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Copyright © Stone Evans, The
Home Biz Guy
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Profit Site
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.
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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