Taking Your Online Business Local

Ever wondered if your work at home business would lend itself to some offline marketing? And, if you've answered, "Yes," do you know what your next steps should be?

A February 12, 2008 post in CNN's Money section, http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/11/smbusiness/local_business_marketing.fsb/ titled, Targeting local prospects for direct marketing got our wheels turning.

Their article is geared more toward a brick and mortar type business, but that's no reason to not consider offline even if your business is "virtual." What you need to successfully market offline is not that different than on. You need to know who your target market is just for starters. Many make the mistake of saying, "Everyone!" when in fact that is never the case.

Would you market a high ticket affiliate program to college students struggling to meet next semesters' tuition? Of course not! See, you've actually just narrowed your focus without even having to think too hard about it. Let's face it, you would need to find monied people willing to branch out and consider alternate sources of income.

So getting back to the point, your local neighborhood might be just that place.

The suggestion in the article is to choose to target zip codes or geographic areas. You, too, can do this same tactic only with a twist.

Make a list of all the successful businesses within a 5 mile radius of your home. Like the article, look for advertising agencies, lawyers, engineering firms, real estate agencies, etc. In other words, businesses with money. Now go to the next step and do yourself up a high quality flyer (or hire a graphic artist to give you a hand). Or, if you're not the flyer type, an alterative might be "simple, oversized postcards to raise awareness about your company and your services."

The primary purpose to keep in mind while developing your flyers or postcards is that people want to know what's in it for them; they could give a hill of beans what you get out of it. So be sure to play up the benefits and features they would be most interested in hearing about. This then leads us to another critical component to successfully contacting anyone - on or offline - you have to truly know your program inside and out.

As ridiculous as that may sound, we've been on the receiving end of trying to help others who really do not know the fine details about the programs they've joined. The simple truth is you cannot sell what you do not know so be sure you do understand all the points of your affiliate program (or online company) before you go public - online or off. Could you, succintly, explain your program if asked about it? Remember, time is money, so short and sweet always works best, your audience will be more attentive if you keep their time constraints in mind.

Of course, the next hardest step is that real first step out the door. Cold calling can be intimidating, but don't let it stop you. If anything you can meet some wonderful people just by stepping out into your world with a "let's all make money" attitude. But don't fool yourself, out the door you must go :)

Have you, or are you currently, successfully advertising offline? If yes, or if you have an questions or comments feel free to comment!

============================================

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Diane Scott provides hot topic news summaries, product reviews, and marketing recommendations. She welcomes your visit to her Online Internet Marketing Strategies blog. Stop by and leave your comments and suggestions any time.