How to Market Cheaply

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Low Cost Marketing

At its simplest, a marketing strategy is all about improving your chances of making sales – usually by making more potential purchasers aware of your products or services, or by making them aware of its desirable qualities (perhaps including its price). Marketing efforts don’t need to be hugely expensive, raising awareness doesn’t need to cost the earth.

• Little and Often

Research has shown that the effects of advertising are short lived. Therefore, in order to optimise your budget, it makes sense to spend smaller amounts very regularly. This will ensure that your business is consistently at the forefront of customer’s minds.

• Word Of Mouth

Prospects in particular are more likely to become customers if your marketing efforts are complimented by a recommendation from a friend or family member. You can encourage your existing customers to attract new customers for you by undertaking a ‘recommend a friend’ as part of your promotional efforts. For example, you could send out an offer where your existing client and their friend will both receive a discount when they book a treatment together, or mention a promotional code when booking separately.

• Be Committed

You need to be aware that marketing efforts require careful planning and, in order to you assess your return on investment and effectively plan future marketing, you must keep a record of the sales generated as a result of your campaigns. Try and set some time aside each week for brainstorming new ideas or calculating your business growth.

• Capture Data

Build a mailing list. This will enable you to target your campaigns more effectively. Collecting the names is the hard part, so give your prospects a reason for them to provide you with their name and address – competitions, an emailed newsletter, the promise of advance information and discounts, maybe even a loyalty card. Work at keeping your list accurate and up to date. Try to get hold of email addresses as well as (or even in preference to) landmail contact details: email is cheaper and more versatile than postage.

• Maintaining customer relationships

This is especially important in the service industry. Once you have captured your client’s data, use it! Concentrate on customers more than prospects: they will be more valuable to you, both for repeat business and because they’ll act as a reference. It is estimated to be up to four times more expensive to attract a new customer than it is to maintain an existing customer. So be personal. Remember birthdays and anniversaries. Say "thank you” when they buy (if only by email). Offer them the chance to comment and criticise. Give them special offers not available to anyone else. Make sure they know that your Christmas ‘thank you’ gift is going to a selected few, and they’re in the group.

• Selling new treatments

Invite your regulars to check out new products or services: they appreciate being treated as special, and you will lower barriers to purchase because the risk associated with trial is lower and they will therefore be more likely to purchase the treatment in the future. Look at their past purchase history if possible, and tailor special promotions to them.

• Cheap and Easy Marketing

Postcards are cheap and easy to produce, especially if you use colour on one side only. They can be mailed to prospects and stacked in help-yourself dispensers. And you can use them for a variety of marketing messages – see our new product, gasp at our new prices or our short-term cut-price promotion, enter the competition or the free prize draw (and get two entries if you give us a friend’s name and address). A reply-paid licence makes it simple for someone to return the card; these are easy and economical to set up with the Post Office.

• Competitions

Run competitions. They are an excellent way to garner mailing list names while sending branding messages: the kind of contest your run implies the kind of company you are. A chance of winning hamper full of lovely products, chocolates and a bottle of Chardonnay could prove irresistible to customers for the mere exchange of their phone number and address.

• Rewarding Loyalty

Start a loyalty programme. The customer gets a good deal, you get a keen customer (and their contact details). A simple approach is to give customers a card that is marked after each purchase and results in a free or reduced-price offering after a specified number of regular-priced purchases.