13 Marketing Mistakes Business Owners Make Online and Offline
CraigsList is an incredible FREE resource you can and SHOULD use as part of your small business marketing arsenal.
Thousands of people in your area refer to craiglist.org every day. There’s probably not a whole lot of people on Craigslist actually looking for a business like yours but fortunately, that’s not important. The important thing is that you have a listing with a good headline so when people are browsing around for OTHER stuff; they notice your headline and click on your post. Not unlike most other advertising.
Here’s what you do: Go to www.craigslist.org. Choose the geographical location where your business is located and review the index. Most likely, you’ll be interested in posting an ad under the “Services” category and in the “Small Biz Ads” subcategory. So go and review some of the ads already there.
If you’re unfamiliar with Craigslist, notice the brand new postings are at the top and the previous days’ postings drop down. There are about 100 listings per page and postings stay up for a whole month. Create a CraigList account. It’s free. Now click “post to classifieds”. It’s very self-explanatory so I won’t get into every minute detail.
Your headline is important. You want to grab attention with it because again, people probably aren’t there searching for what you’re selling. Then you describe your location or service area. You can name more than just your specific town. You can also name adjoining towns or otherwise describe the region you serve. Moving on to the body copy of your message-Now just tell prospective visitors your offer.
For example:
—————————————————————————————————-
SPECIAL FOR CRAIGSLIST USERS
FREE 2-litre COKE WITH A LARGE PIZZA
Go to (your moderncoupon.com website address), click a coupon and write “CRAIGSLIST” to receive the FREE COKE!
Big Deal Pizza
123 Main St Yourtown,
NY 555-555-5555
—————————————————————————————————
A CraigList ad will expire in 30 days. It’s a good idea to write and save your ad on a WORD or some other document so you can just copy and paste it again once a month. You can keep ads going up every day if you change the headline and alter the message slightly. If you have identical ads, the CraigsList system will zap them.
A CraigList post is easy to do, it’s quick and it’s FREE. It may not set your world on fire but being “out there” in as many places as possible increases your chances of getting discovered. So put a CraigList post on your monthly to-do list and see what happens.
Check out our recent post to promote moderncoupon.com. http://southjersey.craigslist.org/biz/2201176342.html The format you see here is an advanced use of the CraigsList. It’s actually an image which is a clickable link to the moderncoupon sign-up page. We can help you create a CraigList post using this advanced technique for a very small fee. Please inquire.
—————————————————————————————————————————–
Andrew Mazer (Maze) is the owner of Affordable Online Marketing Systems and creator of moderncoupon.com. Maze delivers a 21st Century-Style Small Business Marketing System for about the price of a cup of coffee a day. Reach Maze at maze@moderncoupon.com
It’s a well-known fact that higher-income, higher-educated people find and redeem coupons. The population of computer-using, coupon-hunting people is growing exponentially. Every day, more people are signing on to various business marketing membership sites and programs to get the inside scoop on what’s available at a discount.
Smart business marketers know they can use coupon offers to attract new customers without giving up profitability.
Recently, a residential garage door company and moderncoupon business subscriber incorportated a $50 discount coupon and made a sale for a new garage door sale & installation. That $50 discount represented less than 10% of the over all sale. A $700+ sale that could have gone to a competitor. Because the customer found his coupon, the buying barrier was lowered and a profitable sale was made.
I recently convinced a hair salon owner to give moderncoupon a try. This fellow was initially against using coupon offers for his business, yet he was really feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. I suggested 2 offers:
1. A discount for new clients. This is rather mundane but it IS an enticement for someone looking for a new hairdresser. Every hair salon ad has a similar coupon.
2. A 10-haircut package for a deep discount. THIS is a coupon offer you don’t see often.
About a month past and no calls or redemptions came in until last week. That’s when a doctor who lives about 5 miles away called for and came in as a response to the 10-haircut offer. This is the kind of sale this salon owner never considered and never thought possible. A huge win-a high-ticket sale and a new customer all at once.
In both cases, these 2 business owners will have likely had their marketing expense on moderncoupon.com covered for the year with just one sale and one new customer.
How many new customers a year do you need to cover the cost of a small business marketing system that’s about the price of a cup of coffee a day?
I’m Andrew Mazer, and I’m not a computer geek, I’m a business owner, just like you. I have a passion for helping the independent business owner survive and thrive in an environment where the odds are stacked against the little guy. That’s why I’ve created moderncoupon.com The cost is minimal and the results are guaranteed. You need this.