What topics do offline business owners want to learn about?

by JCWHong

Posted: 15 years ago 14 replies

INTERNET MARKETING

Hey everyone,

If you are a small off-line business owner/entrepreneur, what topics or new strategies are you interested in learning about in order to boost your profits in this struggling economy?

Examples of topics include:
- online lead generation
- marketing online
- advertising strategies
- creating a website to market your business

Thanks, everyone!

#business #entrepreneurs #learn #offline #offline businesses #owners #topics

wealthwarrior 15 years ago

many i have spoken to ask:
how do I establish a presence on the Net
how do I get more customers / more leads by advertising on the Net
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wclements 15 years ago

Justin,

Any strong sales business is interested in getting
more eager leads. They'd be interested in knowing
how to easily obtain leads or a system where they
could buy leads on-demand.

Any weak sales business is interested in either
making more money or staying in touch with their
current customers. They would respond well to
pre-packaged or custom promotional campaigns
that will bring them in new money without having
to do any "real work." They would also be
interested in any system that will allow them to
easily send notes and promotions to their
customers.

There is obviously a whole slew of sub-topics,
but that is how it breaks down depending
on the seriousness of the owner in the sales
department.

-William Clements
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daddyg 15 years ago

I think you've listed most of them in your OP.

Many small business owners seem to think a website is just a branding tool rather than a lead generation / sales tool. So I'd say they'd probably be interested to learn about the benefits of PPC, email marketing, live chat tools, integration marketing, blogging etc.
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BIG Mike

Banned 15 years ago

[DELETED]

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Keith Boisvert

15 years ago

Originally Posted by BIG Mike

I own numerous small businesses offline, but as you can probably imagine, since I'm here reading this thread, I probably know where to get the answers and presumably am actively seeking them.

Not that your thread doesn't bring up some interesting questions, but I think you might be asking the wrong group of business owners. That said, you might be missing out on what is really needed by them, so I would recommend that you actually survey a number of small businesses offline.

That way, you're getting better data straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. And I think you could probably do a mail based survey without too much difficulty within your own and surrounding communities.

Although most business owners all want some basic things outlined in the op, each TYPE of business has different needs and wants as well so take that into consideration. I have found that no two businesses want or need the same things in regards to their business.

Ultimately, I found that ALL businesses want to increase profits and retain customers, but each one has much more intricate needs that define the marketing plan and ultimately your approach.

~keith

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JohnMcCabe

15 years ago

Originally Posted by wclements

Any strong sales business is interested in getting more eager leads. They'd be interested in knowing how to easily obtain leads or a system where they could buy leads on-demand.

Any weak sales business is interested in either making more money or staying in touch with their current customers. They would respond well to pre-packaged or custom promotional campaigns that will bring them in new money without having to do any "real work." They would also be interested in any system that will allow them to easily send notes and promotions to their customers.

William, I would add this...

Any business who wants to grow their actual profits over the long haul would be interested in both.

As I'm sure you know, there are three ways to boost profits.

> Find more new customers (which you seem to prefer).
> Get each customer to spend more (increase order size).
> Get each customer to spend more often (increase order frequency).

Show any reasonably competent business owner how to do one or more of those things, and you're money.

While different experts have different numbers, they pretty much agree that it costs much more to get a new customer than it does to sell to existing customers.

Maybe I'm reading more into this than you intended, but what I'm getting is that businesses that spend time/energy selling to existing customers are weak and lazy. And maybe you are right for businesses that ignore getting new customers altogether.

I do find this a little condescending:

They would respond well to pre-packaged or custom promotional campaigns that will bring them in new money without having to do any "real work."

Thanks

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4morereferrals

15 years ago

Most ALL the small to midsize businesses I speak to - and as their Insurance Broker - we get into some interesting stuff. I speak to about 5-10 small businesses owners per day for various reasons.

Needs / Desires ... in this order.

1. Referrals from existing clients or Referral Affiliates - Network.

2. Retain the clients they already have, that they've paid dearly to aquire.

3. More NEW business sources.

After you get them all SEO'd up, autoresponder'd, and website'd, you might consider putting together and selling them a "referral" marketing program. They'll luv you long time! - and pay YOU for it :-)

Ive got tons of ideas and concepts for all types of business that would be turnkey for you OFFLINE consultants to pitch - given away free if ya know where to look

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4morereferrals

15 years ago

And that my friends ... sums up the "Ultimate Referral System"

Any weak sales business is interested in either
making more money or staying in touch with their
current customers. They would respond well to
pre-packaged or custom promotional campaigns
that will bring them in new money without having
to do any "real work." They would also be
interested in any system that will allow them to
easily send notes and promotions to their
customers.

1. Sell em a site or retool their site

2. Sell em an AR and series and ongoing maint.

The what else?

3. Point them to the Movie that explains the Ultimate Referral System. Sign em up for that - collect affiliate commission.

4. Sell them pre packaged OFFLINE Autoresponder campaigns for their current clients that delete their emails :-)

Bahhhh Da Bing ... Bahhhh Da Boooom!

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wordwizard

15 years ago

Offline autoresponder campaigns???

Like automated postcards and such, for example by way of Vistaprint?
Oh, or those sendout cards?

What a cool concept (though on some level, it should be a no-brainer).

I take it there's info on that in your FREE referrels audio, right?

Thanks
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Jagged

15 years ago

I've been getting a lot of inquiries about PPC campaigns, also about SMS text / mobile marketing & mobi websites.

Most inquired in order:

web design / redesign
permission based email campaigns
customer retention / customer database management
SEO
SMS text / mobile marketing
PPC

I get the most inquiries regarding text / mobile marketing from restaurants.

Thanks
1 reply

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4morereferrals

15 years ago

Came across this on another forum ... They're lookin' ...

"69% trying new things to stimulate business..." Interesting survey report in todays business section of the Orange County Register. (CA) In part, according to the 3rd Staples National Small Business survey of small business owners and managers, 69% said they are CONSTANTLY trying new things to stimulate their businesses. 84% believe they will be in business next year in their current form.

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Dave777 15 years ago

Just go through all the recent offline business threads throughout the warrior forum, especially the shared business models! You'll have the answer(s) you're looking for as a few smart Warriors have already done the testing and research for you... Just one excellent example...
http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...recession.html

Dave
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- JCWHong 15 years ago
  
  Hey everyone,
  
  Thanks for the comments!
  
  Thanks
  
  Signature
  
  Justin
  
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picus 15 years ago

Other topic would be:

• How to keep in touch with the non-tech customers (the ones that don't even look at their emails for weeks).

• How to create confidence so that the customers trust your business and do their first buy.

Regards
Vicente
_____________________________________________
Dieta para Bajar Colesterol y Triglicéridos
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JohnSpangler 15 years ago

The key questions I am finding having spoken to a number of businesses seems to be how they can get more business without having to spend a ton of money-goes back to what they have in their own back yard-their existing customers and seeing if they can capitalize on an already existing potential stream because once a prospect becomes a customer they are more open to doing business with you again.

Asking them some questions such as...
1. How often do you communicate with your customers?
2. After a new customer buys the first time, do you have a follow up
procedure of any kind?
3. Do you offer any special incentive for multiple purchases?
4. Do you regularly solicit customers to come back?
5. Of the clients you currently have, where do most of them emanate from?
6. What organizations do your customers belong to
7. Do you have a mailing list? email list? website? facebook or myspace?

You get the idea there are a ton more questions you could pose because sometimes business owners get so busy they forget what made them successful in the first place.

The economy is definitely effecting them and they want any solutions.

I hope that helps,

John
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trevortaylor Banned 15 years ago

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