Low cost ways of promoting your business
It may sound counter-productive for a marketing an design agency to be giving away trade secrets about low cost ways of promoting your business, but as an SME business ourselves we know how hungry the ‘marketing animal’ can be and also how sometimes the low cost, simple things can be very effective.
So here is a list of 16 ideas and tips for marketing your business. Hopefully you will be doing many of these, but even if you are, there should be a few that are new to you. If they are new to you, then you have a great list to work your way through the appropriate ones and really start to have a positive impact on your business.
#1 Plan your approach
Understand who you need to target ‘ where will your prospective customers be’? Then you won’t waste the resources you have (or be included to be persuaded by sales people selling media space)
#2 Invest in the basics
Logo, business card, web presence. Even before you have a website you can purchase your domain name and set up a professional email address. I cringe at the businesses who use businessname@hotmail.com it immediately screams small business.
#3 Spend some time setting up free online listings
Time spent setting up free listing especially Google places, FreeIndex and any industry specific ones can be invaluable. Put in some searches yourself – often the directory sites feature high in the results – go and see if they offer a free or low cost listing service
#4 Set up your social media
Social media is a great marketing tool but make sure it is relevant to your business. Most businesses start with Facebook as it is the one they are more comfortable (usually because they use it personally). Facebook can be very effective but is less relevant for business to business than for consumer products so if you are selling to businesses twitter and LinkedIn would be better.
Pick the platforms that will reach your target audience or match your marketing needs. If your business requires access to difficult to get to decision makers, then LinkedIn can be a great way of finding people, connecting and warming them up to accept a sales call or visit.
#5 Attend local networking events
Don’t underestimate the power of meeting people face to face and networking is a great opportunity to spread the word and meet potential contacts (not necessarily customers but could be suppliers, referrers plus the ‘movers and shakers of the area).
#6 Look to joining the best of these for your business
Evaluate what you need to put and what you will get out. Usually the more you put in the more you get out but don’t spread yourself too thinly, better to belong to 1 or 2 and have a real impact than casually attending everything.
#7 Go back to old contacts, clients and colleagues
Let them know you are starting up in business (make sure you are not treading on toes of old company). You can be proactive – send a postcard with new details or use things like LinkedIn to track them down.
#8 Capitalise on PR
Local business papers will usually do a feature on a new business. Like all PR if you have an angle you are more likely to get better coverage. So is there something interesting about you, your business or your approach. Are you a local business with a national audience? Are you doing something different? Is it a new type of product or service? Do you have an interesting background?
Make it part of your marketing plan to send out press releases when you have something new or interesting to tell i.e. won a new contract, completed some new work.
#9 Write something of value as an expert in your field
Submit to journalists, post as a free download on LinkedIn or use to gain email subscriptions on your website.
#10 Build an email list
Create a list of known contacts, customers etc so you can market via email marketing. Be aware of Data Protection and don’t harvest from Yell / networking etc. Email is an intrusive medium and although cheap works best when with people who know you rather than a blanket promotion. If you do want to use a purchased email list, make sure it is from a reputable source and be prepared to market to it a number of times with a variety of messages and offers. A one off email to a cold list is very unlikely to bring in the results you need.
#11 Get samples of your products into people’s hands
What demos or product samples could you send to influential people / prospects. The advent of bloggers in many areas has opened up new opportunities for people to get influential people to endorse or review products.
#12 Be a speaker at events
Providing your services as a speaker at a business event is a good chance to prove your credibility and also make contacts
#13 Create low cost marketing material
Items such as case studies, PowerPoint presentations can easily be pdf’s and emailed to people who want more information. Look at building a series of presentations or documents that are more focussed i.e. sector specific or a range of products so that you can respond in a timely manner with something that is as relevant as possible.
#14 Write a blog
Blogs are easy and cheap to set up and if either linked to your site or within your site can provide valuable web traffic as well as again proving your credibility. You can promote your blog on emails and through social media
#15 Target possible referrers rather than end customers
If you have limited budget then focussing your efforts on people who can refer in multiple customers is more effective than targeting direct clients.
#16 Target you dream clients
People often try and do too much with the little resource they have. It is the same principal as point 16, target your efforts where you will get best return. You should have a good idea of your ‘dream’ client or customer. Build a list of these and actively market to these instead of trying to appeal to everyone.