No Money - No Problem

by Mark Nagurski, April 30th, 2008

If you could have just one thing to help you market your business, most people would say ‘a bigger budget’. It’s quite obvious that having more money to invest in your marketing is an advantage - but there are plenty of examples of great businesses that have developed without spending a fortune on marketing or advertising.

In fact, most good businesses use a variety of ‘tools’ to help promote, publicise and otherwise attract new customers and clients - some of these tools cost financially while others use different kinds of assets.

So what potential assets do small businesses have at their disposal?

BUDGET - Let’s start with the obvious. Having more money means that you can effectively buy an audience for your marketing message. This can take the form of advertising (online and off), direct marketing (including mail, telephone and direct sales) and sponsorship to name a few. As best as is practicable, money spent should be clearly linked to new revenues gained - this requires careful tracking. Overall, you shouldn’t be afraid to spend on marketing your business, but, to get the most from the money you do spend; plan it, track it and make sure every penny spent can be justified.

Most people don’t have too many problems spending money; but how do you market yourself when your available budget simply won’t do the job?

CONTACTS - Who you know can certainly be a big advantage in business - which is something that even the smallest businesses can benefit from. Cultivating an extensive list of contacts can help generate referrals and open up potential co-operative marketing opportunities. Going forward happy customers and satisfied clients can become excellent brand ambassadors. Of course, friends, family and even your staff can all be valuable supporters too.

Start by taking stock of the contacts that you have right now. From there you’ll also be able to draw up a ‘hit list’ of the kinds of contacts that you’d like to develop. Get started with those through networking, joining business and trade organisations and by simply lifting the phone and being proactive. Once you’ve started working with your contacts (and working hard to attract more) define a simple method for keeping in touch and keeping your lines of communication open. More contacts lead to more opportunities.

TIME & HARD WORK - A little blood, sweat and tears is often overlooked as an effective way of promoting your business. It may not be the most appealing route to take but what would happen if you knocked on every door you can think of or lifted the phone and started making some calls? Trade shows, networking, personal selling, sampling, local fairs and even leafleting can all be effective routes to building a customer base. If you’re not willing to actively sell your business to the market, don’t expect anyone else to beat a path to your door.

CREATIVITY - Last, but certainly not least, you can always leverage a little bit of grey matter to come up with creative new ways of attracting business. Having said that, no matter how creative your ideas, simply ‘getting your name out there’ is often over-rated. The best starting place for your creative talents is likely to be a simple understanding of what you want to say and where you’re likely to find your customers. If it gets the right message to the right people then you can be as creative as you like in the delivery.

There’s certainly more to marketing your business than just paid advertising - using a combination of all four of these assets will always deliver a better result. However, don’t simply assume that because there’s no money involved that using contacts, creativity and simple graft are ‘free’ alternatives to paid advertising. What they don’t cost you in cash they certainly do cost in terms of time and organisation. Then again, if you haven’t got the financial resources to mount a successful campaign, then go with what you do have.