Running a small business can be expensive. There are many fixed costs including salaries, inventory and rent or mortgage that require many funds each month. Without a regular cash flow, meeting these obligations becomes next to impossible. There is one investment that you can make in your business that can make a big impact on cash flow and a small impact to expenses – Marketing. It’s one of the best investments you can make in your business. Here are three areas of marketing that can help your business.
Publicity – Making a Name For Yourself.
When coming up with your signage and business moniker, don’t forget about your logo. Images tend to be more important in branding than words because it’s easier for the human mind to retain an image vs. a concept or phrase. Many of the biggest, best-known brands know this and incorporate an image in their branding. Apple has an apple with a bite mark in it. Nike has the swoosh. McDonald’s has the golden arches. Images help people remember your brand. Use a professional marketing company to help come up with a solid brand image for your company. It will be the foundation of your marketing.
Marketing doesn’t start after you’ve opened and are unsatisfied with your traffic. Marketing needs to start before you open. Create anticipation with your target audience about the opening of your store. Get your signage outside the store up as early as possible so that your name is seen. Don’t just put a standard “Opening Soon” sign in the window, create some mystery. If you’re opening a bakery, try “Sweet Delicious Treats Coming Your Way Soon”. If you’re opening a dental practice, try “Big Beautiful Smiles Coming Soon”. Draft a “Coming Soon” message that speaks to the number one benefit of what your consumers will get from your offering.
You’re “Coming Soon” efforts don’t have to all cost money – get your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media accounts up and running before you open. Pinterest and Facebook are terrific forums for leveraging pictures of your products – great if you have food, or other visually appealing offerings. Twitter is your fastest way to grow a following. Tweet about things around your businesses – most popular cupcake flavours, the impact of a great smile on first impressions.
Promotions – Get People Excited
Make a huge splash when you open your doors by running a grand opening promotion. Once you’re closer to opening, you’ll want to invest in some paid advertising – run some ads in the local newspaper, get your company listed in the local business directory, distribute flyers – and make sure everything you do is displayed with the words “Grand Opening Sale”. People love a sale. The words “Grand Opening” create urgency – it’s a one-time chance for specific deals.
You can also run a virtual grand opening sale with a daily deal company – like Dealicious, Groupon or Living Social. These deals are great for generating upfront revenue and demand for your products – just make sure that you do the math on the deal first. Make sure that you don’t oversell too much inventory at too low a price, which causes a severe cash crunch. Don’t think of these deals as revenue generators, think of them as publicity – to get your name out there and to get people to try your products and services. When selecting a daily deal company, take a look at your target audience – are they upscale? Then pick an upscale daily deal service. Each daily deal provider can give you information on the demographics of the people they reach. If you’ve been in business for a while, you can still take advantage of these avenues; run an anniversary promotion following the same publicity and promotion tips.
Timing and Consistency – Make The Biggest Impact
Once you’re ready to start marketing, timing is important. For example, try to get all your “Coming Soon” messages up on the same day or same week. Start your communications early – a month before opening or 2 weeks before your big event to build interest. Make sure you communicate your grand opening promotion in advance to opening as well. Use all your communication channels – store front banners , flyers and your social media accounts. If you’re going to run a daily deal, put that in the message to with the daily deal company so that customers will know where to go to find the deal, and when.
