“9 Highly Effective Spa Marketing and Salon Marketing Tips!”

Spa and Salon Marketing & Advertising Strategies

Here are 9 low-cost but highly effective spa and salon marketing tips to help you boost your sales and profits fast.

Tip 1: Look for some low-cost ways you can strengthen the perceived value of your spa products or treatments. You can easily do this by adding in other treatments and products by packaging your offers. Then test raising your price. Don’t be surprised if both your sales and your profit margin go up!

Tip 2: Try to limit your customer’s decision making to either “Yes. I’ll buy.” or “No. I won’t buy.” Don’t risk losing them by including “which one” decisions. The more options you offer the client, the more likely some customers will procrastinate and never make the decision… causing you to lose a sale needlessly.

Tip 3: You can demonstrate a low cost for your salon products or hair services by breaking down the price to its lowest time increment. For example, “Enjoy all of this for less than 90 cents a day” (for something priced at $325 a year like your salon membership program).

Tip 4: Add an unanticipated bonus to every sales transaction just before completing the sale. It prevents customers from developing any last minute hesitation… and changing their minds about buying.

Tip 5: Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your local targeted area. Postcards are dog cheap and easy to use. Most recipients who ignore other types of advertising will read a brief ad when it’s delivered to them via a postcard.

Tip 6: Prospects who ask questions are typically close to buying. Take advantage of this. Don’t just answer their question. Include a reason for them to buy your spa treatments as part of your answer. Then ask for the sale… or tell them exactly what to do to place their order. i.e. “We accept Visa, MasterCard, Amex or cash, which would you prefer?”

Tip 7: Collect testimonials from your clients and use them in all your spa marketing efforts. Testimonials provide grounds that your spa products or treatments deliver the results you promise. For maximum impact, use only testimonials that describe specific results the customer enjoyed.

Tip 8: Include “benefit rich” headlines on all your salon marketing material including your website! Many visitors arrive at a web page then immediately click away… unless something instantly catches their attention and keeps them from leaving. A headline accomplishes this!

Tip 9: Continually test and evaluate everything you use or do to promote your spa business and salon. Allocate 80 percent of your spa marketing budget to proven promotions. Use the other 20 percent for testing new variations. Most salon businesses using this system continue growing – even in highly competitive markets.

Bonus Tip: Handle client complaints quickly and with a positive attitude. Strive to preserve your relationship with them instead of your immediate profit from the transaction. They will reward you with repeat sales and referrals… instead of punishing you by telling everybody they know about their unhappy experience using your day spa or salon and causing you to lose future clients.

Each of these spa marketing and salon marketing tips provides a simple, low-cost way for you to boost your sales and profits quickly. All you have to do is take ACTION!

Dedicated To Multiplying Your Revenues…

About the Author

Since 1994, John Uhrig has successfully used the Internet to effectively convey and market information. Recently, John decided to create a beauty salon, day spa & salon marketing system where he shares his experience and information for proper marketing. This System can be found at: http://www.spamarketing.ca

Builders and Contractors are you doing anything different in these hard times to increase your business? Or are you doing the same ole same ole? There is an old saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result?

Is that you?

What I’m trying to say is the old ways no longer work. In by gone days all a contractor had to do was give the customer good quality and good service and he/she would be set. Then set back and let your customers do your selling for you. They would tell a friend and then that friend would tell a friend. Your phone would be ringing off the hook. I remember as an Architectural designer some days I would have up to four people wanting to schedule appointments for designs. That was the good ole days. But now!

There are problems. Most of us in the construction industry we’re not prepared for what happened. We never marketed ourselves,
never had to. So what do we do. Answer: start by doing the basics. Below are a few simple but powerful must does marketing.

*You must Brand your name. That means you have to become known in your town. Think of insurance company’s. There might be
50 insurance company’s in your area but there is always a few that are known by name. Example: “All Davis, State farm” see what I
mean, make your name synonymous with building.

*Become easier to find. “The phone never rings”,boo hoo hoo. Well why would it? Customers don’t mysteriously know who you are
or what you do. If they are looking for your service they will use the internet to find you. You have to have a Website.

*Easy payments. This day and time credit still is king! You have to have the ability to get customers financed or at the very least take credit cards. It is just the way the world does business.

The above are just a few of the things you have to be doing to survive in the building industry. As you can see they are not hard but you do have to take action.

If you would like more tip’s and help you can follow my news letter the Construction Times

About the Author

George Michaels has spent his entire life in the construction industry. He currently is editor of the the Construction Times a weekly ezine dedicated to the help and support to the Building Contractor

Transparency. It has become the norm with social networking and online marketing. We each have our own barometer between too much information and not enough revealed.

Wikipedia states: “transparency in a social context more generally, implies openness, communication, and accountability. It is a metaphorical extension of the meaning a “transparent” object is one that can be seen through.”

Weaving transparency is important for an effective marketing message and branding. How much though is too much? This has been one of the most challenging areas I have wrestled with in social networking.

My training as a therapist has always reinforced the necessity to “remain a blank wall,” allowing the client to create her own picture about me. I always prided myself on sharing as little personal information as possible with my clients unless it benefitted them in some way. My clients knew I deeply cared about them; they just never knew much about me or my personal life.

So here comes social networking. Transparency is the “name of the game.” Well, I was immediately out of my comfort zone because it went against everything I had been doing in my counseling practice. My beliefs were getting in the way of progress.

Professional tenets, began to be questioned. Slowly I experimented with sharing parts of my life. At first I wasn’t sure what to say. That unease was probably reflected in my message.

I continue to explore how much to share about me and my life. My coach continues to encourage me to reveal more. There were suggestions I resisted, but after letting them simmer for awhile I always gave it a shot. I trust her and know she wants the best for me.

Revealing parts about my life was uncomfortable. I felt very vulnerable. I had always been a private person. Connecting to others through social networking was more important to me than firmly holding onto my beliefs. Now was the time to step out of my comfort zone.

Okay, I was ready to do what was necessary. Of course, I made mistakes along the way. Sometimes I can be very opinionated. Other times I was resistant. Using video was one of the biggest hurdles to get past.

There are some people who I feel are way over the top. They share TMI (too much information). This was actually helpful for figuring out what I felt was inappropriate. At an event where Mari Smith spoke she helped me determine the difference between personal and private. Basically if I was not comfortable with something being a headline on the New York Times, then it was private. Okay. I could work with that.

Social networking and your marketing campaign is designed to build relationships. There is value to allowing people to catch a glimpse behind the curtain. Transparency helps to foster the relationship.

People buy from someone they know, like and trust. If I don’t know someone providing a service I need, then I will ask my friends and associates if they know of someone. That feels much more comfortable than picking someone out of a phone book or Google.

In order to reach your ideal client, you must take that first step in creating a relationship. As they know, like and trust you they will begin to see you as a resource and the person to help solve their problem. Isn’t that what you wanted all along?

Activity: So think about where you might be holding yourself back. Do you know why? Is it because it is uncomfortable for you? You feel vulnerable? There is always the possibility someone might disagree with you. I know you will be judged by others. That is just a matter of fact.

About the Author

And now I would like to invite you to claim your FREE E-course “Step Into Your Greatness” available at: => http://mindsetformarketingsuccess.com

Click here to get everything you need and begin clearing the obstacles to the next level of your success.

From Loren Fogelman, the success expert, founder of Mindset for Marketing Success.

I LOVE REFERRALS! If you like making easy money, then you should too! Referrals are a business person’s dream because most of the work has been taken out of the process and all you have to do is follow up properly on the referral and the business is likely yours. The fact is, though, some referrals are better than others. Knowing the difference between the kinds of referrals that exist in the world of business and how to give and get them more effectively can be the key to your closing more business and making more money.Below is a list of the 3 types of business referrals and when you should use them (OR NOT!)

1. The USE MY NAME referral-You know this one. It is the kind we as business professionals give and get all the time. Someone you know tells you to call someone they know and they say, “Just USE MY NAME.” The person giving this kind of referral may have the best of intentions, but the fact is, these kinds of referrals are really not all that valuable. unless the referral is properly warmed up, it is not likely to turn into real business. You should only use this kind of referral when it is impossible to warm the referral up or time is of the essence.

2. The VITRUAL INTRO referral-Virtual intros are great. These have come about since the advent of the internet. It is simply a way of introducing someone to someone else via email. It is a great way to give and get referrals because all parties are attached to the email. It also gives you the opportunity to explain in detail why you think the two parties should get together and do business. It also offers an easy way to follow up on the referral using the initial email text. Use the Virtual Intro email whenever you can…it is second only to…

3. The FACE TO FACE INTRODUCTION referral-Obviously, there is no better way to give and get referrals than through a face to face introduction. Introducing business professionals face to face is a perfect way to start and build business relationships. It allows the parties to chat and get to know each other a bit. Face to Face introductions are certainly the most valuable type, but it can often be difficult to get all parties in the same place at the same time. Therefore, a 3-way call works great as a second choice here. Now that technology allows us to do 3-way calls from just about any phone that exists, this can be a great way to help refer business.

There you have it, 3 types of referrals and the times to use each. Practice turning USE MY NAME referrals into Virtual Intros or Face to Face Introduction referrals and you will quickly become the star of your personal network!

There is an added bonus, by giving great referrals you can help shape the referrals you receive too!

About the Author

Stephen Labuda is an entrepreneur who built his business by networking with other professionals. You can connect with him through his Boston web design website or through the Boston Networking Group.

I was just reading through some other articles on EzineArticles about “attracting” the ideal customer.

I’m going to deal with two aspects of that.

Our job in marketing should be more about “finding and acquiring” customers instead of “attracting” customers. The difference is passive versus active. “Attracting” sort of implies that if we do all of the right things we’ll attract them to us while we set here. Marketing, done right, however, means that we identify who our ideal customer is then we “go get ‘em.” That’s an active step. And THEN if we say the right things to the right people they will literally JUMP into our shopping cart.
The second part of that is about THE IDEAL customer. And most small business owners either have no ideal who their ideal customer is, or they may have identified a much less than ideal customer.I guess we could define ideal, and the really ideal.

There is a lot of ways we could define an ideal customer, and not all of these are this AND this, they are more like this OR this..

Easy to get
The individual customer buys a LOT (they are the super customers. When some clients buy $10, these are the ones that buy $1,000, or even $10,000 each time they come along).
Or, as a group, they buy more. In other words, I had a client who was selling a $5,000 program and having trouble selling them. When asked what an Ideal client would look like she started talking about larger companies who would buy $10,000 to $15,000 of the same program from her. But when we looked at options she was hesitant to even look at we lowered her price to $250 and sold hundreds a month, in other words, $25,000 a month and for only 4 hours of her time, about $6,000/hour. The $5,000 program was taking 8-15 hours a month to produce, and many more hours than that to sell it, and she wasn’t selling them.
Or even a company that could refer LOTS of companies.So, there could be several different ways to define ideal. All of the way from easy to sell, to making the most money, to making the most money with the less time, or a customer or a prospect who’d refer tons of new customers while reducing your time doing it, the last being one of the best, but still, your definition may be different.

Now, let’s take that even further, as I said above “THE REALLY IDEAL.”

The Ideal Customer… The Golden Egg

Let’s call the ideal customer we defined above as “the golden egg.” But now we want to find “the golden goose.” The golden goose is the one that lays dozens of “golden eggs.”

So, once you define a golden egg, who they are, and where we’d find them, then we start looking for “the golden goose” that lays those particular golden eggs.

The Golden Goose… The Customer That Lays Dozens of the Golden Eggs

Creston, one of my clients, who owns a sign company, was talking with me about how to find his golden eggs. At first we were defining the golden eggs as companies in malls. They are frequently moving in and out and needing his signs. He had been doing a lot of really small yard signs such as realtor signs. They were $24 each and were taking up a lot of his time to sell individual signs.

So, as we talked about the potential Golden Geese each of those turned into a different form of Golden Goose.

The mall shops turned into him working with large scale property managers. Those that managed the malls. He made a deal with them. He’d cover the empty shops with signs and help them get that shop filled quicker. Then they’d recommend him to the new shop owners that came in. So, instead of selling a sign here and there to the shops, now he gets almost every shop as a customer both every time it goes empty and every time it has a new shop owner. And, on top of that, some of these shops are franchises, so he gets referrals to other shops around town that are in the same franchise. In fact, he offers a discount to the shop owner who gives him a referral that is sold to another shop owner.

He also built his marketing message to target mall managers instead of shop owners. Now he says that the average mall or property manager makes another $30,000 a year from partnering with him due to the fast turnaround and high occupancy rates. BINGO. Now he gets lots of Golden Goose mall managers. And, that’s at a time when malls are actually downsizing… they really need him. He’s their answer, and they are providing him a nice answer as well.

That was when his sales exploded.

We also looked at how to find the Golden Goose for the real estate signs. He did develop a program for real estate agencies that would recommend his signs to all of their real estate agents, another one for mortgage brokers, and another one for the city wide association of realtors. That certainly kicked his sales of $24 signs up several notches. But they just didn’t compare to the large thousand dollar signs in the malls. The difference was that the small real estate signs weren’t really golden eggs. So, he had developed a goose, but not a golden goose that was laying a lot of golden eggs. Yes, he was getting a lot of eggs, but just not golden ones from this program.

So, where are your golden eggs, and how could you find your big golden geese?

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Article Source: EzineArticles.com/

About the Author

John Stone is an expert at driving traffic to any website or keyword he chooses. He can show you how to get top ranking in google just like the article you are reading. John’s Blog Facebook Training

Photo by Mzelle BiscotteHow many times already today has someone tried to sell you something? The ads come in by email, snail mail, fax, radio, magazines, newspapers, TV, and your web browser; the salespeople write you, call you, and approach you in the store or showroom. Are you even listening any more? How often do you actually buy something because someone you didn’t know tried to sell it to you?

Your clients — consumers and businesses alike — are just like you. They are not only fed up with hype, most of the time they don’t even see it. Overwhelmed with communications, they tune out the vast majority of the marketing messages they are presented with just in order to get through their day. After attending a race plastered with Coca-Cola logos, a survey revealed that only a third of the attendees could remember who was the sponsor.

“A weekday edition of The New York Times contains more information than the average person was likely to come across in a lifetime in 17th century England.”
— R.S. Wurman, Information Anxiety

Making information available to your clients is still important, so don’t throw out your brochures or take down your web site. But with so many communications arriving all the time, your clients want control over how and when they receive your information. More than ever before people want to do business with people they know, like, and trust.

With a service business, what you are really marketing is you, not the service. When you are the product, your customers need to know who you are. They want to feel a connection with you and know that they can trust you before they will consider doing business with you.

“Beleaguered by e-mail spam and intrusive pop-up ads on the Internet, consumers are using the “delete” button with increasing frequency and losing confidence in other traditional forms of advertising as well… Consumers rank word-of-mouth recommendations from others as the most trusted form of advertising.”
– PlanetFeedback.com

According to psychologists, a primary motivational factor for human behavior is affiliation, defined as “the desire to establish and maintain warm and friendly relations with others.” We are naturally drawn toward experiences where affiliation is possible, and avoid situations where it is not.

When we receive a recommendation from someone we are already affiliated with, we believe that following that recommendation will continue the positive experience. If we think developing an affiliation is possible with someone new because they have approached us in a warm and friendly way, we are encouraged to establish a new relationship, whether it is personal or business.

“With the amount of information presented increasing, mass marketing campaigns become less effective… One-to-one marketing will not just be a possibility, it will be a necessity.”
Easton Consultants, Information Overload

Establishing a one-to-one connection with your prospective customers can begin with projecting the warm and friendly image that encourages affiliation. Make yourself available for contact and conversation that isn’t necessarily leading directly to a sale. Encourage word of mouth by developing and keeping in touch with a network of current and former clients, colleagues, competitors, referral partners, and influential people.

Focus on providing information to clients in objective, rather than promotional ways. A recent study found that a commercial web site scored 27% higher in “usability” by visitors when written in an objective style (sharing information) instead of a promotional style (singing the company’s praises). You can carry this principle off line by writing helpful articles and giving talks in preference to sending brochures and making cold calls.

Participate in your client community as a peer by attending conferences, seminars, fundraisers, and other educational and social events. On the web, frequent discussion lists, forums, and other online communities. When you read articles and posts, take a moment to post your comments to the author where other visitors can see them.

Prospective buyers name newsletters, weblogs, and other forms of opt-in, reader-friendly communications as one of their most trusted sources of information about products and services. As well as publishing one yourself, it pays to be mentioned in someone else’s.

“Get to know the influentials…invite them in and engage them in a conversation…Most are local community leaders, or have real involvement in their communities, and as such are the nodes of wide personal networks. They are the people … to whom others look for advice or counsel.”
– Edward Keller & Jonathan Berry, The Influentials

When you engage in a community, people begin to know you from the words of others instead of from your words alone. You can even create your own community by starting an affinity group or business network, launching a discussion list, hosting an online forum or live conference, adding commenting features to your web site, posting reader responses in your newsletter, and much more.

The real key is to begin connecting in person with the population you want to reach, instead of relying on promotion and selling to bring them to you and make them want to buy.

Copyright © 2009, C.J. Hayden

C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now!™ Thousands of business owners and independent professionals have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of “Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You’ll Ever Need” at www.getclientsnow.com.

So much of the literature on the subject of referrals focuses on the proper ways to network, ask for referrals, and create incentive programs for referral sources. While some of these more tactical things do indeed produce referrals for the organizations and salespeople that employ them, they are often little more than window dressing when it comes to the big picture.

Building a foundation that automatically generates referral momentum is not done through external actions  like some many things in life, you do it from the inside out. Plain and simple the most widely referred business are purely more referable.

I’ve studied a lot of businesses that easily generate referrals and they share some common internal tendencies as part of their brand and culture.

Make people look good

Looking at all business relationships with an eye on making prospects, customers, vendors, mentors, and staff look and feel good is a tremendously attractive internal quality. I read this quote recently and I think it works well here – “To a large degree, our success and happiness in life depends on how much people like themselves when they’re with us.” Joe Caruso

Ready to refer

We all know that giving referrals is one of the best ways to get referrals, but the difference lies in the systematic preparation. There is a big difference between understanding this philosophically and practicing proactively. Building your back pocket with a group of  “best of class” providers takes work. You’ve got to discover, recruit, train and build the trust necessary to develop a proven network of providers who can help you add value to your client relationships, but once you do, the rest is pretty easy.

Keeps promises

The word trust is easy to use and even easier to lose. But, as Stephen M.R. Covey so correctly points out in his book, The Speed of Trust,  trust is a hard currency and asset. Trust impacts how fast things are done and how much they cost. It is so much easier and less expensive to refer a business that keeps its promises.

Creates an experience

We will travel to the ends of the earth to be entertained or at least not bored to tears. The businesses we love to refer aren’t boring. They realize that it’s not just about the product and service they sell, it’s equally about the total experience,  the marketing, the message, the people, the processes, the delivery are all carefully considered as props integral to a successful customer experience.

Educates, instead of selling

Nobody likes to refer a friend to a sales pitch, right? But, exposing a friend to information that might help them get more of what they want out of life, now that’s a different story. Even better when that information is packaged and presented in multiple locations, formats, and venues.

Adds value beyond price

In Bob Burg’s book the Go-Giver the main character, Joe, encounters the 5 laws of stratospheric success. The first law, the Law of Value states that your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment. This is a tough one for so many people because we often have no great baseline for the value we bring. The key here is to work tirelessly to understand, quantify and enhance the value our customer receives and the rest will take care of itself.

Does something talkable

My spell check isn’t balking at the word talkable, but I think it properly expresses this one. You’ve certainly encountered the concept of word of mouth constantly of late, but I think that concept tends to lean heavily on tactics and stunts, like viral videos, that might create a flurry of word of mouth. To do something talkable to me is to have something at the core of your business, a higher purpose, an inspirational story, a product or service that is simply brilliant, or a habit that makes people smile. Authenticity and consistency are what make something talkable.

Exceeds expectations

This one seems pretty easy, but why isn’t it. When someone buys a product, toss other stuff in the box, right? Maybe, but the only way to actually exceed expectations is to know what they are. And that’s where people fall down. In business and in life, it’s extremely difficult to exceed an expectation you have not participated in setting. Widely referred business work very hard to set the proper expectations and then it’s pretty simple matter to exceed them. So, you see exceeding expectations might also include understanding and attracting the right customers, laying exactly how you work to get results on the line, teaching customers what’s expected of them, and even saying no once and while.

Focus on even one of the internal mindsets and practices above and watch how much more referable you become.

I also created a public mindmap of this article and would love it if you would contribute your thoughts on the tactical elements of each of these principles listed above. You do have to sign-up for a free Mindmeister account to add your thoughts, but it’s a pretty cool tool anyway so you might like to play around with it. You can find the map here – http://www.mindmeister.com/23949165

~ ~ ~

John Jantsch is a veteran marketing coach, award winning blogger and author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide.

He is the creator of the Duct Tape Marketing small business marketing system. You can find more information by visiting http://www.ducttapemarketing.com

Photo by enriqueburgosgarciaIn today’s world, it seems that almost any topic is open for debate. While I was gathering facts for this “refer a friend” marketing program article, I was quite surprised to find some of the issues I thought were settled are actually still being openly discussed.

As a small business owner, you may be considering the implementation of a “refer a friend” marketing program. There are several reasons why this is a wise move.

Basic marketing theory offers that word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective, and least expensive, forms of business promotion. Word of mouth marketing occurs any time one of your current customers or clients recommends your business to someone else, who then, on the basis of that recommendation, decides to visit your business as well. Lead generation (getting the potential customer to walk through the door) is often the most time-intensive element of marketing. Once the potential customer has chosen to “walk through the door”, it becomes much easier to convert them to a paying client.

In this form, word of mouth marketing costs almost nothing to implement, and if your business is continually recommended, it, obviously will continue to grow.

There are several forms that this marketing by referral program could take. One is that of “refer a friend”, which, as it sounds, is based on the idea that your current customers can be rewarded for referring their friends to your business.

When considering the implementation of this kind of marketing strategy, there are several issues that must be considered. First, consider the lifetime value of a business customer. This value is computed by multiplying the income received by the number of times in a year it is received by how many years the customer remains in your business. For a business consultant, for example, the income received might be $400 per hour, the number of hours per year might be 100, and the average length of the client relationship might be 10 years. So, for the consultant in this scenario, the lifetime value of a customer would be $400/hour x 100 hours/year x 10 years = lifetime value of $400,000. This figure represents the amount that the business can spend to attract and retain a client and still remain profitable. It also implies that if the business can attract and retain clients for less than this amount (such as using a marketing by referral program), the business’ profitability can increase significantly.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

The first step in setting up a marketing referral program is to understand the lifetime value of your customer. This will indicate how much should be spent to attract new customers.

The second step is to tell your existing customers that their referrals would be valued and appreciated. A simple way to begin is to include a statement about this on all customer-facing materials, including brochures, invoices, and receipts. Many businesses create special “tell a friend” cards, which allow someone to gift a friend with a service or product.

For example, a beauty salon may create “tell a friend” cards, and ask their current customers to pass these out to friends who might want to try the salon. In this model, the current customer is able to be generous by sharing a “gift” with a friend, who may, ultimately, sample the salon and decide to stay on as a customer. For the price of a printed business card, and the cost of the service or product, businesses can generate hundreds of new leads, very cost-effectively. The key to this strategy, though, is that the business must offer a product or service with high perceived value and low actual cost. An example might be a free haircut, or a mini-facial, or something similar.

The third step of this process is to define an internal system or structure for rewarding clients for their referrals. The higher the price points in your business, the more generous the rewards should be. Consider creating a rewards schema which gives customers greater and greater rewards for every two or three new customers referred. Following through with the beauty salon example, the first referral might entitle the referrer a free haircut, but the tenth referral might entitle that referrer to a full spa treatment.

Keeping track of referrals may be best done in some kind of database or with customer tracking software. Build a referral tree to understand which customers are referring the most new business. Be sure to thank them promptly for their first referral, and don’t forget to continue to reward them for sharing your business with others.

No matter what kind of business you run, a referral marketing program can increase profitability.

Now you can understand why there’s a growing interest in “refer a friend” marketing program. When people start looking for more information about the subject, you’ll be in a position to meet their needs.

About the Author:
Hans Hasselfors is the founder of www.submityournewarticle.com.

Business cards are probably the most basic means of advertising.  They also are one of the tools of entrepreneurs that are most often misused.  Some individuals have an image of an overly self-promoting individual when they think of business cards; however, business cards are an accepted form of business communication.

Before designing your personal card, be sure to know the basic rules of quality design and etiquette.  Design is not overly difficult.  Minimize text, giving only the essential information such as name, business address, phone number, e-mail and website.  Other information can be added, such as a motto or tagline, but be careful that there is plenty of blank space on the card, or it will become cluttered and unattractive.

The company logo should also be on the card.  In terms of color and attractiveness, the card should basically use two or three colors between the text and logo, and a simple border can be a nice accent to your card.  Adding more color and text can be risky, and could easily become overkill.  Etiquette is a much more difficult issue than design.  It takes skills at reading people, and discovering their interest.

When possible, avoid casually give out a business card, only give them to individuals who have either shown interest in your company, are in professional relationships with you, or have some other interest in what you are doing with your small business.  Including business cards in personal correspondence, such as holiday or get well soon cards can be disastrous for your image.  In order to reach new people, posting business cards in local restaurants and stores can be a great way to get your name out.  As long as you are careful with your design and etiquette, using business cards well can be a great way to establish your small company.

A second great way to get your small business good publicity is to use brochures.  Going for top quality brochures is essential if this is going to work.  Your simple inkjet printer will not get the job done.  Professional, four color printers can produce brilliant brochures, which will stand out amongst the competition.  A brochure can be very personal.  It is a way to choose the most important parts of your company, the ones that you, as owner, are most passionate about, and put them in color for potential customers.

Choosing quality pictures and focusing on a unified color scheme will make your brochure rival those of larger corporate entities, and will draw people in.  The other key to making brochures useful is getting them out.  Like business cards, try posting them in local establishments.  It is also a good idea to keep a stack at your receptionist desk.  From there, be creative.  Give current customers a brochure to keep in their house so they have easy access to any company information, and can tell their friends about you.  Brochures are a great way to maximize word of mouth advertising.

Postcards, a third great way to help your small business gain visibility, take advertising beyond the word of mouth.  Create a special event, and design an attractive postcard around the event.  Then send the postcard to all of the addresses in your area, and try to draw customers in.  While many will simply be thrown away, others will be put on bulletin boards, and generate customers for you.  Postcards are inexpensive to make, and to mail as well. Postcards are also a great way to reach out to large groups of unknown to people.

Advertising for your small business cannot be discussed without looking into the potential of the internet.  A great website will do wonders for helping customers see what you have to offer, but getting them to go deep into your website is difficult.  Make sure that you have a clean, simple homepage that has enough information to draw users in, but do not go overboard.  Make sure the site is attractive and easy to navigate, or nobody will go anywhere.

Also, keep your audience in mind.  If you are reach out to those without a high income, keep the design of the website simple, since they probably will not have the quality of computers to quickly load complex sites filled with animation and video.  However, if you are offering a high end product to a wealthier audience, be sure to fill the site with bells and whistles to make it attractive and exciting.

Getting noticed is a tall order for any small business, but not an impossible one.  With savvy advertising through business cards, brochures, postcards and web pages your company can find success with relative ease.  Just be sure to do everything on the same level of professionalism that your company provides, or you risk appearing unprofessional to prospects and existing customers.