Category “Affordable Small Business SEO”
Local small business advertising, although local and meant for a
Local small business advertising, although local and meant for a small business, is still advertising at its very best which on proper implementation can reap rich rewards but if neglected could push the fledgling concern into the deep schism of oblivion. According to the principles of business management, a small business must invest only 5% of its total resources in local advertising and this would reap a rich harvest only when judiciously allocated and channeled as per the advertising fundamentals.
Even now in the contemporary age of technological advancement, the best recommendation for local small business advertising is by word of mouth. However, it is a method which wins publicity at a snail's pace and hence an entrepreneur who is desirous of fast results feels compelled to use other methods to make his firm and product well known.
One of the most popular mediums for local companies to publicize themselves is by listing themselves in the Yellow Pages. Visibility is the prime factor here and a prominently displayed ad is likely to draw not only inquiries but potential customers as well. Apart from Yellow Pages, advertising in the newspaper and local magazine also helps since these are directly delivered to the target audience and segments of population existing in the area.
An attractive business card could well serve as the vehicle for local small business advertising as it simply needs to be handed over to the prospective client. Another way of effectively distributing business cards would be include these as a part of the direct mail which is sent within the geographical area surrounding the business and is much more personal in tone as compared to telemarketing or emails.
May be acquiring a slot during one of the popular national events on television for airing one's advertisement might be difficult or even impossible but the same is well within reach if aimed at the Cable television. Cable TV is meant for the local city dwellers and an ad flashed in it would not only pique people's curiosity but would attract a lot of local interest as well.
Having a vehicle with one's company logo splashed across the sides is a method of local small business advertising which deserves more than just a thought. A colorful display or a magnetic quad sitting on the roof of one's vehicle is a perfect way to catch the eye of the passers by and in case affordability is an issue then investing in a simple magnetic sign would also achieve the desired result.
In towns and cities, people depend on buses for transportation due to which a prominent hoarding at the bus stop or sponsoring benches bearing the company's logo for people to sit on is a good method of creating awareness. This would undoubtedly attract a mass audience but is dependent on permission being granted by the local transit authority.
Trade shows, big and small, form an integral part of city life and participation in them is likely to earn one popularity as well as revenue. However, this opportunity needs to be capitalized upon in a proper manner in order to translate into profits and aiming for trade fairs which focus on particular industries is economical as well as result oriented for a small local business.
Advertising in a small business is an art that no
Advertising in a small business is an art that no one should underestimate. Many companies today often misunderstand its potential in how it can affect a small business largely. Some think that it is irrelevant to start advertising thinking that during this stage it is impossible to compete with larger brands. A lot of people take this for granted but small business advertising, if understood correctly by its laws, can reap huge rewards for the company as well as the business owner.
The Small Business Administration states that according to its statistics, there should be a 5% budget for advertising in the total sales of every entrepreneur. Many people argue that 5% is too small for a business that competes in terms of advertising. A company that dedicated only 5% of its finances to its advertising can be done only if the entrepreneur understands the proven laws of small business advertising.
Here are some of the laws of advertising in a small business in order for it to become successful:
1. Utilizing only one message. Keep your advertisements simple, conveying only a single message so that it will stay in the minds of people whenever they come up with a problem that requires your expertise or products. The core of your message should penetrate your target market in no more than 3 seconds.
2. Include credibility in your ads. Distrusting common advertisements have become a human nature among many families that have been tricked into purchasing fraud products. In order to get around this, you should state a claim in your advertisement that will erase the doubt in your prospects. Make an advertisement that will be seen as a trusted brand every time a new person sees it.
3. Put your advertising to the test. There are many large companies out there that waste a lot of money because they have not tested their advertisements. In the case of small businesses, they do not have the luxury to do so. That is why a good alternative to this is to use coupons and special promos to measure the headline, placement and timing of your ads. It is advisable to test one product at a time and through one medium. Testing can be easy and simple such as asking one customer a week what they think of your brand.
4. Advertise with accuracy. A successful business can only be achieved if their advertising focused on only one target market. Focus your message to one target group because in this way, you are able to take advantage of focusing in one aspect.
Having a poor response in your target market is not the fault of the medium you are using. Most of the time, there is a problem with your message and how you deliver it to your prospects. Remember that small business advertising is not a quick solution but it requires planning, exposure and testing in order to make an impact in your business. If done correctly, this can be a winning strategy for your small business.
Local small business owners spend a great deal of money
Local small business owners spend a great deal of money on advertising. Most of us never know if the advertising is paying off. Most never know if their advertising or marketing is any good at all. The problem is, we ask the wrong people their opinion. We ask our co-workers if an advertisement looks good. The CEO asks the treasurer what she thinks. The problem is that most of us are not experts in advertising. At most, we know what we like in graphic design.
So, where do we get great advertising ideas? Most of us never look outside our doors for advertising or marketing ideas. The smarter small business owners look outside their doors to other, more successful, business owners...in the same business. That a smart way to look for ideas. Copy what works. It's the franchise method. Test an idea, copy it, and deploy it to the vendors.
Te problem with his idea is that everyone in your business has access to these ideas. They aren't new. Soon you are copying the copier. You are playing "follow the follower". My mentor Dan Kennedy calls this "Marketing Incest".
Most tested and proven small business advertising and marketing ideas are found completely outside of your core business. These ideas can then be tested and translated into any business you like. For example, I own a retail store and sell vacuum cleaners. But of the 42 separate marketing and advertising methods I employ, only one idea came from the retail industry. One out of forty two. In fact, the most profitable ideas I use come from the restaurant, medical, and insurance fields.
The idea is simple. Find businesses that are actually owned by someone. Not major corporation, but businesses that have a leader calling the shots. Most successful companies have articles written about them and their CEO. In fact, there are hundreds of books out there on Amazon.com that hold all the marketing and advertising secrets these leaders used to grow their company. These ideas are plentiful, easy to find, and books are cheap.
You can read a book about an entrepreneur, and I see what made them successful. Then you just have to imagine how that idea, at least the core of it, could be applied to your business. Most great advertising and marketing ideas are similar or even identical across all industries. A few tweeks is all it usually takers to generate a profitable new idea for your business.
You can go to the library and take a day doing this; Look up magazines where there are direct mail ads running. Direct mail meaning that you can actually buy something from the ad, or at least request information. These are not brand building ads. Now find the same magazine from a year ago. Look at the ads. Which ads are the same from a year ago? Those ads are profitable. These are the ads to study. What do they have in common? A few hours of studying these ads will show you a pattern that great ads use. Now look at the ads that are there a year ago, but are not there now. What do they have in common? These are unsuccessful ads. What are the differences between a dozen of these unsuccessful ads, and the ones that are repeated for at least a year?
Now imagine that these successful repeated ads were used to sell your product (or at least get a request for information). A few simple changes are all that's needed for most ads.
I know this is boring work. I know it isn't exciting, and won't make for a great story when you tell your friends about it. But if you want to know the most profitable way to get advertising and marketing ideas for your local small business or retail store, this is it.
There are a lot of businesses out there who are
There are a lot of businesses out there who are putting a lot of time, money and effort into their advertising and marketing efforts but ending up with nothing to show for it.
Is it that they have a substandard product or service? It's possible - no advertising campaign, no matter how effective can sell something no one wants. However, what is much more likely the case is that these businesses don't know how to create an effective direct response campaign.
What is direct response advertising?
To put it simply, a direct response ad is one which is designed to lead to a sale immediately; while there are other uses for direct response campaigns (such as lead generation), most direct response advertisements are meant to connect with their audience in such a way that they'll want to do business with the advertiser right away.
What does a good direct response ad look like?
Effective direct response advertisements can take on many forms; the common thread running through all good ads of this sort is that they make sales, plain and simple. That is the most important and actually, the only important function of a direct response campaign. If it's driving sales, then it's good, no matter what anyone else thinks.
If you read this and apply what you learn to your own small business advertising, you may be surprised by just how much potential your business actually has. Even if you're already doing well, you could dramatically increase sales (and of course, your profits) by using direct response ads which are well written, targeted towards the right audience and using the right media, you can create the strong emotional response needed to close the deal fast.
Once you understand how to create direct response advertising and use it to its best advantage, it can be one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. If you're interested in building a customer base and growing your business into the successful venture you've always envisioned, then keep reading - you're about to learn how it's done.
An Introduction to Direct Response Marketing
Not all marketing efforts are intended to make a sale immediately. There are advertisements and other promotional strategies which are designed to build or enhance brand image, or raise and maintain consumer awareness of a given company product or service... But those are methods best used by big businesses...
The kind of advertising and marketing that works best for small business is the kind designed to get an immediate response and generate sales - and that's what we're going to be addressing here.
Direct response marketing may take many forms, from short-form advertising copy (such as print ads, contextual PPC advertising, radio spots, TV commercials and the like) to longer marketing messages like full page, text-heavy ads, advertorials and the Robert Collier-style sales letter.
All are valid, and which medium you use to get your message across depends on what you're selling and who you're trying to sell it to; that much you probably know, if you've spent more than ten minutes in marketing - but when you reach your audience with your message matters just as much as everything else.
The 4 Parts of Effective Advertising
In every ad, you need to accomplish each of the following 4 things:
The Right Message to the Right Market in the Right Media at the Right Time
All four of these factors are important to the success of any direct response marketing campaign - and we'll briefly cover all four below:
Message: It doesn't matter how great your product or service is if you can't effectively communicate its advantages over what the competition is offering - you won't get many, if any sales. You need to appeal to people on several levels, especially on an emotional level if you want to spur them to action immediately. We'll cover more about how to craft an attention getting message that closes the deal later.
Market: Again, it doesn't matter what your product or service is or how great it may be or even how compelling your message is if you're trying to sell to the wrong audience. In other words, don't try to sell sand in the desert. You should already know who your target market is before you begin trying to craft a direct response message to reach them - and if you don't, it's time to go back to the drawing board and start over with some in-depth market research. If you don't know who you're selling to, you'll never be able to put together an effective direct response message.
Media: The media you choose to convey your message to your target audience depends a great deal on the demographics of this group; and again, this is where market research comes into play. Depending on who your target market is, different media channels will be more - or less - effective in reaching them. Some groups will be more receptive to direct mail, others to print advertising and still others to email marketing, banner ads and other online marketing strategies. Just as if you were preparing to give a speech, you have to know your audience in order to create a message and select a media which will allow you to make the greatest possible impact.
Moment: It's not just about reaching the right audience with the right message through the right media; you also have to make sure that your message reaches them at the right time. What's the right time, you ask? The answer is: when your target market is ready to buy, not when you're ready to sell to them. You're always ready to sell, at least if you're in the least bit suited for business - but you need to remember that not every person out there is ready to make a purchase, even if they're decidedly part of your target market.
There are a few ways of being there when your prospect is ready to buy. You can keep in touch with prospective and current customers via a series of email messages using autoresponder software. Or, if your target market is more likely to respond to offline methods, then you can make sure that your marketing message reaches them when they're ready to buy by running regular advertisements in the media channels which have the greatest market penetration in this demographic - or by using lead generation advertising.
And remember that you can send a series of snail mail letters almost as easily as you can send a series of emails.
Making sure that your message reaches the right people; people who are ready and willing to do business with you right now, involves a combination of all 4 factors; message, market, media and moment. All are important parts of a small business advertising direct response campaign that genuinely produces results and provides you with a good return on investment.
As a result of the current recession, small businesses have
As a result of the current recession, small businesses have suffered a lot. There's an ever growing amount of competition, and a shrinking amount of resources. Without backup plans and the funds to undertake those plans like big businesses have, small businesses are closing their doors for good. A lot of novice entrepreneurs try lowering their prices thinking that it will increase the number of customers coming in. But only 5% of customers base their choices on pricing. So in lowering their prices a small business inevitably cuts back costs in the form of lesser wages, cutting down on marketing costs and often compromising on quality as a result. Customers that make up the other 95% base their decisions on quality, service, and advertising, but they're ignored by a business that only focuses on price. Because small businesses usually don't handle the vast amount of customer flow that large corporations do, they can't benefit from a price drop in the same way.
Also keep in mind that effective advertising is what gets price based shoppers to your store, so by reducing what you put into your small business advertising, you end up losing customers. To ensure steady profit a small business needs to show that it's a specialty, and not just show that it can lower prices. In other words it needs effective small business advertising. First you need to stand out from your competition. Better customer support, unique services, error free orders, etc. are just a few ways to show off your business' special niche. You can actually demand better prices for your company, and still attract more and more customers because your unique advertising should have told them that you're company dares to be different. Your small business advertising plays probably the biggest role in gaining your customer's trust and loyalty. It should be able to tell them why you're the ideal choice towards their needs, and should focus on your company's unique and special service
Small retailers are on shaky ground when they compete on price. There can only be one price leader, and this position is usually taken by large chain stores that operate on wholesale rates like Wal-Mart. You can never beat such chains at price, so instead of cutting down on prices and compromising your product's value, you should instead focus on building brand loyalty rather than price loyalty. Small business advertising should never sacrifice pricing, because in the end it's the value you put into your advertising that builds consumer loyalty and keeps them coming back.
During your small business advertising campaign using pay-per-click advertising, how
During your small business advertising campaign using pay-per-click advertising, how many times have you uttered something like this phrase? "What?? I don't understand how the keyphrase "cheap online advertising" has such a low relevancy on a page about cheap online advertising! It doesn't make any sense!"
Believe me, I've been there too, numerous times, wasting money. Buying books and trying to trying to implement their small business advertising strategies to get my Click Through Rates higher and my keyword relevancy up didn't seem to help either, so I just ended up wasting more money. Does this sound familiar? Are you stuck in this rut too, trying to advertise your small business but just spinning your wheels?
The good news is, your small business doesn't have to burn through advertising dollars, paying way too much for pay-per-click ads. I'll discuss those options in a minute. While we're on the subject, however, when you're on a penny-pinching budget, who can afford $8 to $10 per click when you're trying to keep your small business afloat or at least get it off the ground? Advertising and internet marketing books will tell you that the ultimate lifetime value of a customer will outweigh the cost of that click. While in some cases that may be true, if your small business is selling a product that a person might buy once every few years, it could take a while to recoup your expenses. Especially if your Click Through Rates and keyword relevancy scores are low and your cost per click is higher. For example, say the market for selling baseball gloves is extremely competitive, your CTR and keyword scores are low and you've tried every SEO trick in the book to get them up, but you're still paying $8 per click. I'm just throwing out random figures, but let's suppose it takes you 25 clicks to finally sell a $30 baseball glove. That's $200-$30. You've just paid $170 to get one customer. If your customer comes back in 3-5 years when his glove wears out to buy another one, now you're only down $130. Supposing he stays a lifetime customer, you could break even in about 20 years. That's not so bad, right?
You'll have to forgive my sarcasm there. I will openly admit being biased, but I just don't feel it's fair that the major internet advertising players, particularly a few search engine giants, tell small business owners that they can advertise on a level playing field. If your daily advertising budget is in the single digits because that's all you can afford, that's not the same playing field as a business that can afford hundreds or thousand of dollars per month, or even per day!
Your best bet for low budget online advertising is to make use of social networking sites that are highly affordable or even free, like Twitter and Facebook. Both are excellent ways to promote your site on a budget. Plus, in all likelihood, social networking is the future of advertising (if it's not already) in an increasingly competitive internet market that's trying to capture the short attention span of its users. Strive to make personal connections with your potential customers. They're more likely to remain customers of your small business if they're dealing with someone they know on a personal basis, instead of some faceless corporation.
It's a bit of a misnomer since we're talking about dealing with people over the internet where anonymity reigns, but try to focus on human interactions. Your small business advertising campaign might just involve making friends, instead of wasting money on pay-per-click ads. Wouldn't you rather make a new friend than stress out over Click Through Rates or keyword relevancy?
Small business advertising shouldn’t be done like most of the
Small business advertising shouldn't be done like most of the advertising you see on T.V. ... or hear on the radio. There ARE exceptions, of course. But for the most part, small businesses shouldn't do much of the following:
1) Institutional advertising (a.k.a. "Madison Avenue" type advertising).
2) Public relations or simply publicity seeking.
3) Any type of response advertising that's non-measurable.
The kind of advertising you SHOULD be doing is measurable. By this I mean you can ...
a) ... control costs.
b) ... measure results.
Small business advertising that doesn't fit these criteria is mostly like throwing money down a hole. (Like I said, there are exceptions. But if you try to promote your business using public relations you'd better have a business that can benefit from that ...plus get the help of a professional who specializes in it.)
Institutional ... Madison Avenue type stuff ... doesn't work in small business advertising any more than it effectively works for big companies using it. It's just that big companies typically have big budgets they can spend on bad advertising without going under financially.
That's a luxury most of us don't have.
Direct marketing is different. You can control its costs. Taylor it to your ad budget. And measure its effectiveness based on response to the offer in the ad or sales letter.
Examples of response triggers used in effective small business advertising include:
* Phone calls asking for a direct response ... like a sales appointment ... or a purchase ... or an invitation to come into the store with a certain customer "code" one can use to receive a gift or purchase discount.
* A TV or radio commercial that asks for a direct response ... like having the customer write or call in and tell what station they heard the ad on to get a free gift or special discount.
* Any type of media that asks for a direct response ... like redeemable coupons sent through the mail ... a sales letter send through the post or Email, with an invitation attached for a special "after hours" sale ... a postcard offering a 2 for 1 restaurant special ... or an invitation to call in and ask for free information.
Your small business advertising is going to be very wasteful unless you make the right offers to the right people. Being in tune with the needs, desires and motivations of your potential customers is crucial.
For example ... if Jack's Sporting Goods store advertises a 30% discount sale on all golf equipment by sending 5,000 brochures through the mail to nearby residents the waste-factor is going to be extremely high.
After all, how many of those residents are golfers? Probably only a small percentage. And of those who are golfers, how many of them will come in for Jack's sale?
In this case, most of his small business advertising dollars are wasted.
However ... if Jack takes that same offer ... and sends it directly to 500 golfers in his area the response will be much higher. He's able to get the names and addresses of likely golfers from a list broker by renting the names of people in his area who receive golf magazines.
See the difference?
Jack doesn't even have to mail out all 500 letters at once. If his budget is a little tight, he can stagger his mailing over a period of days. Or even limit the sale to those bringing in a coupon received through his mailing to test the effectiveness of his direct mail campaign.
Any small business advertising failing to ...
* offer a free gift(s)
* give a time limit on the offer so buyers will be motivated to act quickly
* award a bonus or premium of some sort just for coming into the store
* present a sale or discounted pricing
* announce something new (i.e., product, service, price)
... should be avoided. As a matter of fact ... the more of these elements in your advertising the better.
An ad containing each of the above ingredients ... targeting prospects known to be interested in the product/service... stands a very good chance of being a winner.
Your small business advertising doesn't have to fail. Once you learn the key ingredients you'll never again worry about throwing advertising dollars away.
If you want to effectively market your small business, you
If you want to effectively market your small business, you need to follow six simple steps. They are as follows: f you want to effectively market your small business, you need to follow six simple steps. They are as follows:
Rule 1: Make your message very straightforward.
Just concentrate on what you want to say with your advertisement. If you overload your ad with all your ideas, it'll be a jumbled mess. If you can get your message across in the first 3 seconds of your advertisement, you can pull in your target audience and get them to follow you.
Rule 2: Don't exaggerate your accomplishments and abilities.
Many people have come to fear advertisements or the idea of them. Your clients might be wary of any advertisement you put in front of them. If you even look dishonest, they will shut you down right away. Don't claim things that don't seem realistic or feasible, even if you think you can do them. Don't try any sort of wise guy advertising games, as your audience will notice.
Rule 3: Test, Test, Test
If you don't have a lot of money to work with, don't put forth effort on something that might not work. Get plenty of testing and research done before you spend a penny on production, so you can find out if it'll work or not. Just ask people who have heard about your product how they heard about it, and focus your attempts on that arena.
Rule 4: Tell Them How To Get It
No matter what you use to advertise, whether it's stills or video, make sure that there's something in the advertisement that will tell your audience how to contact you or your company for your services or product. While this may seem very obvious, you may be shocked to know how many people don't enter their contact information in the ad.
Rule 5: Target your demographics with appropriate content.
Not only will you not waste materials on things that your target audience doesn't care about, you can make sure that it's exactly what they want. Make sure that the message is geared toward the people you want to reach.
Rule 6: Make your customers want more after the ad.
Don't completely sell the product with your ad. All you need to do with is is pique people's interest, so they are inspired to learn more. All successful ads do this.
Each of these six rules follow one facet of advertising: the message is paramount to any advertising campaign, so work on it before anything else. Keep your message simple, and you'll get more successful customer conversions from people who know what you're about and want to learn more.
Small business advertising seems to change in some important way
Small business advertising seems to change in some important way almost every week. As the economy remains tight, making smart choices about advertising becomes increasingly important. The rate of technological change, and the increasing affordability of electronic devices, continually alters the advertising landscape.
Smart small business advertising must weigh in the balance a number of considerations before locking into a plan. These include:
The struggle of print media to remain viable
The continuing popularity and importance of social media
The proliferation of new communication devices
The equally rapid proliferation of new ways of communicating with these devices
The growing importance of video
The shift from such traditional standards as the Yellow Pages to online search
These are only a few of the changes businesses must learn to deal with when planning marketing and sales efforts. At the very least, smart small business advertising today must include far more than traditional advertising, even if the ads are moved from print to electronic media.
What is Smart for Small Businesses Advertising Today?
In the digital age, smart small businesses' advertising must invest the time in understanding the advertising and marketing channels available today. Even more important, they must learn what makes these new channels different, how they are used differently, and which channels are most likely to reach their target customers. Then they must make choices and decisions about how to use each channel most effectively and most cost-efficiently to meet their goals. These are the critical tasks in smart advertising.
The flat space ads used in newspapers and magazines will attract only limited attention online unless it is very special. Today's ads need to move and speak and interact with potential customers. Even a banner ad on a website really needs to do more than just sit there. Small business advertising has changed in important and far-reaching ways.
Smart small business advertising must also note that a website must also be more than a three or four page brochure. Every page must be designed and written to grab the attention of the visitor in as little as 1.5 seconds, or that visitor is gone. Every page has a job to do. Moving people from page to page until they are asked to make a decision is what converts a visitor into a sales lead.
If you operate a brick-and-mortar store, you have the opportunity to take advantage of some very exciting small business advertising tactics to get people into your store, but you must figure out not only the right message and the right offer, but also the right medium, the right device and the platform used by that device. You need to be ready to use location-based email and on-the-spot coupons and special offers delivered by text message when someone is outside your store or in a place where your beverage is served.
What is smart for small business advertising today is discovering the right mix of lead generation tactics, the right amount of advertising, the right focus on providing information and benefits your target market wants, and keeping everything within the budget. When you find the people who can do each of those things for you will be ready to construct a viable advertising campaign.
If you want to effectively market your small business, you
If you want to effectively market your small business, you need to follow six simple steps. They are as follows: f you want to effectively market your small business, you need to follow six simple steps. They are as follows:
Rule 1: Make your message very straightforward.
Just concentrate on what you want to say with your advertisement. If you overload your ad with all your ideas, it'll be a jumbled mess. If you can get your message across in the first 3 seconds of your advertisement, you can pull in your target audience and get them to follow you.
Rule 2: Don't exaggerate your accomplishments and abilities.
Many people have come to fear advertisements or the idea of them. Your clients might be wary of any advertisement you put in front of them. If you even look dishonest, they will shut you down right away. Don't claim things that don't seem realistic or feasible, even if you think you can do them. Don't try any sort of wise guy advertising games, as your audience will notice.
Rule 3: Test, Test, Test
If you don't have a lot of money to work with, don't put forth effort on something that might not work. Get plenty of testing and research done before you spend a penny on production, so you can find out if it'll work or not. Just ask people who have heard about your product how they heard about it, and focus your attempts on that arena.
Rule 4: Tell Them How To Get It
No matter what you use to advertise, whether it's stills or video, make sure that there's something in the advertisement that will tell your audience how to contact you or your company for your services or product. While this may seem very obvious, you may be shocked to know how many people don't enter their contact information in the ad.
Rule 5: Target your demographics with appropriate content.
Not only will you not waste materials on things that your target audience doesn't care about, you can make sure that it's exactly what they want. Make sure that the message is geared toward the people you want to reach.
Rule 6: Make your customers want more after the ad.
Don't completely sell the product with your ad. All you need to do with is is pique people's interest, so they are inspired to learn more. All successful ads do this.
Each of these six rules follow one facet of advertising: the message is paramount to any advertising campaign, so work on it before anything else. Keep your message simple, and you'll get more successful customer conversions from people who know what you're about and want to learn more.
