USE FLYERS TO MARKET YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Imran Rashid Khan

Whether you're a restaurant owner, retailer, dentist or any other small business owner, promotional flyers are the most cost effective and popular way to market your small business. Flyers are a great way to get attention of your target audience. When done right, flyers can be the easiest way get your name out there and get new customers and boost sales. Flyers are used to acquire new customers, increase sales, highlight a special event or promote a new service or product. Flyers can even be used to launch a new venture.

To make your flyers standout they must be well designed and professionally printed.

Follow these 7 tips when creating your flyer to make the most of marketing your small business:

1. LESS IS MORE.

Try to keep things simple, and don't try to fit every product or service on the flyer. Try to focus on just a couple of your main services or products.

2. USE CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS.

Add testimonials to add credibility to your small business. Highlight comments of past satisfied customers. Be sure to include their full name and photo if possible.

3. KEEP IT SIMPLE.

Keep your design simple and don't use too many colors and fonts. It will not only confuse people, but also make them lose focus on your offering. Include a photo of your product or the service you are offering. Your call to action area should be bigger and bold then the rest of the text on the flyer.

4. USE FULL COLOR.

Full color flyers stand out with compared to black & white ones. Full color ones look more professional and catch the eye easily. If full color is not in your budget, don’t use the standard white paper, use  a color paper to get your flyer stand out and bring out the message you are trying to convey.

5. AVOID PHOTO COPIES.

As flyers are your first impression on your potential customer, get your flyers printed instead of photo copying them. Photo copying your flyer will give a cheap impression and won't look professional. Get an impact for your first impression. 

6. GIVE AN INCENTIVE.

You will get a much better response by give a discount on your product or service, as people love a good discount. Even offering an extra free service on redeeming the coupon can impress them.

7. MAKE IT EASY TO FIND YOU.

Make it as easy as possible to find or contact you. Include your full address (with the nearest landmark if necessary), your telephone and cell number, email, and web address.

FINAL WORD.

Your flyer should be clear, with a call of action. It should have a coupon or a discount offer to attract customers. You should remember that your flyer will be competing with others, so make sure to engage a professional in designing and printing your small business flyer.

Start distributing them in target areas, once your flyer is ready and printed. Post your flyers on Public Bulletin Boards. Hand them out outside of targeted buildings, in Parades and other public events. You can even distribute flyers door-to-door.

Have a Successful Marketing!

Increase Traffic to your Website

Are you looking for ways to increase traffic to your website?

Read these easy and quick tips to help you boost traffic to your website and increase followers.

@ Add easily accessible social media links.

@ Start a newsletter.

@ Use Google Search Engine Optimization tool, Google Webmaster Guidelines to learn how to increase website daily traffic.

@ Regularly publish content.

@ Spend some money on advertisement.

@ Go through the strategies laid out in the Infographic.

Increase Traffic to your Website

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5 Esstential Tips for Freelancers

1. Market Yourself – Network, Network.

You need to tell people who you are, what you bring, and how you could be service to them. You have to constantly market yourself for success and build a referral network.

Internet is a valuable tool for freelancers, especially if you have website. It serves as a point of contact between you and your potential clients.

You have to present yourself as to who you are and what you do and the skills and values you bring. Market your business as it is the key to a steady flow of new and repeat clients. Market on how your freelance business is better then similar business.

It’s not enough to what you know but, who you know. Use social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedln and other online communities like freelancer.com to meet, greet, and expand your network, and get your business in front of prospective clients.

Through these networks get feedbacks to fine tune your product or service. Not only that, you can get your first break through these networks and referrals. These sites can also be used to develop and maintain relationships with clients. 

2. Get to know your competitors.

Study and research your competitors in trade journals, social sites, freelance forums, and visit their website.  Pay attention to what your competitors do. Learn from them, they may be doing something right which you can be implemented in your business. Understand that you don’t know everything and be open to new ideas and new approaches for your business success.

You need to know who all your competitors are, not just the obvious ones, but the ones who are meeting the needs of your customers with products/ services which you do not offer.

Resist the urge to compete on price. Trying to undercut every competitor is a losing race. Instead, focus on providing greater value.

3. Follow-up.

For a successful business it is very important to follow-up to maximise opportunities. Stay in touch with them long after the sale, puts you ahead of the competition. Customers will feel appreciated with a follow-up. People do business with people they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. A committed follow-up strategy will increase your referrals with your customers and clients. By doing a follow-up you can remind them about your product or services you are offering. Follow-up can also be an acknowledgement for using your product or services.

4. Get Organised.

To be successful in any business it is very essential to be organised especially for a freelancer as he/she is responsible for everything. You need to have a good plan and organisational skills. Take your time and plan out all necessary steps to achieve success.

Make sure your work environment is conducive to maximise productivity. Keep it neat and tidy and minimise distractions. Schedule your work hours and set a routine. Being organised will help you complete tasks within time. Have a check list or to-do-list as you complete a task heck it off your list. Schedule your time; keep a calendar of meetings and deadlines. Set up a system for your workday; effectively prioritise email correspondence by using an auto filter.

5. Stay Focused.

You are not going to start making money the moment you start your business, it takes time so stay focused in achieving your short term goals. Constantly keep doing the things necessary to be successful, because success will not come in one night. Set goals so as to measure how well is your business doing, devise a plan to reach and achieve these goals. Always be on the look out for ways in improving your business and make it stand out from the competition. Keep a positive attitude, as a good attitude is a great asset for a freelancer. Believe in yourself.

Conclusion:

Starting and running a successful business can be rewarding and challenging. There are few things more satisfying than launching and owning your own freelance business. Starting a business is not complicated, but running it successfully requires focus, discipline, perseverance, and motivation. However, success will not come over night - it requires a long-term focus and that you remain consistent in challenging environments. Be prepared to adapt, innovate, and invigorate, so that your freelance business will break-out to the next level of profitability. Remember in business the only constant is change, so adapt and prosper.

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Finding Your Niche

A “Niche” is defined as a "situation or activity specially suited to a person’s interest, abilities, or nature". (American Heritage Dictionary 4^th edition)

Knowing that we want to start a business is not enough; the important thing is knowing what kind of business to start.

Your online business should be something you are ‘passionate’ about, it should be something which interests you or suits you nature. Working for something you are passionate about will yield great results. If you are passionate about something your commitment towards it will be very high. Your passion should dictate your ‘niche’.

Having a specific knowledge/skill or your work experience can also be your niche. I recommend grabbing a pen and a paper and start jotting down atleast twenty things which you are passionate about or have knowledge about.

While brainstorming for new ideas for your future online business, keep in mind that a successful business is the one which is providing a product or service that others will actually buy or pay for. Satisfy the need of your target market, and your target market will keep your business profitable.

Beware that an idea may seem promising, and destined to make you rich, but the real test will only come when you actually launch your online business. So what ever the idea/niche may be, it should be researched well before investing your time and money into it.

• Some of the questions which need to be asked:
• How big is the niche?
• How competitive is the niche?
• How profitable is the niche?

Google your idea/niche (in quotes) and look for these things:

• How many results?
• What kind of sites are in top 10?
• Who is your competitor?

If the results are few, then your niche may be too vague. If it is too many, then you need to zoom in on a tighter niche.

Action Steps

Gain the knowledge of your niche and what the market wants. There are so many online business ideas to choose from, so be sure to pick one that you’ll enjoy running and that will keep you motivated.

As always feel free to ask question or leave your comments below. 

Until next time take care!

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