Hina Javed Malik
Companies spend huge marketing budgets for their brand outreach. If you are a small shop, medium-sized business, or even a freelancer, you can not survive if there are no sales. For the sales to take place, there has to be a strategy to reach out to your potential clients who are willing to pay top dollar to buy your service.
One of the reasons why companies do not last long and are forced to leave their space is because of the lack of clients. Surviving the first year as a small business owner is very important, in fact, it is the pre-requisite for cementing your place and competing with your competitors in the future. Got to get over the one-year jinx, by hook or by crook.
Lack of proper management, insufficient capital to run the operations, lack of planning, no cofounder, lack of innovation, and unnecessary extravagance is one of the few reasons for any business failure.
So How can one survive? In my opinion, one of the finest strategies to run your startup and help you grow is to innovate.
A business owner who thinks out of the box innovates, and is not afraid of taking calculated risks is better destined not only to survive the early years but also flourish in the long run.
What is the best form of innovation for increasing sales?
If you are a small business struggling to scale up or perhaps a startup finding it hard to have strength in your wings to take off, you face one problem and that is the lack of cash. It’s the sole reason that does not let you innovate and improvise to attract customers.
One best way to innovate for making more sales without even selling is ‘giving away your secrets‘.
This innovative approach is adopted by all successful businesses across the globe. Car manufacturers offer a free test drive, pharmaceutical sales agents give away a lot of free stuff to build a relationship with a doctor.
The same goes for freelancers, I always advocate bringing in the value proposition by offering something free. This builds trust for a long-lasting relationship.
Let me give you one example of the coaching industry and digital marketing. I am a big fan of Tony Robbins, he has gained a lot of popularity by making his content available on the internet ‘free’.
It builds brand loyalty and people can resonate their existing problems with the content Tony and the solution provided in the videos. When Tony makes a physical appearance at a seminar, the hall is booked to capacity and people pay thousands of dollars to attend his talk because Tony has already given away a lot of his secrets on his social media videos to build a connection with his potential customers.
Same as in the case of SEO, Neil Patel uploads a lot of videos on his YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook and gives away amazing secrets that can help businesses fine-tune their online presence and get more clients.
No wonder why his marketing agency has a lot of clients, people know he has in-depth knowledge of his field and they are in safe hands if they chose his agency for their SEO, Marketing, and Outreach services.
‘Giving away secrets or a value’ is the old-fashioned business trick followed by many successful individuals and business owners worldwide. Build a reputation and build trust, by giving away your little secrets, clients trust you, make a connection and you could end up selling a lot without even spending dollars on your brand advertisement and marketing.
