Powerful, Affordable Advertising...

[murdock]

i agree with you 100%...unfortunately for me i started my bussiness with no capital and no money in the bank so there was no advertising...yeah i know the bank manager told me the same thing..."idiot you cant run a bussiness without capital"

i plan on expanding one of my operations in the near future and because of the specialised type of work...one of the important factors will be advertising and the type of customer i will need to target...so i will be reading all these type of threads to get some insight as to how to go about it.

[Ann Williams]

Hi Murdoch

But you don't have to use paid for advertising to market yourself. I see that you have written more than 250 mails since you joined the forum. So how about using your signature here as a marketing opportunity?

[Norri]

Ann is right and she's an expert at Guerilla Marketing - marketing for small businesses with no budget.

You basically use your brain and time to market yourself. A forum is a GREAT way of doing exactly that. Make good use of your signature and post interesting (short, punchy) articles and answers to things related to your industry. TheForumSA.co.za is quite young so you might get a bit more exposure from MyGenius.co.za and forums related specifically to people who use whatever product you sell.

For practical hands-on advice, speak to Ann. She's a boffin and likes consulting. (Most boffins don't :P)

NB: Facebook advertising is INCREDIBLY affordable. I've spent maybe R200 to get over 80 members on my guitar forum!

NNB: I 100% respect you for starting up with no capital. I did the same thing and it's worked out fine. Don't let anyone break your spirits!

[Dave A]

TheForumSA.co.za is quite young so you might get a bit more exposure from MyGenius.co.za ...

I'm curious. How did you compare the two to arrive at that conclusion?

[Norri]

It's hardly scientific but I just compare the responses that new topics get on the 2 sites. I get (and have seen) a much higher response-rate on MyGenius than I see here.

Does that help or did I not understand the question?

[Dave A]

I agree they're definitely far more "vocal" over there. I'd love a cheering section like that here.

But think it over - I suspect there are a few aspects you might not have considered.

[Norri]

Well it's not an either/or thing for me. I like both communities

Plus you have to pay (most times) to get full advantage of MyGenius which means I'm only there when it's convenient for me to pay to be there :P

[Dave A]

I'm not suggesting this is a choice (or even a contest)
You do get good exposure. They're a pleasant crowd and really supportive. It's got a good community feel.

I was just surprised on the comparative exposure comment (which is something slightly different) and wanted to understand where it was coming from.

Your feedback really helps - it's got me thinking about perception issues.

[murdock]

i use to frequent various forums especially work related ones...but now stick to one fishing site...one work forum and this site...otherwise it takes takes up toooo much of my time.

thanks for the feedback...the reason i dont have a signature is because i havent wanted to advertise due to my work load...i cannot cope with any more work than i already have.

the reason i will need to advertise for my new venture is because the other bussiness is a specialised market and i need to target bigger companies than i already deal with so it is going to take some thought...the work includes load profiles...energy management...thermal imaging...classification of hazardous locations...just to mention a few.

[Agelfreedom]

I think the key point is $$$ - Cost. Online advertising for a start-up is very hard on the cash flow, especially if you want decent click through. It is a game of numbers, the more you are willing to spend on the advertising the better the return.

I have advertised on both Google and Facebook, and to be honest it was not that successful as my budget was to small.