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I'm
going to go over the top ways to promote your business both
online and offline. That way I'll cover all the bases for all
small businesses, ones that operate locally and ones that can
use the internet to operate nationally / internationally.
Small
Business Promotion - NUMBER ONE
Do
the work quickly, and do a good job. This is the number one
rule for small business promotion. Companies that can provide
you with repeat business, and form the bread-and-butter of most
small businesses, will only do business with you if you can
do the job. If you do the job quickly and to the best of your
ability you will keep the work coming in from other businesses
and after you've built up a relationship with the owner of the
business you can pretty much be assured continual work.
Online
Small Business Promotion
Small
Business Promotion #1
Your
website is effectively your online sales letter. It must look
good, or provide the reader with exactly the information they
are looking for when they decide to visit. It represents your
small business to the prospective customer. Your website also
must allow the customer to make contact with you i.e. have your
email address / phone number on it. Use email forms so visitors
can type in their email right there on the site and click "send".
Small
Business Promotion #2
Make
use of autoresponders on your website. An autoresponder is simply
a short "box" or form on your website that customers
can enter their email address and have a sales letter from you
immediately emailed to them. They can then look it over next
time they read their emails and then contact you. Autoresponders
help make your site turn Visitors into Customers.
Small
Business Promotion #3
Submit
your website to the search engines by hand, avoid any of these
"submit to 1000 search engines" services. The majority
of internet users search for websites using the top 3 search
engines 1) www.google.com 2) www.yahoo.com 3) www.msn.com .
Go to these websites and enter "submit to (enter search
engine's name)" and then follow the instructions on their
submit page. The other search engines will take your website
into their results after the top three have added it. To be
honest though, forget about any other search engine except the
top 3.
Small
Business Promotion #4
Link
swap with other websites. A link from one website to another
allows visitors from that website to go to the other website.
It basically free advertising. The search engines also love
your website more, with the more links you accumulate to your
website.
Small
Business Promotion #5
Search
online for other small business websites to partner with. Email
them offering to help each other out. You could end up agreeing
with another similar business a 100 miles away to pass on an
email to your customers advertisisng the other business's complementary
service. Often each business will agree to pass on word of the
other person's service in exchange for a small commission.
Offline
Small Business Promotion
Small
Business Promotion #A
The
main form of advertising that drives customers who are seeking
your service to call you is advertising in the local (and surrounding
areas) business directories. Many countries have YellowPages
or other local directories that are published yearly just for
this purpose, some nation's phonebooks also have a classified
ads section. Advertising in them is often an expensive form
of promotion for newer small businesses. They tend to list companies
alphabetically within their section, so if there's lots of competition
try to have a company name like "AAABusiness" or staring
with an "A" or a number. Also make your advert stand
out to get the most attention. Use the words "specialist",
"help", "low-cost" and "expert"
in the advert if possible.
Small
Business Promotion #B
Every
time you send a letter to a company, customer, or hand out your
business card the image of your small business is being presented.
Have a nice logo designed, there's some very cheap professional
logo design services online. I'll put one up on this website
at some point. You don't want people to think you can't do the
job well just because your letterhead looks like its been made
by a 3yr old with some crayons. But people do judge books by
their cover.
Small
Business Promotion #C
Send
out sales letters to local companies that may require your business.
Find them in the local business directories. Usually sending
them out on a regular 3-month cycle is best, as it often takes
more than one letter to get new business from another business.
Include in your sales letter, the reasons why the company may
need your service, the benefits of your service, a little about
your professional experience, your edge over your competitors
(lower price, live locally etc), and how to contact you.
Small
Business Promotion #D
Location,
location, location. If your small business needs a building
to operate in (a shop, bar etc) you must have your place of
business in the right location to take advantage of customers
walking by. Think - where do people that need your service already
go? Can you be there too? Or is there a regular source of repeat
business near your location - a university, a business park,
well used local shops, a busy road with easy parking? If your
small business is office based, you should start off working
at home to cut down on renting an office. When you decide to
"move out" get an office in an office block that has
other businesses located there that need your service.
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