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Thread ID: 103214	2009-09-15 11:55:00	Marketing a home based business	Metla (12)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
810663	2009-09-15 11:55:00	Righto, The wifes project is gathering steam, and resources are being put into marketing/advertising, and seeing as the money being spent belongs to the bank (and they want it back) I figured I'd post here and see if anyone has experience in this process. We have a classified ad running in a local free paper, the website (never heard back from Rob so I just went with what I had) and starting very soon some radio advertising. The business is home based so there is next to no presence as such and people can only be seen by appointment. The point of contention is I have insisted all advertising has a focus on pushing people to the website. Wise move?, Dumbest move ever? Thoughts, advice,suggestions?...what if no one bothers to go to the website? Is a website an effective marketing tool for a business that doesn't do any business over the net?	Metla (12)
810664	2009-09-15 12:00:00	What yer Mrs got in mind?	rob_on_guitar (4196)
810665	2009-09-15 12:05:00	What yer Mrs got in mind? Ah ha, an excellent opening for me to direct you to the website, Then all will be revealed. http://www.opulentnails.co.nz/	Metla (12)
810666	2009-09-15 12:10:00	Well if it helps, tell Lemusa, he will hook you up a advert on my site somehow making it manly hahahahahaha (Sorry sam) and hopefully it will help	rob_on_guitar (4196)
810667	2009-09-15 12:32:00	Righto, The wifes project is gathering steam, and resources are being put into marketing/advertising, and seeing as the money being spent belongs to the bank (and they want it back) I figured I'd post here and see if anyone has experience in this process. We have a classified ad running in a local free paper, the website (never heard back from Rob so I just went with what I had) and starting very soon some radio advertising. The business is home based so there is next to no presence as such and people can only be seen by appointment. The point of contention is I have insisted all advertising has a focus on pushing people to the website. Wise move?, Dumbest move ever? Thoughts, advice,suggestions?...what if no one bothers to go to the website? Is a website an effective marketing tool for a business that doesn't do any business over the net? Personally I have found it best to at least give a phone number with any kind of advertising. There's still a lot of people out there that find it much more natural to make a phone call than hop on the net, and my extremely limited sense of demographics tells me that your wife's target market would contain many more such people than in the industry I'm involved in. If they just want to call, then going to the website is an extra step, and people are lazy. God knows I am. You can't afford not to maximise the number of people calling if you're paying big money. Of course there's never a downside in promoting the website, but I'd never leave out the phone number. To be honest my website by itself is not an effective marketing tool. It's a great information tool for customers who perhaps remember my company name and want to look up my contact details or something, and for people to click through to from the online Yellow Pages. But beyond this I never had any HUGE success driving sales through it directly. And I'm of course in the IT business where websites are a given. The other thing about websites is despite what I just said, I think it's important for any serious business to have one, because there's also a growing number of people who seem to think that any business should have one. If you don't have a dedicated business phone line, I suggest you get one, so that at the very least you can have a special voice mail message for the business. Also helpful if you want to limit the hours when you take business calls. I hope this helps. Take it with a grain of salt if desired, as of course I'm only speaking as someone who sells & fixes computers (which you too have done) and I have no experience in other types of business. But this is the stuff I've learnt over the years. One other tip - if you give the Yellow Pages a call, they can probably give you some statistics on the number of people looking up nail stuff etc on their site. If there are lots, it may be well worth the $50/month for a bronze listing (that's for 6 categories, it's cheaper if you only require 1). It is for me. A 4-month trial or something wouldn't hurt. Each extra customer it sent your way might mean 6 visits a year and 2 referrals.	george12 (7)
810668	2009-09-15 12:57:00	George, I have plenty of time for what you have to say, Your a successful businessman. But, never fear the phone number is in the advertising, we do have a dedicated number, and it is hooked up to an answering machine.	Metla (12)
810669	2009-09-15 13:20:00	Currently you have a Web site on which I make no comment. You also have adverts in the local paper and once again I make no comment as I have not seen it. The local radio, I think, may cost for adverts. As I am sure you are aware, if I wanted computer parts, vehicle parts etc I would not deal purely over the internet unless I knew that I was going to get the deal I paid for. You have to be looking at a local market I think as I will not take a lady from Tokoroa to Wanganui to have the full treatment as it would possibly cost more in petrol to get there and back. George12 makes very good sense in what he/she posted. I do understand that you may not want to publish a Phone No or Address on the 'net but if you want paying customers you have to get them somehow. If you are not working at the moment you could consider using your computer to print out leaflets and do letter box drops while wife stays at home and looks after child(s) and does her stuff. I have to admit that I have not gone through the entire site though. :2cents:	Sweep (90)
810670	2009-09-15 13:23:00	George, I have plenty of time for what you have to say, Your a successful businessman. But, never fear the phone number is in the advertising, we do have a dedicated number, and it is hooked up to an answering machine. Took me a while to make my post but I still stand by it. I will now check out the site. BTW. Word of mouth is the best advertising anyway. Or the worst depending.	Sweep (90)
810671	2009-09-15 20:33:00	We have a classified ad running in a local free paper, the website and starting very soon some radio advertising. The business is home based so there is next to no presence as such and people can only be seen by appointment. I don't think the website will be that often used by the type of customers she is looking for. Maybe she could ask the local hairdresser what they find works best. Or similar sort of businesses. Radio is supposed to be good - can't comment as they always wanted 3 months of ads when they asked me and budget wouldn't allow it. Apart form the ad - did the local rag do a writeup on her business? They do that here now and then, you get a big article and a rave about it.......	pctek (84)
810672	2009-09-15 20:57:00	Nice website, I can see the phone number on the home page (twice) The studio looks very nice too. I wish you both luck. All I can say is that getting a home business going well is very hard and takes a lot fo work. Advertising is very expensive and it is always hard to know what type to use. Eg newspaper, radio, fliers. Personally although the website looks good, I do not see you getting lots of customers from it. Do women Google for manicures ? But then again running a website such as yours will not cost you much on an ongoing basis. Repeat business will of course be the best. And personal recommendation.	Digby (677)
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