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How Can I Market My Business on a Small Budget?
By John Joyce, President
Red, Incorporated
Strategic Marketing and Design
I often hear from business owners that they would like to do more marketing and advertising, but, for a variety of reasons, they can’t afford it. There are many ways of getting your message to prospective customers, and they are very simple.
While they may not be the answer to all your marketing and advertising needs, and they may or may not be effective long-term strategies, they indeed meet the criteria of being cost-effective and workable.
Here are a few tips that will help you get into the marketing and advertising modus operandi (Just keep in mind that the same basic principles apply with marketing as they do with business):
- Keep your ads working for you. If you advertise, you’ve already spent a lot of money, but there are ways of stretching that ad. Reprint them and mail them to prospective customers with a short, hand-written note.
- Network. You’re already doing it now, but are you maximizing your investment? Are you making a concentrated effort to meet someone new at each function? Concentrate on getting your name – and message – out to your fellow businesses. This facilitates getting referrals that translate into getting new business.
- Use the Internet. You can’t just put up a Web site and hope that it will bring you business. The key to marketing on a small budget through the Internet is with a solid plan. Make the most out of your Web site – by combining and coordinating your communications efforts.
- New-product or new-services press releases. For a fraction of the cost of an ad campaign, you can develop a press release and send it to trade journals in your industry. If it printed in only one-third of those magazines, it still can generate hundreds of inquiries.
- Article reprints and writing. Become recognized as an industry expert. Every industry has magazines and most are looking for good content. The Internet also is filled with Web sites and E-zines looking for material to send to their subscribers and customers. You can then reprint and market your published material in many ways.
