80 Ways To Boost Sales – Direct Marketing (Part 2)

Are you running out of ideas on how you can get more exposure to your business? Are your marketing strategies limited to  maybe Facebook content/ads plus local paper press releases? If so, you’re in luck because the second part of our ’80 Ideas To Boost Your Sales’ series covers fresh and effective ideas in direct marketing.

Before we begin with the tips, let me first explain why you should get creative with your marketing strategies. Here are three reasons:

• Creative Direct Marketing Strategies persuades your old customers to check out your new offerings (increased transactions per customer).
• They also entice / attract potential leads to “try you out” (new customer acquisition).
• They give a breath of fresh air among the bland and “ritual-like” strategies of your competition.

With the reasons stated above, I know you’re now ready to know these great tips so that you can implement them into your 2015 campaign sales/marketing strategy. So without further adieu, here are 29 tips to improve your direct marketing / advertising strategies.

Print out your social media accounts on the company uniform / t-shirt. Whenever your customers go into your store, the first thing they look for are people wearing a uniform – aka your employees. So take advantage of the time that their focus in on your employees’ shirts and add your social media accounts on them.

Add them to your delivery truck too, if you have one. Painting / sticking some advertising materials on your delivery truck is like having a mobile billboard, with no extra charge! So make the most out of the daily trips done to and from your place of business.

Print and always carry some business cards with you. You’d never know who you’d meet next… so never lose the opportunity of making it easy for your new-found friends to find you by being ready with a business card every time.

Keep one very visible banner outside your store. Unless your business only offers products and services locally, leaflets and banners don’t do much traction anymore. In fact, I’ve seen people receive leaflets and throw them without even reading what it say. I’ll bet you do that too…. But this doesn’t mean you should stop printing banners entirely. Save a big one banner to feature your products and place it outside your store.

Place your new and best offerings banner above the fold in your website. In case you don’t know yet, “above the fold” is the top-most portion of your website. And it’s only understandable why you should place your best offerings there, because that is what your visitors see first when they check your website. This might seem obvious but so many businesses miss this opportunity to showcase their offer! Go and check your website now.

Print out colorful and engaging brochures. Gray vs. Colorful ones? No doubt customers would prefer the colored ones. Colorful brochures bring out the best of your products, giving you more chances of getting a sale. People like pretty things. Pretty Vs Plain… Pretty always converts higher.

Send out postcards together with shipping. Whenever you ship the products ordered by your customer, include a small card letting them know your social media or sign up to your email list.

Send dedicated email blasts for your events. Do you have events coming up or sales? Don’t be afraid to go over the number of emails you usually send per week. Your customers would love to know about the events in your business, especially if you emphasize the value that they’re getting out of them.

Send a personal email to your customers. Know what makes your customers feel valued? Personal emails. When they leave you a good review, or have referred a new customers, don’t forget to thank them personally by sending a quick email.

Use email automation. I know how nice the feeling is when you see the numbers in your email list increase. It’s like you never want to stop sending them emails… but don’t do that. Instead, automate, so you continue to market to them without losing time for yourself.

Print out calendars, planners, note pads, etc. Think of the things your customers always use… Calendars? Planners? Note pads? Key holders? Whatever it is, you can have them made together with an image of your logo. By doing this, you’re not only giving away useful items, you’re also gaining an opportunity to always be remembered.

Integrate social media in your emails. Email Marketing is currently the highest returning strategy for businesses, but it wouldn’t work if what you’re sending out is junk.  Create quality content so your followers will continue to be subscribed. Include some social media icons in your email as well, so they’re easier to share. We made a complete blog post about this here >>

Make some noise. No longer getting regular visitors in your store? Make them notice you again by ‘creating some noise’. Yes, literally. Put some blasting music outside your store (for a day or two) to attract customers.

Free ice cream. Celebrating your store anniversary? Why not rent an ice cream vendor outside your store! Free ice cream for everyone who will like your fan page is a quick way to be noticed and gain some probable leads. And it doesn’t even have to be ice cream… be creative!

Be creative with your negative reviews. Did you see our Facebook post which featured a chalkboard campaign they did around the negative review they got? It’s amazing how a thumbs down from a customer made other customers want to try their product out. This is the kind of approach we should make with our negative reviews.

Sponsor a game app. Why a game app, you ask? Let’s say you’re selling some toy cars.

Create a video campaign. Do you know how big video marketing is in Facebook? According to them, they serve up to 1 BILLION video views PER DAY. That’s the kind of users Facebook has, and that’s the market you’re missing if you’re not interested in creating video campaigns for your business.

Create a commercial. If you can afford it, commercials are a great way to gain publicity. You can choose from local or national TV. Again, you will have to study where your customers are, so you get more bang for your buck.

Purchase a national newspaper / magazine ad. Newspaper and magazine ads work best if your business’ majority of customers are locals.

Spice up regular testimonials by requesting them in video format. As mentioned above, videos are a big help in marketing! So instead of just typing down testimonials from regular customers, request that they do it in a video format instead.

Give out bumper stickers. Kind of old, but still works! Bumper stickers are a good way to promote your business slowly. Every brand impression counts!

Start the word of mouth campaign. Ask your friends, employees, and family members to discuss your business with their friends. It’s free and usually gets a couple of people interested!

Be EXTRA appreciative. Have you ever mailed your customer a thank you note for purchasing? We usually just create a thank you page for our customers, but never go the extra mile. So as a marketing idea, try sending them a small freebie, or a thank you note along with their order, to let them know your gratitude towards them. This is a good way to make your customers post about you or give you great referrals!

Record a funky company voice mail. How many people call you every day? A lot, right? This is why a funky voicemail featuring your social media accounts and product is a good idea. Try it.

Give freebies with company branding. Have you ever tried being given a pen with a company logo? Makes you remember them every time you use the pen, right? Pens are just one of the many freebies you can give to your customers so they don’t forget about you.

Sing your jingle. Have you ever had Last Song Syndrome (LSS) of a company’s jingle? I have… and it worked out really great for them because I can’t help but repeat it again and again. That was why my friends knew of their store and check it out. So create your own jingle + dance moves, post it on social media, and ask your followers to recreate.

Have a developer create your QR Code. Quick Response Code, or QR code, allows your customers to quickly find your product or page by simply scanning the code.

Hire a mascot. If you’re having an event soon… a mascot might be able to help you gain more exposure. Pick a friendly costume and have him give away leaflets in the street. Remember to inform them of your target market.

Continue being active in Social Media. SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS! So long as you focus in the right areas. So focus on that along with the ideas we mentioned above. As always, follow the 80/20 rule, where you will post things that are of value to your followers at least 80% of the time, then you post about you for 20%.

As well as in local newspapers. If your business caters to local customers only, newspapers is one good way to reach out to them.

Direct Marketing / Advertising gets boring when you only focus on one thing! Make sure you spice your strategies up to keep your leads engaged and your customers happy. Follow the tips we have above and let us know in the comments below which worked the best for you! 🙂