Marketing tips at workshops

A written plan, testing and measuring results, and knowing what it costs to get your customers through the door are all key to successfully marketing your business, according to a Wanganui business coach.

Mark Daniels, coach, trainer and seminar presenter for one of the world's largest business coaching organisations Action Coach Business Coaching, talked to around 60 business delegates at a Wanganui Racecourse workshop last week.

The workshop, sponsored by CentrePort, was the last of 11 to be held in the 2012 Business Workshop Series, hosted by Whanganui Employers' Chamber of Commerce and ANZ.

Mr Daniels drew on his years of experience in business coaching, sales and marketing across around more than 400 businesses to give practical marketing tips designed to help businesses improve their bottom line.

He told the audience the key to success is a business that ensures it is selling "benefits" through its marketing efforts, not just "features".

"If potential customers are left asking the question 'So what?' then your marketing tactic hasn't succeeded in persuading them to buy your product or service. And it's likely to be because you haven't defined how the product or service is going to 'benefit' them directly," he said.

Mr Daniels said it was crucial that businesses were aware of their "acquisition cost" - how much it costs a business to generate a customer lead through the marketing strategy it employs - to ensure any marketing proves cost-effective.

Running an expensive ad campaign may prove worthwhile if it results in the sale of a few high-cost items, whereas the sale of just a few low-cost items may make it not so worthwhile.

He said another key is for businesses to allocate a budget specifically for marketing, that they test and measure all their marketing efforts "and that they take care to change their approach if a particular tactic isn't working".

"And it's important that businesses are prepared to make the move from 'interruption marketing' tactics, such as TV ads, to 'relationship marketing' tactics, such as engaging customers though newsletters and social media."

For businesses who missed out on the workshops, DVDs of them are available at: Chamber of Commerce, phone 345 0080.