Anyone Whos Started His Or Her Own Business (be It Brick And Mortar, Online, Even Something As Simple As Garage Sales On The Weekend) Will Tell You That The Most Important Aspect To Keep Your Business Going (and So You Make Profits) Is Marketing.Starting Out With Something As Simple As A Garage Sale, Think About What Types Of Marketing There Are. Most Often Youll Find Sharpie-scribbled Cardboard Signs Stapled To Telephone Poles With A Big Arrow Pointing In The Direction Of Your Business. Now, You Might Laugh And Say That Isnt Marketing, But In Reality Thats Fundamentally All There Is To Marketing. You Have A Product Or Service And You Want People To Know About It. Simple As That.Continuing With The Garage Sale Analogy, There Are Plenty Of Other Ways You Can Market Yourself. Im Sure Youll Tell Your Neighbors And Friends. And Maybe Youll Even Post An Ad In The PennySaver Or On Craigslist. These Are All Forms Of Direct Marketing.Possibly The Biggest Factor To A Garage Sales Success Is Its Location. If You Live In An Apartment, Youre Obviously Very Limited To How Successful You Can Become. In An Apartment Complex There Just Isnt Very Much Room To Display Your Goods. You Can Put Up Signs, Tell Your Family And Post Bulletins, But They Probably Wont Do Very Much Good If People Cant Get To Your Business. Now, What If You Lived On The Corner House Next To A Main Road? Granted, People Dont Usually Move Their Homes To Have A Garage Sale (its Usually The Other Way Around), But This Is Another Example Of Marketing; And Its Very Direct.Okay, So How Else Can You Market And Advertise Your Sale? Is There Anything Else You Can Do? Yep. There Are Still Plenty Of Other Things You Can Do. Your Garage Sale Is Going To Top All Others.How About Expansion? Talk To Your Neighbors And Plan A Group Garage Sale. Get Your Whole Street Involved And Youll Have Turned Your Garage Sale Into An Antique Mall. Want To Expand Even More? Maybe You Could Start A Website. Take Pictures Of Everything And Let People Shop Online And You Can Ship Them Their Orders.Now That Youre Starting To Get Big, Its Time To Get Some Press Coverage. Call Up Your Local Newspaper And Let Them Know What Youre Doing On Your Street. Thats A Free Ad In The Paper Which Means More Customers And More Profits.By Now Youll Have Run Out Of Things To Sell, So Its Time To Bring In A Wholesaler. Look For Companies That Sell Faux Antiques And Order In Bulk. Give Each House On Your Street Its Own Product Line. Build Signs, Decorate Your Lawn, Put Up Twinkle Lights And Youll Be A Phenomenon.Next Up, Hire A Camera Crew And Record Your Own TV Commercial. Play It Locally First And Then Move It To Cable Stations. By Now, Youll Have Competitors. Other Streets Will Want A Piece Of The Pie. And Now Youre Back To Square One. Thats What Marketing Is All About. Time To Start Something New!
