How to Promote Your Business

Generating interest in your company, be it an Internet startup or a new local eatery, requires entrepreneurship. Common sense marketing approaches abound, but be prepared to take risks and creatively interpret how those approaches should be applied.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Materials (poster board, pens, printing supplies, fax and copy machines) to create physical ads
• Software to keep track of pilot programs and budgeting
• Relationships with cross-promotion partners, affiliates, and suppliers
• A brand "logo"
• A Web site to promote your company online

1. Lay out a budget for promotions and marketing. If you don't have a strict accounting of how much you put into your promotion efforts, it's very difficult to measure your success. You can use business software, like Quicken, to set up this budget. Get a precise dollar figure for promotions.

2. Read everything you can on the subject. Before pouring your limited resources into promotion venture, learn what avenues are available to you. Examples include cross-promotion (teaming up with another company to reach a mutual customer base), real media promotion (ad spots on billboards, kiosks, newspapers, sides of buses, etc), and virtual media promotion (ads on TV, radio, internet, etc).

3. Create a marketing plan. What do you want people to learn about your business? How can you tie brand promotion in with other sales and marketing efforts? What defines a successful plan and what defines a failure (revenues brought in, brand awareness, ability to drown a competitor's message, and so forth). Use numbers and guidelines.

4. Get good associates and partners on your team. Even if you're running a one man show, you can multiply your efforts by enlisting friends or temporary business partners.

5. Develop pilot programs (miniaturized ad campaigns and/or focus groups) to test various theories about how to market your brand and product line.

6. Commit to a strategy based on your pilot programs. Create one brand identity and stick with it. Make sure that the one or two messages you send don't contradict or obscure one another.

7. Once you've completed one promotional cycle, audit what you've done so far and make adjustments based on your strategic end plan.

Tips & Warnings

• Learn the ins and outs of salesmanship. Even if you are not strictly in a sales business, it's critical to understand the psychology of influence. Provide free samples, giveaways, and contests to gain visibility for your product or service.

• Check out government initiatives for small businesses, as you may be able to apply for certain grants and programs that can financially benefit your business.

• Become a trusted voice in your industry. In our knowledge economy, information is potent. Use your passion for your business to attract people interested in learning about it. Many of these people can become clients or can recommend their friends to become clients.

• Despite your best efforts, there will always be inherent uncertainties in the market. Don't necessarily blame a downturn in sales on your promotions.

• You should never count on a causal relationship between promotions and sales. Some promotions will take more time to see an effect.