Network Solutions – Small business conversations and working together for small business success

Marketing Your Business On A Shoestring Budget…

In my previous post ‘Get Your Hand Off Your Wallet And Your Head Out Of Your…*’, Terry Upton asked in her comment “What if you don’t have any money at all? What would you say to those people trying to get their business off the ground?”

Well fear not Terry, and all of you trying to have your business take flight. This post is for you.

I talked about being frugal, but smart, with your marketing pieces. Most people I’ve come across that have started a business don’t have a huge cash resource to pull from and need to be a little creative, and yes…cheap, about what they spend their marketing dollars, and time, on. Their focus tends not to be what their marketing pieces will bring them, but how much it will cost them now. It’s a reasonable thought process, because the world is a very scary place when you’re wondering? where the next customer will come from.

I also asked you “to not think with the wallet you have now, but the wallet you want once your business is established”. What I mean by that is ask yourself, with each marketing venture you go into, ‘will this bring me closer to the next client/customer’. What you’re looking for is a financial reward for investing into your own company. In business, that’s called ROI (Return on Investment). It’s really simple; you want the amount of money you gain from this endeavor to be equal to or greater than the amount you spent on it. Common sense, right?

But what if you’re not putting ANY money into your own company, should you expect a return? Something for nothing?

When I started out, just like a lot of small business start-ups, I spent a lot of time thinking “People will pay the premium price I am asking for my service even though I haven’t invested in promoting my company, because they will understand that I’m just starting out.” Or my favorite, “They’ll take me seriously with the business card/brochure/flyer I just printed it out on my home computer and printer, because they understand starting a business is expensive.” I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Now back to how you can market your business on a shoestring budget, because that’s what this post is all about. The reality is simple. The tools you need to accomplish this goal are all ready a few keystrokes away.

Starting out, you don’t need a huge brand icon like the golden arches or a yellow sea shell. See, I don’t have to say the names of the companies and you know what I’m talking about. Keep in mind, as we go on, that what I’m suggesting is only a temporary solution until you’ve gotten a few sales down the road and can hire a designer.

For now, a clean, clear font is good for you. Go with something that’s not on everyone’s home computer. I beg you, for the love of your future marketing dollars, do not use Comic Sans as a font. You are not a comic strip artist (and even if you were I’d stay away from it) and you want your business to be taken seriously…unless you’re a professional clown or children’s entertainer, then have at it.

Websites like overnightprints.com or vistaprints.com can get your business cards printed efficiently and look like you paid a lot more then the often “Free 250” offers they run, but you need someone that has a bit of design sense to put something together for you if you want something that’s more than just text. And please, I beg you, see…I really care I’m begging you twice, stay away from the overdone backgrounds they offer for free. If I see one more purple lotus flower on an attorney’s card or badly gradient beach scene on a roofer’s card…I’m going to go nuts. It’s going to happen. Be close by me when it does; it will be hysterical for everyone else. Choose a simple, tasteful (just because it has the name of a fruit doesn’t mean it’s tasteful…lime green just hurts the eyes) solid color background and an opposite colored font. You can’t go wrong with black text on a white card.

Add a little gloss on the front for some style, but leave the back blank and clean so you, or a client, can put notes on the back. Put all of your pertinent information on your business card. You never know what medium people feel comfortable reaching out to you on.

While you’re at it, these sites are great for brochures, post cards, and a world of other things that would cost you an arm and a leg by going to a big printer. But before you start going after those things, remember a simple rule, because everyone has one…doesn’t mean you need one.

If you want fun and funky right out of the gate with a great brand, and you want to be cheap, go to your local colleges. Most of them have design classes where students in those classes are looking for opportunities to cut their teeth on your project for the experience. If you have the time, since you’re being smart and planning ahead, you can make your business the next class project where you’ll have tons of choices as the students put together design pieces that would not only get your business a great look, but a good grade for the student at the same time. What you will need to do, and this is just polite, is give that student, or students if they work in a group, credit for the work. This does two things: gives the student a source of credible experience and provides you with a potential designer who will do more work for you down the road on something they all ready care about.

Now for the item that might seem self serving, but isn’t. Your website.

Domain names (that’s your www.yourbusinesshere.com) can run you anywhere from $9.99 on up. The cost isn’t important, because you can often get one free with your hosting package, but the name you choose is. Your first domain should be some clear version of your company’s name. The first domain you use shouldn’t be too cute or clever. Again, save that for when you have a few sales under your belt. For now, focus on one of the things that will stay with your brand.

Sites like freewebsitetemplates.com can give you ready to go websites, but, like using one of the pre-done backgrounds for your business card, you run the risk of several people having the same look as you. Since this is just a temporary fix, please pick one that is, like your business card, clean and easy to view. People will understand expanding and evolving from a small clean design to a larger more eye appealing design, but since we’re starting with what you’ll need at first…I beg you, for now the third time (I must really care that you do well), to choose a design that accurately represents the image of how you want your company to be perceived. Just because you like sports or race cars doesn’t mean your future clients will. Explaining, and yes I came across this once or twice before, “I went this route because these are the colors of my favorite racecar driver and the black and white is for the checkered flag.” [This is an incomplete sentence. Explaining blahblahblah does what?] Needless to say this business had absolutely nothing to do with cars, races, flags, or…you get my drift.

As for hosting your website, choose a plan that truly will work for you. If you aren’t going to be selling things online for a while, the basic package is good. If you’re expecting a lot of visitors to your site right away…go with something that will give you a little more room. To save yourself some upfront coin, start out on the month-to-month plan, but remember to pay your bill.

Doing the math on this, using the suggestions above, you can accomplish everything for under $300. It will cost you just a little time. That, coupled with the freeness of social media networks like LinkedIn and a laundry list of other online networks, means you can start getting out there quickly and inexpensively.

There are tons of other options for accomplishing the things I listed above. Local copy or office supply shops are starting to offer inexpensive business card printing. There are some hosting options that offer design services as part of the package. All in all, if you do the homework, you can find that the cost of your start up items can be returned back to you in your first few sales.

Before I leave you, I want you to keep a few things in mind as you’re creating these pieces:

• It may look cool and amazing because you worked on it, but if someone handed you this business card or website…would you buy from them or take them seriously?
   
• This is a temporary fix. I strongly suggest once you start saving for a marketing pieces to be designed by an experienced designer or design company.
   
• Be a fan of your own marketing materials. If you take the time and care about the end result…it will show and yield results.

Remember, this is your company you’re getting these pieces for. You wouldn’t send your kid to school in your neighbor’s oversized clothes. Don’t send your company out looking uncared for.

Till next time…stay wicked.

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