Ellis Communications, L.L.C.

The Key to Consistent, Effective Marketing:
Make It A Habit

            Marketing isn’t every nutritional retailer’s cup of tea, but this time-honored method for growing one’s business can be easier to do once it becomes an established habit.

            "I saw habit defined on the Internet as ‘the intersection of knowledge, skill and desire,’" says Martin R. Baird, president of Phoenix, Ariz.-based Nutritional Marketing.  "Once a retailer has basic marketing knowledge and skills and a real desire to do it, marketing can become a habit."

            Baird offers the following tips on how to make marketing a habit that can generate revenue.

Number 1 - Break some old, less-productive marketing habits and start working on new ones that are more worthwhile.

Number 2 - Stash a few canteens along the trail, some simple things you can do along the way to reward yourself for your effort and progress.

Number 3 - Provide some incentives at the two-, three-, four- and five-week marks for yourself and anyone helping you with your marketing.  "By doing this, you have a dedicated team that is rewarded by your success," Baird says.

Number 4 - Negative rewards also can be motivating.  "If a certain marketing effort is not done by a specific time, agree to volunteer three hours for a local political candidate you do NOT support,"  Baird suggests.  "That’s right.  If you don’t do your marketing, you suffer the consequences."

Number 5 - Don’t roll out a huge marketing project all of a sudden.  Take small strides that will help you reach your marketing goals.  Call 10 customers each day to ask how they’re doing and find out if they have any questions about their health, their nutrition or just about life.  "Distribute a weekly e-mail to customers and prospects with your thoughts or use postcards to make easy contact on a regular basis," Baird says.

Number 6 - Don’t go it alone.  Get the help and support of others.  "You could lean on a marketing partner," Baird says.  "This partner could be an administrative assistant or someone outside the store you hire to help you stay on track."

Number 7 - Organize a group of business people who are all looking for ways to improve their marketing.  They could be from a variety of industries or noncompeting groups with the nutritional market.

Number 8 -  Use the Internet to develop a global marketing support team.  "I produce an electronic newsletter that’s read by retailers around the world,"  Baird says.  "These same retailers could have great marketing ideas that they would share with you because, for example, most customers in the United States wouldn’t often use a retailer in London."

Nutritional Marketing provides a variety of services to nutritional retailers to help them improve their marketing methods and increase revenues, including seminars and conference speaking engagements on such topics as referrals, marketing, goal setting and customer service. 

Nutritionalmarketing.com is the premiere Internet-based source for free marketing advice, information and tools for self-driven, success-oriented nutritional retailers who are demanding information that helps them market their business, meet the needs of their customers and increase sales.  It offers such services as a free weekly electronic newsletter, free reports on how to conduct different kinds of marketing and evaluation of retailers’ marketing materials that is provided at no charge when the critique is posted online for all nutritional professionals to read.  Nutritionalmarketing.com also offers an electronic forum where retailers can learn from each other by discussing common problems, sharing ideas and gaining new insights from their peers. 

Nutritional Marketing may be reached at 480-991-6421.