simple approach to marketing your small business...

1. Grow your small business and start-up with local partnership

Let's face it, as much as we all wish it was so, starting out really isn't as easy as becoming an overnight sensation out of nowhere. That doesn't happen. When it comes to getting your name out there, start-up and small business is a huge deal. But what can you do when you just don't have the budget for it? With so much to do, sometimes it seems next to impossible.

Today, let's look at how you could leverage every opportunity you can to get the word out there about your business and get your marketing moving in the right direction. One of the best ways to do this is to partner up with local (or overseas) complementary businesses and pool your marketing budgets. Have you included this strategy in your marketing plan for this financial year 2014-15? Here is how it works:

You promote them, they promote you. Or you offer their customers a special deal and vice versa. There are so many ways to get creative cross promoting with other companies. You simply must do that if you want to make the most of your marketing effort.

If your small business or start-up is local and your depending on foot traffic from the other businesses around you in order to grow your customer base - you could be making a huge mistake.

Take the case of a small retail business recently opened in town next to really big grocery stores. I went in and met with the owner. He told me; "it's been really slow getting  going. I have been working for days without any customer coming in - they  just looked through the windows".  Just because a small start-up lands in the middle of the town and surrounded by big stores doesn't mean that they can grow on those coat tails. Just like any new business - it is really critical that they let their target market know that they are there. If you build it, they will come, they will look for you, and is truly a pipe dream.

Every small business owner must let their prospects know, repeatedly, what they have to offer. If you are local based small business, one of the easiest ways to get the word out there is to partner with some of the other businesses in the area or community that you are located in. you can pull your marketing budget and make a much bigger impact, and you can set up some cross promotion too. A really good thing to do is to sit down and talk together and see where you have commonalities in your target market, and then devise a strategy so that it will work for each one of you.

Now here is a hint for you: this approach will work for just about any type of business. You don't have to be a PhD/MBA holder, or multimillion dollar business for it to be successful. All type of businesses can benefit from cross promotion too.

Who can you cross promote with to make it worthwhile for both of you? Brainstorm a list of those businesses and then put it into action. I would love for your to share your ideas with me.

That's it for today, we'll continue with marketing approach2 on the next edition.  If you know a small business owner who could use the tip I shared here with you - please send them the link to subscribe to my weekly dose on 'Help You Grow Your Small Business'. 

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