Marketing For A Small Business

Q:Any suggestions on how to market the services of a small business? At past businesses that I have worked at, radio and print ads did not work. Search engine placement worked a bit. The main way customers came in was through referrals (word-of-mouth).

A:Get yourself in front of more people, so there are more people talking about you! This means networking. Lots of it. Look up your local Chamber of Commerce, business networking groups, and professional development groups. Offer to speak, to help out, to generally make yourself useful. Yes, it does work, I think, because customers are happy with the service. Thanks for the suggestion. Any suggestions on implementing a referral program? The service we offer is one that involves a monthly fee. Therefore, it is a good candidate for a referral program whereby a customer can get a credit for referring someone. One problem is that some services cost very little whereas other services cost quite a bit. If there is a customer who pays, say, 9.95/month and he refers someone who pays $100/month should the $9.95 customer get a full $100 credit? It seems that these are the sort of things that would have to be thought through ahead of time. Who is in your market? Hire a skilled facilitator to conduct one-on-one interviews about "a day-in-the-life" of your prospective customers. Have a skilled researcher compose, publish, and analyze the results of a market survey. Understand what messages and media will resonate best with them. One suggestion is to cross-promote with another established business in your area that offers a complementary service or product. That way, you can tap into another business's clients.