Marketing Tips Every Entrepreneur Will Appreciate

**Rich Grads** · 08-12-2009 03:06 PM

Marketing tips every entrepreneur will appreciate are found in a number of books, on a plethora of websites, and of course in conversation with likeminded small home based business owners who are trying to make it big in their fields.

It is interesting to fall into the trap of thinking that in order to become successful you will need to hire a high powered marketing firm that will somehow know magically how to word your ads, showcase your product, and make you look better than even you thought you looked.

Granted, advertising firms are a worthwhile investment for any business, but many a fledgling entrepreneur simply does not have the funds to begin and sustain a major nationwide or even local ad campaign on the scale needed to make the investment worthwhile.

Here are some marketing tips every entrepreneur will appreciate – if she or he is on a limited budget!

* Brainstorm about your market. For example, wellness products may sell well in front of gyms and health food stores, but what about pet shows? If you think this through to the end, you will realize that pets have owners – humans – who will benefit from the wellness products you are selling. This opens up new venues for you to attract a potentially as of yet underserved segment of the market to your product!

* Form local alliances. Do not hesitate to help your barber or hairstylist to put an ad for their shop and some business cards on your store’s counter if they will return the favor. Much like online link trading, this has the potential to be a highly lucrative mode of advertisement, since you are once again tapping into a clientele that thus far may not have known that you or your products even exist. At the same time you will benefit from the good reputation of the other business by having customers who trust the other business believe the proprietor when she or he recommends you and thus are willing to give your product a try.

* Capitalize on cuteness. There is nothing cuter than a small fluffy dog, and if you happen to own one, why not dress it up with your company logo or otherwise appropriately incorporate your canine companion into your business venture! Well behaved dogs are a joy to see, and if yours sports a logo or can be trained to carry business cards affixed to little items over to prospective clients, who will say no to receiving this kind of advertising? In this manner you will reach people who might not have taken a business card from you!

* Become an active member of your local community. Sponsor an event or a portion thereof. Start small, such as with a small school or church, and then work your way up. Become a local sponsor to a chess club and sponsor tournaments or other activities that will make the local papers. Your name will be front and center and you will get big footage advertisement without having to pay for the ad space!

To your success!

Simon

**inle** · 08-13-2009 02:24 AM

Nice..
In my humble opinion, some of these mignt work but it will be on a case by case basis for even the same type of business, with the same customers & environment..
There are strategies & methods to know which campaigns to choose, how to choose, when to choose, who to do what & the measuríng of sucesses..

From what I know, most business owners do not know which marketing campaigns are profitable & do not know how to link these campaigns to the $ portion to their bottomlines..
& they refuse to have an open mind to learn..
Most just try anything they feel like it & hope to hit something..
Maybe they don't, they probably blame it on luck, government, economy etc..
Even they did hit something, they probably do not know why & thus fail to duplicate the campaign.. So they think they are lucky..

Few popular examples used by business owners are "going online", "TV ads", "flyers" etc..
Yes, they are choosen because of "popularity" or "the in thing", but hardly is based on the measuring of profitablity & earnings of the business..

**altwebdesign** · 09-14-2009 07:46 AM

thanks to the post, i found it to be of value!

**Online Money Hut** · 09-15-2009 01:56 AM

The one thing I found out the most when I used do small business consulting is that many small business owners really do not understand their customers. Many of them ignore local outlets thinking that the Big Companies will bring in the customers that they need. A perfect example of this would be this environmental Center www.gwinnettehc.org more than 90% of it's customers are children but when you go to the site to look at their programs it doesn't show pictures of kids on the same page as the program description.

The site is also not kid friendly. Yet 90% of their income comes from kids(families). This company is constantly trying to get get people from other states and other cities to come to visit the center when people who are local don't even know the location of the Center and they live less than a mile away from it. Long story short. YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THE MARKET THAT YOU ARE IN AND THE CUSTOMERS THAT MAKE UP THAT MARKET. If you fail to do this then your business will fail.

Many times people will get into a business with an idea of what type of customers they want to have. The truth about business is that our idea of the type of customers we want may not be what the actual target market is like. If you think most of your customers will be Adults and 4 months of being open you only have teens coming to your business. Then Teens are your target market and not Adults. Some business owners also have the trouble of letting go of the "idea" and accepting business logic.

Frederick
OnlineMoneyHut.com