In "Make money in a home business, what to consider before you invest" which was my last article, I went through many aspects to consider before you make your final decision to buy into a home business opportunity. Now, you have made the decision and found the program for you and you want to know where to start. The best advice I can give you is to just get started. Start today with income producing activities. Don't put it off until tomorrow, or until you know more about your business, or until your sponsor helps, or until, or until, or until. Because there can always be another until, so let's just get started.
Something you'll want to consider before you begin your marketing campaign is this: Who are you gong after? I've known many marketers who just start marketing without any concern about who they are marketing to, who they are actually looking for. If you feel that your offer or opportunity is really tremendous for stay at home moms, you probably don't want to market in sports related magazines. Who is your target market?
One key to being successful is to understand all of the many ways you have to market your opportunity. One of the first questions to ask yourself is: which do you have more of, time or money? If you have a lot of time and very little money for your marketing efforts then you want to evaluate the no cost or low cost alternatives and work with those. If you have some money to allocate to marketing and perhaps you're already working full time so you have very little time, then you'll want to find some cost effective methods of marketing which will not take much time to implement.
Personal Contact Marketing is one of the lowest cost methods available. You simply listen to what the people around you are saying. When you hear people saying they are upset about their commute, time away from family, being unappreciated or anything job related, simply hand them a business card, tell them you think you can help them out, and ask them to give you a call or direct them to your website. Walk away, and wait for a response. Don't chase them, see what they do. The next time you run into them remind them that you have not heard from them and find out if they still have your card. If they do, wait to hear from them, they may have been unusually busy and not had time to contact you. If they don't have your card, ask them if they are seriously considering doing something or just being polite. This gives them an out if they want it.
Free internet advertising is also very effective. There are two dozen or more free classified sites on the web, simply Google it and you'll find most of them. Be certain to follow the site's guidelines, if you choose to abuse any of the sites you run the risk of being bounced from the site forever, no need to do that.
Writing and submitting articles to sites such as EzineArticles.com is another free way to market your opportunity. It will give you good exposure and people will recognize you from your articles. Its an income producing activity that will take time to pay dividends however eventually it will pay.
Flyers, which are actually business cards, are another means of marketing. You'll want to have some simple eye catching phrase on the card as well as contact information: an example might read; This card could be worth $100,000 in the next 12 months, for more information call 1 800 123 4567. You'll want to find a busy parking lot like a mall or a large office complex where you can put out 500 to 1,000 cards at a time. Stick the cards on the driver side door between the window and rubber just above the door handle where it will be seen as the driver gets in the car. You'll want to have an 800 service with a recorded message to capture contact information, and so that the card can't be traced directly back to you. You'll also want to keep an eye out for security, some guards take canvassing very seriously. You'll get a 1 to 2% response, so put out plenty of cards. The best times to consider putting out flyers is around busy holidays at the malls and on Friday afternoons or on the Tuesday following a Monday holiday at the office complexes.
Next are what are referred to as "Bandit" signs. These are the plastic corrugated signs on metal H stands, you may have seen a "For Rent" or "Open House" sign like these. These can be a lot of fun to place and you can very easily get a huge response. The thing to remember is that you'll want to find a thoroughfare which is very busy and an intersection which has a lengthy backup. This gives people more of an opportunity to see the sign and write down the website or phone number listed. You can find these for less than $2.00 each and in the right spot can give you a tremendous response.
Newspapers is a great way to reach a lot of people with a little money. You don't need to go to a huge market to get a reasonable result, you'll want to stick with the papers which have a lower circulation and find an area where you feel comfortable marketing. Remember what I said earlier, who are your prospects? Go after those people, don't just randomly select a newspaper based on low cost advertising. Better to spend no money and wait than to keep spending little bits and pieces of money in the wrong places.
Magazines are even more effective than newspapers, although there is a longer lag time. If you call a newspaper to place a classified ad, chances are you can get one in within three days. If you call a magazine its generally 30 to 45 days, big difference if you are in a hurry to get started. At the other en of the spectrum is the fact that magazines have a much longer "shelf life" than newspapers. Its not unheard of for someone to pick up a magazine in a doctor's or dentist's office that is six months old and call you up about your opportunity.
It does not matter which home business opportunity you are marketing, eventually you will want to have a website. You can design your own site through GoDaddy or other similar sites or you can have it designed by a professional. Again if you have time you might want to design your own site, the folks at GoDaddy are very helpful and its easier than you might think. If you don't believe your up for the challenge or you think you want a more professional looking site then find a professional who is familiar with your opportunity.
You might want to start a Pay Per Click marketing campaign on the internet. You'll want to do your research before you begin. I've heard of people investing as little as $20.00 per day and only running their campaign for six or eight hours on specific days and I've also heard of people who have put $500.00 into a campaign only to see it gone in less than three days with little or no results. Do your homework before you start this one.
Before you start any of these marketing campaigns consider your budget and your time. Also, think about how to approach your marketing as a "campaign". You'll want to have two or three different activities going all of the time. Don't put all of your marketing time or dollars into one basket.
Thanks Much, and until next time, MAKE EVERY DAY A PROSPEROUS DAY!
