9 Cheap Marketing Ideas to Put to Work For Your Business Now

Every now and then we'll write about ways to market your business on the cheap.  In this economy we all need to think about ways to be creative. Here are a few more ways to add to the ever-growing list.

Gas Gift Cards - Have a promo where your customers need to purchase over a certain amount and they'll get a gas gift card from you! 

SVM Cards has small denominations. You can buy $5 and $10 cards in 10 packs.

Cost: The cost of the card you choose. For example, $5 cards in a 10-pack is $55.
Benefit: You'll get people who might drive to come to your store!

Hand-written Thank-You notes - When you ship out a product, include a nice note that you hand write to your customers. They'll be shocked you did it!

Cost: The time it takes to write a note.
Benefit: Your customers could tell their friends about this amazing thing you did which will potentially spread positive word of mouth.

Selling to a Business? Scour BizJournals in your area for new business listings, there are hundreds of them. Also see InfoUSA or DemandBase for business addresses nationally or locally depending on your zip code.

Cost: A Bizjournals Subscription is around $50-$100/year (depending on your local area) for 52 editions. Plus you get the Annual Book of Lists (which is huge) for free.
Benefit: You can call/direct mail the businesses on a weekly basis and enter them into your contact management system or your VR account. I counted about 500 businesses listed with all contact information in a single week.

Swap - Ask a neighboring business if you can put your business card stack on their counter and vice versa.

Cost: $10 to print business cards.
Benefit: You may get some new business from people that didn't know about you.

Advertise On Your Car - If the cost of gas hasn't got you riding your Schwinn around town, why not put a magnetic sign with your logo, phone number and website address on it. Great for sitting in traffic! While you're at it buy a license plate frame with your info on it too. I've been thinking about putting a VR sign on the ole' Yellow Mini Cooper.

Check out: LogoMagnet, Vista Print, Magnet Signs

Cost: $20-30
Benefit: Doesn't take much and who knows? That person riding you on the highway might just take note! Make sure you find visible parking spots too!

Tradeshows - See if a colleague who owns a business would want to share in a tradeshow booth or sponsorship. NetBooks asked us if we would co-sponsor the Small Business Development Center Technology Bootcamp and we did!

Cost: Your time and the actual sponsorship.
Benefit: For half the price you can both get new business.

LinkedIn - If you don't have a LinkedIn account create one, it's free. Then fill out your profile as much as possible. Also, answer questions in the categories you choose to. It turns out to be a great way to get known as an expert in your field. Also when people search on your business name or your name, often times your LinkedIn profile comes up on the first page.

Cost: Free
Benefit: You get your name out there for potential new business.

Contests & Awards - Have people submit their favorite picture of their smile (dental office), favorite dog picture (groomer/kennel/vet) or favorite pose or strut (retail clothing).

Have them post the video or picture to picasa, flickr, or YouTube so you don't have to host anything. You've got a gig or two of free storage at most of these. Then send an email campaign to tell your customers about the contest. They'll upload their content, then send their friends to see it. As an offshoot you'll get more traffic. Then reward them with discounts or cash.

Cost: Free.
Benefit: Your customers drive more traffic to you.

Post Videos of Customers - When a customer walks into your business or you visit one at their offices, why not take a Flip camera (cheap) and ask them to talk about your business. Then simply plug the Flip into your computer (it has a built in USB!) and upload the videos right to YouTube. Don't forget to tag the video with your company name and some keywords so you'll come up high in the search engine rankings.

Cost: Free if you have a camera. Flip is $99.
Benefit: There's no better advertising than you're customer testimonials. Then you can get ranked in the search engines more as well.

Let's hear any other creative ideas!

Comments

[Allison Marie Saad]

Thanks so much for these ideas. I have been looking for new ways to promote my business and I have been using some of these ideas like thank-you cards (and even free gifts). You were right when you said we all need to be more creative in this economy. I know people still want to look good and will continue to look for the best anti-aging eye cream and I need to be there when they do!

Allison Marie Saad
I don't have wrinkles under my eyes anymore!

[Bud Verheijen]

Fabulous tips! So much so that we've sign written 'Intervino Fine Gifts of Wine' all over our family wagon and received a gift order just the other day from someone who spotted the car in a little suburb in Sydney! Further tip... make sure you include an image of what you do that sets you apart from your competition as a visual - pictures sell!

[Jon Moss]

word of caution about the car advertising...you may want to check with your insurance agent about possible liability if the vehicle is covered by a personal policy.

If in an accident, you could end up getting sued personally and have the injured party sue your business as well.

[Janice Henry]

These are great!! As a new small business owner, most of my time is being spent on advertising and putting the word out there. I have explored every free/inexpensive venue that I can find. Thanks!
Personalized gifts, www.bubblesnraspberries.com

[Suhaimi Shah]

Awesome ideas and the information about neo-techno(well at least to my part of the world)brings a neo perspective. I will link the pages to my blog at
http://www.ninchances.blogspot.com

[Suhaimi Shah]

Awesome ideas and the information about neo-techno(well at least to my part of the world)brings a neo perspective. I will link the pages to my blog at
http://www.ninchances.blogspot.com

[Carlos]

I love the hand written note idea. I have found that personalized emails when people are expecting auto-responders works well, too. Too many people forget how much of an impact personalization can have on a new or prospective customer.

[Laurie Morgan]

I've been using my car for advertising my small business -- but, I went the "whole hog" way and wrapped it. It has been a fantastic form of promotion for our publishing business -- our clients love it, our readers recognize it, and we've definitely gotten more of both kinds of customers as a result. Highly recommended!

(If you're interested in checking out our bug, here's a link to an ad we ran in our book cross-promoting it.)

http://www.weddingyellow.com/bugspotters.jpg

By the way, if you follow the trade show suggestion, having a vehicle that promotes your business means you might be able to remind people about it when they come and go from the show (depending upon parking circumstances at the venue). This has also been great for us (at bridal shows).

[Alex Williams]

What about a blog? It's so easy to start one.

Video is a great differentiator. Services like TubeMogul allow you to post your "customer testimonials" to multiple video services.

I love the "gas card" idea. :-)

Here's another idea I'd love to see a small business try. Ask people to "tag" the store name. It will help improve search engine rankings.

[Patricia Joseph]

As a small business, I'm always searching for low-cost marketing ideas. These were all great ideas. I especially like the gas gift cards! This is a nice way to reward your best customers.

[Jim H.]

These are really good ideas - thanks. I have used a few in the past. I think part of the success in any of these is to be consistent. Don't just do one thing one month and then say I tried it, that's it. Do at least one thing every month and be consistent, month after month. I believe that's the best method in being the most successful.

[Michael Gass]

All great ideas. Thanks for sharing. I particularly liked the Gas Card idea since my last name is Gass. As an ad agency new business consultant with a tagline, "fueling ad agency new business," I thought I would use the Gas Card idea as a give-away for online subscribers to my blog.