It is hard for a small business to leave a good impression on wider audience next to the huge well-established corporations. Smaller business usually means less finances, what leads to poorer marketing that cannot compete with larger and more successful ones. Here are some tips and tricks on how to advertise your small business with limited means and funds.
Promote Yourself
First thing you need to do is make sure that the customers knows you, the name of your brand and what you have to offer. You can do this simply by printing out postcards and leaflets, and place them in their mailboxes. Make sure that they are well designed, possibly in color so that they would be more noticeable and memorable, but include only a brief message on them. The modern way of living has forced people to rush through life, so when they receive a piece of paper like this, they will only scam through it and that is why the text needs to be short and to the point. You can also send business cards along with other advertising material, with your personal details and contact number. Another thing is that you should always include a web page, as more people nowadays go online for more information. This way you will also save many on other types of advertising, as most people can make a web page themselves, or higher a web designer that might even cost you less than printing.
Partner
Popular marketing strategy nowadays is buddy business, which means finding a partner, in your or another line of business that you will promote, by handing out his business card, leaflets or simply talking about him. What you get in return is him doing the same for you, and this way you will approach a wide range of customers you might not even encounter otherwise. Another thing you can try is bartering, that is, trading your product for an advertising space or for another company’s product that you can have use of. This way two smaller businesses can work their way up to success.
Do Not Give Up
Remember not to get discouraged if one marketing strategy that you put a lot of effort into does not work. There are many other ways of advertising and not all of them will work well for everyone and every product.
Keep The Customer
Focus on keeping the previously satisfied customer, rather than on finding new ones. This you can do by sending another offer to a previous buyer immediately after his purchase. The effect will be stronger if you include a discount for some of the other products they might be interested in, but remember to put an expiration date on it. This way they will make a quick decision and hurry to your store so that they would not miss out on an offer. Finally, use newsletters to inform them about what is new. They do not necessarily need to be printed, as you can send e-mails for free, what will probably be more efficient as people more often open their electronic mailbox than the one at the front door.
