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Use Email and More to Launch Your New Business
by Kevin Nunley
The smart way to begin a new business is to spend less. Do your research, find the cheap and effective way to do things, then move forward keeping a tight reign on your expenses.
Success often needs time, maybe more time than you anticipated. Far too many businesses move too fast, get in trouble, and give up just when their sales are about to take off.
Here are five ways to use email and more to thriftily start a new business.
1. Know Where Your Sales Are - Before you flip your sign to open, upload your business site, or spend a single penny on marketing, know where your sales are going to come from. Who is your target demographic?
One of the biggest mistakes business owners make is not knowing who is going to buy from them. Why? Because if you don't know who your customers are, you can't market to them. And if you can't market to them, your business will go out of business.
For instance, if you are starting a business selling athletic gear online, find out not only who wants your products, but who actually buys your products. If your products are meant for kids, you have to market to them as well as their parents. Find out where they spend their time online; what sites they are likely to visit.
Once you get prospects to your site or autoresponder, grab their email address and get permission to send them updates or newsletters from time to time. That repeat exposure over weeks and months is what keeps customers coming back year after year. And nothing lets you do this as cheaply as email.
I own a side business that markets mainly to teens. When a young entrepreneur started a high school discussion site and asked if I wanted to put my banner on every page for just $10 per month, I jumped at the opportunity.
Always consider what problems your target market has and how you can help to solve some of those problems with your products or services.
2. Find Mentors - You aren't the first person to start your own business. Hundreds of thousands of people before you have walked the same path your are about to walk. Take advantage of their experience. Try to talk to a few small business owners who have been in business between 6 months and 5 years. They have been in business long enough to have acquired some substantial wisdom.
Over the years there have been dozens of newcomers who weren't at all shy about asking me questions via email. I was happy to answer them. It's interesting that many of these folks have become the biggest names on the Internet. I'm sure they were sending their email questions to every "guru" they could find. And it paid off in a big way.
One man I knew started his own business with that traditionally masculine, "I'm not going to stop and ask directions" attitude. After he had made some mistakes that almost cost him his business, he decided to talk to some other business owners about their experience. He quickly discovered that his mistakes could have been avoided if he had just stopped to ask directions.
3. Do Your Market Research - Don't just ask your family and friends if they think your business idea is doable. Of course they are going to be more positive than realistic.
Get out and conduct your research with a pen, paper and your legs. You can even call potential buyers and find out their views. This is a great opportunity to make contacts and pre-sell your products or services, as well as find out about your target market.
Again, you will rarely if ever get in trouble for sending personalized emails that ask questions or opinions. Send your questions to every one you can find.
4. Promote Like a Pro - Whether you are starting an online business or a regular business, you have to find the methods of promotion that work for you.
Now, just because your business is online doesn't mean you shouldn't promote offline. You can use anything from billboards to T-shirts, brochures to cable television commercials. Much of your best traffic will come from offline promotion. Many websites are lost in the vast reaches of cyber space, but if you put your URL in front of people's faces, they will seek you out.
If you are starting an offline business, the same idea holds true in reverse. You should combine both on and offline advertising and promotion. Why? Because, even if your business does not exist solely online, you should still have a website. A lot of times, people are curious about your business, but they don't want to call or drop by. That takes time out of their busy schedules. But most people do have time to check out your website to help them decide whether or not they should stop by.
You website can be one of your best methods of promotion. Include your website address on all print advertising, as well as any other media you use to advertise.
5. Expect a Battle - Put yourself in your competitor's position. What would you do if a new business opened up and started stealing your customers? You'd fight back, right? You would increase your marketing efforts, hold special promotions and sales, maybe even tell people negative things about your competition.
Be ready for those things to happen if you are entering a competitive business. Know that you will succeed if you do a better job of giving customers what they want. There is little a competitor can do to defend against someone who is doing a truly good job.
Kevin Nunley provides marketing advice and copywriting. See his 10,000 marketing ideas and popular promotion packages at http://DrNunley.com Reach Kevin at kevin@drnunley.com or 603-249-9519.
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