Kit Miller Group

Bigger amounts of stock and cheaper prices. It’s all about competition. Also atmoshphere is a huge part of it as well!
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I’m a graphic designer and what I’ve seen work for my small business clients is billboards, it is the most inexpensive way to reach hundreds or thousands of people a day. One of my spa/salon clients tried it and their business is booming.
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Improve ur Business comunication skill, make contacts/friends in your city.
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Get the community invovled. Basically, if you scratch my back, i’ll scratch yours. This works best.
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Past experiences

Quality of service! The biggest advantage small businesses have over large corporations is the type of service you get. Get involved in the community as well. If you sponsor some events like a sports team, you will get good advertising and promotion.
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Know your customers!! Research is the key. If your business is small then you want to keep your overheads small also and this means knowing exactly what your customers want, how often they want it and how much they are prepared to pay for it. I found that when running a small business myself regular market research was definitely the key.
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Viral Marketing — get your current customers to work for you. For small businesses, word of mouth is priceless. Offer a referal incentive. Each customer that enters your shop gets a coupon with their name written on it for 10% off.
Ask them to pass it on to a friend. As an incentive, you will give the original customer 10% off and a freebie when that coupon shows back up in your store in the hands of a new customer. These things can work!

Also, join your chamber of commerce.
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I am a small Business advisor in England. Short is that you should have enough working capital, do your market research, budget and forecast, have a business plan ready (its your road map)and whatever you thought would take you one month, allow 2 months for it to happen. Work hard, but take time off as well to recharge your batteries, its your only source of inspiration! You must have an effective website, and a sound marketing plan. If you want you can email me your website and marketing plan and will do a free critique for you.
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Independent Business Consultant

My best marketing advice is to get out there and do it. As a small business owner, your most important roles are as a saleman and marketer. Nothing happens until the sales is made… period. If it takes cold calling 50 business, door knocking on 200 homes, putting flyers in mailboxes of every home in a 2 miles radius, then thats what you’re going to have to do every day.
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The number one thing you need to do is identify your "big idea." Your big idea is a concept, either a few words or an image or maybe something as abstract as just an idea that really defines what your business angle is all about. It should also describe (if possible) what your "different and better" is over the competition. Why should a customer pick you and not the business down the street? Why should they come back?

Your big idea is your theme that all other marketting should fall under. It is what people will remember about you, and if you do it correctly, that will be a good thing.
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Stay focused on your core business. Some small business’s try to be all things to all people trying to drive revenue. By staying very focused on your core business you will maximize your marketing dollars.
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The more people u contact, the more business u get…number of contacts is the key..
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If you are in retail, the three most important factors are:

location
Location
LOCATION

Yes – if you do not locate your business where it will benefit from walk-by, drive-by and pull-thru from other stores, you are fighting an uphill battle.

For ALL (small) businesses, I espouse the "CAPS" model:

C for Content
A for Awareness
P for Preference
S for Sales

Content means you have a high quality solution for a real need – no smoke and mirrors, no bait and switch, but real honest value.

Awareness means you have to promote your business – put a face on it, preferably your own. Get out an mix it up in places where your potential customers are going to be. Use advertising only where it will be put directly in front of your potential customers. These days, web-placement is an excellent value.

Preference means that you have to provide some advantage(s) over your typical competition, in order to make the customer want YOU, instead of the other guy. Personal bend over backwards levels of service, ease of transactions, best prices, convenient ***LOCATION***, etc. are all ways to enhance your chances of being preferred over the other guy.

Sales! – the end result of all of you efforts above. Make sure the customer knows how much you appreciate his business, and that they are heartily invited to return to do business with you again. Make them feel like they’ve just acquired or visited with a friend, instead of just merely engaged in a commercial transaction.

Good luck! Let me know what you think, and what kind of small business you are in…
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Don’t overextend yourself. Follow an "In and Out" strategy of things. When you drive through an "In and Out" for a double double, take a look at the menu. Not a whole lot of options, which keeps cost down. Limited menus, specialization, and finding a receptive community should all be at the top of your list. Also, don’t cut corners when it comes to permits, zoning etc. Saving a few hundred dollars on a permit isn’t worth the risk of being shut down by a city planning board.
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Never market – always sell. Never advertise – always sell. As a CFO for 25+ years I have seen to many businesses fail because they were caught up in what I describe as PASSIVE MARKETING AND PASSING ADVERTISING. You need to be selling — and there is a really big difference between marketing and selling. Not knowing what your business is all about, I cannot get more specific with you, but SELL SELL SELL SELL
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Get as much free publicity as you can. Local newspapers and radio / TV news are often looking for fill in stories. Make sure you send regular press releases. A well prepared press release can get you a lot of free publicity equivalent to $$$Millions$$$ in advertising costs.
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Experience

word of mouth
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Marketing is very important. Stay focused on who your market is, think of ways that you could reach them (what that market uses most in their daily lives) and figure out what you can afford, and make sure that there is something in your ad or whatever you do that lets you know that the ad is working for you. I.E. "refer to this ad when you call" type of stuff. This way you have something to gauge value on. Marketing really depends on what your business is and your business plan, and then a lot of it is common sense. Your local chamber of commerce or small business center might have some more information to help you get started.
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Sorry but I do not agree with answer one, If you do a good job well why sell yourself cheap.
You will find you will only attract customers who want to buy cheap products therefore they will not spend a great deal and your reputation will suffer as a consequence. My advice, quality not quantity and offer a better service to your customers then WATCH THEM RETURN and spread the word to others. ok. !!!
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Start small, dont over stock.Set realistic hours of operation and stick to them ..Dont be an immediate people pleaser… most of all offer a good product and good service and you will succeed
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personal experience

Depending on how "small" your small business is, CUSTOMER SERVICE / WORD OF MOUTH is your best advertising. Do what you say and say what you do…..Attitude and gratitude is the key!
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The best advice that I can give is to really know where your product/service is placed in your customer’s minds in comparison to your competition. Make sure to have business cards with you wherever you go and set a goal for yourself, let’s say: introduce yourself to 10 people a day in your community and give them your card. Chances are they will throw it away, but the ones who you impact can become great word of mouth advertisers.
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have patience, treat your customers well, word of mouth is the best and cheapest form of advertising
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know who your clients are and be sure to advertise where they are. if you want to branch out, those bus benches are good because they are seen by everybody. magnets and pens are good too because they are portable and they will travel all over by themselves, advertising as they go. be sure to mark your vehicle too. take a class at the local community college on small business. see what the competition is doing. be sure you budget for marketing, and track your responses by each method used. reuse the best and throw out the rest.be creative and colorful so you stand out from the rest.
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one word. advertise.
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