I am at a point where my online marketing can't go too much further. I am dominating my field and am hungry for clients at an increased rate than the Internet can currently provide me. I am trying to think of ideas on how to go about it. I am in a very unique section of the insurance industry, something that businesses need more than individuals. The only thing I can think to do offline is direct mail. What other methods would be viable for a specific service that most will not require?
if you are offering free ideas then please post them in the forum, otherwise i am not interested in a sales-man with 2 posts in this forum.
Direct mail is a rough game to play. A few folks do very well from it, most fail miserably. You've got to do your research and test like crazy to be successful. As well as I do at online marketing, I've personally failed spectacularly at offline marketing methods. Spent thousands for no sales. We're spoiled in the online business . The one thing I suggest you investigate is advertising on your car. I will probably do this in the next year, seems inexpensive and from what I've read, effective.
I like to buy donuts for my local Chamber of Commerce. 10 dozen donuts costs all of $50 from a local donut shop, and they deliver. I just have them write "Courtesy of ..." what ever website I am trying to promote on top of each box.
Awesome idea. Military recruiters are known for doing something similar with sending in "fat pills" to teacher's lounges and such. Some banks offer commercial clients the ability to put in flyers when they mail out statements - might be worth looking into. Also, see if you can get "profiled" in your local paper or some news stations do a "business of the week" ...
Another great idea; not much different than writing an article for digg or such that is informative, that people will find useful. Also, our local paper does "specialty" magazine inserts periodically in the newspaper that center around a specific topic like Health and Wellness - it's always full of "info-articles" by chiropractors, doctors, etc. I'm sure they pay to have them there, but to do so and be seen as a subject matter expert in your field can't hurt
Business cards, letters to the editor of your area newspaper, print advertising (especially in trade publications), radio advertising / interviews, manual press releases, hosting an event / seminar in your field, pitch letters to solicit product reviews, etc. I have a lot of success with guerrilla tactics when I run a national campaign of any kind (often for book or album launches). Try tweaking some of those ideas from creative professionals like artists and writers and turn them into something effective for your kind of business. I'd strongly suggest picking up one or two of the Guerrilla Marketing series books at your library or bookstore. You might even find some new online techniques you haven't thought of. Jenn
wow, very creative. Yea people will always take a freebie. Maybe getting something to give away with your logo? frisbees, water bottles?
Our local movie theatre runs local, specialized commercials before movies. I have a local niche website for the local area - I made a deal with a few of the advertisers ... a chiropractor for example, states at the end of their ad, for more information, see our pagead at website.com where I created them a custom page about their practice that links over to their website - another page of relevant content for my site, a great relevant one-way link to them, and great offline marketing and name saturation for my local website ... traffic has increased about 40% since bartering these deals
The thing you have to keep in mind while try to promote to other businesses is that they probably get the same promotional item catalogs you do. Think of your target audience, and then think of what they want. People in meetings like donuts. Drug companies send doctors pens (so they can write prescriptions for their drugs presumably). I supose attorneys could use some nice pens too. If you wanted to reach restaurant owners, you could send promotional spatulas or some crazy thing. If your prospective visitors are people buying cars (like carfax for example), you could send auto dealers free tear-off paper floor mats with your logo on them (so the car's carpeting stays clean longer). Just think about who your visitor is and what they will be looking at and/or using that can tie into your site's niche. BTW, if anyone webmaster from carfax reads this and uses my idea, could you just add "Thanks Tim!" in fine print at the bottom of the sheets?
You can also get your company logo painted on your car. If your kids are embarrassed when you drop them off at school ... so be it (and then park your car at a busy spot)
Or get it done on a large magnetic sign. Then you can embarrass your kids at will, and take it off when you want to also.
During the mid 1990s, before move to the Internet, I was doing it pretty good with techiniques found in a book called "Marketing Without Money", by Nicholas E. Blade, published by McGraw-Hill
I believe (I'd have to ask my accountant again to be sure) that permanent signage on your vehicle will allow you to write off part of the vehicle and/or some or all of your mileage. I don't think magnetic signs count as permanent. I just remember 12ish years ago being told not to use a magnetic sign. However, signage on a car is a great idea. Getting a full color, full body vinyl wrap in my area runs about $5000 for a full size cargo van. Getting 3 colors on the sides and back door runs about $1000. If you're skilled enough and patient enough, you can apply the vinyl graphics yourself and save a bit more. Be warned however that when you have to pay a real vinyl graphics expert to correct your mistakes, they will laugh at you...or so I've heard from a friend. Anyhow, a parking space in my city's highly trafficked downtown area runs $50 a month. Park said full sized cargo van right by the street and I have a cheap, permanent billboard for $50 a month. Or, pop a handfull of coins into the parking meter and sip coffee at a nearby cafe while working on your laptop (highly recommended that you face your vehicle so you can have a warm fuzzy feeling when you notice people stopping and looking at it).
Sorry. I was just thinking of it from a marketing perspective, not a tax one. Personally though, I'd rather have a "normal" car when I want to than the write off. The van in a city parking space as billboard is a pretty nice take on it.