Small business marketing ideas for the shoestring bourgeoisie.
Consider the signage at your office or facility. Can a visitor find you easily? Can he find his way around your facility easily? Large buildings such as hospitals, office buildings, and malls often suffer from poor signage, creating a sense of unease and annoyance in their patrons. You know that even grocery stores can benefit from clear signage if you’ve ever had the misfortune of searching for way too long to locate a certain item on your grocery list.
When your business is the first one that comes to mind as a place to find a product or service, you have achieved what is called top-of-mind awareness. Top-of-mind awareness is built and reinforced through repetition.
If you hold a retail store, 85 percent of your customers live or work within a five-mile radius of your business. When driving to and from work, school, and shopping, they pass your location some fifty to sixty times a month. Your sign should be designed so that it commands their attention every time they pass.
That’s how signs help build top-of-mind awareness and brand your business. To further this effort, make sure your sign is included as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Participate in a local gallery hop, where local artists bring their wares to display at a collection of stores and businesses. Maps of participating businesses are provided, and the event is advertised throughout the community. Businesses may serve appetizers and beverages to visitors on the tour, and artists may be present to talk about their work. This may be done for free (for the exposure, sharing the expense for printing the maps, posters, and so on), or you might charge a small fee as the maps are handed out. (You would charge hoppers only once—not at each location.)
Conduct a window display contest (instead of a sidewalk sale). Make voter cards available, and encourage participants to vote on their favorite display. Offer free samples to entice voters to try your product or service. Maintain a guestbook to track traffic and build your contact database.
Just because you provide a service instead of a product, it doesn’t mean you can’t participate in sidewalk sales. Use sidewalk sales to:
Tip: Don’t worry if you don’t have a sidewalk. Find out when the next big local sidewalk sale is, and work out an arrangement with one of the participating vendors (one that compliments your own offerings would be preferred) to share its space.
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