Low Cost, High Impact Marketing And Promotion
Every business that desires continued success must have a way to generate leads and buyers for what you have to offer.
There are several ways for you to attract potential clients and these include advertising, promotions and new media efforts such as email and facebook marketing.
Advertising can be incredibly expensive and can be the most difficult to assess in terms of effectiveness. As John Wanamaker, the successful business leader in the early twentieth century reportedly said, "half my advertising is wasted, I just don't know which half."
Focus on Effectiveness:
Nowadays, to avoid wasting your resources, it is crucial to identify and utilize low cost promotional and marketing methods to grow your business.
Note however that you must retain a strong focus on the effectiveness of your marketing activities. If you run a fairly big business or if you're selling numerous product lines, a fully fledged media campaign may be the cost effective way to promote your business.
Ultimately, there really is no such thing as zero-cost marketing because whatever you do will involve some expenditure of time and effort. Also, if you do it poorly or ineffectively, you may in fact hurt the perception of your business or your brand in the minds of your prospective clients and this will be very costly.
Creativity is the Key:
Successful marketing is really about creatively engaging with your current or potential clients. The following examples make the point:
A local pet breeder came up with the idea of giving customized "birth certificates" for the pets he sold. This led to increased sales of more than ten percent almost immediately.
A small Tax and accounting practice decided to hold some internet based webinars for their clients and prospects, providing basic information on tax reduction strategies. Their business grew by fifteen percent within three months.
You get the idea, no one size fits all, you simply need to study and understand your market and device innovative ways to reach them at low cost. Use one method or a mix of several, evaluate the outcomes and refine accordingly.
Simple Ideas:
Other ideas you can implement successfully in growing your business include the following:
Giveaways - Free is great, especially if it truly adds value to your client's lives. An entire promotional campaign can revolve around this strategy of giving away valuable freebies. To make this cost effective for you, a simple information product that can be downloaded from your website could do great.
For example, a Jewellery shop owner could provide a simple brochure on how to match colours, jewellery, accessories and outfits to enhance glamour. A furniture repair business could give away a furniture repair brochure or free furniture planning guides.
Charity Connections - You can offer your product or service to one or more local charities for use at a fund raising event. You'll receive lots of exposure among people who buy tickets or attend the event.
Email Marketing - This powerful method has these benefits. You are able to reach more people at the click of a 'send' button, reach them repeatedly and at much lower cost than traditional marketing methods and with sophisticated, yet cheap, software, you are able to evaluate what results are being generated by your emails.
Mobile Phone Marketing - Another product of the current revolutions in technology and marketing, tools such as phone Apps and SMS text services places your business right in the hands and face of your prospective clients. If they can see you, then they can buy from you.
One important thing to bear in mind in your choice of marketing method is that clients rarely buy from you at first contact, so select methods that are sustainable for you over the medium to long term. You will thereby maximize the possibilities of success in growing your business using low cost marketing.
About the Author
Yemi Akinsiwaju is the CEO of DaySpring Consulting, Business Growth & Leadership Consultancy helping SME businesses improve their results.
He is a speaker and author of the acclaimed book, Scorecard: Achieving Success and Balance in a Turbulent World.
For a FREE business session, visit http://www.DaySpringConsult.com/Accelerator
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