Small Business Marketing: Don’t Accept Status Quo

There’s nothing wrong with using those Valpak promotions as part of your small business marketing strategy, but you need to focus on what really matters: your customer. After all, if the ad doesn’t answer a customer’s primary question — what’s in it for me — then you’ve lost. Andrew Lock also shows what one company did to make their customers actually look forward to getting a bill. Be sure to check it out — just click on the Help, My Business Sucks logo below to watch the short video.

The Valpak or Money Mailer-style marketing is like pouring money down the drain for most businesses. They don’t focus on the benefits to the reader, rather they focus on their own products or services in an insular fashion.

Dave Crenshaw introduces the concept of using a phone that matches your computer via the principle of being ‘lost in translation’. Fascinating stuff, although I do use an iPhone4 with a PC, so maybe I should look at getting an Apple Mac.

Article marketing is a valuable process to bring you backlinks, if you do it right. EzineArticles.com is a great resource, and there are others, too. Post your articles to these sites with a persuasive resource box that conveys a benefit to customers.

YouSendIt.com is a good service, but it’s a challenge to send large files. That problem is solved with a new and free file sending service. This Web tool is easy to use, you can send up to 2GB, and there’s no registration required. Excellent.

This week’s big marketing lesson for small business is from New York’s Ptex Group. They’ve implemented a new strategy to ensure that when customers receive their bill, it’s a positive experience. I love the strategy they came up with, it’s simple, and highly effective.

As usual, let me know your opinion about the topics covered in the show to help your small business this week — leave your comment below, it’s really easy to do, no registration required.

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tips and resources from Andrew Lock in our Small Business In-Depth series,

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Andrew Lock is a self-described maverick marketer and the creator and host of Help! My Business Sucks, a free, weekly Web TV show full of practical marketing tips, advice and resources to help small businesses “get more done and have more fun.”