Small Business Marketing

Matt McGee, who writes the Small Business Search Marketing blog posted a great article on clever ways small businesses used Twitter to promote their business in 2009. This is a tool that our Okanagan small businesses haven’t really discovered. There seem to be a few that use it, but I haven’t come across any that are particularly innovative and would build their business. I think my favourites are the bakery that posted Tweets about fresh baked goodies that had just come out of the oven or the pizza shop that Tweeted Twitter-only specials.

How could your business take advantage of the immediacy of this tool? If you have made creative use of Twitter let us know.

Question: How can I go about this successfully? I work for an Elder Care Management Company. So many Baby Boomers need help with their parents. It’s tragic. Anyone… anyone…

Answer:

1. I assume your company has the basics, such as business cards, a professionally designed brochure, a website, and so on.

2. Network: attend your local chamber of commerce functions armed with a copious amount of business cards, introduce yourself and your company, explain briefly about its services. Almost all this group are Boomers and they know a lot of Boomers. Always hand business cards out in pairs and point out that the extra card is “in case they know someone who may be interested”.

3. Consider putting up a blog (I would recommend Wordpress, which we use for this one) either hosted on your website (best) or on a free blog service, where you write about Elder Care issues and will answer questions. Be sure it is localized (and optimized) for your community, focus on issues that will arise for people caring for ageing parents, and offer creative solutions, and of course point out how your company’s services are also available if they need more help.

4. Contact health care professionals (doctors, nurses, public health, social services, etc.) in your area, perhaps leave a few brochures, and point out that your services may be very useful to busy people who also want to care for ageing parents. Often people looking for advice on caring for parents will turn to their doctor, etc., for information. Many communities have stores providing special equipment for the elderly, either drug stores with a special product section or stand alone stores. These are also great contacts and places to put your brochures.

5. Consider hosting a reception or open house (use a hotel hospitality room if you can’t use your own facility). Invite the professionals mentioned above, the members of the local chamber, local service clubs, people who may have contacted you, etc., to meet some of your staff and see a short presentation on caring for ageing family members – a short (emphasis on short!) talk and a brief slide show or video will suffice – these could later be posted on your website and/or blog.

6. The least important method is to place an ad in community newspapers – not your local daily, necessarily, but the paper where people look for local news and information. Place a small ad in the “living” section (most of these papers have some part dedicated to this type of coverage, aimed at people caring for ageing parents. Be prepared to run this ad over an extended period of time. If your budget doesn’t permit this, stay with the methods outlined above and don’t waste your money on a shorter run.

If you need more ideas or specifics on implementing these items, please feel free to contact me through the email form on our website: www.hollicogroup.com . I’ll be more than happy to expand on them or answer your questions.

A good small business ad doesn’t have to be difficult to create. If you follow a few fairly simple guidelines you can put together an ad that will produce results for your business.

First, I’m assuming you have some idea of who your customers are, their age, at least some of their interests and why they do business with you. You will want to create an ad that they will notice and be interested in enough to read.

How would a potential customer benefit from the product you want to advertise? How would they benefit from buying it from you and not your competition – remember that price isn’t always the most important consideration.

Don’t make the common mistake of trying to advertise – cram – everything you offer in one ad. Focus on one or two related products or services – leave the others for subsequent ads or other marketing efforts.

A time tested formula that describes the basics of a good advertisement is AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire and Action).

Get their Attention: create an effective headline

This is where you snag their attention while they are reading an article. It has to be short, easy to understand and catchy. You can lead them into the body of your ad with a sub-head that tells them why they should read on.

Stimulate Interest

Use the product’s benefits for your potential customer to connect with them – now your talking their language: “If I get an XYZ widget, it’ll be easier to cut the grass and look better when I’m done.” Follow up with the reason they should by the product from you: “Exclusive dealer for XYZ widgets… or the best selection of XYZ Widgets in town… or experts in the selection of widgets.”

Create Desire

Here’s where emotion comes into the mix. How would your customer feel when they buy your widget? Create the desire to own the product or service, to do business with you. Offer proof. Testimonials work well. Easy-to-understand statistics or facts that reinforce the benefits are excellent. Security of their purchase works (Money-back guarantee, or 5 Year Manufacturers’ Warranty)

State a Call to Action
Give the customer a reason to take action now. A limited time offer works. Limited supply is another reason. What do you think will make your customers buy now? The better you know the people who shop in your store or use your services, the easier it will be to give them a reason to act.

gr7ef3byd9