A client asked me how to get the maximum marketing mileage at minimum costs? Small to medium-sized companies have to create a presence with a small budget.
It is possible to do excellent marketing at low costs.
Your company has at least four marketing tools: People (you and your staff), business cards, a Web site and e-mail facilities. How well do you use these tools?
Firstly realize that everything that you do is marketing. Your company has a reputation. Build and protect it. Every action that you or an employee takes either enhances or negatively affects your brand.
Do not think of marketing as an add-on activity. You have to be marketing.
Are you and your staff able to get across in conversations and on your Web site what your company means to your clients? Please note, not what your company does. Do you paint a vivid picture of the type of people and markets you serve and of the solutions and results you provide to them?
With a business card and a Web site you have taken important steps towards formally branding your company. Your logo presents an image which creates a perception and an emotion. Is your card and Web site attractive and professional or run-of-the mill? Does your Web site prompt potential clients to make contact with you? Have you gained business because of it?
What Web sites in your industry catch your attention? Do you like neat and informative ones? Or fancy with flash? (Dramatic and super stylish might be an option only if you are in the design, fashion, wedding or luxury lifestyle industries.)
How often does the content of Web sites which you visit actually meet your needs? Is it easy to see what a company can do for you? Is it easy to find the information you are looking for? Is it easy to navigate? Is it professional or amateurish? How does yours compare?
Companies can no longer afford to have Web sites which do not project a professional look. More importantly, content has to be credible and very readable.
Every Web site contains a range of promises. When potential clients contact you, your products and services have to meet their expectations. From a brand point of view, does each contact point with you, your products and services result in client satisfaction? Or is there a gap between your brand, your attractive Web site and the delivery of your promises?
Delivery of a brand is mostly personal. It involves meetings, telephone calls and e-mails.
A word about e-mails. A careless composition of e-mails could damage a brand. Have you had the experience of owners and their staff being totally delightful in personal contact and over the phone, but lacking in their e-mail correspondence? Have you received minimalist one or two-liners which were obviously written in haste? Or with absolutely no warmth? We all deal with a large volume of e-mails. It is possible to be brief and friendly. Be careful not to provide the impression that writing or replying is an unpleasant chore. Every e-mail is an opportunity to build a relationship.
If your e-mail lies in an in-box will it create in a moment of pleasant anticipation?
All business cards, Web sites, face-to-face conversations, telephone calls and e-mails are marketing tools. All need to convey a rounded message and a concerned approach.
Being professional is the least expensive way of marketing.
A blog, a digital newsletter or a regular news release (dispatched as an e-mail) are tools which might just be right for you. They all cost nothing or very little. All support your Web site. But ensure that you know how to use them before considering launching any of them. Do thorough research. They all need time, energy and personal dedication to learn and maintain. And passion.
Many experts on new marketing believe you do not need anything beyond the listed tools. If you have money to burn you could also go for traditional advertisements and expensive brochures. But it is not necessary.
Your small marketing budget is just fine.
Focus on the basics, be on-brand and a priceless tool will follow: referrals.
Albert
