You may be a very promising and bright entrepreneur who focuses on customer satisfaction and have burning passion to grow your startup to great heights but if you don’t prioritize to use tactics/techniques to advertise your company and increase your customer base then the outcome may be very very unfavorable also.
Marketing through classified sites or top lead generating sites like Justdial, Sulekha, Hudku, Olx, Quikr, etc. is one of the best ways to reach out all type of customers and expand your business.
We have a very good example of Satpal Singh who made significant progress with the help of Classified sites; however you should always be practical and expect success once you have done detailed analysis of kind of businesses listed on classified sites, Information you must display on Classified sites, Advantages and drawbacks of classified sites and advantages to opt for your own website rather than relying on classified or lead generating websites alone.
Satpal was working in a leading Pest Control Company in Chandigarh and resigned to start his own venture with other two fellow lads who also had a dream to do something. But, when you begin with a startup then there are no magic shortcuts and the only real path is- staring them right into the face.
Meanwhile, real entrepreneurs who start a real business, that employ real people with the spark of doing something, who provide real services to real customers do seldom fail.
Of Course, Satpal wasn't born with a silver spoon in his mouth, however, was very well aware what to do. He gathered long experience, in-depth knowledge of design and processes, financial management, digital and hard data while working as an operational manager in the previous company.
Nevertheless, there's no specific "special sauce" to add to the recipe for instant success, and nothing is guaranteed, therefore he also had some worries about the outcome and immediate upheavals.
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Anyhow, he could successfully make the initial stage i.e. he created a team charter with Job descriptions and then hired those, purchased equipment and took a rented property for office and go down.
He could easily manage the financial aspect since starting pest control business, requires low financial inputs as compared to other businesses. However, with the possible exception of profitable franchises, it normally takes anywhere from 4 months to several years for new businesses to become profitable.
Branding and advertisement are the most essential to new businesses; he recognized the link between successful business and strong branding and worked through newspaper pamphlets, placed ads on poles, distributed homeowner guides, installed gate-boards of his company at multiple places, did door to door cold calling, created alliances with other local pest control operators located in Tricity, Ludhiana and other parts of Punjab, launched awareness campaigns, provided free services for gaining referrals; even though could not drive the business to the extent he had been expecting it to be.
In the online world, getting lots of attention means cash in the bank, however there also, it is getting increasingly difficult to even get your target market to notice you; not only do you have to compete with large companies that have strong marketing departments, but you also have to compete with social media and many other distractors.
Depending on the Segmentation and Interactivity he registered with JustDial and Sulekha and did not go with Google. He availed premium service of Justdial and remained free user on Sulekha. Justdial and Sulekha are basically classified sites, who charge a commission from unlisted companies which are ranked higher on their categorized pages and therefore become more visible to customers who are searching for such services on their site.
He paid the lofty amount for one-year agreement however recovered the same within three months from commencement. In one year he got enough customer base, his business became persevered and he did not renew the agreement then on.
However you will not always listen to success stories similar to Satpal or other people who are associated with such sites, but reasons behind failure may be many like not leading yourself and placing whole responsibility on staff who possesses no or minimal ownership, no control over business, predicting future rather than planning it, poor service quality and no referrals from existing customers, Focus on general business principles instead of the specific industry, etc.
Therefore being a new magnate it is worth trying classified sites and should have a thorough knowledge of do’s and don’ts associated with this.
It works as local search engine or a lead generation website and the user can find desired address and phone numbers. As an entrepreneur, you can list your company on the website and opt for a paid advertisement or free add page. Through justdial, you will be shared free contact details of the prospective customer. It has most vide presence all over the country and most user-friendly interface.
It covers almost all the local needs of a person and allows the user to get quotation as well. Justdial provides free as well as premium service. Sulekha includes listing, classified, deals, e-commerce and reviews/ratings etc.
You can make your own profile by completing signup formalities which require your Mail ID/Phone Number, Name and location else you can also log in through Facebook, Twitter or Gmail. While selecting between Justdial and Sulekha you must ensure that your targeted audience uses mobile or desktop and in case it is mobile then you should go with Justdial which has a much better presence in telephone classified market.
Sulekha is more popular in cities like Delhi or Mumbai, so wherever people use Sulekha more than Justdial, go for Sulekha otherwise vice-versa.
At present, it has 8,269 Alexa Rank in India. Unlike Justdial and Sulekha, Hudku's services are all free and it lets you connect directly to the consumer by providing their contact details. Hudku is a Business Search and lead generation website and in India, it has comparatively less presence in all states and is confined to cities like Bangalore only.
However, since it has the presence on the global front and it has no local boundaries limitations, therefore, it’s market share in India is ever increasing.
Quikr has the same market presence as the Justdial has, however it differs from Justdial and Sulekha in terms of more focus on Buy and Sell area; Justdial mainly concentrates on the listing of business. Justdial earns more than Quikr and Olx combined together.
Quikr is mainly used by common people who want to sell or buy 2nd hand products like TV, Refrigerator, Beds, Furniture, Mobiles etc,
However, is also used by shopkeepers or distributors who want to sell their products. The flip side of Quikr is that sometimes you may also find spams. As a service provider, you can advertise by opting for Premium ads on Quikr.
Olx is one of the best marketplaces to buy and sell, as well as a lead generating a classified website in India; here user can use chat features and activate or deactivate his items at his will. Olx has more user base than Quikr and you can get fast responses as and when you list your product.
Olx shows accurate products at a reasonable price for example- you can get different cars from different ranges based on the usage and price.
Quikr is the best online classified site when you are selling big items like your Car or Refrigerator and much posting a new and is similar in Olx and Quikr but overall quality and service wise users have reported comparative better experience with Olx. Olx is regarded as one of the best lead generation site.
Besides above, there are many other classified sites like location, craigslist, Trovit, vivastreet, click.in, clickindia etc. which can be explored depending upon the relevance to your work, research on the targeted market, checking peer's ad posting style, applying some experimentation, place where you are placing ad etc.
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As an entrepreneur, It is one of the most important and useful aspect to go through and have knowledge of. Following are the categories which give the knowledge of different sales areas to glimpse opportunities as a businessman, on the flip side, as a customer quick view of these can help you meet your instant requirement in future also:
Most of the classified sites like Justdial and Olx allows you to make your own webpage where you must put following important information:
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Despite of Benefits like- Automation of marketing, shortening the sales cycle, getting found online and accelerating boost at the beginning, first and foremost drawback for businessmen may be that his business may become more or less dependent on external source who may charge unpredictably in future and can rank your competitor high based on fees he pays; this makes classified sites tentative but not permanent source of business lead generation.
One must prefer developing and marketing his own website to reach full fry.
The website provides an instant visual presentation of your organization to those who can access the internet, and because 80-95% of all website traffic comes from search engines and these are available on 24/7/365, that too with modest cost, therefore, it allows you to have your own independent source of lead generation.
There are following most useful benefits of individual websites over classified sites:
The Website can target each visitor specifically and interact with a well-designed interface if it has the following technical features:
In this way, if the customer comes to buy one product then may purchase other which is not enlisted for sales. Social sharing options.