Marketing is one of the most important ingredients in building a successful business. Yet I think that it is often overlooked by many small business owners. There are many ways to market your service and none of them have any guarantee of success. Every type of business is subject to different rules. There are several ways that I have marketed my vegan meal delivery service over the years. I have tried print advertising, banner ads, google adwords, referral promotions, flyer distribution, attending events, event sponsorships, and the newest a PR Campaign. Out of all of these the biggest bang for our buck has been google adwords. I’m not saying that google adwords would be the best form of marketing if you own a hair salon, or a bookstore, but for my business which is a unique service that has no physical storefront it works very well. For new businesses you just have to make some educated guesses and try some things out. Monitor what is working and what is not, and don’t be afraid to change direction if you aren’t getting the desired response. Keep the law of 80-20 in mind. That is 20% of your marketing efforts will give you 80% of your business. Find out what that 20% is and focus your energy and money on that.
I realized about 2 years ago that print advertising was just not giving us the response we wanted and found that our google adwords campaign, and our flyer distribution was giving us much better results at a fraction of the cost. We were spending $100 a month on our adwords campaign and getting almost twice as much business as a $600 ad was getting us. We even tried a direct mail ad for $800 a month and received no calls for a month and a half. It was an expensive lesson to learn, but it could have been more expensive had I not paid attention to how our customers were finding us. We quickly terminated the print ad campaign and increased our google adwords budget. Ask your customers how they found out about you. It is one of the most important pieces of information to keep track of.
Last month we decided it was time to get a PR campaign going and hired on Evolotus PR. The specialize in PR for socially beneficial industries. They sent out our first press release last week and so far things are going well. I did my first interview a day after the release went out and have gotten many articles written about us, which has already garnered us some new customers. My brother/partner Tim did a radio interview today, and is speaking this weekend at an event called Worldfest. We seem to be tapping into markets that we were previously unable to reach, like the seniors demographic. There is one thing that a PR campaign can get you that regular advertising can not, that is credibility. I am really looking forward to seeing where our public relations campaign takes us.
When it comes to marketing for your small company be smart with your money, and pay attention to what is working and what is not. Don’t let those salespeople talk you into buying ad space in a publication that you know doesn’t cater to your target demographic. They will say whatever they have to to make you buy. If you do decide to give it a shot don’t sign a long contract upfront to get a cheap rate. When negotiating that direct mail ad that I spoke of earlier they tried to talk me into a 6 month contract. I negotiated a 3 month contract with one month free. Looking back I shouldn’t have even done that, but it is hard to judge any ad campaign after 1 month. Get them to give you a deal for your 1st contract. What good is the price break on a 12 insertion contract going to do for you if you aren’t getting any business from the ad. Remember the 80-20 rule, and don’t be afraid to change directions if something isn’t working.
Please tell me about your experiences with different marketing campaigns.
