Promoting Your Business

Promoting Your Business
Your business is registered, the business cards and letterhead are printed, you purchased office equipment, and rented a storefront to set up your office. Why don’t you have any clients/customers? Other than close family and friends and your landlord, who else knows you’re in business?

Now it’s time to promote your business, and here are some ways to accomplish your goal of gaining clients/customers.

One: Networking Groups and Events.
There are tons of networking groups all over the globe, and these groups have events where its members can meet face-to-face. Most of these groups are free to join, or have a minimal fee. The key to successful networking is to make sure you join a group that will allow you to meet potential clients/customers for the products/services you offer. You don’t want to join a group whose primary interest is cooking, when your business is computer repair. Also, you don’t want to join a group whose primary objective is to leave the business world behind, and strictly socialize. Before joining a networking group or attending an event, make sure you know the mission and purpose of the group and/or the event. When attending a networking group that meets your needs, be sure to have plenty of business cards on-hand to distribute to the other attendees. Nothing says unprofessional as an entrepreneur looking for business, who needs to write down his/her information on a cocktail napkin. Also, pre-script and practice a thirty (30) second commercial about yourself, your business, products/services you offer, and products/services that you need. Be sure to keep it to thirty seconds, especially if there are a lot of attendees. Don’t give to many personal details about yourself, and don’t recite your complete business plan to the group. It is extremely important that you present the have/need scenario at these events, so that the attendees know that you plan to utilize their products/services as well as offer your own products/services.

Two: Cold Calls to prospective clients/customers.
The nature of your business will determine if and how to make cold calls to potential clients/customers. This type of promotion works best with a service oriented business. If you are in a service oriented business, you can investigate businesses/individuals in your area to see if they currently utilize the type of service you are offering. If they are utilizing the same type of service with another company, then you investigate that company and compare its services to yours in an effort to find out if you can offer the potential client/customer more services at the same price, or the same services at a reduced price. Present your findings, including a chart outlining the differences, to the potential client/customer. Everyone loves feeling they are getting the most for their dollar. If they are not utilizing the type of service that you offer, then you put together a proposal outlining how they will save time, materials, or cost by utilizing your services. Again, everyone loves to feel they are getting the most for their dollar.


Three: Distribution of Announcements/Advertising.
The old fashion flyer/door hanger/postcard, and today the pop-up, on-line banner, or e-mail. The key to successful promotion in this fashion is to make the announcement eye-catching without being overwhelming, informational but not read like a book, and simple but not boring. Here to, the nature of your business will determine the type of announcement you create, and how you distribute them. If you are a clown you don’t want your announcements to be created in black and white. If you’re offering an exclusive type of service, you don’t want to distribute your announcements at the local swimming pool.

All three of these promotional techniques can work effectively for any business as long as you keep in the forefront of your mind the type of product/service you offer, and the type of client/customer you are trying to attract.

Promoting Your Business in the Social Media Age

Promoting Your Business in the Social Media Age

In this day and age Social Media presence is critical to any business, however, if not utilized properly can be detrimental to your business.

One of my previous blogs talked about Designing The Image Of Your Business, well your Social Media Image is just as important as "Your Company Image".

One: Separate Your Business Account from Your Personal Account
You don't want potential/existing investors/clients to have to wade through your vacation posts, posts your friends have made in order to see what you have been up to professionally,  so create a separate Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+ account.   LinkedIn shouldn't be an issue since it is strictly a business site.  While it may seem overwhelming to maintain two separate accounts, it is in the best interest of your business that you do so. 

Be sure to create a Username with your business name in mind, as well as, the products and services your offer.  For example my company name is G Sty Productions Incorporated and I'm a Spoken Word Artist, so my Username on both Twitter and Instagram is GStylFire - GStyl for the name of my company and my stage name, and spoken word artists are known to "Spit Fire" when performing.  It is both unique and thought provoking, so whether someone was searching for me or not, the name gives them pause and makes them curious so they look at my posts in depth to get a handle on who I am and what I do.

If you have the ability to give a "description" on the Social Media site, make it as descriptive as possible and be sure to include the URL to your company website.  You want the description to intrigue the reader enough that they will click on the link to your company website which will give them a complete picture of what products and/or services you provide, how long you've been in business, and any investor/client reviews/feedback you've received.

When posting  to your business account be sure to use full, non-abbreviated words. correct spelling and punctuation, and proper sentence structure.  Treat each post as though they are a company memo and that they have legal ramifications, for they do.  Anything that can be "printed" can be used as evidence against you in case of a dispute or law suit, also you don't want your investors/clients to have to figure out what you're trying to say before they can receive your message.

Two:  Keep Postings Clear and Concise
While Twitter is the only Social Media site that limits you to 140 characters per post, you might want to use this as a guideline for all posts.  Create flyers/textgrams/flipgrams/etc which contain the bulk of your message.  Not only will these visuals help you keep your messages short and sweet, they will also help to hold the attention of investors and clients especially if they are vibrant with color but not to busy and have a nice flow to them.

You want to use your 140 characters like the title of a book or essay, give the reader just enough to make them want to know more and draw them into reading/viewing the graphical attachment that accompanies your posting.

You want to use your company colors, if possible, when creating Textgrams, Flipgrams, and flyers.  Also be sure to include your company logo, and motto.  Also, when using Flipgram, if you use music, be sure to choose a track that is universal and would be widely accepted by all who hear be they investor or client.

Three: Use the Appropriate Hashtags
Hashtags are to Social Media what Metatags are to Websites, they draw in people who might not necessarily be looking for you or your business.  Some people simply watch Hashtags that they believe will draw them to people/places/things n which they have an interest.

One of the best Hashtags to use is the city and state where your business is located.  When people are searching for places of interests they tend to enter the city and state where they are live or to which they are planning to travel.  #ClevelandOhio #Cleveland #Ohio are examples of Hashtags that will draw the attention of those accessing these Social Media sites.

Investors looking for a specific type of business to invest in might search for the Hashtags #SmallBusiness #WomanOwnedBusiness #MinorityOwnedBusiness.  Literary Agents might search for the Hashtags #IndependentAuthor #Author #Self-Published #Self-Pubishing.  I'm sure you are beginning to see the benefits of Hashtags.

All of three of these posting guidelines can effectively help you promote your company on the World Wide Web via all available Social Media sites.