 President's
Corner
August is here! The dog days of
summer as we bass fishermen say,
that means it's time to do our
summer mini-check of our
marketing and see how it is
working. We can look back over
the last seven months to see how
our marketing has been going as
compared to last year and over
the last several months.
You may need to tweak it a
little bit, change it a lot or
do nothing at all. This
week I'll talk a little bit
about cost effective marketing.
The economy is still down and it seems it is going to stay that way for a while
longer. If you run a cash flow or note business, what are you going to do?
There is a long recognized rule: In bad economic times, businesses that maintain
their marketing come out healthier than businesses that cut back their
marketing.
But budgets are tight, so you have to market smarter. There is a common
misperception that marketing equals advertising. But marketing is much
more than that. In my book "Every Single Profitable Note Marketing Idea in
the World (almost)" I cover the entire range of marketing tactics available for
our business. In particular during these tough economic times I want to share
with you a few key affordable marketing methods.
Tighten your target market. Smaller, highly targeted marketing options
are far cheaper - and often more effective - than tactics that reach a larger
audience. For example, instead of direct mailing to an entire state of
note holders off of a quality list, maybe direct mail to only note holders in
that state with notes under $100,000, that are seasoned less than six months on
residential property only. Or if you are using classified ads, instead of
placing your ads in a large regional paper, maybe place them in smaller local
papers in outlying rural areas around major cities.
Ask for 'remnant space'. If you are advertising, whether it is print,
TV or radio, every media outlet has unsold space they sometimes sell to smaller
advertisers at a fraction of the regular price. A company that I know got
a nationwide remnant ads on CNN for only $500! In this economic
environment, ask for details!
E-mail Newsletters. Web-based services with pre-formatted
templates that maintain your list and do all of the technical work for you
(except for the writing) are a cheap, easy way to regularly remind note holders,
referral sources and potential clients of your value and services.
Remember, when times are tough, smart note businesses look for every advantage.
So get out there and keep on marketing, it's going to work! TWITA!
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