In the last post, we took a look at the 4 P’s of marketing. In this post, we are going to take a deeper look at the last P – promotion. Actually, I just realized that for some people, marketing is all about the promotion. While this may be true to a certain degree, we cannot overlook the planning that goes before promotion. That was discussed in the previous posts. Now what are some of the strategies that you can employ when it comes to promotion?

There are actually a lot of strategies to choose from. Here are some of the most common ones, which have been tried and tested:

• advertising media
• print media (newspaper, magazine, classified ads, Yellow Pages advertising, brochure)
• radio
• television
• networking
• business cards
• tee shirts, hats, buttons, pens

The question now is which strategies to employ. One thing that I should emphasize from the beginning is that you should not limit yourself to one option. These strategies could actually work together and indeed, the results may be better if they are combined. The idea is to be able to identify clearly which strategies will be able to effectively reach out to your target market. This means that it has to be clear in your mind who your target clientele is. Once you have this down pat, then you can pick out the strategies that will most likely cater to these people. The next step is to focus on these strategies and to develop materials and other necessary resources in order to implement your plan.

After reading the last post, did you realize that you didn’t have a solid marketing plan for your small business? I would not be surprised. After all, many small businesses might not have a pressing need for marketing – at least that is the mindset. If I were you, though, I would pay some attention to marketing – never mind how small your business is. Marketing just might give you the edge that you need to eventually expand your small business into something bigger.

Long time marketers have already established sets of rules and guidelines as to how to go about marketing. One of the most practical tips I can share with you is the strategy called The Four P’s of Marketing. They are pretty much self-explanatory but let’s take a look at them.

PRODUCT
You have to be clear as to what product or service it is that you are offering. This is the foundation of your business and it has to be in black and white as the other elements are going to depend on this.

PRICE
Once you have decided on what you are selling or providing, then you can work on the pricing. There are many things to consider when determining your pricing. You have to check the current market prices, your own costs, and see how much you can price your product. Then you focus on the advantage that you are giving your customers with regard to price.

PLACE
As with the other P’s, you have to put yourself in your clients’ shoes. Describe the location of your business – its advantages and disadvantages. Describe your assets. The idea is to build your location around your customers and make them see that.

PROMOTION
Now that you have clear descriptions of your product, your pricing, and the place, it is time for you to come up with a clear and effective promotion strategy. We’ll take a deeper look into this in the next post.

I cannot emphasize the importance of planning enough. From the conception of your business idea to its implementation to other fine details – planning should be a part of everything. When it comes to marketing, planning is even more important. You might say that it is just you – and maybe another person or two – who is involved in the marketing anyway. Why would you need to have a plan?

Planning indicates that you are organized, that you have organization built in into your processes. With organization, it is easy to pinpoint problems and successes. It is easy to figure out what you can do better and what you can stop doing. That is why, even if there are only two people involved in your marketing activities, it is vital that you have a clear concept as to how things are organized. At the end of the day, a clear marketing plan will provide much needed accountability.

One way by which you can organize your marketing activities is by creating a clear organizational structure. Again, never mind if you are only two people working on marketing. If you have a clear structure – such as can be visually seen in a flowchart – then you can go about your activities more efficiently.

John Jantsch at Duct Tape Marketing proposes this structure.

It is a very useful chart that can help you create specific processes for all the items that you need to achieve. And with defined processes, you will get more concrete results.

There are so many ways by which you can market your small business. Perhaps because of this fact, many small business owners tend to overlook one very significant marketing strategy – that is, gaining referrals. In fact, if you ask many small business owners what they do to actively get referrals, they will probably give you a blank look or even scratch their head. If you are thinking along the same lines, I need you to think again and realize that referrals can be one of the most effective ways by which you market your business AND that you need to actively seek them out.

How can you do this? Isn’t providing excellent services or products enough to get you referrals? Theoretically, this is correct. If you provide the best service or product to your customers, then the chances are that they will spread the word among their friends and colleagues about you. Then again, wouldn’t it be better not to simply sit back and take that chance?

One way of actively seeking out referrals is by making it part of your business practice. That is, you voice out your desire for referrals from your customers. For example, you can include a short spiel when conducting your business. At the end of your transaction, you can tell your customer something like this: “Sir/Madam, we are confident that you are going to enjoy our product and that you will get the best experience out of it. As part of your responsibility as our client, we would like to encourage you to provide us with an X number of referrals within X number of months.”

Why is this effective? Because you have given them a guarantee that they will be happy with your service or product. That means you will do what it takes to provide them satisfaction. In the customer’s mind, referrals are nothing compared to that.

Marketing is an oft-used term in the business world. Though most everyone knows what it means, not everyone fully understands what marketing entails. More so, not everyone is convinced that marketing is important – especially when it comes to small businesses. The way that some people think is that since it’s just a small endeavor, it would not really need marketing anyway.

If you think that way, you couldn’t be more wrong! Marketing is an essential part of any business, whatever the size! Marketing should be at the top of your list of priorities when starting up a business. Now, what if you are the only person working for your business? Where will you find time to engage in marketing activities?

That is a very good question. It is understandable that as you are still starting up, you might not have the time and resources to launch a full fledged marketing campaign. As such, you can think of incorporating some marketing practices into your already existent activities.

For example, take advantage of the social and business functions that you attend. Whether you go to a charity dinner or a party at your club, you should be ready to market your business. Looking at it in another way, you can even build stronger relationships with existing and potential clients by extending invitations to such functions to them.

Another way of marketing would be to share pertinent information with other people. For example, while reading the news or other relevant publication, you can choose to send an article to people with a note that reads something like “I though you would be interested.” Take note, however, that you shouldn’t spam. Make sure that what you send is really relevant to the recipient.

More on marketing next time.

In some of my recent posts, I emphasized the point that you should consider how your business will affect your lifestyle. Starting your own business and handling it yourself is very much different from working for another person. Even if you have a management position in a company and you have a lot of responsibility, that is nothing compared to actually owning a business and running it yourself. The responsibility that comes with it is increased a hundredfold.

One way to make it easier for you to efficiently operate your own business and nurture your personal life is to shape your business to conform to your lifestyle right at the outset. This includes taking your personality into consideration. According to Rob Spiegel, your personality actually shapes how you conduct your business:

Launching a company is a very personal act. If your start-up is successful, it succeeds because it takes on the contours of your personality. The personal qualities you develop to get the company off the ground are more important than the experience you gained before launching. Your success depend less on what you know than it does on what you’re willing to try, what unsuccessful habits you’re willing to discard, and what lengths you’re willing to go to in order to learn what it takes to make the enterprise run right. Your business has to reflect the strengths of your personality and abilities.

As such, you should take the time to reflect on how you want to go about starting a business. Do not rush the process. More so, when others tell you how to go about it, you should consider their advice BUT at the same time consider your own input as well.

Common sense, yes?

I have this tendency to do everything “big.” Whenever I start something, I want to do things in the best possible way and I do not think there is anything wrong with that. However, through the years, I have also learned to acknowledge limitations. They do exist, especially for small business start ups. And now, I know that there are certain ways that I can cut costs without necessarily cutting on the grandness of my plans. Let me share some of these tips with you.

Learn to distinguish between necessities and “bling.”
There are certain things that cannot be done without when starting a small business and there are things that can wait. However, there are things that fall in between and sometimes, it can be hard to determine which things are absolutely necessary and which things can be left for later.

You may be thinking that this is a no brainer – it is, in theory. However, I have had many experiences (both hands on and vicarious) wherein business owners fall into the trap of impulsive buying and spending. Before they know it, they have spent an unnecessarily large amount. My suggestion? Get everything in writing. If something is NOT on your list, then do not spend money on it. It can wait.

Utilize every little nook and cranny.
Whatever the nature of your business may be, you are probably going to need a space to call your office or shop. If you are renting, you have to be smart about making the most out of whatever space you can afford. Try to get as small an office as you can and then find ways to make it seem larger. Remember, you do not need a whole floor when a single room will do the job just as well.

One of the biggest things that hold people back from starting their own business is the subject of money. This is quite understandable as entering the business arena on your own could be quite a risky thing. However, starting up a small business does not mean that you have to go totally broke. Neither does it mean that you have to have tons of money. Here are some ideas which could help you start your business without going broke.

Don’t leave your job
I had a separate post recently about this point. I just want to emphasize that you can actually start your own small business without totally giving up your regular wages. If you are lucky enough to have a flexible schedule at work, then you might be able to manage working full time while starting up your business. If this is not feasible, you can slowly ease out of your work. You can ask to go part time for a period of time and then completely resign when the time is right.

Find another source of income
If going part time is not an option and you really have to leave your day job, you might want to consider looking for another source of income to sustain you while you wait for your business to take off. One example would be to freelance.

Borrow money
If there really is no other option for you and you cannot wait to start your business, then I suggest that you consider borrowing money. You can do so from people you know or through a financing institution.

In the previous post, we took a look at some ideas which you can consider if you want to start a small business. These small business ideas are relatively easy to implement and will be feasible even if you do not have much capital on hand. Here are some more of these small business ideas.

Got organizational skills?
There are so many people out there who have no organized bone in their body. Trust me, I know a LOT of them. And if you have those skills, why not peddle them and make money? What you can do is put out an ad, either in your local newspaper or online (like Craigslist). This would not cost you much – in fact, some ad placements are free. You just might be surprised at how many clients you can get.

Got design skills?
Again, not everyone was born with an eye for aesthetics. If you have this talent, then you should capitalize on it. You have so many options with regard to this. One, you can start your own desktop publishing services. All you need is your computer and a high quality printer. If you already dabble with this stuff, then you wouldn’t need much cash outlay. Two, you can sell your services as a house decorator or a consultant. You can help design-challenged people make their homes look better (I am one of those, by the way). Three, if you are blog savvy then you can design templates and widgets for a fee. A lot of people are already doing this – why can’t you?

The best time to start a small business to operate on the side is NOW. I am sure that you can use an infusion of extra cash at the moment. And while you still have a job, it would be good to spend your spare time trying to earn a little bit more. Here are some ideas that can help you get on your way to being a businessperson.

Take advantage of the Web
Be a webpreneur! The best thing about making money online is that you do not have to spend too much to start up your business. You also do not need to make drastic changes in your lifestyle. All you need is your computer and a connection to the Internet. You might need to spend money on a domain and hosting services but these can be had for less than $50.

Make use of your talents
Every person has a special area wherein he can be considered an expert. With your experience and credentials, you can set yourself up a consulting business. This will not require all your time – you can still work your day job. Print yourself up a nice set of business cards and be on the look out for prospective clients all the time.

Take care of other people’s houses or pets
In other words, take a look into house sitting or pet sitting services. This is especially applicable if you have a lot of spare time. You can start small – with you as the sole employee. Put out ads in your neighborhood to attract business. If the demand proves to be high, you can eventually hire help.