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VALLEY EAST TODAY
MARKETING MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES |
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| Having
Your Own Marketing Agent Makes A Lot of Sense For Small Businesses in
Valley East |
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You may be surprised at how much time you spend each
month dealing with requests for donations, sponsorships and advertising
proposals. Some business owners, especially retail establishments in
shopping malls and concentrated areas, find themselves answering the phone
or meeting with people trying to sell them something or looking for
donations as many as five or six times a day. This adds up to at least 10
to 20 hours a month, and up to 200 or more hours a year. It is time that
you could be spending doing more important things, but instead, you find
yourself being harassed by well-meaning people who are simply doing their
job of trying to sell you on what they are offering.
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By retaining my services as an Independent Professional
Marketing Manager, you can very quickly
and simply give my phone number to all of those people who want to
talk to you and that will be the end of the discussion. When they
call me, I will evaluate what they have to offer to see if it fits
with the annual marketing plan that I will help you develop for
your business. If it fits - I will let you know and you can then
decide if it’s something you want to do.
Call me at 969-7215 for more information.
Robert Kirwan, Marketing Manager |
A Marketing Plan Is Essential For Small Businesses
Competing In Today's Marketplace
It only takes an hour or two to begin to develop a good, sound
marketing plan for the year. I will sit down with you and we will list all
of the advertising you did last year; all of the donations you made; and
all of the sponsorship money you gave out. We will look at your permanent
signs, billboards, etc. and evaluate their overall impact and usefulness
We will then determine how much you spent on marketing in the past year,
taking into account the value of merchandise or services that you ‘gave
away’.
Once we have a picture of what you did last year, we
will decide what should be repeated and what should be discarded. You will
then determine a budget amount you would like to spend on marketing and
advertising and also where you would like to see your donations and
sponsorship money being directed. A formal, written plan will be developed
for your approval.
Then, you refer all requests for donations,
sponsorships, and advertising to me for evaluation and recommendation. I
will keep you on budget and make sure that your marketing strategy is
being followed. You still make all of the decisions and can change your
plan at any time, but now you have control over the marketing you are
doing and the money you are spending is going in the right places. |
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| Are
You Tired of Giving Your Goods & Services Away To Charity? |
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Small business owners today play a very important role
in the community. They are expected to make donations to charitable groups
and organizations which are being run by volunteers who are trying to
improve the quality of life of local residents. Unfortunately, most small
business owners do not have much control over these donations and they can
easily get out of hand.
Instead of simply waiting for groups to approach you,
an alternative is to decide ahead of time which groups you want to support
during the year. You and your Marketing Agent can then sit down and decide
a course of action. For example, you may decide that you will make a total
of 30 donations during the year, with ten each going to sports, education
and church groups. Instead of simply going to the stock shelf every time
someone comes in for a donation, you can buy 30 of the same item, have
your logo or message placed on the item, and even create your own thank
you sign to go with the item which is usually displayed on a table at the
particular event. An attractive display can be arranged right in your
store where you can set up the items with a sign indicating the particular
groups you are making donations to that year. Then, your Marketing Agent
can contact the groups in advance and actually offer the donation to them
instead of waiting.
This strategy makes perfect sense from a marketing
point of view and certainly lets everyone know that you are doing your
part for the community. It is also a very impressive in-store display. |
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| Sponsoring
Teams and Groups Means More Than Just Writing Out Cheques |
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If you are in the habit of giving sponsorship money out
to teams, groups and individuals, perhaps you should take a good look at
what kind of image your company is getting from it. When people see your
name on the back of a sweater, they immediately associate your business
with the person who is wearing the sweater. You better hope the person is
giving out a positive image.
If your Marketing Agent is doing his homework, he is in an excellent
position to know where your sponsorship dollars will do the most good for
your business and also for the community. For example, instead of giving
out $500 to put your name on the back of 15 hockey sweaters, it may be
better for you to use the money to build a "player of the week"
bulletin board, or sponsor a "weekly newsletter for the whole
league" or a "fridge magnet schedule" which will be given
to all players. This will be doing a lot for the league and will get your
name out to all people involved in the organization. There is a much
better chance that your name will always be associated with a positive
image and it will be seen much more often by more people. The cost to you
is the same, and the benefits to the association are greater, but the
money you are spending is doing a lot more good in terms of marketing your
business. A marketing agent can make this happen. |
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| Your
Businesses Can Benefit From A Web Site - Now You Can Actually Afford To
Get Your Own! |
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Now that the novelty of the internet is over, people are
beginning to realize the value of the web. No longer is it being seen as a
toy to be used strictly for games. Businesses are finding that web sites
are very effective communication tools. In reality, a web site is nothing
more than a computerized brochure with full colour pictures, endless text,
and flexibility that we could only dream about twenty years ago. The
internet has also become the great equalizer among businesses. A small
company can have just as impressive a web site as a large company, and we
all know that image is everything today.
Take a look at the options that are available to you on the Valley East
Today Community Web Site. This is an excellent way for you to get some
effective internet exposure without having to spend a small fortune.
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| The
First Impression May Be Your Only Chance - Don’t Blow It! |
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You only get one chance to make a good impression to a
new client or customer. When that person walks in your entrance way, he or
she will have an image imbedded in his or her mind that will be there
forever. If you want to maximize your chance of success, you must think
carefully about the kind if message you want to send with this first
impression. Sometimes all it takes is a corner fountain in the waiting
room, with the relaxing sound of water cascading down some well placed
pebbles. Or a few carefully selected photos on the wall.
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Free No Obligation Consultation |
We will provide you with a written evaluation of how
your place of business could be better decorated or arranged in order to
allow for a good first impression for customers and clients. We will tell
you if there is anything you can do to improve the situation and we will
also give you an estimate of how much it may cost. Simply call 969-7215
today for an appointment. |
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| Red
Tape Is Robbing You Of Valuable Time |
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If you are the owner or manager of a small business,
regardless of whether you are in the retail or industrial sector, take a
good look at how you spend your week. How many hours do you spend doing
things that someone else could be doing just as well leaving you free to
perform more important duties. If you are like just about every other
person in your position, you are probably losing a full day a week of
personal productivity. When you think about it, your time as an owner or
manager is worth a lot of value to your business. The more time you can
spend on high priority items, the more successful your business can
become.
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You Don’t Have To Do All The
Work To Be In Control |
Being a small business owner or manager
today requires skill at balancing your time so that you can
accomplish all of the responsibilities and duties that must be
done each day. This often means delegating responsibilities to
employees or outside agencies when it makes sense from both a
time-management and a financial point of view.
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| Small
Business Holds The Key To Our Future |
 Small
businesses, such as the ones which can be found in Valley East, hold the
key to the future of the Greater Sudbury Area. While politicians continue
to waste time trying to work on attracting industrial companies and large
multi-national big box stores to the region, the small business owner is
finding it more and more difficult to survive.
What we must do is find ways of increasing consumer spending in the
small business sector of the community. Every dollar that is spent locally
stays in the community and is used by the business owner to purchase more
goods and services from other local businesses. This helps to create jobs
and stimulate the local economy very quickly .
 Once our young
people see that the economy will support their efforts, we will soon see
more and more people getting into their own business ventures and further
stimulate the local situation by purchasing or building new homes. The
domino affect is obvious, but it can work in reverse as well.
Without jobs, people have no money! Without money, everything in the
community collapses. We must take action to generate more local spending
by consumers. |
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Contracting Out For Specialty Marketing Services Can Turn A Small
Business Into A Big Business
Image is everything in business today. That is why big,
national companies spend so much money on advertising. Small businesses
like yours cannot possibly compete with the advertising budgets of the
larger companies, however, it is still possible for you to generate some
very effective marketing to your main market region at for a remarkably
low cost.
But it will take more time than you have to give!
Give me a call today and we will set up a time for a
very short meeting. I guarantee that I can not only cut your advertising
budget from what you spent last year, but I can also increase your total
exposure so that you are getting far more promotional value than you did
last year and do it for less money. More importantly for your business, I
can save you hours of time each week that you can put to better use. |
CALL ME TODAY AT (705) 969-7215
Robert Kirwan, Marketing Manager or
email me at the following
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