Few business marketing budgets are ever as large as they could. And many businesses don’t even have one! That’s why it’s important to learn ways to stretch your marketing budget and make every marketing endeavor bring in the most results all possible. Here are some things you can do to advance that cause.
Let your marketing materials do double duty. Instead of just running that really cool graphic ad in the newspaper, get reprints and send them out to all your clients and customers individually. Use the same graphic in your company newsletter. Create a flyer or brochure and pass it out at trade shows and seminars. Make the most of everything you create to brand and build your business and you’ll see a much greater return on your marketing investment.
Remember the adage… if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Do you have a marketing message that works? Don’t can it just because YOU get tired of it. Chances are you’ll get tired of hearing the same old marketing message over and over again. But your customers won’t hear it nearly as often as you so they’re much less likely to get bored with it. Continue to use the same ads and same marketing messages as long as they work. Only when they stop working or become inaccurate should you consider changing them.
Don’t overdo it. While you may think you need the most expensive designs, the fanciest printed materials, the highest quality mailing materials, that’s not necessarily true. Unless you’re a mega corporation or Fortune 500 company, don’t try to compete with them on the marketing level. You can’t. Instead, use the best you can reasonably afford and make your message stand out in other ways. You’ll save a lot of unnecessary expense and let your customers see what it’s like doing business with you rather than the bigger company downtown.
Use inexpensive articles and reprint them as company handouts. You can hire a decent writer starting at about $20 to write articles about your business, products, services, company history and more that make excellent sales literature and handouts. You can include data sheets for technical types, statistics for your sales rep and news items for prospects. Article reprints are beneficial to offline marketing as well as online.
Marketing your business doesn’t have to cost a small fortune. And if you don’t have one to spend, these simple methods will help you stretch your marketing budget and give you the most proverbial bang for your buck with limited effort.