Hitting the
Sidewalk - Leaving Home to Market Your Business
(c) by Maria T. Thompson
As a business owner who works from home, I find myself working at my
computer everyday, all day. However, to keep my business afloat, it is
imperative that I continue marketing my business at all times. A few times
a month, I like to "hit the sidewalk" and visit local business owners to
keep my business name in front of the owners faces.
With the holidays approaching, I am reminded of a few things that you can
do, to make you visits memorable.
- Create miniature candy wrappers. I purchased a few bags of those
miniature chocolate bars. Then I created little covers with my company
name, telephone number and website address. You can use a glue stick to
hold the two ends together. Leave a few of these at a business, with
your card. (These also go over well at large events where you can
display your business materials.) You can also pay a Professional Candy
Wrapper to create these for you.
- Drop off personalized gift certificates for a certain amount/product
from your business. You can purchase a pack of 25 Gift Certificates from
Staples for less than $7.00.
- Purchase personalized ink pens and/or pencils. You usually get a few
letters for free. If you wanted to save a few bucks, you could make the
only letters spell out your website address.
- Personalized Seed Packets: This is a small gift (usually about .25
each) that really stands out. You can choose from a mixture of seeds to
be personalized.
Even if you decide to just hand out business cards/flyers/brochures, the
most important thing is that you go. Go out and continuously market your
business. Don't ever get "comfortable" and stop marketing. Your
marketing efforts today could bring in that needed income tomorrow.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Maria
T. Thompson is the host of BellaOnline´s Small/Home Office
site, a comprehensive, online Network created by women for women.
BellaOnline provides quick and unique solutions to the everyday and the
complex through information, communication, entertainment and e-commerce.
Maria Thompson started her own
virtual assistance business
after 8 years of being part of the corporate rat-race and is very familiar
with the challenges that new and start-up business owners face. In
addition to hosting BellaOnline and running her business, she also teaches
an online course
on operating a home-based word processing business.
The opinions expressed
in this column are those of the author. All answers are intended to be
general in nature, without regard to specific geographical areas or
circumstances, and should only be relied upon after consulting an
appropriate expert, such as an attorney or accountant.