Marketing Strategies That Don’t Hurt the Pocket

By Julie E. Malcolm

Marketing is something every business must do to stay in business. A little imagination will make your marketing work better and more economically. Here is a selection of some cost-effective ‘tried and true’ strategies that work for small to medium-sized companies.

Be charitable to yourself 

Many firms donate money to charity and believe they’ve done something for their business. However, what if they’d donated their own products or services instead? A donation like this not only benefits the charity but creates an opportunity to gain additional business – and makes the business a winner too.

Business cards become advertisements 

Look at your business card and ask: “Is it selling anything?” Think of it as a little billboard with two sides. The reverse side can list your products or services or even carry a special offer for favored customers. Be sure your business card makes it easy to get in touch with you. It should include your street address, telephone number, email and website address.

Invoices can bring in repeat business

When sending invoices, you have an opportunity to gain repeat business. You’ve already paid for the envelope and postage; just add some promotional content before it’s mailed. It costs very little to print a leaflet offering your customers a once-only offer.

Convert your contacts to customers 

Many of the people you know are probably potential customers, especially if you’re giving them your business. Next time you see them, hand out your business card. Ask if there’s anything you can do for them at the time, and let them know you’re available to assist with their needs (or offer services or products to their friends/associates/customers and so on). This works well if you’re having a special offer and share it with them. They might be somebody else’s customers now but will give you an opportunity because they know you.

Don’t cut prices - add value

One of the biggest mistakes is to cut prices without a full understanding of all the consequences. You might move more of the product, but your profits are naturally a lot less, and it’s difficult to raise prices again. Instead, do what smart marketers do and add value to the product. You might be able to bundle a slow moving product with something more popular and create a top value package or bonus as part of a special offer available for a limited time only.

Keep in touch with existing customers

When somebody walks through your door and makes a purchase, they’ve provided an opportunity to acquire a customer for life. That is if you know how to keep in touch with them. So if capturing customer details isn’t a usual part of the transaction process, develop some other way of obtaining contact details. Use the information you obtain to develop a direct mail campaign. A regular email is one way to keep in touch or perhaps a regular newsletter. These can be used for many purposes from generating awareness of pending sales and special offers to invitations for product demonstrations or events.

Become an expert 

No matter what business you’re in, you have a specialized body of knowledge not shared by everyone out there. Consider sharing your knowledge by speaking at a seminar where you can offer some useful tips and tricks that would be helpful to know. Everybody likes dealing with an expert; and it could be you!

Julie Malcolm is a member of Echelbarger, Himebaugh, Tamm & Co. P.C. (EHTC)’s Business Development Unit where she functions as a facilitator for small and medium-size companies in the areas of profit improvement and operational issues. She can be reached at 616.575.3482 or email juliem@ehtc.com.