How to Raise Up the Image of Your Small Business

Creating a positive business image using advertising should be looked at as a long-term project for your business, partially falling into marketing and public relations. While it's not impossible to create a positive image of your business in a single ad, it's better to have people exposed to your business using multiple methods.

Think about companies that you view positively. Most likely you may have seen or heard their commercials, heard other people talk favorably of their service, know that they contribute to the community, and their name just seems to come up a lot.

Ideally, you want your own business to have a similar reputation. It then becomes a matter of breaking those positive impressions into actions you can take. Every business has a different budget and target audience, so you'll obviously need to do some planning in advance before choosing your method. Here are some general ideas to keep in mind however:

1) Repetition Leads to Reputation

Think of how many different ad campaigns Coca-Cola has had during your lifetime. Even though they've used various methods to advertise, there are elements to their ads that have remained the same over time. From a psychology standpoint, people are more likely to trust the business they've heard of the most.

While you may not have the financial means to do the same thing as Coca-Cola does on a national level, many business owners have the means to have a similar approach on a local level. It's good to study strong businesses in your area and figure out techniques they're using. You can then adapt them to your own needs.

2) Show Some Genuine Caring

People have a way of detecting when someone has given money to a charity or non-profit just for the attention because they try to squeeze every bit of publicity out of it as possible. If you take the time however to get involved in community issues that you care about and not make a big deal of it on your own part, people will recognize that as well. This can have more to do with your general integrity as a business owner than an advertising campaign, but it is still important.

3) Put Your Business in a Position Where Word-of-Mouth Works for You

Even if you have practically no advertising budget, providing an excellent level of service can always work in your favor. Your existing customer base has the ability to be your best advertising technique. Find ways you can reward your customers that don't hurt you financially, such as adding value through product combos and service packages.

4) Consider Partnering With Related Small Businesses With Advertising

Just as an example, a house cleaner, interior decorator, and closet organizer installer can all team up on certain forms of advertising, even though their businesses are all independent. If you can find other people with integrity, you have the ability to offer deals to customers that you may not have been able to do on your own. From a customer standpoint, there are some fields where it's easier to favor a network of people as opposed to a single business. I think it's the idea that these other businesses wouldn't want to be associated with you if you didn't do quality work.

More Tips:

• I want to encourage you to seek out a lot of other resources before making major decisions. This is not something you should expect to develop overnight, but it can definitely be done on a small business level.

How to Create a Small Business Advertising Campaign

The great thing about a well-planned advertising campaign for a small business is that the time and effort spent in the planning stage should offset having a limited budget. I've known other business owners who have spent lots of money on ads without planning, and the results aren't pretty. The very fact that you want to have an overall plan is going to give you an advantage. In this article, I want to give you more detailed and practical tips on getting your plan accomplished.

1) First, Realize That Advertising Does Not Have to Be Expensive to Be Effective

I believe the best forms of advertising are the kinds that keep as much money in your business as possible. Jay Levinson's "Guerrilla Marketing" is a great book to start if you're brainstorming ideas on methods you can use. You may end up finding several inexpensive techniques that cost the same financially but reach more people than one expensive technique.

2) Let Word-of-Mouth Advertising Work in Your Favor

An example of this would be giving an existing customer a special deal on your product or service (with the understanding that it's a situation where you're both winning), and tell them you'll offer the same special deal to their friends if they mention your customer referred them. Even if a customer only refers one other person, send them a thank you card or small gift. This will encourage them to send more people over time because they have an incentive to do so.

3) Creating Incentives That Don't Cost You Money Upfront

Another way to generate more sales from your existing customer base is to offer incentives such as $10 off for every $100 spent. If the person was originally going to spend $75, they'll likely go ahead and spend the $100 just to get that incentive. It's still a win-win situation for both parties.

4) Partner With Other Small Businesses and Community Organizations

This can help you by spreading out expenses and can allow you to reach more people as well. For example, you'd be amazed at how inexpensive it is to sponsor a local high school sports team (along with other businesses) compared to other forms of advertising.

Additional Tip:

• Take some time to study the advertising techniques of successful small businesses in your local area. After awhile, you may notice some trends that will help you.