Marketing eh.. To some small to medium sized business owners in and around Ammanford, this is on their list of “bad words”. Probably because the word itself conjures up images of pound signs marching OUT of their budgets, instead of marching IN.

Marketing, especially in a small town like Ammanford, or an even larger town like Swansea tends to get overlooked by most due to the above reason…cost.

Newspapers charge an arm and a leg to run your advertisements (can we say monopoly!), and let’s face it, a one-time advertisement is more often than not useless, forcing you to want to run ads for weeks, months, even years at a time.

With profit and sales in general shrinking, the ability to set aside a certain amount of profits to dedicate to advertising is a lesson in futility. So what are you going to do?

We all want more sales! And most of us don’t have the cash on hand to afford what we believe to be an effective print advertising campaign. Heck, who even reads the papers anymore, and the ones that do are so conditioned to NOT look at ads, chances are that yours won’t get seen!

Right then, what are we supposed to do?? Give up? Let nature take its course and let whatever happens…just happen?

No! In tough times we need to be flexible and open to new ideas. Someone once said the definition of “crazy” is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results.

How about doing something different then? Remember, this is YOUR business we are talking about. No doubt you have put countless hours of blood, sweat and  tears into your business. I’ll even bet you have sacrificed family time, missed out on many “fun” events! I have two words for you….FIGHT BACK!

Fight for your business! If what was working is now broke then fix it, try something else. Marketing is actually one of the answers, regardless of whether you want to hear it or not. Marketing does not have to cost you a fortune, and there are so many ways to do it… only limited by your imagination! And if you think your imagination is not good enough (which I seriously doubt because you came up with ideas for your business right?), then find someone whose imagination is good, spend those newspaper advert pounds on something different! For instance, here at Amman Valley Marketing we have created two ways you can easily get a website for your business, two very affordable ways when you consider what you spend on other forms of advertising, we have Website Design Packages starting at £200 - where you will own the website - or we have our new service “Rent-A-Site” which is just £47 per month - where you rent on a monthly basis a pre-made website specifically created for your kind of business; the details on the actual website will be changed to show your particular business and this option can have your business on the web within hours of you purchasing!

Of course I am a fan of online marketing, so naturally I would choose to maximize my web efforts first. The cost for a website is so affordable nowadays that not having one makes no sense whatsoever.

A website can be used to inform and educate your current and potential customers, who by the way DO use the internet, so when they go to good old google, or yahoo, or msn search because they now have the money for that particular beauty treatment they have been saving their money for, what do you think they type into that cute little search box?

Probably ‘beauty salon’? err yep! but what else do you think they put?

If you answered “their town” then take a gold star! and if anyone said, “err surely nothing else” then we need to talk.

Yes of course their town because she doesn’t want to travel too far, the next important thing to her is, yes of course cost!  So this savvy shopper uses the internet and will most likely ring and book her appointment with the nearest, best value salon she finds (and she is not going to take a long time looking) so.. think about that, do you want her to find you or your competitor?

OK well sorry about that, that came off as a right little rant, so back to websites and their costs. The cost is minimal in comparison to the lifetime value of a customer. If your competitors have a website, they are stealing your customers, whether you know it or not!

Adamant that the web is not for you and your business? Ok, how about in-store promotions? Email marketing campaigns? Thought about changing your signage? How about sponsoring a local event?

Do you have a highly visible shop-front? How about doing something remarkable and eye catching with a display? Something that jumps out and grabs attention?

My point here is to think outside of the box. In fact, take the box, jump on it, then throw it in the bin. Promoting yourself does not have to cost wad loads of cash!! Use your imagination and come up with something that will make you stand out and help spread the word. No one knows your business or has as much passion as you do for it, so get out of your current mindset and go promote and market it!!