You just went through the appliance academy and you are now ready to start your own small business. Well, congratulations, but also realize you are now wearing a lot of hats. We will cover them all eventually, but we wanted to get you started on marketing tips that will help you get some customers calling.
Learn Your Target Audience – this is arguably one of the most important areas of marketing that many small business owners fail to do early on in their business, especially when they are using pay-per-click ads and the like. For instance, why would you need your ads to show up on the pages of people that live in apartment complexes for appliance repair? They likely have maintenance staff that handle their needs, so all these impressions would just be wasted.
Social Media Posting – business social media posting is not like your personal page. There are models for posting that will make your business page successful that you should follow. For example, you should not be posting more than 10-20 percent business related offers on your page because it will start to bore your audience. You need the right mix of business touts and resource links that will have them using you page as a resource for information and coming back on a daily basis. I highly recommend setting up a Google alert to help create shareable content for your industry.
Referral Posts – get involved in the community and make posts for other businesses in the area, even some of your competitors if they will do the same. There will come a time when you or they can be overwhelmed with business and may need to hand off customers, so this is a great way to open up a referral relationship. Also, by providing information for other local businesses, as noted above, you help create a resource page for the community.
Create a Press Kit – you should create a formal press kit that is available online for customers as well as something for you to hand out during local chamber meetings and business mixers.
Local Marketing – most local communities have some sort of newsletter that they put out on a weekly or monthly basis. Offer to write a column for tips and advice in your niche. This will get your name out there was well as establish you as a true resource. Not to mention, if they have an online publication, it will create great referral links back to your website.
