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Marketing On The Cheap!

Most small businesses are operating on limited funds--at least in the beginning. Slender budgets combine with unforeseen expenses. Keeping the doors open at all (whether those doors are attached to a storefront or purely virtual in nature) can be tough enough.

Affording a great marketing plan at the same time might seem impossible.

This article focuses on affordable marketing methods. Not all of them are free, but most of them are not bank-busters. The goal is to get your name out there, to promote your produce effectively, and to develop a customer base without spending yourself into bankruptcy.

Some of the costs are unavoidable. If you are lousy with words, you will eventually need to purchase the services of a copywriter. Unless you know graphics and combine that technical understanding with some great marketing knowledge, you will need to hire someone to help with logo design.

The old adage says that you "have to spend money to make money" for a reason. It's true.

The trick, of course, is not spending too much of it. That's why you need to develop a "filter question" that you will apply to every marketing decision you make. That question will help remind you to seek out the most efficient possible means by which to effectuate a successful marketing strategy.

The question? "Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?" You need to ask yourself that every single step of the way as you promote your business.

The question embodies two important elements.

• First, it will help you maintain your focus on the immediate bottom line and will discourage overspending. You will always be thinking in terms of price tags as you market your product.
• Second, it reminds you that although keeping limited red ink on the ledger is important, you cannot sacrifice quality or effectiveness to save a nickel here and there.

Most marketing experts will tell you that you that a big advertising spend is pure investment and that if you can adequately predict a net profit as a result of the effort you should go for it. That makes sense. If spending ten grand will make you twenty, you'd be a sucker not to do that.

However, the decision calculus is never that simple. You can never be sure that an action will result in a profitable reaction. It may look like spending that money will be a sure thing, but when the marketing's over and there are fewer customers than anticipated, things start to look ugly.

Taking calculated risks is essential, but the amount of risk one can bear is always directly related to their overall financial stability.

This article assumes that the small business owners reading it have a little money to invest in their marketing but that they are not yet in a position where they can make a significant gamble on any one move.  If you want to learn how to responsibly pursue your marketing goals while limited your exposure and risk, you are in the right place.

Which brings us right back to the question that's going to get the job done. "Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?"

Rehearse it. Memorize it. Use it.

Every time you are reaching for that checkbook, logging into PayPal or pulling out that piece of plastic, ask yourself, "Can I get this done for less without sacrificing quality?"

That might seem a little too simple. It's nothing more than what you would intuitively be wondering anyway, right? Perhaps. However, by making a point of framing your decisions in this manner you will be certain to keep costs low while still protecting the effectiveness of the effort.

It's easy to say you are going to hunt for a bargain, but many people end up talking themselves into expenses that exceed the predetermined budget. By filtering your decisions through the low cost/high quality filter question lens, you can protect yourself against that mistake.