4 Ways To Market Your Business On A Shoestring Budget

by Ryan McMullen

Especially if you have a business that’s just getting started, you have more time than you have dollars, so it’s important to use time as your most valuable marketing resource. All small-business owners who are serious about their success are willing to spend the time to do the work, but where do you start and what exactly do you do?

With all the salespeople beating down your doors and tying up your phone, it’s nearly impossible to figure out what really works and what is just the flavor-of-the-day strategy.  However, given the gifts of time and hard work, there are some tried-and-true strategies that will help you grow your business with almost no budget.

Here is a list of places to start:

Network. We all know very successful business owners who have built their companies almost exclusively by getting out there, shaking hands and getting to know people. Unfortunately, networking is a long-term strategy that requires you to be consistent in your effort. For those who are willing to stick it out, there may not be a better way to build a business.

Love your customers. One of the most overlooked profit centers for businesses is their existing customer base.  Here’s why: Once a customer has spent any amount of money with you, he or she is 21 times more likely to buy from you again. What if you could increase your lifetime customer value by just 10%? Correct me if I’m wrong, but a 10% increase in revenue from existing customers counts just the same as a 10% increase in new-business revenue.   

Use technology to your advantage. Use cheap and/or free services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and email services to regularly communicate with your customers so they know you care about them and build lasting relationships. And please, please do not just try to sell people every time they hear from you. Add real value to their lives and you’ll earn more of their business.

Give stuff away. This seems counterintuitive to marketing on a tiny budget, but hear me out.  Successful entrepreneurs start businesses because they can do something better than the competition. If somebody has the opportunity to experience your product or service, that person will want to purchase more.  

And, because you “love your customers,” you will continue to increase customer value over time.

Create partnerships. We all need more customers, so put together a group of your local businesses to cross-promote one another.

Certainly don’t partner with your direct competitor, but find businesses that complement yours. The home improvement space is tailor-made for partnerships.  

If you’re fixing somebody’s leaky pipe and you notice the light fixtures are one stiff breeze from falling off the wall, refer your customer to your neighbor the electrician.

Marketing is not just about the dollars you throw at it, and, admittedly, the above strategies are not the sexiest. Sure, we’d all like to have a national commercial that runs during the Super Bowl, drives traffic to your website, blows up your phone and wins awards for creativity. That’s not the point.

The point of your marketing, needs to be you at the top of your customers’ minds so that when they need your product or service, they aren’t going to go anywhere else. That’s it.       

Ryan McMullen (ryan@stlouismarketinglab.com) is the owner of St. Louis Marketing Lab.