If you think marketing simply involves expensive advertising, then you'll be relieved to know that there are low-cost alternatives. After all, marketing is about getting your message to the market. And how you do that can be customized to any entrepreneur's budget.
First of all, marketing with existing clients is less costly and highly effective since your customers already know your company and you're familiar with their preferences and needs. It's important to take advantage of this invaluable knowledge and use it to build your marketing campaign. If you're trying to reach new clients, this may require more insight and market research.
Tailor your strategy to your target market by being visible in places that are relevant or meaningful to your audience. Ask yourself: what do they read? What do they watch? What activities interest them? Always work with a specific goal in mind so that you can easily map your progress. For example, you may want to obtain e-mail addresses, increase traffic to your website, increase sales of a specific product or change the perception of your product or service.
Avoid wasting money
- Conduct your marketing efforts in a logical, systematic way; random marketing tends to have little sizzle and you may simply lose your audience.
- Be sure you adhere to a firm plan and give it time; you have to be patient before you see the pay-off.
- Keep track of how much you spend on research. You'll need money to produce your campaign.
- Test your campaign before committing to it.
- Prepare timeless marketing pieces that don't have to be updated regularly. References to the number of years you've been in business or specific client names may quickly become outdated.
- Avoid simply relying on humour to position your company. Your product or service benefit, competitive difference or company culture are a much better choice for marketing.
Choose the vehicle that fits your business
Referral system: if you have an existing firm, set up a referral system so that your existing customers can provide names of potential clients. For example, you could offer discounts to those who refer new clients.
Public speaking: offer to be a speaker at a conference associated with your type of product/service. This is particularly useful in a business-to-business context.
Website: if you want to extend your reach in a relatively inexpensive way, set up a very basic website (even one page provides visibility). Be sure that your products look appealing and that the look-and-feel is consistent with your brand. Provide up-to-date data and full contact information.
Press releases: write short, engaging and newsworthy press releases and distribute them to newspapers, magazines and radio stations.
Direct mail: use direct mail to target specific audiences and elicit immediate response. This method is more effective if followed up with telemarketing.
Local marketing: keep in mind that community newspapers offer low-cost advertising space and that community bulletin boards are generally free.
Brochures: this can be a costly option. If you are selling a very high-end product/service, it is important that your brochure reflect this. Keep it simple but always professional, and try to estimate how many copies you really need. Amateur-looking marketing is not a wise investment. If you use professionals to help you, be sure that you learn from them; in the future, you may be able to handle some of the task yourself.
Yellow pages: the big advantage here is that this publication is available for the entire year. Don't forget to list yourself in the specific categories where prospects can easily find you.
Trade shows: this marketing vehicle is only pertinent if your product or service is aimed at a very specific and defined target market, preferably business-to-business. Avoid tradeshows if your market is diffuse and generic. Learn more about where the buyers are at tradeshows.
Networking: this is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate your expertise, particularly if you offer professional services. Joining business associations, for example, enables you to leverage more work from existing clients and find new clients. After all, entrepreneurs join associations in order to share information and skills. The challenge here is to be able to offer your services discretely. Avoid being too "hard sell" by foisting your services on entrepreneurs.
Advertising: online advertising is generally less expensive than offline advertising. Be sure to find out if your target market tends to use the Web or not; if your audience doesn't go online, neither should you. If your customers do go online, be sure you know where they go and that your product or service is appropriate for the website or electronic newsletter.
What's important here is to ensure that your presence online can give you quality leads. Remember that users will visit websites or read a newsletter for specific information and not to see your ad. Typically, users will click on the section they are looking for from the homepage without so much as glancing at external offers. When users do get to the section they were looking for, they will take more time to look at the full page, including your relevant ad. For more on online best practices, read about online marketing.
Ultimately, it's also important to ensure that those new customers you fought so hard to get generate repeat business; be sure that you don't promise anything you can't deliver. As well, be certain that you have adequate and trained resources to meet projected demand. Ask yourself: is your inventory adequate? Are your customer service resources available? Can your website handle a certain volume?
