Small Business Growth--Like a Weed

I met with the owner of a services company in Atlanta the other day. Like so many small businesses, he was from that industry and decided to strike out on his own by finding some capital, finding a couple of clients and growing through referrals. And, like some other businesses, he’s done ok.

But growing solely through word-of-mouth early on is a blessing and curse. The blessing is that it’s a cheap way of marketing, the leads are stronger than an advertising lead due to the relationship nature, and that you can grow into a pretty sizable business depending upon how much time you put into it. But the curse is more often than not that all kinds of business comes in (some not-so-good), the business coming in is not predictable, and the business tends to grow to a certain point then levels off due to the time that owners have to continually invest.

For these businesses, the learning curve on becoming a more effective, efficient marketing operation is steep. How do you get leads into your business? How has it changed over the years?

Comments

[MarketingTwins-Randy]

I remember John Jantsch always called it EARNED PRESS - rather than "free press" like we think in terms of PR. So PR could be one way for a small business owner to generate leads - by working strategically and systematically on generating good PR. Not just waiting for the local newspaper to notice him/her, but to make a systematical plan to obtain it. In that way, it's definitely EARNED!

Bonuses/rewards added to referrals - are you giving your referrals incentives to continue referring?

A small business owner may way to think through his year and see if she can identify fairly predictable "slow times" - are the holidays BUSY or are they your worst year (depends on the business). Then maybe do some targeted, small-scale advertising during those times. Actually, you want to test it first - spend a small amount of money on a narrowly targeted direct mail - then see if the ROI is good. And you don't want to wait until the slow time starts to do this - maybe one month out.

OK - that's enough ideas - so much of this is rooted in the Duct Tape Marketing way of business, so that's a great place to start building a small business marketing foundation!

[Ken Burgin]

Networking is still, in my estimation, the best way for small businesses to get good leads. Sure, it takes up the time of the business owner, but the one-on-one contact is priceless for the opportunities it presents in making connections that lead to business or alliances. That said, there is still value in some paid advertising. If it is properly directed to the right target group, and accurately describes what you’re selling, with a measurable response mechanism, it can actually support the networking efforts. Always great to hear someone say, “Yes, I’ve heard of your company!”

[David]

Grow leveraging assets that already exist in the company. With this approach there will be no need to give up a portion of your company to investors, or ask a loan from a banker.