Surprisingly many people overlook marketing basics. They don’t understand advertising, promotion or publicity. I guarantee that once people find out you’re about to open for business, assuming you have a store, you will be flooded with vendors. Everyone has just the thing for you. The Yellow Pages, billboards, radio and TV ads, magazines, newspapers, coupons, and more. For one thing you will definitely need “signage.” This is an on-site sign, or in the case of the Internet, a webpage. Then you need to ask yourself, how do others effectively advertise? Not knowing your business, I can’t answer specifics but I can give you some general guidelines.
Direct marketing of some sort, e.g. coupon mailers, bill stuffers, etc. seem to work, along with Yellow Page ads. Billboards are fine but the production cost can be quite expensive and having only one or two boards may not do the job for you. Radio advertising can be fairly inexpensive and quick to do but if you aren’t serving a whole city, then it may be a waste of money. TV advertising is much more expensive to produce and to buy airtime. But your local cable system might be a good alternative. And what about “promotions” and special events? They can get you good visibility. Do you have any planned? Keep in mind that they are usually more labor-intensive than cost-intensive. And lastly, don’t forget about publicity.
Good PR is worth its weight in gold, as they say. And it’s free. By now perhaps your head is spinning with all these aspects. While marketing is very important, you don’t necessarily have to do it yourself. You might consider hiring a small advertising agency. Many will work for a small retainer fee or perhaps just take commissions from what media you buy. You’re probably talking about a “boutique agency,” which is fine and they can handle most if not all of your marketing needs.