You all are about to learn very cheap and effective strategies to help your small businesses grow and attract a lot of new customers.

No matter how great your products or services are, you will not make any money unless customers are willing to buy them.

The reason why most small businesses fail today, is not because customers do not want to buy their products o, but simply because these "customers" don’t know their products/services even exists in the first place sef.

For many small businesses, marketing and advertising is a huge problem for them,as they don't have enough money for all that.

But,if you read this article till the end,I can assure you that the issues and problems of how to get your businesses out there to the world would be a thing of the past..the following are my 4 tips to help you market your small businesses fast and also attract new customers in the shortest possible time:

#1 – Word of mouth always works!

This is definitely the oldest form of marketing and advertising used by businesses since the world began.
When a customer is happy and satisfied with a product or service, there’s a natural human tendency that they are likely to share this experience with people in their circle of trust and influence – family, friends, colleagues, neighbours and sometimes, strangers.

A satisfied customer is one of the most effective marketing and advertising tools a small business can ever have.

They’ll scream your name from the mountain tops!

People like to buy products and services from businesses that treat them with respect. People love to be given attention and treated well and will always return to enjoy that beautiful experience again.
so learn to treat your initial customers with respect and watch them spread your business with words of mouth every where they go.

#2 – ‘Free’ works like magic!

Everybody loves free stuff.
Giving away some of your products and services for free does three(3) very positive and interesting things for your small business:
First, it lets people out there know that you exist.
Second, it gives you a chance to prove the value of your product or service and show that it really works.
Third, it provides your future customers with a risk-free way to try out your products or service without spending any money.
And if customers find value in your products or services, they will be willing to pay money for it.

Let’s say for example, me,Julius, wants to start a barbershop in my neighborhood and I am looking for a simple, cheap and effective way to advertise and kickstart my new small business.
I will decide to put up a sign in front of my barbershop that reads: ‘Free Haircuts. First 20 People Only’ .
This reads like a sign that will definitely catch a lot of attention, right?
That is the power of free!
Anybody who walks into my shop for a free haircut and loves the service will happily return next time to pay for it and will likely tell his friends, colleagues and neighbours about the ‘cool’ new barbershop down the road.

Customers love ‘free’ because they have nothing to lose; they just sit back, relax and enjoy the service or product without any risk. By drawing them into your business, you give them a chance to see and experience something that would have been totally hidden from them if you didn’t open your door.
However, you must make sure that the free stuff DO NOT last forever. From the outset, determine the number of people who will enjoy the free stuff or how many days the promo will last. Not everybody should get free stuff.

#3 – Offer discounts
Just like free stuff, discounts work well too. These are another creative and low cost way to attract more customers to your business.
People often see discounts as a huge opportunity to save money and enjoy a product or service for a whole lot less.
In fact, discounts usually influence customers to buy more products or services than they initially planned. They love to ‘take the opportunity’ because the same products may not be so cheap tomorrow.

#4 -- Keep Your Customers.!

It’s cheaper to keep a customer than to go chase a new one. Your best opportunity to generate more money is to keep selling to an existing customer. The best way to keep selling to customers is to keep in touch with them.
how?..you may ask.
Here are a few ideas to incorporate into your business.

*Always contact your customers within 7-10 days of a sale..just to check on them and update them on new arrivals,if any.
*Send them birthday cards
*Send them holiday cards (It’s not just about Xmas, try Valentine’s Day or Easter cards, too)
*And very importantly,ask them for feedback of your services so far on Facebook and Twitter.

If you start using these methods of marketing and sales in your business, you will see more repeat customers and that means your business will become sustainable. Remember anyone will buy something once; but, you need to build a relationship with them to get them to buy it over and over again from you.

Hope you enjoyed reading and implementing these tips into your business...see you at the banking hall fellas...bye bye.

Very true. Good relationship with customers keeps them coming back.

Good but don't sell on credit because they will not come back again

Nice but number 2 can b really tricky as Nigerians are scared of free stuff if you don't have a name already

This is great, nice write up bro@CEObossman...

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