SmallBusinessNewz

If small businesses want to compete with the big boys, they need to realize that there are a lot of marketing mehtods out there. Small business owners are often tempted to simply go for the least-cost method, when really a combination of different strategies is really what is going to bring in the sales.   We recently caught up with Tyler Garns, Director of Marketing for InfusionSoft who talks a little about this, and actually represents a product that helps bring together different marketing strategies to capitalize on leads.

Mike McDonald asked Tyler how he thinks the marketing needs of small businesses differ from those of a larger or medium-sized business. Tyler says that they're very, very different. He says that small businesses advertise to their local markets with things like flyers, yellow pages, etc. But in today's economy, small businesses compete with large and medium-sized businesses because it's all a global economy once you get on the Internet.

Small businesses are left with the same tools they used to market locally, and to market globally, it just doesn't work. He then talks a little about InfusionSoft's own product, which he says, "really helps business owners capitalize on the opportunities that are out there on the Internet."

Naturally, Mike asked him to elaborate on this. "What are some examples of the venues or types of marketing that you guys help small businesses with?"

"What we really want to do is help small business owners realize that there is a lot more than just email marketing," explains Tyler. He talks about how they look for the lowest-cost resources and email marketing is almost free, and that's what they drive for. Tyler says that InfusionSoft opens up them up to what they call "multimedia marketing."

Disclosure: I should point out that InfusionSoft advertises with us. In fact, you may want to consider checking out their eBook.

InfusionSoft's software focuses on:

- email
- direct email
- voice broadcasting
- fax broadcast

...and allows them to set up follow-up sequences that are automated. In other words, when you go out and so some advertising and follow some leads, some of them will buy today, but many of them won't because the timing isn't right, as Tyler explains. So you can set up automated follow-up sequences so you can get back with them when the time is right. The same thing applies to existing customers, so you can upsell them.

Harnessing the potential for sales from different marketing tactics is really the key to competing with larger companies, and thankfully, the Internet offers plenty of opportunities. It's the getting them all to work together that is the challenge, but when done right, the results will speak for themselves.