Advertising
Your Home Business on a Budget
Copyright © Stone
Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-2508
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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