Author: Andrew Griffiths
Publisher: Diamond Publishing
Reviewer: Goke Ilesanmi
For any business to survive and achieve profitability, it needs customers. To get enough customers, effective and strategic marketing is very important. Let us therefore examine this text entitled “101 Ways to Market Your Business” written by Andrew Griffiths.
Griffiths is a professional marketing consultant, as well as a director of an Australian company called The Marketing Professionals. Griffiths is an accomplished trainer and a reputable public speaker. He specialises in trouble-shooting for companies that are in dire need of professional advice on marketing and customer-related issues.
According to him, this book will show you how to take the hard work out of marketing your business. He says it will show you how to achieve dramatic improvement in your business without investing a lot of time and money. This trainer assures you that these 101 practical marketing strategies will offer you guide on how to realise the full potential of your business. He reflects that each strategy is based on proven marketing techniques employed by successful businesses the world over.
According to this marketing consultant, these 101 ideas are simple, affordable and quick to implement. Griffiths stresses that many of them take less than 30 minutes to implement and will bring results fast. Choose and apply a new idea each week or use this book as a source of inspiration for new ways to market your services, your products and your business, submits Griffiths.
He says in this book, there are ideas to help you find new customers, increase the loyalty of the existing customers, create great promotional material and make your business stand out from the competing crowd.
This book is segmented into 13 basic sections of 101 strategies. Additionally, there are 20 bonus ideas that constitute a kind of textual appendage to the major 101 strategies. Section one is entitled “Getting started” and constitutes a kind of conceptual preamble of the book.
According to Griffiths here, people generally start a small business or buy a small business for different reasons. Sometimes it is because they are good at their chosen profession and feel that they can make a better living working for themselves, sometimes it is a lifestyle change and sometimes it is simply a lifelong dream.
This author says running a business requires many skills that take time to develop. Griffiths stresses that though marketing ideas are important for success in your business, he also believes that having the right attitude is essential. “I have been fortunate enough to work with a lot of very successful business operators. They all have similar attitudes and thoughts on doing business and I believe that is what sets them apart from those businesses that always seem to struggle,” submits the author.
Section two is interrogatively entitled “Does your business stand out from the crowd?” and contains the first nine strategies of marketing your business. These strategies are how to promote your business from the outside in; how to put your message on the company car; turning your invoice into a sales tool; selling yourself even when you are not there and using the internet in such a way as to be noticed. Griffiths also reflects that a good uniform impresses everyone and tells you how to make the most of packaging in your business. He advises you not underestimate the importance of a business card, asking you if your business has a memorable name.
Section three of this marketing text is based on making the most of the customers you already have, and contains six of the strategies, that is, strategies ten to fifteen. This author tells you in this section to send out reminder notices; stay in touch with your customers; remember important dates; ask your customers for referrals; say “thank you” to generate more business; and use a loyalty programme to your advantage.
In section four containing four of the strategies, that is, strategies 16 to 19, Griffiths teaches you how to write press releases, stressing that everybody loves a winner. He says you should call the local radio station and ask your customers to tell their friends about you.
Section five is interrogatively tagged “Are you willing to try a few unusual ideas?” and covers 15 of the strategies, that is, strategies 20 to 34. In this section, Griffiths tells you to get behind a wacky promotion; enjoy the benefits of brainstorming; use inflatable toys to build your business; remember the good old bumper sticker; use a spruiker to draw in the crowds; offer prizes in competitions; and get your business in the Guinness Book of Records.
This author also advises you to use the local pizza company to generate business; take ownership of an event; think differently about marketing your business; use industry publications to collect ideas; start a marketing-idea box; take your message on the road with a mobile billboard; and use a blackboard to get attention.
Section six is based on the need to encourage your staff, and contains four of the 101 strategies, that is, strategies 35 to 38. According to Griffiths here, good staff are the backbone of any successful business. “Unfortunately, most of the time all I ever hear are people complaining about problems with their staff, not their good points. From my experience staff are as good as the training and encouragement they receive,” stresses the author.
He says one of the greatest tragedies that he witnesses in most businesses he visits is that the people serving do not know how to sell, adding that very few businesses have well-trained sales staff.
According to Griffiths in section seven that is based on how to make it easy for people to buy from you, and contains strategies 39 to 42, “I can never understand why some businesses seem to make it hard to buy things from them.”
He says freecall numbers (where you pay for the incoming calls) are not expensive, thus suggesting that any business aspiring to expand into a larger geographical region should arrange for this service immediately.
The author stresses that once you have your free-call number, you should give it to your customers and have it printed on your business cards. He also discusses the perfect gift for the customers; how to make it easy for people to give you money; and the need to make life easy for parents and cater for their kids.
Section eight is based on the need for you to have smart and hard-hitting promotional material, and contains strategies 43 to 50. In this section, Griffiths discusses the concepts of making your first brochure and making up an information booklet to give customers.
He says you should always be prepared to hand out a brochure; build credibility with testimonials from happy customers; start your own newsletter; deploy clever promotional materials that cost no more; and always be under your customers.
In sections nine to 12, Griffiths X-rays the concepts of how to daily make advertising works for your business; building credibility into your business; going out to chase business; and thinking like a customer. These four sections cover strategies 51 to 97 of the 101 strategies for marketing your business.
By way of segmentation, section nine contains 19 strategies (51to 69); section 10, five strategies (70 to 74); section 11, 14 strategies (75 to 88); and section 12, nine strategies (89 to 97).
In these four sections, Griffiths advises you to work with other businesses and promote each other; use cheap classified advertisements to generate business; get your suppliers to help you with advertising; tap into large-based organisations; sponsor a courier and be seen all over the town; never underestimate the intelligence of your customers; support a local team and scan the newspapers for goodwill messages.
He says you should always try to sell to the decision-maker, not the assistant; always make a follow-up call after the sale; ask your customers how they heard about your business; offer free delivery to have a competitive edge, etc.
Section 13, the last section is interrogatively christened “Is your business promoted in as many places as possible?” and contains the remaining four strategies, that is, strategies 98 to 101. Here, Griffiths shows you an easy way for customers to keep your number handy; the power of the local convenience store; the need to put your company flyer or business card in the corner whenever you visit the local shopping centre, etc. In addition to these basic 101 strategies, this trainer also offers you 20 bonus ideas.
On style, Griffiths’ efforts are commendable in this book. He presents the ideas in a simple language. By segmenting the 101 strategies into 13 sections, he makes the study of this text easy. However, some strategies are repetitive in the book. It is better to make necessary adjustments and avoid the attendant conceptual redundancy.
Do you aspire to grow your business through unique and effective marketing strategies? If your answer is “Yes”, then this text is highly recommended to you.
GOKE ILESANMI, Editor-in-Chief/CEO of https://www.gokeilesanmi.com.ng and Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is a Certified Public Speaker/Emcee, (Business) Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker, Career Management Coach, Renowned Book Reviewer, Corporate Leadership Expert and Editorial Consultant. Tel: +234(0)8056030424; +234(0)8187499425
Email: info@gokeilesanmi.com.ng; gokeiles2010@gmail.com