Small Business Marketing Ideas and Tips
By Rodrigo Olivares
It seems that more and more people these days are starting, or thinking about starting a business. This is certainly not an unexpected situation considering the current recession we find ourselves in (compliments of the government) which has brought massive amounts of layoffs and unemployment.
The act of marketing, advertising, or promoting your small business in any way shape or form, will be (in my opinion) the most challenging task you will have to deal with, not to mention that it can also be very costly in both time and money. So I decided to give you a few tips to get your brain going and maybe spark some new ways of marketing yourself and your biz.
Starting a business
You've heard it all before right?...you need some business cards, a website, maybe some home made flyers, and maybe some form of paid advertising.
All the above are correct, but it's the approach and time you dedicate to each one of these that's going to make the difference.
Let's take the classic way of promoting your business: the invincible business card. If you really want to make a good impression, you must carry around a full color front and back high gloss business card, these are so cheap to make these days that it's well worth it. Make sure that you have a professional designer lay it out for you... the high gloss front and back card is not worth anything without a clean professional design.
Now if you want to take this to the next level of sophistication (and save the earth), then make sure you save a digital format on your cell phone so you can easily text it or email it to a potential client right on the spot. As a business owner I am assuming that you have a smart phone such as a blackberry or an iPhone which will allow you to text images and email as well. Be sure that you have a digital image of your business card, don't just take a photo of your card with your phone, that's not going to give you the right quality. That would be like printing your own business cards at home with the design that your cousin made for you!
Next up, texting. You need to make sure that you establish a way to effectively collect phone numbers from your customers and ask them if they would like to receive occasional text messages from you (your business). If you have an iPhone like me, then you can easily download an app that will allow you to group your customers for massive texting.
Email marketing... yeah, this is still big, and gives you yet another way to "stay in touch" with your existing or even potential customers. I had a customer the other day tell me that some of her old customers that receive her newsletter were calling again to request quotes! now isn't that something.
Put something on your car but make it professional. Car wrapping can be pretty costly, but you can always get some bumper stickers made with your logo, maybe a tag line or mission statement. You can also get some car magnets at a very affordable price, just make sure you do them the right way. Don't try to squeeze 200 words in there! just place relevant to the point information, such as your website, phone number and what you do, for example "Web & Graphic Design Services" or "Painting Contractors". For a regular size car, you will probably need a 24" x 12" magnet, or you may even be able to fit a 24" x 18"
Ah yes... your website (I love this one!). You and I know that any business now a days "will not" survive for too long unless they have a website, it's absolutely vital. This of course will require an entire new post which I will probably work on in the next few days, but for now I can tell you two things: you can either use and pay for one of those do-it-yourself services or you can hire an affordable web & graphic design company. Like anything else, there are pros and cons to both of these initiatives but we'll get into that later.
The important thing to remember is that you want to be in touch with your customers as much as you can and as often as possible... just don't take this advice to the extreme and text them or email them all day long!!
Advice: If you are planning on starting your own business, marketing is one of the things that you will have to spend a lot of time on, word of advice, don't neglect this task... ever.
Rod is the owner of iLean Solutions a web design and online marketing company in Maryland.
iLean Solutions delivers powerful website design, but we don't stop there. We want to make sure that your business is a complete success with a total internet integration plan. What good is the coolest website ever if nobody stops by to view it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rodrigo_Olivares
By Rodrigo Olivares
It seems that more and more people these days are starting, or thinking about starting a business. This is certainly not an unexpected situation considering the current recession we find ourselves in (compliments of the government) which has brought massive amounts of layoffs and unemployment.
The act of marketing, advertising, or promoting your small business in any way shape or form, will be (in my opinion) the most challenging task you will have to deal with, not to mention that it can also be very costly in both time and money. So I decided to give you a few tips to get your brain going and maybe spark some new ways of marketing yourself and your biz.
Starting a business
You've heard it all before right?...you need some business cards, a website, maybe some home made flyers, and maybe some form of paid advertising.
All the above are correct, but it's the approach and time you dedicate to each one of these that's going to make the difference.
Let's take the classic way of promoting your business: the invincible business card. If you really want to make a good impression, you must carry around a full color front and back high gloss business card, these are so cheap to make these days that it's well worth it. Make sure that you have a professional designer lay it out for you... the high gloss front and back card is not worth anything without a clean professional design.
Now if you want to take this to the next level of sophistication (and save the earth), then make sure you save a digital format on your cell phone so you can easily text it or email it to a potential client right on the spot. As a business owner I am assuming that you have a smart phone such as a blackberry or an iPhone which will allow you to text images and email as well. Be sure that you have a digital image of your business card, don't just take a photo of your card with your phone, that's not going to give you the right quality. That would be like printing your own business cards at home with the design that your cousin made for you!
Next up, texting. You need to make sure that you establish a way to effectively collect phone numbers from your customers and ask them if they would like to receive occasional text messages from you (your business). If you have an iPhone like me, then you can easily download an app that will allow you to group your customers for massive texting.
Email marketing... yeah, this is still big, and gives you yet another way to "stay in touch" with your existing or even potential customers. I had a customer the other day tell me that some of her old customers that receive her newsletter were calling again to request quotes! now isn't that something.
Put something on your car but make it professional. Car wrapping can be pretty costly, but you can always get some bumper stickers made with your logo, maybe a tag line or mission statement. You can also get some car magnets at a very affordable price, just make sure you do them the right way. Don't try to squeeze 200 words in there! just place relevant to the point information, such as your website, phone number and what you do, for example "Web & Graphic Design Services" or "Painting Contractors". For a regular size car, you will probably need a 24" x 12" magnet, or you may even be able to fit a 24" x 18"
Ah yes... your website (I love this one!). You and I know that any business now a days "will not" survive for too long unless they have a website, it's absolutely vital. This of course will require an entire new post which I will probably work on in the next few days, but for now I can tell you two things: you can either use and pay for one of those do-it-yourself services or you can hire an affordable web & graphic design company. Like anything else, there are pros and cons to both of these initiatives but we'll get into that later.
The important thing to remember is that you want to be in touch with your customers as much as you can and as often as possible... just don't take this advice to the extreme and text them or email them all day long!!
Advice: If you are planning on starting your own business, marketing is one of the things that you will have to spend a lot of time on, word of advice, don't neglect this task... ever.
Rod is the owner of iLean Solutions a web design and online marketing company in Maryland.
iLean Solutions delivers powerful website design, but we don't stop there. We want to make sure that your business is a complete success with a total internet integration plan. What good is the coolest website ever if nobody stops by to view it?
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Rodrigo_Olivares
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