Advertising Your Home Business on a Budget‏

When you are starting out in a new home business and no one 
knows who you are, one of the greatest challenges you will face 
is how to drum up new business.
 
If there were not people in your community or marketplace that 
you knew who needed your products or services, you probably 
would not have started your business to begin with. But, once 
you have talked to those who you personally knew who needed your 
what you offer, then your next task is to find others who will 
help keep your doors open.
 
Many people know that they must turn to advertising at some 
point in the future, but they hope that day will be long down 
the road. For some, this utopian concept will come to fruition. 
But for the rest of us in the real world, we must come up with 
creative solutions for meeting our home business advertising 
needs while working within our budget.
 
Most people have a misconception about having to spend lots of 
money in order to advertise their home business. When you start 
out, you honestly will not have much money available for 
advertising, and if you do, you should still spend it wisely.
 
Before you jump headfirst into the world of advertising, let me 
share some of the lessons I have learned concerning this most 
important topic.
 
LESSON #1
 
It does not have to cost an arm and a leg to advertise your home 
business, unless you fail to plan and fail to test.
 
As much as is possible, you should always test your advertising. 
If you jump in and start dumping tons of money in to advertising 
without first testing your advertising, you might find yourself 
broke and without sales at the end of the road. Most people who 
commit this error write off their failure on the home business 
they chose or the economy or any of a hundred other excuses. 
But, if they are unwilling to take responsibility for their 
mistake, they will never learn from their mistake. Don`t let 
this be you.
 
LESSON #2
 
All testing should be done in blocks. If you begin to advertise 
simultaneously in newspapers, radio and television, how will you 
know which advertising is bringing people to your cash register? 
You won`t. All you will know that something might be working, 
but you will not know what is actually doing the trick.
 
Even if you tell people in your advertising to tell you how they 
found you, my experience shows that fewer than 10% of the people 
ever will tell you anything --- and those people who do may not 
even get the facts straight! You cannot rely on your customers 
to tell you what advertising is working for your home business. 
You must put in the extra effort to know for yourself.
 
LESSON #3
 
Only when you have a proven and solid advertising portfolio 
should you venture to drop big bucks in an advertising campaign. 
Even then, you should be careful to keep further measurements to 
determine how much the maximum advantage of an ad would be. 
Sometimes you might be able to reach ten times as many people, 
but depending on the kind of media and other factors, the 
additional exposure will only generate twice as many sales. Keep 
your eye attuned to situations like this to get the most from 
your advertising dollars.
 
LESSON #4
 
As Lesson #3 illustrates, sometimes your best advertising 
investment may actually cost you less money. When you are first 
starting out, whether you are running a home business or a 
business outside of your home, you need to be able to get people 
talking and thinking about your business.
 
If you are busy testing ads in media`s such as the newspaper, 
magazines, radio, and television, you need to learn ways of 
promoting your business that do not require large cash 
expenditures. A few examples are:
 
· Word of Mouth
· Business Cards
· Press Releases
· Non-Primetime Ads on Radio and Television
 
Here is more information about each type of low-cost advertising:
 
WORD OF MOUTH
 
This of course is the cheapest kind of advertising on the planet 
--- it does not cost you anything. Ask your customers if they 
know anyone who could also use your products or services. When 
they are happy with your offerings and service, they will be 
willing to tell you whom you can contact, and they will pass the 
word for you.
 
BUSINESS CARDS
 
You can usually pick up 500 business cards for about $20. When 
you do, hand them out. Do not give more than a couple of cards 
to each person. If they need more cards from you, they will ask.
 
Some people are known to network with others on a regular basis. 
Some of these people are also known to be always looking for an 
extra few bucks. With these people, you can suggest to them that 
if they write their name on the back of one of your business 
cards and the card is presented to you, then you will pay a 
referral fee to them. You do not have to offer much --- 
sometimes one dollar is enough. Look at your home business and 
your offerings and decide how much would be a good referral fee.
 
PRESS RELEASES
 
Press Releases are a good source for generating news about your 
home business. The business editor at your local newspaper is 
always on the lookout for a good business story to fill the 
business news section of the newspaper.
 
Of course, the business editor understands the economics of 
running a paper and is more inclined to run your story if you 
buy advertising in his/her publication, but will still print 
stories for special events and openings.
 
The important thing to remember about Press Releases is that it 
must be constructed in the form of a news story. Even if you are 
a sole proprietorship, quotes from you should be written in a 
third person format: John Doe said, "Your quote here."
 
A Press Release should pack the most important information at 
the beginning of the copy, and leave extra details towards the 
end.
 
You should always provide the reporter who gets the task a 
simple and easy way for him/her to contact you directly. Often 
the reporter will want to contact you to get details that will 
enhance their take on your story.
 
NON-PRIMETIME ADS ON RADIO AND TELEVISION
 
Believe it or not, some of the best rates for radio and 
television are on the overnight and non-primetime venues. These 
target times are not a total waste as they can easily keep the 
infomercial people in business.
 
These off-hours are just less populated than the primetime hours.
 
Don`t be afraid to check your local radio and television rates 
for non-primetime hours to see what bargains may exist. With 
television, primetime is 7pm to 10pm. With radio, primetime is 
8am to 5pm. This sure leaves a whole lot of hours available to 
advertise your home business at discount rates!
 
IN CONCLUSION
 
When it comes down to it, there is a lot to understand about 
advertising, but when you have the basic knowledge down pat, 
everything will fall into place and bring more dollars to your 
bank account.