More Low-Cost Marketing Ideas for Your Business in 2009

As I discussed the other day, your marketing efforts in this down-turn economy must be supported by a simple but vital three-legged stool:

1. Excellent customer service
2. A customer-appreciation and retention program
3. A customer referral program

Once these three vital elements are in place, any other marketing ideas you put in play will have a far greater chance of success.  Now, based on your particular business, your past marketing successes, and your personality, take a look at the brainstorming list below to consider what other free or low-cost marketing ideas may get the word out about your products or services.  Feel free to mix and match, using as many of these concepts as you can (in a synchronized, non-competing way) to build your brand, bring in customers and explode your profit!

Note: The $ indicates this method will require some cost to implement.  A method is noted as free if you can implement it for no more cost than the time and supplies you use to create it (i.e. a flyer is called free because it costs you nothing to hang it up on a bulletin board, but you will need to pay for the paper and ink to print it up.)

• Flyers/coupons hung on local free announcement bulletin boards
• Eye-catching signs outside your shop
• Local Pennysaver ads ($)
• Local classified ads ($)
• Cold-calling to former customers you haven’t seen in a while
• An e-mail newsletter
• A print newsletter to hand out…
• …or mail ($)
• Ultra-targeted direct mail (i.e. mailing a circular to everyone within a mile of your retail location) ($)
• You do have a website, don’t you? ($)
• Blog posting
• e-newsletter
• Forum conversations
• Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc., etc. etc. ad nauseum.
• Print circular
• Free consultations
• Public Access infomercial ($)
• Press releases to local newspapers
• Web press releases
• Search engine optimization
• Search engine submission
• Online classifieds
• www.Craigslist.org
• all the Craigslist wannabes
• Write articles on your specialty for online and offline submission
• Business cards to hand out everywhere ($)
• really, anything at all that you can think of that keeps your name and product or service in people’s minds constantly.

If you have any questions at all about how these suggestions can be molded to fit your business, contact me at copyghost@copyghost.com and I’d love to discuss it with you.

What Will 2009 Mean For Your Business?

In 2009, the economy is making your decision-making process a heck of a lot harder than it was in 2007, or even 2008.  Obama is in the Oval Office, and he has some grand plans, but it’s going to take a long time for the benefits to trickle down to you and your customers.

Have you considered what you need to do as a small business owner, a department head, or a front-line supervisor?  How do you keep your profit-margin respectable when your customers have less money to spend and so do you?

The key in a down-turn economy is marketing.  It may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you are used to marketing being expensive.  But the fact is, if you allow your marketing program to suffer the same cutbacks as some other extraneous business expenses, you’re going to find your revenue tanking faster than it should, AND when the economy starts turning around, you’re not going to recover as fast. 

This is an age-old paradox that businesses of all size have wrestled with for centuries, but it especially effects the smaller businesses who don’t have millions in cash reserves to feed the furnace while you wait for the oil truck to show up.  All too often, an otherwise savvy business owner will hunker down in a down-turn economy, saving every penny, cutting back everywhere in an effort to stay afloat.  The trouble is, customers have a pitifully short memory, and chances are slim they’ll know who you are by the time you see the sun again.

So how do you maintain a progressive marketing plan that is financially responsible in 2009?  Here are a few low-cost or free suggestions for maintaining your marketing in a down-turn economy:

1. Develop and push a customer-retention and appreciation program:  You need to maximize the value of every single customer you service.  Make sure you have valuable information and/or incentives waiting for them to enjoy in exchange for their contact information.  Send them newsletters with special promotions.  Send them greeting cards, thank you cards, call them on the phone if it’s appropriate.  Anything that tells them you’re not just a business person, you’re a valuable and friendly member of their community.
2. Set up a customer referral program:  Closely connected with the paragraph above, start letting your loyal customers bring you more loyal customers.  I don’t need to preach to you about the value of word-of-mouth advertising.  Give away discounts on future purchases, rewards, a logo baseball cap… anything to make your customer WANT to tell their friends, their family, their workmates!  Everyone knows a hundred other people that may never even realize you exist unless they hear it from your customer!
3. Make sure your customer service skills and quality are top notch:  This should go without saying, regardless of the state of the economy.  But without good customer service and a quality product to offer, you shouldn’t be in business in the first place.  You don’t have to worry about retaining customers or asking them to refer others, because your business isn’t worth it.  It’s THAT important.

In future posts, I’ll discuss some more practical ways to maintain your marketing plan in the current economy, but these three items form a vital cornerstone on which all your other efforts should be built.  By focusing first on these three items, your plan builds constant momentum that will eventually sustain itself.  These three items will also help cushion you against deep downturns, or against marketing ideas that don’t pan out for one reason or another, giving you the opportunity to regroup and try something new.