Wouldn't it be nice if business start-ups all had unlimited marketing budgets? Well, that's a nice dream. What low-cost tools (either online or off) have you used to get the word out about your products or services?
Happy customers seem to go a long way. Building word of mouth takes effort, but once it pays back with "free" marketing. I get most of my clients through other clients.
My greatest/cheapest marketing campaigns were always around emailing all my friends and family and telling them what I was doing. Specifically requesting their assistance in recommending your product or service. Many alumni networks work well for this too.
I get most of my clients from my personal network. I find that people tend to trust recommendation from friends and professional associates more that they do a stranger.
Craigslist is a great resource. Avoid the spamming techniques but there are lots and ltos of people looking for one time gigs that can turn into steady work.
I'm partial to contributing helpful articles to local business journals. Not only do you position yourself as an expert, you may garner some referrals from the exposure. But that's more PR than marketing...
~ Kim
'Tis the season! I view holiday cards as one of the big marketing tools in my arsenal. As an independent consultant, I'm constantly doing business development. Holiday cards are one of the few ways I can just say "hi" and "thank you" to people without asking them for anything (which, frankly, is a nice break for me, too!).
It's also a great way to maintain your network in general.
Think of it as low-key direct marketing.
"How To" articles. Clients love knowledge. If you teach them, they begin to trust you. So make a blog for your business.
If you have a web site, adding a submission form will generate significantly more inquiries/leads than just providing an email address.
We launched our web site with a contact us page and a simple info at esomnie dot com email address, but received no emails. About a month ago, we put in a simple form and started receiving a number of inquiries.
Key takeaway - make it as easy as possible for potentially interested customers to reach you. Any barrier can be one too many.
Here's a few tips:
Cheap-TV-Spots.com for discount high-quality custom TV ads and honest air time. It may be the only online TV ad agency that does not add fees to the negotiated network rate. Very fast and reliable with more international awards than most agencies have clients. Worldwide service.
BareNakedAds,com for 24hr turnaround national or local TV blitz. Free TV ad production with inexpensive air time package. Dynamic original work.
It's possible to launch on national TV with only $3K for an entire month with either of these services. They do real estate ads, too.
Send your TV commercial out to prospects via e-mail or DVD. Post the video on every social network available.
Also, place a few classifieds around in trade magazines. They can just be a few lines. Pick two magazines. That's all you'll need to start.
How to get a list of customers free of charge is an important find. Can one give advise in this matter. I understand there are E-MAIL LISTS available free of charge if one can find them. ???? Any one out there with such a find ??
So far, the best tool for me are free directory services like alibaba.com... to complement this i use an email address... a website... and yahoo messenger (or even skype and msn) to communicate with people around the globe...
For promotions, flyering is one of the better and more affordable methods of disseminating information coupled with newspaper inserts...
