Rescuing Your 2009 Marketing Before It's Too Late

Rescuing Your 2010 Marketing Plan Before It's Too Late

Jerrilynn B. Thomas, Founder Women Partner International

2009 Edited Version – Was 2009 a marketing bust for you? Do you have a product or service that could really help another company prosper yet your marketing messages are falling on deaf ears? CHANGE your tactics! You can end it on an up note or you can continue to sink.

Do you truly believe your product or service is the answer to a business prayer for a struggling business? Have you been exclusively promoting your company via social media sites because your marketing budget is tight but your results have been more miss than hit? Then make today the last day you struggle by yourself to market your company.

It’s time to take a REAL collaborative approach to your marketing. Marketing is the most time consuming task for businesspeople. You are constantly on the hunt for the next sale. A lot of industries have found a way to share the cost of advertising and clients. It’s time for you take a page from the medical, legal and insurance industries

Physicians have learned to team up to form a practice to share the cost of office space, insurance, yellow page ads, etc. You can visit a building that has an OB/GYN, pediatrician, general practitioner, dentist, plastic surgeon, etc. They’ve learned that their target audience will go through different life stages. They will need different types of treatment over the course of their lives. They are also looking for convenience. They don’t want to hunt for a new doctor every time they enter a new life stage. It’s more convenient to get a referral from their current doctor.

Attorneys are also excellent examples of professionals teaming up. Different types of attorneys can team up to serve a wider audience and the different stages of their business clients. They are more than happy to provide the business community with a one stop shop for incorporation, going public, court representation, patent and trademark assistance, and so much more.

Major insurance companies have perfected the art of teaming up by offering cooperative advertising to their affiliates. Since insurance rates and requirements differ from state to state and most people are assigned to a local office serving their metro area, insurance companies can comfortably pool their resources to purchase advertising in publications, on cable TV, and at major expos. The leads will automatically be separated and sent to the appropriate affiliate.

Here’s a dream scenario of how b2b female professionals whose target market is women owned companies can collaborate to reduce their marketing costs and time while gaining access to a large receptive audience who is at the stage where they need their particular products and services. Professionals that offer marketing, advertising, public relations, image consulting, web design, social media marketing, merchant services, printing, and business development could package themselves as a one stop for women owned companies at any business stage.

They could set up a blog that promotes all of their services.
Purchase Google ads to drive traffic to their joint blog as well as link to it from their sites.
Get brochures made up to pass out at expos and their local networking meetings.
Send a post to all of their clients to introduce their new business associates to them.
Set up a page on their respective sites with a mini bio of each of their associates.
Add each other to their social networking profiles.
Write joint articles and press releases.
Create a survey to find out the products and services their clients anticipate purchasing in the very near future.
Then they could round things out with a joint video and podcast.

Make today the last day your marketing message misses it mark.

Jerrilynn B. Thomas is the founder of Marketing 2 Women International. Jerrilynn’s business passion is facilitating lucrative cross marketing partnerships between complementary business and professional women so they can strategically expand their female client base while reducing the amount of time and money it takes to market their companies. For more information on how Marketing 2 Women International can help you maximize your marketing results on a budget, visit http://WomenPartner.com.