Holden Associates – Accountants & Business Advisers Blog

In my first couple of posting I hinted at marketing, but I didn’t really tackle it. Marketing is an area that many, if not the majority of small businesses fall down on, they are just no good at it, or are they?

You run your own business, and all of a sudden you are expected to know about everything, accounting, taxation, employment legislation and one hell of a lot more, and on top of that you are faced with the obvious fact that here in the UK the government just doesn’t get what small business is about, well here is a tip for you, market your butt off (as they would say in the US), and use the services of advisors to deal with the accounting, taxation and other legislation, while you market, forget about the UK government, they won’t be in power for ever (it just may seem that way), but when things change and your marketing has paid off and your small business isn’t quite so small anymore you will be glad you marketed your butt off and left the rest to the professionals to deal with.

Okay that’s it, my semi-political rant over, back to some use help and advice.

Marketing, it can take many forms, this blog is actually a form of marketing, how successful it is depends on what people think about what I say, other forms are paper adverts, which are very passive and therefore usually deliver limited value, radio is another, depends on your market but there are many car drivers who spend long hours in their cars so I guess if you sell something they would use you have a captive audience therefore you should look into this, however, be warned, it is not cheap.

Other means of advertising, would be television, for the seriously loaded marketing budgets therefore not really any good for smaller business I guess.

Sponsorship, consider a local team, football, rugby, cricket and the like, again choose carefully you want something that is a fit with your business.

Networking, these local events are becoming more common, go along meet everyone, give out your business card or company literature, again these do not suit all business types.

Shama Hyder has a good posting over at FreeLanceSwitch in which she takes a look at marketing, here is a taste of what she writes:

So, let’s look at what marketing is not-

It is NOT unethical.
It is NOT limited to certain people.
It is NOT getting someone to buy something they don’t need.
It is NOT by any means begging for work or showing desperation.

What IS marketing?

In brief:
It IS offering someone a fix to their problem.
It IS solution based.
It IS more about listening than talking.
It IS about knowing and communicating your own value.

Although aimed at the freelancer much of the advice applies to any business owner, especially her final comments:

Remember-You are Always Marketing

…even when you are not. Your personality, dress, and attitude speak volumes about your business. As a freelancer, this becomes dually important because often you are the business.

Whether you think it’s a one- time project or that you will never see a particular person again, don’t burn bridges. Always work with the highest integrity and that will be your greatest marketing weapon yet.

It has to be said marketing is not easy, and for many it will not come naturally, this is why people like Stuart Bruce exist, they deal with PR and marketing everyday, its what they do, but a small business can do much for itself.

Get your business online, that’s where the growth is you only have to look at retail figures for the Christmas period for the high street shops then how did online businesses fare, have a website that is easy to use, informative and up-to-date, leaflet drop everyone in the area near your business, let them all know you exist, another reason many businesses fail no one knows they exist, get professional help marketing your website, this will deal with its ranking on search engines like Google, go to local networking events and meet people, let them know about you, give them your business card which will of course have your website details on it.

Join some of the online communities that exist, get yourself known on them, offer help and advice, but always have your website details on your reply.

Seminars, depending on what you do, consider either joining other businesses and putting on a seminar, not quite so easy to do if you sell sweets that much is true!

Have a regular column in the local paper, offer advice, if you run an ‘IT’ business offer free advice on technology, do competition in the local paper, the winner gets a free meal at my restaurant for two, put the competition on the radio, the list of what you can do is actually endless as long as you remember what Shama said:

Remember-You are Always Marketing

Now get out there and tell everyone about yourself, and while your at it tell them about this blog!

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