Why Cross

Good Morning
Over 25 years ago, I read a book by Jeff Slutsky called “Streetfighting: Low-cost advertising/promotion strategies for your small business.” This book not only helped me get a job, it also taught me a lot about retail marketing as I started working in retail. When I became a store manager, I used the book as my guide to grow my store into one of the top stores in our chain.

One of the things that Jeff (yes, after 20-some years I finally got to meet him) wrote about is cross promotion.

                                                       Phil Freedman with Marketing Expert and Author Jeff Slutsky

This is a simple concept that says that I’ll hand out your business coupons in my business if you hand out my coupons in your business. As a good marketer you would offer to print both sets of coupons (in the old days we printed them on our dot-matrix printer and then took it down to the copy shop). This cross-promotion effort worked very well for the photo processing store I was managing so many years ago. The great thing about this is that not many businesses today are using this technique, and if they are, they are not doing it properly.

“But, Phil, I’m not a retail business. What can I do?” Well, my friend, you can do JV’s or Joint Ventures in its basic sense. You can send out a letter to your customer base recommending a business and maybe telling them you got them, say, a special discount. The other business does the same for your business.

How much does this marketing cost? A ream or two of paper and some time if you’re a retail business; if you’re not, add in some envelopes and stamps. Oh by the way, mail the letters, don’t email them.

Learn more low- or no-cost ways to market your business, just by contacting me at tfc@freedcom.com or call 817-282-0443.

Get the word out about your business NOW!

Till next week – Great Things Happen, But You Have To Take Action

Phil

The Freedman Co.