Marketing is the lifeblood of any business. While the small business can't compete with the big conglomerates with multi-million dollar advertising budgets, there are some basics that can lead to profits and long term growth of your business. Let's look at some ways you can market your business on a low budget:
1. Take a look at the products you are selling. If they are similar in nature to other products, you may need to narrow your focus to a specific niche and concentrate on marketing that product to a narrower client base.
2. Getting listed on Pay-per-click search engines are likely to be out of your advertising range, but there are many other PPCs out there you can try. They may not reach an audience of millions, but your ad will have a greater chance to be seen.
3. Get connected. Simply you need to act as a Town Crier. Newsgroups, chat rooms and many Web 2 sites offer the ability to dispense information. They're a great way to get your business known without having to spend a fortune for advertising. However, they are not avenues for blatant advertising of your business. By establishing yourself as knowledgeable in the subject related to your product, you can establish trust in those who read your message. They will visit your site and eventually become customers.
4. Much in line with getting connected, you should make yourself visible in the real world. Writing articles, whether to ezines or a local paper can establish your expertise in the eyes of the reader. Article writing is a great way to get your small business notice, since your signature file at the end of the article will appear in ezines and publications targeted to your market.
5. Visibility is a major key to promotion. Public relations is a great way to announce the start of your new business or a new product launch in local papers. Consider using some of your advertising budget to sponsor charitable events in your home town. Open an information booth at trade fairs. Consider holding a seminar to dispense knowledge about subjects related to your product. Hold a garage sale. If your wife loves to cook, there's no reason why you can't get involved in a church bake sale. Do some volunteer work. Media sources are constantly looking for interesting news items and will publish reports and articles about your business at no cost to you.
6. Communicate with everyone you meet. You should be ready to talk about the business you're in, pass out free samples and business cards. Join your local chamber of commerce, BIA and business networking groups. Pass out company flyers and sales brochures. You can also include them in your mail as you pay your bills. Don't forget that your customer is already sold on your product so send postcards and letters of thanks for their business. Be sure to respond as quickly as possible to the questions of new prospects.
7. Even if your product has nothing to do with children, you can draw them in along with their parents with free candy, cookies or toys at a local fair.
8. Email marketing is a great way to reach potential customers. Your current opt-in list of customers are willing to see what new products you have to offer. You can offer free samples, ebooks and reports to anyone looking for more information. But never send off any email unless they have requested information. There are sites where you can build a prospect list. You should have an autoresponder to address email inquiries.
9. Infomercials don't have to be expensive, nor on prime time TV. You can post a video on YouTube, Facebook and a number of other social websites. Nighttime infomercials will reach fewer people but are usually cheaper to host depending on whether you involve celebrities, doctors and other well known people.
10. Consider joint advertising campaign with non-competing business. It works well both online and in the real world.
11. Be on the lookout for better ways to promote your business. Subscribe to trade magazines and ezines in your field. You need to keep abreast of the latest methods used to draw in customers. Talk to other business people to find out how they are marketing their products and services. Never let your business remain static. That means constant improvement of your product. The Japanese call it Kaizen. Look for more efficient ways to service your existing customers. Word-of-mouth is a powerful method of marketing. Be imaginative.
These methods will help you better reach that important customer. While they are basic marketing techniques they are powerful. Every big budget business started in some form this way and so can you.