My blog has been very neglected in recent months.  I was never very happy with the way the blog looked on my previous website – so I’ve done a complete overhaul.  Many thanks to Susan and John from Kerugma Designs for the new look.

You may remember last year that I wrote about advertising.  I started my business in June 2008 and decided that I needed to get my business name out in the market place.

Here is what I learnt from that experience:

• Think about the type of business you have, and put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients/customers.  If you were a customer, where would YOU go looking for information regarding your service?  Or perhaps ask friends for their opinion on where they might seek information if they wanted to use a service like yours.
• I took out a 3 month package in the “Trades and Services” section of my local newspaper which was a mistake.  I would have been better putting that money into 2 or 3 advertisements in the main section of the newspaper.  From those 3 months of advertising – I didn’t receive a single call.  Mostly this section is used by Tradesmen and obviously it works well for them – but not for someone offering secretarial services.
• I invested in Yellow Pages advertising.  I have had several clients this year who have told me they found my number in the Yellow Pages.  For several hundred dollars I have an advertisement in the paper Yellow Pages Directory and also Online.
• Join your local Chamber of Commerce (or whatever Business Groups are available in your area).  Personal networking is excellent advertising.  You get to hand your business card out to plenty of people, make business contacts who might be useful to you in your own business, and generally get a few drinks/nibbles along the way too.
• Invest in a professional logo and good business cards.  If I had my time over again, I would definitely spend the money to get a logo/business cards/stationery designed.  I recently used Aussie Logos and their Gold Package is excellent value.

I hope this information might be helpful to anyone who is either starting up a new business, or thinking about advertising/marketing their existing business.

Please leave a comment if you have other good tips regarding advertising and/or marketing for small businesses.

Fiona