Small Business Marketing Guide - DIY (do-it-yourself) BRAND MARKETING STRATEGIES to HELP YOU GROW YOUR BUSINESS

One of the classic mistakes many marketers make is to assume that potential customers inherently care about their company or the product they have to sell. It may sound harsh, but the fact of the matter is that they just don’t. Most customers don’t care about you, your product, your exciting young company or what you have to say.

What do they care about? Solving some problem or meeting some need of their own. But increasingly, they also care about doing business with companies that care about them.

With the economy in ruins and large corporations mostly to blame, consumers are plain-out disgusted with corporate greed. They want companies that give something back, that help them out a little in their times of need, and that give them some flexibility.

In other words, it’s payback time, and what our sister site trendwatching.com calls Generation G is calling on companies large and small to shell out.

Fortunately–as is so often the case–opportunity tends to come hand-in-hand with a new challenge. Corporate generosity is now beginning to be expected, so this is your chance to shine by being one of the first to deliver. Direct marketing is an ideal way to do that.

1. Give generously. Who doesn’t love free stuff? Whether it’s a customized PDF travel guide or ice cream on a hot day, potential customers are unlikely to say ‘no’ to something free, and it doesn’t have to cost you a lot. It also makes your direct marketing effort more than just another easily tossed piece of junk mail–one that can create some warm and fuzzy brand impressions instead.

2. Samples with a twist. Going a step further, you can serve two purposes by making the ‘free stuff’ samples of your own products, or at least some aspect of them. Recession-wary consumers are increasingly reluctant to buy something new without trying it out first, so if you can, let your direct marketing be what makes that ‘tryvertising’ possible. Two examples:

• First Flavor lets manufacturers convert flavors into Peel’n Taste strips that can easily be distributed in a direct marketing campaign. Resembling the breath strips already on the market, First Flavor’s Peel’n Taste strips made their debut back in 2007 in a rum mojito flavor designed to advertise a TV show. The FDA-approved strips contain no sugar or calories.
• London-based Matter has created a new twist on traditional direct marketing by sending out boxes of ‘interesting stuff’ for free to specific audiences. Participating companies create and contribute something that explains what they do, indicates something about their values or can be tried out. Matter then sends the boxes so that they arrive on a Saturday—when targeted consumers are more likely to spend some time with them.

3. Love the Earth. When today’s consumers look for companies that care, that includes caring about the environment. I already offered some suggestions on this in my earlier post, “Do the Green Thing,” and they apply to direct marketing just as well. Generosity is no longer an option, and that includes eco-generosity!

One final note: If you think generosity is something that need only be shown during prosperous times, think again. Much of this depends more on creativity and the right partnerships than it does on shelling out lots of cash; it also stands to make a *much* bigger impression than yet another, bland sales pitch. Be generous and thrive–or, remain stingy and… well, get left in the dust.