Top Marketing Strategies For Businesses On A Budget

                                                                                         

Americans spend billions of dollars each year on marketing. In fact, Americans spend over $250 billion per year just on marketing alone. That should tell you how important marketing is for businesses big and small. No one would do it if it did not work.

Of course, there is also the statistic that four out of five new businesses fail within the first five years of being open. To avoid becoming one of those types of statistics, use the smart marketing moves outlined here.

Discover your niche. I am talking about two niches here.

1. Figure out your niche in the marketplace amongst your competitors.

2. Figure out your niche target market. Once you find out how you are different than your competitors and what you can offer customers that other businesses cannot, you have a unique selling proposition (USP) that you can use over and over again in your marketing materials.

Now, who do you market to?

That is the second part of discovering your niche. You should have a narrow target audience, or target market, that you are trying to reach. The mistake most small businesses make from the start is to try to market to everyone. You cannot be everything to everyone. No one has succeeded with that line of thinking.

Use color in your marketing materials. Full color brochures and flyers are much more appealing and eye-catching than black-and-white ones. Color printing might seem expensive, but compared with television and radio commercials, it is actually quite a bargain. Use brochures, postcards and flyers to advertise your business until you have enough money to invest in other types of media.

Gain expert status. How do you do this? Write articles, e-newsletters, contribute to online forums and anything else you can contribute your opinion on. Write emails to local television or radio shows and offer your time as an expert for any upcoming stories. You can also host seminars and workshops for people in the community. People would rather buy from an expert than someone they have never heard of, so get your name out there as a local expert.

Develop relationships with non-competing professionals. Swap business cards and stories with professionals in businesses that complement yours. A dry cleaner could develop a relationship with an alteration service, for instance. Both businesses probably have a similar client list, but they are not competing for business. They can be marketing partners: split the costs of advertising, keep brochures of the other company in each other’s stores, etc. This is a great way to share resources without giving up a lot of money.

Ask for referrals from customers. Whenever you have a satisfied customer, give them your business card and ask them to think of you the next time someone they know needs a service like yours. Referral cards that sweeten the deal work really well: offer your current customers a credit of $25 or $50 for every referral card a new customer brings in with the current customer’s name on it.

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