Cost Effective Online and Offline Advertising

by Karen Sorensen

 

For a small business, it can be hard at times to justify allocating funds to marketing. But just because big competitors spend millions on advertising doesn’t mean you need to follow suit. Take advantage of the many ways to advertise your business for very low costs, or better yet, FREE!

Online Marketing

• Websites are a necessity for any size business. Imagine your store is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week! The internet is everywhere – laptops, cell phones and tablets. Consumers are researching and shopping all hours of the day. Create a professional website with the help of a web designer or check into a hosting company that offers free support. Just having one adds legitimacy to your business.

• Facebook and other networking sites offer free business pages to promote your company. Interact with viewers by posting comments and questions in the news feeds. Upload pictures to show the world what you have to offer. Giving your business a personality can drive customers to you, and help develop brand identity.

• If done correctly, targeted use of paid advertising can be successful. Different models exist, such as Pay Per Click, Cost Per Million, and Cost Per Action, that may suit your business well. Successfully reaching your demographics with these potentially inexpensive online advertising techniques could go a long way.

• Free Business Directories can help your business get noticed by major search engines. Once your website is up and running you have to get people to visit it, especially if you’re revenue model is e-business. Start with local community and trade affiliations, memberships often include a free listing on their website. Google your business name and you may find public listings that you can claim and customize for free.

• Emails are a great way to keep in contact with interested prospects and current customers. Create a monthly newsletter that provides the reader with helpful information that ties in with your business.

Offline Marketing

• Business cards can give more details than just your name, address and phone. Printing both sides of your business card will tell your potential customers more about you. Folding cards can open to show your complete product lines and services. They can be inexpensive, or even free. Hand them out to anyone you come into contact with that may be able to give you business.

• Yellow page listings are still used by a number of potential customers without internet access. Years ago, businesses were judged by the size of their yellow page ad. Today yellow page listings provide only the basic information about the company. Who (company name), what (the company provides), where (physical and internet address) and how (to contact, phone#, email).

• Vehicle advertising gives your business a rolling billboard. Try dressing up your delivery vehicle with magnetic signs or professional vinyl decals. To really get your message across, consider wrapping the complete vehicle. It’s a unique way of advertising that’s hard to ignore, especially during rush hour traffic. Be sure to keep vehicles clean and rust free, though – your image depends on it.

• Promotional printed products, such as pens and giveaway items, can be excellent reminders for your customers. Trade shows are a great way to get prospective customers to come to you. Presenting your visitors with a token gift is a wonderful way to say thank you.

• Newspaper ads can be costly and many times unread. However, you can receive free publicity with press releases. Let your community know you are new in town. Perhaps you just attended a conference or received an award; let everyone know about your accomplishments.
• Radio spots can be paid for with trade if your business provides something the station could benefit from. If your business is consumer driven, gift certificates that the radio station can use as prizes can offset the cost.

• There are many coupon packet companies eager to add you to their envelope. Check how they obtain their mailing list, quantity sent out and quality of their printed ads. Some companies offer a mention in radio ads.

Advertising takes time and money. Find out what works best for you by tracking the results of each advertising method. Ask the customer how he found you, use a unique code for each ad and record it on the customer’s invoice.

How to Read a Salesperson

by Business Dictionary

 

Many people are taken in by accomplished salespeople and end up paying too much for an item they want or perhaps even buying something that they do not really need.

Basically, salespeople are not your friends. Instead, they just want to make you feel sufficiently comfortable with them so that they can sell you something. They do this to get the resulting rewards, which often come in the form of higher sales commissions or status with their employer.

To avoid being duped by this often subtle and even outright dishonest sales process, learning how to read a salesperson can be a valuable shopping skill. It can even save you thousands of dollars when buying high ticket items like new cars or homes.

The following sections will cover some of the more common techniques that experienced and astute shoppers often use to read a salesperson.

Detecting When Salespeople Lie

One of the most important objectives of reading salespeople is to determine with a reasonable likelihood of success when they are lying or deliberately providing false information about the product or service you might have an interest in purchasing.

The first step in doing so is to establish a baseline pattern of behavior by closely and attentively observing the salesperson, their mannerisms, and their speech when engaged in a normal conversation. During this process you might bring up questions about non-invasive topics like the weather or their favorite restaurant, for example.

Then you would look for deviations from this pattern when a deeper sales related conversation is initiated. Certain key body language signs like blinking excessively, averting the eyes or rubbing the back of the neck are often tell-tale signs that a salesperson is being evasive during a sale pitch, especially if they do not exhibit this behavior during the baseline conversation when they are unlikely to lie.

Once you get a signal that a salesperson may be lying, you would then question them further on the topic to see if they continue to act evasively.

Making an Intuitive Assessment

The final decision on reading a salesperson, or any other person for that matter, is generally best left to your intuition, which comes from your right brain that takes in all of the available information and even the subtlest of clues in order to provide you with a quick and appropriate assessment.

To use your intuition, you just need to ask yourself whether or not the salesperson or their questionable facts can be trusted and then listen to the silent response generated within you to discern the truth with remarkable accuracy.

Dealing with difficult employees.

All managers will have to deal with difficult employees during their careers. First, there will always be difficult employees. Second, it’s your job as the manager to deal with them. If you don’t deal the problem, it will only get worse.

·         Why are difficult employees like that?

 

Difficult employees are that way simply because it is behavior that has worked for them in the past. They may not know any other behavior or they may choose this behavior when they thing it will be most effective. You will be successful in dealing with difficult employees only to the extent that you can make these undesirable behaviors no longer effective for them. In many ways, it’s like dealing with Children. If every times a child screams, its parents give it candy, what will the child do when it wants candy? It will scream, of course.

The same is true for the employee who “blows up” whenever anyone disagrees with him. When he does that people stop disagreeing with him and he thinks he has won.

How can a manager deal with difficult employees?

·        Evaluates. 

 It is important when dealing with difficult employees to act quickly. Often you will need to act almost immediately to neutralize a dangerous situation. However, it is always appropriate to think before you act. Clearly if an employee comes to working with a gun, you will need to act more quickly than someone complains that another employee is always taking credit for her work. In either case, take the appropriate amount of time to evaluate the situation before you act. You don’t want to make it worse.

Recognize that most employees can be “difficult” form time to time. This can be caused by stress on the job or away from it. Some employees are difficult more often than others. It is not always your least-productive employees who are difficult. So take a moment to evaluate each situation for the unique situation it is.

·        Do your homework.

Always act on facts. Don’t base your actions on gossips or rumor. The person spreading the gossip is a difficult employee in their own way. If you have not seen the inappropriate behavior yourself, look in to it. Ask the people reportedly involved. Collect all the facts you can before you act.  

Don’t use the fact that you haven’t seen the inappropriate behavior as an excuse to delay doing something. It is important to act promptly. 

Make sure you aren’t part of the problem. It will be much more difficult to remain calm and impartial in confronting the difficult behavior if you are partly responsible. If that’s the case, be sure you acknowledge your role in it, at least to yourself. 

·        Develop a plan.

You’re a manager. You know the value of planning. This situation is no different. You need to plane the timing of the confrontation. You need to select a quiet, private palace where you won’t be interrupted. You need to decide whether you need to have others, like an HR representative, present in the meeting. Plan the confrontation and then make it happen.

When you have prepared, it is time to act. You do not need to act impulsively, but you must act quickly. The longer an inappropriate behavior is allowed to continue, the harder it will be to change it or stop it.

·        Confront the problems.

Don’t put it off. It may not be pleasant, but it’s an important part of your job. It will not “fix itself”. It can only get worse. You have planned this confrontation. Now you need to execute. 

·        Deal with the behavior, not the person.

 Your goal is to develop a solution, not to “win”. Focus on the inappropriate behavior; don’t attack the person. Use “I” statements like “I need everybody on the team here on time so we can meet our goals” rather than “You” statements like “You are always late”.

Don’t assume the inappropriate behavior is caused by negative intent. It may be from fear, confusion, lack of motivation, personal problems, etc. give the other person a chance to develop a solution to the problem. They are more likely to “Own” the solution if they are at least partially responsible for developing it.

·        Try to draw out the reason behind the behavior.

As you talk with the difficult employee, actively listen to what they say. Stay calm and stay positive, but remain impartial and non-judgmental. Ask leading questions that can’t be answered in one or two words. Don’t interrupt.

When you do respond to the difficult employee, remain calm. Summarize back to them what they just said,” So what I understand you are saying is”, so they know you are actually listening to them.