How to advertise your business on a low budget
by Bryanna Bredius
So you've decided to start a home based business. Good for you! You may be asking yourself "What's next?". Well, that is a great question! What you need to do is advertise. Let's take a look at some different ways one such as yourself may accomplish this very important task.
Though most would love to wait as long as possible before they turn to dollars for advertising, there are those of us who know without a doubt that the only way to success with our home based businesses is to put it out there while satisfying a sometimes tight budget. My hope is that anyone reading this will become successful and then a "tight budget" disappears and is replaced with a very loose one!
One misconception in regards to advertising would be that one needs to spend a lot of money. This just simply is not the case. There are many ways one can be creative with the budget and it may take extra effort but keep in mind that you should always spend it wisely. Do your due diligence before opening up your wallet.
Before you start making decisions on what you'll be doing for your advertising, allow me to share some important information with you. Grab that pen and paper... we're about to take some notes together.
LESSON #1
Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Ever heard that before? Well it's true; especially when it comes to advertising. Be sure not to put all your eggs in one basket and make sure you're diligent by doing a test run. Keep a log so that you can track where you are having progress. If you don't follow this theory, you could wind up with tons of advertising, NO sales and NO budget left.
LESSON #2
Once you have a solid advertising portfolio, you are in a much better position so much so that you are able to research dropping those bigger bucks on larger advertising campaigns. Keep in mind still, you need to keep track and consistently follow in order to make sure you will stay in the best possible position.
LESSON #3
The goal here is to get people thinking about your business right? So what is the best way to do that? Read on to find some examples.
Eventually, you would want to go bigger and better, of course. But in the beginning, bigger and better is not always an option. Below, you'll find a few ways to get creative with your advertising.
-Word of Mouth
- Everyone you meet and greet should know about what you do!
-Business Cards - Again, give them away to everyone. Along with the tip at the restaurant, leave your card.
-Press Releases - Write them. They don't have to be extravagant but you should take a little time a find out what is the most appropriate way to do a press release. To learn more about creating Press Releases, you may check out Rusty Cawley's site: http://www.PRrainmaker.com/
-Cold Calling - Ahhh, good old fashion cold calling. Personally, it's not one of my favorites but I'll pound the pavement when I need to. It's a great way to meet people and muster up some business.
-Chamber of Commerce meetings- You can also try Local Business Networks.
-Flyers- Only print them from templates. You want to be as professional as possible. Hit the parking lot at the mall.
-Blog- Writing an article for an oline Ezine or Article hub. -Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
Above all, remember that you won't go anywhere unless you believe that you will. Visualize your success everyday and watch unfold before you.
Mutual success to us all!
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