Dear MarketMaker:
I've just started my own business and am trying to let the world know I exist—but I don't have a huge budget for advertising. Where do I start?
—Built Best Mousetrap
As you've discovered, it's not enough to have a great product—if the world doesn't know you exist, they can hardly beat a path to your door. In fact, a significant percentage of every small business's budget is spent on advertising.
But there's a better way to start than throwing money at the problem. The top three things you can do are to be noticeable, be available, and ask people you know to help. Specifically:
- Be noticeable: Put a professional sign up outside of your business, choose a memorable name, register for a memorable web address, and buy a memorable phone number, like 1-800-GET-TRAP. The more visible and memorable you are, the less total advertising you'll need to make an impression on your prospective customers.
- Be available: Be sure your business hours match those of your prospective customers and that you're listed in directories they use. Who cares about the general yellow pages and 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. if your prospective customer base of trappers works 6:00 p.m. to midnight and only reads Trappers Service Phone Directory?
- Ask people you know to help: Word of mouth is the least expensive and most powerful advertising you can do. Spend $20 to print some business cards with your company information on them (including a phrase describing what you offer, such as "best traps for mice!"), design some email based on the same theme (with more information), and then send email and paper mail to every friend and family member you have asking them to forward your information to their friends and family. Keep a record of everyone who contacts you and do the same thing again. If you provide great service, soon your base will start to grow to a point where you can engage in more traditional flyers, billboards, rented mail lists, and "traditional" advertising.
Dear MarketMaker:
My collectibles business is doing well, and I'm seeking new avenues to market and sell my products. Lately a number of vendors have been encouraging me to attend local crafts shows. Are these and similar "trade shows" worth my time and expense?
—Fine Antiques, No Time
Dear Fine:
Trade shows and local markets are a burgeoning industry, with over $57 million spent on attending such shows last year alone. Yet you're wise to consider the cost implications before attending.
However, there are pitfalls to shows and markets. Before attending any event, run the numbers, equip yourself to be successful, and shop around. Specifically:
- Run the numbers: Attending will take you away from your storefront. Add up the costs of lost business (or someone to cover for you); your travel, food, and lodging; and shipping/labor/drayage to set up your booth (plus booth rental, power, a credit-card scanner, etc.), and you're facing quite a bill. How many show attendees will there be? How many will buy from you, and how much will they buy? The costs should be much lower than your sales to make attending worthwhile.
- Equip for success: What are the show hours? Can you remain on your feet and not visit a restroom for all that time, or will you need help? Can you take orders, charge credit cards, or just show off your goods? Set up your booth in your storefront parking lot and try doing business out of it for a day; then pack everything you used.
- Shop around: Be sure the event will attract the type of people you want to sell to—and that there's not another less expensive or more focused event closer to you or within the same time frame. There are lots of shows. Be picky, and ask for deals on booth space/rates.
Dear MarketMaker:
I'm running one of several lawn-care agencies in my town. Everyone gives away toys—small plastic lawnmower bookends, pens, Frisbees, you name it. I don't have the budget to spend on lots of toys. Do I have to compete, or is there another way to get noticed?
—Green with Envy
Dear Green:
I must confess to having quite a few vendor-provided toys in my office, but I'll also admit that I've never chosen a vendor based on a toy—which isn't to say that things vendors have provided haven't made a difference to me.
Vendors who provide information win over vendors who provide toys. Information that validates decisions—that makes people sure they made the right choice in choosing you—is valuable to them, even if it costs you little.
Imagine yourself buying a car for a close friend or relative. Wouldn't you be willing to leave your contact information with (and buy from) the dealership that gave you a free copy of the Consumer Reports automobile buying guide, a Better Business Bureau report on local dealer honesty, or a chart showing the automobile's repair record and resale value over time (all stamped with the dealer's phone number and name, of course)? Contrast your willingness to remember, call, and work with a dealer who gave you such information with your (un)willingness to work with or even call one who gave you some fuzzy dice or a nice pen.
In your situation, who would your customers call first—the provider of the flat fridge magnet showing a watering schedule and the top 10 lawn-care tasks for each month of the year to keep a lawn looking great or the one who gave out a plastic lawnmower bookend?
In sum, skip the pen(s); offer paper(s). Information is cheap to produce and attracts the right type of customer. Use it.
