Your
Business Needs
Craigslist
There may be specific instances when Craigslist
might not be the
best choice for a marketing campaign, yet there are times when your
business can't afford to overlook Craigslist for its
advertising. In this article you will see two likely
situations where your business should seriously consider marketing
on Craigslist, failing to do this could be detrimental to your
business. This would include emerging startup companies that
lack a substantial marketing budget as well as existing businesses
whose competitors advertise prominently on Craigslist.
Marketing On Craigslist For
The Emerging Startup
Company
An emerging startup company often has to do a lot
of work if
they wish to start competing with already existing companies that
are thriving. Companies like this often have an established client
base along with substantial budgets for luring in new customers.
Another stumbling block startups often face is customer loyalty. To
break customer loyalty a new company has to either have higher
quality offerings, comparable offerings at a better price or a
memorable ad campaign that appeals to consumers.
Of course, newer companies hardly ever have a
marketing budget
large enough to develop a full-scale ad campaign. This is where
Craigslist is a virtual necessity. A smaller company is able to
focus more resources on creating fine-tuned ad copy without having
to spend large sums of monetary resources in the running of these
ads in other print or air media.
Even though there is much that is appealing about
free
advertising, this advertising needs to be as sophisticated as if
you were placing it somewhere that you would have to pay for it.
Keeping this rule in mind will aid your business in developing and
keeping a professional image. It will also help your business in
enticing potential customers to give whatever you offer a
chance.
Keeping Your Competition
From Dominating The
Market
The other situation where your business needs to
seriously
consider advertising with Craigslist is when you find direct
competitors taking advantage of the marketing possibilities on
Craigslist. If you find that your competitors are advertising on
Craigslist, then it's important that you do too. If you don't, in
effect, you're handing your competition all of
potential customers
that Craigslist reaches.
Let's say you have a dog grooming business in
Beaumont, Texas.
If a lot of people in Beaumont are using their local Craigslist page
to locate dog groomers, you're sure to miss out on many of these
potential clients. After all, these people are likely to choose
someone advertising through Craigslist for any of their dog
grooming needs. However, if you placed a well-written ad in the
appropriate category on Craigslist you would likely gain some of
the available market share.
There is an exception to placing ads where your
competitors are
currently advertising. That is if the local market is saturated
with competitors. Look at the above sample business of dog grooming
in Beaumont. If there were only a few competitors on Craigslist it
would be a smart choice to place an ad of your own. On the other
hand, if there were hundreds of other dog groomers marketing on the
beaumont Craigslist site, then your ad wouldn't stand out unless you
made your title very creative or employed some other "creative" means
in your advertising. It's a good habit to
check Craigslist from time to time because the number of
competitors could decline. At that time it would be acceptable to
place an ad.
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