Feasibility Analysis, Part Three

You have worked hard sorting through some of the possibilities that lie in front of you and your potential business endeavor. You have developed a plan of what your first year will look like and are pretty sure of what you want to look like five years down the road. Now it's time to figure out how you are going to get there. It's time to let people know that you exist. This is called marketing. With a little more planning and some quality execution, you can get the word out to the right people and your business will hit the ground running.

No piece on marketing is complete without describing the advertising/marketing mediums first. The first and perhaps most important promoter is simple word of mouth. The easiest way to win good press in this aspect is to please your customers. While it can make for a hard-to-ignore testimonial, word of mouth can also be turned against a business. A single disappointed customer will generally talk to more people about their disappointment rather than any good experience they had. Unfortunately, there's no way to control word-of-mouth marketing save for impersonating (or having someone else impersonate) an ordinary customer and painting a positive picture of your business.

The most basic form of marketing is done through print media. Flyers, mass-mailings, and ads in newspapers and periodicals are the easiest way to get your business in front of a large group of people. Most of the time, this is also the most affordable way to advertise. Even though the bulk of our communication these days is done electronically, there is still a valuable place in your plan for having your name appear in printed media. Often times, a specific audience that you may be trying to reach can be found by advertising in the pages of a trade journal or industry specific publication. As with any other decision that you make concerning marketing, keep in mind who you want to reach and where they can be found. Make your decisions using those simple questions and you should do just fine.

Electronic mediums, such as radio and television, are a tricky affair. Though they can be effective, they're also painfully commonplace, meaning that you'll need something that grabs an audience's attention very effectively if you want to get anything for your advertising dollar. It will be a significant investment on your part to get a radio advertising spot, and television even more so. An effective commercial will be expensive, so make sure you do it right, no matter what media you choose to use. Professional help in making commercials will go a long way, unless you yourself are a professional. It need not be top-notch professionals, but some basic information will at least distinguish you from every other poorly-made local business commercial.

Direct mail, wherein a business mails printed advertisements to people directly, is another solid advertising medium. It can work wonders for small businesses catering to a local area, but it's also a scattershot approach, in that the advertising is being thrown around all over an area, with no certainty that it will strike a cord with even a single customer. As with electronic mediums, you'll need to be clever about distinguishing your business' mail with the rest of the junk mail your intended audience gets on a daily basis.

You want to avoid the mistake of spending more on advertising than what it can possibly bring in. Don't overextend yourself. You will need operational money to even stay open. One of the easiest ways to do some effective marketing without blowing your budget is to keep your eyes open for opportunities to get your name in front of potential customers without spending a dime. Promotional efforts or sponsorships are a great way to let people know that you are open and what you do. They can be hard to find, but if you are willing to dig for them and are patient, there are opportunities for free advertising that you can capitalize on.

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