Home Based Business Marketing

Home based business marketing is the single most important item contributing to your success or failure in your home based business once you have selected a good product. It is like the old story of the guy that invented a better mousetrap but did not know how to market it and failed miserably.

Since you have a home based business your home based business marketing is more important than if you have a store front in a downtown mall or strip center. The reason is because you will not be having walk in traffic. You must go out and find clients for your home based business thus making your home based business marketing success a very important part of your business plan.

To do no marketing of your home based business will almost certainly doom it to failure.
Here are ten ways you can advertise your home business on a budget:

Direct mail. As we move into the 21st century everyone is fascinated with email marketing and direct mail has been mostly ignored. Direct Mail can still be a cost-effective way to advertise your home based business regardless of if your customer is a individuals or companies or other small business.

One of the most important things about a good direct-mail piece is that it must look professional and feature well-written copy. Also in your copy remember the old AIDA – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action model. Good copy as noted is important but should build on those areas. Many people forget the Action part. Get that potential client to Call you or Visit your website or Sign up for your free newsletter or whatever action you deem desirable so that you have a chance to convert him to a customer. Also don’t think that bigger is always better. Many people today are using the postcard mailing as a way to bring in new customers. This also helps you reduce the amount of expense and text and information that you can include.

Hiring a professional copywriter and designer can be a good idea if you do not have the skills necessary but study what others are doing in the direct mail area and you should be able to come up with a direct mail piece that will be a great weapon in your home based business marketing arsenal. You may also just pay a designer and copywriter to review your work and make suggestions so that you can reduce the cost.

Recordings on your telephone line or the new name Voicemail. The outgoing message on your answering machine or voicemail system should help you promote your business. Make sure your message provides additional product or service information so that it works for you, even in the middle of the night. Many people include in the message the terms “did you know…” and then include some helpful fact about the business. “Did you know that we work Saturdays until 5:00 PM for your convenience?”

Business Brochures. Your business brochure may also double as your direct mail piece or at least a part of your brochure may be part of your direct mail piece. Brochures are considered the most common way and still one for the most effective ways to present your product or service to existing and new customers. They are relatively cheap and easy to print, and you can distribute them by mail or by leaving them at locations where they will be noticed. A professional-looking brochure can help convince potential customers who are still on the fence about your products. Her again consider bringing in the pros if you do not fee l that you have the talents necessary to produce a professional brochure for your home based business marketing plan.

Press releases. The beauty of a press release is that it can be free or at least very cheap publicity. We do recommend that you study other press releases and check on the Internet how to write a press release and also look at free and paid distribution of news releases. A good news release will have the most important information first and then the supporting, lesser information next. Also a good news release should cover the basics of who, what, when, where and why. Then the is the important length of a news release- well honestly it should be like a woman’s skirt – long enough to cover the subject yet short enough to keep you interested.

Referrals. Referrals are one of the best way to attract new customers. If you do something well, people will talk about it. Offering incredible customer service to your clients will ensure that you end up with satisfied customers who are willing to share your information with their friends and colleagues. Referrals should be used in your home based business marketing brochures, press releases, and direct mail pieces. Studies show that people are much more impressed by what others say about you than what you say about you. So let others – customers that are happy with your product or service – speak for you. That way you become much more believable.

Radio interviews. If you tie your product or service with current events, radio interviews are a great way to reach a wide audience and improve your customer base. Many times local radio shows are hungry for things to put on their live shows. Don’t be afraid to approach them – they just may say yes. These types of shows generally begin to set you up a professional in your area – after all if you are on the radio talking about your product or service you must know what you are doing.

Affiliate programs have had so much has been written about affiliate marketing it is almost hardly worth mentioning here. But affiliate programs are one of the most cost-effective ways to market your products to a wide range of potential customers. You have the benefits of a commission-based sales force but without any of the hassles of managing actual employees. Affiliates can be one of your greatest allies and many times they will know better how to market your product than you do. Do not hesitate to use affiliates in your home based business marketing plan.

Your Web site is the first impression of your company for many of your customers. As we have said in other section of this website make sure you have a good website. Good means one that has easy navigation and provides your customer with a good experience and the information that they seek. Your site should provide information about your product or service in a clear and intuitive format and everything they desire to know should be no more than three clicks of the mouse away. The Internet puts more information available to more people than at any other time in the history of the world. Most people do research online before making a purchase, so make sure that your website has all the latest information and complete information for your potential customers and current customers.

E-zines or Newsletters. When customers visit your website it is always a good idea to get to sign up for your free E-zine or newsletter or a free eBook that you have. When you provide interesting and informative content related to the products you sell, you can turn a subscriber list into a frequent buyer list. When you are perceived as a knowledgeable expert, potential customers know that they can rely on you for quality information and quality products.

The profits of a home based business are really dependent on the efforts put into the home based business marketing.
Here are tips to help you with your home based business marketing success.

Tip #1: After getting a good product or service to sell make marketing your most important activity.
Marketing when done correctly impact why a customer chose to buy your products or services. Understand it from day one that marketing is one of those activities that starts as soon as you have a product or service and continues as long as you are in business.

Marketing is often thought of as selling but that is not true. Marketing is really the product, the place where you sell it, the price you get for it and the promotion you use to sell it.

Marketing terminates when the sale is made. Also as discussed in another part of this website we firmly believe that the value your customer receives should exceed the price of the product or service- that is the way you stay in business – by offering value.

Tip #2: Advertising is a part of Marketing.

Advertising is only a part of the last step in the marketing plan, Promotion, and advertising of your home based business is one of the last things you do. Again in your advertising be sure to convey the real value of your product and to use the AIDA system. Your advertising should get their attention, build interest and desire and get them to take action. Some think advertising is all there is to marketing, so they overlook the other important marketing steps.

Tip #3: Who are your customer customers?

You must know who your customers are. When we say you must know your customer we meant that you must sit down and actually describe all aspects of your customer and potential customer. How old is he or she? What is their marital status? What is their income? Where do they work? What do they do for a hobby? How many kids do they have? Why would they want to buy your products or services? What problem does it solve for them? You will want to conduct in depth research of your chosen potential customers based on who you think your customer is.

Tip #4 Remember the value of an existing customer.

It can take up to 10 times the effort and money to get a new customer as compared to keeping an existing customer. People often become so focused on getting new customers you ignore your existing repeat customers. Your business will probably not survive without repeat business. Remember that the purpose of a business is get and keep a customer. Repeat customers present a wealth of opportunities to you. They frequently provide you excellent feedback; they provide an excellent reference and referral service (read free advertising); they are the least expensive and most likely source of additional business, and their unnecessary departure causes substantial damage. Unhappy customers complain to at least 5 to 10 others. So stay close to your existing customers and learn as much as you can from them.

Tip #5: Differentiate your company and your product or service from your competitors.

This subject is so important that there is book titled “Differentiate or Die”. You cannot be a me too company. You must create a separate and distinct product for your company. You say you do not know how to differentiate your company? Well let me tell you some ways you cannot differentiate your product. You cannot normally differentiate your product or service with quality and customer orientation. You cannot differentiate based on price. Many people think of going into business and just offering a lower price. Not a way to differentiate your product.

So to differentiate you can:

Be the first to offer some service or product – that is a differentiating idea

Attribute ownership is a way to differentiate. For example one of the key attributes to your product can be a way to differentiate. For example no one offers a money back guarantee but you. That attribute –money back guarantee belongs to you –and you have differentiated your product based on an attribute or something that is important to the client. An attribute is something that adds value to what the customer receives.

Being the market leader is way to differentiate. Coca-Cola is the market leader and has done a great job of differentiating their product based on being the market leader. Remember the real thing?
Market specialty is a differentiating idea too. You only service a particular niche market – this is an excellent differentiating idea.

Heritage can also be a differentiating idea. “We are the oldest furniture store in the valley.“
#6: People buy on emotion and justify with reason- target your marketing accordingly
Emotion is the first thing you should try to attract in the buy process. The entire buying process is governed by emotional forces (some say over 80% of the entire process is emotional). Yet, many focus your energies on price and avoid the real emotional reasons customers will buy. Remember that people buy solutions to problems. Think about that. Why do call a plumber – because you have a problem. Why do you buy new shoes – to be in style –emotion – or to solve a need. People do not buy drill bits they buy holes. You should know and feel the emotional connection your potential customers will attach to your business, your products and/or services, and the way customers interact with your business. You will want your entire marketing program to address the emotional issues to attract and keep the right customers.