How To
Advertise Your Small Business On a Tight Budget
Probably
the most asked question I get from people who are just
starting their own business is what’s the best way to
advertise
without spending a lot of money. Although no one wants to
spend a
lot of money on advertising, it's a double-edged sword if
you’re just starting out with a limited budget. You
really
can’t afford to advertise, and can’t afford not to
advertise. My
answer has always been to spend your time and money in
networking,
and then branch out into newspaper, radio, billboards and the like once
your business has grown and is ready for it. It should be
noted
though that what you will save in "money" you will spend in "time".
But if money is tight, especially in the beginning of your
new
business venture, your "time" investment will be profitable if
you're able to network effectively.
Why hold
off on
newspaper, radio, and other forms of mass media in the
beginning?
Cost and frequency. Most small business start-ups
don’t
have the financial
resources to buy the required amount of frequency needed to
make their advertising effective and efficient. One of the
big
mistakes that small businesses get caught up in is that they end up
buying newspaper ads or radio/TV schedules that are too
small because they
think they “have to” be in newspaper or radio/TV to
promote
their business effectively. While you could find businesses
that
will say they received good results with this strategy,
the vast
majority do not, and it becomes nothing more than an unwanted expense
for most of them. For more on this, see my article Money
To Burn on Advertising.
So
that leaves most small business start-ups with networking.
Networking means joining your local chamber,
service organizations such as Rotary or the Lions Club,
or local
charities and meeting people through your active
participation.
Even your church can be a great source of networking too. But
it’s important to know how to do it and which style best fits
the
group you’re trying to influence.
The
purpose of
networking is to have people remember who you are and what you do so
they
will think of you when they have a need, or to
be able to refer someone else to you when they think
you can
help them. It's a simple task that takes time, effort, and
the right
approach.
Over the
years I have found that there are a three of variables
that make networking effective:
Awareness:
People have to know what you do before they will remember you for their
need or can
refer you to someone else.
It’s incredibly important that as you begin to network that
people are fully aware of what you do. Take every
opportunity you can to be able to describe
your product and services to people to be certain that
they will
remember what you do when they have a need for your product or service.
Timing:
You have to be at the right place at the time when the need or
opportunity arises. And if you can't be there, then your
previous impression on someone has to be memorable
enough so
they'll be able to effectively refer you when a need or opportunity
arises.
Sincerity:
The best way for people to remember you is when you sincerely connect
with them on a personal level. That means approachability
with no
conditions. For example, while you can send someone a
greeting
card with your business logo on the outside and your business card on
the inside wishing them a “Happy Birthday”
it doesn’t
always come off as sincere. A much better way is to just send
them a
personalized birthday card. You’ll be very
surprised at the
results when people feel that you sincerely were thinking of them
instead of their pocketbooks.
Relationship
type marketing
(networking) also includes
taking clients out to lunch, thank you calls, thank you notes, and
as previously mentioned membership in your local chamber and other
community
organizations. But just don't send in your chamber
dues and
expect advertising results. Become active in the
organizations you join so you can build relationships
face-to-face that in return will build your business.
After
you've
become active in your local
chamber of commerce and local service groups, and you've gone to all
the mixers, meetings and banquets to build your network, there is one
more step that will help make your
"time"
investment really pay off. It's the practice
of solidifying yourself in the memory of your new contact by sending
them a
card. Not an e-mail, but
an actual “hold-in-your-hand” card. What
I've found to be the most
effective is to personalize the card with a sincere
and
unconditional message with no strings attached. There is
always someone I can thank, recognize, celebrate, or sympathize with
each day and
it’s amazing the type of response I’ve received
both
personally and
professionally. The process I do is very
simple but
requires discipline and time, but it gets tremendous results.
Here it is: I send one card to one
person, every day. That's it. I’ve also
found it to be highly
effective
if I don’t
send the same card to everyone, so that means I have to have a variety
of cards on hand. Experience has shown me that people
will display the card I've
sent to them on their desk, and because of that I don't want someone
that I've also
sent another card to say "Bill sent me that same
card".
One of my favorite examples of networking comes from a friend of mine
who started her own business from home a few years ago. She
had
joined the local chamber, became active within the organization, and
had even been awarded the “Newcomer of the
Year”.
Even though she had made many contacts, her business was still
struggling to get over the hump between just making it and being where
she hoped she would be. Trying something bold, she decided to
send out notes and cards to her core group of contacts and told them
the situation she was in, and asked if they would help her to find a
business deal that would bring her over that hump. She wrote
in
each
note that she was looking for a company to do some contract work for,
she needed so many hours per week to make it worthwhile for the client
and for her, and she would be willing to work with them in negotiating
a
fair price depending on the length of the contract. Within a
couple of days she was negotiating her largest contract ever because of
a referral from a person from her core group of contacts that she had
sent out. Awareness, timing, and sincerity.
It does take time, planning, and
discipline, but networking through local organizations and making
yourself memorable with follow-up and recognition cards is indeed that
best type of marketing I have seen achieved successfully
time-after-time for only a few
dollars.
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About
the Author, Bill
Grady
Bill
Grady has over
35 years
of marketing and advertising creation, sales,
and management experience.
He
began selling advertising at age 20, became a radio
station General
Manager at the age of 23, and has personally sold millions of
dollars
in
local advertising over his career.
Bill is a former
President of the Iowa Broadcasters Association and his
stations were
recipients of
multiple
National Association of Broadcasters
awards for excellence.
Since
2002, Bill has brought his marketing and advertising knowledge
to
thousands of small business owners in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
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