Marketing a Home-Based Business - [website] Published: 27th of May 2011 by: (c) Staff Training Reporter
Running your business from home has its many benefits, from reduced costs on travelling and childcare to more time for oneself and increased productivity...
...but when it comes to other aspects of the business, like marketing, you might find yourself drawing a blank.
Often the survival of a business depends on a good, solid marketing plan, but when you’re working from home of for yourself it’s something that’s very easily overlooked (sometimes simply because it seems such a daunting task).
People tend to think marketing their business is going to be an overly expensive undertaking, when in reality a good marketing plan doesn’t need to come close to breaking the bank.
The SME Toolkit South Africa gives some great examples and tips on creating a marketing plan for those running their businesses from home, beginning with the most simple of all: word of mouth.
Word of mouth is arguably the best form of marketing there is and SME Toolkit SA recognises this. For word of mouth to really take hold you need to ensure that each and every customer walks away with a smile on his or her face, and you do this by going over and above what is normally required of you. To stand out and get the edge over your competitors you need to offer something they don’t – impeccable service is a good place to start. You want to ensure that every customer you have is satisfied enough to refer you their colleagues, friends and family.
Yet with the rate of expansion seen on the internet of late it would be foolish to ignore it as a form of marketing, and this can be as useful as word of mouth, if not more useful as you can reach infinitely more people. Start by creating a Facebook page for your business, get involved in the Linkedin community and start a blog to create brand awareness, if you’re lucky, and if your content is good enough, you may find people sharing your business’s name for you.
Keep a database of contact details for your clients and make sure they know you’re still around by sending occasional festive messages and the like. You do, however, need to be careful in this instance to remain lawful and also to not become a nuisance to your customers.
Think of what you can do in terms of special offers and incorporate it into your marketing plan. Special offers for new customers are great but you may want to also think about rewarding existing and loyal customers somehow, while at the same time making sure the name of your brand is pushed further out there. Punt these offers on Facebook and Linkedin and if they’re good enough they may also go viral.
Lastly, advertise. Yes, advertising costs money, but start small, post an ad in the classifieds or do a pamphlet drop. Measure the success of your advertising campaign and decide how you can improve it, if it’s worth running again and what response it had on the business.
By doing just a few of these things you can begin to spread your company’s name and start to create a following – anything that helps you remain visible in this fast-paced world of adverts, companies and offers is a step in the right direction.
