Marketing.

Walking up and down main street talking to people whose opinions you may (or when it comes to progress in a small town – you may not) care about spreads the word about your business. Today you’re talking to Sally the hairdresser and Tom the barkeep, tomorrow Sally is chatting with her knitting girlfriends about your new bookstore while Tom is telling everyone buying a beer you: this crazy kid who came in with a new business idea.

These days it may not be Sally the hairdresser. For the family dentist in a larger community it may be participating in a parade, or a local kids fair. For the pizza parlour owner it’s sponsoring the two little league teams closest to his location. For the private school it’s doing kids events in combo with local high-end businesses. Whatever your business, getting involved in your community can make a big difference in your business’ bottom line. Here’s a few of our tried and true tricks for getting the bottom line to move in the right direction:

1. Stay close: whatever group or school or business you are going to team up with should be the closest one of it’s kind to your location. Don’t make your ideal client drive past all your competition on their way to your door unless it’s for a BIG payout. If you count on repeat business you must be easily accessible.

2. Keep it Simple: your logo can be a picture of you. Your flier can be 1/2 a page. Don’t over-explain what you are trying to do or what you want to have happen. Say who you are, what they get, and what they have to do to get it. No more (and no less – this just frustrates people).

3. Don’t be GIMME: if you are doing a program that involves “donating your services” DON”T make people GIMME a lot of information to get the program. People will think it’s a GIMMICK designed to obtain their contact info for Spamming – and you won’t get invited back. Be upfront with your community and they will respect you for respecting their intelligence.

Want to find some good community outreach programs in your area? Just ask your customers: the people who live close enough to come to you for services are the same people you want to market to.