Today’s guest post is by my friend Karol Gajda who is travelling the globe in search of business ideas, exploring new cultures and living the internet entrepreneur lifestyle. His writing style and personality come thru loud and clear his blog, which we’ve linked to at the end of the post. Do yourself a favor by subscribing to his RSS feed and following him on Twitter.
Although the Internet has been around for quite a long time now, many small businesses still aren’t using it effectively. A Web site as a brochure is fine to have, but it’s useless for attracting new customers.
If you run a small business I recommend you start with just 1 of the following tips, moving from 1 to 3 in chronological order. #1 is especially important. Once you’ve mastered it, add another to your marketing arsenal.
Trying to tackle all of them at once will, more often than not, hurt more than it helps.
1) Start an E-mail Newsletter
One of my favorite restaurants in the world, Ethos Vegan Kitchen in Orlando, FL, has a very simple monthly newsletter.
Every month they talk about what’s going on with the store, give away 2 gift cards to newsletter subscribers, and generally just keep in touch with their fans. The key is they’re not doing anything difficult or spectacular. But it works.
I lived 30 miles from Ethos before I went nomadic and wouldn’t usually make a special trip out unless I knew something cool was happening. Like their rare (once per month) Pierogi night. I made it out to almost every Pierogi night, but only because they reminded me about it through the newsletter.
Starting a newsletter, as I’ve already mentioned, is not difficult.
I recommend you go to Aweber or iContact (2 of the top e-mail newsletter services) and sign up. They both start at under $20/month and, if you just keep it simple and give your customers what they want, the newsletter will pay for itself right away.
How to promote the newsletter:
- Put a newsletter signup for on your Web site. Both Aweber and iContact make this very easy. Just follow their steps.
- Put a physical newsletter signup sheet inside your business. When somebody is paying for their meal, product, or service ask them if they’d like to join your e-mail newsletter to keep up to date on special events and discounts. It’s important that you don’t waste your time with people who aren’t already spending money at your establishment. You want buyers, not browsers, on your e-mail newsletter list.
2) Get On Twitter
The only two tips for Twitter.com you will ever need: Don’t spam. Connect.
Much like your e-mail newsletter, Twitter gives you an opportunity to connect with your fans. But, unlike your newsletter, it’s a 2-way connection.
Communicate daily with your customers and rarely promote your store, product, or service. When somebody connects with your business on Twitter it’s because they already know what you’re selling. Trying to hard sell them is a waste of time. Spend 10-30 minutes per day connecting and you’ll build loyalty.
Twitter is also a great tool for instant customer service.
A few months ago I e-mailed a local pizza place that stated on their Web site they sold vegan pizzas. I wanted to verify this statement, but I didn’t get a response. So then I messaged their Twitter account. I didn’t get a response for days.
That is unacceptable. It takes just minutes to read/respond to messages on Twitter and there’s no reason you shouldn’t check your messages at least once/day.
3) Start A Blog
The next step after starting a newsletter and Twitter account is starting a blog. If you already have a Web site, starting a really nice blog is free and easy using WordPress.org.
Why should you bother with a blog? You get local targeting and the benefits of becoming a leader in your field. International respect may lead to more opportunities for your business either by franchising possibilities or speaking/consulting gigs.
Much like with Twitter, your blog shouldn’t be used to blatantly promote your business at all. If somebody is reading your blog, they know what you sell.
That’s not to say you can’t use it to offer up a special blog discount every once in a while, but your blog should focus more on what your customers want and what your industry needs.
There are countless other ways to attract new customers online, but if all you do is master these 3 you’ll have a veritable line of people waiting outside your doors.
Karol Gajda, a lifelong entrepreneur, writes about Freedom, Health, Travel, and Life at Ridiculously Extraordinary. To learn about his goal of helping 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom subscribe to the RSS feed here or visit RidiculouslyExtraordinary.
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