Today's Entrepreneur
By ReGina Crawford-Martin
President of G Styl Productions Incorporated, Cleveland, OH
Independent Writer
Promoting Your Business
Your business is registered, the business cards and letterhead are printed, you purchased office equipment, and rented a storefront to set up your office. Why don't you have any clients/customers? Other than close family and friends and your landlord, who else knows you're in business?
Now it's time to promote your business, and here are some ways to accomplish your goal of gaining clients/customers.
One: Networking Groups and Events.
There are tons of networking groups all over the globe, and these groups have events where its members can meet face-to-face. Most of these groups are free to join, or have a minimal fee. The key to successful networking is to make sure you join a group that will allow you to meet potential clients/customers for the products/services you offer. You don't want to join a group whose primary interest is cooking, when your business is computer repair. Also, you don't want to join a group whose primary objective is to leave the business world behind, and strictly socialize. Before joining a networking group or attending an event, make sure you know the mission and purpose of the group and/or the event. When attending a networking group that meets your needs, be sure to have plenty of business cards on-hand to distribute to the other attendees. Nothing says unprofessional as an entrepreneur looking for business, who needs to write down his/her information on a cocktail napkin. Also, pre-script and practice a thirty (30) second commercial about yourself, your business, products/services you offer, and products/services that you need. Be sure to keep it to thirty seconds, especially if there are a lot of attendees. Don't give to many personal details about yourself, and don't recite your complete business plan to the group. It is extremely important that you present the have/need scenario at these events, so that the attendees know that you plan to utilize their products/services as well as offer your own products/services.
Two: Cold Calls to prospective clients/customers.
The nature of your business will determine if and how to make cold calls to potential clients/customers. This type of promotion works best with a service oriented business. If you are in a service oriented business, you can investigate businesses/individuals in your area to see if they currently utilize the type of service you are offering. If they are utilizing the same type of service with another company, then you investigate that company and compare its services to yours in an effort to find out if you can offer the potential client/customer more services at the same price, or the same services at a reduced price. Present your findings, including a chart outlining the differences, to the potential client/customer. Everyone loves feeling they are getting the most for their dollar. If they are not utilizing the type of service that you offer, then you put together a proposal outlining how they will save time, materials, or cost by utilizing your services. Again, everyone loves to feel they are getting the most for their dollar.
Three: Distribution of Announcements/Advertising.
The old fashion flyer/door hanger/postcard, and today the pop-up, on-line banner, or e-mail. The key to successful promotion in this fashion is to make the announcement eye-catching without being overwhelming, informational but not read like a book, and simple but not boring. Here to, the nature of your business will determine the type of announcement you create, and how you distribute them. If you are a clown you don't want your announcements to be created in black and white. If you're offering an exclusive type of service, you don't want to distribute your announcements at the local swimming pool.

All three of these promotional techniques can work effectively for any business as long as you keep in the forefront of your mind the type of product/service you offer, and the type of client/customer you are trying to attract. For more detailed information contact G Styl Productions Incorporated at Prod@GStyl.com.


About the Author
ReGina Crawford was born and raised in Wheeling, West Virginia. ReGina graduated from Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio in 1990 with a degree in Computer Science. ReGina serves as the 1st Vice President of Women Entrepreneurs of America, Inc., and is also the owner and president of a home-based business – G Styl Productions Incorporated. She is also a contributing columnist to the Call and Post with a weekly column titled DNA Level C.