Great marketing is essential to the success of any business, but marketing can also be a major drain on your business budget. Achieving an excellent ROI is the key to the kind of marketing success that lends itself to sustainable business growth. Many small business owners and marketers taste a dose of sticker shock when they find out how much many marketing mediums cost to participate in. However, with a creative strategy, you can develop cheap marketing campaigns that yield high ROI.
Every marketing dollar spent should be considered an investment with an expected return, but some marketing strategies are riskier than others. The initial investment can prove a barrier to entry for many small businesses, which is why I’ve developed the following list of 10 cheap marketing opportunities you’re missing. Each marketing tool listed below is cheap to implement, but can lead to major sales. No matter how successful your business is, if you’re not taking advantage of these cheap 10 marketing opportunities, you are undoubtedly missing out on sales.
1. Vinyl banners
Banners are some of my favorite marketing tools because they’re so inexpensive, yet they can reach a huge customer base. Place banners at busy intersections, in shopping districts, and in areas your customers frequent for maximum results.
2. Door hangers
Door hangers are ridiculously cheap to print, and if you can recruit a small team of volunteers to help, free to distribute. Blanket neighborhoods where your target customers live, and reward your volunteers with a pizza or cocktail party after.
10 Cheap Marketing Ideas To Consider
3. Magnets
Magnets can be useful, especially if you turn them into calendar magnets, sports schedule magnets or emergency contact number magnets. When you can give your customers value, they’ll post your magnets on their refrigerators – giving you brand power every time they reach for a glass of milk.
4. Stickers
Stickers are cheap, and they can be placed virtually anywhere. The secret to successful sticker marketing is to place them in unexpected areas for the element of surprise, which helps your brand be more memorable. Clever sticker placement in which your stickers work with their environment is even better.
5. Bookmarks
Have you considered bookmarks as viable marketing tools? They are when you work out deals with libraries and bookstores to get your bookmarks handed out with every book.
6.Posters
Like banners, posters can reach a large audience for minimal investment. They allow for strategically targeted placement, such as walls near a coffee shop where your target customer base frequents.
7. Flyers
Flyers are smaller than posters, but they do the job just as well. Flyers can be posted on community bulletin boards, placed on windshields or handed out to potential customers at any location.
8. Rack cards
If your business caters to travelers and tourists, print rack cards for cheap and make sure every hotel, restaurant, and welcome center in your area has them.
9.Letterhead
Letterhead is cheap to print, and most businesses use it for all communications. Use the back, sidebar or footer to offer your promotional deals. If you’re already sending letterhead, why miss the opportunity to market to your customers?
10. Sales data sheets
Sales sheets aren’t limited to B2B businesses, though many retailers and professional services seem to think so. Sales sheets are powerful marketing tools that are cheap to print; use them to differentiate your products, services and brand from the competition.
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