Boost business with hot marketing trends: marketing tactics, like hemlines, change over the years. Use these tips to stay in touch with customers

Art Business News, Feb, 2003 by Lynn Fey

Always ask the question, "What can I do to touch this group of consumers an additional time or use this marketing to reach an additional group of consumers."

5. Solicit honest feedback. I've never bought into the "If it's not broke, break it" model of business. But I do believe in constantly looking for ways to improve. As humans, we are all blind to some part of ourselves, so it often takes a third party to help us grow out of our comfort zone.

Find people you trust and whose opinion you value. A mixture of customers, business peers and employees would be good. Ask for honest feedback and don't try to defend or argue with their responses. Listen and evaluate whether their feedback has value based on your long-term goals.

MARKETING INS AND OUTS For you trend junkies, here are the hot marketing trends on tap for the next few years. When these trends are used to support the tips above, you'll create a winning combination that can lead to a long-term, successful business.

WHAT'S IN?                           WHAT'S OUT?

One-to-one marketing                 "Dear customer" letters

Permission marketing                 Spam in your e-mail or regular
                                       mailbox

High quality, creative papers with   Boring, impersonal or
a handmade, hand-touched look          mass-produced looking
                                       direct-mail pieces

Community involvement beyond your    Thinking your check is enough
checkbook. Donate time as well as
monetary resources.

Personal service                     "Take a number..."

Long-term branding                   Short-term product movement

Customer retention                   Customer churn and burn

Marketing to younger consumers       Focusing all your marketing
(ages 25 to 32)                        efforts on a middle-aged,
                                       established consumer

Consumers are being introduced to great home design at an earlier
age because of stores like Pottery Barn, Target, Crate & Barrel, etc.
Introduce this consumer group to great frame design, and their
appetite for what you have to offer will grow with their income. This
does not mean ignoring your other target marketing group.

Lynn Fey has more than 17 years of marketing experience with a diverse range of products and services. She currently owns her own marketing consulting firm, InSight Solutions, which is based in Atlanta. She can be reached at lynnfey@aol.com.