As a Las Vegas small business marketer, you are always keeping an eye out for low cost ideas to market your products and services and boost sales and profits. There are hidden marketing opportunities all around that you can take advantage of to help give you a competitive edge! Just takes a bit of thought.

Have you been overlooking potential customers? Are there any particular vertical markets you may have missed? If so, do you currently advertise or market to these potential groups? By tapping into new vertical marketing groups, you just might uncover a large amount of business you never knew your could have. Try running a campaign targeting these new groups and tailor your ads and messaging specifically to these groups.

For example, if you are targeting the Hispanic community be sure the creative of the advertisement speaks to the Hispanic community. Does the advertisement need to be in Spanish, English or both? What messaging and special call to action will speak most to this community. All of these points should be considered so gain an insight to their special needs.

Will your website, brochure and other marketing materials need to be revised or updated to help market to a new vertical set of customers? Make sure your materials support forging into a new market of hidden potential customers!

Direct mail marketing in Las Vegas can target new customers in addition to maintaining contact with current and previous customers. For any business to grow, especially during a recession, sales need to increase, and the best way to do that is to expand your customer base by adding new customers to your Las Vegas business.

A good campaign to reach new customers can be done efficiently, with reasonably low costs via direct mailings. Many types of lists can be purchased. Selections can be made by demographics such as geography, age, income, education, marital status, previous purchases of similar items, and many other categories. Select the ones that you feel will reach the audience most likely to be interested in your product or service. Sometimes your direct mail printer or distributor can offer sound advice on this topic.

Next, design your direct mail piece. This also is a time for thought, because there are many direct mail vehicles to use. Post cards, calendars, business cards, flyers, and brochures are just a few you may want to use. Some businesses like to send out small samples using a direct mailing.

Direct mail companies can offer lists, design, packaging, labeling, and mailing services. You can use part or all of their services as desired. There can be postage discounts for pre-sorted items. These are usually sorted by zip codes, which saves the postal service time and money, so you get a discount in postage costs.

Common direct mail results run about 1% to 4% response. If you send out 1000 pieces, you should be able to expect to receive 10 to 40 responses. Sometimes you can get more, depending on the product, the offer, any freebies, and popularity of the item or service you are offering. This is why many direct mail programs are sent to tens of thousands of addresses. Using a direct mailer that has a return card can help boost response numbers. Repeat mailings can also boost customer response.

Increasing postal, paper, and printing costs have generated new opportunities for direct mail campaigns, such as the monthly group mailings that go out. These can save costs and keep direct maillings very affordable.

Las Vegas business owners and companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on their marketing efforts.  Unfortunately many smaller companies don’t even have a marketing plan or strategy in place to help guide them and judge the results of their efforts.  Many times, it seems like money wasted.

Put on your Marketing Strategy cap!

There are numerous highly effective marketing strategies that can help you grow your Las Vegas business that can help you refine your marketing efforts. Just takes a bit of time, thought and research to figure out a plan. Here are some suggestions:

• Identify Your Target Market - Who buys your products and services and why? How old are they, are they male or female, conservative or liberal? How do they think and feel?
• Market to Existing Customers - Your existing customers are your most valuable resource. Be aware of what services you’ve provided to them and anticipate if they need additional products or services. They aren’t always aware of all of the products and services you offer. Help them, they already trust you.
• Niche Marketing - What customers or clients do you currently have where you deliver the best results and generate the most revenue? Many marketing experts agree this is one of the simplest and most effective ways to generate business.
• Provide Free Information - Providing potential clients with free information, facts, resources that will help them solve their business problem and save them time and money is a valuable strategy in getting your foot in the door for a prospect to become a client.
• Maintain Communications - Keeping in touch with present and potential clients is personable and keeps your name and company in their mind throughout the year. You can send postcards, mailers, email newsletters or call them on the phone to check in.
• Customer Referral Campaign - Offer an incentive (gift certificate, free services, etc.) for your existing loyal customers to keep your services in mind with the people they already do business with. They can act as sales people for you and you should do the same for your Clients as well.

A logo can make or break your new business.

A logo is most often the single most identifiable representation of your business and in Las Vegas, creditiblity is key. Your logo appears on your business cards, stationery, letterhead, envelopes, forms, collateral, website, email signature, maybe even on trucks and signage. It represents everything your company stands for, the tone, your products and services, your professionalism.

Many smaller companies make the mistake of not having a solid professionally designed logo for their business. Or worse, they use different logos for different marketing materials, or change the colors, fonts, styles, and more. This creates an inconsistent image in your customer’s and potential customer’s minds. It detracts from your professional identity. 

With this in mind, you should ask yourself the following when evaluating your current company logo:

• Is your logo professionally designed and used consistently across any and all marketing materials?
• Does the look and feel of your logo represent your company in the best possible manner?
• Do you feel that your logo separates you from your competition?
• Does your logo provide that invaluable “first impression”?
• Does your logo speak directly to your target market?
• Do you feel that your logo makes you look more established and bigger than your competitors?

Email Marketing can help spread the word in Las Vegas and nationally about your business, products and services. More on why email marketing is important. Defined, Email Marketing is direct marketing to a target market you are trying to reach using email. It can contain news, tips, articles, promotions and specials, but it’s main goal it to market.

When you compose an email for marketing purposes, keep these points in mind:

• Create a title for the email that will cause readers to want to open your email. People glance at the first few words of the email title to even decide if they are going to open it or delete it.
• Write interesting headlines. So you’ve gotten the reader to open your email, now give them a reason to read on. Glancing at the headlines should make you want to read the news item.
• Keep main articles concise, interesting and to the point. Get to your point quickly, whether it is an offer of some sort, or any other call to action. People’s attention spans are very short, especially in email.
• Create links back to your website when possible.  Readers will click on the links if they want more information.

There are many places you can source an email list for marketing purposes. Most of the time you must buy a list and the prices and quality of the lists you purchase may vary. A good place to start is by exporting the contacts from your email or address book.  They are most likely current clients, business associates and friends. The first time I exported my address book years ago, I was surprised to end up with a list of over 400 email addresses.  If you would like to purchase a list of email addresses, there are many options available to you. Remember to decide upon a target market for your purchased email list. For example, are you trying to source a list in Las Vegas of Small Business owners on the west side of town or specific to zip codes or is your target a national audience of dog owners let’s say.

Websites you can purchase email marketing lists from:

The process is fairly simple. You need to find an online company, set up an account, pay a monthly fee depending on how big your list is and how many times a month you email your list. They will have instructions on how to import email addresses from your address book or the list you’ve purchased.