Remember: The best promotional gambits lure new customers and keep the satisfied ones coming back.

Teach them, and they will come

Never underestimate the human desire to learn something new. Use that curiosity to your advantage by sponsoring educational events that offer current and potential customers a chance to learn more about a specific topic.

This promotional strategy can help generate a surge in business during slow, off-season times, such as right after Christmas. It's also a good way to keep customers actively involved with your company after they've made a major purchase or have used your service once or twice.

Education in action: Patrick Porter, a fast-growth entrepreneur in Virginia Beach, Va. (see related story), offers two-hour "Awaken the Genius" seminars to clients who complete a hypnosis program at his clinic. The sessions are free to those bringing a friend or family member. The strategy has been successful. Porter's seminars have generated as many as 40 new clients in the following week.

Five tips for educational events

A successful educational event depends on five key factors:

1. Give attendees something useful. Offer strategies they can try on their own, and include tips for using these new tools successfully.

2. Hold off on a hard sales pitch. Instead, promote your business by handing out information packets containing inside scoops such as, "Our three new goals for the future" or "Our latest product in development — and what you need to know about it now."

   In addition, produce a one-page newsletter to include in your packets, along with endorsements and letters of thanks from satisfied customers.

3. Offer discount coupons or other benefits to anyone bringing in a new customer within a specified time (usually two weeks) of the event.

4. Make a special offer, such as a discount, to new customers who sign up for your service or purchase a product within two weeks of attending your seminar.

5. Recruit local experts to give speeches or conduct seminars. People will lose interest if you keep offering the same presentation. Pique their interest by featuring others who are knowledgeable and well-known in their fields.

Let your physical space speak

Create a lively environment so that everyone who enters your premises will find it impossible to ignore. Wherever consumers look, they should see visual evidence of your success and your commitment to excellence. Among the items you could display prominently:

• Your company's history, from startup to present. Tell your story through framed photographs, as well as text with print that's large enough to be read easily. Include pictures of employees and customers. Cover milestones you've celebrated through the years: "Our second anniversary in business" and "We hit $2 million in sales!"

• Photo stories of special company events, such as an annual awards banquet, Christmas party and company participation in community activities. When possible, use captions to identify people by name.

  Tip: Purchase a good camera that can be used to record all company events, and encourage the amateur photographers among your staff to schedule themselves for this duty.

• Employee achievements in-house. Maintain a rotating display of photos and certificates honoring individuals who have participated in educational endeavors, including workshops, seminars and college or university courses. You can also acknowledge promotions and other accomplishments this way.

• Industry awards won by your company and employees. Display trophies and plaques in enclosed cases. Frame and hang certificates or other printed honors.

• Client endorsements. Include copies of customer testimonials or success stories that have appeared in your advertising and other promotional campaigns.

• Letters of appreciation. Keep an up-to-date scrapbook with original letters and paper printouts of e-mails from customers saying, "Thanks for the terrific service" or "Your widget is the greatest!" Place the scrapbook in your reception area where it can be read by customers and other visitors.

• Videotaped endorsements. A continuous loop of talking heads touting the wonderful benefits of your product will have a subconscious impact — even on people who don't actively listen to or watch it. Tip: Keep the sound low so it doesn't become annoying.

  Example: One entrepreneur videotaped dozens of satisfied customers praising his products. The eight-hour tape runs all day in the reception area, where new customers can watch it. Their decision to do business with the company is reinforced by the steady flow of 30-second clips featuring a variety of testimonials, such as: "I've tried everything else, and this finally worked for me."

Employee kudos

Employees can do a lot of damage by bad-mouthing your company. Conversely, they can be powerful promoters when they say positive things to family, friends, customers and others in the community. And what they say has instant credibility.

Case in point: One service rep at a specialty-stationery company tells new clients, "We treat each of our customers exactly the way management treats us — with care and respect."

Not surprisingly, that company realizes repeat business from 95% of its new clients and has achieved annual growth of 15% for the past four years.

Instill loyalty

Keep in mind that employees will be inclined to spread goodwill only if they feel a strong sense of loyalty and believe in the company's mission and goals. You can foster this level of dedication by proving to your staff that you and your company:

Prize customer satisfaction. Employees must see you're prepared to drop everything or go to any lengths to satisfy an unhappy customer. They'll proudly brag about this commitment from the top — and demonstrate the same high level of service themselves.

Set honesty as a high priority. Even the most loyal employees don't want to lie for you. They'll resent any expectation that they stretch the truth to win a sale or stall a creditor. And they certainly won't be inclined to talk up your company.

Respect employees. Listen to their ideas, and be open to their suggestions for improving systems or operations. Don't send mixed signals, such as paying lip service to empowerment and then undermining people by not allowing them to make even the most basic decisions.

Promote employee endorsements

Even loyal employees must be prompted to promote the company by word of mouth. Explain how important their endorsements are to the success of everyone in the company.

Here are five tips for turning your employees into ambassadors:

1. Spread the word about key developments. Information about new products, service improvements, special offers and plans for expansion will help boost your profile within the community.

   Tip: Educate your employees well in these areas. They'll love being able to pass along "insider" information.

2. Talk up your community-oriented activities, from participation in the local softball league to fund-raising efforts for school trips or the United Way.

3. Share your success stories. At staff meetings, read letters from happy customers: "Here's a great letter we received thanking Joe for the fantastic service he gave a customer recently … " Announce and celebrate industry or business awards won by the company or your employees.

4. Emphasize your common mission and goals. Every employee should be aware of the company's mission statement, as well as that of their own division. Workers should be able to recite it when appropriate ("It's our mission to make sure every customer walks out of here happy").

5. Tout excellence. Modesty won't help promote your business. But displaying your fierce pride in excellence will inspire employees to tell others: "Our commitment to excellence helped launch and grow this company. We continue that tradition today — and we want everyone in our community to know about it. They'll know if we tell them — and we'll prove it by the way we do business."

Writer: Kathleen Conroy

Raleigh Pinskey is CEO of Lake Worth, Fla.-based Raleigh Group, a marketing and public relations company. He is also author of "101 Ways to Promote Yourself" (Avon Books, 1997).

George Silverman is the founder and president of Market Navigation, an Orangeburg, N.Y.-based marketing consulting firm. He is also the author of "The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" (Amacom, 2000).

Danna Yuhas is president of Market Impact, a Toronto, Ont., Canada-based firm specializing in market research and marketing programs.