The most critical factor affecting the success of the accounting software reseller is marketing - without it, mediocrity is virtually assured and bankruptcy is ultimately a good possibility. The type and amount of marketing you do will depend primarily on the life cycle of your organization and the size of the city where you reside. Newer organizations need to do more marketing to get their name out whereas more established firms can focus more on marketing directly to prospects. Further, in smaller cities, local community involvement can be more effective than in larger cities. Nonetheless, we all must market and presented below are a list of 123 marketing ideas-  some gems, some less than gems, and still, all worth considering. Enjoy.

1.       Never let a day pass without engaging in at least one marketing activity.

2.       Determine a percentage of gross income to spend annually on marketing.

3.       Set specific marketing goals every year—review and adjust quarterly.

4.       Carry business cards with you all day, every day.

5.       Create a personal nametag or pin with your company name and logo on it and wear it.

6.       Read market research studies about your profession, industry, product, target market groups, etc.

7.       Collect competitors’ ads and literature—study them for information about strategy, product features and benefits, etc.

8.       Ask clients why they hired you and solicit suggestions for improvement.

9.       Ask former clients why they left you.

10.   Identify a new market.

11.   Create a new service, technique, or product.

12.   Offer a simpler/cheaper/smaller version of your (or another existing) product or service.

13.   Offer a fancier/more expensive/faster/bigger version of your (or another existing) product or service.

14.   Establish a marketing and public relations advisory and referral team composed of your colleagues and/or neighboring business owners to share ideas and referrals and to discuss community issues. Meet quarterly for breakfast.

15.   Create a suggestion box for employees.

16.   Read a marketing book.

17.   Join an association or organization related to your profession.

18.   Get a marketing intern to take you on as a client—it will give the intern experience and you some free marketing help.

19.   Hire a marketing consultant to brainstorm with.

20.   Take a "creative journey" to another progressive city or country to observe and learn from marketing techniques used there.

21.   Analyze your fee structure—look for areas requiring modifications or adjustments.

22.   Establish a credit card payment option for clients.

23.   Give regular clients a discount.

24.   Learn to barter—offer discounts to members of certain clubs/professional groups/organizations in exchange for promotions in their publications.

25.   Offer and promote financing or installment plans.

26.   Publish a newsletter for customers and prospects. (It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive.)

27.   Develop a brochure of services.

28.   Include a postage-paid survey card with your brochures and other company literature. Include check-off boxes or other items that will involve the reader and provide valuable feedback to you.

29.   Produce separate business cards/sales literature for each of your target market segments (e.g., government and commercial, and/or business and consumer).

30.   Create a poster or calendar to give away to customers and prospects.

31.   Print a slogan and/or one-sentence description of your business on letterhead, fax cover sheets, and invoices.

32.   Develop a site on the World Wide Web.

33.   Register your own "memorable" domain name for your Web site.

34.   Cross-promote your site with links to other businesses and organizations.  Ask them to do the same.

35.   Register your site with Internet search engines.

36.   Create a "signature file" to be used for all your e-mail messages. It should contain contact details, including your Web site address and key information about your company that will make the reader want to contact you.

37.   Include "testimonials" from customers in your literature.

38.   Test a new mailing list. If it produces results, add it to your current direct mail lists or consider replacing a list that's not performing up to expectations.

39.   Use colored or oversized envelopes for your direct mailings. Or send direct mail in plain white envelopes to pique recipients' curiosity.

40.   Announce free or special offers in your direct response pieces. (Direct responses may be direct mail, broadcast fax, or e-mail messages.) Include the offer in the beginning of the message and also on the outside of the envelope for direct mail.

41.   Release press announcements.

42.   Maintain a media list and update it often so that press releases are sent to the right media outlet and person.

43.   Write a column for the local newspaper, local business journal, or trade publication.

44.   Publish an article and circulate reprints.

45.   Send timely and newsworthy press releases as often as needed.

46.   Publicize your notable milestones – 100^th customer, etc.

47.   Create an annual award and publicize it—such as an outstanding employee of the year.

48.   Read a book about public relations and media training.

49.   Appear on a radio or TV talk show.

50.   Create your own TV program on your industry or your specialty. Market the show to your local cable station or public broadcasting station as a regular program. Or, see if you can air your show on an open access cable channel.

51.   Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper or to a trade magazine editor.

52.   Take an editor to lunch.

53.   Get a publicity photo taken and enclose with press releases.

54.   Consistently review newspapers and magazines for possible PR opportunities.

55.   Submit "tip" articles to newsletters and newspapers.

56.   Conduct industry research and develop a press release or article to announce an important discovery in your field.

57.   Create a press kit and keep its contents current.

58.   Ask your clients to come back again.

59.   Return phone calls promptly.

60.   Set up a fax-on-demand or e-mail system to easily respond to customer inquiries.

61.   Use an answering machine or voice mail system to catch after-hours phone calls. Include basic information in your outgoing message such a business hours, location, etc.

62.   Record a memorable message or "tip of the day" on your outgoing answering machine or voice mail message.

63.   Ask clients what you can do to help them.

64.   Take clients out to a ball game, a show, or another special event—or just send them two tickets with a note.

65.   Hold a seminar at your office for clients and prospects.

66.   Hold a seminar at a local hotel for clients and prospects.

67.   Send hand-written thank-you notes.

68.   Send birthday cards and appropriate seasonal greetings.

69.   Photocopy interesting articles and send them to clients and prospects with a hand-written "FYI" note and your business card.

70.   Send a book of interest, or other appropriate business gift, to a client with a handwritten note.

71.   Create an area on your Web site specifically for your customers.

72.   Redecorate your office or location where you meet with your clients.

73.   Join a Chamber of Commerce or other organization.

74.   Join or organize a breakfast club with other professionals (not in your field) to discuss business and network referrals.

75.   Mail a brochure to members of organizations to which you belong.

76.   Serve on a city board or commission.

77.   Host a holiday party.

78.   Hold an open house.

79.   Send letters to attendees after you attend a conference.

80.   Advertise during peak seasons for your business.

81.   Obtain a memorable phone number.

82.   Obtain a memorable URL and e-mail address and include them on all marketing materials.

83.   Provide Rolodex® cards or phone stickers pre-printed with your business contact information.

84.   Promote your business jointly with other professionals via cooperative direct mail.

85.   Advertise in a specialty directory or in the Yellow Pages.

86.   Write an ad in another language to reach a non-English-speaking market. Place the ad in a publication that specific market reads, such as a Hispanic newspaper.

87.   Distribute advertising specialty products such as pens, mouse pads, or mugs.

88.   Mail "bumps," photos, samples, and other innovative items to your prospect list. (A bump is simply anything that makes the mailing envelope bulge and makes the recipient curious about what’s in the envelope).

89.   Consider nontraditional advertising outlets such as bus backs, billboards, community ball parks, and popular Web sites.

90.   Project a message on the sidewalk in front of your place of business using a light directed through words etched in a glass window.

91.   Consider placing ads in your newspaper’s classified section.

92.   Consider a vanity automobile tag with your company name.

93.   Create a friendly bumper sticker for your car.

94.   Code your ads and keep records of results.

95.   Improve your building signage and directional signs inside and out.

96.   Invest in a neon sign to make your office or storefront window visible at night.

97.   Create a new or improved company logo or "recolor" the traditional logo.

98.   Sponsor and promote a contest or sweepstakes.

99.   Sponsor a local community sports team.

100.            Get a booth at a fair/trade show attended by your target market.

101.            Sponsor or host a special event or open house at your business location in cooperation with a local nonprofit organization, such as a Women's Business Center. Describe how the organization helped you.

102.            Give a speech or volunteer for a career day at a high school.

103.            Teach a class or seminar at a local college or adult education center.

104.            Sponsor an "Adopt-a-Road" area in your community to keep roads litter-free. People that pass by the area will see your name on the sign announcing your sponsorship.

105.            Volunteer your time to a charity or nonprofit organization.

106.            Donate your product or service to a charity auction.

107.            Appear on a panel at a professional seminar.

108.            Write a "how-to" pamphlet or article for publishing.

109.            Produce and distribute an educational CD-ROM, audio, or video tape.

110.            Publish a book.

111.            Start every day with two cold calls.

112.            Read newspapers, business journals, and trade publications for new business openings and for personnel appointment and promotion announcements made by companies. Send your business literature to appropriate individuals and firms.

113.            Give your sales literature to your lawyer, accountant, printer, banker, temp agency, office supply salesperson, advertising agency, etc. (Expand your sales force for free).

114.            Put your fax number on order forms for easy submission.

115.            Set up a fax-on-demand or e-mail system to easily distribute responses to company or product inquiries.

116.            Follow up on your direct mailings, e-mail messages, and broadcast faxes with a friendly telephone call.

117.            Try using the broadcast fax or e-mail delivery methods instead of direct mail. (Broadcast fax and e-mail allows you to send the same message to many locations at once).

118.            Using broadcast fax or e-mail messages to notify your customers of product service updates.

119.            Extend your hours of operation.

120.            Reduce response/turnaround time. Make reordering easy–send reminders. Provide pre-addressed envelopes.

121.            Display product and service samples at your office.

122.            Remind clients of the products and services you provide that they aren't currently buying.

123.            Call and/or send mail to former clients to try to reactivate them.  

124.     Showing up is 90 percent of success, following up is the other 90 percent: More than one seminar attendee agreed that this was paramount. May seem obvious, but you have to apply some common sense and start fishing where the fish are swimming.

125.    Reach out to lost customers: If you have an accurate database, you know who has stopped doing business with you. Write them, "extend a we want you back offer" or pick up the phone and ask what you can do to regain their confidence.

126.    Write to your customers and prospects often (with different letters, of course): Stay in touch with those you want to serve. 

127.    Use the phone to your advantage: Treat in-coming calls like gold, and have an effective systematic outbound program to current customers, or as part of a direct mail program. (A call behind a letter will dramatically boost response)

128.    Collaborate with others who serve your customers and prospects: Team up for mutual success. For example, if you provide commercial plumbing services, why not team up with a commercial electrician and cross-sell each others services?

129.    Create a reason for your customers to do business again: focus on the subsequent sale and the lifetime value of a customer. A bounce back offer, cross-selling promotion, or premium with next purchase will jumpstart the cashflow.

130.    Form account teams to increase the service to your best customers: build value and strengthen the relationship. Even if the team's purpose is to huddle in the office and review strategy, the account team concept can create exponential results

Note: Some of these marketing ideas came from several non-copyrighted pages on the internet. However, on one particular web site, some similar ideas were attributed to Joyce L. Bosc, President of Boscobel Marketing Communications, Inc. in Silver Spring, Maryland. Other ideas were attributed to Bob Martel is a marketing consultant, speaker, and direct marketing copywriter. He can be reached at JMB Marketing by e-mail at bobmartel@jmbmarketing.com, or by calling (508) 481-8383.

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