Marketing On A Shoestring Budget

As a former marketing director who now owns my own agency that caters to small business, I am often asked, "how do I grow my business when I don't have the money to advertise?" I tell them that, although it usually takes money to make money, there are some things you can do to promote your business without spending a lot of money. Here are five ideas - try one or try them all - to help your business grow without shrinking your wallet:

1. Think out of the box.

Chances are, when you started your business, you did it because you thought you could fill a niche, or provide a product or service that was lacking in your industry. Now take it one step further; what is ONE radical, unique, thing you could do/provide/make for your customer that would create some buzz and increase traffic? Here's an example: some years back, I worked for a large, locally-owned financial institution that offered mortgage loans to its customers. Well, one day the CEO decided that it would be a good thing to lower the mortgage rates 1/2 of one percent across the board. There was no advertising, no big promotions, nothing. Customers were notified with a short letter saying that the interest rate on their mortgage had been lowered, the new rate and payment would be effective the following month, and thank you for your business. As you can imagine, the phones started ringing off the hook almost immediately from grateful customers scratching their heads who asked "Is this real?" "Why are you doing this?" and comments like "I can't believe this is happening" and so forth. Eventually, the local media caught wind of the story and the publicity and free advertising that came from this simple decision resulted in a 30% increase in new customers and new accounts within a year, which more than paid back the decrease in loan interest income from the lowered mortgage rates.

Now, granted, this was a large, albeit local, financial institution, and your business may not have the kind of market share that this one did, but you can still think outside the box and come up with a really radical, creative idea that will blow your customers' minds.

2. Answer the phone!

A few years ago, when I started a new marketing job at a medium-sized credit union, I was told on the first day that EVERYONE answered the phones, regardless of their position on the organizational chart. OK, I thought, I am not too proud to answer the phone, so I enthusiastically answered as many calls as possible. I performed many teller transactions (even though the job I was hired to do was marketing) and helped customers anyway I could. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and over time, discovered that these phone calls (that other employees found to be a nuisance and interruption) helped me discern what was really important to the customer and, in turn, helped me to better focus the message of the marketing materials. All those answered phone calls helped me form a mental composite "image" of a typical customer: how much money they kept in their accounts, what they spent it on, age, gender, income, educational background, etc.

Remember that one advantage a small business has over large corporations is their ability to provide outstanding customer service! Don't lose touch with who your customer really is and what makes them tick. Keeping an active and accurate mental composite image of who you serve will enable you to come up with great ideas, as suggested above in item #1.

3. Go green!

As a business owner who is also very interested in recycling and being a good steward of resources, this is perhaps my favorite tip. Email marketing is fast becoming a standard form of communication between business and their customers. (Do I have a knack for stating the obvious or what?) But how to get started? First you have to compile an email list to start with, and if your company already has email capability, then you're halfway there. There are some great resources to use for email marketing as well. My favorite is www.constantcontact.com. They can help you send newsletters, event invitations, online surveys and more. They also provide templates you can use to design your marketing piece. It's a subscription service that charges a fee according to how many addresses are on your email list. Make sure, however, that your emails are meaningful - you don't want to send out frivolous news that will quickly be deleted and get the reader to start thinking that they need to add your email address to the "spam" list!

I am also a big fan of multi-functional marketing pieces. One rule of shoestring marketing is to NEVER design something that could just be thrown away! Put a coupon, or tear-off piece requesting more information on your brochure or mail piece. If you have a newsletter, hide a phrase or illustration or answer to a question within it and offer a prize to the first one who finds it. For example: hide your logo or slogan within the body of your newsletter and very prominently state on the front page a prize to the first customer who brings back the newsletter with the item circled, or calls in the correct answer. Make sure the prize is worth the effort, though. You want it to be meaningful enough for someone to go to the effort of working for it.

Other ideas: Does your product have a wrapper? Put a coupon on the back of it. Use the back of your business card to put coupons, links to your website, or other useful information. Don't bother putting a calendar or game schedules or birthstone charts on the back of your business cards unless it directly relates to your business. Use the space to maximize YOUR business. Otherwise, it's pretty much wasted ink and the only one making money is the print shop who charged you an extra fee to print on the back of the cards.

4. Use co-op advertising.

Now you may not want to consider advertising with your direct competitor, but perhaps you can do some advertising with another small business that compements YOUR business. For example, if you own an auto parts shop, and want to send a direct mail piece but don't want to foot the entire bill yourself, perhaps you could split the bill with a local auto repair shop, body shop, used car dealer, or so forth. You should find a business that doesn't compete with you but has the same customer base.

5. Outsource.

Yes, even small businesses needs to outsource once in a while. The advantage of hiring someone to do your marketing is that they are experts and can quickly identify the need and figure out the best way to get your message to your customers as quickly as possible. They can also help you use the media to get publicity for your business, which is the BEST kind of advertising - because it's FREE.

You can even outsource on a shoestring by going to your local college or university's job placement office and ask to post a job listing for students or new graduates who need to build their portfolios. Often you can find a graphic design student, or marketing student, who would be willing to take on your project at a drastically reduced price (short of beer and pizza!). I know this to be true; that's how I got started...

Marketing your small business on a shoestring does take a little effort and creative thinking. But we both know you already have those abilities - that's how you came to own your business instead of working for someone else!

Copywright 2009 www.plusonemarketingsolutions.media.officelive.com