Know-How Exchange : Taglines/Names

If your the Tracey from the Transvaal, we have quite a few things in common. One is living in a small town that nobody's ever heard of. My immediate reaction to this is does anybody in your area need what you're selling? I know for a fact that most businesses in my locality have little or no interest in marketing at all, let alone a willingness to pay for it. Either that or they aren't looking for the sort of things I can do.

Because getting good clients is a business of finding those who are willing to pay you - and they may (or may not be) in your area. Now I say this because I advertise in South Africa myself, despite my living in Europe. Modern technology and all that, plus I'm South African.

Bear in mind that the real issues in marketing are the things that come before the more mundane things that a small company will already be able to implement for themselves - graphics, printing, organizing; that sort of thing. That is to say, ideas and strategies. Now if they want me to look at such things, that's fine, but my main skill is in engaging and in developing marketing ideas for them.

Well, that's how I'm approaching the issue: take one of your competences and use that as a focus for your entire business.

Now as to headlines, taglines or USPs, these are very important for those who meet you - or see your advertisement - for the first time. They need to know who you are, what you do and as importantly how you do these things. For myself, it's a half-hour consultation - yours is anything you choose it to be. Whatever you're most comfortable with, something that is so easy for you that it's almost of no value to you at all. Yet it's the very one thing that'll be the magic attractor for your business.

Are you with me?

For myself, I use Google Adwords and the display network (and will be using Facebook as soon as they get their advertising platform rolled out to Europe). That way you can isolate the people who are buying - and there are a lot more of them on the net than in small towns, for all the friendliness and local buzz.

I'm not saying that marketing for small, local businesses won't work, because it will. The issue is whether you can make a living at it.

I can come up with any number of taglines, headlines or the like. It's what I'm good at, but Saul Dobney seems to have stolen my crown as the best at it on this forum!

Resources: Adwords - https://perrymarshall.com https://askhowie.com https://isfbforme.com
Copywriting and Marketing https://askdrayton.com

Have you met with local business owners face-to-face and done an informational interview with them? What do they need? How do they find such talent? What skills are missing for them? How much would they pay?

It may be the case that your skills aren't needed locally, but would be a good match for virtual assistance/consulting. That would require a very different approach (not a local advertisement, for example).

Might you be overdoing the corporate speak when what'll gain you better traction is getting out and meeting people? Forget about big city thinking and instead, focus on offering small town practicality.

I agree with the comments about face to face meetings over an ad.

I once chatted with a woman who tried both big city (San Francisco) and smaller town (Santa Fe), and she chose the smaller town. She said she could be a little fish in a biog pond, or a big fish in a little pond, and preferred the latter.