Despite your
desperate hopes and prayers,
business isn't just going to wander
into your business. You need to get
out there and hustle, and we've got
the tips to help you do it.
By Laura Tiffany
We've found the
perfect marketing solution for you.
First, close your eyes. Now hug your
computer monitor. Using top-secret
technology developed at the
Entrepreneur.com laboratories, we'll
instantly transmit lists of
bottomless-pocketed customers to
your brain and your home based
business.
Well, OK, maybe not. But it's not
because we don't have the technology
(only one more logarithm to go, we
swear) — really, we want to help you
help yourself. So we've brought you
something even better: 21 chunks of
marketing know-how that will help
you find the customers you need to
fill your business's coffers. Print
this out, post it up and integrate
it into your marketing plan—and get
ready for tons of sales.
The Basics 1. Create
quality marketing tools.
This doesn't mean you need to allot
75 percent of your budget to
printing costs, presentation slides
and a Web site. But it does mean you
need to put deep thought into the
cohesive image you want to present.
"Sit down and make a list of
everything you're going to need each
time you make contact with a
prospective customer or client,
including a stationery package,
brochures and presentation tools,"
advises marketing expert Kim T.
Gordon, president of National
Marketing Federation Inc. and an
Entrepreneur.com columnist. "Then,
if you can't [afford] to print it
all at once, at least work with a
designer and a copywriter to create
the materials so you have them on
disk."
If even this sends
shivers down your bank account's
spine, find creative ways to deal
with it: Hire an art or marketing
student from the local university,
or barter your services with other
home based entrepreneurs.
2. Greet clients with
style.
Voice mail may not seem like a
component of your marketing plan,
but if a potential client calls and
your kid answers, that client will
be gone before you can even
technically call him a client. So
get yourself a professional
voice-mail system (even the phone
company offers options) with several
boxes, advises Gordon, so callers
can press "1" to hear more about
your services, "2" for your web and
e-mail addresses, etc.
3. Focus as narrowly
as possible.
Instead of trying to reach all the
people some of the time, narrow your
target audience to highly qualified
prospects. Instead of going to seven
networking groups once every two
months, go to the two groups with
the best prospects every week.
"Instead of marketing to 5,000
companies, [find] several dozen
highly qualified companies and make
regular contact with them," says
Gordon. Call them, mail your
marketing materials, and then ask to
meet. It'll save you money and time.
4. Make the most of
trade shows.
Here's a hodgepodge of tips,
courtesy of
Rick Crandall, a speaker,
consultant and author of marketing
books:
If you don't
get a booth beforehand, try to
find someone who might want to
share their space with you. You
help them run the booth, and
they get a local who can show
them the town.
If you decide
not to get a booth, go anyway.
You can always do business with
the exhibitors--just be sure to
respect their time with "real"
customers before you approach
them as a peer looking for some
B2B action.
After the
seminar, be absolutely,
positively sure that you follow
up on your leads. What's the
point of attending if your leads
end up in the trash? The
Center for Exhibition Industry
Research says 88 percent of
exhibition attendees weren't
called by salespeople in 2000.
Try to improve that stat.
5. Conduct
competitive intelligence online.
When Joyce L. Bosc started
Boscobel Marketing Communications
Inc. in 1978 in her Silver
Spring, Maryland, home, she had no
clue what the competition was doing.
Today, she points out, home based
entrepreneurs have it a lot easier.
"As a
home based business [in 1978],
how would you even find out what
your competition was doing, what
they were charging or what kind of
clients they had?" says Bosc, whose
company now has 18 employees and is
no longer home based. "Today, that
information is completely at your
fingertips." So find your
competitors' sites and get clicking.
Getting
Friendly 6. Offer
your help. Want to be
known as a good businessperson--and
just as an all-around good person?
Help others out. One of Ellen
Cagnassola's biggest
business-getters for her Fanwood,
New Jersey, handcrafted soap
business,
MaryEllen's Sweet Soaps, is
word-of-mouth that's generated by
not only her good work, but also her
good deeds. "I am the first to help
another, and I offer ideas freely,"
says Cagnassola. "I think this
and my enthusiasm for my
business make people want to be a
part of my success." Where does she
offer help? A New Jersey Women's
Business Center and her hometown's
Downtown Revitalization Committee
are just a few places she lends her
expertise.
Another way to help out your
community and your business is to
align yourself with a nonprofit
organization. Patrick Bishop, author
of Money-Tree Marketing,
offers this idea: "Set up a
fund-raising program that benefits a
school, like a discount card. At the
same time the kids [are selling
them, they are] promoting your
business."
7. Offer work
samples.
Crandall suggests that if, for
example, you're a web designer, you
surf the internet, find a potential
client and send them a few tips they
can use to improve their site. Or
you can do as Anne Collins did: "In
the beginning, I was willing to just
go out and beg for the business,"
says Collins, whose home based
Laurel, Maryland, graphic design
firm, Collins Creative Services
Inc., now boasts the U.S. Army as
one of its clients. "Sometimes I
would offer a small job for free
just to show the potential client
the quality of my work and to get
them used to working with me."
8. Network.
If this piece of marketing advice
sounds like something you've heard
before, there's a good reason: It
works. Join your local chamber,
leads groups like
LeTip International Inc. or
Leads Club, your industry
association, or
Rotary Club. When you go, ask
the people you meet what leads
they're looking for--and really
listen to what they have to say.
They'll repay you in kind.
9. Cross-promote with
other businesses.
Whom do you share customers with?
Find them and figure out how you can
promote one another. If you're a PR
person, hook up with a copywriter or
graphic designer for client
referrals. Or you could take note of
the collective that Crandall knows:
The Wedding Mafia, a group of
several wedding professionals (a
caterer, DJ, dressmaker,
photographer, etc.) who work
together through referrals. Another
option is to add a brief note at the
bottom of invoices referring your
accounting clients to "an excellent
computer consultant," and have that
consultant do the same for you.
Getting
Online
10. Chat online.
Find newsgroups that cater to your
audience, and join the fray. "I
didn't start [participating in
online discussion groups] to
generate business, but as a way to
find information for myself on
various subjects," says Shel
Horowitz, owner of Northampton,
Massachusetts-based Accurate Writing
& More and author of several
marketing books, including
Grassroots Marketing. "But it
turned out to be the single best
marketing tool I use. It costs only
my time. [One] list alone has gotten
me around 60 clients in the past
five years."
11. Offer an
e-newsletter.
Again, this establishes you as an
expert, but it also provides another
very important marketing tool:
e-mail addresses of potential
clients. You've opened up the gates
to creating a relationship with
these folks by offering free
information. Now they may approach
you to do business, or you can use
these "opt-in" addresses to offer
your services.
12. Don't wait for
customers to find you online.
Rather than purchasing an e-mail
list for mass, impersonal
advertising, spend some time
trolling the Web, looking for
businesses that have some sort of
connection to your own business.
Then write them a personalized
e-mail telling them why you think
they should build a business
relationship with you. "Those
letters have a high tendency to get
answered because they are personal,"
says Crandall. "And if there is
something we could do business
about, I've opened the door. I've
done thousands of dollars of
business once that door was opened
with people who were total strangers
[before I e-mailed them]."
Spreading
the Word
13. Go where your
best prospects are.
This is called play-space marketing.
If you have a pet-sitting business,
ask your local vet office and
groomer if you can display
brochures. Are you a landscape
artist? Offer to do a display for
the local nursery. Do you throw
children's birthday parties? Buy a
slide at the local movie theater to
be shown before their family films.
"Just be sure the environment is
appropriate," cautions Gordon. "If
you're a business consultant, you're
not going to run ads on the movie
screen. [Advertise somewhere] where
people are [likely] to be thinking
about what you're selling."
14. Become an expert.
Cagnassola has developed her
business know-how into a marketing
tool by writing online articles.
"Write articles to show your talents
and give them as filler to any Web
site owner that you feel is
fitting," says Cagnassola. "Not only
does it bring you more traffic and
potential customers, but it provides
you with an international business
portfolio to demonstrate your
business sense [and your] product or
service."
Other ways to
establish yourself as an expert:
Answer questions in online forums;
get yourself listed in a directory
like
Experts.com,
Profnet.com or
The Yearbook of Experts; send
tip sheets to local media outlets;
write a book or pamphlet; or do the
next tip on our list.
15. Host a seminar.
It's cheap. It's easy. And it's a
darn good way to get over your
public-speaking fear. Crandall
offers the story of a business
broker who conducts free weekly
seminars. People selling businesses
don't want to attend, as they aren't
new to the business brokering
process, but they do notice his ad
and call for his services. Business
buyers attend, and the broker now
has "pre-qualified" prospects.
"You're getting free publicity,
you're getting prospects to call
you, and you're building your level
of expertise," says Crandall, who
hosts his own seminars on marketing.
16. Get local news
coverage.
Play up your locale as much as
possible with personalized news
releases. Because which sounds
better to your local press: A
successful home based caterer with a
national contract, or a caterer from
Hometown, Ohio, with a national
contract? Heck, even if you used to
live someplace, write them a letter.
Crandall recently promoted his
mother's children's book by sending
letters to the newspapers both where
she currently lives and where she
previously lived, and both picked up
the story.
17. Get ready for
your close-up.
Does TV sound out-of-reach for a
home based business owner on a
budget? Not so. Get yourself a cable
access show. "You can't blatantly
advertise a product or service, but
it's a good way to become
better-known," says Bishop. "For
example, if you sell crafts, you
might start an [instructional] craft
show. You could give away something
for free or have a contest. When
people call or write in, you can
start a mailing list and then
contact them about your business."
Some other boons: It adds to your
expertise and gives you a great hook
for your publicity efforts.
Customer
Service
18. Gracias, merci,
thank you.
Shower the top 20 percent of your
clients who yield you the most sales
(either in volume or dollars) with
thank-yours, whether it's gifts,
personalized notes or lunch. "It
doesn't cost a lot of money," says
Gordon, "but it's a great way to let
your best customers know they're
special."
19. Offer a
guarantee.
More people will be willing to try
out your business and recommend your
business if you offer "satisfaction
guaranteed." End of story.
20. Get them talking
about you.
Word-of-mouth marketing is just
about the cheapest thing you can do
to boost your business. The main way
to attract referrals is to just do a
great job: Impress your clients, and
they'll tell everyone they know. But
there are more aggressive tactics
you can use as well. Ask everyone
you know to evangelize your
business. Hand out several business
cards to people rather than just one
so they're more likely to pass them
on. Even go through your favorite
client's Rolodex (with his or her
permission, of course) to find
potential leads.
Spreading
the Word
21. When in doubt,
pick up the phone.
Instead of lamenting your lack of
business, drumming your fingers on
your desk and forming new worry
lines on your face, call a customer.
Touch base, see how they're doing,
visit their office when you're
running an errand, see if there's
anything you can do for them, even
if it's not a paid piece of work.
It'll improve your relationship, and
you may jar their memory. After all,
you'll never hear "I've been meaning
to call you!" if you don't pick up
the phone.
This article
was originally published on
Entrepreneur.com in 2001. It was
updated with new information in
2006.
