The first thing that I have found when marketing a small business is that it is time consuming and highly frustrating, especially if you are self employed or have a small number of employees. Running a business of any kind is not easy and when you are marketing a small business, you can find yourself spending a huge amount of time without much to show for it.
The best way to get over the frustration of marketing a small business is to check what audience you are targeting. Every service, product and business has an audience that it caters too. Once you have determined the target audience. The next step is to look at the demographics of that target audience. What are the income levels, what is the average size house and so forth. This information is available through the web. However, depending on the target audience you may have to do a little searching. Government websites are a good source of information for demographic information, as are some university websites. This information is generally available to the public free of charge.
Once I determined the target audience and gathered the demographics of that audience, it was time to set up ad copy. Ad copy is going to be different for every business depending on the audience and placement of the advertisement. However, it is important to make sure that the advertisement is correct both in content and is consistent with the demographics of the target audience.
The next thing I did was a two fold process. The first was to build a website that consisted of information about my company and what I had to offer my target audience. I made sure the website was completed before posting it. This is important. A website is like a first impression and under construction signs, usually do not invite a second visit.
My next step after creating my website was to submit my company information to the search engines as part of the online yellow pages. I noticed myself that when I went to look for something in my area no matter what it was I did not hit my phone book for the number, location or what was available in the area, I went online and did a Google search for what I was looking for and the location. This is a great way to promote business without having to add to the overhead of your company. If you have a large ad in the regular yellow pages, you might find it more advantageous to redirect some of those funds to online sources of marketing.
Finally, I looked into advertising options such as the radio, Google ads, and promotional offers. I asked around and found out a few related events were happening in the area, dropped off my product to the events, and just asked them to give them away to anyone who was interested. It generated a decent amount of interest and publicity and it was relatively inexpensive to do. I also checked out related newsletters and groups in the area that had advertising either through newsletters or email.
Author Resource:-
David Ledoux is an author, speaker, trainer and mentor to entrepreneurs. His newest report The Small Business Death Sentence can be downloaded for free at http://bigmoneyfreetime.com
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