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Marketing an African American Goods Business

Promotional tactics for African American goods businesses are exceptionally diverse. But in our experience, there are a handful of tips and strategies that will deliver the best return for your marketing efforts.

For every African American goods business winner, there multiple African American goods businesses that fail to reach sales and revenue targets.

By leveraging today's best marketing techniques, any African American goods business .[%

Mailings

It makes sense for African American goods businesses to participate in direct marketing. Direct mail has the advantage of delivering targeted messaging to qualified contacts within your company's market segment. Third-party providers have a reputation for generating accurate mailing lists that can be sorted to accommodate niches and subsections of the market. Are vendor-provided mailing lists worth the investment? We think so. But the real value is that the quality of the contacts contained in a premium mailing list can be the catalyst for long-term customer relationships.

Price Matching

In a difficult economy, consumers expect businesses to engage in a certain amount of price matching. The principle is simple: Since pricing is a primary factor in product selection, your business agrees to match advertised competitor pricing. Without price matching, if they can locate lower pricing from a competing African American goods business, buyers will jump on it. Today's consumers are educated and informed. They use social media and other tools to identify the best pricing, making it imperative for small business to consider the value of a well-publicized price matching strategy.

Hiring A Marketing Firm

Eventually nearly all African American goods business leaders recognize their limitations and hire a marketing firm. Unless you have a marketing background, you won't be able to touch the ROI you'll receive from a professional firm. Does a marketing firm cost money? Sure, but not as much as you may think. When it's time to look for a marketing firm to represent your African American goods business, experience should trump other considerations. Avoid young marketing firms staffed exclusively with inexperienced hot shots. Novice marketers bring a lot of passion to the table, but they also tend to embrace high-risk marketing strategies that lack the payoff you'll get from an established firm.

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