Small Business Marketing - Cost Effective Strategies You Can Use by Alvin Jay

When you are stuck in a position where business dimensions do not allow you to splurge on a huge marketing campaign, you need to think big within small dimensions. One of the pillars of business is marketing, getting the word out and educating the market on your products and services so that consumers can start spending their dollars on you. In the end of the day, the by word is profit, and no matter the nature of your business, the consumer capitalist equation means you need to do some hefty marketing. A long time ago, it meant having huge a&p budgets, below and above the line marketing, designing collaterals, sales copy, the pitch.

Packaging everything into a 5 minute broadcast or a two page brochure cost money, especially if your product is designed for the masses. But fret not, here are some principles to ensure that you do not need to spend so much on your marketing campaign, saving money and utilising every inch of advertising real estate to your advantage. One of the things you need to find out is your market. No product is designed to reach out to everybody, so you need to understand the demographics of your market before you start your campaign. Not only is a highly targeted marketing campaign much more successful, it is also a lot cheaper. Throwing money into something vague and general is almost always a hit n miss solution. Look at your product.

Who is most likely to use it? Identify the age range, the interest group, the market, their spending power and most importantly; where will their attention be diverted most. What mediums do these people use, where do they go, what programmes do they watch on television, what attracts them, what piques their interest? Once you can answer these questions, then you can design a marketing campaign to fit them to the T. Building a campaign for 100, 000 people is alot cheaper than doing it for a few million. You can choose which magazine, where to place a specific billboard, how best to reach out to them. Then and only then will you be able to build a small scale business marketing campaign that can gain momentum and see some growth in time to come.

Also, to those who are starting a business fresh and new, you have to understand the importance of using every dollar you have into the marketing. Do not waste your money on inconsequentials like hiring too much staff, or even paying the office rental. Yes, the digital real estate market is there for a reason. Why would you want to spend thousands of dollars setting up an office when your business has not even lifted off the ground yet? Virtual offices are the answer to cutting cost and pumping more money into marketing. Once you have a strong customer base, then you can think about going physical. Until then, for small business marketing, think of saving every penny you have.