by E.M.Robinson

Created on: December 29, 2007

Advertising and promotion are essential to the success of your home business. You will need low-cost marketing techniques that you can later evaluate to determine their success in reeling in customers.

Word-of-mouth
Word of mouth marketing and promotion is always going to be the most effective technique for promoting your business. Talk to people you know, getting the word out, so that people think of you when they need the product or service you provide. Along with word of mouth promotion, have business cards handy that people can put in their wallets or pass on to neighbors, friends, and family.

Website
Develop an effective website to explain your products or services. Even with a local home business, customers will look for your online presence.

Discount Coupons
Identify coupons before distributing them, so that when potential customers present the coupons, you can see where they came from. This will help you decide if the coupon distribution efforts were cost-effective.
These coupons can be displayed on bulletin boards or included in free Shopper publications.

Press Releases
Write a strong press release to introduce and promote your home business and send it to local newspapers, including "shopper" style publications.

Write press releases that get published. Follow these tips:

1.)Who is your target audience? Identify your audience and get their attention in the first sentence of your press release. Cover the who, what, when, where, how, and why of what you are announcing.

2.) Get testimonials from your customers and use their quotes in your press release.

3.) Send a few good photos that add to the information in your press release.

4.) Edit your press release to be concise,under 500 words. Limit each paragraph to three or four sentences.

5.) Provide contact information: points of contact, address, phone numbers, Fax numbers, emails, etc.

6.) Send your newsworthy press release and follow it up with a telephone call.

Track your customers. Find out how they found you? A simple question such as, "How did you hear about us?" is well worth asking and keeping records on response

Use these low-cost marketing techniques to build your home business. Then word-of-mouth advertising will work for you again as your customers help you promote your home business.

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