Recession, credit crunch, economic downturn - call it what you walletwill there are few small businesses that have not been affected in some way or another.

In tight times the need to cut costs can often result in reduced marketing spend, especially in light of cash flow concerns but when times are tough it is even more important to keep promoting your business.

Now you may be thinking ‘well of course she would say that, marketing is what she sells’ but if you consider what is actually happening in a recession, you see why it is so important to keep up the momentum of your promotions.

  1. 1)  Your customers (people or businesses) have less money to spend
  2. 2)  They are looking to make more careful purchasing decisions
  3. 3)  You will need to demonstrate how your product or service provides real value and is a better choice than your competitors.
  4. 4)  You need to stay ‘front of mind’ so that when customers are looking to purchase, they come to your business.

Sounds like a job for marketing.

So if we accept that marketing is something all businesses need to do to survive, then what can be done when cash is in short supply?

Fortunately, not all marketing and advertising is mega bucks and I have put together a few ideas of things you can do that are low cost. First of all, however, I would urge you to look at what you are getting from your existing spend and redirect anything that isn’t working. It can be tempting to keep on doing what you have always done, because you are scared of what will happen if you don’t, or because your competitors all do it. You need to make sure you know where your new business is coming from and then if you are really not seeing any business or enquiries forma particular source, ditch it and try something else.

But, back to the list ...

 

1)    Talk to your customers

Your customers are a massive resource both for additional business. So if you aren’t keeping in contact look at ways of doing so. It could be as low tech as diarising a call back or picking a selection of customers to call every week to keep in touch.

There are also a number of email services out there that are easy and cheap (or free to use). We use Mailchimp as not only is it easy, intuitive and with great reporting it is also FREE to use if your email list is less than 2000 and you can send up to 12000 emails a month to that list.

Letting your customers know when you have a new promotion, product or just news of a project you have completed makes sure you don’t drop off their radar. Before you spend any money of bringing in new customers you need to make sure you have this covered off.

 

2)    Ask for referrals

Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for referrals. Most people will be willing to provide a referral or introduction if you ask, but few will do it off their own back.

Another way is to make an offer a customer can pass onto their contacts. Again people will be happy to if they have been happy with your service (and it reflects well on them as they are giving their contacts access to a discount or offer). In this case, also reward the person who has made the recommendation!

 

  1. 3)    Network, network, network

Say the word ‘networking’ to many people and they will run a mile. Thoughts of a room full of ‘suits’ or intense sales people pressing their business cards into your hand spring to mind and was my view before I started my own small business and approached networking as a marketing tool rather than a sales opportunity.

Now there are oodles of networking options in every town and city and it is proven to be one of the best ways of building a business. So try a few and see which ones suit you best – breakfast meetings, lunchtime, evenings. Formal business referral groups or more informal industry gatherings. The choice is vast.

But a word of warning, networking is not something that offer immediate gratification. It takes time, consistency and focus to build relationships and trust in your networking community. Serial network butterflies who attend everything yet commit to nothing usually achieve just that ... nothing. We have had great success with a local BNI business referral group that we joined the day after we opened the door to our new business. It gave us immediate (much needed) local contacts and has consistently brought in around 70% of our business every year. It makes the early starts a bit more palatable and it is also easy to track back what business we have earned from it and so justifying the monetary and time commitment.

 

4)    Tell people what you do

I don’t just mean your target market. I mean everyone. Who really knows what our family and friends do for a living. We most likely know that Brenda in the Accounts office at our sister’s firm is a gossip, or that our mate Dave is after a pay rise, but as a nation we rarely talk about what we actually do.

If you have your own business this is missing a great opportunity. Not to sell to friends and family, but to let them know what you are all about. An easy way to do this is to have an ‘elevator pitch’. Awful American term, but what it means is to be able to describe what you do briefly, in a few seconds (the time it takes to use an elevator). This isn’t as easy as it sounds. Try it ... in 10 seconds. Get it right and it means you can be constantly marketing your business without boring people at the family BBQ.

 

5)    Collaborative marketing

One of the benefits of networking is that you often find businesses that have synergy with yours but are non-competitive. If this is the case you could share the costs of marketing activity by putting together a joint promotion.

For example, if you are a business that provides products or services to home movers – a joint leaflet between a solicitor, removals company, electrical goods store, painter & decorator and carpet cleaning company could be posted through houses with for sale boards.

 

6)    Piggyback other businesses

The expensive part of marketing is the fact that it costs to spread the word to your target audience. So what if you could get a business that had the same target audience as you (but again was non competitive) to market your business for you? Sound too good to be true? Well it is a possibility if your business could be of benefit to their customer base and be seen as adding value to their offer.

This member marketing is used by many businesses from credit cards and banks to trade bodies. “As a member or customer of X we will give you a discount or special rate on these products and services”. As one of those products you may have to give away a bit of margin, but you have no marketing costs and are being promoted to their customer base.

For small businesses creating these alliances can work just as effectively so think about who else has a similar customer base and see if they would be interested in doing a joint promotion or offering your services as a discount to their customers.

 

7)    Use social media

If you are reading this blog you are interacting with social media and social media offers great opportunities to small business to create a local presence and also to build relationships within their sector.

The scope of these opportunities are too great to cover off in this blog but check out some of the previous blogs on this subject plus watch this space for more on this fast growing and fast changing area.

           So what’s all this social media malarkey about?

           So why do I need a blog? 5 reasons for your company to start blogging.

           No more excuses – 10 blog ideas for every business.

 

So if you are thinking that marketing your business is a cost that you cannot justify, look to making your money work harder and try some of these low cost alternatives.

 

Image by: Photographer seaskylab at FreeDigitalPictures.net