- A business must direct all of its activities towards satisfying customer needs and
- It is more important to have a profitable sales volume rather than maximum sales volume.
In a nutshell, you need to know who your customer is, their spending habits, how they purchase their goods, and what their needs are. You should also be aware of who your competitors are and analyse what you do differently to them, and how to best communicate this to potential customers.
The best approach is to know what makes your product or service different, and develop your marketing strategy around that. Owners of small businesses have limited resources, and by concentrating your efforts on only a few market segments, you will get the most return from your investment.
So once you have set up your business and put in place your products and/or services, you’ve researched your target market and are ready to sell to them, the disappointing truth is that the consumer is not out there looking for you! You need to inform and inspire your potential customers to buy your goods and services from YOUR business, not your competitions.
Following are some great techniques for developing customer leads and promoting your business. Not everything will apply to you, but you can adapt this information on how you too can save on your promotional costs, on a shoestring.
1. COMPANY IMAGE:
Your Logo: You do need one, and this should be entrusted to a professional, but you don’t necessarily need to be charged top dollar for it either! Money saving hints are to know what you like before you brief the graphic designer. Know what style you want, what image you want to project for your business and what your brand is. Even mock up some rough ideas so the designer has as much information as possible. The tighter the brief the easier it is to keep costs down.
There are some great small business starter packages on the internet if you search under “logo design”, however if you want to see what we at Divine Creative Design can do, look under our Small Business Logo Design Packages section on this website.
Your Stationery: Professionally printed business cards are essential and well priced. The rest can wait if money is really tight. Have your designer give you the logo as a jpeg file and create a template on your computer for letterheads and invoices until you can afford something better!
Your Company Brochure: What will you send to prospective clients if they request information? If your competition have promotional material, well you really will need it too. Include great images, information that is concise and well written, and relevant graphs and data that showcase your expertise. Refrain from tired old lines like “for all your business needs”, it is so generic and unspecific to your industry.
A great starting point for a new small company is an A4 sheet printed front and back folded to DL size. It is not expensive to reproduce and if you don’t put information on it that will date quickly (such as price lists), the design expense will be good value for money as you can reprint it many times over.
Your Website: We believe every business should have one, BUT, a decent one costs money. A half hearted attempt by some distant relative will reflect very poorly on your company image. You can purchase website templates on line, which may include industry related images. You just insert your logo, company name and some basic information and away you go! Doing it this way might be a temporary solution, but you run the risk of other businesses having the same website as you!
If you want a custom designed website or are starting an e-business however, we strongly recommend our article Websites that Work for some very valuable information. We also provide very competitive design packages for small to medium sized businesses, so go to our Website Design Packages for more information.
2. ADVERTISING:
Conventional methods of advertising can be expensive and you should read our article Does Your Ad Work before you even think about doing it. Small businesses cannot really afford to invest money in “brand advertising” that may or may not pay off in the future. Small businesses need a regular income NOW!
A client of ours made the mistake of investing their small promotional budget for an on-line gift shop in large publication advertising. The campaign only had a short life span, the response was poor and the resulting sales were even poorer. Within a few months her budget was blown and there wasn’t much to show for the financial outlay.
Remember, each financial decision you make in small business is critical, and you really need to do your homework. Contrary to popular belief, advertising does not give instant results, so remember these important points:
Advertising does not create an instant database
• It does not cause an instant sharp increase in sales
• Advertising will not solve your cash flow or profit problems
• If your customer service is poor, advertising will not substitute this
• Advertising will not sell useless or unwanted goods and services
3. NETWORKING:
You are your business’ best sales representative, so put yourself out there armed with your business cards, neat appearance and positive attitude. The sky is the limit when it comes to networking. There are local networking organisations who meet weekly or monthly (find them in your local newspaper, Yellow Pages or the internet), community groups such as Rotary, your own personal network, and even your child’s school can provide great networking avenues.
4. COMBINED MAIL OUT:
This does not have to cost the earth if you can piggy back off another related business not in direct competition with you. A simple black and white A4 flyer with great content and a special offer can be inserted in a more established business’ regular mail out. Ask your accountant or solicitor if they do periodical mail outs, and if their database is relevant to your target market. Or maybe your beautician or hair dresser, your gymnasium or sports club suits your customer profile.
You could also form a strategic alliance with the people you are meeting from networking events with similar target markets, and share the costs of a mailing list and mail out. For more information about how to best utilise direct mail, read our article The Power of Direct Mail.
>> go to next page of Promoting Your Business on a Shoestring
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