{"id":9829,"date":"2016-07-21T07:42:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musik.a-z-translation.com\/tips-on-starting-your-business\/"},"modified":"2020-01-03T11:36:42","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T11:36:42","slug":"tips-on-starting-your-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/tips-on-starting-your-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips on starting your business"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the next class of newly state-certified translators and interpreters ready to go out into the \u00abreal world\u00bb next week, I thought a little help on the way into setting up one’s business might be appreciated. I found these tips on how to get started over on business know-ho<\/a>w and thought I’d share them here, even if they are not specifically for translators\/interpreters:<\/p>\n

\n32 Low-Cost Ways to Promote Your Business<\/a> <\/h1>\n

\nStarting a business on a shoestring? Looking for
\nways to stretch your small business marketing budget? Here are 32
\nlow-cost, high-impact methods to advertise and promote your business.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n<\/h1>\n

\n What’s
\n the best way to promote your business? How can you advertise your
\nbusiness and get your name in front of potential prospects when money is
\n tight or you’re just starting up? How can you get the word out about
\nyour business in the most affordable way?<\/p>\n

Promoting a business is an ongoing challenge for small businesses.
\nWhether you’re just starting out or have been in business for years,
\nthese proven marketing strategies will help your business find new
\ncustomers without spending a fortune.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plan your attack<\/strong>. Define who your best prospects
    \nare, and then determine the best way to reach them. Be as specific as
    \npossible. Is the decision maker the CTO of the company, the director of
    \nhuman resources, or a 37-year-old working mom? Will you find them on
    \nTwitter, Google Plus, Pinterest or Facebook? What about in-person     networking at local business meetings<\/a>?
    \n Will they be searching for your type of product on Google or Bing? Do
    \nyou want to start promoting your business to them at the start of their
    \nbuying cycle, or when they’re about ready to pull out their credit card
    \nand make the purchase.  Write your answers down, and refer to them
    \nbefore you start any new marketing tactic. Use this     marketing plan worksheet<\/a> to gather your information.<\/li>\n
  2. If you don’t have a website, get one set up.<\/strong> If you can’t afford to have someone custom-design your website<\/a>,
    \n put your site up using one of the companies like SiteSell.com or
    \nHomeStead.com that provide templates and tools that make it easy to
    \ncreate a basic website.<\/li>\n
  3. Set up a listing for your business in search engine local directories.<\/strong> Google and Bing both offer a free listing for local businesses.To get listed on Google, go to Google My Business<\/a>.  To get listed on Bing, go to Bing Places for Business<\/a>. Yahoo charges for local listings, but you get listed on a lot more than Yahoo if you buy their service. The service, called Yahoo Localworks<\/a>, costs
    \n $29.99 a month and lists you in 50 directories including Yahoo Local,
    \nYelp, WhitePages, Bing, Mapquest and more. The benefit of paying: You
    \nhave a single location to enter your data to make it consistent and
    \navailable on multiple online directories that your customers might
    \nsearch to find what you sell. <\/li>\n
  4. Set your business profile or page up on LinkedIn<\/a>, Facebook, Google Plus and Twitter<\/strong>.
    \n Be sure your business profile includes a good description, keywords and
    \n a link to your website. Look for groups or conversations that talk
    \nabout your type of products or services and participate in the
    \nconversations, but don’t spam them with constant promos for what you
    \nsell.<\/li>\n
  5. If you’re just starting out<\/strong> and don’t have a business card and business stationery, have them made up — immediately. Your business card<\/a>,
    \n letterhead and envelope tell prospective customers you are a
    \nprofessional who takes your business seriously. Be sure to list your
    \nwebsite address on your business card and, letterhead and any handouts
    \nyou create.<\/li>\n
  6. Sign up for an email service<\/strong>, and send an email
    \nnewsletter and\/or promotional offers to customers and prospects for your
    \n business. Be sure you ask for permission to send email before putting
    \nany person’s email name on your list. One good way to build a
    \npermission-based email list of people who want your mailings is to give
    \nsomething away. It could be a free ebook, or even a free tip-sheet on
    \nhow to do something related to your business.   If you’re a health
    \ncoach, for instance, you might offer people who sign up for your free
    \nnewsletter a tip sheet with \u00ab10 Easy Ways To Lose Weight Without Going
    \non a Diet.\u00bb  An email service like     Constant Contact<\/a>* makes it easy to manage your list and send professional-looking mailings. <\/li>\n
  7. Get your business cards into the hand of anyone who can help you <\/strong>in
    \n your search for new clients. Call your friends and relatives and tell
    \nthem you have started a business. Visit them and leave a small stack of
    \nbusiness cards to hand out to their friends.<\/li>\n
  8. Talk to all the vendors from whom you buy products or services<\/strong>.
    \n Give them your business card, and ask if they can use your products or
    \nservice, or if they know anyone who can. If they have bulletin boards
    \nwhere business cards are displayed (printers often do, and so do some
    \nsupermarkets, hairdressers, etc.), ask if yours can be added to the
    \nboard.<\/li>\n
  9. Attend meetings of professional groups, <\/strong>and groups
    \nsuch as the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, or civic associations.
    \nHave business cards in a pocket where they are easily reachable. Don’t
    \nforget to ask what the people you speak with do, and to really listen to
    \n them. They’ll be flattered by your interest, and better remember you
    \nbecause of it.<\/li>\n
  10. Pay for membership in those groups that attract your target customers.<\/strong>If
    \n the group has a website and publishes a list members on the site, make
    \nsure your name and website link get added. Once it is added double check
    \n to be sure your contact information is correct and your website link
    \nisn’t broken.<\/li>\n
  11. Become actively involved in 2 or 3 of these groups. <\/strong>That
    \n will give you more opportunity to meet possible prospects. But
    \nremember: opportunists are quickly spotted for what they are, and get
    \nlittle business. While you won’t want to become involved in many
    \norganizations that require a lot of your time in, you can –and should–
    \n make real contributions to all of them by offering useful ideas and
    \nhelping with projects when possible.<\/li>\n
  12. Look for something unusual about what you do, and publicize it. <\/strong>Send
    \n out press releases to local newspapers, radio stations, cable TV
    \nstations, magazines whose audiences are likely to be interested in
    \nbuying what you sell. Be sure to post the press releases on one or more
    \nonline press release services, too, being sure to include links to your
    \nwebsite. To increase your chance of having the material published, send
    \nalong a photo (but not to radio stations) with your press release.
    \nEditors of printed publications are often in need of \u00abart\u00bb (drawings or
    \nphotos) to fill space and break up the gray look of a page of text.<\/li>\n
  13. Write an article that demonstrates your expertise in your field. <\/strong>Send
    \n it to noncompeting newspapers, magazines, and websites in your field
    \nthat accept submissions from experts. Be sure your name, business name,
    \nphone number, and a reference to your product or service is included at
    \nthe end of the article. If the editor can use the article you get your
    \nname in print, and possibly get your contact information printed for
    \nfree, too.<\/li>\n
  14. Publicize your publicity. <\/strong>Whenever you do get
    \npublicity, get permission from the publisher to reprint the article
    \ncontaining the publicity. Make photocopies and mail the copies out with
    \nsales letters or any other literature you use to market your product or
    \nservice. The publicity clips lend credibility to the claims you make for
    \n your products or services.<\/li>\n
  15. Ask for work or leads. <\/strong>Contact nonprofit organizations, schools and colleges, and even other businesses that have customers who may need your services.<\/li>\n
  16. Network with others who are doing the same type of work you are. <\/strong>Let
    \n them know you are available to handle their work overloads. (But don’t
    \ntry to steal their customers. Word will get out, and will ruin your
    \nbusiness reputation.)<\/li>\n
  17. Offer to be a speaker<\/strong>. Industry conferences,
    \nvolunteer organizations, libraries, and local business groups often need
    \n speakers for meetings. You’ll benefit from the name recognition,
    \ncontacts and publicity you gain from     being a speaker at these events<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  18. If your product or service is appropriate, give demonstrations <\/strong>of it to whatever groups or individuals might be interested. Or, teach others how to use some tool you use in your work.<\/li>\n
  19. Put videos of your product or service on YouTube <\/strong><\/a>and other video-sharing and slide-sharing sites.<\/li>\n
  20. Find out what federal, state, and local government programs are in existence to help you get started in business. <\/strong>Most offer free business counseling<\/a>, and some can put you in touch with government agencies and large corporations that buy from small and woman-owned businesses<\/li>\n
  21. If you are a woman-owned or minority-owned business look into getting certified <\/a><\/strong>by private, state or federal organizations<\/a>.
    \n Many purchasing agents have quotas or guide for the amount of goods and
    \n services they need to buy from minority- and woman-owned businesses.<\/li>\n
  22. Send out sales letters to everyone you think might be able to use what you sell. <\/strong>Be
    \n sure to describe your business in terms of how it can help the
    \nprospect. Learn to drop a business card in every letter you send out.
    \nFollow up periodically with postcard mailings.<\/li>\n
  23. If you use a car or truck in your business have your
    \nbusiness name and contact information professionally painted on the side
    \n of the vehicle. <\/strong>That way your means of transportation becomes a
    \n vehicle for advertising your business. If you don’t want the business
    \nname painted on the vehicle, consider using magnetic signs.<\/li>\n
  24. Get on the telephone and make \u00abcold calls.\u00bb <\/strong>These
    \nare calls to people who you would like to do business with. Briefly
    \ndescribe what you do and ask for an appointment to talk to them about
    \nways you can help them meet a need or solve a problem.<\/li>\n
  25. Get samples of your product <\/strong>or your work into as many hands as possible.<\/li>\n
  26. Offer a free, no obligation consultation <\/strong>to people
    \nyou think could use your services. During such consultations offer some
    \npractical suggestions or ideas–and before you leave ask for an \u00aborder\u00bb
    \nto implement the ideas.<\/li>\n
  27. Learn to ask for referrals. <\/strong>Ask existing customers, prospects and casual acquaintances. When you get them, follow up on the leads.<\/li>\n
  28. Use other people to sell your product or service. <\/strong>Instead
    \n of (or in addition to) selling your products yourself, look for
    \naffiliates, resellers or people who will generate leads for you in
    \nreturn for a commission on sales. Be sure your pricing structure allows
    \nfor the fees or commissions you will have to pay on any sales that are
    \nmade.<\/li>\n
  29. Get together with businesses who serve the same market, <\/strong>but sell different products and services. Make arrangements to pass leads back and forth, or share mailings.<\/li>\n
  30. Have sales letters, flyers and other pertinent information printed and ready to go. <\/strong>Ask
    \n prospects who seem reluctant to buy from you: \u00abWould you like me to
    \nsend information?\u00bb Follow up promptly with a note and a letter that
    \nsays, \u00abHere is the information you asked me to send<\/li>\n
  31. Run a contest. <\/strong>Make the prize something desirable
    \nand related to your business — it could be a free gift basket of your
    \nproducts, for instance, or free services.<\/li>\n
  32. Test buying Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising on the search engines. <\/strong>If
    \n you are not yet advertising on search engines search for offers that
    \ngive you $50 or $75 in free advertising to start. Read the directions
    \nfor the service you plan to use, and very carefully watch what you spend
    \n on a daily or more frequent basis until you are comfortable using PPC
    \nads and see you are getting a return on your investment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n
    \nFind dozens of additional small business marketing ideas<\/a> in our marketing channel.<\/span>
    \n
    \n<\/span>\u00a9 2015 Attard Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved<\/span>
    \n
    \n<\/span>*Business Know-How is a Solution Provider and Authorized Local Expert for Constant Contact<\/span><\/p>\n

    About the author:
    \n<\/strong>Janet Attard is the founder of the award-winning      Business Know-How<\/a> small business web site and information resource. Janet is also the author of The Home Office And Small Business Answer Book<\/a> <\/em>and of Business Know-How: An Operational Guide For Home-Based and Micro-Sized Businesses with Limited Budgets.<\/em>  Follow Janet on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/JanetAttard<\/a>.  <\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    With the next class of newly state-certified translators and interpreters ready to go out into the \u00abreal world\u00bb next week, I thought a little help on the way into setting up one’s business might be appreciated. I found these tips on how to get started over on business know-how and thought I’d share them here, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[524,90,525,526,527],"class_list":["post-9829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unkategorisiert","tag-business","tag-english","tag-freelancing","tag-getting-started","tag-promotion","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10784,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9829\/revisions\/10784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}