Free and Low-Cost Advertising

The economy has certainly taken its toll on small businesses over the past two years. Just because businesses have been forced to tighten their budgets doesn’t mean that there isn’t still a need for advertising. It is a relief to know that there are free and low-cost options for small business owners. Here are just a couple of ideas:

Google Place Pages

• Free online page to enhance your business presence.

Facebook

• Create a free Facebook page for your business where you can show fans that you are an expert in your industry


• For a low-cost, you can also create a pay-per-click mini ad targeted towards your audience. You decide how much you want to spend per day and Facebook will remove your ad for that day once you have hit your daily limit.

Trades

• If you simply don’t have an advertising budget, but really want to get your ad placed, offer the media vendor your product or service for free as a trade for the ad space. For example, there is a website that you want to place your ad on, but it costs $1,000 to place the ad. Offer the website something of equivalent value, such as a free email blast to your clients or give them a service that you offer at no charge.

Press releases

• Write an informative and valuable press release on your company and send it to your local media outlets. Make sure your press release provides the following:

1. It needs to be newsworthy


2. The headline and first paragraph need to tell your story


3. Will your article interest someone else?


4. Use real-world examples of how your company solved a problem


5. Avoid fluff


6. Try to tie in current events, if possible


7. Speak plainly and avoid jargon


8. For more tips on writing a press release, visit PRWeb

If your business is faced with finding creative ways to communicate your message, hopefully you will be able to utilize some of these ideas to get your message out there.

Increasing Your Sales with Cold Calling

Cold calling. It’s not something that many of us like to do. It takes the right person to be able to sit down and “smile and dial” and get results. With the wave of social media that has hit, it’s important for business owners to not get sucked in entirely to these new marketing outlets and stray too far away from the old sales techniques. Proper training and techniques can make cold calls a bit easier. A business coach who has a sales background can help train your team if you don’t have the background and experience to guide them. Having a well trained team can potentially lead to an increase in sales and help make your business a success.

Steve Richard with Harvard Business Review lists 4 tactics that can help your sales team with their cold calls.

“As social media and web applications have become the hottest networking tools in business, too many sales managers are burying the cold call as an obsolete business practice. If you fall in this category I've got news for you: the cold call is not only alive, it's kicking. And it should be utilized by every B2B sales force.”
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