More bang for your marketing $$$: Who Knows You?

Ever heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”? It’s the theme song of networking.

When it comes to successful business development though, this saying needs to be turned on its head!! “It’s not what you know OR who you know, but WHO KNOWS YOU.”

True Story: A company introduced a product but didn’t budget for promotion. A few months down the road the CEO frowned and asked, “Why isn’t the new widget selling?”After we started a program of publicity, advertising and trade show support, sales happened.

Moral: Selling starts with awareness.

Awareness is so basic many business people overlook it or minimize its importance. But lack of awareness will stymie business growth every time.

How do you create awareness? You need to be visible. Depending on your business and audience, the following tools can help you:

1) ADVERTISING: Can be an effective way to create awareness IF you have an audience that can be reached through publications, broadcast or other media avenues.   Because of the growth of electronic media alternatives, cable TV, satellite radio and so on, the market's gotten very crowded and advertising is tougher to make work.

2) PUBLIC RELATIONS: Product releases, features and case histories can get the word out about your product. This is often a SLOOOOOW way to build awareness, but the cost is less than advertising.

3) SOCIAL MEDIA: If you know your audience is online and you know where to find them AND you know what interests them, you can use social networks to create an online community.  This will take time and effort, but could pay off for you.

4) DIRECT MAIL: Works best with narrow, well-defined audiences. A good list is essential – whether you’re sending your message email or surface mail.

5) TRADE SHOWS and EVENTS: This is much like retail. Attendees come to learn about new products and “kick the tires.” They want to get up close and personal with products, and they may want to be entertained as well. So add some flash and sizzle to your presence. Make it fun, but make it meaningful, too.

A combination of these tools can be very effective. Just be sure to repeat, Repeat, REPEAT your message over time so it sinks in.