Jan 10
If you are a small business and you're on a limited budget, you must find ways to get exposure at little or no cost. The Internet offers several basic services to get visibility. You can start by getting a free Internet listing in Google Places, Yahoo Local, or other sites such as Merchant Circle. There are other directories that offer free listings. Besides getting in to directories, you can make use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, My Space and Linked In to connect with people.Deborah Gorman is an author and entrepreneur from Chapel Hill, NC. Visit her blog, Work With Deb at http://debgorman.org where she writes on small business, marketing, mlm, debt management and other topics of interest to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-101-for-the-Home-Based-Business&id=5645177] Marketing 101 for the Home-Based Business
Marketing 101 for the Home-Based Business
But what is marketing, really. When we think of marketing, what immediately comes to mind is advertising because we are constantly bombarded with various ads in the media, whether that be electronic or print. In my experience I found marketing to be my greatest challenge. A training course I took prior to launching my business supplied me with some brochures, fliers, business cards and suggestions for community networking that proved to be mostly ineffective. I had some results from ads placed in local newspapers and the yellow pages, but these were costly. The biggest mistake in marketing I found was not doing enough. Most people make one or two contacts, and when they get no response, they stop. But it can take repeated contacts -- from 4 to 7 to elicit a response. And you also need a large list because only a very small percentage will be interested in what you are offering. Ideally you should devote 20% of your efforts to marketing, but really in the beginning it would be much more than that, even 100%. Because in the beginning, getting leads and connecting with people must be your top priority. Advertising through traditional channels such as newspapers, radio, tv, or joining the chamber of commerce is expensive.If you are a small business and you're on a limited budget, you must find ways to get exposure at little or no cost. The Internet offers several basic services to get visibility. You can start by getting a free Internet listing in Google Places, Yahoo Local, or other sites such as Merchant Circle. There are other directories that offer free listings. Besides getting in to directories, you can make use of social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, My Space and Linked In to connect with people.Deborah Gorman is an author and entrepreneur from Chapel Hill, NC. Visit her blog, Work With Deb at http://debgorman.org where she writes on small business, marketing, mlm, debt management and other topics of interest to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Marketing-101-for-the-Home-Based-Business&id=5645177] Marketing 101 for the Home-Based Business
