Small Business = Small Budget

Question:

I have a small marketing budget for my business (small neighborhood business) What do you suggest I can do to let people in my area know that my business exists and to start using it?

Suggestion:

This is the #1 question asked by small businesses. If you gave me a little more detail about your business I could make this response cater a little more to you, but I will give you a few ideas for this very popular question.

First, always remember that the largest cost in any marketing campaign is people cost. So, if you are willing to do the grunt work yourself you can make a small business budget go up a couple of notches.

Now, I need a couple of examples. Let's assume you are marketing a local retail business. It doesn't matter if it is a restaurant - clothing store or arcade. As long as we are talking about a store where your market is local.

Ideas: Door hangers, Business Cards/Flyer's, "New Home Signs", Referral Sources, Business Discounts, Local Schools and/or Organizations and BONUS IDEA!!!

Door Hangers - Use two sided printing. Take advantage of the opportunity you have when you get an ad in front of someone. Do not slap print all over over the page, but don't leave too much blank space either. If you are targeting an area with Hispanic consumers make sure to make your ads bilingual. That is a great use for the second side of a door hanger. The uniqueness of door hangers over direct mail is very simple. Door hangers must be grabbed by the home owner and are usually brought into the house. Therefore it has a chance to be viewed by multiple people. Mail on the other hand is usually the job of one person in the household to go through and throw out the advertisements. Very rarely is mail kept and distributed through the household.

Business Cards/Flyer's - People may think that printing business cards and flyer's are mundane acts and useless in the general success of your business and I 100% agree. MOST people make them useless as opposed to using theses simple forms of advertising in their benefit. Distribute your business card whenever possible. Not just to people, but anywhere you see advertising stacking up. There is a reason that people stack meaningless advertising in hair salons, fast food restaurants and gyms, it is because other people look at it. Always have cards available to you - They will always be your least expense form of advertising.

"New Home Signs" - Do not let new homes capitalize the market for annoying little signs on the side of every major road you head down. Those signs are relatively cheap to print and the repetition of people driving up and down the same street can turn a casual driver into a future customer. If you use a website for attracting business, this is a great way to advertise the site.

Referral Sources - Use other businesses as referral sources for yourself. Don;t be afraid to go into other businesses in your area and sit with the owner or manager to see how you can help each other out. Make sure you figure out a way you will be helpful to them as well, so it doesn't seem like a one way relationship. Also, it doesn't matter what type of business neighbor you have - I once set up a barber shop with a mortgage company and it made for a very good relationship.

Business Discounts - Put together a Business Partner campaign. Nothing fancy, just put together a discount or benefit list for people that work in the surrounding area to use your business. Businesses are usually easy when it comes to giving their employees something for free. If you can give away a initial gift or trinket always do. People always love free things. The reason for doing it for people in your surrounding area is it will be very easy for you to go business to business and pitch this FREE benefit to your neighbors if it is really near your business. You can use this plan for any business not just neighboring businesses, but the closer they are the less as you spend driving to them.

Local Schools and/or Organizations - Keep up with what is going on in your neighborhood - Walk into your schools and look for ways to donate time and/or money for a little advertising for your business. It is usually very inexpensive and always effective. If you have children use their schools first and you won;t feel so slimy. Once you get over that feeling hit up all the schools, clubs, non profits and organizations you can think of. Remember if you want to survive and thrive you must understand that every opportunity to get your business out there must be taken. This is not a hobby it is a business.

BONUS IDEAS - Here are 3 quick ideas for you to try if they fit your current situation.

1 - Starbucks!!! Walk into a Starbucks near your business (There HAS to be at least 1) and offer everyone in the building a free Starbucks gift card. Buy them ahead of time and get label versions of your business card or ad for business on one side of the Starbucks card. Hand these gift cards out to everyone inside the coffee shop and make sure to say as many thank yous as you can. Do not leave after you do this. Sit down and enjoy a coffee. People will come up to you and thank you - Now is the time to talk up your company. Practice and don't screw up. It is like a date, you only get one first impression.

2 - DMV / Government Buildings - Go early about 15 minutes before they open and hand out bottles of water with your card or little cups of coffee (Depending on the weather). People waiting in the line will never forget it.

3 - Yard Sales - Go to your local neighborhood association and roll out your new plan. You have a Yard Sale in a box. A Table, Chairs, Cash Box, Calculator, Receipt Book and Yard Sale signs, these items are everything needed for a successful yard sale. Put the signs out early and make sure that there is a stack of business materials to give out to everyone that stops by. Now if you have the time work the yard sale yourself. If you don't make sure to push the homeowner to mention who sponsored your yard sale. Make sure to have a sign there to represent you in case they forget. It costs thousands to put your name on a billboard, even more to put your name in a commercial and millions to sponsor a Nextel race. It costs less than a 100 dollars to sponsor a yard sale that targets the local people that you want to come into your business.

There are hundreds of more ideas that I can give you for this type of business, but the biggest thing you must remember about advertising is it is just like a diet. There are a 100 different weighs to lose weight, but if you do not follow one religiously it won't work. That is the same for marketing your business. If you try something for a couple days an expect to see huge changes you are fooling yourself. Consistency following through with a variety of ideas will show you what works and what doesn't.

IF YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD - MAKE SURE TO COMMENT!!! SHARE IDEAS - THAT IS HOW WE LEARN.

- NEXT TIME - Why record all your marketing data and what do you do with it?