It was really pretty sad. I pulled up to a store location recently, one that DID NOT advertise in our local directory last year. And the store was vacant. Another failed small business.
It’s not unusual though: I’ve seen stats that as many as 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs who start businesses fail within the first 18 months. That’s a whopping 80% crash and burn rate.
Of course these business owners had all the answers last year:
We are using “word-of-mouth” for advertising
Everyone knows us
We’re big on Facebook and with other social media
And my favorite – “No on uses print yellow pages anymore”
Well, here we are a year later, and the business is no more but our print yellow pages are still going strong. Their “word-of-mouth” was maybe 1,000 people. Our “word-of-mouth” was 40,000 copies to every home and business in the area with product that will be there for THE YEAR. And oh by the way, your ads are also available online at www.SmallPondYP.com.
I’m sure the fact that didn’t advertise in our directory wasn’t the only reason they didn’t make it. But if your business plan doesn’t include spending about 10-12 percent of your gross profits on marketing and advertising (20% if you’re in a competitive industry), then the averages are stacked against you. Unfortunately most start-up and small businesses usually allocate only 2-3%. Hence, the high failure rate.
Which is why we are here. We have a full range of print, digital, and mobile products that can help your business make a big splash with your advertising. But first we need to talk about where your business is and where it is headed.
On March 31st, we were honored to host the new member reception for the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce. We were excited to welcome these new business to the Chamber.
At the reception I talked about one of the major reasons why many small businesses don’t succeed – they fail to market their businesses.
I’m sure you are familiar with Coke and Mc Donald’s. Yet despite their excellent very well-known brand identities, they still spend significant amounts of their annual budgets on marketing their core message each and every day. Now while a typical small business may never have the size budget that those bigger players do, it doesn’t mean they can be effective with their marketing budget.
At Small Pond Advertising we offer a range of media that helps connect buyers ready to buy with sellers, like your company. Media includes but is not limited to:
Print and online Yellow Pages
High quality stand-alone coupon books
Coupons on the back of register receipts at stores such as Family Dollar, Dollar General, and Sav-A-Lot grocery stores
Mobile text marketing
Online optimization and Push Marketing programs
In my next post I will talk about the 5 major considerations every small business should have on ANY advertising program (including ours) which I covered with the new members that night.
There is still time, but not much as we will be closing the 2014 Port Orange Print and Online directories as of Friday, August 29th.
What we do differently than other yellow page and advertising options:
Our focus is on LOCALLY owned and operated businesses, not national chains or online providers.
It’s more than just print Yellow Pages – all ads appear in the PortOrangeYP.com site and
We also publish a high quality coupon book which is delivered with the directory.
We will be printing nearly 40,000 copies of the Yellow Pages and coupon books for distribution to homes and businesses in the Port Orange/S Daytona area.
We are currently targeting book delivery for the end of September, 2014.
For users – the products are in an easy to read, big print, easy to use format with specialty guide, community information, maps, and yes – even white pages!!
For advertisers, our advertising rates are 50-75% less than YP or Complete PB. We provide a range of flexible payment plans. All of our programs are bundles. Add that up: more value, more coverage in more categories for your advertising dollars.
We will be announcing the cover contest winners shortly….
Advertisers — call us 386-256-7353, or email us at info@smallpondadv.com.
Small Pond Advertising was one of the corporate sponsors at Cheeseburger in Paradise, a local fundraiser conducted annually by the local Rotary chapter. Funds raised from this and other events are used to provide college scholarships to local students and other youth activities.
It was a fun event and very well attended. We didn’t try the limbo contest but found the rum tasting interesting….
