As a recap from last Monday’s article: in real estate they say location, location, location. I would like to propose that when you have your own business such as a personal chef business, they key word is market, market, market.

If you read last week’s article and took the advice to heart, you have now had one week to ponder marketing and its importance on the success of your personal chef business. I challenged each of you to spend twenty percent of the time you work your business on the activity of marketing.

I took the opportunity to accept the challenge myself. Last Tuesday, I made a commitment to complete one marketing effort everyday for the next month. I will share some of the ideas that I have completed, some ideas that are still just ideas, and ask that you utilize the forum and/or e-mail me to forward ideas that you may have. I will dedicate a future article to share the ideas that you forward to me.

As my first marketing effort, I took a cue from a marketing seminar that I attended not long ago. The premise of the class was that it is easier (and cheaper) to gain back the business of previous customers than it is to attract new customers. After all the people who have utilized your service in the past already are familiar with your business, your fabulous food and the service you offer. To attempt to recapture customers, I mailed a hand-addressed letter to 10 former customers offering a discount to try the service again.

A second marketing effort for this week was to re-connect with several local businesses with whom I have done collaborative marketing in the past. One is a local produce stand who keeps seasonal recipes that I provide in the store with my contact information on one side of the card. The other is a local blood donor service where I have provided gift certificates as an incentive for donors. With each of these, we are currently looking at the promotions we have done in the past and brain-storming ways to make it work better for both parties involved.

On another day, I re-worked my print brochure. I have promoted the benefits of the services I offer rather than the features. I have also attempted to make the brochure less wordy with more white space. The resulting brochure is much more readable.

I re-connected with a nutritionist friend of mine who recently opened her own practice. She has referred me to several of her clients in the past and has recommended me to a local business person who is setting up a health information fair.

I plan to mail (or hand deliver) a note to existing clients that I am currently looking for one or two additional weekly meal clients. It has been my experience that many of my clients assume that I am not interested in finding more clients. I hope to dispel that untruth!

Have you begun any new marketing efforts? Would you care to forward them either by e-mail or through the forum so that I can share them in a future article?