45 Ideas to
Promote Your Business
1. Advertise in the classified
advertising section of your community newspaper.
2. Advertise in the Yellow Pages.
3. Advertise on a grocery buggy.
4. Approach your prospective customers over the phone.
5. Approach your prospective customers in person.
6. Approach your prospective customers through the mail.
7. Be a guest speaker at seminars and present on your area
of expertise.
8. Be a guest speaker on radio talk shows.
9. Build and maintain a customer mailing and contact list on
database software.
10. Build your image with well designed letterhead and
business cards.
11. Design a brochure that best explains the benefits of
your services.
12. Design a mail order campaign.
13. Design a point of purchase display for your product.
14. Design a telemarketing campaign.
15. Design an image building logo for your company.
16. Design and distribute a quarterly newsletter or an
industry update announcement.
17. Design and distribute company calendars, mugs, pens,
note pads, or other advertising specialties displaying your
company name and logo.
18. Design and distribute a free "how to do it" hand-out
related to your industry (e.g. Tips for conserving energy in
your home).
19. Design buttons, decals and bumper stickers or balloons
with your company name, logo or slogan.
20. Design T-shirts displaying your company name and logo.
21. Explore cross promotion with a non-competing company
selling to your target market.
22. Explore the costs of advertising in newspapers,
magazines, on radio, television, billboards, bus shelters
and benches.
23. Explore ways to share your advertising costs using
cooperative advertising.
24. Follow up customer purchases with a thank you letter.
25. Follow up customer purchases with Christmas or birthday
cards.
26. Have your company profiled in a magazine or newspaper
that is read by prospective customers.
27. Hire an advertising agency or public relations firm.
28. Hold a promotional contest.
29. Hold a seminar on your service, product or industry.
30. Include promotional material with your invoices.
31. Look for prospective customers at trade shows related to
your industry.
32. Look for prospective customers in associations related
to your industry.
33. Look for prospective customers at seminars related to
your industry.
34. Look for prospective customers in magazines and
newspapers related to your industry.
35. Package your brochure, price lists and letter in a
folder for your customers.
36. Place a sidewalk sign outside your store or office.
37. Place flyers on bulletin boards and car windshields.
38. Place promotional notes on your envelopes, mailing
labels.
39. Place signs or paint logos on your company vehicle(s).
40. Prepare a corporate video.
41. Prepare a list of product features and benefits to help
you plan your advertising and promotional campaigns.
42. Prepare proposals offering solutions to your customers'
needs
43. Provide free samples of your product or service.
44. Provide public tours of your operation.
45. Sponsor a charity event.
Ten Areas of
Leverage That Every Small Business Has
1. Customer-base
Ask yourself: If I just bought this company, how would I
sell more/expand what I sell to this customer base?
2. Cash
Ask yourself: If I could invest this cash in any one part of
this business/niche/product line for the biggest cumulative
return/profit over the next 5 years, where would I invest it
all?
3. Market Leadership
Ask yourself: To remain the market leader for the next 25
years, where should I invest my time and company's resources
right now?
4. Reputation
Ask yourself: What can I do to double the strength of our
current reputation, within the next 6 months?
5. Momentum
Ask yourself: What's working well right now and how can I
keep it working well?
6. Key Staff
Ask yourself: Who are the 5 key people in my organization
and what game/plan can I create with them so they'll stick
around for a long time?
7. Systems
Ask yourself: What systems work so well that we take them
for granted? How could we improve them?
8. Responsiveness
Ask yourself; How quickly and completely do we respond to
changes in our customers, market, technology, staff needs or
economic conditions?
9. Intellectual Property
Ask yourself: What do we have, IP-wise, that just isn't
being as leveraged as it could be?
10. The X Factor
What do we have that's very, very special and that we could
really maximize, just for the pleasure of it?
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