One of the biggest challenges that young entrepreneurs face is getting their business out into the community to let potential customers know they are up and running. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on fancy advertising to get the word out about your business. There are tons of ways to market your business within your community that are relatively cheap (or free) and can help you create good impressions with potential customers. Check out our tips below on how to locally market your business.
Networking (in person)
A fear for many, but the more people that know about your business the better. The key is knowing your target market and the communication channels for that demographic. Most people are afraid they won’t have anything to talk about or that they’re bad at small talk. If you attend an event where you know your target customer will be, you’ll have something to talk about. If you attend an event with other people in your industry, the same rules apply. It could be a local fair, a Board of Trade event, or a business expo.
Social Networking
The advantage of social media is that it is a low cost alternative to traditional media in terms of actually paying for service. However, it can require a significant time commitment depending on the channels you choose to use. Social networking or social marketing working best, when you’re social. If you set up a Facebook page, try and spark conversation with current customers or potential customers and build relationships for your business. When it comes to social marketing, don’t feel like you have to be in all places at once. Choose one that you feel fits your product/service and also where you potential customers will be. Some of the more common channels are currently Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, and Snapchat. All of which have rapidly changing demographics of their most frequent users.
Bulletin Boards
Most coffee houses, churches, youth centers, grocery stores, and restaurants have bulletin boards where you can put up a poster for your business for free. Just be sure you ask the cashier (or whoever is responsible for the bulletin board) if it is okay to put up your poster before you do so.
Host an Event
If you just opened a food stand and you know of other businesses that are providing face painting, body art, jewelry making, baked goods, etc. make contact with those businesses and see if they would partner with you to host an event. Events are a fantastic way to showcase what your business has to offer, and partnering with other business to provide services you cannot is a great way to save costs.
With all of the channels above, you also have a huge opportunity to build a community around your customers. Take advantage of that because it will present you with opportunities that you may never know existed to provide problem solving products or services to those around you.