Finding customers can be the hardest thing for a new business to do. You probably have an idea of who your customers are, but making sure they know about your product or service is much more difficult. Here’s five ways to find your customers – and to help them find you.
Local newspapers
If your business is based on offering services in your area, your local newspaper is always going to be a good place to advertise your services. Don’t forget the free sheets – most urban areas have at least one free daily or weekly paper, which can be a good place to look to advertise. However, don’t splurge all your money on advertising immediately – test things out with small display or classified ads first, and see how effective each publication is.
Online
If you have a web site, there are many ways to find customers online. One of the easiest is through search marketing with companies like Yahoo or Google where your own message can appear when people search on keywords you select. A great advantage is that you can set a low monthly budget and see how it works – even £10-20 per month can bring in new customers.
Events
Live events, such as trade fairs, exhibitions, or even specialised markets can be great ways of exposing your products and services to potential customers. Make sure that they’re relevant, though.
Your personal network
Friends and family are an often-neglected way to find new customers. Make sure they know what you’re doing, so that they can be “champions” for your business – you may find that quite a lot of your early customers come to you through this way.
Study the competition
If your competition is consistently advertising somewhere, you should be too. Study what they are doing, and make sure that any potential customer has the opportunity to find your services too.
The next step
Sorting out where to work
Creating your company
Creating a business plan
Finding the money
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