Mark J Williams asked: It is every work at home entrepreneur’s nightmare;
“How do I market my home based business”
The internet can be a very complicated and often daunting place when you are a work-alone entrepreneur, you have no-one to bounce your ideas off and it can be quite an isolated career. This is all the more reason why you want to see your home business succeed! Marketing any business requires knowledge of the consumer. In what ways can you utilize the internet (amongst other means) to find out about your customers and your work at home business? It is this very question that has led to the Top 3 Marketing Techniques (not to be confused with off page SEO) of your home based business.
EMAIL
The world is moving at a very fast pace, but what medium has stayed the same throughout the years!? Email marketing is still the most potent of viral marketing options when you have something worth marketing! Unlike social networking, emails will only be forwarded; A) To Friends, Family and Colleagues and B) If it is something worth sharing!
If you can come up with an email campaign that is content rich, informative and genuinely helpful then you are a fair way along on the road to success with email marketing. There is a 70% greater click through rate with email marketing than any other and who knows…your next publication could be one of the few that make it around the world!
SURVEYS
It may not sound like a groundbreaking work at home technique to drive people to your site, but try and think about surveying in all its variations and potential. Ever noticed how the people that stop you in the street make a lasting impression (be it good or bad!) and at the end of the survey, try to sell you something? I know, it’s annoying but it clearly demonstrates the advantage of social compliance. The survey gives an authoritative position and people are more likely to engage, trust and listen to a complete stranger if it is in the guise of a survey. “They care about my opinion…so it must be good!”
People like to be listened to and they often aren’t. Using surveys to give the people a voice will credit your home business with a degree of authority in the active community your niche operates within.
Now, do this online and you can not only generate a huge interest by offering a small reward for the completed survey from customers and affiliate marketers alike…but you can also drive a significant amount of very targeted, informed and optimistic traffic to your website.
Once all is said and done…you will have a nice database of opinions too!
DIRECT MAIL
Direct mail does not have to be boring or as expensive as you think! In light of recent economical turmoil many mailing specialists are offering a very good discount on their ‘own image’ direct mail services for work at home and small businesses. Put simply, a direct mail marketing campaign could end up costing you around the same…if not less…than a ppc campaign with google. Now, bare in mind with a search engine it is fluid…you may not be the choice forever and equally, 6 months down the line who did click the ad will not remember you. A postcard size Direct Mail however, will give your work at home audience more information than a search engine result summary…it can be put to one side for constant reference…and it can quite effectively drive a healthy amount of traffic to your website or home business phone line.
A key point to remember is to attract the attention of the reader and not SELL THEM! Selling should be done at the other end be it on the website or over the phone. I for one, purely because I know better, almost always dispose of Direct Mail that sells me something in the blink of eyelid. Direct Mail that gives me an opportunity to find out more and that promises a profession service…almost always gets a read!
Why not link all Top 3 Marketing Techniques together in next months marketing campaign!?
These marketing techniques have stood the test of time and as such, remain a valid alternative to reach those who you would not normally attract through pay-par-click, on/offline advertisements and social networks.
Everyone knows it’s about quality customers…not necessarily quantity (although both would be nice!)…
Work at Home
Marilyn
