How to Cost Effectively Advertise Your Small Business

Are you looking to better market your small business?

One of the first things you’ll want to do is figure out exactly who your target market is. If you don’t already know, it’s pretty easy to figure out.  Your target market is any individual or business (if you’re a B to B type business) that has shown a need for your product or service.

The trick to honing in on your target market is not to fall into the trap of thinking EVERYONE is a targeted prospect.

Okay, enough on that. Let’s get to cost effective advertising for small businesses.

Ineffective advertising can be time consuming and costly. The good news is that there are a number of different ways that you can go about cost effectively advertising your small business without having to spend more money than you need to.

Number one on my list is word of mouth.  In today’s world of social networking more and more people are relying on recommendations from people they know. The best way to have word of mouth work for your business is to ask people to tell others. Today you can make that request easily through Facebook, Twitter, or good old e-mail.  In this regard your existing customers are a great place to start.

My second suggestion for cost effectively advertising your small business has to do with where you advertise.

A few years back I was on an airplane coming home from a business trip. I had finished the biography I was reading so I picked up the in-flight magazine. As I was flipping through it an advertisement for the U.S. Postal Service’s Priority Mail caught my eye.

Essentially the advertisement was about how Priority Mail could help you reach your customers when and where they were thinking most about buying your product. The ad gave the example of sending marketing information about fishing rods to people while they were at their cabin by the lake.

I thought this was genius on so many fronts. First of all, the idea of advertising your recreational product in a recreational environment made perfect sense. But what I had to admire even more was the fact that the U.S. Postal Service (the organization we love to put up as the poster child of inefficiency) was actually practicing what they preached! They were advertising a business service in an environment that is usually swarming with business people – an airplane!

So, figure out where your target market is and where they are most apt to be thinking about what you have to offer.

My third and final suggestion for cost effectively advertising your business (at least for now. I have lots more to share later) is to seriously consider what you say and how you communicate in your advertising.

Always talk “to” your target market, never “down” to them or “above” them. You want to come across as one of them. You want them to feel as though you are having a conversation directly with them, that you understand them and know how to help them.

If your business uses certain words, phrases, terms, or acronyms don’t be afraid to use them in your advertising. But remember – and this is key – less is always more.

On that note, I believe I’ll stop for now. Cost effective advertising for your small business is not hard to do. Important Ah Ha – cost effective is not about “cheap” it’s about a great return on the money you spend. A $1,000 ad campaign that generates $10,000 in sales is much much better than a $100 campaign that generates $50 in sales.

So…

• Use the power of personal recommendations whenever possible
• Advertise where you market is, and when they are most apt to be thinking about you
• Speak their language

Keep these three things in mind and you are well on your way to cost effective advertising of your small business.