From Laura Lake,
Your Guide to Marketing.
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Are there ways to market your business that will not cost you a fortune? How can you get the word out without driving your company into a financial black hole?

Truth is most marketing does take money, but there are some low-cost and no-cost options that you can put into action that will help you to get the word out about your products and service. While these ideas will not cost you a lot of money they will cost you time, so prepare for that.

These are fantastic ideas for the company that is just getting started. They also work! Choose two out of the five and move forward on them this week. Once you begin to see that in fact these promotional ideas can bring you business your momentum will build and drive you to pick two more.

1. Network at events. Go to Chamber of Commerce meetings, BNI Group meetings, and other organizational meetings that will be attracting your "ideal" client. Gather business cards. Get as many as you can and then begin to phone and email to follow up. Do this immediately while you are still fresh in their mind. If they cannot use your services, ask them if they know of someone who can and get their contact information.
2. Attend public meetings. At every public meeting, make a commitment to say something that could be useful to those that are attending. This is a great way to not only share you knowledge and help others, but it also puts you in the eye of those who could use your services.
3. Create a "useful" handout. A handout that when given to a recipient they keep because it has value. For example with my business I have one entitled the "Top Ten Marketing Tactics Your Competition Wish They Knew." Make sure that you include your name, phone number, email address, website information and your 30 second commercial that tells the recipient about your business.
4. Create joint-ventures. Find colleagues and business associates whose business compliments yours and do joint promotions. For example I do joint-ventures with a copywriter and graphic designer. Who could you partner with?
5. Write letters to editors of local newspapers and business publications.Make them interesting and newsworthy. You'll be surprised at how often a good letter will get printed. Do not forget to include your contact information and website address.

By committing to one of these items on a weekly basis within one month you will see your business gain recognition and business. You can get the word out there without spending hundreds of dollars.