Online marketing is a good thing, but high-tech marketing to the exclusion of high-touch marketing creates an imbalance. Here are 3 simple and easy marketing ideas that work and will help you regain a healthy balance between high-tech and high-touch marketing:

1. Host a Free Luncheon

Prospecting is a time-consuming activity, and time is money. So why not get more bang for your time buck? Host a free luncheon for a group of local prospects who fit your buyer persona. This should be a no pressure, no selling, no embarrassment agenda on how you can help them solve their problems. You can promote it in advance with a series of two or three mailings, an email or two, and a telephone campaign. Let’s face it, few people will pass on a good free lunch?

After the lunch, encourage attendees to complete a brief questionnaire about how they might use your products or services. Those who indicate one or more of your products or services have self-selected to be on your hot list. Start calling on them right away to start building and nurturing a relationship. Those who didn’t are still new acquaintances with whom you can build a relationship with the idea that they will either become customers later on or refer you to others.

2. Minimize Defections

Sometimes customers move away, go out of business, or some other situation causes them to leave you. These situations are out of your control, and you have to accept that. But never accept a customer loss that’s in your control. When that happens, you should immediately start working to regain their business. The best way to do this is to ask the lost customers directly, in a non-confrontational way, why they left. Then use that information to woo that customer back, if possible, and to improve all your customer relations so you don’t lose more for the same reasons.

Do you need help growing your business? Click here to check out the social media marketing and website design packages from The Sherwood Group. We’ll help you capture new business and achieve your goals.

3. Be Creative

Predictability is a common trap in business. Odds are very high that your competition is predictable, so use that to your advantage. Sometimes you have to step outside the box to get noticed and create relationships with prospects. One outside-the-box idea that virtually any business can use is the popsicle gambit. Load an ice chest up with popsicles, visit your top five or ten prospects, and serve their staff cool treats on a hot afternoon. Ice cream bars and cold lemonade work equally well. In the winter, substitute doughnuts for cool treats.

Remember, just because there are lots of high-tech marketing tools available doesn’t mean you should abandon high-touch approaches. Contact us today for more ideas on how you can double or triple your business. We also invite you to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group |Website Design | Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America). Our goal is to create advertising,  graphic design, website design, and marketing communication that still looks fresh and relevant 10-15 years later. Our mission is to stir your imagination and leave your competition shaken and wondering,  Now what do we do?”  We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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