Newcomers—those who have just moved into a neighborhood or town, or those who have just joined an organization or group—can be a great opportunity for a small home business. Finding and attracting those newcomers as prospective customers and clients can be a bit of a challenge, however. So, how DO you tap into the newcomer market for your home business?
In order to find the newcomers, you need to get yourself in the places where newcomers frequent or where others know about these new arrivals. That could mean your chamber of commerce, neighborhood association, church, neighborhood schools, etc. People with children will generally register their kids in school when they move to a new area; look for a church, contact the “Welcome Wagon” or other similar organization. In order to find out who is new, it helps if you get inside these organizations as well.
I have found that my realtor friends ALWAYS seem to know who is new. Just knowing them and keeping in touch with a couple realtors seems to help me keep up to speed in terms of the changes in town. If you live in a small enough area, it might pay off to tap into your realtor friends or those who are in the housing market in some way since they just seem to have their fingers of the pulse of population change in any given area.
If you do have a “Welcome Wagon” or other such greeting effort in your town, they are often looking for goodies and offers to go into a welcome packet that goes to newcomers. Find out from your chamber of commerce (or whoever conducts the welcoming) what the packets are and how to get your business information included. This can be a great way to reach newcomers, but it may cost you a bit.
Also: Launching a New Product or Service