5 Points of Effective Marketing Promotions

December is a comparatively quiet time for my business. When I’m not working “in” the business, I take the opportunity to work “on” the business. Business development is something I rarely get the time to do!

I started thinking about ways to promote my business… Hmmm… I’ve worked on a lot of promotions with various clients over the years; the stand out of which is the Gippsland Lakes Ministerial Advisory Committee’s bream-shaped USB (which have recently been recreated as a flathead). The client loves them, I love them and, most importantly, the target audience loves them.

I wanted to create something that ticked all the boxes of what an effective promotion should do:

Be desirable
Be unique
Be share-worthy
Be useful
Represent the business it’s promoting

With promotions, it’s often difficult to strike the balance between usefulness, uniqueness, desirability and, of course, budget!

I have a lot of stress balls, pens and other random items that are useful but these things were well beyond my meagre (read: non-existent) budget.

So I created a calendar. Completely designed and created by Jane McKay Communications, this free 2014 calendar is available as an A4 PDF download.

How does this humble calendar fulfil the 5 key points I list above?

It’s desirable. I’m certainly not one to blow my own horn but I think it’s beautifully-designed.
It’s unique.100% designed and created by Jane McKay Communications – it doesn’t get any more unique than that!
It’s share-worthy.When I sent the calendar directly to clients and distributed it on social media I encouraged them to share with colleagues, friends and family and looking at the stats, it’s been popular so far!
It’s useful.This idea came from my own personal need for a calendar. I actually started designing it purely for my own personal use and realised this was something that other people could find useful. Although a lot of people rely on digital calendars, I really need something I can write on and stick on the wall/fridge/pinboard/bathroom mirror to remind me of appointments/birthdays/holidays.
It represents the business it’s promoting.The inclusion of marketing-related quotes is something that I find inspiring in my business and helps to present marketing in a more creative and inspiring light. Some clients see marketing as something that “has to be done” and can be a chore; I’m always working to turn that attitude around to see marketing that is something fun. Not only representing the marketing strategy side of the business but also the design side, the calendar was really fun to create and allowed me to design without a style guide (as much as I love them).

So as you can see, the calendar design process fulfilled a need for me personally (in that, I needed a calendar!) but also fulfilled a need for my business – a promotional item over the quiet Christmas break and a year-long reminder of Jane McKay Communications! It’s the gift that keeps on giving on social media, too, as I can share the images on Facebook/Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram and boost my audience.

If you’re planning a promotion for your small business, it doesn’t need to be budget-breaking but it does need to answer to the 5 points of effective marketing promotions.

Are you faking it on social media?

Now, I’m a big believer in social media. I love what it does for our connections as people, as businesses and as a global community. It breaks down barriers across all elements of society.

Social media is one of the key components of the marketing mix in this day and age and quite frankly if you’re not on board, that ship has well and truly sailed.

I have nearly 1,000 followers on Twitter, 150+ connections on my LinkedIn and 87 likes on my Facebook page.

Why so few “likes” on my Facebook page, you ask (I can feel your raised eyebrows from here)?

Well, I believe in using social media for the purpose of engaging genuine members of my audience; people who want to receive my content, are interested in what I have to say and may actually engage my professional services in the future.

I think it’s fruitless to participate in “like exchanges”, “like my page competitions” (which up until recently contravened Facebook’s Terms of Use and could result in your being deleted) or vice versa.

I know this is controversial as “like exchanges” can expose your page to potential members of your target audience but then I feel like a nuisance.

I will only like a page if I actually want to be engaged with the brand and want to listen to them and expect the same from my followers and likers. I respect them and their time and I don’t want to waste it.

I don’t appreciate emails saying “I liked your page now can you please like mine?” from complete strangers, it’s effectively spam, people.

Obviously if I receive these emails from businesses in my industry with whom I could collaborate, then that exchange is welcome as that’s what social media is about.

I just don’t see the point in engaging with people who have no interest in your brand just to boost your “like” numbers so you can look popular. What is this, high school? No, it’s business. It’s akin to click farming. It’s bad practise and I want no part in it.

I may as well go and buy 10K (or 220K) likes; these aren’t meaningful connections and won’t, in the long term, grow my business.

*I’m looking at you @TonyAbbottMHR*

101 Best and Most Proven Sales and Marketing Ideas

101 Best and Most Proven Sales and Marketing Ideas (best viewed in 800x600 resolution) includes some marketing gems from the last millennium.

I think it demonstrates how far we've come in terms of technology yet it's easy to see how translatable these ideas are in, well, the new millennium (there's a term you haven't heard for about 12 years!).

So, how do you apply these "Marketing 101" ideas to life in the content-driven, social media age?

I've taken some of Mr. Gerry Robert's pearls of wisdom and translated them, post-Y2K.

7. Send Out 35 Sales Letters Every Week Regardless: Get in the habit of sending out at least that many letters to prospects every week. No matter what, make sure they go out every Friday.
These days we call this LinkedIn: find and make connections that will enhance your business. Remember: 35 a week people!

13. Write A Special Report: If you are in selling, you are in solving. What do you solve for people? Write a 10 pages report, offer it to your prospects for Free and your telephone will ring off the wall.
White papers can establish you as a leading thinker in your industry and garner respect from your peers. I don't know if your telephone will ring off the wall but your Twitter might go nuts.

44. Use Pictures: Pictures of satisfied clients go further than lengthy letters. People are visual and if they see people just like them they will think you are Okay.
Ah Pinterest, how I love thee. Instagram too. Pictures speak thousands of words and us humans are highly visual people. Create beautiful images and they will come. Even if you don't work in a particularly visual industry you can repin images relevant to your sector on your Pinterest boards and people will think you are Okay.

45. Create Your Own Marketing Binder: Put any awards you have in the binder along with photos, testimonial, product information, how you do business, your sales presentation and leave it with prospects, so they can evaluate you.
Your company website is the perfect place to post testimonials, awards and other information to demonstrate how awesome you are at what you do. No one is going to do it for you!

65. Instead Of A Letter Send An Audio Cassette: You may have noticed something called the "jam". Instead of writing a letter, speak your letter into a cassette and they will listen to it in their cars in the "jam".
Quality content is much more likely to go viral in video format than on text-only platforms. With Google's Penguin release video will also increase the perceived quality of your website and also move your site further up in Google’s search results. People can watch your videos on the "tube".

66. Get On Everyone's Mailing List: I love to learn from what people send me.
Follow everyone and anyone who is respected in your industry on Twitter. I love to learn from what people Tweet!

76. Position Yourself As An "Expert And Authority": Even if you are new to your industry you can be perceived as an expert. The way to do it is with information. Write something, research something or print something and you are an instant "expert".
Well look at that, I'm an instant expert. Blogging is an amazing way to express your views or post well-researched position papers that will have you looking like an expert in no time.

91. Keep In touch By Fax: Send a weekly or monthly report or newsletter via the fax machine. Send a positive quotation of the day.
Facebook is the "sometimes food" social media platform for many businesses but don't overlook it in your content plan. Be sure to "send a positive quotation of the day" at least once a week.

What's your favourite of Mr Robert's gems? Are there any translations I have overlooked?

[UPDATE: I just found the original publication of this work in the New Straits Times, July 11, 1995.]