Marketing expert Peter Simony of Promo Cards has kindly allowed me to republish his report 7 Simple Ways to Catch More Customers, in full, right here on this blog.

Hi, my name is Peter G Simony. Thank you for taking the time to checkout this report.

I help businesses with their marketing strategies. I have talked to thousands of business owners – many of whom have become great friends.

We first created the PromoCard marketing concept in 1998 and have been developing and refining it ever since. We have helped over 1,000 businesses create their own PromoCards® and have helped many of them them to implement some simple successful marketing strategies.

I hope you will find this useful, and will be very happy to advise you on any aspect. Just contact me and I’ll do my best to guide you.

In any event I wish you every success.
Peter G Simony

Don’t Let Business Slip Through your Fingers

The Seven Simple ways of “catching more customers” that you are not using!

1. Increase the amount of recommended business you get.

Reach areas other marketing strategies cannot reach by accessing the ‘Marketing Blind Spot’.

Most successful businesses already understand the power of ‘Word of Mouth Recommendations’ and count on them to perpetuate sales. A lot of attention is rightly given to the product or service provided in order to entice existing clients to return and to recommend their friends. This is the first and most important thing to get right otherwise customers will be lost and not get many recommendations will be received.

The overlooked marketing ‘blind spot’ is that the amount of recommendations that a business gets, also depends on how effectively a happy client recommends. Most businesses are already doing the best it can. So the question is how can we increase the ‘success ratio’ and get even more recommendations from the happy clients that we have.

There are two things a business can do to increase the ratio of recommendations:

1. Somehow improve the product or service even more. This may be expensive and difficult.
2. Have better recommendation strategies.

The ‘PromoCard® Concept’ is one such strategy. At present businesses rely on the expertise and enthusiasm of happy, loyal clients to successfully recommend. We believe that most genuine recommendations are given from the heart not because of an incentive to gain something from that recommendation.

The marketing ‘blind spot’ is not seeing how we can actually influence the ‘success ratio’ of recommendations by simply increasing the ability and effectiveness of a happy client, to recommend. Short of sending them to night school to be better recommenders, the only answer I can see is to get a PromoCard® (or something like it) into the wallet or purse of happy clients. This can be achieved in various ways depending on the business, I will elaborate on some ways later on.

How it Works!

If after having provided the best possible product or service, a happy customer accepts an offer to take away a PromoCard®, positive things start to happen! When the PromoCard® is produced alongside any recommendation, it adds weight to it, making the recommendation more effective and likely to convert to a new customer, an inquiry or a visit to your Website.

Ask yourself this question: As an existing customer recommends my product or service to a friend, how useful would it be, if they had to hand a neat PromoCard® of my business? Would it be valuable to help “back up” that recommendation?

The PromoCard will certainly be useful, if taken away as an attractive ‘Memento’ and it will certainly ‘stand out in a crowd’ of normal business cards. Without major changes to the business, I cannot think of simpler way of increasing the ratio of recommendations that a business gets. Often referred to as the 2nd Most Powerful Recommendation Tool (you being the first)

2. Keep potential customers attracted to you for several months and years like a magnet.

All The Money You spend on Advertising, Does It Work? Of course it does. But what form of advertising is the most effective of all? Television? Radio? Newspaper? Billboards? Networkers know the answer, and it may surprise you, because it’s one of your least expensive and smallest ads, dozens of which will fit easily into your pocket or purse: your business card.

When you hand someone your business card, you’re setting in motion a chain of contacts that can become a new branch of your network. That’s why you want your card to be attention-getting, pleasing, informative, and memorable — so people will look at it, comment on it, pass it around, and keep it handy.

• It could demonstrate why people should do business with you
• It can show the person that you present it to that you are resourceful and creative
• Can stick in the memory like a great TV ad
• It presents the message to anyone who gains possession of it long after it has left your hands
• Bottom line this tiny advertisement which keeps working and working can be the most cost effective promotional devise that you have.

“Inserting your business card into your mini brochure PromoCard® or using the PromoCard® as your business card can naturally put you message across more quickly and effectively.”
Dr. Ivan Misner, Author of It’s in the Cards

3. While networking help people to remember you and what you do more easily

Become memorable in seconds without saying a word!

When networking or meeting new people in everyday business situations, it may not be possible or appropriate to bring out brochures and marketing materials. However it is easy to pull out a PromoCard® from a wallet or purse in a natural way, as one would a business card.

Besides just showing contact details it can show what you do and why people should do business with you. It can become a reminder and a hook to a website or for more information.

As a proud member of BNI and doing quite a lot of networking I find my PromoCard® very useful. Sadly sometimes in general networking situations I come across people who many not remember my name or even face (unbelievably), however they all remember my PromoCard® BNI mini invitations.

4. Get more website visits by the right people.

Are you fed up with spending money on expensive marketing & brochures – when all you really want is to get potential clients to look at your website – which has it all?

A PromoCard® can replace larger more expensive marketing material in a lot of instances. We don’t need to sell or tell the whole story on a PromoCard® – simply create enough interest and curiosity for potential clients to visit your website where everything is clearly shown, or pick up the phone.

We all know that websites have become the main focus of marketing for many businesses. More resources are being committed to SEO. It may well be necessary, I am just suggesting not to let the business slip through your fingers business from people that you or your team bump into every day and their contacts, including customers and potential customers.

5. Cross promote with other businesses.

Many non competing businesses, especially locally, would be very happy to cross promote if asked.

It is easy and very cost effective to cross promote with joint alliances and other non competing businesses, especially local business and businesses that have the same customers base. For example:

• Restaurants – Hotels – Bars – Florists- etc…
• Hair Salon – Beauty – Therapists- etc…
• Kitchen shops – Bathroom shops – Flooring – Estate Agents- etc…

Even a customer or client of yours that has a business may be very happy to help by displaying a neat dispenser of PromoCards® from your business

6. At conferences and exhibitions be remembered long after the event.

Promote yourself in seconds, show innovation, creativity and be remembered long after the event.

Quite often visitors to exhibitions are overwhelmed with material and just keep the relevant business cards and PromoCards® because of their convenient size. So they remain more visible and continue working you for – usually standing well out in a crowd of other bland business cards.

Give away a PromoCard® more freely because it does the job and are less expensive then brochures and leaflets. They also have more mileage being a convenient credit card size, ending up with the business cards.

If you have not seen PromoCards® at the exhibitions in the past here is the opportunity to show innovation and originality.

7. Increase business, by reminding customers moreeffectively about you and what you do.

Give customers an ‘aid memoir’ to refer to long after they have gone

Again a PromoCard® is more likely to be kept with business cards and will act as a reminder for years and stand out in a crowd of bland business cards. A lot of businesses rely on repeat business to keep viable.

This mostly depends on the nature of your business and how good a service is provided. Offering customers a PromoCard® at every opportunity, i.e. with invoice or receipts, is useful as they will likely be kept with standing out in the crowd of normal business card and act as a reference for may months even years.

Tags: promocards