Low-Cost Ideas

Kiss & Tell: Kiss Your Excuses Goodbye. I Will Tell You How
by Christina Waschko

Not many people know about me / my business!

Here are some low cost ideas to spread the word about your amazing, new enterprise:
 
Being the best kept secret in your industry probably works well if you are part of an illegal smuggle, drug or arms cartel. In the normal round of business being a secret is not a desired state to be in. People need to know about us, our service and/or products. Our business needs to make money. Otherwise we won’t have a business for long! 

Putting adverts into local newspapers is one way of getting attention. Paying Facebook for promoting your business page is another.

These are costly investments with no guaranteed returns. Here is why: Would you step foot into an empty shop only because you read about them in the paper? Not many people do.

Of course, you can make the ad more exciting and offer a special deal or a freebie even. Still, there is no guarantee you’ll get your money back.

Here are a few, in my opinion, better ideas:

• First of all, know what you stand for and why. Be distinctive in your offering, your interior design, the atmosphere you want to create. And stick to it. If you want to be the go – to - place for a sophisticated High Tea stick to mellow music and don’t change it just because a few of your customers complained about the ‘cheesiness’ of it.
• Do your research and invite a handful of the most prominent bloggers from your area. Offer them an amazing spread of your goodies in return of a write up in their popular blogs.
• Offer an incentive for their readers to share the post. Give away a voucher, a gift, a free lunch.
• Support your local community at various events. Once again, do your research. Who is your target audience? Community events attract folks from all walks of life and what better way to showcase your new business?
• Create a special event. Create your own poster and hang it up at the places your audience is hanging out at.
• Find the connectors among your group of friends. Who is the person who loves to talk? Who is a prominent figure on social media? Offer them a sample of your product/service and ask them to talk about you.
• Offer amazing service to each and every person who sets foot into your business. Your mantra needs to be ‘Under promise and over deliver!’
• Make patience your friend. It takes some time to build a name and reputation with a new enterprise. In the meantime, give and do your best, each and every single time.
• Never ever under estimate the power of personal contact. Social media may be the preferred choice of communication these days- if you have a brick and mortar business nothing subsidises real person to person contact.
  

Now, create magic!