Time is money and right now your business has no serious cash flow and you’re lacking the time and capital to grow your business. That’s what I am constantly hearing on social media from small business owners. Well, today I want to teach you five grassroots marketing tactics that can help you grow your business. As social media platforms such as; Instagram and Facebook are moving more and more towards pay for play its important you learn other tactics that can help.
Custom First Contact Postcard
This might sound silly to you but numerous times I have hired someone or shopped at a boutique based off a flyer that was handed to me. If you live in a town of 100,000 or more there is a great chance your target audience is in that city. Transplants are moving to new cities daily for career paths, school, love and more. Going where your target audience is helps you land sales. You will create a first time purchase or service card to be passed out. They are post card size. They aren’t just handed to anyone. Read about how to create a simple next purchase card that brings in sales. They are the same thing but this is for initial contact before a customer even hires or shops with you.
Coffee Shops Are Your Best Friend
This point goes along perfect with custom first contact postcard. Say you’re out and about sitting at your favorite local coffee shop and you see several women dressed nicely. They are well kept, skin looks amazing and have amazing jewelry on. If you’re a skincare business, clothing store, accessories or jewelry company, and hairstylist you have viable customers right in front of you. Funny, story a couple years back I met my old website developer at Starbucks. He was working on a custom wordpress site at the time. Coffee shops are a heaven sent not to just work from but also mingle. Past out your contact postcard to regulars and people who look like your target audience.
Co Working Spaces
In the Austin area there are countless co working spaces for the small business owner to join and network at. This is a perfect places to work out of once in awhile if you do not want to be in the house. In addition to that a great place to connect and network. A couple years ago, I would regularly frequent networking event called “campfire at Techranch”. It was a great way to connect with local business owners but it helped me land several consulting clients.
Local Small Business Shopping Plaza – service based business
This is something so simple but truly scares people to think about. If you’re a graphic designer or website designer this is the perfect place for you to find business. It haunts me to think about all the bad local websites I see when searching for a business to support. Or it pains me even more when I learn they don’t have a website and solely rely on social media especially Facebook. List all the shopping plazas in a 30 minute radius of your home. Compile all the details about the owners and business. Next, you will go pitch your services to them. Even if you do bookkeeping this is a great idea because so many small business owners struggle with their finances even if they are a brick and mortar store front.
Sponsor Meetups
When I first launched my business, there was this event called Twitter Tuesday. It was a weekly event where locals gather at an upscale establishment and hung out. Being a sponsor for the event helped me gain recognition with the audience by being shouted out by the DJ and Hostess on social media. Several of the people I connected with seven years ago are still great friends and supporters of my business.
Marketing a business is not hard as it seems. Most small business owners want to rely only on social media and thats not going to cut it. Getting out there and networking is what is going to help. None of my friends live in my small town. However, I have friends in Atlanta, DC, Dallas, Houston, Detroit, NY, Miami, Paris, Japan and more. Connecting locally can also connect you globally.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
