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
Dear Best:
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.
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