If you have followed our A-Z of Marketing since the beginning, you will now have a range of ideas and strategies under your belt. The challenge with every small business is that it is like a leaky bucket, for every customer you grow, you are bound to spill some others out along the way.

This post outlines five extra ways to cost effectively promote your business and reach your target market.

1. Send out Press Releases

If you are a small business, your first port of call for getting your name out should be your local paper. Familiarise yourself with relevant editors and be sure to keep them in the loop of any achievements. If your business wins an award, secures a big client, opens a retail store or even starts shipping parcels to Mexico, all these can spell great local feel good news.

Make sure you develop a strong angle to your press release. And remember to ask – “Who Cares?” – until you nail a headline that will make people stop and read. If it’s really big news, look at bigger publications like state newspapers, major magazines and relevant online publications.

Cost: Free if you write them, or $150 if we write it for you.

2. Cross Promote

You may find you have developed a nice strong database, and you are sending newsletters out that get opened and even better clicked. But it doesn’t necessarily convert to sales. If that’s the case, it might be a great time to do some networking and explore some businesses with which you can cross promote.

Look around for complementary but non competitive businesses that seem to be around the same size as you. For example, if you’re a legal firm, you may look at financial planners or accountants, or if you make children’s shoes you may look at businesses that make children’s clothes or books. Sign up to their newsletter and subscribe to their social media, spend a few weeks “getting to know them”, if they seem like a good fit, contact them and ask if they would like to exchange advertising, work on a joint seminar or promote each other on social media.

Cost: Free, or the value of any offer you extend.

3. Letterbox Drop

Letterbox drops are a great way to let households in your local area know about your business. Just recently we have heard some great success stories from location based businesses getting involved in letterbox drops.

Remember to keep it to one core message, have an incentive for people to contact you, and a cut off date. By printing a small quantity and dropping them yourself (or getting a team member to), you can measure the response and gauge whether investment in a larger campaign is worthwhile.

Cost: $64 to print 100 DL Flyer from CMYKOnline. We can put together simple layouts from $100.

4. Networking Events

So many clients tell us that they have the highest conversion when they talk about their product or service. In many cases if you created your business you will be its best sales asset. You have the passion, commitment and accountability!

Networking events allow you to promote your business to a small group of like minded business people. As part of most networking events there is a call out for referrals, which is an opportunity for you to gather contact details of people that may be interested in your offer.

Cost: Varies. Business in Heels has local networking events with other professionals and business owners starting from $40 per month. Your local BEC also has networking events starting from $25.

5. A Flash Promotion

Whether you have a regular newsletter that you send out, or you have a database of emails that you haven’t got around to using, a flash promotion can be quickly designed and executed through an email program like MailChimp.

A flash promotion allows you to reward existing customers or entice customers that have yet to convert with a relevant promotion. You can target one product, create a special package offer on a service or promote your whole store. The objective is to inspire action now.

Cost: Free if you design it yourself, or $150 for us to create the strategy, design the email and send it out for you.

Until next time, X is for 5 eXtra Ways You Can Promote Your Business. We look forward to finishing off the A-Z of Marketing series over the coming months. If you have any questions please contact us at contact@wiseupmarketing.com.au

Mary-Anne