Boosting sales during slow months

2/28/2011

For many businesses, February is one of the slowest months of the year, as the busy holiday shopping season has just come to an end. To make the most of these slow months, Inc. magazine recently suggested looking for free publicity.

This could mean offering consumers deals and discounts in the hopes of developing some word-of-mouth referrals. Social sites, such as Facebook, can help entrepreneurs spread the word, while deal sites like Groupon can act as a jumping point to launch incentives.

"Facebook frowns on direct pitches. But you can use your page to invite referrals from customers and suggest they post positive feedback on Yelp and Citysearch. Or put a laptop opened to one of these sites at your counter and politely invite clients to spend a minute doing just that," suggests the source.

Many small business owners are investing more of their money into marketing now that getting commercial loans is less of a challenge. According to a recent survey conducted by MerchantCircle, most companies are looking to spend close to $2,500 on advertising in 2011.