Beyond Design

Attracting new customers on a budget, Part uno

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 17:06:14 +0000

Dealing with many different clientele over the years, I have learned that most business owners rely only on a few ways to market their business. However, there are numerous different strategies that work more to benefit your business and drive traffic through the door.

Networking is one of those ways. This is one of the most common of all to market your business, however, it is usually poorly executed and not as beneficial as it could be to a start up or growing business. When attending workshops and other business functions, bouncing from person to person is not the best approach. Instead, try mingling with a handful of other business owners and build a relationship and give referrals to other members of the group or to even your customers. Cost: $100-$200
Benefit: Get to know other business owners and earn referrals.

Referrals (Word-of-mouth) are also one of the most used approaches to adding new clientele to a business. This is one of the best approaches to attracting new customers as people are always communication what they like and dislike with their friends, family and co-workers. There are many days that I am in the office and will ask what everyone is in the mood to have for lunch. We all rave about the best coffee in town, where to find the best burger and where to go when we are on a budget for the week. Cost: $0

Submitting press releases to your local paper, magazine or chamber of commerce. These place usually welcome new information about the community and want the area to grow and prosper. If you are holding a grand opening, many people in the area are wanting to know when you are opening or may not even know your business exists. Just make sure when you submit these things to publications that you realize it may not make it in within a day or week or even a month. Always submit it early, so that if a publication has the staff and room available in the paper they can help get the word out to the community. Cost: $0; Benefit: Free way to let thousands of people know your business exist.

Social media and email marketing are very useful in today’s business industries and are often better than cold calling. Facebook, with over 845 million active monthly users, is a perfect way to start branching out. It cost you nothing to network with people from the local area to the other side of the US and even across the ocean. This is the perfect place to start letting the community know that you are here to provide a service. An email newsletter is also a smart way to get your weekly, monthly or bi-monthly message across to consumers. Many folks now have email on their phones and can receive your message right on their phone without you picking up the phone and calling them. These days people lead very fast paced lives and don’t want to answer telemarketer calls. I can’t blame them, considering even if you are on the do not call list you still receive these disrupting phone calls while you are in the middle of dinner with the family. Cost: Social Media $0-$500, Email Marketing $0-$300; Benefit: Another free way to reach thousands, even millions of people. If you want the better marketing experiences that you can have with Facebook and email marketing, you may have to pay someone to help you in those areas. Usually web design businesses are fluent in email marketing, digital media and email.

Nothing beats a good deal or giveaway. The most successful marketing strategies that I have seen are ones where the business offers a great unbeatable deal and that deal has been marketed and pushed properly. If you just advertise it in the window of your shop telling people that you have a BOGO deal, that is great, but unless every local person,
A) knows where you are, and
B) drives by your store on a regular basis;
you are not going to get the return you expect. There are many great ways to increase your revenue with a deal or giveaway. Cost: Depends on what deal or giveaway you choose to market with your company. Whichever you chose, just remember to advertise it in some way with the other marketing solutions in this list. Benefit: If properly marketed, this is the most beneficial marketing strategy of all. People love freebies and a good deal.

Sponsoring shows, races or other events and happenings. You don’t have to give a big sum of money to sponsor an event, you could do a trade. This is an awesome way to promote your business and give back to the community at the same time. Cost: Depends on what your company can afford. Benefit: Brand recognition, satisfaction and helping your community prosper at the same time.

Look for the next column in March for more marketing strategies for your business. Until then, keep growing and be creative.

- Rachel Painter-Fields is owns a graphic and web design business in Harpers Ferry.

Branding your new business

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:56:45 +0000

Starting a new business is not as simple as it may appear. Tons of legal paperwork to process, developing the initial idea of the product your company will produce for the consumer, finding startup money to keep your business afloat, all these things take time to plan out the correct direction of attack.
Once you decide that you are ready to move forward, how do you get the customers to come to you?
Branding and marketing your business are the keys to every successful business, both big and small.
Branding is your company name, logo, sign, symbol, colors, slogan and anything else that can be easily associated with your business.
When picking the company name, the shorter, the catchier, the better. If you are starting a small business that covers a wide variety of services, try and find a word or two that sums up your ability and your product or service all in one. Don’t be afraid to combine words.
Once you have a business name and slogan that is catchy, now your business needs a logo. A logo is not a piece of art that you grab from the internet. Your logo should be original and hopefully professionally done.
The colors that you pick for your logo are just as important as your business logo and name. Blues, greens, purples, browns and grays are usually considered the more professional and calm colors. Reds, oranges, pinks and yellows are most often associated with hot items, such as foods, tanning, sunshine or other warm ideas.
The general rule: If you brand it right, they will come.
Along with your logo, you need to consider doing advertising, brochures, a website, business cards, social media and many other forms of promotional advertising. There are many low-cost ways to get your business going, but start small with what your business can afford. Freelancers and college students are always a less expensive route to go.
The more experienced designers will help you figure out how to boost your business and will help you to promote it in the ways that will work for your business.
With a good blend of branding, proper marketing and your invested time, your business will soon be on its way.
Just keep in mind that every large corporation started small.
Would you believe that when McDonald’s first started serving its customers in 1940 that it was just a barbecue restaurant? Then within eight years, founders Richard and Maurice McDonald reorganized their business into a hamburger stand with the principle of a production line.
McDonald’s is a prime example of a business that has been around many years, has changed with the times with a good business plan, smart business marketing and strategic planning and ideas.
Innovative ideas rarely go unnoticed.

— Rachel Painter-Fields runs a graphic & web design services business in Jefferson County.

Is your business growing?

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:31:37 +0000

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Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:55:30 +0000

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Always feel at ease…

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:49:06 +0000

At Beyond Design you will always feel at ease and know that your company is in capable hands. We strive to provide our clients with a product that they will be happy with and can use to promote their business.

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At Beyond Design we have a combined 20 years of design and web experience and know what will work the best for your company. We will give you suggestions for how to market your business, at the most cost effective rates.