Marketing Tricks for a Shoestring Budget

Small start-up businesses don’t usually have the resources to launch huge advertising campaigns like larger companies. In fact, no matter how established your business is, advertising can be extremely expensive. Luckily, there are other, less costly approaches to promotion that are often more effective. Below are a few you can try:

Coupons
Coupons don't have to be distributed only in print advertising or in big direct mail campaigns. You can hand them out on the street corner, at trade shows, or just about anywhere. You can send them only to your best customers, or you can include “next purchase” coupons in customer orders. To assure your chances of getting an additional sale or establishing an ongoing relationship with your customers, make your coupon offer exceedingly generous and time-sensitive to create a sense of 'urgency'.

Contests
People love contests. They even love to see other people win! Just witness the phenomenal success of game shows on television. If you choose to develop a promotional contest, make sure it's fun, make it silly, and don’t forget to really talk it up. If your contest is wacky and crazy enough, you should be able to get good media coverage—and remember, this is essentially free advertising!

Gifts
People love to receive something for free, even if they have to pay a premium price for a more expensive item to get the freebie. Don’t ask why! It may not make sense, but it doesn’t have to, as long as it works. While this technique has been used most successfully in the beauty and cosmetics industry, it can be used in almost any business endeavor. It isn’t unheard of to see deals such as a free computer desktop with the purchase of a higher-priced notebook computer or, even a free subcompact car with the purchase of a full-price luxury sedan!

Frequent Buyer Programs
Frequent-buyer programs can be very powerful tools for building loyal clientele for both retail and service businesses. The more common approach is to give customers a card that is marked after each purchase and results in a free or reduced-price product or service offering after a specified number of regular-priced purchases. For example, ten haircuts may net one free haircut. Another approach is to give regular customers a discount on purchases upon presentation of their “Frequent Buyer” discount card.

Events
Hosting a special event in your business establishment, such as a celebrity appearance or a charity fundraiser, is a terrific way to introduce people to your business or maintain contact with existing customers. It also will create an aura of excitement and goodwill. You may even obtain media coverage!

Cross-promotions
You might consider offering free tickets to the local theater with each purchase of a particular item or price level. Another great business-to-business cross-promotion might be to offer free tickets to a ballgame to any business willing to invest fifteen minutes of time just to listen to your sales pitch.

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