Small Business Guide to Marketing on a Limited Budget to Land New Customers

Point one: Beta test

It's been said many times: "Half of all marketing dollars are wasted... the key is to understanding which half!" So before you send out 10,000 brochures or free audio CD's to promote your business, make sure you do a beta test first. Simply test your marketing campaign at the smallest scale possible before you dive in the deep end.

I used to work for a company who had me go to five separate postal outlets to mail 15,000 brochures in my sales territory. When you factor in the cost of printing, postage and time, this was a fairly expensive endeavor.

It was not my money however, and I was really looking forward to getting all those leads! Unfortunately, the only leads I got were three people who were tire kicking... they weren't properly qualified. Now what if the business owner had suggested a beta test of 1000 brochures first? If we generated zero results with the first thousand mailings, we probably would have tweaked the marketing copy and tried another 1000 until we got some results.

The bottom line:

Always test on a small scale first... it just makes sense.

Point two: Make your marketing piece is unique, engaging and if possible, fun.

Think how many "beige" pieces of marketing correspondence you receive either at home or at the office. Sales letters, postcards, brochures etc. I began collecting such pieces about two years ago and have two stacks: stack one consists of the pieces that are typical and "beige," and stack two features the ones that really stand out. By the way, stack two has about five pieces in it...

In order to stand out, you have to ask important questions in your marketing communication... and you need to be engaging and interesting. For example, we all enjoy comic strips. What about a marketing program that utilized a cartoon character? And since most people like animals, what about a marketing program with a series of engaging animal pictures that speak to your customers' potential needs? The point is, you need to be creative to have somebody look at your marketing piece and go "that's kind of cool." If you can create something that people pass around the office, then you're on the right track.

The bottom line:

Start collecting marketing brochures etc., and see how many of them really grab you... if they don't, make sure your marketing material doesn't look similar.

Point three: Don't write your marketing correspondence (and this includes your web site) in a way that is typical "business speak."

I'm talking about such trite lines as "I'm writing you with regard to our new restaurant which is situated in your area. We would like to invite you to participate in our grand opening in order to..."

Why not write the same way you might speak with your friends at a backyard barbecue? How about, "We would love you to come out to our grand opening. We're right in your neighborhood and..."

Bottom line:

Keep your language simple and down to earth and you will connect with people in a way that resonates with them... kind of like a real person!

Recommended Article for You close

Trending Articles

Build Your List with Joint Venture Giveaway Events

May 2012 Top 100 Social Media Experts to Follow on Twitter

What to measure to be phenomenally successful in business

10 mistakes of media relations

Making Money Blogging Can Be Tons Of Fun