Marketing your start-up home business can be challenging and costly. Here are some of the fastest and best marketing techniques you can implement to generate prospects —and ultimately, repeat customers — for your business.
Create a Sign
If you are in a service business and your market is homeowners, a sign can account for bringing in about 25% of your new business. Just as realtors and roofers place their signs in front of houses, you can too (check with your city’s regulations first, however). Have several signs made up at a sign shop. Don’t be cheap — they’re an immediate impression of you and your company; make them outstanding. State clearly what service you offer, and have a large telephone number. If you offer free estimates, state that too. Use reflective paint and increase your visibility into the night.
Mail to Your House List
Names and addresses of people who have bought from you, shopped at your store, sent for your merchandise through the mail, or given you business in some way are all members of an elite group: your house list of customers. These people are your most likely prospects for doing business with you again, if only you’d entice them with a nice offer.
Especially great prospects are those that have purchased from you two or more times. They like your products or services; they’ve proven that by coming back. Why don’t you drop them a nice note?
Send Customers Gift Certificates
Gift certificates are cheap to print, inexpensive to send through the mail, and are always a delight to receive. Don’t give away the store, but make sure it’s of good and significant value. Include a letter of thanks for past business.
Send a Letter
The most effective direct marketing sales tool — and my personal favorite — is a letter. Send just one business letter a day. If you can send two or more letters a day — up to 25+ a week — so much the better. Your business will flourish and grow.
Pick Up the Phone
If you want instant action, the phone is the first place to start. It’s a necessity of business and of life. The phone as a sales tool is a mixed blessing: It’s immediate, fast, and powerful, and it’s a much stronger medium for closing sales than a few sheets of paper. But it’s time consuming. And you certainly can’t contact 5,000 people a day like you can in a direct mail campaign. Not to mention call reluctance, and burnout. Still in all, if you need immediate sales, call everyone you can think of “just to say hello.”
Write a loose script so you’ll have a few interesting things to say leading up to your request for new business or a referral to someone who may need your service or products. The pecking order for calls is: first call all your old accounts — these are the most likely candidates for continued business. Then call your most likely prospects from your best house list. Then pick up the phone and call to a new prospect list you just bought or recently complied of likely suspects. Keep all phone calls brief — under 2 minutes — until you smell a sale.
Join an Association
Mixing with a fraternal bunch of guys (or ladies) who share the same interests and problems is always a good move. Ask successful people how they market. Co-op ad space or mailings with other newcomers. Share ideas. Learn what works and, as importantly, what doesn’t. Learn about your industry from the trade associations’ bulletins, newsletters, and offers that are sent to members.
Go to Other Meetings
Attend events where you have a good chance to expose yourself to potential prospects. Everyone likes doing business with people in their own neighborhood, so try attending school board meetings, library meetings, business presentations of other groups, civic meetings and so forth. Check the newspapers and business journals published close to your home.
Get and Read Trade Magazines
There’s usually a column on marketing or getting new business in each trade magazine. If the writers are great, purchase subscriptions to the trade magazines that their columns appear in. You may even stumble upon some of my writing.
Get the names, addresses, and phone numbers of ALL the trade journals for your specific industry (find them in Oxbridge Communication’s Directory of Magazines, Burrelle’s Media Directory, or Bacon’s Magazine Directory) at the library.
Read This Book
For the other thousand tips on low-cost marketing techniques: to learn to prospect easily, efficiently, and effectively, read the book How To Market a Product for Under $500, at bookstores and libraries everywhere (ISBN: 09642879-2-7). It’s information-intense and filled with not just information, but practical, useful solutions.
Jeffrey Dobkin is an author who has written seven books, 5 on marketing and two on humor. His titles include “Direct Marketing Strategies” ($17.95) and the cult classic: “How to Market a Product for Under $500!” ($39.95 – w/FREE Shipping, ISBN: 09642879-2-7) He’s also a speaker, a direct mail copywriter and a marketing consultant. To speak with Mr. Dobkin or order his books directly, call 610-642-1000. Jeff Dobkin is the President at the Danielle Adams Publishing Company, Box 100, Merion Station, PA 19066.
