Tuesday, September 9, 2008

You Can Grow Your Reputation With Articles

By Rob Metras


Being a business owner can be great fun! It's wonderful to have a great new idea, invest capital funds, and work hard to see your ideas grow into business success. Regardless of how great your ideas, the one ingredient a business cannot due without is a paying customer base. If you have no paying customers, your business will not succeed. Writing articles and publishing them on the Web or in local papers is a terrific way to gain community respect and customer market share.

In what ever type of business you do, grow your reputation with articles. Everyone reads the newspaper, and local sales guides. Be the advertisement that everyone sees when they open up the Sunday paper. This will get so much exposure that you can be able to start to service those clients you need and build that reputation you want.

If you want your articles to hit their target, it's best to first meet with folks to determine what kind of image you want to create in the community given your field of expertise and competitive advantage you take pride in as a business owner. Don't merely write about your business offerings include details about yourself. Give thought to where you add value. One bakery is dirt cheap but the workers are rude, another is moderately priced and the workers are kind. The moderately priced shop with great customer service will win every time. The articles you write should help brand your company and highlight where you add value over the competition.

Grow your reputation with articles. Get the people in which you want as customers to get an inside look at what your business is about and what your all about. Take the time to tell them that your a family man or woman, that you pride yourself on morals, and that treating people with respect and courtesy is the what your business is made of. Let them in to where they feel comfortable by seeing your face and business in the paper every week like an distant cousin.

You can expect a ten-fold return on your investment in newspaper articles and Internet advertisements as these tools will help you acquaint the world with your business. People enjoy reading about new ideas and they like to hear about business success stories. Be creative and bold in showing off your customer friendly personality. Make it clear that you love doing business with everyone and that you have absolutely nothing to hide.

Secondly, if you have doubts on exactly how to spend your money marketing your business, just go and speak to other business owners and see for yourself. See what routes they took and how far certain marketing strategies got them. Do what we call \"article marketing research\". This type of research will give you not only ideas, but prices and percentages on previous business ventures and their successes. Make certain that it is one of the best ways to get the clients interested in what you have to offer.

Assume you start out as a small \"mom and pop shop.\" Let's say the community knows who you are or at least knows a little about yout. It is great to be well known and respected in your local community, but let's say you desire to grow your current location or add new locations. In this scenario you have a solid customer base, but you need new customers to make your expansion a success. Of course TV commercials can help given your ability to afford them, but newspaper articles and postings on the Web can also highlight your business, its added value, and make new customers feel they know you. Leverage your customer base to speak for you and lend credibility to your claims of being a full service company.

So grow your reputation with articles. Don't be the only one not seen in the Sunday papers. Don't be left out of the loop where everyone is snatching up new clients every week and no one is left for you. Be the top gun in your business field with people. Let the market know that you are here and by telling them how much you would appreciate their business. Now start your typing!

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