So, you’re running a business and your being inundated with calls and emails offering you costly marketing opportunities. Newspapers, Magazines, Radio amongst others.
Most just want to see the fibre of your fabric and most of the time the fact you might have a very small marketing budget is completely irrelevant to the friendly telesales folk.
It’s our business to provide comprehensive marketing strategies and the subsequent implementation of said strategies to our clients but there’s plenty you could do that won’t cost you a penny.
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Create a strategic partnership
Whatever your industry you will have synergy with lots of other businesses. Look to strike up a collaboration with one or more and create a referral network. A podiatrist might seek to collaborate with a sports therapist or an osteopath. A business like this would also do well to develop a relationship with the hundreds of semi-professional and grass root sports clubs in their region, for example. Spend some time to write down who you could work closely with for mutual benefit and make time to get the ball rolling. Be careful though, there are plenty of business owners that aren’t so clever at engaging the reciprocity rule.
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Volunteer
Now this is where you provide an emotional connection with your audience. Actively volunteering with a local good cause will do absolutely no harm to your brand image at all. We can’t recommend this enough, although it’s important to volunteer for a cause you can be passionate about as it’s ultimately for the greater good of your community. Get involved, raise some money, start a money raising initiative as a business and align your brand publicly with the subsequent public relations in the local press and through social media.
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Social Networking
We know this is a time-consuming task but setting aside some time each day to study social networking platforms can be very lucrative. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are priceless tools we can use to leverage ourselves and discover the people we want to work with. Develop existing relationships and stay active with good content. Don’t be salesy. There’s a certain etiquette to approaching someone through social media in our opinion. Ask for an opportunity to meet with them to discuss how you might work together for mutual benefit.
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Internal Referrals
Your best and most plentiful business will no doubt come from referrals from your existing or past clientele. There’s no shame in asking existing customers for them to pass you business and referrals. Develop loyalty programs that incentivise them to do so, this will ensure a loyal client base and a recurring cashflow. Send out a study, ask your existing clients to anonymously critique your service as some clientele will like you but perhaps won’t refer to you if there’s something they don’t quite like about your service. You need to know the good, the bad and the ugly.
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Blogging and Content
Informative and educational content is the way forward. Why don’t you do your own ‘6 top tips’ relevant to your industry? You get the jist. Driving traffic to your website through sharing your content on social media and meaningfully engaging with other blogs. You’re an expert in your field, so get sharing your knowledge.
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YOU
Undoubtedly the most important of the 6. People buy from people, you need to be seen, be personable and focused on your goals. We meet so many business owners simply ‘plodding’ along waiting for business to fall into their lap. Your attitude will define your success. Be more go getter, be grateful and be the best YOU. Remember, no one cares about your business but YOU, which is why you are the single most important marketing tool you have. Ask yourself…’Am I doing enough? Could I do better?’
None of the above elements involved any direct promotion and that’s key. Marketing will always cost you, whether it be time or money. You can invest money in marketing, and it’ll save you time but marketing effectively without money will take a significant amount of time. Take these nuggets of wisdom and implement them with proper dedication and focus and you’ll gain momentum and results in no time.
Are you running a business and feeling overwhelmed? Get in touch and we will do our best to help.
Posted in Branding, Graphic Design