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3 More Low Cost Ways to Get Customers

By Allison Babb

In a previous article, I shared 3 low cost ways to bring in customers. Here are 3 more.

Get a list of your ideal clients: If you know the demographic of your ideal client (e.g. married, age 40, income $100K or above, subscribes to financial magazines, in your zip code etc), you can actually use that information to get more of your ideal clients. Then you can send out targeted marketing to just those people. www.infoUSA.com is one such place to buy a list. And you can get online right now and just browse what's possible for you. Next, you create a marketing piece, apply a 42 cent stamp and send it out to whatever number of people your budget can afford each month. One key thing to keep in mind is that you do need to send mailings out in at least 3 iterations to get attention. Direct mail sent out just once really doesn't work.

Speak: One of the most powerful ways to increase your credibility, get publicity, and become known as an expert is public speaking. OK, I know that a lot of people fear public speaking more than they fear death, but folks it's really not as difficult as you may perceive it to be. The minute you stand up in front of a room to do a talk, you are considered an expert and people are drawn to doing business with you.

Hook up with www.toastmasters.com and practice your talk. Then do a google search for "associations in CITY" or "business associations in CITY" and you'll come up with places you can contact to speak on your topic. Send an email or call and offer yourself as a speaker. The hardest job in an association is finding speakers. When you call or email them, they are SO grateful that they can book you to talk! And if you become good at it, you begin to receive referrals to talk at other places as well.

Start an Ezine: An ezine (like this one) is an electronic newsletter and costs nothing to write and send. A hardcopy newsletter can get quite costly and is not necessary. An Ezine works to bring in clients because much like speaking, you have an opportunity to build credibility, share your expertise, and also throw in a little blurb about a product or service.

I am able to write quite effortlessly as it comes easily to me. But I know that for some people, writing is painful. If that's you, go to google and search for article templates.

Just pull up the template, fill it in, and voila! You've got an article for your clients. No more writers block. Make sure the information you share in your Ezine is valuable to your recipients. You can create valuable articles simply by asking people what they want or by listening carefully to the common challenges of your clients.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Allison Babb is an author, speaker and Small Business Coach to solo entrepreneurs. Allison publishes the "Small Business Success" weekly Ezine on how to create a steady stream of clients for your small business at: www.GreatSmallBusinessAdvice.com

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