September 30, 2009 | Category: Business Advice | Tags: Small Business Tips

Every successful business owner knows the power of good marketing. Without it, industry giants like Starbucks and Google would still be operating out of someone’s aunt’s garage. However, overspending on market isn’t necessary to get positive exposure and bring in traffic. While marketing is definitely an essential for businesses of every size, there are a few ways to cut marketing costs while still offering a high quality, compelling message to your target audience. Here are five ways you can scale back on marketing expenditures while keeping a steady flow of customers.

Get to know your target audience. Every marketing expert says this, but few elaborate on exactly what that means. When you really know your target audience and make your business scalable, that means you know not just basic demographic information such as gender, social class, age, and income range. Knowing your target audience means knowing their dreams, their aesthetic taste, and, of course, what makes them want to spend money on a product or service like yours. This doesn’t take money, but it helps save your marketing money for the areas where it will do the most good.

Package yourself to appeal to this market. Once you know your customer base, tailor every aspect of your company and products so you appeal to these people. Your materials, website, and even paint job should be in colors that your customer finds pleasant. Whether your target audience wants superior service, the feel of an upscale designer boutique, or a product that will make their friends and neighbors green with envy, your chief challenge in achieving success will be packaging your company and your product so it delivers consistently. This doesn’t cost extra; you will need flyers anyway, so why not make sure they are as effective as possible? Also try and identify what kind of business is YOU.

Sell yourself to the media. Almost every business has a compelling story or a unique person behind it. Many local and even national media groups periodically do stories on interesting people and businesses. Why not be that story? Not only will you get great exposure at a can’t-be-beat price, you’ll gain additional credibility and have an opportunity to get your message out there in more than a fifteen-second ad spot.

Cultivate a referral culture. Customer referrals are taken far more seriously than traditionally advertising, so getting your customers to refer you can be one of your most lucrative marketing tools. Whether you offer a small incentive, such as ten percent off their next purchase when they refer a friend, or try another plan, encouraging customers to refer you by creating effective surveys is a cheap way to increase your customer traffic.

Avoid cold calling. In fact, don’t just avoid it; axe it from your marketing repertoire altogether. All of your advertising should be specifically geared toward your target audience and structured in a way that appeals to them. Cold calling and other types of broad advertising might make you feel like you are getting your word out there, but there are much cheaper and more efficient ways to market yourself such as business networking.

As you can see, there are many ways to save money on marketing without sacrificing quality. By cutting broad advertising techniques so you can focus on quality ads targeted at a very specific audience, you can decrease marketing expenditure while increasing meaningful exposure. That’s a win-win situation for every business, big or small.