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Are you frustrated with empty promises from those get rich quick schemes?

Are you tired of empty promises from those get rich quick schemes?

Real businesses succeed or fail by doing or not doing four key things: Ability to Meet Customer Needs; Getting Customers; Meeting Customer Needs; Retaining Customers.

In this article, we will discuss the second task: Finding Customers.

One essential for every business is gaining customers and making sales. Failure to get customers means there really is no business. Any time someone tells you that you can make loads of money without selling, finding customers, or making sales; just recognize it as a lie. In real business, you must continually find customers.

So, how do you attract customers? You can advertise your business, or you can get others to advertise your business. First, we will consider effective ways to attract customers by advertising your business.

You can advertise your business in hundreds of different ways. You can rent billboards. You can send mail directly to hundreds of people as postcards or letters. You can distribute fliers and posters. You can place space ads or classified ads in your local newspaper. You can promote in magazines and bulk advertising programs like ValPak. You can promote through telemarketing, radio, TV, internet, and similar media.

The advantage of promotional your business is the speed and ease with which you are able to contact potential customers. In a matter of hours or days, you are able to reach literally hundreds or thousands potential customers.

The problem with advertising is that it can be extremely expensive. At the beginning, it is not uncommon to spend more on advertising than you make in your sales. This can be devastating for a start-up company. You need to tightly control your advertising expenses. Set stringent standards for return on your advertising investment. For every dollar you invest in advertising, you must produce enough sales to pay for the advertising and all the other costs of servicing that sale. Ideally, a dollar in advertising should produce ten times that investment in sales. Another way to view this investment is to calculate your advertising expenses at 10% of each sale. This is easier to do once you have established a track record.

What promotion will work for you? You have to decide. Weigh the effectiveness, cost, and potential of each medium. Just because a type of promotion works for someone elses business is no reason to think it will automatically work for yours.

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Business is all about making decisions. The choices you make with regard to your advertising will have a big impact on your bottom line. What are the best marketing for your business?

If your customers are going to bring their sewing machine to your home, how will you attract them there?

Space ads are often the first advertizing choice. In a moderate sized town, the ad rates may run $10 a column inch. If you know that a newspaper has twenty large pages, averages 75 advertisers, and that 20,000 papers are distributed. , but in larger cities the same ad might run $75 or more per column inch in a much larger paper with hundreds of advertisers. What are the chances that your small black and white ad will be seen by enough potential buyers to justify the expense? Try to determine exactly how many prospects are going to be reached by your ad. Calculate your investment by your customer reach. Track your results, when you use this medium. Then calculate your investment by your actual customer response. Determine how much each customer cost in terms of the advertising.

Classified ads are often even more attractive as an promotion medium. The cost of classified ads is much less than space ads. Yet, the reach of classified ads is often far more effective than display ads. Classified ads are placed in specific categories to make it easy for prospects to find your service. Therefore, placing a small classified ad in the newspaper will not only reach prospects who are interested in your service, it does so at a very minimal cost. Still, apply the same marketing tracking and cost evaluation to make sure you are effectively reaching your target prospects.

Have you considered direct mail, direct distribution, or batched marketing? Going directly to people is very powerful. Mailing an attractive postcard can cost as little as seventy five cents per address. Remember to consider costs for mailing list, piece production, and postage. Some organizations distribute fliers, door hangers, etc. for local businesses. These too can be very cost effective when properly managed. Sending out your ad with several others in a package like ValPak, can also work.

Unless you have money to burn, avoid expensive media. Radio and TV are expensive. Think about it, if you spend $35 per thirty second ad spot, how many people will you gain as paying customers? Ten minutes of promotion spread over a week will cost $700. By the way, it may be nice to see yourself on TV.

Market your business aggressively, but wisely. Track your results. Use common sense when you set up your ads. Always keep the question in your thoughts, How will I Get customers? Consider your return on investment, the effectiveness of the ad and media, and the overall results. Avoid spending your business into the ground by ineffective expensive promotion.

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