Warning: 5 Most Common Myths To Marketing Your Home Based Business and How To Avoid Them

Tamara Manchenko, CEO of Mentoring With Tamara, LLC, has provided us with 5 most common myths to marketing a home based business (HBB), and the ways to avoid them. She’s been mentoring HBB owners for 6 years and established Mentoring With Tamara, LLC in January 2005.

Myth #1: The 3 Foot Rule, “Talk to everyone within 3 feet of you about your home
based business.”

- Effective marketing requires the use of a target market, or target audience. The idea of a product that “everyone will buy” is grand, but selling to the people who are looking hungrily for your product is more realistic and you’ll make more sales.

Myth #2: “The expense in marketing is necessary, business costs a lot of money to
promote.”

- Most HBB owners are taught to buy business opportunity leads (BOLs) and to pass out fliers and sizzle cards. There are 2 important things to know: 1) Buying BOLs is not recommend because BOLs are inexperienced people who receive 5 – 10 offers per week on HBB, and 2) the message you put on your flier and sizzle card is just as important as the market. Your message has to put you into a niche.

Myth #3: “Develop a tough skin toward people who say “no” about your business.
Every no brings you closer to a yes.”

- This marketing method implies that the product you have will be unwanted by most people you’re appealing to. Going through a sea of people who don’t want your product to find a couple that do is certainly not effective marketing, and the same goes with finding business partners. Bring the people who want your product to your product.

Myth #4: “The best people to speak to are your warm market. Your family and friends
will be your best customers.”

- Your family and friends already know of your struggles and will want to wait until they see results from you. Discouragement from lack of support stems from attempting to turn family into customers, making HBB owners feel unsupported. Family members and friends who know of your struggles will seldom want to jump aboard without seeing results from you, use the other marketing techniques and you’ll be able to help them in no time.

Myth #5: “Only bring 1 person to the conference call, and 3 way them in. Get the most
people to come to the hotel/ house/ restaurant meeting.”

- This myth is probably the most crippling to HBB. Common sense and effective marketing both say: “The more people you have in front of your business, the more will buy from you.” Conference calls and flash movie websites are easier to attend than meetings, and reminders, follow ups and closes are much easier. You could easily get 10 – 15 people on a conference call versus getting 10 – 15 people to show up for a meeting after work.

Ms. Manchenko makes this information available through her website, and welcomes questions.