighborhood paper to publish the comfort catalog in a special community page. Or find out if the local gym or YMCA will distribute it to their members. What about the Chamber of Commerce, isn''t it there to help?
By uniting together, small businesses can strengthen community Mikko Koivu Youth Jersey , deliver what customers need plus help create opportunity for the nation''s collective future. One small business at a time, we will build a compassionate nation that spends money on good stuff. Your Resume is the key to your Personal and Professional Success
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