New Small Business Marketing Tips

Starting a new business can be a daunting experience. Many people who start a new business do not necessarily consider themselves entrpreneurs. Rather, as business expert Michael E. Gerber says, they are "technicians" who were good at performing their job and decided to start their own business, doing what they did for themselves.

Technicians who start businesses have all the skills the need to perform their job when they worked for someone else but may lack the experience of seasoned business-owners who know how to market and advertise.

An easy mistake which some new business owners make is to place numerous large adverts in their local phone book or Yellow Pages because they have seen competitors doing the same. The offer of a 12 month finance option to pay for these entries may make them seem affordable but instead they often drain cash from the company without providing the required customers.

New business owners should instead focus on activities that carry a far lower cost but provide a great opportunity for growing a client base.

1. Flyers or leaflets
When handing out flyers, take the opportunity to intereact with those who take it. A computer repair business owner reported a great response when they handed out leaflets because he took the time to ask what computer problems the members of the public were having as they took a flyer. Handing out flyers tends to work better than a leaflet drop door-to-door, where your beautiful artwork rapidly becomes recycling paper.

2. Business Networking
Try to find a local chapter of Business Networking International (BNI). Each local chapter has a range of tradesmen and business owners, your typical butcher, baker and candlestick maker if you like. Chapters members generate business for each other by recommending the services of fellow members. Each chapter has only one member from each trade and finding a chapter with a space for your profession can be difficult; some trades such as IT support are notoriously hard to find a space for.

3. Use the internet
There are many things a new business can do with the internet to promote their venture. First among those is to build a website that is optimised for search engines so that potential customers can find you.

PPC
Many businesses also find success using Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising such as Google Adwords. Depending on the industry and the quality of website that the ad links to, the cost of a clicked-on ad can vary hugely but is well targeted to your audience.

Social Networking
Businesses are increasingly harnessing the power of social networking to grow a following and inbound links to their website. Building a community who respect what you do and tell others about it can generate great business by acting as an ongoing referral for your company.

Twitter and article writing
Companies are using Twitter to keep in touch with existing and potential customers. Twitter is used not only to provide status updates or links to the latest news. It can be used to promote articles written by the business owner or others if they are helpful to the audience. Providing reliable and trustworthy information allows potential customers to develop respect for your knowledge and experience.

Most of these methods require very little cost and a minimal amount of time invested to benefit from positive results. A daily Twitter update of 140 characters need only take 30 seconds, but its cumulative effect can be a big boost to a new company.

Steve Bradshaw is a writer with Simon Says Media who provide small business marketing services.