Various advertising methods for small businesses

Attracting new customers and keeping your existing customers interested in what you have to offer is vital to the growth and success of your small business. It is important that you take the time to market your small business effectively and to find a way to improve your visibility. Why are the brands of some companies known so well and why are others struggling to make an impact? It is usually because that company is taking the time to effectively market their business and they are using savvy advertising methods that are really making an impact on the customer.

Advertising will get people interested but quality customer service will help to cement the opinion of the customer on if your company is worth working with. As a small business owner you need to focus a lot of effort on advertising and marketing and to know what works and what doesn't work. You must be able to focus your efforts on the right programs and to avoid competing with larger companies that are completely out of your league. While you may be able to compete with them to an extent you have to remember that you are dealing with a smaller market and this is what you really need to focus on.

When you advertise focus on the cost of the ads and also focus your efforts on understanding the reach that this method will have. Some companies think that newspaper marketing is the way to go but it may not be the best method for many companies. You need to remember who your niche market is and if they will actually read this newspaper and if they even care about looking for your ads. Newspaper advertising tends to be more on the expensive end of advertising so you must really consider if this is the right way to go. Working out an arrangement with the newspapers to offer you some free advertising space in exchange for a service you can give them may be able to help justify the ads.

Referral marketing is a gold mine for businesses as you can get quality leads for the sales team to work with. Referral marketing typically means that you need to give your existing customers something in exchange for offering you a handful of quality customer leads. You need to offer them a product on discount or free or something else that has a certain level of value for the customers. Some companies only offer a product or something of value if the referrals actually purchase something and turn out to be a good lead for the company. This strategy does work because it places pressure on your existing customers to convince their friends to buy your products so they can get something out of it. Referrals need to be acted on quickly so make sure you are following up with them and you are not just letting a list of names sit out there untouched.

Word of mouth is similar to referral marketing only you do not need to give the customers anything for it. If you have good customer service along with quality products and other things, people are going to respond to it. You need to consider what they will say to their friends and to try and provide them with as much quality information as possible to get them to tell their entire network of contacts about your company along with your products and services.

Here are some other great methods of advertising you can use to attract customers:
- Email advertising
- Online advertising
- Social media marketing