that won’t break the bank
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Marketing on a Budget – a Beginner’s Guide Any small business needs customers and sales to survive. You can have the best product or service in the world, but if no-one will pay you for it, you can’t succeed. So you’ve set up your business, you’ve got great products or services, you’ve got your first customers, but you need to get a lot more. You know that effective marketing is what you need, but you think it will be: • • • • • •
Complicated Expensive Difficult Specialist Scary Not for beginners!
Worst of all you have no idea where to begin. When you set up a small business for the first time, everything is new and confusing. There are so many things to think about that you really need some help to come up with the best marketing ideas to get you started, and this is what this eBook sets out to do. This little guide will provide you with no less than 70 suggestions but, to keep coming up with fresh marketing ideas, take a look at http://www.clientmagnetmarketing.com and see how it can help you to carry on generating novel marketing strategies, which will promote your business ahead of the competition. Read on to discover: A. What is Marketing? B. How Can I Afford to Advertise? C. The 3 Key Questions to Ask D. 70 Brilliant Marketing Ideas for a Business on a Budget
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A. What Is Marketing? Customers will only give you what they value (their money) if they feel that you are satisfying a need which they have. But marketing is not just about providing products and services, it is about matching the benefits you offer to the changing needs and demands of your customers and ensuring that you are getting value in return. If you Google “marketing definitions” you will throw up a host of answers. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably.” A bit of a mouthful but, put another way: the right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price. • You know the old saying – “If you liked it tell your friends, if you didn’t, tell us”. • If you treat your customers well, in ways which they will value, there is a better chance that they will come back to your business again and again. • If they like the way you treat them, there is a better chance they will recommend your business to their friends – which will gain you more customers, more sales, and an even better chance of gaining more buying customers. Better and better all round! • Innovative marketing will attract customers’ attention to YOUR business and YOUR products or services. • Successful marketing will help those customers make a conscious decision to buy from YOU. So your challenge is to keep brainstorming new ideas to bring in new clients to grow your business.
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B. But How Can I Afford To Advertise? • Marketing is not just about advertising. • Advertising is the business of drawing public attention to goods and services; marketing is the way you create value for your customers and build strong customer relationships, so that you can get value from your customers in return. • So advertising is a form of marketing, but marketing is much more than just advertising • To drive up sales you need effective marketing and, if your budget is tight, that means using creativity rather than cash to attract people’s attention to your business and help them make a conscious decision to choose to spend their money with you • Since the marketing budget for a small business is usually very limited, you'll want plenty of promotional ideas that are cost-effective. • Creative marketing ideas need not be expensive and the most effective marketing ideas may be those which cost you the least. • You can build awareness of your brand by providing your customers and potential customers with benefits which cost you little, but which are valuable to them. • With all that in mind, the following pages list dozens of possible marketing ideas which can be easy and cheap to implement.
C. The 3 Key Questions to Ask 1. Who Am I Targeting?
• First of all, decide who exactly makes up your target market, as this will affect your marketing strategy: • Local, national or international? • A particular socio-economic group? Are you aiming up-market or at the discount buyer? • A particular age range? Children, teenagers, students, young single adults, young families, mature adults or pensioners? • Men or women, or both?
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• People in specific professions or occupations? • People with specific interests? If you are not sure which groups to target, have a look at http://www.clientmagnetmarketing.com where the first wheel contains scores of ideas.
2. How Will I Reach Them?
Will it be: • by direct mail or by email? • by promotional gifts or by demonstrations? • by classified adverts or TV? • by posters or by DVDs? Don’t worry if you are totally bewildered by now, the following pages will provide loads of suggestions.
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3. What Will I Offer Them?
You need to decide on what you will use to get new clients into your business and you’re about to get a number of ideas and strategies. 4. Put It All Together?
By combining Who with, What and How in campaign strategy you can get some excellent results and that’s how the Marketing Brainstorm software comes it. It will randomly generate ideas based on these three questions and you can fine tune them to your business. Now let’s delve into those ideas...
D. 70 Brilliant Marketing Ideas for a Business on a Budget 1. Brand your Business Clearly. Make sure your business name or logo clearly identifies the ultimate benefit of what you are offering, in a way which will appeal to your market; keep it simple, short and memorable. A store called “Gifts for Garden-lovers” or “Green-finger Gifts” is precise and clear; one called “Smith’s Store” or “Universal Wonder” gives no clue. 2. Be Seen in All the Right Places. Think about where your target customers go and try to arrange to advertise by displaying leaflets or posters there. For the youth market, use Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or other online resources. For adults and young families it might be the local supermarket, the library, the gym, or the “mother and toddler” group. For the senior market, target locations your potential customers visit such as libraries, doctors’ and dentists’ waiting rooms, church halls, community centres etc. or advertise in the local paper or free-sheet, perhaps with a promotional discount voucher. 3. Give Your Knowledge Away. What you know about your business and your industry is interesting and potentially valuable to others. Without giving away any really sensitive information, offer to speak at schools and colleges, women’s
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groups or business clubs on a topic related to your business; write for the local paper or speak on the local radio and you will gain valuable exposure. Make your website as informative as possible. Tell potential customers exactly how you will help their business, or benefit them personally. If you can, reveal a few “tricks of the trade” to help them make best use of what you sell. Very few people will actually steal your knowledge to set up for themselves, but many of your customers will feel gratified that you are willing to be open and honest with them. 4. Word of Mouth. This can be a very valuable marketing tool – and is absolutely free! Make sure all your customers leave you 100% happy and satisfied with the service you have provided to them, and they will become ambassadors for your business. 5. Investigate the Competition. Use a friend or a paid “Mystery Shopper” to call on other businesses in your area to see how they operate. Get hold of their advertising literature and compare their offering with yours. Check out their websites. What can you do to make your business stand out? 6. Offer Discounts. Produce Discount Vouchers to be used at your store or business (perhaps on certain slower moving products, or on certain days when your trade is usually slack). Add an expiry date to generate a sense of urgency. You could include a discount voucher in your advertising, hand them to each customer, or mail them to previous clients. 7. Give-Aways. Hand out free samples in your local high street; give customers a small free product with each purchase over a certain value; or have “3 for 2” offers or “Buy -1-Get-1-Free” promotions. 8. Linked Purchases. Offer a deal where customers who buy product A get product B at a reduced price. This can encourage customers to buy two products, when they would otherwise only have bought one. 9. Loyalty or Reward Schemes. Issue a card to be stamped each time the customer buys, with a full card entitling the customer to a free product, or a discount on their next purchase (but make sure the cards and stamps are kept under control, or you could end up with an unexpected rush of claims!)
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10. Competitions. Run a competition and choose an exciting prize from your range of products or services, which will not cost you a great deal but which will be very appealing to your potential customers. Advertise the competition widely in the locality, send a press release about it to the local press and radio and, if appropriate, make sure people have to call at your business in order to enter – which gives you a chance to promote your business to them in person. Invite the local press to be present when the prize is awarded, to get some more free publicity. 11. Open House. Host an open evening at your premises. Invite both potential and regular customers for drinks and nibbles and a chance to see/test your latest products, with a discount for purchases or orders placed on the night. 12. Join an Online Booking Service. If you run a hospitality business (hotel, bar, pub, café or coffee shop) consider joining one of the online booking services, such as Top Table, or Gourmet Society. This will bring you to the attention of travellers from other areas who might not otherwise find you, and you can also offer special deals through some sites. This can be a two-edged sword, of course, as the site will probably also carry reviews by your customers – but if you offer high-quality service and excellent food and drink, good reviews will boost your reputation. 13. Carry Out a Survey. Have a supply of small cards by the till as each customer completes their transaction with you, asking the customer to complete a short survey on their experience with your business, and to fill in their details (especially email address). Offer a small monthly prize as an incentive. This will not only give you valuable feedback on your success (or otherwise), but you will build up a database of email addresses, which you can use for promotional emails, newsletters etc. 14. Collect Business Cards. Copy those city centre restaurants and have a large glass bowl by the cash desk, to collect business cards (or hand-written contact details slips) from customers, with a monthly draw for, say, a free bottle of wine or champagne – this is another way of building a database for future marketing activities.
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15. New Image Party. When you re-decorate your premises, hold a “New Image” party, inviting local press, radio, community dignitaries, neighbours, the general public and previous customers from your database, to show off your new premises, and launch new products or services. 16. Professional Brochure or Leaflet. With desktop publishing software available on every PC and laptop, there is no excuse for unprofessional looking publicity material. Have a nit-picking friend read through any leaflet/flyer/poster you propose to use, to check for grammatical, punctuation and spelling mistakes. 17. Error-free Website. The same applies to your website – your professionalism is in doubt right away if your website is riddled with typing errors, misplaced apostrophes, poor punctuation and grammatical mistakes. Don’t assume your website designer will correct your text – he or she is an expert in computers not grammar. If you can’t afford a proofreader, ask a fussy friend or relation to check it for you. 18. Superior Telephone Service. Is your telephone system as good as it could be? During working hours, make sure every call is answered within 3 rings and that the greeting you give is friendly and personal. Ensure that the person who answers your calls is trained to deal with the majority of customers’ questions themselves. After hours or at busy times, make sure your answerphone message is professional, helpful, and proactive. Not just “please leave a message” but “we are so sorry that no-one is able to help you right away, but we promise to call you back by 9:30am tomorrow if you would be kind enough to leave your number” or something similar. And make certain you always deliver on that promise. 19. Community Visibility. Join fellow Business people at the local Chamber of Commerce, Business Clubs, Rotary Club, Round Table etc. Get involved in local charity events, so you gain a positive reputation for contributing to the community. 20. Get Involved in Local Events and Activities. If there is a community event in your town, make sure you are there to publicise your business – maybe you can have small samples to give away, or hand out a voucher for a discount at your
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business. If there is a local charity event, take part yourself (or sponsor someone else to do so) carrying/wearing your business name. 21. Local Media. Your local newspaper or free-sheet will be looking for stories with a local interest to fill their pages – offer to write an article, or give an interview on a topical issue related to your business, and you will get publicity without having to pay a penny! The same applies to local radio stations. 22. Swap Publicity. Make contact with other local businesses, which are not in competition with you, and offer to swap flyers with them – you display their flyer or leaflets if they will display yours. Ensure your leaflet is as professionally produced, eye-catching and enticing as possible. 23. Display Your Brand. Put an eye-catching sandwich board on the pavement outside your shop or business. You might not want to have the name of your business painted on the side of your car, but why not have a poster in the rear side windows (where it won’t block your view while driving) or customise a window blind that you can pull down when the car is parked. 24. Make Best Use of Your Stationery. What is on the back of your business cards? That is space you could use to list your less obvious services or products and describe your business in more detail. Make use of all your letter-heads, compliments slips, invoices, emails and envelopes to get your message across as clearly as possible: highlight the distinguishing features of your business (your USP – unique selling proposition), give all your various contact details, and include a “call to action” to prompt the reader to contact you. 25. Offer Incentives. Offer your customers a small reward for introducing their friends, or for a certain number of visits. Consider a discount for customers who spend over a certain amount in a set period. 26. Make Full Use of the Internet. Set up a website for your business, or perhaps even an online “club”. Make sure your website looks as professional as possible – check for typing errors and make sure all the links work. Collect the email addresses of all your customers and send out a regular email newsletter to keep them advised of events, new products lines and new services (much cheaper than mailing out a paper newsletter).
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27. Superior Customer Service. The cheapest and perhaps the best way to promote your business is to offer really first class customer service. That means not just good products and services, but going the extra mile to treat every customer as your most important. Ensure the phone is always answered promptly and professionally; emails are responded to immediately; that you never cancel an appointment except in the direst circumstances (and then give the customer as much notice as possible); that your shop or offices are always spotlessly clean and tidy; and that you and your employees are always smartly dressed and greet your customers or clients by name and with a smile. 28. Use your Premises to the Max. If you have a room which is available in the evenings or at weekends (or if you run a hotel, club, pub etc.) and there is any community event to be held in your town, offer your premises. Everyone who attends will be grateful to you for the use of the space, and you will have put your business’s name at the forefront of his or her mind. Make sure there are plenty of flyers for your business lying around, for people to pick up. 29. Network. Join the local Chamber of Commerce, Business Clubs, Rotary, etc. so you get your name known and you have the opportunity to network with other professionals and local dignitaries. Make a point of exchanging business cards with everyone you meet, and use these contacts in the future. Where do the local business groups, women’s groups, farmers, accountants, or police hold their meetings? If you can host functions at your premises, invite the decision makers, when it comes to where events will be held, to visit and try out your facilities. 30. Run a Free Seminar, Demonstration or Workshop. Consider running events at your shop or premises. A free demonstration of your products or a talk by you or one of your key employees on a topical issue, with simple refreshments, will pull in visitors. Invite local people, existing and potential clients and any other contacts. This gives you an opportunity to show off your work, demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, and promote your business in a friendly and low pressure atmosphere. You will gain goodwill locally and promote the skills of your staff. Be sure to send a press release to the local media and invite them to attend – you could gain some additional free publicity if they write up the story.
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31. Co-operate With Local Businesses. You may be able to get together with another local business to run a joint event. For example the local wine merchant might be able to run a wine tasting evening at a hotel; a local fashion shop might host a fashion show at a beauty salon; a local D-I-Y supplier might sponsor an event at a garage or car showroom. This will give each of you an opportunity to promote your business to customers of the other. 32. Directories. Make sure your business is listed in every free directory you can find. 33. “Happy Hour”. If certain times of the day, or certain days of the week, are particularly slow for you, consider offering discounts, special packages of products or services, or “2 for the price of 1” at those times. Offer discounts or a free cup of tea to pensioners on certain quiet days. 34. Artistic Branding. Brand your shop/salon/café clearly, with good signage outside which is visible to passers-by, and carry the branding through to a uniform for yourself and your staff. If you don’t feel up to designing a good logo yourself, ask the local art college to set the task as a project for the students. You could offer to display some of their art-work on your walls in exchange. You could even sell the art work for a small commission. This will brighten up your premises, help the students, and give your customers a changing décor to enjoy. 35. Go Local. If appropriate to your business, look for reputable local suppliers to hook up with. Then you can advertise the fact that you stock “XYZ’s high quality products”, and gain benefit from their good reputation. 36. Differentiate Yourself. If you sell apples and the shop down the street sells apples, sooner or later you will just be competing on price. But if you sell oranges while he still sells apples, you can set your own price. Try to differentiate yourself from the competition by offering something they don’t, whether that is a better choice of speciality products, comfier chairs, brighter décor, or a play area for children, or whatever is valued by your customers – and if you are not sure what that is, just ask them! 37. Free Offers. At any promotional opportunity, consider giving away a free product or service, with no obligation. In the terms of your offer you can limit
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this to a specific item of low value, and define the expiry date. Whilst a few people will turn up just for the freebie, most will end up wanting to buy more, particularly if you offer great products or services. 38. Create a Display of Your Products or Services. Shopping Malls and other locations may be willing to host a temporary display, which brightens up the Mall and can give you exposure and publicity. Display some great images of your products to attract attention; give demonstrations; collect contact details from those who show an interest – maybe by offering a prize draw; and be sure to follow up those leads soon afterwards with an attractive offer. 39. Display News Articles. If an article about you or your business appears in the press, make copies and frame them well. Hang them on your walls, send them out with your brochures and hand a copy to anyone who comes in for information. Keep several copies, so you can replace them when they look a bit tatty – don’t leave yellowing newspaper cuttings on display or it might look as though nothing good has happened for your business in a long time! 40. Reward Referrals. Incentivise existing clients to refer new customers to your business. Give the client a gift (such as a voucher for money off their next purchase) and also give a small gift to the new customer. 41. Speak at an Industry Event. Whatever industry you work with, they will be running paid or free events and training seminars every year and they will need experts to speak at their events. You may not think you have knowledge to impart, but you are bound to be more of an expert in your niche of the business than most of the attendees. It is a great way to get known as an expert in your industry and to get free publicity for your business into the bargain. 42. Make Friends With an Editor. Find out who edits the business section of the local newspaper. Offer to write an article for the paper, on a current business topic associated with your industry. Advertise in the same issue. That way, your name and details attached to the article will quickly link with your advertisement in the mind of the reader. 43. Measure Your Marketing Success. Do you actually know which elements of your marketing are the most effective? With a limited marketing budget, it is
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crucial that you direct it to the media which have shown the best return on your investment. For every new client you win, record whether they saw a specific advertisement, and if so where; or whether they responded to a website/email; or were introduced via an existing client. 44. Referrals from Existing Employees. If you employ good people, why not incentivise them to recommend new customers? 45. Vary Your Hours. Can your customers reach you easily? Consider extending your opening hours (physically, or on the phone) on certain days to make it easier for existing or potential customers to contact you. 46. Turn A Negative Into a Positive. Las Vegas, Nevada, had gained a reputation as a “sin city”. After a failed attempt to promote itself as a family resort, tourist revenue was slipping. To combat the decline, the city started marketing itself as naughty but nice with the slogan “What happens here, stays here!” and revenue hit new highs. You might not have such a dramatic image issue with your business, but what about trading on the fact that you are small and personal, so your customers can avoid the negatives of dealing with huge multi-nationals? 47. Use YouTube. Post a short video about your business on YouTube. Make the video interesting and, ideally, amusing and try to appeal to as many people as possible. As well as attracting potential new customers you can gain visibility for your brand across a wide audience. 48. Use Twitter. Whether you are already a Twitter user or not, you can capitalise on this rapidly growing communication medium to assist you in your marketing efforts. Just type “Twitter marketing” into Google, or any search engine, and it will return dozens of websites offering you advice (free or for a fee) on how to market through Twitter. 49. Use Facebook. As Facebook now has a membership in the hundreds of millions, it must not be overlooked as a source of potential customers. To start, search online for “Facebook marketing strategies” and you will pull up a host of links to free advice and specific “social network applications” to help you.
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50. Visible Vans. Make sure your car and van have highly identifiable logos/ pictures/photos on the sides and back so everyone recognises you as you drive around. Have you ever followed a van down the road and smiled at the corny slogan or play-on-words on the back? Well it certainly grabbed your attention, didn’t it, and I bet you can remember the name of the business, though you might have forgotten all the boring ones you saw. 51. Give A Guarantee and Stick To It. Guarantee: “money back if you are not 100% satisfied”. You believe in your product or service, so you should be prepared to stand behind it. Very few people will try to claim unreasonably. 52. Pack a Post-It. Carry a pad of brightly coloured post-it type notes advertising your business wherever you go. (They can be hand-written if you can’t afford to get them printed.) Stick them up in unusual and unexpected places – inside the doors of lavatory cubicles or on the urinals; next to the lift buttons in shops or offices; if you write on the back of the notes you can stick them on car windscreens in car-parks, so the driver will see the message when they get in the car. 53. Market Research. As a new small business, you are unlikely to be able to afford to commission market research yourself, but you can take advantage of what is already out there. Ask your local library to get hold of any available market research reports on your industry. Search the Internet for any relevant information. 54. Promotional Gifts. Make sure your “give-aways” are unusual and memorable – not just a pen which will languish in a drawer, but something to make the customer smile each time they look at it and see your company’s name. With promotional gifts you pay just once but, every time the gift is seen or used, the advertising message is repeated, so you want to make sure that it is not just the recipient who will see your business’s name and logo on that gift. 55. Check Out Your Big Competitors. What could you offer which would differentiate your business from theirs? There is no point trying to compete with the multinationals head-on, but if you can find a niche market in which you can offer a higher level of service, you may be able to succeed and thrive.
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56. Ask Your Customers! The best way to find out what your customers actually want or need is to ask them. Contact 5 or 6 of your existing customers – ideally face-to-face. Invite them for a coffee, or visit them at their home and talk to them about what they like or dislike about your business. What could you offer that they would find useful or valuable? What have they struggled to find locally, which you might be able to help with? 57. What Really Matters to Your Customers? A group of yachtsmen called in at a hotel on a small Scottish island for a meal and asked if they could use the showers while it was prepared. The meal was great, but unfortunately there was no water for the showers. The yachtsmen were very unhappy. The hotel manager was baffled: “but the chef prepares everything to order: the chips are hand-cut, the fish is fresh …” He really hadn’t understood – it was not the meal the guys were buying, it was the chance to get a decent hot shower! To know what your customers really value – talk to them. You may be surprised at the real reasons they are choosing your products. You can then concentrate your efforts (and money) on the things that actually matter to your customers. 58. Add Value. Offer “value added” services which cost you little but are valuable to the customer (like helping with installation of your product, or offering an email or telephone helpline for problems). 59. Thank Your Customers. When a customer buys from your business, send a thankyou note. Not an email, or a pre-printed, anonymous, computer-generated card but a real postcard or brief letter. Hand write the note if possible, thanking them for their custom, with enough detail that they can see you really know what they bought and that the thank you is genuine. 60. Send Individualised Incentives. Shortly after a customer has purchased from you, send them a personalised note, offering them (by name) the chance to buy again at a discount (with an expiration date so that it does not just get filed away). Make it clear that this is a special deal, just for them, as a thank-you for doing business with you. 61. Personalise Your Customer Contact. If you know the customer’s date of birth from your records, why not send them a birthday card? For the cost of a card
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and a stamp, you have brightened their day and put your business back in front of their eyes. Or make a note of the first time you do business with a customer, and send them a card on the anniversary of that date, maybe offering them a special deal on a repeat purchase. 62. Create a Club. Offer your customers the chance to join a free online “club” and send out regular newsletters announcing your latest product or service, offering special deals on slow-moving lines, or giving loyalty bonuses to club members. You might run a competition, with one of your products or services as the prize; you could offer an incentive for the best “bright idea” from a customer on how you could improve your business. The customers will feel special, you will be able to collect information about them, you might get some good ideas from them, and you will have a ready-made mailing list for product or service promotions. 63. Dress The Part, Or Dress To Impress. Your personal image and that of your staff is a crucial element of the way you promote yourself: dress appropriately to emphasise the professionalism of your business. If you are a manual worker or tradesman, make sure your overalls are smart and clean every morning, and show off your company logo. If your business provides products or services to offices, dress smartly enough to look as if you belong on their premises and are not just a cleaner or delivery boy. 64. Spring Clean Your Office, Shop Or Premises. Really tidy up – get rid of all that junk, throw away the posters peeling off the walls, wash down all the surfaces and vacuum all the floors. Add a vase of fresh flowers on the reception desk. Your customers will really notice the difference! Promise yourself to do this regularly from now on. 65. Wear Your Brand. Wear a T-shirt, polo-shirt or sweatshirt to work with a neat logo promoting your brand or your business. These days you can get any logo embroidered, or any photo or design printed, on all manner of garments. It can look cute and corny, or smart and exclusive (think of bank employee uniforms), depending on how it is done, and this should match up with the image of your business that you want to portray.
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66. Sponsor a School. Get to know your local schools and help them by sponsoring or running sports events or competitions; getting your name linked to the youth football league; providing a set of shirts for a sports team (with your logo on, of course!); or offering a prize in the name of your business, to be awarded to a top student (perhaps in a subject relevant to your business). 67. Befriend a DJ. Local radio stations are always in need of interesting items to fill their programmes. Make friends with the local DJs and presenters, make their lives easier by supplying them with interesting material about your local business, the people you employ, the work you are creating, the good works you are involved in, etc. The same applies to local newspapers or free-sheets – they always need good interesting material, which can act as free publicity for you, without you having to buy advertising space. 68. Sign Your Emails. Add your website’s URL to the signature of each email account you use, so it appears on every you send (personal or business) with an additional comment if appropriate. 69. Try Guerrilla Marketing. This is a term to describe unconventional marketing tactics, particularly those with low cost or no cost, which rely on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget, so they are ideal for the cash-strapped small business in a difficult economic climate. Leave your business card in unexpected places: pop one inside every book in an appropriate section of the local library; when you visit the doctor or dentist’s surgery, leave a business card inside each magazine in the waiting room. Give a free product/service to the stylists at your local hairdresser’s or barber’s – they will tell their clients all about this crazy person who gives things away. 70.Email subject. If you’re emailing customers, make the subject lines catchy. Ask the question, would you open it?
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There should be some ideas here to get you started, but you need to keep coming up with new ideas if you are to keep ahead of the competition. By using http://www.clientmagnetmarketing.com you will have access to an almost endless stream of novel ideas to keep your marketing fresh and effective. Gook Luck!
Good Luck
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“Who Else Wants To Brainstorm 89,000 Kick Ass Marketing Ideas That Will Fill Your Diary Like Bees To Honey”
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