Need to promote your business, but don’t have much money to play with? These easy and economic ideas will add zing to your small business marketing.
Embrace social media
It’s now a lot easier to keep in contact with your current and prospective clients. Email, Twitter and Facebook are great ways to communicate with your clients and prospects and regular newsletters, tweets and updates will ensure your business is front of mind with them.
Social media allows you to quickly promote discounts, new products, sales wins and general business news. Special offers that encourage your clients to re-post to their friends can attract new customers too – at no cost to you!
Have a winning website
Your website is a valuable member of your sales team. For many prospective clients it is the first contact they have with your business.
Information on your website should be updated regularly so that current and prospective clients are motivated to keep coming back to see what’s new. A fast and low cost way to revamp ypur website is by writing new web copy. Get a marketing consultant to help here. You’ll save time and increase the effectiveness of your site.
Evaluate your sales leads
Every new enquiry your business receives should be met with “How did you hear about us?”
Marketing budgets aren’t limitless, so constantly review which advertising and promotional activities are bringing in the leads. Don’t forget to drill down on your data to see which leads convert to sales so that you can focus your marketing dollars on activities that bring in leads that convert rather than those that bring in a bunch of tyre kickers.
Want more articles like this? Check out the business marketing section.
Pursue PR opportunities
There is no point in your business having a great service or product if nobody knows about it. One of the best ways get your message across is through public relations (PR), because editorial consisting of endorsement by a third party is always considered more credible than advertising.
Put together an email list of the key opinion leaders in your industry and contacts at the publications your clients read. When you have something newsworthy to say about your business, these are the people you want to communicate with. Good topics to cover include new product releases, significant sales wins or your expert tips.
Position yourself as an expert
Build your profile as an expert in your industry by offering your services as a speaker at business conferences, trade shows, local business networking meetings or by holding your own seminar. Once you get your name known, media and industry groups will come to you when they want expert commentary.
Got any more low-budget small business marketing ideas to share? Please do so below, along with any results you’d like to report.