The beauty of owning your own business is having the freedom to market and grow it the way you want. For small business owners, an age-old tried-and-true method of expanding your business is hitting the road to do your promotion and sell your services and/or products. And even in this high-tech age, it’s still as powerful as ever. According to the experts at MarketingProfs, 40% of prospects are converted to new customers via face-to-face meetings, and 28% of all current business would be lost without face-to-face interaction. Additionally, Oxford Economics reports that in-person meetings are 85% more effective in gaining new business from prospects than virtual meetings. Researching and studying the tactics of successful entrepreneurs is a definite step in the right direction and can prove inspirational as well.
Road Warrior Marketing
Driving from business to business to meet face-to-face with potential clients could almost be considered a form of guerilla marketing. Guerrilla Marketing differs from traditional marketing efforts. It “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute and inexpensive,” states Jay Conrad Levinson, the man who coined the phrase. That’s a perfect way to describe taking your business on the road. You are, after all, going to be right on the front lines.
Another way of taking your business on the road is a pop-up shop on wheels, which will help your brand appear in places it could have not been otherwise. This is an ideal option for those who want to increase brand recognition and appear right before their customers. The pop-up shop will let customers taste products and buy them right after. You can also add some worth-sharing parts in your pop-up store or give freebies that will make your customers boost your brand statistics on social media as well.
Your Mobile Office
For businessmen or women traveling to promote, market, and sell, their entire success and livelihood hinges on the dependability of their automobile. Start by going online and thoroughly researching and investigating the right types and prices of vehicles suited for your business. You definitely want to factor in gas mileage, cost of maintenance and repairs, warranties, and the overall ratings by respected and trusted review sites. Depending on the type of business you are in, a small van or truck may be more sensible if you are, for instance, dropping off samples of products or transporting a ton of promotional materials.
Your Powerful Moving Advertisement
Proper maintenance is essential and having an onboard easy-to-use navigation set-up and roadside emergency response system like GM’s OnStar system can prove extremely valuable and give you some peace-of-mind as you travel about. To further market your business, a wise idea would be to incorporate your business name and logo/artwork in strategic places on the vehicle. Get creative and do something that really sticks out and draws attention. Using bright colors and graphics, make sure that your phone number and website are clearly visible at first glance. Drastic cosmetic changes to the exterior of a vehicle could be an issue if you are leasing the car/truck, so be sure to check with your dealer to see what is allowable.
Tax Benefits Too
If you are using your vehicle for business use, you can write it off as a business expense on your annual tax return, which can be a substantial chunk of change. You can write off the mileage, or alternatively, you can use the actual expense method to deduct the business portion of things like gas, oil, maintenance, and depreciation. You can also subtract the cost of insurance for the car, and if you are leasing the wheels, you can deduct from your lease payments the portion of the time you use the vehicle for business purposes, along with any down payment you plunked down as well.
New Views From Your “Office”
Taking your business on the road to sell, market, and promote has plenty of perks. You get to see places and sights you would have otherwise missed. You will meet all kinds of people, develop new friendships and important business contacts, and most importantly, meet your new and potential customers face-to-face. According to Anurag Madaan, founder of Booth Constructions, face-to-face marketing will remain the primary marketing tool for years to come for most businesses.
Best of all, you are your own boss, setting your own schedule, sitting in your rolling climate-controlled office with its ever-changing windows to the world.
