Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Internet Advertising

Posted by nathan on 125 Points
I need to submit a business plan within 48 hours to the business development program I am in. I need to factor in all possible costs for marketing. My business is a lawn business and I need to advertise my business in my city online. I want to reach customers in my area by putting adds on local websites. How do I do this, and what would be a ballpark estimate of this action that I could factor into my business plan? Thanks.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on Accepted
    There's no shortcut to doing this work yourself.
    Contact local websites to find out how much ads would cost.
    Determine how much for Google PPC ads based on your local keywords.
    Do you have a website? If not, you need one - and likely SEO to help improve your organic search results.
    Where is your competition advertising online? How much does it cost to advertise in these same locations?
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on Accepted
    Why do your ads need to be on other people's websites? Why not simply use search-based PPC, Facebook, and Twitter advertising?
  • Posted by mgoodman on Accepted
    A business plan within 48 hours? Who is holding that gun to your head? A really good business plan needs some "incubation time," so you can poke holes in it and then plug them.

    You need to do the research, as Jay Hamilton-Roth suggests. My knee-jerk reaction is much like Gary Bloomer's -- PPC and Facebook advertising. But it all depends on your objective and resources -- time and money.

    If this is more than you can handle, then you'll need to either adjust your objective, or find investors/consultants/partners who will share the load ... and receive an attractive return on their investment. If you can't promise them that, then you probably shouldn't be doing this yourself.

    And if this is all for a business development program (and not for addressing a real need), just make up stuff to demonstrate your understanding of the process. You won't be able to do much more than that in what's left of 48 hours.
  • Posted by mgoodman on Moderator
    Did you meet the deadline? How did you do it?
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating!

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs

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