How To Start Your Own Business

Part 4: Marketing Your Business

Aired May 27, 2002

Businesses spend billions of dollars a year on marketing and public relations. Companies and their products live and die by their ads and the image they project. But advertising alone isn't enough. For example, many dot-coms spent a fortune on advertising only to find people didn't buy what they were selling. The experts say new business owners and established companies alike need a marketing plan. In part 4 of How To Start Your Own Business, 90.3 WCPN®'s Mike West looks into attracting and keeping customers.

Mike West: Experts warn that one of the most over-looked parts of a new business is often marketing, advertising and public relations. Steve Millard says that's a mistake. He's the Executive Director of the Council Of Smaller Enterprises, or COSE. Millard says you can have the greatest new product or the best food in town. But you need vehicles to spread the word.

Steve Millard: One of the things that people assume is that public is automatically going to buy into their idea, that once they present this and show the world what they have they are going to come running.

MW: Millard says despite the "spend, spend, spend" reputation of Americans, they only have so much money, and it takes marketing to get your hands on a share of their dollars.

SM: One of the things you have to remember is that everybody gets a weekly or monthly income and you've allocated that income in certain ways. What you have to do is have an idea that is good enough to get them to take money they are spending on something else and spend it on your product or service, or free up more discretionary income from another thing that hold near and dear to buy what you have to offer, and that's a harder sell sometimes than people think.

MW: So how do you get the word out? Your business plan should identify who your customers are, and where to find them. That knowledge will lead you to setting up sales calls and meeting with potential clients, or putting flyers on the windshields of cars. Naturally you'll need to contact the publisher of the yellow pages so you can get your name in the book, you can also canvass churches and community centers with hand-outs. Millard says putting up business cards at the supermarket and laundry mat bulletin boards is also a good idea.

Steve Presser demonstrates toy instruments at his Big Fun novelty shop in Cleveland Heights. Presser combines marketing with "do-it-yourself" public relations. He gets exposure by supporting community groups with donations and buying ads in neighborhood flyers and publications.

Steve Presser: You need to promote yourself, and if you're not able to do it yourself then you're going to have to go out and find someone and pay for that service. Promotion, P.R., marketing… very important in any new start up business or else people are not going to find you, unless you are a very high traffic area.

MW: Big Fun can also be found on the internet and is fortunate because the company sells unusual products that attract media attention. Presser says he also borrows advertising ideas from others.

SP: I'm constantly reading, watching and listening. You try to be creative as possible - you can read an article or you can see something on TV that shows that somebody did something very clever and there's no reason why you can't use that. It really is a constant learning process.

MW: Not all businesses are as exciting to the media as a novelty shop. Their owners have to work harder to get publicity.

This is Emerald Supply in Cleveland's mid-town district. Pallets loaded with paper and cleaning supplies are being taken off a truck and will be used to fill the orders of emerald supply customers. Owner Tamara Chappell started the company 12 years ago. She doesn't spend much on ads. 85% of her customers are referrals. But Chappell still has to go after new business regularly.

Tamara Chappell: You see people and you do demonstrations, demonstration without presentation is conversation. But think of it like this. I sell toilet tissue, I sell can liners, toilet bowl cleaners, gloves. What I sell everyone has a need for. So I approached with everybody has a need, so I looked at their problems and found ways to solve their problem, because my industry is extremely competitive. But people need customer service and they need to know how to get a spot out of a carpet without putting the top on a coffee cup, so if you can get the spot out of a carpet you got a new customer.

MW: If your marketing budget is small there are ways to work around spending a lot of money. COSE's Steve Millard says a little effort can mean low cost exposure.

SM: There are a whole lot of free ways to get yourself noticed and have people understand who you are and what you are all about. You don't have to pay thousands of dollars to ad agencies. It's everything from sending a press release to your local newspaper, which most people don't realize that local newspapers are very well read mechanisms. It's a huge opportunity.

MW: But creative marketing can only go so far. Millard says you'll need some kind of marketing budget. Once it's established, he says don't slash it when business slows down. A recession can be the best time to increase spending. That's when TV, radio and print outlets are likely to offer discounts. And since your competitors are advertising less, your messages will stand out more.

You can also get marketing help and ideas through the internet. Check sites that belong to major office supply store chains and business magazines that cater to small business owners. In Cleveland, Mike West, 90.3 WCPN News.