Marketing ideas for small business

Hooray for Free Advertising

When you build a business, the first thing you want to secure is a customer base. With a decent printer, an answering machine and an average computer, you can put together a fairly extensive advertising campaign without having to pay for space.

1. Flyers
This is the carpet-bombing method of cheap advertising. You find an area that you would like to do business in, and you distribute flyers to all the mailboxes within reach. Your flyer should be brief and to the point, highlighting the services you offer and providing contact information. Offering a free appraisal, coupon or discount never hurts.

2. Posters
Most supermarkets, public spaces and malls offer free bulletin board space for announcements and advertisements. This is a hit or miss method, but you should try to make your poster reasonably visible and have removable tabs that the customers can present for a discount. Make each location a different color so that you can get an idea from the tabs where the most leads are being generated. If there is one area that is producing the majority of your leads, you can better target your campaign (flyers, ads in papers catering to those areas, cold calling, etc.)

3. Value Additions

This is one of the most powerful selling points for any product or service. On the surface, value additions are very similar to coupons and free appraisals, but they are aimed at increasing customer satisfaction and widening the gap between you and competition.

Common value additions include guarantees, discounts for repeat customers, point cards and referrals rewards. Often the deciding factor for a person picking between one of two similar shops is whether he or she has a point card or preferred customer card. You don't have to promise the moon to add value; often you just have to state something that the customer may not realize about your product or service. When you are making your advertising materials, the value additions should be highlighted.

4. Referral Networks
Referral networks are invaluable to a business

This does not only mean customer referrals, which are encouraged though discounts or other rewards per referral. This includes business-to-business referrals. If you have ever found yourself saying, "we don't do/sell that here, but X down the street does," you should make certain that you are getting a referral in return.

When dealing with white-collar professions, this network is even stronger. A lawyer refers people to an accountant, an accountant refers people a broker, a financial planner refers people to a real estate agent - in each of these situations, the person stakes his or her professional reputation on the referral. Regardless of your business, make sure you create a referral network that has the same outlook and commitment to quality that you do.

As a final note on referral networks, remember that your competition is not always your enemy. If you are too busy to take a job, throw it their way, most times, you will find the favor returned. Besides, it can be bad for your reputation if a customer has to wait too long. (Are your shoulder's wide enough to carry a company's reputation? See The Marketing Director's Pitch.)

5. Follow-Up
Advertising can help you get a job, but what you do after a job can often be a much stronger marketing tool. Follow-up questionnaires are one of the best sources of feedback for how your ad campaign is going. Why did the customer choose your business? Where did he or she hear about it? Which other companies had he or she considered? What was the customer most satisfied with? What was least satisfying? Also, if your job involves going to the customer, make sure to slip a flyer into the nearby mailboxes, as people of similar needs and interests tend to live in the same area.

6.Build relationships

It is a lot less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. That’s why establishing strong relationships with your customer base is crucial. One of the ways you can do that is by keeping in touch with people through email marketing.

Ask customers for their email address when they visit your store or website. Then, make your communications informative, helpful and professional — something your customers will look forward to receiving.

The 5 Keys of Marketing Strategy

1. Who is your narrowly defined target customer?
2. In which category does your business exist?
3. What is your unique benefit?
4. Who is your real competition?
5. How are you clearly different from your competitors?