There once was a time when having an advertising budget meant you looked to the local newspaper or the Yellow Pages. While both these mediums still have value as part of a structured marketing campaign, alone they are unlikely to yield much in the way of customers.
When I first set up my accounting business back in 2000, I advertised in two places: I spent around £360 participating in a Yellow Pages composite display advertisement, and £7 on a listing in a small internet-based directory of accountants interested in international tax.
I did not get a single enquiry from the Yellow Pages, but the £7 I spent on getting into that little directory was the best £7 I have ever spent.
This £7 sent to me someone who worked locally to where I bought my first office space. He was several years behind with tax returns and thought he needed an elaborate solution to avoid being dragged away and locked up. We met, and I listened, and we worked out what needed to be done to bring his affairs up to date. I spent some time talking him through everything and reassuring him that he wasn’t going to prison and that everything was going to be okay.
The result was happy customer who recommended us to his colleagues and friends, and seventeen years on many of these people are still valued clients of my firm. There are two positive things I learned from this experience:
- The best investment you can make is in your existing customers; and
- If you need to connect with new business, go to the internet.
The internet has changed everything, it is the engine that makes the biggest companies in the world what they are: if you go back to 2000 when I decided to work for myself: Google wasn’t yet two, Facebook was almost four years away and Twitter six. How things change.
Google cornered the market in targeted advertising in the late 2000s, gathering its demographic information from search histories. Facebook, however, did even better; by giving the public a social networking interface that allowed people to connect, make friends and pursue their interests on a single web platform, Facebook convinced the general public to give them all their demographic and marketing information, in exchange for community. And this is why Facebook is the most efficient marketing platform available today.
It is easy and free to give your business a presence on Facebook, this gives you a mechanism to drive targeted businesses and individuals to your own business. You can then research or outsource paid campaigns which will help you to market your business to your customers, in a cost efficient way that gives your business tangible results. Most importantly, Facebook allows you to begin and then maintain a relationship with your customers.
What more could you want?
To find out how I can help you or your business, drop me an email Miranda@MJY-CA.com.