Promoting your brand is an important step on the road to success for any business. Without promoting your brand and advertising your product or service, how will anybody know to buy it? The answer is…they won’t.

Now, before we get into discussing promotion, there’s one vital fact that anybody with a business needs to know:

It is a lot easier to sell a product, or service, which people actually need or want!

That sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? But, you’d be surprised how many salesmen there are out there that are trying to sell or promote products that people don’t even need or want!

Now, the next thing you might ask is: "How do you find out what people really need or want?" Well, all you have to do is ask them! People will gladly tell you what’s missing in this world that they absolutely need but can’t find. Or, possibly a product that does exist but that could be done better. Everyone has an opinion and they are generally more than glad to share it with you. You can start out by asking your family, or chat with your neighbor, speak to your local grocer, or even better – put together a survey. If you’ve got a great idea for a new product or a better version for a current one, run it past them. You won’t be disappointed. Doing this vital step will save you so much time and money and in the end you’ll have something to offer that people can’t resist. People that skip this step end up with a pile of useless products that can’t be sold, and worse, a failed venture. It’s not nice to lose at anything, but in business, with a lot of money invested, it can cost you more than you bargained for. So, keep this in mind when planning your business and products.

That said, once you know what people need or want and you are ready to deliver it, you’ll need to do some form of advertising or promotion. It’s a fact that promotion and advertising increases sales. Any promotion is always better than none. So, depending on your budget you’ll be able to do a lot or a little. Just make sure that you do set aside some funds to do this. It will pay off in the end!

For those on a smaller budget, one idea is to simply dress up in costume and hand out flyers with your product on it and you’ll gain some attention. There’s not a lot of cost involved in this option, just some money for the printing and a little humiliation, but it will get the job done and get your business known. Attention is what you want, after all. Now, if you’ve got a bigger budget, then there’s always of course tv advertising, radio and internet ads and other publication advertising. For businesses that have a special event or function coming up, a great way to promote your brand is to offer promotional products that people get to keep. Such as: pens, t-shirts, key rings, temporary tattoos and other such novelty items. People love getting stuff for free, and it’s an opportunity to get your brand known. So, keep this in mind when planning your budget.

It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what kind of advertising is directly contributing to your increase in sales. This is very important in applying what works for your business. If you do this, your income will continue to soar.

I’ve observed this on many occasions with my own business. When sales are down, it’s because we slowed down on our promotional efforts and when sales are up it’s always because we sped up and worked harder on the promotion of our business and products. We record what promotional efforts contributed to our success and do more of these. And any promotional actions that didn’t contribute to our increase in sales, we drop. It’s very simple and easy to do and will contribute to the expansion of your business and brand!