MARKET YOU: YOU ARE YOUR BUSINESS

By Brandon Atchison Marketing Program and Event Manager

I

t is one thing to market your business, but what about marketing yourself?

In today’s industry we are slowly be- ginning to see a shift in how businesses create and use marketing content; un- fortunately they are leaving out the most valuable and important piece to the marketing campaign: YOURSELF. There are endless ways to produce content and get this information to your consumers. You can choose a more online driven approach through your website. Some options are online ads, print publications, and the more com- monly used social media. All of these provide great marketing opportunities but can still leave gaps when attempting to connect to your consumer base. To close that gap we need to take a look back in the past and let history tell us a story… Let’s take a minute to look at one

form of marketing that seems to have been forgotten, I call this “The Simple Handshake”. Have you ever wondered

“Putting a face with a name or business is essential in creating the rst ositie imresion

why a business that has been around for 50 years plus is still prospering and continues to grow? Why you don’t see them over saturating their market with advertisements? There can be a multiple list of answers for this but there is one main answer, LOYALTY. Loyalty as de- 

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feeling: a feeling of strong support for someone or something.”1 This cannot be easily created through the internet, print, or social media. It requires more activity on your part. What is “The Simple Handshake”? It is exactly how it sounds. Putting a face with a name or business is essential in  Believe it or not but consumers love to put a face with a brand and hiding behind the internet and social media can prevent this from taking place. Yes, you can post pictures or videos online, but that still keeps distance between you and your consumer. To help you close this gap you need to choose from the different avenues to create “The Simple Handshake” experience. I want to offer you three easy ways to create “The Handshake” experience and how to maintain that loyalty afterwards.

Chamber of Commerce

You might say, “Yeah, I am a Cham- ber member but I never get anything out of my membership”. This is only true because most businesses who are members do not participate within the Chamber. Your local Chamber of Commerce sole purpose is to help further your interests. That can be through connecting you to other mem- bers, economic development, community development,

education, young professional reten- tion just to name a few. You can read  what truly comes with being a member of the Chamber of Commerce? There  growth in your business and building loyal consumers. First, you could join a

committee that interest you. There you will be able to meet likeminded indi- viduals who care about the same issues taking place in your community. This creates a strong bond between business- es, essentially leading to customer refer- rals. Secondly, you could attend lunch meetings or after work socials. This is a great place to build a more personal relationship with business owners and employees over a meal and a drink. Again, creating more referrals for your

“Consumer notice the small things, like entering an office and seeing that you are a Chamber member.”

business. Third, and not last by any means, is community support. Consum- ers notice the small things, like entering  Chamber logo on your window. This tells them that you support your local community and give back.

Community Events/Speaking Engagements

Take a look back at the past year, what community events did you attend? What community events did you plan on attending? These events are crucial when it comes to “The Simple Hand- shake” experience. It is completely understood that attending all events hosted in a year is virtually impossible, but showing up here and there can pro- duce dramatic effects for you and your business. Have you ever been invited to speak about your business? Did you

Continued on Page 21 July 2014  Te Missouri Chiropractor