Do you have an advertising strategy for your small business?

I work as a business coach and I have seen so many business owners throw money away when it comes to advertising.  Why?  Because one day they were called up by a publication, offered what seemed like a good rate (“and we’ll design the advert for you for free!”), signed on the dotted line then sat back and waited for business that never arrived.  Save yourself some money and heartache by developing a strategy first.  Take a pen and paper and use the following questions to develop your advertising strategy.

Why are you advertising?

“Because I need more business” is not the correct answer.  You need to be more specific.  Your advert is going to need a call to action so just putting your business name and contact details isn’t going to work.  Do you have a part of your business with spare capacity, or a new product to promote?  Or a sale on old stock.  Focus in on something specific and build the advertising campaign around that.

What sort of publication will the advert be in?

You need to design each advert for the media; something that will appear in a business listing directory for a year will be very different to something that you put in a local paper for a few weeks.  Think carefully about where and how it will appear and make sure that it is appropriate for the people reading it – the advert in an industry magazine will be read by people who understand the technical jargon of the industry – local newspaper readers will not.

Who is your target market?

If you try to attract everyone with your advert you’ll probably attract nobody.  When someone sees your advert you have about 2-3 seconds to interest them enough to stop them turning the page.  A general advert about your cycle shop probably won’t be able to do that, but an advert (with a good call to action) highlighting a children’s bike sale just before Christmas will.

Return On Investment (ROI) for the advertising campaign

Every advert should bring in more profit that it cost to run.  That way you have a never ending advertising budget.  You can only see if this is happening by testing and measuring the result but even before you place the advert, look at the figures to see if your target looks realistic – comparing the price of the advertising against expected profits.

How do you determine the ROI for each advert?  You ask the customers how they heard about you every time they phone or call in at your store.  Keep a tally of their responses and you will start to see which ads work and which don’t.

This article is really just a taster for the sorts of things that you need to consider for a successful advertising campaign but I hope you’ve found it useful.  If you want to know more then go to my main Web site – www.smallbusinessbuddy.net – where there are more detailed articles on this and other subjects of interest to small business owners keen to improve their business.

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Many of us would choose not to work if we didn’t have to, but if work must be done to pay the bills, why not create an ideal working environment.  Who says we have to wake up early, put on our power suit, and drive in rush hour traffic twice a day to earn a living while our kids get raised by an inattentive staff member at the local day care.  Is there another way?  Millions of people every month are looking online for ways make money from home, so as a mother yourself, you’re probably wondering, “do jobs for stay at home moms really exist?”

I’m sure you’ve seen pop up ads and spam emails desperately trying to get you to buy this or that super-secret online money making machine.  But, come on, is there really anything a stay at home mom can do for work that is legitimate.  The answer is – Yes!  Not only are there real stay at home jobs for moms, but they don’t cost you any money to get started.  Here are some that I not only recommend, but I personally have friends and family that do these jobs and make money.  I hope you enjoy:

1)      Make Money Writing Articles

Might sound weird, but there are lots of companies needing this done.  Article writing is essential especially for companies looking to get exposure on the internet.  With the time investment required, they would much rather pay someone else to do it.  The best part is you can do it from home whenever you like.  Just do a search for article writing jobs or visit sites like About.com

2)      Earn Cash Doing Typing & Data Entry

Like to type and do data entry?  This might be a good fit for you.  There are lots of companies who outsource this kind of work.  Check out keyforcash.com to get you started.

3)      From Home Tutoring Work

While there may be some special requirements for this job, companies like Sylvan may be interested in allowing you to tutor kids right from your desktop computer.

4)      Make It Big As A Virtual Assistant

Do you have the gift of administration?  If so, there are a lot of big companies, like major airlines, that hire people all the time to take calls and perform other administrative functions right from the comfort of their own home.

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