If you're strapped for cash and need more customers,
here are...
15
Unique and Inexpensive Ways
to Market and Grow Your Business
Local Church Festivals - Every spring
or fall, churches in your area typically host
a variety of events, festivities, and church
yard sales. Contact these churches and rent
a table for the event. Rental fees are usually
less than $20 dollars and can be a great source
of leads.
Make
sure to bring products with you and make sure
to have some type of contest registration/drawing
so you're able to collect names, emails and
mailing addresses. This will allow you to continue
up-selling to these potential prospects.
Balloon Advertising - Get your company
name, phone # and website address printed onto
balloons. These are fairly cheap, usually around
.03-.07 cents each (1,000 balloons for about
$70 dollars). Make sure to put the services/products
you offer with a special call-to-action.
You
can then distribute the balloons at local events,
charities, birthday parties, etc…thus giving
your business lots of exposure.
Customized T-shirts - Everybody wears
t-shirts and would gladly accept a FREE one.
But don't do the usual thing here; make your
message stand out! I like the controversial
angle…make your message 'unforgettable'.
For
example…I have t-shirts that say:
WORKING
FOR "THE MAN" SUCKS!
Make Money, Get Rich & Enjoy
Life!
Go to: www.HippoMarketing.com
Welcome Wagon - Most neighborhoods have
the Welcome Wagon, which is a service that welcomes
new people into the neighborhood. They generally
deliver the new homeowner a bag of goodies from
local businesses. This is a great opportunity
to get your name in front of new residents.
It's fairly inexpensive and you should try this.
Library Bookmarks - Contact local libraries
in your area about leaving behind 'FREE' bookmarkers.
Put your information on it (Not the boring typical
messages of course). You can typically leave
a couple of hundred of these behind and check
back every 3 months to replenish (you may have
to check back more often depending on how busy
the library is). Offer some type of contest
on the bookmarker (maybe a $10 gift certificate
to Barnes & Nobles, Amazon.com, or wherever…your
goal is to get their names and addresses - direct
them to your web site to register).
Teach & Hold Classes - If you have
a specialized skill, then teach others in a
classroom setting. If you're into scrap booking,
why not teach new moms how to do this with their
new baby pictures? It doesn't matter what you
know, teach a class. Contact local community
centers, churches, community colleges and libraries.
This is a great way to generate sales and leads.
Once you teach a series of classes, then you
can contact the people you've taught and up-sell
them "advanced training". Give it
a try!
Children's Coloring Books - Make your
own 10 page coloring book and put some advertising
on the pages. Distribute to local restaurants,
doctor offices, banks and daycare centers (trust
me… they'll be glad to see you). You can
generally find a 4-piece box of crayons for
about .10 cents a box.
Go
a step further and have the parents send in
their child's coloring to win a free happy meal
or ice-cream from Dairy Queen…This ensures
the parents see your advertisements and you
now have their name and mailing address which
will allow you to continue marketing to them.
College Campuses - Most of your college
campuses generally have days where they'll allow
vendors to come out and setup tables. We did
this at Spelman College here in Atlanta when
we were in the cell-phone & pager business.
We made a killing. These kids have access to
money and credit cards and are willing to spend
money. Booths typically cost $50 and you'll
see many other vendors there too.
Local Gyms & Fitness Centers - Depending
on how you position your product, a lot of the
local fitness centers will allow you to rent
a table where you can display your products/information.
Gold's Gym has been a huge source of business
for us and they'll typically allow you to put
a table out front (on the inside of course ---
it's to hot during the summer months to be outside)
5K Runs & Marathons - Become a sponsor
at one of these events. These events are usually
a sponsor themselves (Breast Cancer, Leukemia,
AIDS, etc.) Sponsor one of these events, they'll
usually allow you to get a table and will put
your information in the "Sponsors"
bag that they hand out to the runners in the
event. These events can be very costly to sponsor,
but if you look, you'll be able to find some
cheap ones.
Local Gyms & Fitness Centers - Depending
on how you position your product, a lot of the
local fitness centers will allow you to rent
a table where you can display your products/information.
Gold's Gym has been a huge source of business
for us and they'll typically allow you to put
a table out front (on the inside of course ---
it's to hot during the summer months to be outside)
Give Away $20 Bills - Now here's my favorite
one, but you'll have to get creative so you
can incorporate this into your line of business.
I used this for a client of mine in the Handyman
business. In this example, we used this technique
to generate leads from prospects at a home improvement
store (people most likely to need the services
of a Handyman).
You
can go to these targeted locations (like Lowe's,
Home Depot, ACE, hardware supply stores, parking
lots of these locations, etc…) and drop
"twenty-dollar bills". From a distance,
it looks like real money… (See the pictures
below).
In
fact, it's real money because the offer on the
back stated that it could be redeemed towards
any services requested in the future. (No expiration
date.) It works well. People keep them and redeem
them years later.
It's
all in how you fold the bill...
Today,
these phony bills are easy to put together and
can be ran off on a laser printer. Just don't
write some boring copy on the back where the
offer goes. Make it fun. Scatter a few hundred
of these and see what happens!
If
you're in the handyman business, go to elementary,
middle and high-schools (lots of single women
who needs work done around the house are teachers)
and slip these into their mail boxes…Or
put them in their car windows…Principals
generally don't have a problem if you get permission!
And
let them know it's a "Special Offer for
Teachers". This can work no matter what
industry you're in, just modify the concept
and make it work for you industry!
Sponsor a Doctor's Office - I'm sure
you've seen those magazine racks in the doctors'
office and it said "Magazines Are Provided
Courtesy of Cartess Pharmacy".
Now
you can sponsor those magazine racks yourself
and put your company name there and since you
own and control what goes on the rack, put a
few phamplets, booklets or fliers marketing
your own services…surely, they wouldn't
mind you using 2 slots? Each month, just make
sure to update the rack with the current months
issue. This works extremely well. You can get
these racks anywhere from $25-$45 each. Here's
a link to get you started on your search (and
you may find some on ebay): www.specialtystoreservices.com
Yearbook Advertising - Run ads in the
back of high school yearbooks. These advertisements
are fairly inexpensive and are a great way to
get your message out!
Mom & Pop Businesses - At some restaurant
chains you'll find advertisements posted above
urinals in the men's restrooms (I don't know
what they have going on in the female restrooms…I
guess I'll have to sneak in to find out). Anyhow,
talk to the storeowner and find out if you could
post your advertisements in the bathroom…Offer
them a nominal monthly fee and they just might
do it.
Go
to other small mom and pop stores such as pharmacies,
Laundromats, tanning salons, spas, etc., and
ask them if you could sponsor 'real estate'
in their store, such as their glass doors, bathroom
doors and above urinals, countertop displays,
desktops, etc…Get really creative here!
Library Bulletin Boards - Every single
library I've been too usually have a bulletin
board where you can post your business card,
postcard or flyer. Check back often, this is
an inexpensive way to get your services seen.
That's
it for now. If you have tested and tried some
unique and inexpensive ways to make consumers
aware of your business, please email us and we'll
include your ideas in our next updated version.
Put
your name & email address to get notified
of new article
postings. I also have some great people lined
up to do interviews
and you'll get tons of information to help jumpstart
your business.
Sincerely,
Cartess A. Ross
|
MUST
HAVE RESOURCES
404-496-5287 (General
Info)
