Advertising Your Home Business on a
Budget
Copyright © Stone Evans, The Home Biz Guy
http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-5361
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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