Hi Jean,
congratulations on your new business! It is always great to do something for a living that you are passionate about.
I don't know much about the scrapbooking business, however, my major in business school was marketing, I had my own marketing consulting company and was usually hired to help in the launch/start up of small and midsize businesses. Since I moved to the US I don't do that anymore, I have owned my own real estate business for the past 10 years.
In my experience, for any new business, planning is crucial! I had a professor who said most people plan to fail in a new business because they fail to plan. My recommendation would be to do a business plan, it doesn't have to be fancy. Take 2 or 3 days to do research and planning. Ask yourself:
Who is my competition (identify the types of business that are your competition and identify your specific competitors)?
What are they doing that makes them successful?
If I was looking for that type of service/product what would I expect from that business to go with them instead of someone else?
What can I offer that sets me apart from the competition (price, customer service, additional services ......)?
Identify your strengths and weaknesses in comparison to successful competitors?
Who is my target market?
Where are they located?
Identify customer motivation (why would they buy your product/services)?
How much is my budget for my marketing?
What's my marketing vehicle (how do I let them know about my services)?
The last question really refers to the marketing plan in your business, this is where you put it all together and plan your marketing (daily, weekly, monthly) and really stick to it.
You mentioned flyers, teaching classes, gift baskets, I think this is a great start. You just need to continue doing it and do it on a regular basis. Most people make the mistake that they do it once or twice, don't get the desired results immediately and quit doing it to move on to different "techniques". Just keep in mind, one or two flyers to someone you don't know will most likely not give you business right away. People are bombarded with flyers, postcards, they won't remember a thing until the have seen the same thing 10 - 15 times.
Marketing is long-term business development, in oppose to "prospecting" which is targeted to get immediate business. Most new businesses need to do both and as a new business you will need to have a good marketing plan to develop and increase your business over time.
What comes to mind what you could do additionally to attract business are
Join business networking groups or any other groups that gets you face-to-face with people and talk about your business. People like to do business with people they know and where they have things in common. A good starting point would be
www.meetup.com, they have meeting groups all over the country, find something that interests you and join. Or start a new meeting group.
Target businesses that could benefit from your services or product and keep them on a regular mailout schedule (flyers, newsletters, special events .....).
I am not sure if you only sell the scrap booking materials and do classes, or if you could expand your services to do the scrap books for inviduals like me who are creatively challenged. If you would offer that service to business like for example targeting the real estate community/real estate agents could be beneficial. You could do a flyer and offer gift baskets for closing, a binder to document the home buying process for their buyers with additional room to put in important documents from the home buying. For sellers, booklets about the community, benefits of the house to leave in the listing for prospective buyers. Real estate has taken a real nose dive and agents are looking for a competitive edge in marketing to get listings and sellers are looking for additional benefits, a well-done booklet/binder I think would be something that you could get real estate agents interested in and it would be repeat business. Just a thought.
I am sure there is other service businesses that could use some of your services/products. Network with those businesses, consider cross-endorsing, meaning they send out to their data base endorsing your services, you send out to your database endorsing their services. Make sure though you agree with their business practices and be sure you can put your name to it. There is nothing worse than referring or endorsing someone to your business or personal database and they perform in a professional manner or screw up x(
Maybe photographers would be a good target group as well. You could do combined marketing with them.
You could do scrap booking parties, invite your past or current customers and friends, ask them to bring a friend, aquaintance or business associate who would be interested.
Ask your friends and past customers if they know of anyone who might be interested in your services/product. Tell them that you are looking to expand your business, or would like to help more people, or ...... whatever the reason is. Most people are more than willing to help you in your new business venture, you just need to ask. Reward them with a little gift and a thank you note for any referral, no matter if it works out or not.
Stay in touch with your current and past customers, friends, former business associates on a regular mailout list, do maybe newsletters with tips, events that you are planning. It doesn't all have to be by mail, you can utilize email.
Try and add new prospective customers to your list every day, just tell them what you do, if they show interest, let them know that you send out tips, tricks, information on a regular basis and you are more than happy to send it to them as well. Get an address or email address.
Send out flyers/newsletters to your identified, specific target group, maybe someone who just had a baby, before graduation time, weddings, etc.
Maybe put in something like a sweepstake/drawing for a gift ertificate for a store, movie theatre, scrap booking material, a free scrap booking class, whatever you can think of that people might be interested in. You could direct them to your website and have them sign up for the sweepstakes. You will get their email address, address. Do in fact hold the drawing and publish on your website and/or newsletter who won. Add everyone who signed up to your database and put them on a regular mailout schedule.
Offer classes at schools before graduation time, or when the new school year starts maybe for new kindergartners or first-graders. You can start at your kids' school and expand it to other schools.
I am sure there is a lot more, but this is getting too long
Good books to get would be Rhonda Abrams "Business Plan in a Day", "Six Week Start Up ". Another good book is "Guerilla Marketing" it is about low cost marketing with ideas that you can make work for any business. I am sure there are books out there for small business start ups, maybe even specifically for the scrap booking business. Does your company offer any classes how to run your business and be successful for their consultants? It might be a good idea to take advantage of anything they offer.
I hope this helps. If you have any additional questions feel free to send me a PM.
Good luck in your new venture. Just stay consistent and don't get frustrated when things don't work out right away. How does the saying go? Rome wasn't built in a day
