Alexander Hiam

Here are some things you can begin to do for a new marketing campaign for your small business. Before you hire professionals, see what you can do yourself. Compare your approach to that of your competitors When you compare your marketing approach to competitors, you easily find out what customers like best. Make a list of the things that your competitors do differently than you.

Business innovation usually isn’t on people’s agendas or weekly calendars, but it’s the most significant thing you can do to make a contribution in your workplace or boost your own career. Ask yourself what you could do today that might improve the way people work, shop, or live, or that could cut costs, solve a problem, or break through a barrier that’s slowing you or your business down.

The goals of marketing your business and products are to find new clients and to keep your existing ones. So how do you do this? Use some marketing guidelines to devise a successful marketing plan, attract new customers, create more sales leads, and close the deal. Follow some basic design tips for your business card and newsletter to market you and your business in the most positive way.

A situation analysis is the one tool every marketer needs to ensure her marketing tactics are taking advantage of real opportunities and solving real problems. In other words, it provides the context you need to move forward with your planning. Your situation analysis helps you define the context for your marketing plan by looking at trends, customer preferences, competitor strengths and weaknesses, and anything else that may impact sales.

What really matters in marketing are the points of contact between the customer and your communications, products, and people. These customer interactions (or influence points) with you constitute your marketing program. Take care to list these influence points when designing a marketing program. To make a list of your own influence points, use the following Five Ps of marketing for your categories.

When you’re stuck with a tough decision — between a rock and a hard place — it’s time to invent a third, better option. Just think creatively, and look at the problem from a new perspective. Here are five ways to expand your thinking and find a better option right now: Explain to all parties what’s wrong with the current options, and ask them if they can come up with alternatives.

Finding ways to innovate and add creativity to your business and career is fun and very rewarding. The following questions can help motivate you to dive into the process of creating new ideas to jump-start change in your workplace: What is the biggest problem or challenge at work — and how can I make a little progress toward solving it today?

If you’re bursting with good ideas, but your boss always rejects suggestions out of hand, it’s very hard to stay positive and continue to think innovatively. Use these suggestions to keep your own creative spirit alive and to try to bring about positive change in your business in spite of the negative atmosphere: Brainstorm strategies for making change.

To get more people interested and asking about your offerings, you need to have an abundance of lead-generating information out in the market at all times. Try some of these best all-around marketing choices: Toll-free telephone numbers (a big source of leads despite the rise of Web-based marketing; advertise your toll-free number everywhere) Directory listings (don’t forget Web directories!