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When you are starting
out in a new home business and no one knows who you
are, one of the greatest challenges you will face is
how to drum up new business.
If there were not people in your community or marketplace
that you knew who needed your products or services,
you probably would not have started your business to
begin with. But, once you have talked to those who you
personally knew who needed your what you offer, then
your next task is to find others who will help keep
your doors open.
Many people know that they must turn to advertising
at some point in the future, but they hope that day
will be long down the road. For some, this utopian concept
will come to fruition. But for the rest of us in the
real world, we must come up with creative solutions
for meeting our home business advertising needs while
working within our budget.
Most people have a misconception about having to
spend lots of money in order to advertise their home
business. When you start out, you honestly will not
have much money available for advertising, and if you
do, you should still spend it wisely.
Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising,
let me share some of the lessons I have learned concerning
this most important topic.
LESSON #1
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise
your home business, unless you fail to plan and fail
to test.
As much as is possible, you should always test your
advertising. If you jump in and start dumping tons of
money in to advertising without first testing your advertising,
you might find yourself broke and without sales at the
end of the road. Most people who commit this error write
off their failure on the home business they chose or
the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. But,
if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their
mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don't
let this be you.
LESSON #2
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin
to advertise simultaneously in newspapers, radio and
television, how will you know which advertising is bringing
people to your cash register? You won't. All you will
know that something might be working, but you will not
know what is actually doing the trick.
Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell
you how they found you, my experience shows that fewer
than 10% of the people ever will tell you anything ---
and those people who do may not even get the facts straight!
You cannot rely on your customers to tell you what advertising
is working for your home business. You must put in the
extra effort to know for yourself.
LESSON #3
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising
portfolio should you venture to drop big bucks in an
advertising campaign. Even then, you should be careful
to keep further measurements to determine how much the
maximum advantage of an ad would be. Sometimes you might
be able to reach ten times as many people, but depending
on the kind of media and other factors, the additional
exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep
your eye attuned to situations like this to get the
most from your advertising dollars.
LESSON #4
As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising
investment may actually cost you less money. When you
are first starting out, whether you are running a home
business or a business outside of your home, you need
to be able to get people talking and thinking about
your business.
If you are busy testing ads in media's such as the
newspaper, magazines, radio, and television, you need
to learn ways of promoting your business that do not
require large cash expenditures. A few examples are:
· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Here is more information about each type of low-cost
advertising:
WORD OF MOUTH
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising
on the planet --- it does not cost you anything. Ask
your customers if they know anyone who could also use
your products or services. When they are happy with
your offerings and service, they will be willing to
tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the
word for you.
BUSINESS CARDS
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about
$20. When you do, hand them out. Do not give more than
a couple of cards to each person. If they need more
cards from you, they will ask.
Some people are known to network with others on a
regular basis. Some of these people are also known to
be always looking for an extra few bucks. With these
people, you can suggest to them that if they write their
name on the back of one of your business cards and the
card is presented to you, then you will pay a referral
fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- sometimes
one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and
your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral
fee.
PRESS RELEASES
Press Releases are a good source for generating news
about your home business. The business editor at your
local newspaper is always on the lookout for a good
business story to fill the business news section of
the newspaper.
Of course, the business editor understands the economics
of running a paper and is more inclined to run your
story if you buy advertising in his/her publication,
but will still print stories for special events and
openings.
The important thing to remember about Press Releases
is that it must be constructed in the form of a news
story. Even if you are a sole proprietorship, quotes
from you should be written in a third person format:
John Doe said, "Your quote here."
A Press Release should pack the most important information
at the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details
towards the end.
You should always provide the reporter who gets the
task a simple and easy way for him/her to contact you
directly. Often the reporter will want to contact you
to get details that will enhance their take on your
story.
To learn more about creating Press Releases, you
may check out Rusty Cawley's site:
http://www.PRrainmaker.com/
NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio
and television are on the overnight and non-primetime
venues. These target times are not a total waste as
they can easily keep the infomercial people in business.
These off-hours are just less populated than the
primetime hours.
Don't be afraid to check your local radio and television
rates for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may
exist. With television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With
radio, primetime is 8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole
lot of hours available to advertise your home business
at discount rates!
IN CONCLUSION
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand
about advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge
down pat, everything will fall into place and bring
more dollars to your bank account.
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