Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

Ask The Panel

Asher Coldege from Cincinnati, Ohio asks:

• I am in the process of starting my own business, I know what service I am going to provide, I have worked out my costs and pricing. I am starting an independent care for the elderly.
  - What is the best way to come up with a business image?
  - Is Advertising my next step?

Amy: If you’re just starting out, the best thing to do is figure out the “brand” or image you want to convey. After thoughtful consideration about your company goals, mission statement, target customers, services and pricing, the next step is for you to create the visual branding of your company. From day one, you want to convey a consistent brand in all of your advertising…business cards, website, signage, etc.

Start with a nicely designed logo. You don’t have to pay a lot to get a professional looking logo…but it’s probably not the best idea to have your neighbor’s uncle design it either. Work with a professional designer or design company, who will listen to your needs and create a polished logo for your company. You want your logo to be clean and simple…something that will work at small and large sizes, embroidered on shirts, on the side of your truck, on your website, etc.

Once your logo is complete, you’ll be able to consistently communicate your brand image across all of your advertising pieces.

Your next marketing effort should be directed toward your website. Having a professional looking, easy to navigate and trustworthy website is a must in today’s world. Customers and potential customers will want to learn more about your company through your website than any other medium. If a potential customer visits your website and it’s hard to navigate and looks like an amateur built it, they will go somewhere else. Again, you want your information to be clear and easy to find, and it should be very easy for your customers to contact you or get started thru your site.

Once you have a professional website, that is consistent with the brand you are creating, the sky is the limit on your next advertising efforts.

Nicole: Advertising is a great way to get the word out on a new business, and there are many ways to handle this. You can certainly go traditional routes, with geotargeted paid search, radio, billboards, etc. But a less expensive, and possibly more effective, option would be a grass-roots campaign. If you provide in-home care, you might want to reach out to all local assisted care living facilities. They may often meet with people who need some help, such as the service you provide, but aren’t quite ready or need to move into a facility. There are also local organizations such as Hospice and support groups for caregivers of elderly parents. Contact and participate in these organizations. Ask how you can be included on their lists of businesses they refer people to, and if these lists don’t exist see if you can help them start a recommendation program. Contacting local hospitals and doctor’s offices is another way to connect with business that are most likely to be interacting with people who need your services.

As you can see, there are many ways to make your business known to your target customers. With some hard work and time you can advertise your business for little, if any, expense.

Posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:10 pm and is filed under Small Business, The Panel: Q & A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.