Business marketing strategies to promote your business

It doesn’t matter how good your product or service is if your potential customers are unaware of your existence. This is where business marketing comes in.

This section provides a wealth of useful resources and tips for creating effective business marketing strategies. From direct mail campaigns or niche marketing to viral marketing or event management, no two campaigns will be the same. With so many small businesses in existence, you need your business to stand out in the crowd.

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Business marketing articles

• Marketing

  Love your own company?

  If you’re ready to attract more customers, get more done, beat minglephobia, crank up your website, grow your profile and create a business that gets talked about, you’re ready for Flying Solo LIVE! Here’s what’s on...

• Marketing

  Can you really afford to miss this?

  As you may have heard, Wednesday 17 September is the first-ever conference for the Flying Solo community, Flying Solo LIVE! The line-up of expert speakers is awesome and the opportunities for networking are endless. Here's a taster...

• Marketing

  Social media marketing – a definition

  You've probably heard of social media marketing (SMM). It refers to websites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Squidoo, Yahoo Answers, Flickr, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit and del.icio.us.

  • Published 09 June 08
  • Louise Gorrie
  • 9 Comments

• Marketing

  Marketing tips for targeting small business

  With more than one million businesses in Australia falling into the micro category, it can be hard to attract their attention. This article provides four marketing tips for targeting small businesses.

  • Published 13 February 08
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 10 Comments

• Marketing

  Get more business with sampling

  I know sampling isn’t new. But lately I’ve been thinking that such an effective marketing tool, with the ability to get lots of people trying your product or service, is not used often enough.

  • Published 17 October 07
  • Tim Reid
  • 13 Comments

• Marketing

  Viral marketing campaigns: How do they work?

  You’ve probably heard of viral marketing, but what actually is it and how do viral marketing campaigns work? Read on to find out how to apply the principles to your business.

  • Published 24 September 07
  • Megan Tough
  • 3 Comments

• Marketing

  Event management: How to organise and stage a special event

  Special events come under the umbrella of public relations and are a great way to promote your business. If you have event management plans for your own special event, you are in a good position to make the most of the PR opportunity it presents.

  • Published 16 April 07
  • Sue Currie
  • 5 Comments

• Marketing

  Marketing communications strategy: Your target audience doesn't care

  Let's face it, promotion, advertising and marketing is not cheap. In fact, it's really expensive! And the crazy thing is, we're so often at a loss to know which parts of our marketing communications strategy are reaching our target audience.

  • Published 30 March 07
  • Tim Reid
  • 3 Comments

• Marketing

  Marketing mistake #1: No differentiation strategy

  Looking the same as the competition is one of the most common marketing mistakes around. Here's a seven step differentiation strategy that one business is using to stand out.

  • Published 27 November 06
  • Peter Griffin
  • 6 Comments

• Marketing

  Planning marketing beats binge marketing

  By carefully planning marketing you can avoid the grand daddy of all bad business behaviours: binge marketing. All it takes is some regular time allocated to the task.

  • Published 22 September 06
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Marketing principles: The psychology of persuasion, part 2

  Both this and my previous article on the psychology of persuasion are a must-read for anyone who is developing marketing principles and is interested in understanding why we do the things we do!

  • Published 13 September 06
  • Karen McCreadie
  • 1 Comment

• Marketing

  Niche marketing: the business specialist

  When it comes to working smarter we shouldn't overlook niche marketing and the benefits of positioning yourself as a business specialist. Here are five compelling reasons to do just that.

  • Published 01 September 06
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 1 Comment

• Marketing

  Marketing principles: The psychology of persuasion

  Why do people behave the way they do? An understanding of the psychology of persuasion not only gives us a fascinating insight into people in general, it can also help us to develop marketing principles and have empathy with potential buyers.

  • Published 21 August 06
  • Karen McCreadie
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Tips to get your marketing plan moving

  Wouldn’t it be great if your overall marketing plan was streamlined and got the results you wanted? To get to this point requires effort and sometimes, we just can't motivate ourselves to move forward.

  • Published 04 August 06
  • Megan Tough
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  A promotional campaign: Planting the seeds for success

  When it's time to take your idea to the streets, a far sighted promotional campaign is almost certain to yield better results than a one-off event.

  • Published 21 July 06
  • Jess Tyler
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Marketing advice: what not to do

  None of us want to struggle with marketing, and yet it continues to create problems for many solo professionals. Here's seven pieces of solo and small business marketing advice that reveal common marketing mistakes.

  • Published 03 July 06
  • Megan Tough
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Creating effective marketing strategies

  As a new solo business owner, when creating effective marketing strategies it is vital you ensure your marketing has relevance. This may seem obvious, but trying to be all things to all people is an extremely common mistake.

  • Published 26 June 06
  • Karen McCreadie

• Marketing

  Is it good to exchange services?

  From time to time it can be tempting to consider the exchange of business services, but are such contra arrangements a good idea?

  • Published 21 June 06
  • Wendy Buckingham
  • 3 Comments

• Marketing

  The essentials of good business writing

  Good business writing is at the heart of successful marketing. Without it you will be at best, misunderstood, at worst, totally ignored. Follow these simple guidelines to ensure your business writing hits the spot.

  • Karen McCreadie
  • 11 Comments

• Marketing

  How business partnerships can work for soloists

  Can business partnerships help you grow your business without getting paid? Possibly. One way is to help a client build a business by putting the value of your expertise on the line.

  • Published 24 February 06
  • Peter Crocker
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Quality marketing: Shortcut? Short-change!

  When money and time are tight, it's often tempting as a soloist to take the cheapest and quickest option at hand. But are these cheap and hasty actions a false economy? Is quality marketing important?

  • Published 20 January 06
  • Paul J. Morris
  • 5 Comments

• Marketing

  Seven tips on how to write marketing articles

  In a previous article, Promoting your business using article marketing we looked at the benefits of writing marketing articles to generate new business. Which is all well and good as long as you have something to write about – right?

  • Published 05 January 06
  • Megan Tough
  • 7 Comments

• Marketing

  Is it good business to barter?

  Whether you call it a contra deal, a business exchange or a trade, bartering amongst soloists is common practice. But is it necessarily the best way to support one another?

  • Published 06 December 05
  • Karen Morath
  • 13 Comments

• Marketing

  Can innovation be a marketing tool?

  If you're forever hearing great things said about your work, yet not seeing these translate into sales and revenue, it could just be because you've fallen into the innovator trap. Can innovation be a marketing tool?

  • Published 25 November 05
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 3 Comments

• Marketing

  Direct mail campaign tips

  Direct mail campaigns are an important part of the marketing mix. Here are some tips to make yours a success.

  • Published 23 November 05
  • Barb Clews
  • 2 Comments

• Marketing

  Preparing your elevator statement

  It is good practise to develop an elevator statement or elevator pitch, namely a short, sharp summary of your business that could be delivered in the time it takes to go a couple of floors in an elevator.

  • Published 16 November 05
  • Jess Tyler
  • 5 Comments

• Marketing

  Successful marketing: Avoiding the seven sins of marketing

  Soloists who are aware of the common pitfalls of marketing are better able to keep their businesses on track through successful marketing.

  • Published 28 October 05
  • Thomas Murrell

• Marketing

  Target marketing: Being heard amid the noise

  To get noticed, soloists should use target marketing and be specific with their message. It's far better to be heard well by one person than ignored by many.

  • Published 26 September 05
  • Robert Gerrish
  • 1 Comment

• Marketing

  Marketing advice for new sole traders

  For sole traders to promote their business effectively, it helps to understand the real nuts and bolts of marketing.

  • Published 14 September 05
  • Grant Hyman
  • 4 Comments

• Marketing

  Promoting your business using article marketing

  If you run and promote your own business, you have expertise in at least one area and other people may just want to read about it. Promoting your business using articles (like this one) is a cost effective way of building profile and credibility.

  • Published 05 September 05
  • Megan Tough
  • 3 Comments