APM Business Tips

GREAT Low Cost Marketing Tips Part 3

Posted on in Small Business Tips, SME Marketing, Social Media

Following my two previous blogs relating to my presentation ‘GREAT Low Cost Marketing Tips’ we move on to…

The LOW COST Stuff!

If you’ve been following my blog series ‘GREAT Low Cost Marketing Tips’ you’ll know that previously we’ve looked at both Part 1 Planning and Part 2 the FREE stuff.  All of the following is ‘low cost’ with just a couple of provisos where necessary.  Read on!

  • Networking – Cost really depends on the group.  What’s most important is that you find a group that you feel comfortable with and wish to commit to.  Viva and 4N are both very reasonable and Business Biscotti is a drop-in.  But do ‘shop’ around until you find what works for you.
  • Websites – A package site such as 1&1 is almost ridiculously cheap.  Maybe it won’t meet all of your requirements in the long term, but its not a bad starting point if you have little or no budget.
  • SEO & Google Adwords – Again, there is a proviso here, if your website is optimised then personally I don’t see a need to spend money on Adwords.  Plus PPC is very easy to do badly and very difficult to do well so before you start, take a look at My Mustard who offer Adwords training.  Otherwise, if you do wish to talk to the experts about SEO and PPC, then I can thoroughly recommend  Distinctly Digital, check out their blogs as well which are really useful.  Plus remember your Google Analytics whilst you’re at it, a valuable source of information – look out for my blog next month on the subject.
  • Yell.com Sponsored Listing – This is the one product of Yell’s that I think is really worthwhile.  For approximately £20 per town (subject to the town and the listing) you can get a profile page, tags to enhance your SEO, video if have one, reviews, plus an image for logo or photo.
  • Parish Magazines/Local Directories – This is a very affordable means of advertising and will cost around £100 a year, subject to size obviously, but do consider your audience and do measure your activity.
  • Leaflet Drops – Free if you do it yourself or check out The Local Directory who offer £45/1000 or Dor2Dor, but choose your areas wisely and ensure your message is appropriate for your audience.
  • Business Stationery – You don’t need to spend a fortune on stationery design and print.  If you’re a start-up business and keeping a keen eye on your costs, try designing your own stationery in Microsoft Publisher or similar.  Use a digital letterhead and buy the Business Card packs from WHSmith and print off what you need, when you need it.

I hope you find these tips and information useful.  The final part in the series will follow in a couple of weeks.  In the meantime, if you would like further detail on any of the subjects, then please don’t hesitate to give me a call or drop me a line.