

HN: How would you target small business owners? - igglepiggle

I'd like to try and find some novel ways of targeting small business owners, in different sectors.<p>What kind of search terms could I use to target realtors, restaurateurs, florists, etc.?<p>Are there any other cost effective and measurable ways of reaching them? I'm reluctant to start thinking about producing expensive mailers, advertising in trade publications, or cold calling.. those things feel like pouring time and money down the drain.<p>What methods would you try?
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Harkins
Go pound the pavement.

My dad has a small web design and hosting business. Nearly all of his
customers live within five miles of his home, he's succeeding because he knows
his neighborhood, wants to see local business do well, and knows how to talk
to them and build a relationship over time.

I know this is not a magic way to get the attention of small business owners
nation-wide, but if there were such a thing you would know it because everyone
else with something to sell would be praising it loud and long.

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jyothi
The best would be reach out to them pulling out their phone numbers/email from
yellow pages.

Other bulk marketing options:

\- Attend any events/places where your target audience gather. Eg: whole sale
flower market, hotel association meeting, banks etc

\- Buy ad space on possible websites they visit Eg. websites of their
suppliers, hosting provider.

\- Create an interesting referral scheme.

\- Buy in ambassadors within the community to talk for you.

\- Content based advertising on emails or with placements (there would be too
much noise though)

Depending on whether the SMEs are aware of their need and a possible existence
of a company like yours who offer solution they might search the internet, in
which case you are lucky and search advertising would work.

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RobGR
Think about the small business owners you know. In their regular business, do
they do a lot of searching on google ? Spend much time reading flyers that
came in the mail ?

The answer is probably not, and that's why it is hard to advertise to them.

They do talk to their friends and employees if they have any. If you do
something that saves money at one small business, word of mouth and the
migration of small business employees can bring you new business, but on a
long time scale.

One reason why cold-calling and personal visits can work (presuming your
target has money, and you have a useful product etc), is that it costs the
advertiser to a substantial amount to go to each potential customer, therefore
the advertisers must focus and do some research, and the buyers can believe
there is a reason to spend a few minutes hearing the proposal.

It's kind of like those proposals to end spam by charging a penny per email.

I suspect that most advertising money is simply wasted. That vast sea of
billboards, the commercials on TV, ads in magazines, etc, represent nothing
more than a massive long term drain on society. It's possible that with new
ways of tracking the effectiveness of adveritising, like linking your google
adwords to google checkout transactions and "closing the loop", we will reduce
spending on advertising overall. That would be a big shift in our economy and
society.

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HeyLaughingBoy
How expensive is your product/service? If it costs enough that cold-calling
would give good ROI, then you can use the yellow pages to get numbers, or just
drop in. I was recently in an attorney's waiting room when a salesperson for a
software company walked in on a cold visit and I was really surprised at how
well received she was even though initially they weren't interested.

Alternately, you can call a few local ones and offer them a free
subscription/license in exchange for contact names. An actual name of someone
to call is infinitely more valuable than just a number. A name, with the
recommendation of "Suzie at Flowers4U told me you might be interested" is even
more so.

For Adwords, I think you just have to get creative to find words that are
cheap but effective. Trial and error!

