“In Business” by Roland Millward

For many businesses there is a need to continually generate new leads. There are many ways this is done, advertising in the press, TV, Radio, Internet, billboards, mail shots, telephone calls and generating new business from old leads, existing clients and referrals. Leads are the lifeblood of business and when times are good the generation of leads tends to take care of itself. However we are now in a recession and every penny counts. Vast amounts of money that were once thrown at the standard forms of advertising hoping that some of it would work is now a luxury that most businesses can not afford. Some businesses of course have never had that luxury.

It now takes time and careful planning to see where you should be spending most of your advertising budget and how effective it is. Start with past clients or those leads that have not yet converted. Set aside time each day to phone and see how those clients are doing. What are their current needs? How can your business meet those needs in the current economic climate?

Businesses today that are offering great value (not necessarily the lowest prices), good service and go that extra mile will win business in these tougher times. Allocate a slot each day when you and your team will make those calls. If you are going to spend money on advertising use every trick in the book to make it effective. Get some expert advice and save wasting money. It is possible to get some free advertising if you know how!

Don’t forget per per click and here is some free software to help you use Google to the full. All you need is Firefox a free web browser (it’s better and safer than IE Explorer for all your needs) and you will really be able to use Google Adwords cost effectively.

Businesses spend huge amounts of money and time in getting new customers. Quite often a large majority of people that respond to the advertising do not always buy on their initial response. However it does not mean that those people will not buy but may not yet be ready or convinced to deal with you. It is estimated that it can take up to 7 contacts with a person before they become your customer.

It is essential therefore that you have a way of recording enquiries and keeping in touch with customers. For Internet enquiries you can use an automatic system such as Aweber to not only to respond to the enquiry but to send a series of broadcast messages.

In addition keep in touch with people by telephone, letter, email and newsletters. Do not fall into the trap of trying to sell to them each time. Build a relationship by giving them information freely. If you sell electronic gadgets for example you could send out a newsletter about new products about to be launched. However rather than trying to sell a product, simply give information and do not even give your price for it.

Occassionally send them a special offer or an invitation to a special event. These people are a potential goldmine if you look after them and once they have become customers are likely to have a long term relationship with your business.

Building lists of potential clients as well as listing existing ones is vital if you are going to be successful and in today’s economic climate your very survival could depend on it.

One of the many things that businesses may fail to recognize is how effective their advertising /marketing is.

The best way to find out is to test various methods on a small scale. Whether this is newspaper, Internet, telephone, mail or any other. Use an affordable budget for each method and try just 2 or 3 methods at a time. Monitor the results. Try changing the style or words in the campaign and see what happens.

If something is not working stop using it. The length of time it is used is unlikely to improve the result.
When something works well then increase to a larger scale run again keeping costs in mind and increase in stages stopping if it no longer works.

It is important that you maximise your spending on advertising and marketing and do not throw good money after bad. Keep testing your campaigns as good adverts, adwords, banner ads, phone campaigns can get stale and need refreshing regularly.

Advertising a business can be very expensive. How about though doing it for free?

Many businesses have found that they can generate a good amount of business from free sources.

Two that I like are Gumtree and Craigslist. Both of these sites allow free advertising in various categories and by city. Take a look at the websites and get a feel for how they work. To get the most benefit you would really need to submit your ads daily as they are listed in date order the most recent at the head of the page. It is easy however to resubmit ads without having to write them out. Just keep a note of the reference numbers for the ads.

In addition to these methods you may find free directories, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter where you can promote your business.

Having your own company blog can also be a great way of generating interest in your business and keeping existing clients up to date with your products and services.

Go for it! It’s free and so what have you to lose?