Marketing advice for new businesses

Posted: 31 Oct , 2016By:

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We are a small business, trying to get our innovative microfiber showercap with chic designs out into the marketplace. What is your best marketing recommendation and what kind of a budget should we be allocating to marketing activities if we are in the first year of our small business? Marketing is a whole new area for us, but it is very important.

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Cashflow is king. I would be very careful about spending money on any form of advertising until you 'test' it online. 1. Who is your ideal customer? Be specific, are they single, married, children or no children, do they travel or have a career? 2. 90% of Aussies use social media with Facebook and Instagram the most popular statistically. Amy Porterfield has both Podcast and blogs with free downloads to help you develop your own strategy for free. 3. Find your ideal customer and grow a following. Make sure you have a website and at least a monthly blog. 4. Once you attract an audience and start to engage with them, you can ask them what they want to know about or how they like your product? I love social media and use it to gain new customers via social media, please feel welcome to run by any ideas or share your Facebook business page with me ??
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- Amanda Hoffmann
- 18 Dec 2016
- 08:57 PM
Hey all, I am running a soap shop. It’s been 2 months that I have started the business so that more people don’t know more about the shop. My friend said me to promote my business. She suggested me to do it through direct mail marketing (http://www.troimail.com/ ). But since I have not done it before, I need suggestions about it. Does this affect my business? Whether this is a good option?
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- joanna john
- 15 Dec 2016
- 05:35 PM
Whether your business is focused on local marketing or is it a global? Of it's all about local, then first thing you need to consider is local SEO. Never ignore the GMB result marketing. This makes your website to appear in GMP search result.
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- Oleg Cerkas
- 12 Dec 2016
- 10:46 PM
I would encourage you to analyze how your competitors are marketing, and jump into the fray. Remember, if prospects are look for them on YouTube for instance, they'll find you. You just have to do it. Don't copy them, just do it YOUR WAY. Make sense?
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- Rick Duris
- 22 Nov 2016
- 10:03 AM
Answer: You are right that marketing is a very important part of kicking off your new business, I would suggest that you think about marketing in terms time, effort and then money. As its your first year in business I would suggest that you allocate one to two hours of your time per day to first educate yourself on digital marketing and then work to setup digital marketing channels. Much of what can be achieved online today is not so much about the amount of money you spend but about the amount of time and effort (in the right activities) you can put in to building and using your digital channels. As for the budget I would suggest you take a small budget of a few hundred dollars and test as many viable forms of advertising first to see which one actually works for your business and provides you with the best possible return. For example many plumbers find that google ad-words and other SEO tactics far out way social media, display or traditional media marketing when it comes to business lead generation and business growth. But if you are selling a product and not a service then using Instagram and other paid media service may well be the most fruitful for your business. Once you have an idea of whats works I would look to work with 5% of you current business income initially and then build it up from there year on year as you start to see real returns. The best advice is to see what you can achieve organically first with daily or even hourly efforts online before you think about dropping large sums of money on a particular marketing strategy or effort.
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- Expert: Paul Gilbert
- 03 Nov 2016
- 05:37 PM
Answer: First thing you need to consider is your product. What are its advantages over other shower caps. Does it solve a specific problem? If you cant answer these questions, you'll be throwing money at marketing for no return. Also, with products like yours, people tend to use infleuncers on social media to promote their product. It costs money but works well apparently. Something like this. http://www.brandsnob.co/ But you first need to be clear on the questions i asked first. Whats your USP?
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- Wayne Black
- 03 Nov 2016
- 09:26 AM
Answer: My experience with marketing is to not spend much at all. Advertise everywhere that is free such as FB, Instagram, Gumtree etc. Instagram is a good place to sell as well. Keep posting often. Get reviews, and word of mouth is still the best way to get customers. I have spent loads of money on advertising that led nowhere.
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- Troy Sinclair
- 31 Oct 2016
- 01:44 PM
Answer: I am not a marketing expert. Would suggest that referrals and reviews at paramount. Business Owners should ask clients to write a review. I obtained a new client a hairdresser - he tells me he has been in business for less than one year but has over 150 reviews (more reviews than any hairdresser within 10 kilometres).. Good Luck with your business. Duncan Smith Business Advice + Tax
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- Duncan Smith
- 30 Oct 2016
- 08:07 PM