Small Business Marketing 101

When I started my writing business, I relied heavily on word-of-mouth advertising and on personal inquiries that I made to businesses looking for writers. This is a great option for those individuals with limited resources available for a marketing campaign; however, it takes a lot of time and effort. Today, technology can help you put together a marketing campaign for your small business that will make reaching out to new customers a much simpler and more cost-effective process.

Desktop Publishing

Desktop publishing makes it possible for even marketing novices to produce a high-quality marketing campaign with all the bells and whistles. You can use common desktop applications like Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe Photoshop, Word Perfect and Word to produce everything from business cards to flyers. To make your marketing campaign effective, you need to integrate the same design throughout your marketing products. This means using the same fonts and graphics in your business cards, fliers and letterhead.

Branding Your Business

One tactic that you can use to promote your business is to create a brand for your company. Your brand is basically what makes your company or services unique and special. Focusing on these unique qualities can help you to target a niche market that is interested specifically in your unique qualities, as well as to target consumers in other markets that may also be interested in your unique qualities.

Networking

Networking is another great option for low-cost marketing. Networking can be accomplished by joining professional organizations and business networks, as well as by utilizing online networks to get the word out about your product. For example, I use Twitter to announce when I am offering special deals on my writing services or when I want to promote a charitable cause. Twitter can be a great way to get the word out about your company. To make networking effective, you will need to be persistent and consistent with your efforts. This means both posting regular Tweets and posting responses to posts made by other people.

The Importance of Business Cards

Business cards are your best investment for promoting your business or making new business contacts. To get the most from these cards, you will need to design them to meet your business goals. For example, if your goal is to bring in new customers to your store, then consider printing a coupon for a free gift on the back of your business card. In order to get the free gift or discount, the person will have to come to your store. On the other hand, if you are looking for a job, you can print a truncated version of your resume on the back of your business card.

Sources:

http://www.business.gov/manage/marketing/