Being able to get your product or service to a customer is the satisfaction every start-up entrepreneur prays to achieve. Irrespective of how great your product or service, your business will not make any money unless customers are willing to buy from you.
It is factual that, most start-ups experience hard times or fail to achieve their target not because customers do not want to buy their products, but because customers don’t even know their products/services exist. Research has indicated that 80 percent of startup business problem is Marketing and Advertising.
Nonetheless, ghanatalksbusiness.com presents 5 cheap but smart ways to attract more customers as a start-up business.
1 Word-of-mouth is the easiest and cheap way to attract customers
Word-of-mouth is the arguable the oldest and truthful way of marketing and advertising in the world despite it slow pace of results it gives as compared to digital media advertising.
When a customer is satisfied with your product or service, there’s a high possibility that they are likely to share their experience with people in their circle of trust and influence. Satisfied customers automatically become foot soldiers, evangelists and advocates for your business
2 Giveaways, discounts and deals help attract customers
Everybody loves freebies
Giving away some of your products and services for free does two very positive things for your small business;
First, it lets people out there know that you exist.
Secondly, it provides your future customers with a risk-free way to try out your products or service without spending any money. And if customers find value in your products or services, they will be willing to pay money for more.
Discounts and deals also help to get customers too. Advertisers says people often see discounts and deals as a huge opportunity to save money and enjoy a product or service for a whole lot less.
In fact, discounts and deals usually influence customers to buy more products or services than they initially planned. They like to ‘take the opportunity’ because the same products may not be so cheap tomorrow. Meaning when a start-up offer discounts and promotions it help publicize your brand.
- Print and Distribute Flyers
Flyers remain a simple but very effective way to publicize and advertise your business. They usually work best for small businesses that target customers within a particular area (such as university campuses, residential estates, offices and industrial areas).
To try out this method of advertising, you don’t need to invest in very expensive flyers. If you have limited funds, its best you focus more on the message you want to deliver and not on the pictures, graphics or colours.
In fact, you can design a simple one for yourself using any of the free templates on the internet.
4. Get on SOCIAL MEDIA Now!
Social media is changing the way business is done in today’s world.
Although there are now several social media platforms across the world, Facebook leads the pack as the world’s largest social community
Social media like Facebook and Twitter make it very easy for people (both customers and non-customers) to talk about your business. They can share or tweet about your products and services and this allows you to easily engage with them.
- Get Involved In Volunteer Work
Doing volunteer work is often an overlooked opportunity to enjoy free publicity.
Get involved in volunteer work in your community, church or mosque. Sponsor an event or offer your services for free.
Have you ever wondered why big companies invented ‘CSR’, Corporate Social Responsibility? For some reason, customers love to support businesses that give something back to the society in some way.
Most times, all that is required may be your time, effort and encouragement. If you plan to use this method of advertising, remember to make sure that all donations, sponsorships and support are done in the name of your business.
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