In the beginning

Bearing in mind that you’ve only just started your business, you need to keep a watchful eye on the money you spend.

So here are a few ideas on marketing on a small budget.

But first – what sorts of marketing are there?

There are, basically, two types of marketing, although some fall right in between. These two types are Passive and Dynamic.

Passive Marketing

Passive marketing, for the want of a good definition, is marketing that waits for someone to see it.

So, we have your shop window, which in today’s world is your website.

You then have brochures and give-away leaflets.

The most important of these is your website.

Dynamic Marketing

This is the gregarious side of marketing. It doesn’t wait, it goes out looking for potential clients.

Passive Marketing on a small budget

You must have a website that can advertise your business 24 hours a day.

These are the key messages you want to get out there:

  • Your company name
  • What you do with a description and photos, if possible
  • Your telephone number
  • Your email address

Design your own letter heading and keep it on your computer. You can also write your own brochure and sales leaflets and print them on demand from your own in-house printer.

So, start small and expand as the money starts coming in

Dynamic Marketing on a small budget

There are three things you can do to start with:

  1. Social media messaging
  2. Blogging
  3. Telemarketing

BUT FIRST – you’ll need a platform to send your messages out on.

If your business is aimed at business-to-business, then I’d recommend LinkedIn and paying the extra to have access to Sales Navigator.

If your business is aimed at the end user, then Facebook is for you.

Social Media Messaging

Write short messages for every working day in the following month.
These should say what you do, and always add your website address and your telephone number.

When you’ve prepared the right number of messages for next month, you can upload some to Buffer and programme the date and time you want them posted.

Here’s a mythical example:

Looking for IT support when it suits you?
Here at IT4U we have tailored packages for you, from regular support to reacting to a call-out support. For costs and a chat, call xxxx xxxxxx. www.IT4U.uk

Blogging

Choose a subject that your service/product will help solve and then write about it in about 500 words.

Then, you can post that on to LinkedIn the following month on the day of your choosing.

If you do this each month, you will gradually become more recognised.

Telemarketing

When you have more money coming in, you can probably employ an agency, like us, to do your telemarketing for you, but for now, you need to do it yourself.

Here are a few tips:

  • Write down the first part of what you are going to talk about. DO NOT WRITE A WHOLE SCRIPT. Initially, you will feel nervous, and that is why just having the first paragraph in front of you will help steady you down. After that, just list the bullet points you want to cover.
  • Only give yourself an hour each day to make your calls. This way, you will not overload yourself, and it will be easier to come back to it each day.
  • When you’ve finished delivering your short speech, pause and ask if it’s something that may be of interest. NOW LISTEN.
  • If they raise objections that demonstrate that they haven’t understood what you do, explain it again to tackle their objection. Then you can go on from there.
  • If they raise objections that show they do understand what you do, thank them for their time and leave.
  • When you’ve hung up, make a note on your database of what was said and code it for future analysis. This is very important because you need to find out what percentage of calls are being successful.
  • At the end of the first month, analyse the results. You’ll need:
    • How many calls in total and the average for each day
    • How many potential appointments – you might want to subdivide this into hot, warm, on file and so on.
    • How many you could not talk to
    • How many weren’t interested
    • How many were wrong numbers
  • Now, you should be feeling more comfortable telemarketing each working day and have a basis of understanding what results you can expect.
  • If anything isn’t completely clear to you, by all means, give me a ring, and I’ll clarify matters – just call 0808-172-1900.

Next time: So you want to use Digital Marketing