Getting Noticed For a Small Business

Every small business feels like it can offer something that its larger competitors can not, otherwise, why would it exist? However, getting customers to notice what a small business provides is a tall order. Advertising is important, but not just any advertising will work. It needs to be well thought out, and it needs to show potential customers not only that you are professional enough to compete with large companies, but that you can offer them something that they cannot get from that larger business. There are countless ways to achieve this goal, but there are a few staples of small business advertising that can really get you noticed.

Business cards are probably the most basic means of advertising. They also are one of the tools of entrepreneurs that are most often misused. Countless individuals have an image of a very sleazy, overly self-promoting individual when they think of business cards. Before designing your personal card, be sure to know the basic rules of quality design and etiquette. Design is not overly difficult. Minimize text, giving only the essential information such as name, business address, phone number, e-mail and website. Other information can be added, such as a motto or tagline, but be careful that there is plenty of blank space on the card, or it will become cluttered and unattractive.

The company logo should also be on the card. In terms of color and attractiveness, the card should basically use two or three colors between the text and logo, and a simple border can be a nice accent to your card. Doing much more than this is very risky, and could be overkill. Etiquette is a much more difficult issue than design. It takes skills at reading people, and discovering their interest. Never casually give out a business card, only give them to individuals who have either shown interest in your company, are in professional relationships with you, or have some other interest in what you are doing with your small business. Including business cards in personal correspondence, such as holiday or get well soon cards can be disastrous for your image. In order to reach new people, posting business cards in local restaurants and stores can be a great way to get your name out. As long as you are careful with your design and etiquette, using business cards well can be a great way to establish your small company.

A second great way to get your small business good publicity is to use brochures. Going for top quality brochures is essential if this is going to work. Your simple inkjet printer will not get the job done. Professional, four color printers can produce brilliant brochures, which will stand out amongst the competition. A brochure can be very personal. It is a way to choose the most important parts of your company, the ones that you, as owner, are most passionate about, and put them in color for potential customers. Choosing quality pictures and focusing on a unified color scheme will make your brochure rival those of larger corporate entities, and will draw people in. The other key to making brochures useful is getting them out. Like business cards, try posting them in local establishments. It is also a good idea to keep a stack at your receptionist desk. From there, be creative. Give current customers a brochure to keep in their house so they have easy access to any company information, and can tell their friends about you. Brochures are a great way to maximize word of mouth advertising.

Postcards, a third great way to help your small business gain visibility, take advertising beyond the word of mouth. Create a special event, and design an attractive postcard around the event. Then send the postcard to all of the addresses in your area, and try to draw customers in. While many will simply be thrown away, others will be put on bulletin boards, and generate customers for you. Postcards are cheap to make, and cheap to mail, they are a great way to reach out to large groups of unknown to people.

Advertising for your small business cannot be discussed without looking into the potential of the internet. A great website will do wonders for helping customers see what you have to offer, but getting them to go deep into your website is difficult. Make sure that you have a clean, simple homepage that has enough information to draw users in, but do not go overboard. Make sure the site is attractive and easy to navigate, or nobody will go anywhere. Also, keep your audience in mind. If you are reach out to those without a high income, keep the design simple, since they probably will not have the quality of computers to quickly load complex sites filled with animation and video. However, if you are offering a high end product to a wealthier audience, be sure to fill the site with bells and whistles to make it attractive and exciting.

Getting noticed is a tall order for any small business. But it is not impossible. With savvy advertising through business cards, brochures, postcards and web pages your company can find success with relative ease. Just be sure to do everything on the same level of professionalism that your company provides, or you will appear to be unfit to most customers, and they will go to the larger corporations.

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Grow Your Small Business Using The Right Technology

Dan started with his in-house point-of sale system. The system stores records of all purchases and ties the data back to the individual customer and the SKUs (shopkeeping units, or products) they buy. Using the shopping cards he issues to his customers, Dan created a targeted loyalty program focused on his best customers.

Here's how it works: customers are divided into 12 loyalty levels, with 1 being the most loyal and 12the least loyal (measured in terms of dollars spent per month). The best customers are rewarded for their purchases with S&H Greenpoints which can be redeemed for merchandise. In the first six months of the program, Dan boosted the average purchase per visit more than 20%; a year later, Dan constantly monitors customers across the 12 loyalty levels. He offers incentives to retain his best customers and watches for "downward migration" if customers suddenly start shopping less so he can send out targeted promotions to bring them back into his stores.

PSK's strategy is a dramatic example of how business is changing the way it interacts with and markets to customers and prospects. A few important trends make it easier than ever for any company, large or small, to catch this wave and reap tremendous rewards. Data storage costs are lower than ever, and Internet usage is widespread. Most importantly, there are now powerful software programs that can capture, track, manage and analyze customer data. Microsoft Office includes Excel, a spreadsheet program many small companies use to store data on their customers.

Users who upgrade to Microsoft Office Professional for a few hundred dollars more can take advantage of the power of Access, an expandable relational database that can store data on many thousands of customers. There is also software for rent available on the Web from SalesForce.com that can keep track of sales interactions with customers for less than $100 per month per user. In short, a variety of powerful, easy to use, customizable tools are available that can help companies store and capitalize on their customer data.

Any company now has the ability to track the behaviour of every customer and store enormous amounts of data on purchase history, transactions, demographics and interactions. The key to building revenue and profits, though, is to use that data to provide a more personalized, interactive and service-oriented customer experience. How can you get started right now to take advantage of these trends and keep up with your competitors?

Here's one "big idea" you should come away with: Learn who your best customers are. You'll maximize revenues and profits by paying attention to your most valuable customers and targeting your marketing and business development efforts toward satisfying their needs. Below are ideas for getting better acquainted with your clients.

Keep track of all your customers. You can start with a simple Excel spreadsheet, or move to a more sophisticated Access database. If you have a large number of customers and want to track transactions, interactions, purchase history, demographics and other data, you can move to an industrial-strength relationship database management system.

Use the Web to interact with and learn from your customers. Think of the Web as a two-way street to gather and transmit information -- from your website, via e-mail or in a blog. Give customers a reason to register on your website (to receive a newsletter or take a quiz) so you can capture names, addresses and e-mail addresses. You can then use a program such as Constant Contact to send e-mail on a regular basis to customers. Another idea is allow customers to "chat" or instant message in real time with, for instance, a sales rep, during certain hours.

Calculate a monetary value for each of your customers and update it when additional purchases are made. This can be as simple as updating an Excel spreadsheet once a month with purchase data from your point-of-sale system. If you have it, update your customer history with data on your cost of goods sold, so that you can calculate a net profit per customer. Over time, you can get an idea of how much your best customers are spending with you and a sense of what the "customer lifetime value" is for each of them.

Keep track of how often your customers buy from you (frequency), when was the last time they purchased (recency), and how long they've been with you (longevity). Together with the monetary value you've calculated, these will help you refine your definition of "best customer" and allow you to concentrate on maximizing total value over the customer's lifetime.

Ask your best customers how you can do better: If you ask, they'll tell you. What new products or services can you develop? What changes can you make to your existing products or services to provide customers with a reason to stay with you and bring you more business? If you listen carefully, you'll learn a lot about what it takes to keep and grow your best customers. One great resource for surveys is Zoomerang.com, which will conduct a survey and analyze the results for you. The company currently offers a small scale study for free.

Tailor your services and products directly to your customers' expressed needs. Use the customer intelligence you gather to change the way you do business. Focus on the specific products, services and ways of doing business that matter most to your customers. For instance, say your survey showed that customers felt your product was too expensive. Perhaps you could consider manufacturing a version with fewer features and selling it for less money.

Concentrate your efforts first on your top-tier customers, then the next tier, and so on, until you reach your least profitable customers. You'll be able to spend your product development, marketing and sales dollars on your best customers and not on the customers who aren't making any money for you.

When you're looking for new business, attract prospects who are similar to your best customers. This makes sense, doesn't it? You already know how valuable your best customers can be, so try to tailor your new business development efforts to attract prospects who have the potential to become just like them. If you know where your best customers live, you can target new customers in the same zip code or an adjacent one. Consider purchasing demographic data from a vendor such as Donnelley Marketing or Experian.

Above all, just get started learning more about your customers. Start small, and do a little more each day. Soon you'll be working with true customer intelligence to build your revenues and profits.

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