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Copyright 2004 Stone Evans
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.
About the author:
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