You might not even have a marketing budget! If that’s the case, then this article is definitely for you.
If you’re a new business, small business or just short of spare money to do your marketing justice at the moment, then making use of low-cost marketing methods might just get you through.
Think about:
- Making your own flyer to tell your customers what you do. If you know what you’re doing you might want to use desk top publishing software; if not you can even do these using a word processor – have a look at the templates provided and see if any would work for you. Then only print as many as you need. Remember to use good quality paper and do something to make it stand out (try folding your paper in an unusual way). You can even make your own business cards if you buy the template card fom good stationers.
- Giving your customers incentives to recommend you. If your service is good this can be very cost-effective as new customers can cancel out the incentive for the referrer – provide them with a voucher when the referral buys from you, for example.
- Networking! This is virtually free and the more people you meet face to face to talk about your business the more likely they are to want to do business with you. Find you local business club or local (free!) business events to go to.
- Making a sign for the back of your car. If you print out a message as large as you can manage and stick it inside your rear screen – that’s free advertising!
- Doing your own leaflet drop. Having made your own at budget cost, go out and hand deliver them – or find a young person to do it for you for some extra pocket money.
- Contacting your local paper and offer to write a column on your area of expertise. It’s free advertising if they let you and papers are often looking for new material.
- Adding a promotional message to the bottom of your e-mails – free advertising again!
- Run a competition in your local newspaper – this gives you exposure and you get follow-up publicity when the prize is won.
- Thinking of a wacky idea to promote your product or service that will either get news coverage or grab attention. If you sell food – get out into the street with samples, or if you sell stationery – dress up as a pencil and give out leaflets in the street (yes, really). If you’re an underwear seller get somebody outside the shop to model it for you – why not? People will remember you!
- Getting some testimonials. These are free and you can use them on your website and other marketing material to show how good your service is. An excellent way to get a strong promotional message across.
It’s a misconception that marketing has to be expensive – in fact, the more creative you can be with the budget you have, the more you could save year-on-year.
