Graham McGregor: The Ten Minute Marketing Formula

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Opinion

Marketing consultant Graham McGregor explains the Ten Minute Marketing Formula.

The good news is that effective marketing doesn't have to be complicated or expensive to do.

Here's a simple ten minute marketing formula that has helped many businesses to grow their revenues by 10 per cent or more over a 12 month period.

Look at the following marketing list.

1: Send out one thank you card

2: Give away one business card

3: Make a follow up phone call to one person

4: Ask one person for a referral

Your goal is to do a minimum of four marketing activities each day from this list.

Now you can combine these marketing activities any way you like each day.

So you could send out two thank you cards and also make two follow up phone calls. Or maybe you could do one marketing activity from each box. The goal though is to do a minimum of four marketing activities every work day.

Now four marketing activities a day is close to 1,000 extra marketing activities a year.

That's a lot of extra marketing activities each year and is the reason why many businesses that use this formula increase their revenues by 10 per cent or more over 12 months.

Let's take a quick look at each of these marketing activities.

1: Follow up phone calls

A follow up phone call could be as simple as ringing up an existing client and saying 'Hi it's John here from XYZ business here. Just a quick call to find out how you are enjoying the ABC product or service you purchased from us recently?'

The interesting thing about follow up calls is that very few businesses ever make them. And with at least 10 per cent of follow up calls your customers will often mention an opportunity for a repeat purchase or talk about someone they know who could be interested in buying the types of things you sell.

2: Thank you cards

A thank you card is a card with the words 'Thank You' printed on the front. Inside each thank you card you write a short handwritten message. For instance 'Hi John, this is just a short note to thank you for becoming a client. I appreciate your business and know you will be delighted with your purchase. Kind regards. Your Name." Handwritten thank you cards are very rare to receive from any business and they are a powerful way to connect and add value to people.

3: Asking for referrals

When you ask for referrals you might try something like this. "Hi John, I wonder if you could help me? Who are two or three people you know who might be interested in getting some helpful information on buying XYZ?" This is very low key and you will be surprised at the amount of helpful introductions you can get by asking a question like this. Remember that "You never know who someone knows."

4: Giving away business cards.

You can give away business cards in a low key manner to people you meet. Say something like this 'If you come across someone interested in some helpful advice around xyz product or service, feel free to give them my card.' This is very simple to do and you never know where your business card might end up.

Doing four marketing activities like this each day will take around ten minutes of your time to. And you will be delighted at the excellent results you get.

Action Exercise:
Use the ten minute marketing formula in your business for the next three months and notice what happens.

"Spare moments are the gold dust of time."
Bishop Hail

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page 'Unfair Business Advantage Report.' www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 11 countries.)