advice growing business

[Ellie13]

sorry for the category but i had no idea where to put it.

i have a small boat shop and i would like to expand it so if anyone can recommend a blog or article or just has advice that would be great thanks.

 

[Muxey]

Best free advice I received was to write a letter about the business and anything unusual or interesting and head it as a PRESS RELEASE send it to local newspapers
Any free newspaper etc maybe radio stations if they pick up on it its free advertising
And will cost you nothing, but be ready for them to try and sell you advertising later.
I was told by a journalist that they are often lazy and if a story lands on the desk already
Written
they will often use it. It has worked for me on a couple of occasions,
Inc half a page in a big local daily.

 

[Stemar]

No expert but, from what I've seen, don't try to expand too quickly. Going from a one person business to having employees and bigger premises is a hurdle that far too many businesses fall at, probably because they tried to jump too far.

You, as boss, also find yourself spending far more time on employee-related hassles and paperwqrk instead of running the shop. By all means try to expand to where you have as much as you can manage on your own, but ask yourself if you really want to be a manager rather than helping customers.

In the mean time, is there a boat jumble near you? If so, would it be worth while getting a stand and, in between serving customers, hand out lots of flyers? Maybe with an x% off coupon, where x is enough to bring them in, but not so much it destroys your margin. Loss leaders are fine for big businesses with lots of other sales, but I know someone who pared his margins to the bone to bring in the customers, but didn't make enough to pay the bills. He didn't last long.

 

[V1701]

Welcome to the forum Ellie13,

With a little more information people might be better able to advise. Do you have a premises or online presence or both? What do you sell?

 

[PhillM]

Welcome Ellie. Where are you located and what scale are you wishing to operate at. Marketing is my thing, particularly at the sharp end of driving sales revenue. Pm me if you want to chat.

 

[Doxon1]

We don't really know the scope of what you're looking for but if you just want a blog to look at I could suggest i24 has articles on being self employed, social media marketing etc. Hope it helps but we'd all be able to help you more specifically if you answer some questions.

 

[steve yates]

Facebook ads promtions are a very very powerful way to target specific customer segments, I used them almost exclusively in my portrait business for the last few years, they are like a tap you can use to turn business on and off, whether i fancied shooting dogs the next month, or babies, or newborns, or families, I just set off a campaign and let the spaces book up.
Its witchcraft really, but does take a bit of time and effort to find what works best and monitor your reach. Thankfully I dont need portraits now as I really really have come to hate every marketing that is required for a business these days.