Every year, companies spend enormous amounts of time and money developing innovative marketing techniques. From electronic billboards, to sponsored web articles, to even creative skywriting, and using things like South Lakes SEO — businesses are constantly trying out new methods to drive growth. This desire to experiment with marketing is valuable, some of these efforts, like skywriting, are poor uses of resources, whereas things like SEO marketing are good uses of resources. Affiliate marketing is also worth considering; just look at how it has benefitted those working in the casino industry here – https://www.b2bnn.com/2020/10/best-practices-how-casinos-use-affiliate-marketing-as-a-growth-strategy/. Just because some things are new doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good. Too often, businesses forget to focus on the simplest and perhaps most effective strategy: in-person marketing. Personal relationships with customers are critical to driving revenue and business growth. A simple face to face connection is perhaps the best way to gain a new customer.
Personal connections are especially important in the early stages of your business when you are still perfecting your model. Customer feedback is a key way to find out what elements of your business aren’t working. You can check in with your customers frequently and gain valuable information about pricing, quality, or anything else you want to know. A strong personal connection will ensure the feedback they give is honest and reliable. These connections are also great for market research. Learning more about your customers – who they are, where they are, and what they want – is critically important. You want to constantly tweak and improve your business to keep it relevant in the market place. Even for larger, more developed companies, maintaining and creating new personal connections is vital. For this reason, many companies may look to market research models (see this excel template here) as a way to measure not only the market but how their customers’ viewpoints change over time in regards to their business. It’s a big mistake to just see customers as dollar signs. Businesses who fail to understand what their customers actually want will not last long.
Making meaningful connections with people can also be a great way to expand your business. Of all the types of advertising, one of the most valued is “word of mouth.” Your business profits when satisfied customers share their experiences and recommendations to friends and family. One Tweet or Facebook post could lead to many new customers. Again, this is why in person connections are so important. One solid interaction with someone will allow you to put a “face to the business.” Customers are of course more likely to share their opinions if that personal connection has been established. One connection could lead to a whole web of potential new business leads. A small investment of time can lead to huge amounts of rewards. Your growing business could be one connection away from exponential growth.
In-person marketing is perhaps the best way to market your business, and best of all, it just requires a little bit of time. It’s as easy a quick call to a good customer.