Marketing Ideas for New Business

[martinprint.com.au]

hi Umar,
Have you considered joint venture deals with other companies in a similar industry or with the same type of clients you have? There are many ways this can be done, including referral pads, being endorsed through a mail-outs, etc.

What type of companies come to you? And why? Do they get themselves in trouble first or something? Can you then solve this problem?

Why is it that a company cannot do without your services?

Before clients come to you, what steps do they take? How do they in fact realise that they need your service in the first place? If you know this you may be able to make those steps easier for them, such as providing the information in your blog / website or elsewhere.

If you are just starting out and your main cost is your time, you could possibly offer a trial service to selected companies, where you even work for free for a period? This would be probably the easiest / quickest way to build a client base and will generally work out a lot cheaper than advertising. Once they realise how much they need your service they will turn into real clients at the end of the trial + you will end up with some testimonials / case studies to add to your website / mailouts / other marketing.

Another easy way to get inspiration is to look through the yellow pages to see how businesses in similar fields advertise / market themselves. And ofcourse research online. You can even look at businesses totally different to yours and ask yourself questions such as how can this be changed / modified to work in my business?

Networking is of course also a great idea if you are into that kind of thing. Personally its not my cup of tea eventhough I see the benefits.

How do you currently market yourself?

[Ky Lacoste]

Hi Umar,

You might want to consider doing some fax blasts in addition to edms. Faxes broadcasts are a bit old school but generally have a good response. I purchased some government marketing lists from a Sydney based company which had fax numbers and it had a great response.

This list was targeted to the public sector, but government might be a good market for you as well (they have $ to spend).

Good luck,

Ky