Promotional Tools For Your Tool Box Part Satu

Since we have been in Bali, my father-in-law’s wife has toured us around to see several businesses. As we visited the very rustic buildings that serve as their homes and offices, we’ve been impressed at the quality of their goods in spite of the third-world country conditions.

Here are David and Diamond in the Rough at the Mahagiri Resort restaurant July 20. The outdoor restaurant overlooks a beautiful terraced rice paddy.

Our thoughts then turned to our family and friends back in the U.S. who run their own businesses. Several of them are struggling to survive. We dedicate the next three blog posts to them.

Many good businesses have failed, in part, because they did not make potential customers aware of their products or services. Business owners must “make the sale,” of course, and unless you have a monopoly, you must market your goods or services to customers. During the next few blog posts we will discuss tools any organization can use to make customers aware of their organization.

Our tip for entrepreneurs today is: to compete in today’s competitive marketplace, you need to employ many different Promotional Tools. A famous psychologist named Abraham Maslow once said, “If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

If you haven’t done so, you should develop a Strategic Plan. It may be part of your Business Plan, but your Strategic Plan should include a detailed look at the four P’s—your Product, Place, Price and Promotion—, your Competitors and the Marketplace.

The Promotional Tools you choose should flow out of your plan and from whatever thing(s) separates your product or service from your competitors. For instance, a McDonald’s restaurant may use expensive television advertising aimed at the masses, but a small business geared toward servicing computers may use more targeted and cheaper direct mail pieces to a few specific zip codes.

If you can’t afford to employ a marketing staff member or use an advertising agency, we are going to give you a list of 32 marketing tools you can use. Stay tuned for part dua.