A strong marketing strategy is essential for business survival - but while big brands have the luxury of expensive advertising, smaller companies usually have to work within a limited budget. So how can you get your name out there in a cost-effective manner?
The good news is that more expensive marketing doesn’t necessarily mean better marketing. Sarah-Jane White, author of 49 Ways to Market Your Business for Free and strategy director at marketing agency, Peek, says: “The cost of the marketing is not the determining factor in whether the strategy is successful or not. It’s about finding your target audience and working out what engages them and persuades them to buy from your business.”
For Daisy Brydon, who runs cake baking service Daisy Brydon Creations, success has stemmed from a creative approach to putting her product in front of people. “I’ve been known to sit with my cakes in coffee shops, close to landmarks, where I think there will to be a lot of people in my market, and have found this to be really effective,” she says. “People always come up to me and ask for a card. The return on this has been really high. A lot of the time, even the cafes have asked about my cakes – and, as a consequence, I’ve set up alliances with them. I’ve also delivered cakes to TV shows, like the X Factor - Louis Walsh was snapped carrying his cake out of the studio.”
Brydon’s efforts seem to be paying off - her client base has tripled since she started out in 2012, and her turnover has doubled. She expects it to double again in the coming year.
She notes, however, that she has benefited from using a combination of offline and online tactics. “When you meet people offline, they like to keep in touch and see what you’re up to. I usually post a couple of times a day on Instagram. Facebook is another great way of connecting. I think it’s important to link all of your social media – so, for example, when you post on Instagram it will also show up on Facebook and Twitter.”
London-based Pimlico Plumbers got itself noticed in a very different way: by branding its fleet of vans. The vans, which also have custom plumbing-related number plates such as BOG1 and W4TER, have become so iconic that the creators of the movie Spooks made sure to put one in their film as a backdrop to a chase scene. “They felt they needed a Pimlico Plumbers van in there to make it look typically London,” says managing director, Charlie Mullins. “That’s the sort of brand awareness we’ve got.”
The company has seen healthy growth - with turnover increasing from about £10m just before the 2008 recession to £25m at the end of May this year. According to Mullins, whose other marketing tactics include calling up shows like BBC Radio 5 Live to take part in debates, the fleet is the brand’s most effective marketing tool - and any business that is not branding its fleet is missing an opportunity. “If you have something the size of a white van mobile within the area you’re actually carrying out business, you’d have to be a fool not to treat it as the best branding opportunity you’ll ever have,” he says. “And it’s anything you’ve got on the road. We have some small branded scooters to transport parts around. And there’s a garden maintenance company that has smart cars with fake grass on the roofs. They look like a cross between a mini golf course and hedgehog, but they’re really striking.”
The fleet has become so important to the company that it now has its own paint and panel shop to create the livery, but for brands without this there are other options. “You can vinyl wrap a van for a few thousand pounds and get a very professional finish,” says Mullins. “And if you want to go even cheaper than that you can just put transfers on the side of a vehicle.”
Not every business will have a fleet to take advantage of, or cakes to show off, but White says there are many other potential tactics that could be employed. She says one way to promote your business online is by creating case studies of your work then posting them on your website or distributing them via websites like onlineprnews and prfire.
It is also worth listing your details on Google Maps, an approach that White says is often overlooked, depsite being one of the most important free listings the internet can offer. “You stand a chance of appearing at the top of the search engine for a local search and customers can leave feedback for others to read about their interactions with you,” she adds.
In terms of offline tactics, she recommends asking existing customers for referrals, collaborating with another business to co-promote services, building contacts with local journalists, and networking. “There are many free events and seminars on offer from the British Chambers of Commerce, Institute of Directors, women’s networks and business centres,” she says. “You might get free space to put up a roller banner or place brochures, and you may be able to speak in front of the crowd.”
Some businesses, such as Magic Whiteboard, share their expertise to build trust – something that can be done both offline and on. The company, which sells portable whiteboard sheets and secured backing on Dragon’s Den in 2008, gives free talks over Skype to schools and universities on how to set up a small business and how to make a profit. “We do two talks a week,” says managing director Neil Westwood. “It raises our profile and it only takes two hours because we do it via Skype.” The company uses a range of other low-cost approaches alongside this, including attending trade shows, entering awards and branding two 50ft lorries that travel on the M6 every day.
Of course, any marketing strategy comes with its challenges. “There is never a guarantee on results or a direct input-output relationship that can be repeated,” says White. “With low-cost marketing, though, you can try a number of tactics across different channels and make your budget go further. Being patient is another challenge for businesses, as some approaches take time for the benefits to be felt and can be dismissed as ‘not working’ when actually they might be the killer tactic.”
They key is to be committed: “Do one thing every week to market your business, either online or offline, even if you are screamingly busy, because you never know when your next customer will be looking for you.”
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