Marketing in 2009: No-cost and Low-cost Tips

No-Cost/Low-Cost Tips?

Well, I think in 2009, Social Media cannot be ignored. In 2008, we’ve seen Social Media & Marketing making HUGE strides. SM is what I would call good, low-cost weapons to add to your marketing and communication arsenal. You WILL spend your valuable time connecting and communicating, but the ROI of Social Media can be incredible.

Social Media will become even MORE critical for the smaller organizations looking to compete with the big boys. Creating personal connections that ADD VALUE to your audience is Key.

A lot of marketers will jump into SM with the same approach as traditional media and marketing – They Will Fail. Social Media is about being SOCIAL and interacting/facilitating meaningful engagements.

Now, traditional methods of marketing and communications aren’t [entirely] dead. Remember the Marketing Mix? Make sure each piece of your marketing pie compliment and build on one another.

Here are thoughts on a few “new” tools:

Twitter – Used to provide a glimpse into the everyday characters, musings, events, etc. of a company/brand/individual. Perfect for keeping the conversation Two-Way. Also, use Twitter to get out messages quickly to your followers (News is breaking on Twitter and Brightkite now…not CNN or FOX).

Blog – Used to create an ongoing, in-depth conversation with your audience. Blogging can help you externalize corporate/brand identity, communicate industry/business news, Humanize your brand/business, and Enable Your Community.

Networking – Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, etc. Find where your target customers are and Participate! Local blogs/forums, industry blogs/forums, Meetup groups, Facebook Fan Pages, LinkedIn Groups can be worth the time commitment. Also, networking/partnering with other businesses can be facilitated online. Build Your Arsenal!

Scope – Just because your business is local doesn’t mean you can’t extend your reach/presence beyond the current market. Strive to be the best [fill in the blank] in the county, state, US…Let us know what Your Company is doing better than everyone else. How-to videos, articles, guides, eBooks and other media can be passed around easily.

WOM – Word of Mouth – Make it easy for folks to pass along your information. Newsletters, blogs, “Email This Page” links, tweets (Twitter posts), etc. Your audience wants to socialize and participate…make it EASY for them.

Basically, social media won’t solve all your problems OR be a no-cost solution, but SM can enable you and your business/brand to better interact with your customers. Have the conversation. Facilitate the conversation. It’s 2009 – Why Not Social Media?

@chris_lugo

Hi Chris. Thanks for all the information about social media. It is very helpful. I am very new to all of this and was wondering how it works. For example, on face book, do I get an account/profile for my company because I thought it was for individual use. How do I find my target audience on these sites?

Good insight into SM Chris

in a scary recession combined with the mass media making matters worse we are back to basics in our radio sales.
#1-service -why pick your business-service #1
what you do better than your competitors.
#2.stability-we expand on your businesses longetivity-ethics-philosphy
#3.value-worth of your product or service
to your customers.
#4-location-access etc.
#5-stock or access to items. or both
with walmart supercenters inour area these are the resons to shop these merchants

Thanks for all the suggestions & comments that have been posted. At a time of global recession I’m taking a great leap of faith and opening an online shop featuring handcrafted ethnic products. I will be sure to take advantage of all the advertising suggestions that have been mentioned.

Kim -

At first glance, yes, Facebook is for individuals. One must create a personal account to access the site. But, as many brands and businesses are learning, people are on social networks to be social and connect! Weird.

You can create a Facebook Group, Fan Page, or even an event centered around your products or services. The trick is not just slapping a group or fan page up, and hoping you get a bazillion people to join. You must provide your audience/customers with something that’s worth talking about and/or that benefits THEM.

Say your business is bicycle repair shop. What about creating a place on Facebook (or other SM/online space) where your most loyals fans can interact, talk about and plan biking routes, talk about their passion for biking, discuss local governent policies regarding bicycle lanes and transportation, etc. What about sponsoring an event and letting people know about it via FB (along with other audience-relevant outlets).

I can think of a TON of examples of enabling your target audience/customer with social media and Facebook especially. It’s just a matter of executing in such a way that is genuine and human. Interact with your audience.

Remember – Your fans/followers should get VALUE from your online and Social Media relationship. If they can get a better experience than what you’re offering…THEY WILL!

@chris_lugo

Social media marketing is a very low-cost way to market. What’s worked for me is to become a member of an email listserv group, participating in the discussions, and connecting with individuals later, off-line, in more detailed discussions to market my own product/service.
The most successful method for me has been to establish a personal connection – by phone call, or email, or even direct mail – with the one person who’s able to make the decisions.

Some great ideas here! Particularly the social networking. No doubt this is the direction that we all need to go in with our marketing, but I have one other tool that’s generated new business for me 60 percent of the time, when I’ve used it…

Snail Mail.

I use snail mail for both hot and cold prospects. If I’ve met someone, gotten their business card, talked about what they do, asked the right questions about it, and told them what I do, they become a hot prospect if I think I can help them!

I send them a snail mail letter. But, what’s really important is what I write in the letter and what I put on the envelope.

I start my letter by focusing on them, instead of me. I ask them questions that they’re the experts at. For example, I ask a home remodeler if standard R-12 fiberglass insultation is better than some of the newer types of insulation? I ask a software developer if their software would help a specific organization or entity? You get the idea.

I ask a couple of other similar questions based on what they do, then point out I’m confident they can answer that question for me.

Only then do I ask if they’ve ever considered using the news media to help grow their business, solidify their marketplace position, protect their brand, compliment their other marketing efforts, etc. (My specialty) Then I point out that I can show them how to do so and invite them to visit me online.

Just as importantly, when I address the envelope, I put one of those questions below their name and address, to entice them to open it.

In 3 years of working for myself as a consultant, my “conversion to paying client rate” is about 60 percent with this. Again, I’ve already met these people, but I took the time to really find out what they do and then demonstrate that I was listening, by starting my letter with specific questions that they’re the experts at.

I’ve done this “cold” call as well, with companies/people I wanted to introduce myself and my company to. I’ve got a 90 percent “they opened the letter” rate, but actual conversion to paying customer/client is about 10 percent.

The only disadvantage to writing marketing letters this way is the time involved, because it’s not a cut and paste thing.

Still, it works and I encourage my clients who are in business to use the same method with their potential clients. I encourage you to try it as well!

Thank you all for your comments that added me a great value specially in SM.
My Question is if the Business is concerned about marketing communication specially advertising (designs and creative concepts), are there more steps or tips to be taken in consideration while participating in any of SM tools Facebook for example..
Thanks alot.

Hi Chris:

Thanks so much for your advice! It is most helpful! I think what you said about having value and being able to discuss certain topics is definately true! I think that will spark people’s interest. Thanks so much!

Great stuff here, thank you all for sharing. Together we can help each other in marketing efforts during these economic times.

iam trying to open up a small business i have taught guitar in the past and would like to start back up again i now the name of my business i like to start marketing with money scarce what is the best way

Hi Guys…thanks for all the great ideas. Our business is based upon generating sales for small business that have little or no money to spend on marketing. Some of the ideas that we’ve come up with include: Going to your local book store, find the book section applying to your business niche, put your business cards in a number of those books as bookmarks…when someone looks at them, you card will fall out and they will see you as a professional in that market…another idea is when you pay any of your business or personal bills – be sure to include a brochure of your business…you never know how many hands that envlope will go thru before reaching the person that takes your payment…one more that I really like…with the school systems always looking for money, go to your local school…tell them that you would like to provide them with, let’s say, 30,000 blank sheets of paper for the kids to use…you will pay for them, but on the bottom of each paper, in 1″ type, you will be putting an ad about your business…it really works, and you get alot of impressions from these kids…I’ve got alot more of these ideas that I would like to share with you.

Hi,

I’m looking to get a business started to sell Candles to wholesellers. The manufacturing is done in India and we will be shipping the containers here. I have tried Googling to figure out the websites/contacts of wholesellers and emailed them my companies products and how we stand apart from others in the market. However i havent heard back from a single vendor i emailed. I know we have a superior product at a very competitive price but its very hard for me to get started.

I dont want to get into retail business else i would start my own website and link it to other Social networking sites and get people interested there.

Hence any suggestions on how to get started for my particular scenario would be great. If needed you can contact me on samirsavla@gmail.com

One of the biggest tips for those wanting to save money, and wishing to do their marketing with the internet in a more proactive way is to make sure they allow themselves the necessary time to focus on email campaigns or blogging replies, article submission and overall upkeep of their websites. Most people just don’t have the time and this is where some costs can be saved if you have the time to learn and spend doing some of this kind of SEO stuff yourself.

I am of coursed biased but the use of promotional products in a marketing campaign can be a cost effective way to improve recognition. I am sure there are a multitude of other options as well but I know that my clients make great use of the products we have to offer.
Regards
Douglas