Marketing for your home business is virtually the same as marketing for big businesses, just on a much smaller scale. For your business to make money, you need to see sales of your products or services, and recruit business partners to keep growing your franchise.
Whether you personally do all of your marketing or have someone else help you, a multi-pronged attack plan consisting of market research, networking, advertising, product information, branding, positioning, and distribution is necessary.
– Market Research -To determine whom your potential customers are, and how their needs can be met by your products/services. Also, find out who your existing competitors are and what you can possibly do to surpass them. Where will you seek out like-minded individuals to join your business? What will you need to do to get them to find you?
– Networking – Interacting with as many people as you can both in person and on the Internet. Seeking out individuals that are business-minded will greatly increase the speed at which you grow your business team and move whatever product/service you are marketing.
– Advertising – Letting all of your family, friends, and their referrals know about your business is the best and easiest way to quickly spread the word. Never beat them over the head with it or you will be branded a nuisance. Just get the word out and move on. Use traditional offline marketing tools such as business cards, flyers, catch cards, brochures, CDs, DVDs, placing ads in local newspapers etc… Have a solid Internet marketing game plan consisting of free and maybe some paid advertising strategies if your budget allows ex) blogs, articles, forums, press releases, classified ads, video marketing, pay-per-click ads, banner ads, social networks/bookmarks, traffic exchanges etc…
– Product Information – Marketing materials such as brochures, online presentations, and data sheets that provide an overview of the features of your products/services. It is very important that you have a technical overview, price list/comparative rate sheet, and articles/reports written to showcase your products/services/business opportunity and the compensation plan. Always be able to highlight your company’s method of meeting its clientele’s needs in comparison to competitors.
– Branding – Establishing your name and business as one that is synonymous with quality. You must become a knowledgeable leader in your field and this must be reflected in everything that you do. Like an emblem or logo a business brand should be identified readily and is used for increased awareness of your business.
– Positioning -Identify your position within your target market compared to that of your competition. Once you are able to identify how you wants your customers to perceive your business, marketing activities can be focused on achieving the desired results. Understand your competitive advantage.
– Distribution – Delivering your products/services to your customers and seeking out business leaders to join your team. You need to decide if you will sell your products on the Internet, in a store, via cold calling, through your network of relationships, or a combination of these. Understanding the best methods or channels to distribute your products/services/business opportunity is important for maximizing your sales and growth. Your decisions in this area will greatly impact your other marketing activities.
Knowledge alone won’t bring customers to your door and grow your business team.
Many home business owners struggle with managing their time and energy to market, but without adequate marketing your odds of success are slim. Setting aside a specific time of the day and/or days of the week is one way to stay on top of your marketing efforts.
Remember, the more effectively you can market, the bigger return you’ll get for your time, energy, and money. Strong marketing efforts do not necessarily require a big budget but they do require lots of consistent hard work and results tracking. Success!
