| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Marketing On The Cheap: Become a Joiner
Recently I wrote an article on the benefits of joining your local Chamber of Commerce as a way of getting exposure for your business. See "Marketing on the Cheap: Join The What?" at this source or at http://sbmag.org. The Chamber of Commerce is or should be the number one organization in your area promoting business. Your involvement will help them indirectly help your business while giving you direct exposure to a large and viable market. Now let's look at other organizations you, your business and, of course, your community can benefit from by your involvement, but not in that order. Service Clubs: There are three major service clubs that come to mind, and I'm sure you are familiar with them to some degree already: Rotary International, Kiwanis International and Lions International. However, don't just run off and join the largest club in your area just because it's the one that gets the most media coverage. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't be joining a service club at all for the sole purposes of promoting your business. You should be joining because it is the right thing to do. The benefits, and there will be benefits, will come indirectly. Each of the above mentioned organizations have a main charity or area of interest as a national or worldwide project. Lions International for example is recognized worldwide for their service to the blind and visually impaired. Kiwanis' motto is "Serving the Children of the World", and Rotary has had as a long-term goal of the worldwide eradication of polio. Of course, all these organizations are many years old and have branched out into a number of other humanitarian efforts as well. Beyond the national organization's each local club usually has their own projects and objectives. Fraternal Organizations: Now that you have joined the Chamber of Commerce and are looking at service clubs, you may also want to consider Fraternal Organizations. The first three that come to mind are: The Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, Moose International and Fraternal Order of Eagles. Like service clubs, all three of these organizations are national or international with local clubs. However, also like service clubs, there may me others or an independent fraternal organization in your area that is more suited for you and your interests. Years ago I joined a new Rotary club that just started up in our community. They were, and still are, a great group of people. Their main efforts on the local front was dealing with youth orientated projects, helping to build ball parks, sponsoring scholarships and a few other very worthwhile causes, but no causes I was passionate about. A friend of mine was involved with a group of people that were trying to start a local organization to deal directly with funding anti-drug programs in local schools. My wife being a teacher in the local district, made that seem like a much better place for me to put my efforts. We went on and founded a new Lions Club in which I became a founding officer, a Past President, Lion of the Year and recipient of a national award form Lions International in recognition of my efforts in the fight against drugs. This only happened because I chose the right organization with which to get involved. I'm not telling you this story just to blow my own horn. Okay, well maybe a little bit. My point is that if you do chose to be a joiner, make it count. Choose one that will give you opportunities of working on projects in which you have an interest. Once you join a service club or a fraternal organization, get involved! Become active. Consider chairing a committee or becoming part of the leadership. However, don't take on more then you can or want to do. If you make a commitment, make sure you follow through and do the very best job you can. Anything short of that could produce negative public relations for you. One last thing about belonging to a service club or fraternal organization; your acceptance into one of these organizations is not invitation to unload or launch into a sales pitch at every meeting or at any meetings for that matter. Don't make that mistake. However, there may be opportunities arise for direct marketing such as advertising at club-sponsored events, program guides, newsletters and others. We covered a number of these opportunities in "Marketing On The Cheap: Join The What?", see link above. No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About The Author tag is left in tact and hot links included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted so reciprocal links can be considered. Email floyd@sbmag.org. Floyd Snyder is the founder and former owner of Executive Advertising, Camera Ready Art and Strictly Business Magazine. Currently he is the owner of Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org, http://www.FrameHouseGallery.com, http://www.educationresourcesnetwork.com/and http://www.TraderAide.com.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
6 Things I Know About Postcards That You Don't In my plethora of experience tucked away between these ears, I have managed to cull out for you what I consider the "best of the best" - in other words, I took the most proven details about postcards that were significant to you starting a postcard campaign and really winning at it. So here goes the most incisive higlights about postcards. To All Internet Marketers - How To Get My Business? More and more people are realizing that the Internet offers great potential to set up a healthy business for pennies on the dollar. This is good news for internet marketers - but it also means that they need to lift their game. CRM Star Wars: When Marketing is from Venus and IT is from Mars Inherent tensions exist between marketing and IT. This is often compounded by lots of cross-talk, with each function on different channels. The Marketing Plan and the Four P's The Marketing Plan section of the business plan demonstrates how a company will penetrate the market with its products and services. The Marketing Plan should include "the four P's" - Product, Promotions, Price, and Place. Stop Searching - Joint Ventures are the Solution to Doubling Your Business First, define the end user (or ideal client) of your product. Many times when I ask people who their ideal client is they will tell me "oh everyone can use my product!". For Ongoing Success, Make Marketing a Habit Make Marketing a Must, Not a MaybeWhen business is booming, it's easy to put marketing on the back burner. Why focus attention on getting new customers when you already have all you can handle? The reason is simple: when things slow down, you want to have new clients in the pipeline. Marketing To Women Recent studies concerning the "new world of women" have been released. Some of the major findings may be surprising to you (less so if you are a woman). How to Get the Right Clients and Avoid the Wrong Ones If you are like most service professionals and small business owners one of your primary concerns is generating as many leads as possible. And that may be your biggest mistake, resulting in wasting time on unqualified prospects and working with too many clients you wish you didn't have to. Discovering The Benefits That Hook Your Prospect Benefits! They're what marketing is all about. No doubt you've heard the mantra over and over: "Benefits, not features. 10 Reasons Why Businesses Fail at Marketing. 1) They don't fully understand it.Perception: Marketing is advertising. Consumer Thinking And Search Marketing 12/20/04According to a recent article by ComScore Networks, about three-quarters of all consumer product research is initiated through a generic search term, such as "televisions" or "Adoption Services". The report goes on to say that in subsequent research efforts consumers tend to re-initiate the search with generic search terms. Four Essential Marketing Plan Components Preparing a Marketing Plan for your product or service is a real eye-opening experience. While we all hope that our product or service will appeal to the masses, the truth is, that may not happen. Increase New Customer Traffic to Your Business One person tells another, who tells another, who tells another and so on. You get the idea. Why Do They Buy? A recent issue of Entrepreneur magazine included a marketing story with five important questions all business owners should be able to answer about themselves and their competition.Understanding these five critical areas will help you better develop and implement your marketing plan, and sell more to your customers and prospects. Website Promotion Strategies For Targeted Web Site Traffic If you're looking to drive more targeted traffic to your web site, you'll want to pay close attention to the website promotion strategies presented in this article. As an internet marketer, or a want to be internet marketer, you know that web site traffic is your livelihood. Fertilizer For Your Grassroots Marketing Looking for a great way to drive traffic to your business? No million dollar ad budget last time you checked? The solution may be to harness the power of grassroots marketing.Grassroots marketing is simply taking the unconventional approach to getting people interested in what you offer. Finding a Brochure Printing Company A brochure can be a great promotional tool, whether it is for is a real estate listing, a trade show handout, a data sheet, or some other application, but sometimes it's hard to know where to start. Brochure printing companies can provide their expertise as well as a wide range of printing and marketing services. Marketing Quandaries Being in a quandary prevents you from moving forward in developing and marketing your business. When we're in a quandary, we are in a state of perplexity and doubt. Does The Market Really Want It? At the very heart of any successful marketing strategy is the determination of what your present and prospective customers need, want, and desire. You have to find out what they want before you try to sell it to them. Business Postcard Marketing: 35 Ways to Use It Postcards are an effective way for many business owners and marketing managers to attract new customers and increase sales from existing ones. Postcards are inexpensive to produce and mail.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
