Published: 16 November 2011

Marketing with No Money

Leah Squire

As long as you�re careful how and where you focus your marketing efforts, you will have positive results in no time. Keep your eyes on your business goals and use marketing as your tool to reach them.

Are you, like most small businesses, strapped for cash and lacking a marketing budget? No worries! There are plenty of ways to market your business without breaking the (small) bank.

Marketing Plan

First off, you need to create a marketing plan. This is where you’ll organise your goals and the best methods that will help you reach them. If you’re trying to gain brand awareness, your marketing plan will be much different than someone who is trying to increase sales. So keep your goals in mind when exploring your marketing options.

Public Relations

PR is an effective and necessary tool to get your company the attention it deserves. This gives you an opportunity to explain who you are and what your business does. Many websites are always interested in small businesses, especially new start-ups.

Another great way to gain awareness is to write articles for topics in your field.

If you are in travel or entertainment, find a tourism website and write an article about your favourite trip. Most websites require constant new content and will gladly post your articles (if they are well-written).

Or, you can take the hassle out of searching for sources and use a tool that does it for you. www.sourcebottle.com.au is a liaison between writers and media sources. You can get free publicity on relevant websites or you can find content for your website. It’s a win win AND it’s free!

E-Marketing

Once you have a decent amount of customer contacts in your database, start up an E-Marketing campaign. This normally includes a monthly newsletter and occasional emails that include special offers and promotions. This keeps your current and potential customers informed and up to date with your business.

Make sure you provide your readers with useful and interesting information, otherwise they will label you as a spammer and unsubscribe from your newsletter. E-Marketing is useful to increase sales. Include a special offer and then link the reader directly your site’s store - that way, if they are even considering buying, they’re just a click away.

Social Media

As you know, social media is big right now. No matter the industry or size, businesses can be found on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and so on. Social media is a great way to interact directly with your customers. This allows you to quickly learn and cater your business towards the customers needs. It creates an opportunity for you and satisfied customers to spread the word to the rest of the world. Also, it can quickly notify you if your business if the victim of slander or negative word of mouth.

Word of mouth recommendation is by far the best praise a business can get.

Creating a friendly and constant relationship with your customers on social media platforms will open up many opportunities for your business.

www.linkedin.com is a place where professionals and businesses can connect with each other. This creates opportunities for partnerships, growth and business development. Get your business connected, it can’t hurt!

Affiliate Marketing (for online businesses)

Once you have created a reliable and steady website with plenty of content, it’s time to be rewarded for it! When you allow affiliates advertising space on your site, you receive a commission. It can be a set amount or a percentage of sales. Sites like www.clixgalore.com.au allow you to browse through hundreds of relevant ads and your commission rates. Generally, more site traffic leads to more commissions. So that’s motivation to effectively use the other marketing tactics above and grow your business!

So, as you see marketing with limited funds is not Mission Impossible!

As long as you’re careful how and where you focus your marketing efforts, you will have positive results in no time. Keep your eyes on your business goals and use marketing as your tool to reach them. Remember, you don’t need a large budget to market effectively. Use your available resources and see where they can take you. Good luck!

Leah Squire is the author of "Marketing with No Money... how to get your business the attention it deserves" and founder of internet based travel company www.byokids.com.au, your family travel gurus. Leah started BYOkids just over 3 years ago with $1000 and a marketing budget of zero. The now multi-million dollar company was awarded best new business in Australia 2007 and best micro business in Australia. Leah writes and speaks regularly on a variety of topics including marketing strategies for small business, women in business, affiliate marketing and social media.