Use a Variety of Marketing Tools to Maximize Your Communications Plan

Effective marketing is the lifeline of any business. And because choosing a vendor or buying a product is often an emotional decision for prospective clients, gaining their trust is paramount in building their confidence in you. One of the best ways to instill good feelings about your company is through a comprehensive communications plan.

Although technology has significantly impacted how businesses reach their target audience, people still have their preferred ways of communicating, which is not always via a computer. Some people prefer phone or in-person contact and others prefer a more tangible form of communication such as print letters and newsletters, postcards, and brochures.

The first step in creating a comprehensive marketing plan is creating a budget. Many business owners think they can’t always afford marketing when the fact is they can never afford not to. So even if the marketing budget is miniscule, here are a few components that are a must, even for a one-person operation:

A professionally designed logo that will be used on all of your marketing pieces to give the plan consistency and help build your brand.
Business cards and stationary. Both should be printed on high-quality paper with a font style that’s easy to read and representative of the nature of your business. These pieces should also feature your professionally designed logo.
A Web site and professional e-mail address. A simple 5-page site can be built from a template in a matter of a few hours with nominal cost. An e-mail address is usually a part of these low-cost plans.

Once you have the basics covered, there are a number of other low-cost and even free ways to reach your target audience such as:

Word of mouth. Join a business leads exchange group. Most cities have at least a few that meet on a regular basis.
Write articles and press releases in your area of expertise and post them to the many ezine and press release Web sites. Many of these sites don’t charge, and it’s an effective way to get your name up top in the search engines.
Find free speaking opportunities. Offer to conduct a seminar and have plenty of marketing materials to hand out afterwards. You may even want to offer a limited-time only special discount to program attendees.
Create a blog and comment on other blogs.
Determine which of the standard social media sites would work best for your business. Sometimes it’s better to not have a presence on one if it’s not really practical for your particular business and it’s not something you won’t keep up. And you don’t want to damage your credibility by not keeping current on your posts.

Reaching a broad range of prospects and gaining the trust that translates into sales is often only a matter of unrelenting diligence. Make sure these tips are a part of your basic communications strategy and also have future marketing plans based on an increasing budget.

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