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10 Tips for Marketing on a Budget

Marketing on a budget does not have to mean a compromised marketing effort, or compromised results for that matter. This article is intended for the small business owner who cannot afford a primetime TV spot and a full page ad in BusinessWeek. The great news is, in this new age of doing business, you don't need the multimillion dollar advertising campaign to compete.

Let's take money out of the equation for a second. It's true you need to spend money to make money - or is it? Can you cut your marketing budget and still see revenues increase? What if we forget spending lots of money on the basic marketing approaches and put our time and creative energy to use?

Okay entrepreneurs, here are 10 ways to market your business with little or no money needed. Some of these methods won't be a fit for your business enterprise, but the more of these you do implement the better your chances of success are. Mix it up and hit the customers from all angles!

1. The customer is king (or queen). Customer service can be the greatest marketing asset that a company possesses. Think about it, this is your ticket to free word-of-mouth promotion. The customer that gets the really good treatment will probably tell ten people about their great experience. That could be a potential ten customers gained, with an ongoing ripple effect once they all see how truly wonderful your establishment is.

There are tons of ways to go above and beyond for the customer, including follow-up calls to make sure their product or service met their expectations, or throwing in a "little extra" for those repeat customers. Any attempts to make them feel valued or important will generate repeat sales. There are literally hundreds of things that can be done to accomplish this.

2. Who's that knocking at my window? Oh, it's the competition moving in. No need to run; let's take it to the drawing board. Differentiation is the key word here. What will differentiate you from the competition? Will it be your pricing strategy (I'm not talking in terms of a pricing war)? Do you offer something truly unique that the competition cannot replicate, or are you tapping an underserved niche? Or maybe you want to offer customer support that is unparalleled? If you're not doing at least one of these things then you don't have much to market.

3. The free press. I don't know about you, but free is my favorite flavor. Free media attention is a gold mine because your business is presented to a large audience,

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